Beyond War, Beyond ‘Justice’, Beyond ‘taking sides’

For my own sake, my own sanity, and to reaffirm my own belief that ‘love is stronger than the power of death’ and that even in the darkest of days death and evil will not have the final say, I went in search of ‘other voices’ whose response to violence is not more violence. And some of those voices came to me from others. Below are some words, groups and people who have come to my attention in recent days which give me cause to hope. I hope they may encourage you too.

First - Rabbis for Human Rights, who have long been assisting Palestinian farmers with their annual olive harvest, in an act of solidarity and against settler violence inflicted by some of their Israeli compatriots. Despite heightened tensions, they have still been able to undertake that to some extent - as a link to this news report shows.

Next, an American-born Jew, Ori Hanan Weisberg, who now lives in Israel, and who was put onto me by a friend. This is one of his more recent posts (6 November 2023) from his Facebook site www.facebook.com/ori.weisberg.1232:

I’m thinking about joy. Which is a bit perverse. More than a bit. And I more than thinking about it. I’m seeking it. ….
But how can I seek joy when I am surrounded by death, and not death from disease but from savage human folly? It feels obscene to rejoice amid the slaughter, and when so many people I know are grieving for close friends and family members. And when so many people are dying in Gaza. Unseemly. Disrespectful. I certainly don’t want to numb myself as an escape. The moment requires grief and outrage and compassion. To lose that would entail a loss, or at least a muting of humanity. ..
 …Seeking joy doesn’t efface or erase or obscure or diminish it. It simply refuses to succumb to it. It gives me strength to oppose its savage sources. To resist the awful tyranny of violence. To refuse implosion. To stand up and stare down the abyss and accuse it without becoming an abyss. To raise the banner of life in the face of death. …
Both Israel and Palestine sorely need some good government right now, which we've lacked for...ever?

Finally, in this blog, I want to share excerpts from an Open Letter by various Palestinian Christian organisations (iuncluding Kairos Palestine, Bethlehem Bible College, YMCA and YWCA and Arab Orthodox Society, Jerusalem). Called “A Call for Repentance: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians” the letter
laments the renewed cycle of violence in the Holy Land and expresses “horror” at many western Christians unwavering support to Israel’s war against the people of Palestine.

Although many Christians in the West do not have a problem with the theological legitimization of war, the vast majority of Palestinian Christians do not condone violence—not even by the powerless and occupied. Instead, Palestinian Christians are fully committed to the way of Jesus in creative nonviolent resistance (Kairos Palestine, §4.2.3), which uses “the logic of love and draw[s] on all energies to make peace” (§4.2.5). Crucially, we reject all theologies and interpretations that legitimize the wars of the powerful. …

Finally, and we say it with a broken heart, we hold western church leaders and theologians who rally behind Israel’s wars accountable for their theological and political complicity in the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, which have been committed over the last 75 years.”

Read the full statement here: "An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians".

The legacy of war is long

That is the main thought I have had in recent days. The legacy of war is long, much of it hidden and unknown. It is intriguing that, just after the 100 year commemoration of WW1, the COVID19 threat should remind us of the 1918/19 worldwide flu epidemic, which killed more people worldwide than the War (more than 50 million compared to 20 million deaths from the war). But it is usually war and conflict that makes the headlines, and which are more popularly revisited in books and films.

At last year’s Anzac Day commemorations, I wondered: how long do we keep ‘remembering’ and in what way? How long, and for what purpose? Now that the 100 year anniversary has past, should we remember in a different way?

 

Well, this year, the COVID threat has kept us honouring Anzac Day at home. It’s made participation easier for all – and seen less cars in the street. Perhaps it’s also reminded us of the ‘freedoms’ we take for granted, freedoms denied in many of the world’s conflict zones, refugee camps, or states of oppression. Who knows what next year will bring? Will COVID19 and its fallout make us think and act differently, after being ‘united’ against this unseen non-human entity?

Often, it takes longer to ‘recover’ from war, than the time spent waging it. Longer-term effects may be hidden, not attributed to the war, manifest themselves years down the track, or are further complicated by other events and crises. My father came out to New Zealand along with many others in the mid 1950s – partly because of the depressed conditions and unemployment in post-WW2 Netherlands.

And while we remember on the large scale – every young death had its significant impact on a particular family and circle of close friends. While we remember today the legacy of war for New Zealand and Australia, let us remember also the impacts in Europe, Turkey, Palestine – and all places where war and conflict has happened and is happening. Let us strive for peace, dignity and freedom for all. Honour the war dead by ending war.

 

Photos: 

A memorial in St Josse-ten-Noode, Brussels, Belgium: 

 

1914-1918

1939-1945

Commune (Community) of St Josse-ten-Noode – to her inhabitants who fell on the field of honour: combatants, resisters, prisoners and political deportees.

Long March to Germany/Demobilisation

There's relatively little coverage in mainstream media on what happened after the fighting ended on 11 November, but it wasn't until October 1919 that Sydney Williams returned home to New Zealand. Here are excerpts from the concluding pages of New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18. From the March into Germany until demobilisation in January 2019.

