53. Needham, The First Three Months, p.53.
54. The Diary of Corporal J N R Perks.
55. The 50-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Alexander William Abercrombie died in captivity on 5 November 1915. He is buried at the Berlin South Western Cemetery. Grave Reference: IX.A.7.
56. Dutchmen is a term used throughout the Gordon Lennox diary and would appear to be a corruption of Deutscher or Deutscherman.
57. Private Diary of Major Bernard Gordon Lennox, Grenadier Guards Archive.
Chapter 5
58. Gordon Corrigan, Mud, Blood and Poppycock, p. 199.
59. Private Papers of Lord Tennyson. IWM Dept. of Documents, 76/21/1.
60. 4th Division War Diary, TNA WO 95/1439.
61. Typescript diary held in the Somerset Light Infantry Archive.
62. Bloem, The Advance from Mons p.193.
63. C J Griffin DSO, The Lancashire Fusiliers’ Annual 1916, No. XXVII. pp.84–88.
64. Private Papers of C L Brereton. IWM Dept. of Documents, 86/30/1.
65. Company commanders during the attack were as follows: Captain J E S Woodman – A Company, Second Lieutenant J Evatt – B Company, Lieutenant A J W Blencowe – C Company and Lieutenant J Fulton – D Company.
66. 25-year-old John Sydney Paulson is buried in St Marguerite Churchyard.
67. 2/Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers War Diary, TNA WO 95/1495.
68. 4th Division War Diary, TNA WO 95/1439.
69. Sergeant Charles Dorey and Rifleman Charles Spindler are buried at Vauxbuin French National Cemetery, grave references: III.E.7 and III.E.6. The Sergeant Walker referred to is probably 5653 Sergeant Walker who was later discharged from the army.
70. Private Papers of Lord Tennyson. IWM Dept. of Documents, 76/21/1.
71. Lieutenant Kenneth Morley Loch (1890–1961) served with 68/Battery until 1916 when he became an instructor in gunnery, at School of Instruction for Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery until returning to active service in Italy during 1918. Between the wars Loch was involved in air defence preparations for Britain and the British Empire. From the beginning of the Second World War until 1941, Loch was Director of Anti-Aircraft and Coastal Defence. He retired with the rank of lieutenant general.
72. Private Papers of C L Brereton. IWM Dept. of Documents, 86/30/1.
73. Cited by Macdonald in, 1914, pp.302–3.
74. Haldane, A Brigade of the Old Army, 1914, p.107.
75. Private Papers of C L Brereton. IWM Dept. of Documents, 86/30/1.
76. Manuscript diary held in the Somerset Light Infantry Archive.
77. XXXVII Brigade RFA War Diary, TNA WO 95/1467.
78. Second Lieutenant Arthur Beddone Read is buried at Vailly British Cemetery. Grave Reference: IV.G.12. He was 23-years-old.
Chapter 6
79. Major J E C Livingstone-Learmonth. His brother, Captain J N C Livingstone-Learmonth was killed at Gallipoli on 24 August 1915.
80. 108/Battery War Diary, TNA WO 95/542.
81. The Diary of JBW Pennyman. Teeside Archives, U.PEN/7/150.
82. 2/Bridging Train War Diary, TNA WO 95/4999.
83. This view was disputed by Major General George Addison in 1935 who had previously served as a captain with 23/Field Company in September 1914. Addison maintained that the divisions advancing on the Aisne would not have welcomed the addition of the bridging trains and to have ‘sub-allotted’ them earlier would have been a grave error of judgement. However, evidence would seem to suggest that a more comprehensive bridging plan may have contributed to greater success on the battlefield.
84. Gleichen, Infantry Brigade 1914, p.80.
85. Ibid, p.81.
86. 1/East Surrey War Diary, TNA WO 95/1563.
87. Crookenden, The History of the Cheshire Regiment, in the Great War, p.24.
88. Private Papers of CC Onslow. IWM Dept. of Documents 86/9/1.
89. The Diary of JBW Pennyman. Teeside Archives, U.PEN/7/150.
90. Ibid.
91. Dolbey, A Regimental Surgeon in War and Prison, p.55.
92. The Diary of JBW Pennyman. Teeside Archives, U.PEN/7/150.
93. Private Papers of CC Onslow. IWM Dept. of Documents, 86/9/1.
94. 1/East Surrey War Diary, TNA WO 95/1563.
