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Home , April 1918, July 1918, June 1918, March 1918, May 1918, Operation Michael

Irish Voices from the First World War A blog based on PRONI sources

Once technical flaws were ironed out, the British tank proved a crucial military breakthrough in , D1981/1

April to

The initiated on 21st was made up of four separate campaigns co-ordinated according to the changing awareness of the German High Command as to where Allied vulnerability became evident week by week. The focus of the first phase of the attack () was at Saint Quentin, a point in the line held by weakened neighbouring contingents of the British and French. This advance proved too successful for its own good. The leading German divisions outran their own supply lines and were forced to slow down sufficiently to give the British Fifth and Third Armies a chance to regroup. Had General Erich von Ludendorff prepared adequately for the event of a breach of the lines there was a slender chance, at least for about a month, that the gamble would have worked and that the British might have been driven against the . It is unlikely, however, that the offensive would have ended the war on German terms.

Chateau Schomberg, Saint-Omer, occasional headquarters of Field-Marshal John French, 1915-1916. Such residences served frequently as army headquarters during the war, D1977/11. Document 1: Robert Perceval-Maxwell reports in correspondence on Allied retreat in late March 1918, D/1556/27/1/12.

Lt-Colonel Robert (Bob) Perceval-Maxwell conveys in a detailed letter to his wife the prevailing atmosphere of hazard and uncertainty as the front-line broke under the stress of the German offensive of late March 1918. Heavy fog at dawn on the 21st March gave surprise and initiative to the attacking troops although the Germans had been expected for months. Villagers fled or stubbornly stayed put under shellfire. Fields of crops were lost to the enemy. Maxwell and others suffered hairsbreadth escapes, shifting head-quarters from house to chateau, merrily snatching provisions as they could.