On November 13th, after the Artillery had rejoined the Division at Quievy, the announcement was made that the New Zealand Division was to form part of the Army of Occupation which was to march to Germany and occupy the bridgeheads on the Rhine. ...
The Divisional Artillery remained at Quievy from the 13th until the 28th November, cleaning up and getting everything in readiness for the trek to Germany, which was all to be done by road. Horses that were lame or poor in condition were evacuated, and fresh horses were drawn from the remount depôt to bring batteries and ammunition columns up to their establishment. On the 28th November the whole Divisional Artillery set out for Escarmain—the first stage on the long trek to Cologne.....

 

One of the Mobile Trench Mortars
[Official Photo - sourced through http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1NZAr-t1-body-d2-d12.html]

 

The frontier having been crossed at Solre-sur-Sambre during the 4th December, the route now lay through Belgium, and in every town and every village the New Zealanders were received with such enthusiasm that their march became almost a triumphal progress. Many of the inhabitants gave up their most comfortable rooms for the soldiers, and to have them billeted in the house was regarded as a privilege. ....
The last night in billets in Belgian territory was spent at Verviers, where the enthusiasm of the population knew no bounds, their hospitality being more pressing and open-handed than anything that had hitherto been experienced.

It was a different story once they crossed the German frontier on December 20th:

Passing under the triumphal arch, decorated with evergreens and the flags of the Allied Nations, which marked the Belgian boundary, brigades marched down the slope and through the little village of Eupen, that stood just inside the German frontier. Had there been no other indication of the fact, the attitude of the civil population would have been sufficient to tell the soldiers that they, at last, were actually on German soil. When the first New Zealanders went through Eupen, the streets were absolutely deserted, and beyond a furtive lifting of blinds, there was no sign of life in the dwelling houses. The German population were evidently somewhat fearful of the consequences to themselves of the Allied occupation, but they soon recovered from their initial fears, and exhibited a conciliatory attitude and a desire to please, which was no doubt prompted by self-interest. After entering Germany the column marched through a hilly and inhospitable countryside, until it reached the billetting area near the poor and scattered village of Rotgen. Before night fell and batteries had settled down in their quarters, hail and sleet had begun to fall, and the bitter cold made the draughty barns and outbuildings but a poor substitute for the comfortable billets which had been the rule in the march through France and Belgium.

On December 23rd, the march was resumed to the Hurtgen-Birgel area, and on the following day through Duren, where were located the headquarters of the 7th Brigade Army Corps, to the Blatzheim-Kerpen area. Christmas Day, cold and somewhat cheerless, was spent here, and on the following morning the final stage of the journey was commenced. Cologne was entered about midday; the remainder of the Division had preceded the Artillery, having gone on by train from Verviers. The long column marched through Cologne, and crossing the Rhine by the Hohenzollern Bridge, proceeded to their respective areas in Deutz and Kalk on the eastern banks of the river.
...
In Cologne, batteries had only the ordinary routine to occupy their time and consequently after they had settled down in their quarters and removed the stains of travel from their vehicles and equipment all ranks had ample leisure and opportunity to go sight-seeing in the city itself or to make excursions to various places, attractive or interesting, along the banks of the Rhine.
The inhabitants of the city probably realised that the presence of troops of the Army of Occupation was not without its advantages, as it secured them from the possibility of any disturbances and upheavals, such as were then taking place in other party of Germany. At any rate the majority of them displayed a quite friendly attitude towards the British troops who were quartered in and about the city. The civilian population suffered a great many hardships as a result of the war conditions, and there was almost a total lack of many commodities which normally are regarded as indispensable. There was no lack of amusement or gaiety, however, and the cafes and places of entertainment were generally crowded each night; the strongest attraction for many of the soldiers being the "Opernhaus," where for a very modest charge they could hear operas produced by companies which generally attained a high standard of ability. They were produced in German, of course, but that circumstance did not seriously detract from their enjoyment. ...
The demobilisation of the Division commenced with the New Year. On January 1st, 1919, the first draft, consisting of 1914 men, left Cologne for England, en route to New Zealand. In the bitter cold of mid-winter the two days' train journey to the coast was tedious and uncomfortable in the extreme. On arrival in England drafts proceeded direct to one of the New Zealand Base Depôts, the majority of the artillerymen going to Sling Camp. From there, after a period of leave, and a longer period of waiting, they proceeded to the port of embarkation, and finally set out on their return to New Zealand.

Once under way, demobilisation proceeded rapidly. All stores, equipment, and guns were returned to the ordnance authorities, and the horses were disposed of after being divided into three main classes. A certain number of mares were selected for breeding purposes, others were marked for retention in the Imperial Army, and the remainder were sold, either to be butchered or used for general purposes. By the end of January demobilisation was practically complete and the Divisional Artillery, as a unit, had ceased to exist.

 However, for my grandfather and for many others, it was off to the VD Hospital (not for the first time) at Codford, which was close to the New Zealand base at Sling. According to his war records, he was there 5 months from 13 January to 14 June - it seems a long time to me, but I'm not familiar with such medical matters, nor this marginalised and overlooked part of our war history. That awaits some more research ... and another story.

