Morning guys, when you come back from cycling, read this... This should make Facebook cough a bit - created thankfully by Mike Henderson - lots of time and effort and detail about Tour 2014 GV 2014 tour notes General interest Note; Even now, all numbers are impossible to guarantee, but are the best I can glean from a variety of sources, themselves acknowledging vast bibliographies. Im sure there will be loads of numbers and facts published as the anniversary gets closer. These notes are limited to brief references to events which happened in, or very close to, places we actually pass through. WW1, 4/8/1914 to 11/11/1918, 1560 days Main Allied Powers - France, Russia, Britain Main Central Powers – Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Well be riding along part of what is known as The Western Front. However, there were other fronts – Eastern, Serbian, Salonica, Gallipoli, Italian, Palestine, Caucasus, Mesopotamian, Senussi, White Sea, Persian, Romanian. At the start of the war, the regular British army, not including reservists, numbered only 247,000 officers and men, a third of whom were in India. Even taking account of Reservists, the total was only 733,000, a fraction of the size of the conscript armies mobilised by the main belligerents. Germany – 4.5million France – 4 million Russia – 6 million Austria-Hungary -3 million In Britain, 480,000 had joined up in the first 6 weeks, and nearly 1.2 million by the end of 1914. I was told of a recruit in the Forest who, when asked to open his mouth during his medical, so his teeth could be examined, replied Ive come to fight the buggers, not to yut em The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) comprised 5 divisions, around 100,000 men, compared with the French Army on the Western Front of around 830,000 at the start of August 1914. Though by far the smallest army, the British soldier was almost certainly the best-trained. The average infantryman had to be able to hit a man-sized target at 300 yards, at a rate of 15 times (Rapid Fire) a minute with the bolt-action Lee Enfield .303 rifle. With a 10 round magazine, that was no mean feat in battle conditions. The Lee Enfield had a cranked bolt, which enabled the firer to keep his eye on the target as he reloaded. The German 5 shot Mauser had a straight bolt, which caused the firer to avert his gaze as each bullet was fed into the breech, so slowing his rate of fire. In March 1915, Lloyd George became Minister of Munitions. He asked Haig (British supremo)how many machine- guns we needed. Haig said the machine-gun was a much-overrated weapon, and two per battalion (1000 men) were more than sufficient. Many high-ranking officers considered the machine-gun unsporting, preferring to rely on the cavalry sword, even up to 1917! By the end of the war, due in no small part to Lloyd George taking a more realistic view, each battalion had an average of 43 machine-guns, and cried out for more. We started with around 200, the Germans with more than 12,000. The standard German machine-gun was the MG 08, an adaptation of the original 1884 Maxim. It could fire 400 rpm, to a practical range of 2200 yards, but to an extreme range of 3900 yards (3.5 km) . They were made at the Spandau arms factory, so were often termed Spandau MG08. Most of the 60,000 casualties British (20,000 dead) on the first day of the Battle of the Somme resulted from machine-gun fire. The machine-gun, with its lethal rapid fire, came to epitomise the Great War. However, it was artillery fire that caused the majority of casualties. WW1 artillery was extremely strong, with the largest pieces, including the British 12” siege howitzer, firing 1000lb shells 9 miles. Up to 1917, firing was pretty random. Fire was mostly indirect – the artillerymen could not actually see the target. The chances of a direct hit on a trench one metre wide were slim. But with barrages put up, in many cases, by thousands of guns of all calibres, firing all sorts of shells, it was all too easy to be cut to pieces by red-hot, jagged shell casing thrown far from the actual impact. The Germans had the biggest gun of all, the Paris Gun, which between March and August 1918 fired 367 shells into Paris. It was a modified 15” naval gun, with a barrel 40 metres long, and weighed 142 tonnes. The projectile could be fired 80 miles, reaching 24 miles high. It killed 250, and injured 530. Hitler used the design as a basis for his V3 revenge weapon. Germany had a total monopoly on the manufacture of binoculars. In 