1st

Now that we are quite settled & back on lines of communication I’ll send you a description of all that has happened these last ten days. Position previous to attack. My old Brigade was on right & the lot were in the centre & the other Brigade in which Arthur Farnham’s battalion was, were on the left. Each brigade had one battalion in the trenches. Another in billets just behind in close support & a third battalion in billets a or so behind. The DW was almost opposite the big town we have tried to take 20 times in which was the Bosche HQ. A short distance behind the battalion in the trenches a series of redoubts has been made and almost finished & the battalions in support were ordered to move up with those immediately on the Bosche attack beginning. They were simply circular trenches with wire in front of them at intervals so that they could bring a cross fire on any Bosche trying to get through & they were supplied with Lewis guns & some machine guns. The leading battalion in the trenches were told to hold on at all costs & the others to hold on as long as possible & fall back fighting. The divisional HQ was about 4 to 5 away behind the front line of trenches. The trenches I am told were not good but were well- sighted and the dug-outs were good. We took them over from the French some little time ago. As you now I have only just arrived & had only been round some of them. The attack had been threatened for various dates so a good many people were doubtful of it coming off but our General expected it. Anyway at 5 am on the 21st we were waked up by the bombardment & then there was no doubt about it. The bombardment was very intense but chiefly on the front line trenches. That morning there was a thick fog - I don’t remember ever seeing a thicker one except & it remained till late in the day. All communications were quickly broken. Wireless of course could not be used because of fog & brigade could give us no information. But the shelling could not have been very heavy on Brigade HQ in the line as our A.D.M.A. actually was able to make breakfast about 9.30 & came back in a car though he got slightly scratched on his way back. On the right it was worse and I believe the right brigade never got any communication from their forward battalion. The village which we were in of course got quickly congested with traffic of all sorts especially with refugees. Poor devils, they refused to go when we told them to clear out and we had to carry some actually in lorries. About the first sign of evacuation was the steam ploughs which came lumbering down the road. We had laboured the land right up to the trenches and the oats had a nice braid I fear the Bosche will reap it unless they can be got back which seems doubtful before harvest. In the evening the divisional HQ moved back to a villa near Hare. The caretaker told us that Eikel Fritz had used it as his HQ before & had refrained from destroying it as he said he intended to occupy it again. The following morning I went with the General to a small village where the brigade HQ were. The roads were much congested with guns refugees & transports. The refugees were pitiable old women sitting in wheel barrows & wheeled by children & carrying baskets of clothing & food a goat & a cow following. Of course many had carts & horses with bedding etc. In the afternoon the general decided to send the car to the other side of the river & we kept our horses till later. When we eventually rode to form in progress the Bosche had begun to shell the railway & bridges over the river, to do pretty big stuff. We had to wait for an interval between the shells & then rode over. There was one hole in the road big enough to put a motor car in & not see it. After joining the motor we went to another village where we slept. Of course by this time it had become open warfare & we were in fairly good touch with what each Brigade was doing & also what was happening in our immediate flanks. The next day Saturday we remained all day at the same spot. We were told the French were coming up but it was late in the day before they appeared. All the available men about Divisional HQ had been rounded up & we were to hold the village & had Lewis guns posted & some trenches dug. However, when the French arrived we were ordered off & went back to another village. Of course by this time our men who had been fighting continuously from the morning of the 21st were very much done up & we were supposed to be holding a line of at the time 22,000 yards. On Sunday we remained at the same village & on Monday moved to another where met a French corps cavalry partly dismounted. We only stayed here a few hours when we moved on to another village & had our HQ in a Chateau there. The following morning I rode with the General to see two of the Brigades. At the moment there was not much going on & very little shelling. I suppose the Bosche had gone a bit quicker than their guns but our men of course were beat to the world. Five days continuous fighting & marching without sleep & very little return. How they stood it I don’t know, they were perfectly cheery but could hardly stand for want of sleep. Our HQ as I told you was in a chateau in the outskirts of a village with a river & woods just behind us. All day we were pushing the inhabitants out of the village but they were extraordinarily loath to go & held on to their belongings like fun. I went to forage for food unfortunately I had not much money with me, but had to pay a franc for two eggs & the lady turned up her nose at 10 francs for a fowl. However, I found some others which had been left behind by their owners so helped myself for nothing. I also got big loads of freshly made bread (hot) at the boulangerie which had been evacuated and some quite decent claret, belonging to an old fellow who was just departing & took me down to his cellar & said we might have as much as we liked. I had to pick the bottles as the corks were gone in a great many. Anyhow I brought away six bottles & put them to air in ‘Down Hunt’ style in the chateau before a good fire. We also got some beef onions – spuds etc & were prepared for quite a good meal but luck was against us. In the afternoon the Bosche shelled the village considerably but chiefly the opposite end to our chateau. About 5 pm our GSOI said he would run out in the motor to see one of the Brigades as he wanted to arrange something with the Brigadier. He had not turned up at seven so the General said he would begin dinner without him. We had had about two mouthfuls & the general had just cracked the shell in my egg, as we found the meat rather tough when an officer ran in said, the Bosche are in the village. We all bundled out & into the motor pretty quick as we could hear rifle fire down the street. The GSOI, who is about my weight or more, sat on my knees & there were men hanging on all over the motor. I managed to bring away a bottle of claret, badly shaken & some bread. Anyhow we bumped along the most infernal road & we expected the springs to every minute till we got to a bridge over the river. Here we found a party of sappers preparing it for demolition & there was just room for the motor to get over. We found the French in the village & the general went in to see the commandant. In a few minutes he came back to say the whole thing was a mistake. A party of French had blundered in to our men and taken them for Bosche & fired on them. Our fellows of course replied & hence the trouble. We sent a cyclist to make sure & then I walked back with the general the car following slowly. When we got back to the chateau we found our dinner all cold & the fire out, however we decided to start again & got the fire going & the dinner heated up again & were just falling to again when an officer bounced in again & said the Bosch were in the village & this time he had a prisoner so there was no disputing it. Also he told us the G.S.O.I. had been captured & his car was in the ditch. We packed off again & bustled off. This time we went over another bridge & went to the HQ of the French Regiment but the general did not like being so far away from his brigades so we went back to the first village that we had gone to and the commandant there gave us a room for an office & our company of sappers, who were standing by to blow up the bridge put a couple of sentries over the road on the Bosche side of the river to give warning of any Bosche patrols. We handed our prisoner over to the French authorities & while we were there one of our own men who had been captured came in. he said the Bosche had got through our line which was true but probably not in the numbers which he said. He said he had been taken by about 200 Bosche cavalry with some other British & that while they were being sent back under a small guard they had run into British & had been released. He also told us in confirmation about Place (GSOI) being captured. We stayed in this village all night & in the early morning General Hessey & his staff [General William Francis Hessey, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers) came up and explained the situation as far as he knew it to the General. After breakfast we got shelled out of the village. The General and I walked to the next village about a mile away where we managed to get a shave & a wash & some lunch. All rest of the HQ except G.S.O.2. had gone right back before our first scare & had established a HQ further back. After luncheon we went back in the car to HQ & get in touch with the Corps at another village but found no-one then went to another village but with the same result & so he gave it up & decided to go back to where we had lunched but on our way we met a dispatch rider who said he had been sent by GSO2 to say he had been shelled out of the village & taken up his headquarters at another place. By this time the Division had been relieved & ordered back behind the French, so we went to see General Hessey who had brought out a mixed lot, partly his own & partly General Griffith’s. We found them lying down & resting by the side of the road. They looked like two companies & the men really couldn’t keep their eyes open. I talked to some of the officers but it is impossible to describe the state of weariness they were in, though perfectly cheerful & not the least rattled. That night we moved further back & the headquarters into the dirtiest Chateau that I have ever been in. The French were partly in it but moved out about 9pm. The hall, I should think, had never been cleaned since the Revolution & the countess & her companion sat in it. The billiard table which took up part of the room was covered with stockings, clothes, medicine bottles, papers, stamps, books, cookery recipes, with a bucket at the side filled with tea leaves & potato skins. The whole HQ, A. B. & C mess lived in this room, also the countess & her companion. The rooms upstairs were filthy but we managed to get one fairly cleaned up for the General & the rest of us lay about mixed with feathers, dust of ages & indescribable smells. The countess was a wonderful talker, the grime of ages was on her but she had quite nice manners & beautiful rings. I left her sitting, talking at 12 midnight and she was there at 9 am in the morning in the same chair talking away as hard as ever. Outside there was a court & magnificent stables. The court had a net hung all right but about 5 miles of moss on it. The old lady was 75. The French liaison officer told me her husband had been a great invalid, hence I suppose, the display of medicine bottles. She had three sons in the French army & really, poor old thing was most kind if she had not been so dirty. In the morning all sorts of peasants came in & brought her eggs & bread etc. She gave them each a franc & shook hands very nicely with them & covered up the eatables with dirty stockings on the billiard table. We then moved to another village where the division, what is left of it, concentrated & are being taken down here by train. I rode all the way with one of the A.D.C.s. We stayed at Abbeville where I got a very comfortable bed in a jeweller’s shop. They would take nothing & gave me a very comforting drink before I turned in. Yesterday we rode on here through a lovely peaceful country. I have no news about myself or what I am going to do.