The Last Post - for now

Today commemorates the ending of World War One with the signing of the Armistice on 11 November. The news was greeted by soldiers of the Artillery with little emotion - no doubt war wearied by this engagement that was predicted when it started to be 'over by Christmas'. According to the New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18 gives the news a brief paragraph before going into  an eight-page recap over what the Artillery had achieved in the preceding four years and summary of key movements:

The Armistice took effect from 11 a.m. on November 11th. The official intimation to this effect, announcing that hostilities would cease at 11 a.m., was received by units of the Divisional Artillery when they were on the march to Quievy or preparing to take the road. The announcement was received calmly, with no cheering, no demonstration. For these men, tired in body and mind and fresh from the tragic fields of battle, this momentous intelligence was too vast in its consequences to be appreciated in a single thought.

Though the fighting was over, the War did not officially conclude until the Treaty of Versailles with Germany on 28 June 1919; while the New Zealand forces would become part of the Army of Occupation of Germany, and my grandfather would not return to New Zealand til late 1919.

Given that, further blogs may be posted on the aftermath of the war, and covering key gaps or further reflections I have not been able to provide in my intermittent postings.

6 November - temporary bridges

On 6 November,  New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18 reports the Artillery had problems getting through forest due to blown-up bridges and mined roads. 

A working party was, therefore, dispatched to make an endeavour to erect a temporary bridge over one stream, whilst the track running south-east through the forest to the north of the road was reconnoitred, and an advanced section of the 2nd Battery was got through and into action half way through the forest. A section of the 6th (Howitzer) Battery also got into action a little further to the north. About midday an attempt was made to get the remaining guns of the 6th Battery across the temporary bridge which had been constructed. It was a risky business; but the guns and vehicles were got safely over with the loss of one waggon, which went over the side into the stream, rendering the bridge unsafe for further traffic. As a demand had been made for some howitzers and 18-prs. to support a small operation by the 42nd Division, a section of the 5th Battery was sent forward over the forest track, the 9th Battery following the route taken by the advanced section of the 6th Battery, and going into action in the same locality. 

The bridge having been repaired again, with the assistance of some Pioneers of the 42nd Division, the remainder of the guns and waggons of the Brigade were got across by dark, with the exception of two waggons which went over the side, but four others which had attempted to advance through the cross roads on the northern edge of the forest found the way blocked by mine craters. With the exception of the 9th Battery, and one section of the 6th Battery, which were on the northern edge of the forest, the whole of the 2nd Brigade had succeeded in getting into action near la Corne by 7 p.m.

5 November 1918 - through the Forest de Mormal

After the capture of Le Quesnoy, the New Zealand Division were still pressing ahead to the East through the Forest de Mormal. New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18 reports:

Persistent rain fell on November 5th, rendering doubly difficult the advance through the dense and tangled undergrowth of the forest. Moving forward behind the barrage the infantry encountered little opposition until they reached Forrester's House, considerably more than half way through the forest. This was strongly held by machine guns, but was eventually taken under cover of artillery fire. At 9 a.m. the 3rd Brigade moved forward into positions of readiness near Rue Haute; the 12th Battery was detached from the brigade and went forward in support of the infantry. The 2nd Brigade moved up through Herbignies, and along the western edge of the forest until it reached the 3rd Brigade area. Batteries were in this neighbourhood by 5 p.m., but did not fire that night. The road along the western edge of the forest was in very bad condition, which was rapidly being made worse by the heavy rain. The 1st Battery of the 1st Brigade advanced in support of the infantry, the 3rd and 15th Batteries bivouacking on the edge of the forest. By evening the infantry had gone right through the forest, and reached their final objective on the eastern outskirts. That night the New Zealand Division, less artillery, was relieved in the line by the 42nd Division. The artillery came under the command of the C.R.A., 42nd Division.

The last week of the war

Despite high ideals I have not been following the New Zealand Field Artillery closely in the final months of the war, as the tide turns against the Germans and the New Zealand Division with the other Allies has advanced relatively quickly in recent weeks. I am in the chapter on Le Quesnoy in  New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18. It is the final chapter. The battle for Le Quesnoy itself took place on 4 November and was over in a day. I do not know if all soldiers would have concurred with the assessment of the official history:

This was the last occasion on which the New Zealand Artillery paved the way for the advance of their infantry in a major operation, and from the complicated nature of the barrage and the masterly precision with which it advanced through all its stages, it may be regarded as a fitting climax to the work of the guns in supporting the infantry in attack. It was known that there was a large number of civilians in Le Quesnoy, and it was therefore decided that the barrage should sweep the ramparts garrisoned by the enemy, and as it moved forward completely encircle the town, but that no fire should fall within the limits of the town itself.... 

The battle which was about to open was destined to be the last of the long series of desperate combats, in which the Division had figured since that distant April morning, when the New Zealanders had first leapt from their boats on to the shores of Gallipoli and climbed the hills to grapple with the Turk. If their arms had not achieved invariable success, each successive engagement had added fresh lustre to the laurels which the New Zealanders had won for themselves in the Gallipoli campaign; and disappointments had been endured with the same calm in which the soldiers viewed their victories.