1915, Britain was obliged to use a Swiss intermediary to acquire 32,000 pairs of German binoculars for the Western Front. Many engines in German, French, British and Russian cars and lorries needed for the war effort used a Bosch magneto, made exclusively in Germany -problem! The first British tanks had 5 cylinder Daimler engines. When I started in forestry in 1962, I worked with Charlie Peacock, then 67, who had been in the first tank assault in 1917. The 4 man crew wore brown boiler suits, with no insignia, and had been trained as part of the Machine Gun Corps, for secrecy. There was no division within the tank between crew quarters and engine. Some crews were asphyxiated. Charlies crew lost all their teeth and hair from the fumes, but Charlie survived the war. Their officer campaigned for compensation, and in 1926, Charlie got 22/6d. My dads dad trained with the Durham Light Infantry, and was one week from being sent to the front when the armistice came. Bit of luck, or I might not be here! His brother was gassed, and thereafter had one eye pointing to the side. In total, 46 types of gas, 13 smoke agents and 9 incendiary agents were used in the war. My mums dad, a merchant seaman, served in both wars on minesweepers, and died in 1945. The usual figure given for military deaths of the Allied Powers is 5,712,379, of which the troops of Britain and the Empire amount to 1,115,597. The UK alone suffered 886,939 military deaths, the youngest being 14 years old. The figure for military deaths of the Central Powers is around 3.6 million. The total number of soldiers killed in the fighting is around 9.4 million. The public were astonished at the figure of 20,000 British dead on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. What seems to have escaped public consciousness was the daily average figure of more than 6000 military dead for every day of the war. Wikipedia gives the population of Lydney as 9000, Coleford as 8350, Cinderford as 7500. At the rate of 6000/day, the population of the three towns would last just over 4 days. 40% of the dead had no known graves, blown to pieces by artillery shells. Civilian deaths were more than 3.6 million for the Allies, and more than 3.4 million for the Central Powers. In addition to the shocking total of 16.5 million deaths, there was a grand total of 21,228,813 military wounded. There are more than 2000 British war cemeteries in France, on land gifted to us for ever by the French people. In the first 5 months of the war, the French suffered 300,000 dead, and 600,000 wounded. That number of deaths is more than the total of British war dead in the whole of WW2. We will ride 782 kilometres. It is sobering to think that for every single metre of the road we ride, if the military dead were lined on one side of the road, each with one metre of space, they would be 12 deep. If civilian deaths were lined up behind them, they would be a further 9 deep. If the military wounded were lined on the other side of the road, they would be 27 deep The British Army alone lost 484,000 horses. Horses and mules were vital for moving supplies in conditions impassable to vehicles. If a soldiers horse died, he was required to cut off one of its feet to take back to the commanding officer to prove that he hadnt simply got parted from it. Some job with pocket-knife. On Day 1, we pass into Flanders roughly between St Omer and Cassel. Flanders means flooded land – hence mud that was a feature of the trenches. By the time we get to Ypres, and down to Ploegsteert on Day 2, we are in the thick of the Ypres Salient, the mincing machine, a feature of the Western Front for the whole war. After Carvin, the front for most of the war headed south down to around Soissons, via The Somme, then south-eastwards, whereas we go east, then south-east from Mons, and meet the front again at Verdun, then go east, while the front goes more south-east. For most of the ride, we shall be in German-held territory. DAY 1 Mimoyecques (WW2) Just off to our right from St Tricat, about 5 km into our tour, is the site from which a V3 long-range gun was to have bombarded London. It could fire special shells 100 miles. The site was destroyed in July 1944 by 617 Dambusters squadron, dropping 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs. The V3 was mounted on rails. Being vulnerable to Allied bombers, it was moved eastwards out of range. The Germans also had a V4 ground-to-air missile under development. Wizernes -La Coupole V2 site. 8Th September 1944, first V2 lands on London. 