UNIFORM was not the word for it According to the official military historian Brigadier James Edmonds, “The British Army of 1914, was the best trained best equipped and best organized British Army ever sent to war.” He was, of course, referring solely to the Regular Army. They were the only army to wear any form […]
The Minister of War dismissing an appeal to return our troops to ‘coloured magnificence’, replied “the uniform outlook gets drabber and drabber and will continue to do so.” It had all begun in India on the North West Frontier. The Second-in-Command of the first unit to opt for the drab look claimed the uniform would […]
Soon after the Great War finished, Field Marshall French suggested the British build an Anglican church in Ypres to honour the soldiers and units of the British army who served on the Ypres Salient. He also wanted the building to act as a meeting place for visiting relatives who began coming out to see where […]
When Gilles Jordan Joseph Verduijn went to war it was, as the German Chancellor sneered, ‘over a scrap of paper.’ When he was demobbed in 1919, his birth, service and medals are recorded on a remarkable document “Tribute from a Grateful Nation”. His granddaughter, Chrissie Verduyn [the spelling has been anglicised] lives in Clun. She […]
On their Flanders battlefield trip Wenlock U3A visited Talbot House in Poperinge, not far from Ypres in an area of Belgium the Germans never occupied. Talbot House opened in 1915 as a club for soldiers. Everyone was welcomed equally whether officer or private. ‘All rank abandon, ye who enter here’ is one of the signs […]
CRAVEN ARMS TAKES ‘OLD BILL’ TO ITS HEART A War Memorial nicknamed ‘Old Bill’ occupied a position on Shropshire’s front line, the A49, for 35 years. In 1956 he was forced to beat a retreat from the whizz bangs of the main road. His corner of the A49 and the Corvedale Road in Craven Arms […]
To the ordinary soldier, humour was as essential an armament as his rifle or his bayonet. It was a defensive weapon, vital to staving off the despair or descent to insanity … the logical reactions to the surrounding hellishness. Patrick Bishop Historian and author A HIGH EXPLOSIVE OF MIRTH On September 15th 1915 I should […]
The following extracts are from letters written by Private 22219 Bert Oakes, KSLI, No 28 Hut 4th Camp, Prees Heath. He writes to his parents Edward and Eliza Oakes of 5 Barber Street, Broseley and describes the daily routine of military training and life in the camp, in 1916. “We get up at 6 o’clock, dress […]
The outbreak of war is always an excuse to introduce restrictions and control. During World War I, British beer was under attack on all fronts. An odd thing; it wasn’t the Germans who menaced John Bull’s foaming pint. It was sunk by Lloyd George our own war-time Prime Minister-to-be. Opening hours were limited to 11am till […]
When the armies of Europe went to war in August 1914 they did so in headgear of cloth or leather. Much as they would have done for the previous 50 years. Since I came upon a battered British First World War Brodie helmet (designed and patented by J L Brodie in 1915) in a disused-quarry-cum-rubbish-tip […]