The turning point

Finding the New Zealand Field Artillery again, three months after my last post, I find we are at the final decisive stages of the war.  'The Turning Point' chapter in New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18 begins noting the slow recovery of the British Armies (presumably including New Zealand) from the "smashing blows" the Germans had dealt in March and April but they had been completed, and the situation had changed:

The military situation on the Western Front at the beginning of August wore an outlook very different from the sombre uncertainty in which the future had been shrouded during those terrible days when the German divisions were sweeping forward with apparently irresistible impetus towards Amiens, and towards the Channel ports. .... The Franco-British Armies remained intact, and still barred the way to the coast. But the Germans still retained the initiative after the battles of the Somme and the Lys, despite their heavy commitments and heavy losses. The peril which menaced the Allied cause could not be said to have been effectually dispelled until after the definite collapse of the ambitious offensive launched by the enemy east and south-west of Rheims on July 15th, and the striking success of Marshal Foch's deliberately planned counter attack three days later on the front between Chateau Thierry and Soissons. That was the decisive turning point in the dramatic rush of events. The German army had made its great effort in the springtide of its strength, and the effort had failed. Thereafter the future of the Allied cause was no longer uncertain.

Retreat from Messines

The chapter 'The Retreat from Messines" in New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18 provides quite a detailed account of attack and counter-attack and difficulties faced by the Artillery around Messines from mid-March 1918. At this particular point 100 years ago, the history relates:

Several S.O.S. calls were answered during the day and evening of the 16th [April], and again next morning, when the enemy placed a heavy barrage along the front. Waggon lines at Westoutre were also shelled by hostile guns during the morning, resulting in a loss of men and horses, and the evacuation of the positions.
Forward observing officers kept closely in touch with the situation during the day, and batteries placed protective fire on threatened points, and engaged a great deal of enemy movement. The enemy brought up more guns, and hostile fire increased in volume, battery areas being severely shelled. The 5th Battery suffered heavy casualties during the morning of April 18th, losing two officers and five other ranks killed and twelve other ranks wounded; the battery was forced to evacuate the position, and as the other batteries were also coming under fire, the brigade withdrew to fresh positions.
By April 19th the front covered by the Brigade had been taken over by French troops, but the artillery in support was not withdrawn, and the brigade remained in the line supporting the French infantry until the 23rd, when all batteries were withdrawn to their waggon lines. The brigade proceeded the following day to the Staple area, where it remained in billets for three days. During this period sixty-three reinforcements and seventy remounts reached the brigade, and the guns were sent to the Ordnance Workshops for much-needed overhaul.
The brigade suffered heavy casualties during this brief period of active fighting, which besides being a severe trial on the endurance of the personnel at the guns and at the waggon lines, must be regarded as a most severe and searching, and in all respects successful, test of the initiative of commanding officers and their subordinates and of the efficiency of the whole brigade.

 

 

Prelude to the German Spring Offensive at Amiens

Around this time 100 years ago, Sydney Williams' war record shows he was transferred on 19 March 1918 to "Y" Battery from the "Z" Trench Mortar Battery to which he had been attached since August 1916.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18 records of this time say: 

The enemy displayed marked activity along the whole of the Ypres sector during March. ... hostile batteries were persistently active on forward areas, and there was a recrudescence of long range shelling in back areas. Anxiety was felt as to whether the heavy shelling of forward areas might not be the prelude to infantry action, and counter-preparation was ordered and fired in the early morning of the 10th, and on the three following mornings. There were constant alarms during the week that followed, but the tension remained unbroken until on the 21st March intelligence was received that the long-expected German offensive had been launched in the south. Details at first were meagre and, as always, rumours and vague reports of the most varied description sprang to life with a fecundity that is usual at such times. It was soon learnt, however, that the enemy had struck on a very wide front with tremendous weight, and that the situation was one of extreme gravity. On March 22nd Brigades and the D.A.C. were warned to be ready to move, and detailed instructions regarding reliefs were issued.

This was the beginning of the German bid for Amiens. 

Cleaning up - Winter in the Salient

As noted in the previous blog, the New Zealand Field Artillery had taken over new positions in the line at Ypres at the end of last year (1917). It was winter. There was much cleaning up to do, as the  New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18 says in 'Wintering in the Salient':

Many of the gun positions were in an indescribable condition; the pits were water-logged and innocent of approaches or decent platforms, and were littered about with empty charge cases, and odd piles of ammunition which seemed on the point of sinking out of sight in the mud. Too much could not be expected in an area where a prolonged period of heavy fighting had been followed by persistently bad weather; but improvements were possible, and steps were at once taken to have them effected. Pits were drained, cleaned up, and provided with weather-proof ammunition racks and stable platforms, and splinter-proof sleeping shelters were built for the crews. Before the hard weather came and bound the surface of the earth in its iron grip, nearly all the ammunition lying about the positions had been cleaned up, and most of the charge cases salved; .... All this was achieved, not in a day or a week, but after long and patient toil during the short daylight hours, and subject to the interruptions of enemy shelling. An immense amount of salving was done by the Division during these months, and the value of the material and ammunition collected from all parts of the sector ran into very big figures. Every waggon or ration cart that visited the forward areas returned with a load of material of some description, and every man in formed parties marching down from the line carried some small thing back to the "dump," where, in striking letters, was displayed a notice which queried of the passer-by what he had salved that day.
....
Platforms for the guns were constructed first, then command posts, shelter for the crews, ammunition pits, and, finally, some sort of overhead cover for the guns. ... The positions were being constructed on country which had been the scene of desperate fighting, and which was then but a wilderness of shell holes, half filled with water. It was heavy, tedious work, and often as the men dug they found grim reminders of the fighting that had ebbed and flowed on these slopes, in the unburied dead who had gradually sunk into the soft ground or had been half buried by the bursting shells.

