WW1 The Great War 1914-1918

01/07/2025

This day in 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army and one of the most infamous days of World War One. British forces suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 fatalities. They gained just three square miles of territory.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

11/11/2024

On this Armistice Day anniversary, I always spare a thought in particular for Private George Edwin Ellison born in York, England on 10 August 1878.

Private Ellison was the last British soldier to be killed in action during the First World War. He died at 09:30 am on 11th November 1918 (90 minutes before the armistice came into effect), shot by a sniper while on a patrol in woodland on the outskirts of Mons, Belgium.

I took this photo in October 2019 while on a visit to pay my respects at his final resting place.

He is buried at St Symphorien military cemetery, Mons, Belgium.

We will remember them.

01/07/2024

In memory of the 1st & 2nd Battalions, Royal Dublin Fusiliers who died on the 1st July, 1916.

View of the Thiepval Memorial, France.

11/11/2023

Today, on armistice day as we remember the lives lost during World War 1 and indeed, all wars, spare a special thought for Henry Gunther who is believed to be the last Allied Soldier killed on November 11th, 1918.

All told among Allies, there were over 11,000 casualties, including 2,738 killed, on the morning of November 11.

The very last of these was Henry Gunther, a 23-year-old German American who had worked as a clerk and bookkeeper for National Bank of Baltimore before getting his draft notice. Having faced anti-German hatred in Baltimore, Gunther kept his head down and got promoted to supply sergeant with the 313th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Division.

Gunther shipped to France in July 1918. Catching a glimpse of the misery of the trenches—with their mud and stench, danger and horror—he wrote to a friend back home to stay clear of the war and especially to avoid frontline service if he could.

An Army postal censor intercepted the letter and passed it on to Gunther’s commanding officer. Gunther was busted to private, removed from supply, and made a rifleman on the frontlines.
worse. His 313th Regiment began almost 60 days of continuous combat, most of it in the bloody Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Gunther survived the meat grinder unscathed, except for a noticeable change of mood. He became brooding and withdrawn, stung especially by rumors in the ranks that he was a German sympathizer.

The worse the fighting got, the more determined Gunther became to prove his loyalty and courage.

On the morning of November 11, Gunther’s Company A was charging forward, as ordered. The objective was the tiny village of Ville-Devant-Chaumont twelve miles north of Verdun and almost as close to the Belgian border.

The men marched, bayonets fixed, through the fog across a marsh at 9:30am, 90 minutes before the ceasefire. German artillery opened up, and some of Gunther’s comrades fell.

Word reached the men that an Armistice had been signed, due to take effect at 11:00am. But along with that message came another from Brigadier General William Nicholson: “There will be absolutely no let-up until 11:00 a.m.”

A few minutes before 11:00am, the men of Company A spotted the village through the fog. Two German machine guns stood guard at the edge of the village. Gunther and the other American soldiers lay still opposite the guns, counting the moments until the war was over. The Germans, too, held their fire.

Suddenly, Gunther jumped up and charged the machine guns. His fellow soldiers shouted for him to stop, as did the Germans. In fact, the machine gunners stood up and waved, urging him to turn around. Then, Gunther fired a shot. The Germans had no choice. They fired back in a five round burst. One bullet struck Gunther in the left temple, and he fell to the ground. Those who were there swore that the rumbling of artillery stopped the very moment his body hit the earth.

If Gunther’s suicidal charge was meant to redeem his reputation with the Army, it worked. General Pershing’s statement on the end of hostilities the next day specifically named Gunther as the last American killed in the war. The Army subsequently restored his rank of sergeant and even awarded him a Distinguished Service Cross. Back home, VFW Post 1858 would be named after him. And, 90 years after his death, the French government dedicated a memorial “En Hommage à Henry Gunther” on the spot where he fell.

(Acknowledgement to The Veterans Breakfast Club)

03/07/2023

RIP soldier

Léon Gautier is being remembered as a "defender of freedom" for his role opposing N**i Germany.

09/09/2022

‘Tom Kettle was a truly great Irishman of whom we should all be immensely proud’

16/08/2022

RIP, Fr William Doyle MC (March 3rd 1873 - August 16th 1917), KIA, Langemarck, Belgium.

Today we remember William Joseph Gabriel Doyle, MC, better known as Willie Doyle, a Irish Roman Catholic priest who was killed in action on the 16th August 1917 while serving as a military chaplain to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers during the First World War.

Father William Doyle was born at Dalkey, Co Dublin on 3rd March, 1873, the youngest of seven children. He was ordained as a Jesuit in 1907 and volunteered to serve as a Military Chaplain at the front in 1914.

He was appointed to the 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers, 16th (Irish) Division, in November 1915. His first experience of battle was at Loos where he was caught in the German poison gas attack on 26 April. He ministered to the soldiers in the midst of the battle, displaying a total disregard for his own safety. He was mentioned in dispatches but his Colonel’s recommendation for the Military Cross was not accepted because he had not been long enough at the front. He was presented with the parchment of merit of the 49th Brigade.