2,200 lb payload of Amatol explosive, 200 mile range, undetectable, climbed to 60 miles, ran at Mach 3, made a crater 20 metres across by 8 metres deep, kicking out 3000 tonnes of earth. After early launches from fixed sites, the V2 was launched from mobile sites, which could be vacated in half an hour, unstoppable. Around 1300 launched against London, Ipswich, Norwich, and around 1600 against European targets. In UK, caused 2700 deaths, and over 6500 injuries, a high figure in relation to the amount of explosive delivered – though only a fraction of the destructive power carried by a single Allied bomber. Only accurate to within 5-10 miles. Eisenhower said that, had the Germans managed to perfect the accuracy of the V1 and V2, and targeted English south coast ports, the invasion of Europe might have been impossible. V=Vergeltungswaffe (Vengeance weapon), though Hitler is said to have termed it Vernichtungswaffe (Annihilation weapon) Built by slave labour*., thousands of whom were worked to death. The only weapon to have caused more deaths by its production than by its deployment. *There was a Nazi death camp (with gas chambers and ovens) at Natzwiller, not far south-west of Molsheim, where we end up. Here, forced labour was worked to death constructing vast mountain caves to house V2 rocket factories. Poperinge In June 2012, in the courtyard of the town hall, was unveiled the Execution Post Memorial to those shot at dawn for a variety of offences – desertion, mutiny, cowardice. There were 238,000 courts martial in the British Army during the war, yet only 3,080 resulted in death sentences. Of those, only 346 were carried out. In October 1914, just south of Poperinge at Meteren, a British lieutenant was shot through the chest and the leg. The medical report said with characteristic lack of co-operation he declined to die, and insisted that when the unit had to move they took him with them. The lieutenant – Bernard Montgomery, later Montgomery of Alamein in WW2 Ypres Salient A bulge in the Front, about 10 miles long by about 5 miles at its widest, though constantly changing, which was a feature of some of the bloodiest fighting for the duration of the war, with territorial gains and losses measured in yards, and casualties in tens of thousands, almost one-third of total British casualties. Ypres was shelled to a ruin early on. Every village and hamlet for a few miles around was the scene of carnage, acts of heroism, and massive destruction. There were 3 Battles of Ypres, the third often called Passchendale, was the bloodiest. This started on 18th July 1917 with a 13 day bombardment by 3036 Allied guns, firing 4 million shells. On 2nd August the offensive was halted due to the weather. Then 5 inches of rain fell during the month of August. Imagine the mud.10th November 1918, Canadians secure Passchendale. Langemarck 22nd October 1014, in Ist Ypres, 25,000 German university student volunteers were killed in an engagement known as the Kindermord, or massacre of the innocents. 22nd April 1915, first chlorine gas attack by the Germans against French and Canadian troops. Next day, the first Canadian VC was won, posthumously,in the second attack. Between Ypres and Langemarck is where Captain Noel Chavasse, a medical officer, won his second VC of the war, posthumously. He was the only double VC of WW1, and only two others have ever been awarded bars to their VC. Day 2 Hollebeke Just off to the left, 31st October, first Indian soldier gets VC Wijtschate 5th November 1914, German private gets Iron Cross, 2nd class, recommended by his Jewish colonel, whose life he had saved (cue for ironic laughter). He was upgraded to Iron Cross 1st Class in 1918 for another act of bravery. The private – Adolf Hitler. In later years, when Hitler was being hailed as a war hero, there were mutterings that he had been messengering behind the lines when he got his medal, and not in the front line. A visit from the Gestapo and a light tap with an iron bar soon discouraged such criticism! Mont Kemmel Off to the right, 156 metres high, scene of fierce fighting. Also home to the famous 23% cobbled climb of The Kemmelberg in Ghent – Wevelgem Mesen (Messines) The Germans had occupied the Messines Ridge and the high ground around Ypres. For more than two years, miners had been tunnelling under the ridge from Hill 60 to the east of Ypres to Ploegsteert 10 km to the south. 