Roads littered with broken waggons and ambulance carts

At this time 100 years ago, the New Zealand Division including Artillery were relieving British and Australian troops in the line at Ypres. The New Zealand 2nd Army Brigade rejoined the rest of the Division on about 6 December, after having spent several months serving at Nieuport near the coast.

Sydney Williams war record says he rejoined 'Z' Trench Mortar Battery on 3 November from hospital. However it is unclear from excerpt below from New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18, just where he was - with the Batteries being numbered.

The New Zealand Field Artillery moved into the line in support of their own troops in the first week in December. Batteries being still without guns, the gunners were taken up from Boeschepe in motor lorries, and took over the guns of the artillery then covering the Division. In this manner the 1^stPAGE 206Brigade (less the 15th Battery, which did not go into action until some few days later) relieved the 14th Brigade, R.F.A.; the 2nd (Army) Brigade, which had returned from the Belgian coast at the end of November, relieved the 3rd Australian Field Artillery Brigade; and the 3rd Brigade relieved the 18th Brigade, R.F.A. The relief was completed by December 6th. The Brigades covering the Division were grouped as follows:— "B" Group—2nd Brigade and 52nd Brigade R.F.A., under Lieut.-Colonel Sykes; "C" Group—3rd Brigade, under Lieut.-Colonel Falla; "D" Group—1st Brigade, under Lieut.-Colonel Symon. Headquarters of "B" Group were at the Tuilleries, of "C" Group at Halfway House, and of "D" Group at Hooge Crater. 

The prospect of wintering in the salient was faced with the philosophic acceptance of events that becomes a characteristic of the soldier. The men were nearly all quite familiar with the nature of the country, but the scene that unfolded itself as they left the lorries at the Birr Cross Roads, and proceeded on foot to the battery positions, was forbidding in the extreme. The way lay through the country over which the attacking divisions had fought their way in the Third Battle of Ypres, and on every hand the fighting had left its indelible impress. Nothing had been left untouched by the shell storms that had swept up and down and over every inch of the land. The roads, so busy through the long hours of darkness, were deserted by day and were littered on either side with broken waggons and limbers and ambulance carts, and all the wreckage of transport and material that accumulates along a road line during heavy fighting. Batteries of the 1st Brigade were situated about the slopes forward from Hooge Crater; the 9th and 6th (Howitzer) Batteries of the 2nd Brigade were near Glencorse Wood, and the 2nd and 5th, with the 12th Battery of the 3rd Brigade, were on the left of Westhoek; the remaining batteries of the 3rd Brigade, the 11th, 13th, and 4th (howitzer) were very close together near the Westhoek Cross Roads.

Passchendaele - 12 October 1917

As New Zealand History online says, "Passchendaele has been a byword for the horror of the Great War. In terms of lives lost in a single day, the failed attack on Bellevue Spur on 12 October was probably the greatest disaster in New Zealand’s history." The day left 843 New Zealand soldiers dead or mortally wounded, and a total of 2730 casualties (killed or wounded).

I have been following the lead-up to the battle in New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18. As many will know, heavy rain in early October had left the area a muddy quagmire - providing atrocious conditions, and difficulty moving men, machines and animals. New Zealand History online says, "An attack on 9 October by British and Australian troops was to open the way for II ANZAC Corps to capture Passchendaele on the 12th. The plan failed. Without proper preparation and in the face of strong German resistance, the 9 October attack collapsed with heavy casualties."

Yet despite this, and the weather conditions becoming worse, "orders were at once issued for a renewal of the attack on the 12th, and instructions concerning the artillery support were received by the New Zealand Brigades on the afternoon of the 10th," according to New Zealand Artillery in the Field (published in 1922). It went on to sum up the situation on the 11 October:

 

Apart from the difficulties of haulage, the constant blocking of the roads by heavy guns caused a great deal of delay, and hung up the transport of ammunition as well as the moving of the guns. Only a small percentage of the guns had been brought forward, and they were without platforms to keep them from sinking in the mud. The situation was distinctly unpromising, but all had been done that was humanly possible in the time and under the conditions. The situation was such, however, that Brigadier-General Johnston, C.R.A. of the New Zealand Division, reported to both the Divisional and Corps Commanders that they could not depend on the artillery for the attack on the following day.

The account of the day is headed 'The Tragedy of October 12th", and includes:

Very heavy casualties had been suffered by both Brigades of Infantry which took part in the attack; the losses in killed and wounded numbered 2730. Communications were utterly disorganised, the greatest difficulty was experienced in getting rations and water to the men in the forward areas, and the condition of the wounded was pitiable in the extreme. Many lay all night in the mud, exposed to the hail and rain and the bitter cold....
From the moment the attack opened, the artillery barrage was weak and patchy as a direct result of the conditions under which the guns had to shoot; but this deficiency, though serious in itself, was not the chief factor in the tragic failure. The primary causes of the failure of the attack were the deep and continuous belts of uncut wire which faced the attacking infantry, and the massive concrete blockhouses, or pill-boxes, from which the enemy machine gunners shot down everything that moved. In short, it was lack of preparation. The Division was supported in the attack, in addition to heavy artillery, by eight brigades of field artillery, which totalled one hundred and forty-four 18-prs. and forty-eight 4.5in. howitzers. Some of these were still blocked on the road when the attack opened, and in the case of those that had reached the forward positions, the ground was so soft and water-logged that the guns simply sank up to the axles after the first few shots had been fired, and in some cases before a shot had been fired. The provision of stable platforms is an essential to good shooting at any time; but on the 12th it was only by desperate expedients that guns were kept in action at all. All the New Zealand batteries fired in the barrage; the gunners secured logs, odd bits of timber, anything, in fact, that would provide a foundation, and so contrived to keep their guns in action. ...