95. The Private Diary of Cyril Helm. Western Front Association 2008.
96. Ibid.
97. Brereton, The Great War and the RAMC, p.246.
98. Private papers of CC Onslow. IWM Dept. of Documents, 86/9/1.
99. The Diary of JBW Pennyman. Teeside Archives, U.PEN/7/150.
Chapter 7
100. Rushton was recommended for the Victoria Cross along with Sergeant William Boyd for bringing in the badly wounded Lieutenant R Phillips whilst under fire, at Mons on 23 August. Neither awards were made, Boyd was taken prisoner at Le Cateau and 26-year-old Frederick Hornby Lever Rushton MC was killed in action on 14 September. He is commemorated on the la Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
101. The rather bizarre events which led up to the incident involving the Gordon Highlanders at Audencourt are detailed in several histories and accounts. The Official History covers the incident on pp.187–88 as do Nigel Cave and Jack Sheldon in Le Cateau, pp.107–8.
102. Simpson, The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914–1918.
103. Private Papers of G A Kempthorne. IWM Dept. of Documents, 79/17/1.
104. Ewing, Royal Scots 1914–1919, Vol. 1.
105. Cited in, The Die-Hards in the Great War, Vol. 1, p.56.
106. Cited in, The Die-Hards in the Great War, Vol. 1, p.59.
107. Captain George Clarke Briggs was 36-years-old. He is buried at Vailly British Cemetery. Grave Reference: III.A.26.
108. Private Papers of G A Kempthorne. IWM Dept. of Documents, 79/17/1.
109. Edmonds, Military Operations – France and Belgium 1914. p.351.
110. Darling in his history of the 20th Hussars quotes 13 September but Anglesey in A History of the British Cavalry states it was 15 September.
111. Darling, 20th Hussars in the Great War, p.38.
112. Private Papers of B C Myatt, IWM Dept. of Documents, 97/4/1.
113. Lucy, There’s A Devil in the Drum, p. 168.
114. Ibid, pp.170–1.
115. Lowry, From Mons to 1933.
116. Darling, 20th Hussars in the Great War, p.38.
117. The two officers were Second Lieutenants Richard Henry Cole Magenis aged 27 and Henry Poyntz Swaine, aged 24. Both men are commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial. Henry Magenis had only been with the battalion for twenty-one days.
118. Lowry, From Mons to 1933.
119. The Lincolns war diary suggests this attack took place at midnight, but this is not mentioned in other accounts. There may of course have been several attacks but as the Lincolns were out of the firing line it is easy to understand how these events became blurred.
120. 8/Field Ambulance War Diary, TNA WO 95/1407.
121. Ibid.
122. Definition: a fold of the tissue lining the abdomen which surrounds the organs.
123. 8/Field Ambulance War Diary, TNA WO 95/1407.
Chapter 8
124. Hanbury-Sparrow, The Land Locked Lake.
125. This is almost certainly the Maison Brulée referred to in the Official History which was situated on the eastern side of the l’Oise à l’Aisne Canal. The current location on modern maps does not, however, match the location on 1914 maps. The building was not reconstructed after the war.
126. Hanbury-Sparrow, The Land Locked Lake.
127. Synge, From the Marne to the Aisne – The Diary of an Infantry Subaltern, p.109.
128. Marval is in all probability a mis-spelling of Malval.
129. William Stirling Bannatyne was killed on 24 October 1914 and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper. He was 45-years-old.
130. 1/King’s Liverpool Regiment War Diary, TNA WO 95/1359.
131. Ibid.
132. Hanbury-Sparrow, The Land
Locked Lake.
133. I Corps War Diary, TNA WO 95/588.
134. Tilleul de Courtcon is at the junction of the track running north along the Moussy spur with the minor road leading to the Chapelle de Courtecon. It is situated on the Chemin des Dames just over a mile west of the Cerny-en-Laonnois crossroads.
135. Private Diary of Major Bernard Gordon Lennox, Grenadier Guards Archive.
136. 2/Connaught Rangers War Diary, TNA WO 95/1347.
137. Although the family name of this officer was Pickersgill-Cuncliffe, he is referred to as Cuncliffe in George Jeffrey’s account of the fight at Cour de Soupir and in the Grenadiers’ history. For the sake of clarity I have continued to refer to him as Cuncliffe. However the CWGC lists him as John Reynolds Pickersgill-Cuncliffe. He is buried at Soupir Communal Cemetery, grave reference: B.4.
138. 2/Connaught Rangers War Diary, TNA WO 95/1347.
139. Major Sir Torquhil George Matheson, 5th Baronet of Lochalsh, was commanding the battalion as the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Fielding, was in temporary command of the brigade at the time.