19 deep mines were detonated on 7th June 1917, within 30 seconds of each other. They had been loaded with a total of 426 tons of explosive. Other mines did not go off. One exploded in a thunderstorm in 1955. Five fully charged mines, containing 75 tons of explosive remain today. Best get a move on through this section! The biggest charge was at St Eloi, the biggest crater 145 yards across and 50 yards deep. The explosions were heard and felt in London, 103 miles away, and registered on a seismograph in Switzerland. 10,000 German soldiers were simply vaporised, disappeared, 7350 taken prisoner, and thousands more stunned and dazed. Before the mines were blown, from 26th May to 7th June, the Messines ridge was subjected to a barrage by 2266 guns, including 756 heavy guns, firing 3.5 million shells. While the Germans were withdrawing on 8th June, one squadron stopped briefly to watch a prolonged dogfight, in which an allied plane was shot down. The German pilot – Lieutenant Hermann Goering, later head of the Luftwaffe in WW2. Ploegsteert (Plugstreet to the Tommy*) One of several places where there was a famous Christmas truce in 1914 * Private Tommy Atkins was the name chosen as an example name in the Soldiers Pay Book in 1815. In the 1839 version, he was down in the example as Sergeant Tommy Atkins. Winston Churchill served on the Western Front for 6 months, some of that time at Plugstreet Wood. Armentieres 8th April 1918, in a 4.5 hr bombardment, 2000 tns of mustard gas, phosgene and diphenylchlorarsine shells were fired at the British and Portuguese defenders, forcing a 3.5 mile gap in the British line. 8000 men were incapacitated, 30 were killed. Germans poured over the River Lys(as indeed will we). However, on 1st October 1918, the Germans evacuated Armentieres, as the Allies turned the tide. Mons-en-Pevele (Mound of Stones, roughly) to Orchies, part of the route of another war, Paris- Roubaix. The village itself is bypassed now by a 3000 metre section of cobbles, reckoned to be one of the hardest sections of the race. Mons The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in WW1. The BEF was trying to hold the Mons-Conde canal against the advancing German First Army. The first contact between the two armies was on 21st August 1914, at Obourg, just north of Mons. Private John Parr, one of a British bicycle reconnaissance team, was killed, the first British soldier to be killed in the war. On the next day, 22nd August, Captain Hornby, 4th Dragoon Guards, became the first British soldier to kill an enemy in WW1, fighting on horseback with sword against lance. As the German cavalry retreated, Corporal Drummer Edward Thomas fired at, and killed a German trooper, the first fatal British shot of the war. Next day, 23rd August 1914, German pressure was beginning to tell. At the canal bridge at Nimy, in Mons itself, Captain Dease kept firing his machine gun, after the crew had been killed. At the Ghlin bridge, Private Godley operated his machine gun throughout the day, to cover the retreat. Both were awarded the VC, the first two awarded in WW1. In a twist of fate, the Cemetery at St Symphorien, an eastern suburb of Mons, contains the graves of the two soldiers believed to be the first (John Parr, 21/8/1914) and last (Private Gordon Price, Canadian Infantry, 11/11/1918) Commonwealth soldiers to be killed in WW1. Private Price was killed at 10.58, two minutes before the Armistice took effect. 23rd August 1914, two British planes, flying a reconnaissance mission over Mons, from their base at Mauberge, were shot down by German artillery, the first British aerial losses of the war. Mauberge The Siege of Mauberge took place between 24th August and 7th September 1914, when the French garrison of the Mauberge Fortress finally surrendered to the Germans, with 40,000 French prisoners. Mauberge was re-taken four years later on 9th November 1918, by the British Guards Division and 62nd (West Riding) Division. Day 3 Avesnes Cemetery contains the graves of the crew of a Canadian Air Force Lancaster, shot down over Avesnes on 13th June, 1944.