Despite the fact that the artillery was almost reduced to total immobility and that even movement on foot was a matter of extreme difficulty, orders were actually issued to certain batteries about this time regarding the provision of mobile sections of 18-prs. in readiness to co-operate in case of a rapid advance on the front by cavalry. And this at a time when even unburdened animals became so hopelessly bogged that extrication became impossible and they had to be destroyed. 

Fortunately, "the opportunity of assisting the cavalry in a "rapid advance" never arose."

One week before Messines - "incessant and destructive fire"

From New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18, one week before the attack on Messines Ridge, things turn more brutal and incessant. When one thinks of how many wars of various scales have been waged since these events 100 years ago - it is such an incredible waste of machine power and human lives:

On the last day in May most of the batteries spent some time cleaning up uncut wire in their zones, and by the end of the day all the wire within wire-cutting range in group zones was reported cut. From 6 a.m. this day onwards fire was maintained continuously, day and night, on all roads, bridges, communication trenches, light railway junctions, and transport halting places on the front. Thus there was no road or approach by which the enemy could transport stores or ammunition, or bring up reliefs for his weary and harassed infantry without being subject to this incessant and destructive fire. What mental and physical agony this meant when prolonged for over a week may readily be conjectured. The enemy guns were very active during the night of June 1, Hyde Park Corner, where there was always much traffic, being persistently shelled. A practice barrage with 75 per cent. of the guns only, was fired on June 2nd, and the same night the German positions in front of Messines were liberally gas-shelled. The weather continued bright and warm, and practice barrages were fired again on the 3rd and 5th. On the 3rd enemy planes were active low down over battery positions and Ploegsteert Wood was heavily shelled; but on the 5th hostile fire was particularly severe and effective. The positions of three batteries of the 311th Brigade, R.F.A., which were attached to "G" Group, were shelled practically all day. About 1,300 rounds of ammunition were destroyed, and the position was almost burnt out. The personnel were withdrawn, but returned at 3 p.m. to take part in the corps practice barrage. Two minutes after this practice barrage started the men of one battery had to evacuate the position, owing to the danger from burning ammunition dumps in rear. All the rations and stores were destroyed, and the exploding ammunition put no fewer than five guns out of action. On the following day "G" Group did not fire as the positions, several of which were very exposed, were still being shelled at intervals, and it was not desired to give them completely away before the attack. 

From June 1st the daily expenditure of ammunition had been 150 rounds per gun and howitzer, and this expenditure continued right up to the day of attack. Prior to the assault there was to be no intense bombardment and no departure from what had been for some time the normal and customary procedure in the daily and nightly attention given to the enemy. It was a critical moment in the consummation of the scheme—the hour preceding its tumultuous birth—and anything that might give the vigilant German mind any idea of the hour of the attack was to be rigorously avoided. "It is essential," said the order on the subject, "that there should be no increase or slackening in the rate of fire before zero hour, and that everything should appear normal." Such was the density of the smoke and dust resulting from the ceaseless shelling of the enemy front that the whole countryside was completely hidden from aerial observation. A cessation of fire was in consequence ordered for fifteen minutes each day, to allow aeroplane photographs to be taken.

Camouflage, sports and horse shows prelude Messines battle

Two months on from my last blog about WWI proper, Grandad (100 years ago) and New Zealand today are preparing for the Battle of Messines - or commemorations thereof. Below are excerpts from New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18 which illustrate some of the work, relaxation, and other preparations by the Artillery in the final two months preceding a major assault on Messines Ridge:

Dressing station at Messines (Alexander Turnbull Library)
via: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/battle-messines

 On April 1st the 3rd Brigade was entrusted with the building of ten battery positions. The infantry assisted by providing working parties, and a dump was formed and material issued to the batteries as it was required. These magnum opus positions, as they were styled, had all to be carefully camouflaged, even before work was commenced, so that not the slightest indication of their presence might be observed by the enemy. Usually the site chosen was covered from end to end by great strips of green camouflage netting, and the men toiled under cover of this. ...

In pursuance of the policy of resting the Division by units, the Artillery Brigades were withdrawn from the line in turn for a period of two weeks, which were spent in training and recreation in the Lumbres area, near St. Omer.  ... While out of the line batteries carried out a certain amount of training, but a good deal of time was devoted to sport in the way of football competitions, sports meetings, and cross-country races. The men benefited very much by the spell; but in the 1st Brigade the horses returned in rather poor condition, due to the cold weather which had been experienced and the work during training. No interruption in the works in progress had been suffered by the process of spelling the brigades, and once they had returned and settled down again, work went on with renewed energy. ...