140. Craster, Fifteen Rounds a Minute, p.84.
141. 31-year-old Captain Alwyn Bertram Robert Raphael Gosselin DSO, was killed in action on 7 February 1915. He is buried at Cuinchy Communal Cemetery. Grave Reference: II.D.23.
142. Lieutenant Cecil Francis Aleck Walker, Grenadier Guards.
143. Lieutenant Granville Charles FitzHerbert Harcourt-Vernon, Grenadier Guards.
144. Private Diary of Major Bernard Gordon Lennox, Grenadier Guards Archive. Captain Lord Heneage Greville Finch Guernsey, Irish Guards, is buried at Soupir Communal Cemetery. The CWGC gives no grave reference. 25-year-old Captain Lord Arthur Vincent Hay, Irish Guards, is buried at Soupir Communal Cemetery, grave reference: A.5. 25-year-old Lieutenant Richard William Gregory Welby, Grenadier Guards, was killed in action on 16 September 1914 and is also buried at Soupir Communal Cemetery, grave reference: B.2.
145. XXVI Brigade War Diary, TNA WO 95/1325.
146. Captain William Cecil Holt Cree died of wounds on 24 October 1914 and is buried at Falmouth Cemetery, Cornwall, grave reference: I.B.58.
147. 36 Brigade War Diary, TNA WO 95/1325.
148. Ibid.
149. Craster, Fifteen Rounds a Minute, p.86.
150. I Corps War Diary, TNA WO 95/588.
151. Osburn, Unwilling Passenger, p.144.
152. 11/Hussars War Diary, TNA WO 95/1109.
153. Victor Aloysius Lentaigne is commemorated on La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
154. Private Papers of J McIlwain. IWM Dept. of Documents, 96/29/1.
155. 24-year-old Frederick William des Voeux is buried at Soupir Communal Cemetery, grave reference: B.3. So too is 23-year-old Richard William Mark Lockwood, Coldstream Guards, grave reference: A.6.
156. 23-year-old Richard William Mark Lockwood is buried at Soupir Communal Cemetery, grave reference: A.3.
157. 26-year-old Percy Lyulph Wyndham is commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
158. Lieutenant Hon Edward Wyndham Tennant was killed in action on 22 September 1916 and is buried at Guillemont Road Cemetery. Grave Reference: I.B.18. Tennant became well known as a war poet, his Worple Flit and other poems was published posthumously by Blackwell in 1916.
159. Charles Dalton LRCP died of his wounds in L’Hôpital Farm on 18 September 1914. He is the only casualty of the Great War buried at the Veil-Arcy Communal Cemetery.
160. Assistant Director of Medical Services.
161. Brereton, The Great War and the RAMC, p.222.
162. In January 1914 Calmette launched a campaign against Minister of Finance Joseph Caillaux, who had introduced progressive taxation and was known for his pacifist stance towards Germany. During this campaign Le Figaro published numerous letters from the Minister’s private correspondence. Caillaux’s second wife, Henriette, alarmed that the newspaper would also make public a love letter proving their relationship was taking place during his first marriage, entered Calmette’s office on 16 March 1914 and shot him. Calmette died instantly. Caillaux resigned his post the next day, but during a highly publicised trial later in the year Henriette was acquitted, a verdict which caused riots in the streets of Paris.
163. Extract from an unsigned diary found in WO 95/1226.
164. The Private Papers of J McIlwain, IWM Dept. of Documents, 96/29/1.
Chapter 9
165. Bond, The Royal Engineers Journal, September 1938.
166. The Private Papers of Captain B J N Marden. IWM Dept. of Documents, 14292.
167. Captain Douglas Keith Lucas Lucas-Tooth, 9/(Queen’s Royal) Lancers, is buried at Moulins New Communal Cemetery, grave reference: 1. His eldest brother, 35-year-old Captain Selwyn Lucas Lucas-Tooth, Lancashire Fusiliers, was killed on 20 October 1914 and is buried at Le Touquet Railway Crossing Cemetery, grave reference: A.10. Tragically another brother, 34-year-old Major Sir Archibald Leonard Lucas Lucas-Tooth was killed on 12 July 1918 serving with the Honourable Artillery Company. He is buried at Aubigny Communal Cemetery, grave reference: V.B.4.
168. 2 Cavalry Brigade losses on 24 August 1914 were 234 officers and men killed and wounded. The battle at Audregnies is described in the author’s book on the retreat from Mons, Retreat and Rearguard 1914.
169. 2/KRRC War Diary, TNA WO/951272.