(I only mention this because no doubt many other towns and villages we ride through will contain graves of soldiers and airmen of both wars, who are not buried in big war cemeteries. Montherme Featured in WW2 as one of the three places (Dinant and Sedan were the other two) where, in May 1940, Hitlers armies crossed the Meuse. The Allies had thought that the breakout was coming in the north, against Dutch, Belgian and French forces. However, a large German force of armoured divisions and air support had been quietly assembled in the Ardennes forests, considered impassable by the French. Sedan A turning point in WW2. On 13th May 1940, Panzer divisions under the legendary Heinz Guderian broke across the Meuse. Despite the French having blown the bridges, the crafty old Germans trundled their tanks across a weir at the bend in the river just north of Sedan. They secured a foothold on the south bank, which enabled them to build a pontoon bridge. From there it took Guderians tanks only 6 days to reach the Channel at Abbeville, south of Calais. Tactically brilliant, this crossing took the Allies by surprise, letting the Germans to split their forces, and leading to the Dunkirk retreat. In December 1944, German forces tried to break out of the Ardennes forest again, in the Battle of the Bulge. They did not get as far as the Meuse. Day 4 Dun-sur-Meuse To our right, albeit some 12 miles, two unconnected, and amazing events were taking place, on the same day in October 1918. Strictly speaking, theyre outside my self-imposed brief, but they typify the sort of happenings in war, most going unrecorded. Both became subject of classic films. On 8th October 1918, north of Chatel-Chehery, Corporal Alvin C York, US Infantry, was in charge of the 7 remaining privates in a battered detail sent to take out German machine-guns, which were giving the unit a pasting. Deeply religious, York had initially been a conscientious objector, not unpatriotic, but he just didnt want to kill. Born in Pall Mall (!), in the Kentucky mountains, he was a crack-shot. In his first rifle-range session, recruits had to fire ten shots. He was told hed only hit the target once, albeit right in the centre of the bull. He said all ten bullets had gone through the same hole. Ten separate new targets were put up, and he hit every one right in the centre, the start of his fame as a marksman. His patrol having been surrounded and outnumbered ten to one, York, single-handed, killed 28 German soldiers, captured 132 others, bringing back 35 machine-guns. Hed fired all the rounds in his rifle, when 6 Germans charged him with fixed bayonets. He killed all six with his .45 Colt automatic pistol. Asked by a general how many Germans he thought hed killed, York replied General, I would hate to think I missed any of them shots. They were all close range, 50-60 yards(!). It werent no trouble for me to hit them big army targets, they were much bigger than turkey heads. He was promptly promoted Sergeant, and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, later the Congressional Medal of Honour, the Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honour, and many others totalling 50. His exploits were the subject of a classic 1941 film, Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper – well worth seeing.York was bought a 400 acre farm and became became a national hero The second event centred on the Charlevaux Ravine, about a mile south of Chatel-Chehery. It came to be known as the affair of The Lost Battalion, the name given to 554 men of the US 77th Division. Between 2nd and 8th October 1918, they were surrounded by German forces. The US High Command assumed it was all over, and posted the battalion lost. Low on ammo and food, as well as being fired on by the Germans, they were bombarded by their own artillery. Their only method of communication was by carrier pigeon. The first two were shot down. The unit was saved by their last pigeon, Cher Ami, who delivered this message We are along the road parallel 276. Our artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heavens sake stop it 194 of the original 554 came out on 8th October 1918, when relief came. On the rescue flight, Cher Ami had been blinded in one eye, and had her right leg shot off. Being a heroine, medics worked hard to save her. She had a little wooden leg made, and was sent back to the US. