Great War 100th Anniversary

Questions and comments about our local history
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Radagast
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Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 1:48 pm

Great War 100th Anniversary

Post by Radagast » Fri May 01, 2015 1:16 pm

Next year will see the centenary of the Battle of the Somme - a letter in Thursday's Echo raises this point and asks what is being done to commemorate this. What should we be doing as a group? Do we know anyone who is an expert on The Somme?

PhilipRou

Re: Great War 100th Anniversary

Post by PhilipRou » Fri May 01, 2015 9:13 pm

If we can't find an expert, and even if we can, I have a 50-min History Channel documentary on DVD - 'Somme 1916' that could be shown on a big TV.

It's narrated by Major General Julian Thompson from the command and logistics viewpoint - in contrast to the more usual 'Lions led by Donkeys' approach.

RogerS
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Re: Great War 100th Anniversary

Post by RogerS » Sat May 02, 2015 5:27 pm

While the lead up to the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War was greatly heralded druing 2014, no one at that time seemed to be thinking about how to commemorate the 100th anniversary of events throughout the war. You mention the Somme for example. Probably the most famous battle of the Great War... if only because the first 3 hours claimed some 20,000 British lives!
The battle itself raged on until November, when - as with most Great War battles - it 'fizzled out' pretty much as a 'draw'....

Perhaps we might take a look at some of the other lesser known battles as well?.... Using Jenny's data, we could perhaps check on when and where some of our Moordown men fell, and see if we can uncover details of the 100th anniversary of some of those lesser known battles as well.....

My own grandfather was awarded the DCM on the 16th May 1915 during the Battle of Festubert...(so the 100th anniversary of that is fast approaching!)

Mention that battle and most folk will never have heard of it. (See HERE for a few more details ) There are dozens of battles like that - often with casualty figures in the tens or hundreds of thousands of men -- but they don't have the 'fame' of the Battle of the Somme, and as such seemed to have slipped into obscurity.

Maybe we might use the fate of some of our own Moordown men to try and re-discover a little about some of these lesser known battles?....

I can see everyone jumping onto the 'Somme' bandwagon! :)

Just a thought...

Johnny44
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Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Great War 100th Anniversary

Post by Johnny44 » Sun May 03, 2015 1:16 pm

Re: Great War DVD
There is a reasonable sized domestic LCD TV at the Centre we could use at the next meeting

Johnny44
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Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Great War 100th Anniversary

Post by Johnny44 » Mon May 04, 2015 10:58 am

Great War 100th Anniversary. Fallen of Moordown

From the records compiled for the forthcoming St John's Graveyard Project are have recorded the following names of Moordown men who fell during the period of the Battle of the Somme (1/7/1916 - 18/11/1916).
Theipval cemetery holds 72,000 dead mostly those whose bodies could not be recovered, were un recorded, lost, destroyed or unidentified from across the Somme. William Tutt-Harris and Albert Cole were probably in that group as the battle for Theipval Ridge took place on 26 -28/9/1916
There are around 450 cemeteries and memorials in the Somme region and likely that Walter Newman would have been there as part of the same 1st Hampshire Regiment and perhaps Harry Miller as well
The CWGC returned William Barnes remains to St Johns for burial, I am unsure where he fell or if he may have died from wounds received at the Somme
Essex Farm Cemetery, Boesinghe, Ypres was an advanced dressing station for the wounded and the site where John Macrae wrote the poem In Flander's Fields on 3/51915

The fallen are

Walter Wilfred Newman
August 6, 1916
22693 Pte. 1st Btn. Hampshire Regt
Essex Farm Cemetery, Boesinghe, Ypres III. A. 17

William George Tutt-Harris
September 3, 1916
15770 Pte. 14th Btn. Hampshire Regt.
Theipval Pier 7C Face 7B

Harry Miller
October 20, 1916
10/3954 Pte. 1st Btn Wellington Regt. NZEF
Mont-Bernanchon British Cemetery Gonnheim I.M.9

Albert Cole
October 23, 1916
22666 Pte. 1st Btn. Hampshire Regt
Theipval Pier 7C Face 7

William Barnes (Served as Stevens)
November 23, 1916
15367 Pte. 1st Battn Hampshire Regt.
St Johns Moordown. West of Church

It is interesting to note that in fact the “Battle of the Somme” was not continuous but sub-divided into fourteen separate periods of intense and bloody carnage spread across that area known as the Somme

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