east_kent_winter_ 2012.pdf - The Western Front Association

More documents

Recommendations

Info

A Day in the Life of a Trench! Unfortunately our advertised speaker for September, Martin Brown with ‘Digging up Plugstreet’, was indisposed for the branch meeting, leaving Linda the not unusual task of finding a suitable replacement at short notice. Fortunately she pulled out a plum with popular speaker Andy Robertshaw, historian, author and broadcaster, well-known for his many appearances on television. You might even have noticed him leading our boys over the top in the climactic battle scene at the end of War Horse, for which he was the historical advisor; trying hard to keep the ever imaginative Mr Spielberg on the straight and narrow. Andy is a familiar face to members, having visited us several times on branch evenings plus frequent meetings with him at trips to other venues. His latest presentation is based upon a project to re-create a day in the life of British soldiers in trenches at Ypres in January 1917. It was the first time he had given this particular talk, the book he has written about the project having just been published. Andy wanted to create a living history environment which would reflect the real experience of soldiers, although as he stressed, without the overriding fear of imminent death. However, the actual experience would highlight the daily challenges faced by soldiers going about their everyday, exhausting duties. Other than when a major action was underway, trench life was usually very tedious and hard physical work. Officers had to ensure that there was if possible a balance between the need for work against the enemy, on building and repairing trench defences and for rest and sleep. This could only be done by a good system with a definite system of rotas and a work timetable. Obviously, in times of battle or extended alerts, such a routine would be broken, but such times were a small proportion of the time in the trenches. The main enemies were the weather and boredom. The loss of concentration - leaving oneself exposed to sniper fire, for example - could prove deadly. The first practical task was to choose a suitable example and the trench model was what one might have found at Railway Wood, manned by 1/5 King’s Liverpool Regiment on 1 January 1917. A time of no major military engagements for them – battalion diaries record just two casualties – one man fallen down a well and another evacuated after cutting himself on some tin in the revetments. Then
the major part of the project was to create a faithful full-scale replica in a suitable site on Andy’s property in Surrey. The archaeology has shown that actual trenches don’t look anything like the manuals, so this was an ideal opportunity to devise a ‘real-life’ experience, with stores of Andy’s collected and donated artefacts suitably employed in and around the two fire bays, latrine and communication trenches and assorted ‘bits and pieces’ dug into the Surrey landscape.Volunteers were gathered to man the trenches, in authentic dress and conditions, and their activities were governed by the trench routine ordered in the instruction manual of the 41 st Division. ‘Stand To’ as it got dark and again for a raid, standing sentry, preparing food and other nightly jobs as well as making time for a little sleep. ‘Stand To’ next morning before dawn, more jobs, preparing lunch. There were no frontlines, no artillery or ‘over the top’, no sniping to worry about, no gas – just routine. However, everybody had an immense learning experience dealing with the latrines and the food for example under such conditions. It was only a small taster of the cold, wet and testing conditions which provided the background to wartime trench life suffered by soldiers for days at a time as well as their facing the constant possibility of injury or death. The volunteers adapted rapidly as dictated by the conditions. Andy pointed out the wartime instructions to officers not to let men use wood from trench revetments for fires – this was one of the first things his volunteers started to do and highlighted the training needed by platoon commanders in the necessities of trench life checking weapons, feet, sentries, supplies of food, ammunition and equipment. Throughout the talk we were treated to photographs of the soldiers’ equipment ‘from the bottom up’ as faithfully reproduced by the volunteers, and the photographs of the volunteers throughout their short experience in the trench looked extremely authentic. The effects of cold, tiredness and dirt showed remarkably quickly in their attitudes. Certainly the soldiers of 1914-18 had probably led harsher lives than their modern counterparts and were of sterner stuff. Yet the daily grind of trench life they suffered and how it played a major role in everyday wartime existence is effectively reproduced in Andy’s latest research.PM The full details of Andy Robertshaw’s project are in his book :- 24 Hour Trench – A Day in the Life of a Frontline Tommy. The History Press. ISBN: 9780752476674 He was also featured in Mailonline on November 1 st 2012 with lots of photographs. In October First World War enthusiast Howard Williamson, a retired headmaster from Harwich, came to talk to us about some of the interesting artefacts in his collection. Howard’s fascination with the First World War began when he sat in church as a child looking at a big brass plaque to someone killed in action at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, and wondered where the Somme was and what the battle had been like. Howard’s interest in guns is down to a friend of his father’s, Howard Freeland Holder, a Boer War veteran who served with 56 Field Ambulance during WW1 and won a Military Medal at Passchendaele. He had his own gun range at home where Howard and his dad would often go to shoot and Howard also bagged rabbits and pheasants for food. Intrigued by a feature article in a Sunday Times colour supplement Howard went on his first trip to the battlefields of France in 1966. He collected souvenirs such as helmets and bayonets that were still lying about in fields and woods. He came back with a very heavy rucksack and has been collecting ever since. Howard was diagnosed with diabetes and took early retirement. He built a two-storey extension to his house but his WWI collection continues to grow. There are bayonets on the staircase wall, glass-framed medals and
Page 1 and 2: Between the Lines Issue 47 Winter 2
Page 3 and 4: The important thing there is the st
Page 5 and 6: Restoration of Indian Memorial in W
Page 7 and 8: Paul Mansard - worth the search Bra
Page 9 and 10: This issue is still unresolved, but
Page 11: Thankful villages: The places where
Page 15 and 16: full advantage of opportunities in
Page 17 and 18: Folkestone at the heart of the nati
Page 19 and 20: What did Switzerland do in the Grea

east_kent_winter_ 2012.pdf - The Western Front Association

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?