On May 13th, the Divisional Artillery Horse Show was held near Westhof Farm; the condition of the teams and vehicles entered in the show was in all respects excellent, and reflected the greatest credit on the drivers, to whose zeal and labour such creditable results were due. The 7th Battery received the cup awarded for the best Battery Transport, and a number of prizes were secured by the sections of the Divisional Ammunition Column.

As the month progressed every day was marked by the most intense activity on the part of the British artillery, heavy and field, and by a corresponding increase in the enemy's retaliatory fire and counter-battery work. ... In reply to a practice barrage carried out on May 25th, Gas Trench and the general neighbourhood of Hill 63 were heavily shelled with 10.5 and 15cm. howitzers. The same areas were shelled on the night of the 26th, and back areas were swept with fire for several hours. We suffered a good many casualties by these bombardments, the progress of work was often seriously hindered, and dumps of ammunition, some of them containing thousands of rounds for the field guns, were blown up; but these were checks not unforeseen that in no way stayed the momentum of events.

 The attack on the Messines Ridge would begin two weeks after this event.

"Bread not bombs" - then and now

"Bread not bombs" is a catchphrase of the peace movement. But it literally came true 72 years ago this week in occupied Holland shortly before Germany capitulated at the end of World War II.

I have just been reading Operation Chowhound by Stephen Dando-Collins, which tells how British Lancaster bombers and American B-17 'Flying Fortresses' turned their bomb-bays into food repositories to make dangerous low-level food drops to the Dutch population within German-held territory - comprising most of the major cities. An embattled Germany had requisitioned supplies and cut off usual food sources partly in retaliation for a transport strike the previous year.

About 20,000 people had died through malnutrition in what the Dutch called the Hongerwinter (Hunger Winter), and many more were on the brink, surviving on tulip bulbs, scavenged food, and what they could sneak in from rural areas.

Lancasters over Netherlands
(from http://www.secondworldwar.nl/#manna
via Wartime Wednesdays)

The drops were made from 29 April to 8 May, under the name Operation Manna by the British, and Operation Chowhound by the Americans. name for the operation, and it is told more fully on Dutch-based site.

According to the Stephen Dando-Collins' account, the offer to allow food drops was first instigated by the SS Governor for the Netherlands Reichskommissar Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Anticipating Germany's demise, he saw it as an opportunity to save his own neck. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't - he was executed along with other Nazi leaders at Nuremberg after the war. But the offer - to allow food drops with a promise not to shoot the planes down - was only taken up due to the lobbying of (German-born) Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, and the forethought of American General  Dwight D. Eisenhower who set plans in motion for the drops before formal approval came through from Allied political leaders. And for the first few days, the Allies were operating on a verbal agreement only.

Maaike Steenhoek's family was one that came through the Hunger Winter to witness the food drops - before central Netherlands was liberated on 5 May. Writing on the Canadian blog Wartime Wednesdays, she says, "My mother and uncle talked about this all their lives. The Manna flights remained in their memories as a miracle, a gift of food from the air. Operation Manna brought life when they were looking death in the face."

For many of the aircrew involved, after years of bombing raids bringing death and destruction, it was "the best thing they did in the war".

I share this post as an example of how swords can be turned into ploughshares, and good can shine in the darkness, from the context of our present day where about 795 million people remain hungry and 15 conflicts or wars continue which each cause more than 1000 or more deaths a year (according to Wikipedia sources).

Preparing for the assault on Messines Ridge - March 1917

I have not shown such dedication to duty as earned my grandfather a Military Medal. It has been two months since my last post, in that time (100 years ago) the New Zealand Artillery has again been rearranged, but I believe Sydney Williams is still with Z Battery, Trench Mortars. Preparations have been underway since late 1916 to attack the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge (see map)

By March 1917, concealment of these preparations was impossible, so they were being pushed on "with the utmost rapidity, and with all the resources at command."

Large scale infrastructure was necessary. According to New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18:

The railways which served the area had had to be extended, new roads constructed, and provision made for an adequate supply of water, which had to be brought forward by pipe lines from the Kemmel Hills or from sterilising barges on the River Lys. It was a huge constructive scheme, demanding much exhaustive and informed thought, and careful elaboration of multitudinous detail, and to its masterful handling throughout was due the complete success that attended it. .... The launching of the attack on the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge had been fixed for a date early in June, and fully two months before that date all the countryside behind the forward positions was alive with the countless activities which must always precede such an offensive.

On 15 March, the New Zealand Division relieved the 36th Divison in the sector from St Yves Avenue to Wulverghem-Wytschaete Rd, though the artillery relief happened in the two days after. 

Christmas 1916: 'a special programme of shooting'

I have been on holiday in Auckland for Christmas and New Years. Here is how my grandfather spent that 'cheery season' a hundred years ago at Fleurbaix, France, according to New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18:

On December 20th, and for a few days following, the guns on both sides of the line were fairly busy; but on Christmas Day, which was cold and bleak, the enemy gunners remained silent, though the New Zealand batteries carried out a special programme of shooting during the afternoon and evening. It was related that the enemy had sprung a surprise on the troops in line on the sector on the evening of Christmas, 1915, and possibly this activity was designed to provide against a similar occurrence. One day at the front is very much like another, and the only thing that outwardly marked this day as in any way different from the others was the provision of unlimited quantities of the traditional Christmas cheer. The material for these elaborate "spreads" was obtained almost entirely from farms in the back areas, where there was tremendous mortality among the cackling flocks, and from the Expeditionary Force canteens. It can hardly have been said to have been a "happy" Christmas; but at any rate everyone made the best of the untoward circumstances. The remainder of the month was uneventful enough, and batteries marked the passing of the year by a combined shoot on the enemy's roads and communications on the night of 31st December-1st January.

