The Third Battle of Ypres by Jon Sandison I Met, Before I Went To

The Third Battle of Ypres By Jon Sandison I met, before I went to France, a Shetlander who had been wounded several times, and who had been home on draft leave prior to "going over" to "collect another bit of Jerry's shrapnel," as he put it. We met on a train and he told me he was last hit in Ypres. He also told me about Ypres, and the more he spoke of the horrors of it, the more enthusiastic I felt, and keener to get there and see what it was like. We are built that way. Extracted from Doing His Bit: A Shetland Soldier in the Great War, by Robert M Greig. Soldier Greig, along with most others, came home. Many of course did not. Manson's Roll of Honour and Service listed over 4,300 men in the services. More, across all services, continue to be added with research work currently being done both locally and nationally on the Roll. A trawl of the Roll estimates that just over 1,070 Shetland men served in the various parts of the army during World War One. Today, it is hard to believe that our community contributed such numbers to the army, given our natural connections and links to the sea. Yet answer the call to the army they did, not least the men of Lerwick who did so in large numbers. Many of these worked in the fishing industry, while others worked in shops, offices and trades. Others lived elsewhere, but had Shetland connections. It is estimated that Shetlanders who joined the regiments of the British Army, including Dominion Forces, came to around 30 percent of the Shetlanders who served during World War One. Early in the war, only a few Shetlanders served in the army, with small numbers volunteering. But numbers increased throughout the war with recruitment and conscription. Local Territorials aside, the men with Shetland connections served in the Scottish, British and Imperial Regiments; The Highland Light Infantry, Northumberland Fusiliers, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and local Gordons to name just a few. From this total, over 270 were lost. This total amounts to roughly 26 percent of those who served in the army. Within the RNR and Navy, 330 were lost. Many more men from Shetland served in the these services than the army, but the ratio of those lost in the army was higher. There is understandably, and rightly, much focus and commitment to ensure that the wider Shetland story, at both home and abroad, is told; one that stretched far beyond the Western Front. The strategic position of Shetland itself is without question. The story of Shetland at home is also significant since it was one which affected all the Shetland population. Most people were not in the armed forces. In Shetland, like other communities throughout Britain, there is no escaping that our local story was also inexorably linked to the Western Front. Regularly in the local press there were stories from soldiers, sad and continuous poignant obituaries, as well as detail of local campaigns to support the soldiers with socks or cigarettes. One such campaign in The Shetland News was noted earlier in the Spring of 1917 under the heading 'Shower of Gifts Day'. Wednesday was shower of gifts day in Lerwick, when the Town Hall was open in the evening to receive gifts of articles for soldiers and hospitals. The gifts day had been organised by the Queen Mary Needlework Guild, and a number of very attractive posters exhibited along Commercial Street made a striking pictorial appeal to the public. On each poster there were illustrations of the kind of articles required, cardigans, socks, body belts, cigarettes etc, and also an eloquent verbal appeal. These posters had been very artistically prepared by the Misses A and E Stout. A very generous response was made by the general public, quite a large number of articles of all kinds being handed in at the Town Hall between 6 and 8pm. Afterwards a most enjoyable musical programme, at which a silver collection was taken, was gone through and was well attended. Images from World War One of rain soaked mud, blood and waste of life in the trenches on the Western Front are today often associated with what happened in and around Ypres in summer to autumn of 1917. Pictures such as these are still gripping. It is perhaps little wonder that such popular conceptions continue; as every community felt its impact via sombre telegram notices that came through front doors. Clichés and popular conceptions are easy to make, being built up and added to over time. The Battle of Ypres is the stereotypical image, often repeated today, of the First World War and the Western Front. Something which many have become fixated by ever since its wrath swept our continent. At the time, the story of Ypres was covered less in our local press. Perhaps, after the local loss of the Ancre and Arras of late 1916 and early 1917, even the newspaper men had become weary of war. Many writings since have the Western Front as their focus. In turn it is often difficult to appreciate the global nature of the total conflict. Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Britain, had been appalled by the Somme. He did not want to see it repeated. But this is what was to happen at Ypres. The world context of the Great War ensured that this repetition was the case. The Russians and the French were not launching any further offensive effort. The Americans were not ready. At this time food shortages were severe, political alienation and pacifism was growing at home. Lloyd George sought to re-direct British military resources to Palestine or Mesopotamia. This caused conflict with his Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Sir William Robertson who viewed that the weaknesses of the French and Russian armies meant that the British army had to also play a full part in defeating the Germans. This could only be done on the Western Front where the bulk of the German army was deployed on the territory of Britain's closest ally. Therefore, Shetland men were caught up in Ypres, as elsewhere. It was just accepted as 'their duty' as hard, often, as that is to understand today. Their story on the Western Front, is, and continues to be, part of our local story here at home. Any memorial or grave with a Shetlander on it in France and Belgium, is also part of our own local heritage. One hundred years on, a Shetlander lying in a grave abroad is as important as one on our own shores. What these young men endured, so far away from home, was appalling. Pictures of Ypres from the past were distant to us on a crisp, sunny October day as we were shown around some key features. The town of Ypres was the most important within a salient, or 'bulge' in the British Lines. It had been the site of two previous battles, that of First Ypres, October to November 1914, and Second Ypres, April to May 1915. The first of a few cemeteries we visited was the Essex Farm Cemetery, to the north of Ypres on what was the British front line. Immediately the carefully laid out headstones, the immaculately kept grass are telling features of the importance of such burial grounds. Two things stood out about this place of remembrance. First was our visit to the graveside of rifleman Valentine Joe Strudwick, Surrey, Service No 3750. He served with the 8th Battalion Rifle Brigade. He was aged just 15 when he died on 14th January 1916, and was one of the youngest British casualties of the Great War. This was a stark and poignant reminder of our own youth who arrived and also some of whom remained in the field. The issue of 'boy soldiers' was one of embarrassment to the military authorities during the First World War. There were many. Officially, the minimum age for army recruits was 19, but boys as young as 13 were known to have joined up, lying about their age in order to be involved, and ultimately fight in the trenches. This was the case with Strudwick. Our tour guide informed us that he would have entered the field when still 13. Young men from Shetland did the same. Our own Grandfather was 13 at the time of the 1911 Census. With the outbreak of war in 1914, and the departure of the Territorials in 1915, he would have been 17, but joined while 16. He wasn't alone in this regard. Granddad, like many others, thankfully returned to his native islands. However, a tally from the Roll of Honour suggests that of the Shetland soldiers who died, spread across Scottish, British and Imperial Regiments, eighteen were 19 years old, while four were just 18. One of the 18 year olds was Gunner Magnus Smith, Service No 307453, of the 2/1st Lowland Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. He was the son of Magnus and Joan Smith, Houlland, Sandwick. He was killed in action in France on 13 July 1917, and is buried in St Martin Calvaire British Cemetery, St Martin-Sur-Cojeul. Some of those lost as part of the RNR were 17. Boy soldiering is still unfortunately a major issue in the world today in many areas of conflict The second thing that stood out about the Cemetery was the John McCrae memorial. It was believed that the Essex Farm Advanced Dressing Station was the place where, in May 1915, Canadian Army Doctor, and artillery brigade commander Major John McCrae composed the now famous poem "In Flanders Fields".

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