Hello. Welcome to the April edition. This edition has an article by Keith on the WAAC and a local connection, and some short items.
You will not have the highly dubious pleasure of my company on the 11th, as I am off to Belfast to talk to the new Antrim and Down WFA branch on Verdun.
Trevor
The Programme for 2015
Apr 11th: Anne Pedley – The Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the Great War
May 9th: Steve Binks – “Some Kind Hand” pilgrimage – two years in
June 6th: TBC
July 4th: Chris John – German Tanks at Villers Brettoneux
Aug 1st: Harbinder Singh – Sikhs in the Great War
Sept 5th: Michael Steadman – Manchester Pals
Oct 3rd: Andrew Tonge – 1914 Race to the Sea
Nov 7th: Marietta Crichton-Stuart – Alice in Wonderland and her Lost Boys
Dec 5th: Branch Social
Last month’s speaker
Mike O’Brien talked about Americans in the RFC, of which there were a surprising number. Perhaps a favourite is Ted Hostetter who was killed at Masnieres, near Cambrai, and where there is still a Hostetter junior school today, which was paid for by his family. The place where he was shot down is marked by a roadside stone monument which, like many things on the Western Front, is not that easy to find on the ground.
Ted Hostetter is buried in the ABMC cemetery at Bony on the Somme, along with two other Americans who were also never in any branch of the American armed forces but who have been given honorary American ranks, presumably to allow them to be buried in the ABMC cemetery.
This gives arise to confusion in some quarters, usually American books, which refer to one or more of them being American servicemen who were “attached” to a British unit, which is clearly inaccurate. The others are J Grantley Hall who was RAF, and Samuel D Hill, 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Hill was the son of the US consul in New Zealand and he joined the New Zealand army before the US entered WWI.
Mike has a keen interest in the Americans in WWI, especially those who served with the British. He had with him copies of his book on Rhodes scholars who served and died in the British forces “Death did not divide them”.
WAAC
Keith Walker
A member of our local Women’s Institute gave me the following group photo and photo of a cap badge
She told me it belonged to her mother, Martha Elizabeth Jones.
Miss M E Jones was born in 1896. She was the eldest daughter of Mr Edward Jones (b1875) and Elizabeth Jones (b 1869). They had five other children: Edward John (b1899), Mary Eveline (b1901), William Henry (b1904), Jessie (b1908) and Olive Naome (b1910). In the 1911 census, they are living at 8 Pendwll Road, Moss Nr Wrexham.
Miss M E Jones is in the centre back row, wearing her WAAC cap badge. Can anyone identify the two cap badges of the ladies in the front row? The WAAC cap badge had a number on the back G/17991 and at first I thought this was Miss M E Jones’ service number but now I am led to believe it could the makers “Gaunts” series number – any ideas?
The Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps was formed in February 1917 and was made up of volunteers. The first members of the WAAC moved to France in March 1917, and by early 1918 some 6,000 were there. These women replaced men who then could be sent to fight.
The women did the jobs of clerks, telephonists, cooks and as instructors in the use of gas masks. Although not on combat duties, these women came under heavy shell fire and bombing. A number of the WAAC were killed.
When the WAAC was disbanded, a total of 57,000 women had served. As a matter of interest, only 5,000 WAAC service records have survived.
Martha Elizabeth Jones died in 1991. She was 94 years old.
With thanks to Rowena, Martha Elizabeth’s daughter.
Erich von Falkenhayn
I was reading a book on Falkenhayn as part of an update of the talk on Verdun. He was the head of the German armies from September 1914 to August 1916. He gets a rather poor press from British authors, not least as there is little available on him in English. Certainly, Alistair Horne in “The price of glory – Verdun 1916” says that little is known about him, and Horne generally regards Falkenhayn as faint-hearted and inept.
However, in Afflerbach’s book on Falkenhayn, it emerges that there is in fact a lot of material about him in the memoirs of other leading German figures of the time, and in the German archives, in the minutes of meetings and other papers.
On the negative side of the equation, Falkenhayn’s analysis of the military situation in late 1915, and the prospects for the Central Powers (Germany and her allies) is set out below. This is should be read in the context that it was estimated by their government that Germany could not last beyond 1917, in the face of the superior manpower and resources of the Entente (Britain, France etc) and Austro-Hungary not beyond 1916, so what were they to do?
Falkenhayn’s December 1915 assessment was that:
- the Russians could not mount any new attacks in 1916, and would eventually sue for peace
- so, no problem in the East
- a severe attack on France would knock France out of the war – they would sue for peace because of their losses
- Britain would cave in under a U-boat onslaught: Britain’s key goal was the preservation of the Empire, and sinking large numbers of RN ships and merchant men would jeopardise the Empire and cause Britain to negotiate
- Austro-Hungary would knock Italy out of the war
- so, the Central Powers would win the war by late 1916
This assessment of the situation looks laughably naïve with our benefit of hindsight. But is it any worse than analyses made by the British or the French?
Incidentally, on the positive side he turned down Hindberg’s suggestion for a “knock-out” attack on the Russians, as Falkenhayn said they would simply get sucked into the vastness of Russia and it would be a disaster, which is precisely what happened to German forces in WWII. So, he is maybe not such a fool then?
Falkenhayn was sacked as head of the army in August 1916, partly as a result of the failure of Verdun, and was sent to command the Central Powers forces against Romania, at which he was highly successful against numerically superior forces. He then commanded Ottoman Turkey’s forces in the Middle East with less success but then he was up against Allenby and high-quality British, Imperial and Indian troops.
So, as a commander in the field he was pretty darn good, and that was his level. Well if you don’t believe me, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery said that there were two German generals from WWI that he rated highly – Ludendorf and Falkenhayn (and for the record the British ones that Monty rated were Plumer, Allenby and Monash).
Maybe it’s time for a re-asssessment of Falkenhayn’s record and abilities?
Medicine in the Great War
Caroline Adams
Caroline came across these two extracts from the archives of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) which has been republishing some of its WWI items.
In the first item, it has to be said that picric acid is an “interesting” chemical to use medically, as it is unstable and its more common use was in the production of explosives!
Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining
Yes. Even clouds of mustard gas, although it took at least 25 years to find it.
Remembering the horrors of poison gas in WW1, there was a lot of concern during WWII that it might again be used. Research into the best methods of countering its effects was therefore commissioned. One team working on this was led by Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman at Yale University. Studying records and scientific literature from WW1, they noted that one of the effects of mustard gas was to decrease the number of white cells in blood.
This suggested to them the possibility of using it to treat the blood cell cancers lymphoma and leukaemia.
They developed a derivative of mustard gas that could be administered to laboratory animals. After successful animal trials, they tried it on a gentleman with very advanced lymphoma in August 1942. His tumours initially responded well and the drug gave him some months of relatively comfortable life before the lymphoma recurred and he died in December 1942.
So mustard gas, the scourge of many WW1 battlefields, gave rise to one of the first chemotherapeutic agents.
Trevor Adams trevormcmadams@gmail.com