In our day, Pope Francis has marked the New Year, with a message for the World Day of Prayer for Peace preaching non-violence as a 'style of politics for peace':

While the last century knew the devastation of two deadly World Wars, the threat of nuclear war and a great number of other conflicts, today, sadly, we find ourselves engaged in a horrifying world war fought piecemeal. ... this “piecemeal” violence, of different kinds and levels, causes great suffering: wars in different countries and continents; terrorism, organized crime and unforeseen acts of violence; the abuses suffered by migrants and victims of human trafficking; and the devastation of the environment. ...
Violence is not the cure for our broken world. ... Jesus himself lived in violent times. Yet he taught that the true battlefield, where violence and peace meet, is the human heart: for “it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come” (Mk 7:21).

Pope Francis goes on to say that to be true followers of Jesus today means embracing Jesus' teaching about nonviolence, then quotes from his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI:

“For Christians, nonviolence is not merely tactical behaviour but a person’s way of being, the attitude of one who is so convinced of God’s love and power that he or she is not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. Love of one’s enemy constitutes the nucleus of the ‘Christian revolution’”.

And in case you think this is all naive optimism and the world is a lost cause, I shall end with this positive video shared with me by Avaaz:
https://www.facebook.com/Avaaz/videos/10154488492703884/

With the guns through Longueval

Still with the New Zealand Field Artillery on 15 September 1916 - on the day of New Zealand's first big push on the Somme:

Of those still living who went with the guns through Longueval that day, and down the tortured road that led on to Flers, assuredly none will forget it while memory lives. From the battery positions they were just leaving, a rough track led up the slopes and joined the main road that led into Longueval. There was but little shelling there, and only an occasional big shell fell into the village itself, but from High Wood, right along the crest to Delville Wood and beyond, the German gunners had laid down a deep, heavy barrage from seemingly every known calibre of gun. And through it ran the road to the forward positions. It might have been thought an impassable barrier; but the infantry had gone through it, and were fighting away in advance of it; and the guns went through. Battery after battery wound through the tumbled ruins of the village, and down past the ragged remnants of Delville Wood, a ghastly place where the big high explosive shells were sending up great gouts of black earth and pieces of wood, and Heaven only knew what else.

 -- New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18

"A giant machine controlled by a single mind"

Though it is now a week since 100-year commemorations of New Zealanders' entry into the Battle of the Somme, I found these excerpts from the official history of the New Zealand Field Artillery compelling - not least for the matter of fact way it speaks about New Zealand soldiers using chemical weapons for the first time. These weapons are now banned by international law, not that that has stopped a few countries from using them.

A renewed push by Allied forces on German positions on 15 September was preceded by three heavy days of artillery bombardment, which the author likens to "a giant machine controlled by a single mind".

The bombardment opened on the morning of Tuesday, September 12th, all along the line from Thiepval to Ginchy, and continued steadily for three days. The 18-prs. were employed chiefly in cutting wire, searching communication trenches etc., while the 4.5in. howitzer batteries which were not engaged on counter-battery work directed their fire on enemy trenches, observation posts, and machine-gun emplacements. ... The whole enemy system of trenches for a great depth was battered with high explosive and sprayed with shrapnel, and any belts of wire entanglements that could be observed at all were methodically wiped out; roads and communications were shelled by day, and even more vigorously by night, when they carried most traffic, and groups of heavy guns concentrated their efforts on the destruction of enemy batteries; in short, the whole area behind the enemy lines was kept under a continuous and destructive fire, blocking the movement of troops and stopping the supply of water, rations, or ammunition. Gas shells, fired by the 4.5in howitzers, were here used for the first time by the New Zealand batteries. .... 

The morning of Friday, September 15th, dawned fine, but cool and: misty—a typical autumn morning. For three days now the bombardment had gone on with unwavering persistence, neither diminishing nor increasing in volume, suggesting nothing so much as a giant machine controlled by a single mind; but at six o'clock, twenty minutes before zero hour, it seemed to increase in intensity and violence. One thought that nothing could exist under this annihilating storm of shells; but when at 6.20 a.m. the infantry left their trenches and moved forward behind the barrage, the enemy was manning his machine guns, and his artillery put down a heavy and accurate barrage. That day the new armoured cars or tanks, as they became universally known, were used for the first time, lanes being left in the barrage for their advance. Despite the fact that some of them broke down before they reached their front line, and that, of the twenty odd which managed to cross the German line, about a third were almost immediately crippled through some cause or other, they did very good work in fighting machine gun nests and strong points, and in flattening out belts of German wire. As yet, however, they were only in the experimental stage; and, undoubtedly, their greatest success that day lay in their moral effect, as they lumbered up to the German trenches, looming huge and uncertain in the half light.