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World War One Blog July to September 1918 Adobe Irish Voices from the First World War A blog based on PRONI sources Painting of Atlantic convoy accompanied by destroyers [D1969/1] July to September 1918 Once American forces entered the lines of the Western Front in June 1918, in full strength, the war was effectively in its last phase. The French, British and American forces worked as a unity under General Ferdinand Foch from April that year. The Allies had possessed air superiority from the middle of 1917. German reserves were minimal and by early August, during the Amiens offensive German morale had collapsed. The Allies mopped up resistance in most fronts round Europe and the Middle East in August-September 1918. Document 1: Good-humoured ballad of prisoner exchange, Germany to The Netherlands [D1969/1] A poem published in British Empire Fortnightly (c.July 1918), a compilation published by internees in The Netherlands for their companions. The hero had been imprisoned in Böhmte Camp, Lower Saxony. At Bohmte when the sun was hot I was drummin up burgoo in a pot When the Feld Webel said, ‘Your number, so You’re for Holland in the morning, oh’ I dropped me pot and spilled me burgoo And asked me chum, can this be true? Me appetite went and I started packin And at 7 next morning, I left for Aachen. So farewell Bohmte, your gorse and peat Your smoky huts and cold damp feet Good-bye arbeit and cutting bracken I’m for exchange, I’m going to Aachen No more Stilly Stand, no more Straff No more sitting in the dark at the Gaff The train is off, the boys are singing Roll on for Holland, and Scheveningen Prisoners-of-war revitalised after move to internment camp at Scheveningen, The Netherlands, 1918 [D1969/1] Document 2: Submarine warfare comes to Belfast Lough and Belfast Port shut down for some days, July 1918 [D3330/B/1/18] The Port of Belfast was closed for a couple of days after the Carrickfergus-Isle of Man steamer noticed a submarine prowling in the North Irish Sea. Baird’s printers had been contracted to undertake publication of electoral registers on foot of The Representation of the People Act (1918) (the first official compilation made of registered voters) and Robert Baird went through the accounts. There is a curious reference to a detective constable reviewing the appointment of one Mrs Marion Browne, née Hobson, to the typing pool of the Telegraph: she may have been a cousin of Bulmer Hobson, formerly of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and on the run in County Down at the time. Monday July 15th The port was closed at 5.30 p.m. and there were no sailings to and from Belfast. This was the first time for many months that the port has been closed and the rumour was that one of Legg’s steamers of Carrickfergus had encountered a submarine early in the day off the Island of Man. Mr W. Cassidy went on holidays. Another ‘big push’ of the Germans occurred today. They got across the Marne but were subsequently repulsed by the Americans. This information came to hand by phone messages from the Exchange Telegraph Co. through Glasgow and the Fourth edition of the B.E.T. had a good account of it. News received of the sad death of Mr Thomas A. Armstrong, manager of the Sligo & Leitrim Railway. Mr Armstrong was on Lough Erne in a motor launch on Sunday evening and fell overboard. His body was recovered late this evening. R.H.H.B. remained in the house all day and was in frequent communication with the office. Letter received from the federation of Master Printers to say that the advice issued on July 12 for newspaper proprietors and master printers to hand in their notices to members of the Trade Association had been suspended, owing to conferences of representatives of employers and the executives of the Manchester & Liverpool branches of the Trade Association to meet on Tuesday, July 15th. Miss Florence Faulkner, age 15, commenced work as junior lady clerk at 143 Fleet Street. She was introduced to Mr Illingworth by Miss Speers. Tuesday 16th July The Port of Belfast again closed and a wire was sent to Mr Illingworth to say that no parcel would be received at Euston this evening from Belfast via Fleetwood. The train conveying the mail via Holyhead did not arrive in Belfast till 12.30. Account for the first list of voters under the People’s Representation Act of 1918. In the first instance had conversation with Mr Alexander re this account and in the second R.H.H.B. called