In May 1916, he had a lucky escape: "I was standing in a trench, quite a long distance from the firing line, a spot almost as safe as Dalkey (his home village) itself, talking to some of my men when we heard in the distance the scream of a shell......none of us had calculated that this gentleman had made up his mind to drop into the trench itself, a couple of paces from where I stood. What really took place in the next ten seconds I cannot say. I was conscious of a terrific explosion and the thud of falling stones and debris. I thought the drums of my ears were split by the crash, and I believe I was knocked down by the concussion, but when I jumped to my feet I found that the two men who had been standing at my left hand, the side the shell fell, were stretched on the ground dead, though I think I had time to give them absolution and anoint them. The poor fellow on my right was lying badly wounded in the head; but I myself , though a bit stunned and dazed by the suddenness of the whole thing, was absolutely untouched, though covered with dirt and blood."

In August 1916, he took part in the fighting at Ginchy and Guillemont. His description of Leuze Wood is striking: "The first part of our journey lay through a narrow trench, the floor of which consisted of deep thick mud, and the bodies of dead men trodden under foot. It was horrible beyond description, but there was no help for it, and on the half-rotten corpses of our own brave men we marched in silence, everyone busy with his own thoughts...... Half an hour of this brought us out on the open into the middle of the battlefield of some days previous. The wounded, at least I hope so, had all been removed, but the dead lay there stiff and stark with open staring eyes, just as they had fallen. Good God, such a sight! I had tried to prepare myself for this, but all I had read or pictured gave me little idea of the reality. Some lay as if they were sleeping quietly, others had died in agony or had had the life crushed out of them by mortal fear, while the whole ground, every foot, was littered with heads or limbs, or pieces of torn human bodies. In the bottom of one hole lay a British and a German soldier, locked in a deadly embrace, neither had any weapon but they had fought on to the bitter end. Another couple seemed to have realised that the horrible struggle was none of their making, and that they were both children of the same God; they had died hand-in-hand. A third face caught my eye, a tall, strikingly handsome young German, not more, I should say, than eighteen. He lay there calm and peaceful, with a smile of happiness on his face, as if he had had a glimpse of Heaven before he died. Ah, if only his poor mother could have seen her boy it would have soothed the pain of her broken heart."

In December, 1916, he was transferred to 8th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He met his fellow Jesuit Father Frank Browne who was attached to the 2nd and 9th Dublins. His concern for his men shines through his letters and diaries.

"I found the dying lad - he was not much more- so tightly jammed into a corner of the trench that it was almost impossible to get him out. Both legs were smashed, one in two or three places, so his chances of life were small, and there were other injuries as well. What a harrowing picture that scene would have made. A splendid young soldier, married only a month they told me, lying there, pale and motionless in the mud and water with the life crushed out of him by a cruel shell. The stretcher bearers hard at work binding up as well as they may, his broken limbs; round about a group of silent Tommies looking on and wondering when will their turn come. Peace for a moment seems to have taken possession of the battlefield, not a sound save the deep boom of some far-off gun and the stifled moans of the dying boy, while as if anxious to hide the scene, nature drops her soft mantle of snow on the living and dead alike."

He was awarded the Military Cross in January, 1917 though many believed that he deserved the Victoria Cross for his bravery under fire. He took part in the attack on Wytschaete Ridge in June,1917. Fr.Browne was transferred to the Irish Guards at the start of August which left Fr. Doyle to service four battalions by himself.

He had a number of close calls before he was killed by a shell along with three officers on 16th August, on Frezenberg Ridge.

One of the most moving tributes to Fr Doyle came in a letter to the “Glasgow Weekly News” from a Belfast Presbyterian soldier who wrote that:

“Father Doyle was a good deal among us. We couldn’t possibly agree with his religious opinions, but we simply worshipped him for other things. He didn’t know the meaning of fear and he didn’t know what bigotry was. He was as ready to risk his life to take a drop of water to a wounded Ulsterman as to assist men of his own faith and regiment. If he risked his life in looking after Ulster Protestant soldiers once he did it a hundred times in the last few days. The Ulstermen felt his loss more keenly than anybody.

Today we remember him.

John: 15:13

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”





www.asauk.org
Registered Charity NIC108368

08/08/2022

August 8th: On this day in 1918, the Allied 100 day offensive which would lead to the end of the Great War on November 11th, began with the Battle of Amiens

This battle opened with an attack by more than 10 Allied divisions—Australian, Canadian, British and French forces—with more than 500 tanks. Through careful preparation, the Allies achieved surprise. The attack, led by the British Fourth Army, broke through the German lines, and tanks attacked German rear positions, sowing panic and confusion.

