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Dear all
A hundred years ago this week… The
Easter Rising in southern Ireland proved a substantial distraction to the
British war effort. Following political confusion about a Home Rule Act passed,
but then immediately suspended when WW1 began, about 1,250 Republican rebels
took “key locations” in Dublin (April 24). Assailed by 16,000 British troops
and 1,000 armed police with everything up to machine-guns and artillery, they
surrendered unconditionally (29). Resulting deaths: 66 rebels in the fighting,
16 later executed, about 150 civilians, Army and police 143. Martial law
ensued, instigating 3,500 arrests, of whom 1,800 were interned in England.
On
the Western Front, with Verdun quieter as German forces regrouped after
suffering heavy losses to French artillery, the most notable event comprised
two German chlorine/phosgene gas raids at Hulluch, north of Loos – the first
(April 27) a terrible success for the attackers, causing 1980 British
casualties, the second (29) a terrible failure when the gas blew back on the
German trenches causing 1500 casualties.
And
much further south, the British Army (including thousands of Indians) suffered
one a historic disgrace with the surrender of the besieged force at Kut (April
29). Ottoman forces had surrounded around 13,000 troops (possibly: this figure
varies a good deal from one report to another) under Major General Charles
Townshend beside the Tigris since December 7, 1915. Rescue attempts failed –
latterly a £2 million ransom offer with TE Lawrence a negotiator – and they
reached near-starvation. Imprisoned in Aleppo, Syria (then part of the Ottoman
Empire), 70 per cent of the British and 50 per cent of the Indians died in
captivity – while Townshend, notoriously careless as to the fate of his men,
lived out the war in relative luxury on Halki island in the Sea Of Marmara.
Meanwhile,
my father, Lance Corporal Signaller Sam Sutcliffe from
Edmonton, north London (still under-age at 17), his older brother Ted, 19, and
their mates – the
250-ish 2/1st City Of London Battalion Royal Fusiliers comrades
who’d survived Gallipoli – had concluded three months hard-worked R&R in
Egypt and sailed to France. Their chief concern remained to save the Battalion
from disbandment, as threatened by the powers-that-be. Set a challenge to prove,
via their performance in training, that they should form the veteran core of a
fully reinforced 2/1st, they set to with a will – regardless of what France and
the Western Front might shortly throw at them…
FOOTSOLDIERSAM SPEAKS
Last week, my father recalled the Fusiliers’
voyage from Alexandria to Marseilles and then the much interrupted three-day
train journey north to Rouen – a pleasant progress involving a good deal of
wine and, for himself, a souvenir kiss.
Now
they reach their destination, the massive encampment outside Rouen and pile
into their training – no matter how barmy some of it seems to be:
‘And so to Rouen*, where the British Army had a huge base
camp. Perhaps we hoped that a small unit like ours would be lost sight of among
so many; but no, our training was taken out of the hands of our officers and
NCOs.
Each day we were
marched off to an intensive training ground where we had our first experience
of a battle course. With fixed bayonets we would charge forward, jump a ditch,
climb a wall, then see ahead a line of hanging sacks which represented men. We
had to stab them with our bayonets, the while we emitted blood-curdling yells
calculated to scare the enemy stiff before we skewered him. Instructors lined
the course, swearing at us, urging us lazy bastards to scream and stab. The
whole thing was like some horrible, mad orgy and they soon had us behaving like
the lunatics they appeared to have become.
Our frantic
performance did have a purpose, of course, however daft it looked. One day, the
Sergeant who put us through our paces marched us into some lovely woods, had us
sit down, and made a pretty little speech – it almost brought maidenly blushes
to our cheeks. We had, he said, passed the battle course with distinction and
he was sorry he had only just been told, before the morning session, we weren’t
“rookies” straight out from Britain, but veterans of the Gallipoli campaign. He
appeared concerned that we had been put to this trouble and assured us we would
not be bothered by that sort of thing any more.
Personally, I had
no wish to be regarded as an old hand at the shoot-and-stab lark and reckoned
that, if we were to be sent to the Front in France, then the more I knew about
tactics up there the better.
Thereafter, we
trained once more under our own officers, our efforts directed towards drilling
and marching in preparation for a passing-out inspection. The General in charge
of the Rouen base would decide our fate.
You can imagine how
hard we tried, repeating all the drill movements hour after hour, concluding
with a fixed-bayonets march-past. Came the day and, watched by the General who
stood throughout on a rostrum, we executed our routines – very well, we felt.
Then we marched off home and, full of hope, awaited the big man’s verdict.
The parade at
which the verdict would be announced found us tense but confident. The message
read out by the Major spoke of devotion to duty, splendid efficiency, and a
march-past which would have done credit to the Grenadier Guards. Delighted, and
certain we would soon be made up to Battalion strength and soldier on together,
we celebrated in our various ways.’