at the City Hall and received the amended account from Mr Meyer. The total charge by W & G Baird was £2967.1.3 but the town officials made the amount £2967.16.2 being an addition to Baird’s charges of 14/11. The amount in duplicate was duly signed by Mr Meyer, and was sent by R.H.H.B. to Mr H.E. Pitman of the Stationary Office, Dublin. Quotation from Clondalkin that they wanted 5d per lb for paper on reels and a letter was sent to Mr R. Clapperton stating that if they will supply paper that W & G Baird was willing to pay 5d but they might as well charge 5s as 5d, as the Clondalkin Mill has been sending no paper. Marion Browne nee Hobson. This young lady has applied for a situation as typist in a Government Department and one day last week R.H.H.B. sent a document in her favour. A detective called today with a form of inquiry and was very much satisfied at what R.H.H.B. and Mr Poole said about Marion. Mrs O’Keefe and her daughter Eileen called and had a long chat with Mr J. McQuitty and R.H.H.B. It appears Major Baird is suffering from eczema and according to his sister, Mrs O’Keefe, is in a bad way. Mr J. McQuitty recommended that Major Baird should consult Dr Milligan of Ligoneil. R.H.H.B. visited Major Baird at about 6.30 pm. Mrs O’Keefe informed R.H.H.B. that her brother-in-law, Mr C. O’Keefe, late manager of the Provincial Bank of Waterford, had died within the last few days. It was as recently as Sunday, June 9, that General O’Keefe, Mrs O’Keefe, and family visited Mr C. O’Keefe at Waterford. Mr Alexander called and had conversation with R.H.H.B. and Mr Lynas re the printing of the register of voters and how he, Mr Alexander, wishes the list of claimants to be dealt with. Mrs Besson of the Royal Hibernian Hotel, Dublin, called and ordered advertisements per Mr Stewart of the Salthill Hotel, near Kingstown. This hotel has been recently taken over by Mr Besson. Mr Besson is a great friend of Mr Wayland, of Dublin…. … Fortwilliam Park. Had an enjoyable tea with Mrs O’Keefe, her daughter Eileen and Major Baird. The house, Avonmore, had been closed and there were no servants and Mrs O’Keefe was, as she described it, picnicking. Document 3: Correspondence from Prisoners-of-War was constrained by camp authorities within strict limits [D1686/4] The concept of ‘barbed-wire disease’ was formulated by German and British negotiators in order to facilitate transfer of long-term prisoners (exchanged man for man) into open residence in neutral countries such as The Netherlands. But the reality of depression among prisoners in P.O.W. camps is evidenced in the repressed pathos of communications such as that of James Fleming of Carrickfergus, emotionally strangulated by official censorship. POW card to James Boyd junior, 13 unity st, carrickfergus, Sender 17641 Rifleman J Fleming, 12th Royal Irish Rifles Company 1-2, section 3890 Cassel 4th August 1918 Dear James, A few lines to let you know I am quite well & hoping you and all your people at Carrick are in good health, remind me to all the boys I know, I can’t say much about my present mode of life but you can understand it is not too sweet. I would like to hear from you very much did you ever go back to sea on the S.S. Glentaise. I’ve never had any letters from my people since I was captured. I will write you a letter someday but at present I am only allowed to write one per fortnight so the old people get it, your old chum, J Fleming. Document 4: Journal describing voyage by new Head of Seamen’s Mission, from London to Rotterdam, August 1918 [D1969/1] Reverend Leslie C. Stevenson, Anglican Minister, of Ulster background (he had boarded at Portora, County Fermanagh) was appointed head of the Rotterdam Seamen’s Mission, Pieter de Hoogh Weg (street), in August 1918. His journal provides an evocative account of the rigours of cross-channel sea traffic as late as mid-1918, when predatory German U-Boats, though their threat had been reduced by the convoy system, air reconnaissance and mine barrages, remained a hazard. Two weeks after he learned the ropes at the Mission and in the city (food having become scarce and English and Irish civilian strays from the war thankful for Mission hospitality), Stevenson took charge of the Mission response to the arrival by train of weak and ill ex-Prisoners-of-War, claiming a clear distinction between the emaciation of former British prisoners and the rude health of German soldiers formerly confined in Britain.
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