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Oak Leaf Cluster, and other awards. More than 100,000 pigeons served with British forces in WW1, with a 95% success rate in getting messages through, though Cher Ami was by far the most famous. Film Lost Battalion 1919 Verdun We follow the Meuse all the way down to Verdun. The 10 month Battle of Verdun was the wars longest. The city was defended by a ring of forts, the two principal ones being Fort Douaumont and Fort Vaux. The Germans threw 1 million men against the 200,000 French defenders. The first shot was fired on 21st February 1916, by a German 15” naval gun from Loison, 20 miles away. It landed on the corner of the cathedral, and was the start of an 8 hour bombardment, during which 1,220 heavy guns fired 2,000,000 shells into a quiet 8-mile sector of the French front. On 22nd February, Germans used flame-throwers (96) for the first time. By 25th February, the Germans had captured Fort Douaumont . Verdun became a symbol of resistance for the French people. Men, guns and supplies were taken to Verdun via La Voie Sacree (The Sacred Way). Verdun itself never fell, but around it, by the end of the battle, French casualties were estimated at 550,000 and German losses at 434,000, half of the total being fatal. No strategic advantage had been gained by either side. Among the French soldiers captured during a failed assault on Fort Vaux on 2nd March 1916 was a Captain, wounded in the thigh by a bayonet – Captain Charles de Gaulle, later to become leader of the Free French Forces in WW2, and President of France from 1959 to 1969. Not only men were killed at Verdun, but horses too – 7,000 in one day, by long-range shelling by French and German guns, 97 by a single shell fired by a French naval gun. *These big guns were standard armament for battleships, but were mounted on railway wagons. American 15” naval guns mounted on rails could fire a 1400lb shell 25 miles. Rechicourt About 4 km to the left of our route as we pass through Bouligny, on 26th February 1918, the Chief of Staff of the American 42nd Division got carried away with the enthusiasm of the moment. He was supposed to be merely observing a French raid on German trenches, but joined in, capturing several German soldiers. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the first such award to a member of the American Expeditionary Force. His name was Colonel Douglas MacArthur, who, as General MacArthur, was to go on to accept the Japanese surrender on 2nd September 1945, in Tokyo harbour, aboard the USS Missouri. Later, on 6th November 1918, commanding an infantry brigade, opposite Sedan, he was arrested by his own sentries, thinking he was a German officer. Once he took off his unusual floppy hat and long scarf, the mistake was discovered. Bazonville Just after this village we pass into Lorraine. Alsace -Lorraine was created by the German Empire in 1871, following its victory in the Franco-Prussian war. It comprised 93% of Alsace and 26% of Lorraine. It took control of the iron ore resources in the region around Thionville, and the southern half of the coalfields of the Saarland. The remainder of our route goes through this disputed area. From 1871, the new Franco-German border was south of where we ride, so for the duration of WW1, where we ride was Germany, though now restored to France. From 1871 to 1918, the loss of the region to Germany was deeply resented by the French. As soon as war was declared, both sides used the inhabitants as pawns in the growing conflict between France and Germany. The region was Germanified, when on 15th July 1915, German became the only official language in the region. If you said even one word of French, as innocent as bonjour, youd be fined. About 12% of the population spoke French dialects. Both factions committed various atrocities, and by 1914, the French were boiling for revenge, but that didnt come till 1918. Saverne The Saverne Affair was a crisis of domestic policy in the German Empire at the end of 1913. On 28th October 1913, a gobby 19 year old 2nd Lieutenant in the Prussian Guards insulted the Alsatian population during a recruitment speech. It caused outrage, and things boiled up to a point where on 2nd December, the lieutenant lost it and struck a young lad with his sabre, causing severe head injuries. The lad had been unarmed, as well as paralysed down one side. However, the military court judged that the lieutenant had acted in self-defence. That caused uproar. Throughout, the military had far exceeded their legal right to usurp the civil authorities in keeping order. The term savernism found its way into the English language of the time, meaning the abuse of military authority, or aggressive, tyrannical conduct. Alsace-Lorraine was a powder-keg of resentment against the German Empire. Things got heated at the highest levels of government, but the outbreak of war prevented further serious conflicts between the German Empire and Alsace-Lorraine. The lieutenant was killed in combat in 1915.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 10:03:52 +0000
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