By the end of the day, a gap 15 mi (24 km) wide had been created in the German line south of the Somme. The Allies had taken 17,000 prisoners and 339 guns. Total German losses were estimated to be 30,000 men, while the Allies had suffered about 6,500 killed, wounded and missing. The collapse in German morale led General Erich Ludendorff to dub it "the Black Day of the German Army".

31/07/2022

On this day 122 years ago, one of the bloodiest battles of the great war commenced.

Battle of Passchendaele
31 July – 10 November 1917

The Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire.

The battle commenced on 31st 1917, and was spearheaded by the British commander in chief, Sir Douglas Haig.

After a major Allied offensive by the French failed the previous May, Haig determined that his troops should launch another one that same year, proceeding according to his mistaken belief that the German army at this point in World War I was on the verge of collapse, and could be broken completely by a major Allied victory.

As the site for the offensive Haig chose the much-contested Ypres Salient, in the Flanders region of Belgium, a region that had seen two previous German-led offensives. Ostensibly aimed at destroying German submarine bases located on the north coast of Belgium, Haig’s Third Battle of Ypres began with significant Allied gains but soon bogged down due to heavy rains and thickening mud.

By the end of September, the British were able to establish control over a ridge of land east of the town of Ypres. From there, Haig pushed his commanders to continue the attacks towards the Passchendaele ridge, some 10 kilometers away.

As the battle stretched into its third month, the Allied attackers reached near-exhaustion, while the Germans were able to reinforce their positions with reserve troops released from the Eastern Front, where Russia’s army was in chaos.

Refusing to give up the ghost of his major victory, Haig ordered a final three attacks on Passchendaele in late October.

On 30th October, Canadian troops under British command were finally able to fight their way into the village; they were driven back almost immediately, however, and the bloodshed was enormous. “The sights up there are beyond all description,” one officer wrote weeks later of the fighting at Passchendaele, “it is a blessing to a certain extent that one becomes callous to it all and that one’s mind is not able to take it all in.”

Still Haig pushed his men on, and on November 6 the British and Canadian troops were finally able to capture Passchendaele, allowing the general to call off the attacks, claiming victory.

In fact, British forces were exhausted and downtrodden after the long, grinding offensive. With some 275,000 British casualties, including 70,000 dead.

Third Battle of Ypres proved to be one of the most costly and controversial Allied offensives of the Great War.

Today we remember them.

John: 15:13

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”





www.asauk.org
Registered Charity NIC108368

18/04/2022

Nothing changes

Men of the 4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders (51st Division) feeding a French refugee child in their improvised trench near Locon, Pas-de-Calais, during the German spring offensive, 10 April 1918.
© IWM Q 7855

19/12/2021

Finnish volunteers of the 27th Jäger Battalion in Latvia, 1916/1917.

The 27th Jäger Battalionwas a light infantry unit in the German Army from 1915–1918 which consisted mainly of volunteers of the Finnish Jäger Movement.

The recruitment of the Jäger volunteers from the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland had to be secret, since they were subjects of the Russian empire. It was dominated by German-influenced circles, such as university students and the upper middle class. The recruits were transported across Finland's western border via Sweden to Germany, where the volunteers were formed into the Royal Prussian 27th Jäger Battalion.

The Jäger Battalion fought in the ranks of the German Army from 1916 in the battles on the northern flank of the eastern front. After the outbreak of the Civil War in Finland the Jägers were engaged on the "White" (non-communist) side in the war and contributed heavily for the White victory. Educated as professional soldiers they were also fit to assume command as officers over the untrained troops of the Civil War.

After the Civil War many of the Jägers continued their military careers. Most of the commanders of army corps, divisions, and regiments during the second world war were Jägers.

Photograph taken by Erkki Räikkönen and was provided by the Finnish Heritage Agency.

color: https://www.facebook.com/Julius.colorization

10/11/2021

Lest we forget. On this day in 1917, the Battle of Passchendaele ended. 366 days later, the war itself would be over but for 500,000 men, the war and their young lives ended here.

Remembering those who fell at the Battle of Passchendaele 31st July - 10th November 1917.

The Allied assault was launched in the early hours of 31 July 1917. Because of the torrential rain, the British and Canadian troops found themselves fighting not only the Germans but a quagmire of stinking mud that swallowed up men, horses and tanks.

After three months, one week and three days of brutal trench warfare, the Allies finally recaptured the village of Passchendaele on the 10th November 1917 – but by then around a third of a million British and Allied soldiers had been killed or wounded in some of the most horrific trench warfare of the conflict.

Today we remember them.

John 15:13

“𝔊𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝔥𝔞𝔱𝔥 𝔫𝔬 𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰, 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔞 𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔩𝔞𝔶 𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔫 𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔩𝔦𝔣𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔣𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔰”




www.asauk.org
Registered Charity SCO48597