Well, an outing into town was one obvious way
for the troops to let their hair down. But, as it turned out, Sam found himself
with the wrong companion for the kind of excursion he had in mind:
‘A man called Haines, who belonged to my original H Company,
surprised me by asking me to go with him into the town of Rouen. From the camp,
we could cover much of the distance by electric tram – the single-deck type
popular on the Continent. I looked forward to sight of the Seine because my
father had told me long ago about an incident during a holiday in France**;
bathing with schoolmates near the bridge in Rouen, he got into difficulties and
was rescued only just in time. I leant over the bridge and looked for a likely
spot from which boys might dive. But buildings occupied the banks for as far as
I could see. Many years had passed since my dad was a boy, and what had I hoped
to see, anyway, to mark the spot where the near-tragedy had occurred? A hole in
the river maybe? But I did feel a sentimental sort of connection. A bit of
homesickness.
After that, I
wanted to see the cathedral, again on my dad’s account, because he had
described a large and wonderful stained-glass window he’d admired in that fine
building. Haines told me he had not come to town to look at that sort of place,
but still we sought information about it, crossed to the town side of the
bridge, took a turning to the left and walked towards it up a narrow, uphill
street.
Two items I
recall: a bucketful of slops tipped from a window high above narrowly missed
us, and then we were passed by a very short, bearded man dressed in a suit of green
velvet, comprising a longish jacket with white, lace frills, along with
breeches, hose and buckled shoes. His appearance, the narrow street and
consequent dim light suggested to me a connection with evil in the little man,
and caused a feeling of foreboding.
The cathedral was
splendid, with several quite wonderful windows, but Haines remained anxious to
move on. He suggested having a drink and we entered a place which, from its
appearance, I took to be the kind of estaminet where a glass of wine or beer
could be had cheaply.
Inside, though, I
saw no bar, only some marble-topped tables and chairs. Then, unprompted, an
electric bell rang loudly – it shook me, being so unexpected – a door opened
and in marched a line of eight or so women dressed in gowns of various colours.
Facing us, they threw open these gowns and stood there, obviously inviting
inspection and selection. None of them was young, some as old, I judged, as my
mother***. I hope I didn’t show the revulsion I felt. I expected my companion
to get out with me right away, but instead he pointed to one woman. She stepped
forward and he departed with her.
I was in a
dilemma, but made it clear by my actions that I wasn’t interested and the women
marched out – all except one. By now I felt scared and ordered wine to
propitiate whichever invisible person ran the establishment. It meant spending
a couple of scarce francs, but provided time in which to think. I remember
pouring myself a glass from the bottle, pushing it towards the woman and making
signs that she should help herself… and when she had drunk that, insisting she
had another glass. Some time passed, the awkward situation becoming ever more
distressing for me. Relief came with the reappearance of Haines. I stood up,
waved farewell, and was outside the place in a second.
Naturally, I
protested about being let in for a rotten experience****, but Haines laughed
that off. He’d assumed I’d known what it was all about, whereas I would have
expected a chap who wanted that sort of thing to choose a man with similar
tastes to his own for a visit to the town. I recall asking him if he was
married. He was, of course, so that accounted for his need of a woman to fill a
wartime lack in his life.
From cathedral to
brothel, from beauty to horror, from procreation to recreation… And from
prostitution, commercial copulation, battle, murder, and sudden death, Good
Lord deliver us.’
* Rouen: by the Seine in
north-western France, historic capital of Normandy, famous for its cathedral
(consecrated in 1063 by William the Conqueror, no less), Joan of Arc’s
execution, and as the birthplace of playwright Pierre Corneille, painter
Théodore Géricault, novelist Gustave Flaubert, and President François Hollande.
The arithmetic of the 2/1st’s journey suggests Sam’s Battalion got there on
April 29 or 30, 1916 (a Friday/Saturday that year for those who like to build
these things into the picture).
** This story must date
from the late 1870s when Sam’s father/my grandfather, Charles Philip Sutcliffe,
was in his teens. At that time the family owned a tile works in Manchester and
lived in some luxury. Shortly after my father’s birth in 1898, Charles lost
control of the family business and fortune and they fell into “ruin”, which is
why Sam and his siblings grew up poor in Edmonton, north London.
*** Sam’s mother/my
grandmother, Lily Emma, was 43 at the time.
**** By my count, this
was the third, maybe fourth, time my father’s Memoir reported him resisting the
blandishments of prostitutes. He followed the strict morality instilled by the
omnipresent mentor of his mid-teens, Mr Frusher (an alias), his
vicar/choirmaster/Scoutmaster/music teacher. Also, of course, as he implies
here, inexperience made him scared of the whole business. He remained a virgin
until some while after his return home from the war in late 1918 – so he told
me and I believe him, not only because he remained a strenuously honest man,
but because he told me a little about his lively sex life thereafter so it
wasn’t a subject on which he kept secrets from me or posterity (such as it may
be for a Nobody Of Any Importance).
All
the best –
FSS
Next week: The fate of
the 2/1st is decided – or How To Demoralise A Bunch Of Battle-Hardened Young
Volunteers Without Really Trying…
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