The story of war - New Blog Post
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
http://blog.operationwardiary.org/2014/12/05/a-beginning-a-middle-and-an-end-the-story-of-the-war/
Get in touch and let us know which First World War stories have affected you the most.
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http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0001iw8 This page is quite an eye-opener, a story of the liberation of Grand Leez, being another perspective of WW1, in 1918. It is an address by the Mayor of Grand Leez given to the 1 Battalion Norfolk Regiment when they arrived their. The Mayor is so very, very emotional. He relates how the enemy treated civilians, prisoners and refugees how awful it was. He then goes on to say ... 'Then came our Liberators', How proudly our Flags raised, Our Hearts Beat with Joy. ...Saw the enemy again, defeated going the other way, gone were their black eagle flags etc." ... "Then came our liberators, how proudly our flags raised, our hearts beat with joy!. At the end of the story he gives sincere thanks and good wishes for Christmas and ends, again so passionately, LONG LIVE ENGLAND, GOD SAVE THE KING, LONG LIVE HIS ARMY". I was not sure where to post this but then realized today you had a new blog post - the story of the war, hope this is a story of a different kind you may want in your new blog post.
There are so many war stories - thought his speech covered the joy people felt when they were liberated.Posted
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ral104
moderator, scientist
Thanks, Marie! That really is an excellent story - I read the page last night. I think it probably deserves a blog post in its own right.
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edinflo
The one that has stuck with me is this account of the spontaneous Christmas truce from 7 INDIAN (MEERUT) DIVISION: 39 Garhwal Rifles : http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0002yt7
About a month before, there had been a raid which had gone wrong and several officers and men were missing, including an officer called Captain Robertson-Glasgow, who until that point had been a regular name in the diary. They used the truce to try and find the bodies of these men and eventually Captain Robertson-Glasgow's body was found lying on a German parapet. Then there is a line that has stayed with me - "the bodies of several men were also found near the trench, but the situation did not admit of a careful search sufficient to identify them". One can only guess at the horror behind that formal sentence structure.
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ral104
moderator, scientist
Yes, that's one I always remember too. A curious mixture of something quite heartwarming (enemies finding some peace together, if only for a while) with the horrible reality of their more usual exchanges. Again, I think this will probably warrant its own blog post, especially as we head towards Christmas.
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cyngast
moderator
I'm just tagging one that has a frightening yet moving message. It's from the 58th Rifles Meerut Division on 22 Dec. 1914. An operation has been underway for more than 24 hours at the point of this message and the writer says,"The Regt. who went through us last night has vanished and there is trouble in front." The use of the word vanished just chills me right through. He goes on to say he is going to go back to help or relieve another company and he hopes this is all right to do.
I'm sorry but I don't remember how to put a link to the page in here and I haven't been able to find the instructions in Talk. I did comment on it, though.
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
No problem 😃 The easiest way is to open the page's talk page and copy the URL, as @edinflo has done above.
I think I know the page you mean, though. And I agree, it is chilling - the idea that all those men could just disappear to who knows what fate.
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
Here's the link: http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0002ze1
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