To Fight the Dragon

1 To Fight the Dragon THE FIRST WORLD WAR ACCOUNT OF CORPORAL PHILLIP WESTON COMPILED BY PETER WESTON. 2011 2 TO FIGHT THE DRAGON FROM VINEGAR HILL TO FRANCE WITH CORPORAL PHILLIP WESTON TO FIGHT THE DRAGON. Army Records In the Weston family records there is an old letter from the trenches written on six pages of army issue writing paper. It would seem as though the writer was pondering upon the foolishness of war and perhaps wondering how he could explain to his family, or even to himself, the reason why men must fight. Using almost apocalyptic language, he describes an iron dragon, with five heads and 2,500 eyes; with 91 steel claws for its fingers and a body five miles long. Waddling on 200 short legs it dragged itself over the ground. This monster was able to blow poisonous gas from its nose and shoot flames from its eyes. From its mouth came a rain of lead and steel and its tail tapered down to a large steel sword. It had an insatiable appetite to possess the whole earth, and devoured groaning men, screaming women and children, even whole countries, in its path to conquer. Men were called from the comfort of their homes, work, and families to arise and resist the monster lest it conquer the whole earth, and even though they might be weaker, they went forth and held fast at great cost. The last word on the lips of the many who died was “I die for freedom”. At the time that it was written the writer wouldn’t have known the outcome of the first world war, but it shows us a picture of a sensitive, intelligent and imaginative man who was asking himself the hard questions of life. What manner of man was he, and what did he see? The letter was written from the trenches in a moment of reflection by Phillip Weston. Aged 29 and married with a small son, Phillip was the youngest son of Samuel and Sarah Weston of Vinegar Hill, 3 Hunterville. They were known as a God fearing family; committed Christians. Phillip was the youngest of a family of fourteen, he would have led a sheltered life compared to his elder pioneering brothers. He was on the family farm when the first world war broke out and at the time of his conscription had been married to Dorothy Eggleton for only eleven months. Their son, Philip, was three weeks old. (Wedding photo previous page) Dorothy also came from a staunch God fearing family, being the eldest daughter of William and Cecily Eggleton. William was a milling contractor of Bunnythorpe who in the harvest season worked from farm to farm with his mill. He was the choirmaster in the Wesleyan church, the local school committee chairman, and the secretary of the local temperance movement, the “Band of Hope’. It is of interest that the Band of Hope had a membership in Bunnythorpe of 232 in 1896. The temperance movement encouraged folk to pledge themselves teetotal; this was intended to affect the vote towards prohibition. A lot has changed since then! The dilemma for a man of Christian convictions was that although he was required to respond to the call of his country the taking of a human life was unacceptable. There were different ways that this was handled. Some objected on the grounds of conscience and were imprisoned. In Tauherenikau camp there were about forty prisoners who wouldn’t co-operate with any army duty at all. Others took a non-combatant role such as a stretcher bearer, nurse or driver, and yet others took the stance that they had a duty to fend off the evil that was threatening their land, so they became combatant soldiers. The Rev J W Shaw of Invercargill preached on 9th May, 1915: ”We are called to go and forth and smite the evil thing and not falter. Give them according to their deeds and according to their wickedness of their endeavours” It would appear that Phillip was in agreement with this opinion. Nowadays it is less acceptable to be involved in armed combat than it was then, but think about it a moment. Why is the Moriori extinct? Because he was a pacifist. Sometimes it is necessary to fight. 4 The newspaper of 14/2/17 had a notice that in No 6 Manawatu recruitment district Weston Phillip, Hunterville, farmer, was to be conscripted for the army. Prior to 1st August 1916 all new recruits were volunteers. Then firstly singles, next marrieds, and finally marrieds with one child were conscripted. Phillip was in the latter class. During the year 1918 his brother Lew Weston was called up on 25th April and on 21st May Dave and Len Weston were called up. Lew got as far as his training in the Trentham camp. Dave didn’t pass the medical, and Len appealed on the grounds of essential services. It was difficult to win such an appeal, and I don’t know what judgement was made, but Len didn’t go to war. Perhaps it ended first. (Photo previous page is of Dorothy, who waited for Phillip at home) THE WESTERN FRONT During the year that Phillip was enlisting and training there were several significant battles which I will mention, in order to give some background. The German offensive began in August 1914 and progressed south through Leige in Belgium. It eventually reached France and was headed towards Paris. If France had been conquered the German vision of expansionism would have been well on the way. The world would have been well in the dragon’s grip. Leige was where the brave Belgian army had first held out against the German advance even though they were outnumbered ten to one. The Belgians used a system of fortification tunnels left over from the Crimean war sixty years before but it hadn’t withstood the onslaught and the German army soon occupied Belgium. When it became obvious that they couldn’t hold their ground they flooded their low lying land causing the German army to bog down. Unfortunately later on this was the fate of the British also. The British became involved as they had a treaty with Belgium and ultimately they also were under threat. The battle only covered a relatively small area on the border between France and Belgium. The distance between Amiens and Ypres, the extremities of the battle, would be a bit over 100 miles (80k) as the crow flies. The main areas of battle, Somme and Ypres, were each contained in an area of only about 50 km and the total front was only about 100 km. Belgium was no match for the Germans who mushroomed out on their way south to France. Britain was not as well prepared as Germany and by 1916 the Germans had gained enough ground to occupy the Somme. The battles of the western front can be divided into two main areas, Somme and Ypres. 5 The Battle of Somme… France….Including battle of Amiens. This is where Germany was confronted by the British forces, engaging them in various battles along the Somme valley. The first battle of Somme was in July 1st 1916 in which the British made a successful attack . Due to a disagreement between two British Generals this attack was not reinforced with the result that the Germans counter attacked inflicting the allies with 60.000 casualties in one day. 20.000 dead and 40.000 wounded. Somme is a huge river valley that was the scene of many advances and withdrawals during its time. It could be said that the four years of war consisted of a giving and taking of the same area. I understand that the first and last fatalities, although four years apart, are buried in the same place. The Somme valley was a major scene of the final 100 days of war, mentioned later. The Battle of Ypres …….Belgium……Messines - 7th June 1917 Ypres is a historic cloth making town located on a strategic access road which resulted in it being shelled to near obliteration as the Germans attempted to halt supplies to the British. Messines was on a slight ridge and German trenches were dug to hold this ground. However the British, over a period of a year, tunnelled under the German lines and mined them. The resulting explosion took 10,000 German lives, plus netted 7,000 prisoners. It was the loudest explosion created by man up to that time. The sound carried 130 miles and was heard in London by the Prime Minister Lloyd George who was listening on the terrace of the House of Commons. Nearly a million pounds of high explosive were detonated in an instant and the crater of that explosion can still be seen today. Passchendaele or The Third battle of Ypres - 1917 Flanders, or Flandre in French, the location of Ypres, is a low lying coastal area common to both Belgium and Northern France. The 6 meaning of the name is ‘Flooded Land’. The water table was only a foot or so beneath ground level. Flanders was extreme in its muddy condition being a reclaimed low lying area. The dykes that drained the battle fields had long broken up, and with the continual shell pounding, coupled with the weather, had produced shell holes that not only were filled with water, but often were bottomless, like quicksand, only wet. Any transport of the wounded, of supplies, and in particular the transport of the huge shells and the guns that fired them, was difficult, and sometimes impossible.

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