170. Sanderson, A Holmfirth Soldier’s Diary.
171. The Private Papers of Captain B J N Marden. IWM Dept. of Documents, 14292.
172. 34-year-old Riversdale Nonus Grenfell is buried at Vendresse Churchyard. His twin brother, Francis Octavius Grenfell, also of 9/Lancers, was killed in action on 24 May 1915. He is buried at Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, grave reference: II.B.14. Francis was awarded the Victoria Cross at Audregnies on 24 August 1914. The Grenfell twins were from a notable military family. Their maternal grandfather was Admiral John Pascoe Grenfell and other relatives included their uncle, Field Marshal Francis Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell. An older brother, Lieutenant Robert Septimus Grenfell, 21st Lancers, was killed in a cavalry charge during the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. Three other brothers, Cecil Alfred, Howard Maxwell and Arthur Morton Grenfell, all reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. A cousin, Lieutenant Claude George Grenfell was killed at Spion Kop during the Boer War and two other cousins Julian Grenfell, the poet, and his brother, Gerald William Grenfell, were also killed in the Great War.
173. Captain Augustus Ernest Cathcart, aged 39 is buried at Paissy Churchyard, grave reference: Sp Memorial 1. Second Lieutenant Stuart Davison is buried at Vendresse British Cemetery, grave reference: I.J.14.
174. Sanderson, A Holmfirth Soldier’s Diary.
175. 1/Loyal North Lancs War Diary, TNA WO 95/1270.
176. Lieutenants Herbert Reuben Loomes and George Henry Goldie were killed on 14 September 1914 and are commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
177. 1/Loyal North Lancs War Diary, TNA WO 95/1270.
178. Both Walter Reginald Lloyd and Richard Howard-Vyse are commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
179. 1/Loyal North Lancs War Diary, TNA WO 95/1270.
180. An account of this rearguard action can be found in the author’s Retreat and Rearguard 1914.
181. 1/Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders War Diary, TNA WO 95/1264.
182. Ponsonby, TNA WO/95/1236.
183. Ibid.
184. Needham, The First Three Months–The Impressions of an Amateur Infantry Subaltern.
185. Ibid.
186. 37-year-old Captain Lionel Theopilus Allason was killed in action on 7 October 1914. He is commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
187. 1/Loyal North Lancs War Diary, TNA WO 95/1270.
188. Sanderson, A Holmfirth Soldier’s Diary.
189. 22-year-old Arthur Dennis Harding died of wounds received at Geluvelt on 30 October 1914. He is buried at Ypres Town Cemetery. Grave Reference: E2.10.
190. The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on
5 November 1854 between the armies of Britain and France against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the Allies in the field, and was followed by the Siege of Sevastopol. The fighting was characterized by small parties of troops, fighting mostly on their own initiative due to the misty conditions, earning the engagement the name ‘The Soldier’s Battle’.
191. 1/Loyal North Lancs War Diary, TNA WO 95/1270.
192. 41-year-old Alfred Henry Maitland commanded A Company and is commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
193. See An Officers Letters from 1914 at http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/48-brothers-arms/300-off-letter-1914.html
194. Captain Alastair Hugh Mackintosh and Lieutenant Hector William Lovett Cameron are commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial. 20-year-old Second Lieutenant Alastair John Greville Murray is buried at Montcornet Military Cemetery, grave reference: L.8. CSM John Wood is buried at Vendresse Churchyard. Hector Cameron’s death is described by Private Arthur Burgess in Chapter 14.
195. Quoted in Edmonds, Military Operations – France and Belgium 1914 p.364.
196. 38-year-old Captain Mark Haggard died of wounds in 15 September 1914 and is buried at Vendresse British Cemetery, grave reference: I.G.11.
197. The names of Lord George Stewart Murray, Lewis Robert Cumming and Reginald G Don are commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial. Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Grant-Duff is buried at Moulins New Communal Cemetery. 20-year-old Nigel John Lawson died of wounds in Edinburgh on 12 September 1914. He is buried at the Edinburgh Western Cemetery, grave reference: I.110.
198. Gerard Frederick Freeman-Thomas was 21-years-old when he was killed and is commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
199. 51-year-old Ernest Henry Montresor and Sergeant George William Hutson are commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
200. Naval and Military Press, Soldiers Died in the Great War database.
201. 46-year-old Walter Reginald Lloyd is commemorated on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
Chapter 10
202. Edmonds, Military Operations France and Belgium 1914, p.384.
203. Cited in Ousby, The Road to Verdun, p.37.
204. Mills, With My Regiment, p.47.
BEF Campaign on the Aisne 1914 Page 28