PS – the fog of course helped the Bosche very much, as he got through our Redoubts without our fellows being able to see them or fire on them.

2nd April 1918 My darling, …nothing much doing. We hope to get the men washed soon. This is a lovely country. I never saw such a show of daffodils as I saw growing in an orchard near here. It was perfectly gorgeous about four acres of it a mass of yellow & green. I wish Sleigh could see the way all the apple trees are pruned here, I’m sure we should do it. Poor old man, I hope he is better but I fear he is breaking up from what you say…I might just as well have been at home for all the good I have been here except to give the Bosch an extra target. However I hope I may have been some use to the G.O.C. as he could talk to me about other things…we discussed central heating, electric light, high pheasants and farming. I think it was good for him…it was very difficult to get news. Despatch rider after despatch rider went off & did not get back and hours passed without us getting any definite information. When we did get news it was generally bad and we heard the most alarming rumours of course generally without a word of truth…I tried to let him to let me go up to the Brigade several times but he would not let me go except when he went up himself & then I generally went with him. All the time he was most awfully nice I never knew what a good fellow he was before – of course I don’t want this all repeated…when I first got out & found there was no real work for me at the moment I asked him to get me some job but not command of a battalion; as that is a bit of a strain & ties one down to the battalion; and I did not feel inclined to take up a new one unless I was wanted. He quite agreed…I had almost got a job as Corps Agricultural Officer which would have been a very nice one over the whole Corps area and a lot to do but this infernal battle I suspect has knocked that on the head & most if not all my area is now Bosche. I was to have gone to have an interview with Lord ‘forget-his-name’ but anyhow he is the Chief Agricultural Officer out here…now I don’t know what will happen but something I have no doubt will turn up…

Document 2: -General Oliver Nugent, commanding 36th () Division reveals extreme weariness and grief to his wife, [D3835/E/2/17/18]

The function of the postal censor was ostensibly to make sure that German Intelligence did not pick up anything of military value from the mail but the real reason was to make sure that bad news did not make its way easily to the civilian population in . Nugent was unable to mask in these letters a sense of physical weakness and emotional vulnerability as head-quarters staff were shifted from site to site in the weeks after the offensive took off. There was real fear that the French population would resent for a long time the reluctance of the British Government to impose total male throughout the . He vividly recalls a confused old man living hand-to-mouth in the ruins of an old village near the front line.

2nd April 1918 Please send me two hand towels and one bath towel, to replace ones which the Boche has got with my washing at Hall. Send good hard-wearing large hand towels, no fancy stitching and a good sized rough brown bath towel. I feared we would not be given time to rest or re-equip. this morning we got orders to move tomorrow to that plague spot, the front and to take over trenches there. It is very hard who are not yet clothed or washed nor re-equipped and the battalions are simply skeleton battalions at present and likely to remain so for some time. Of all parts of and Flanders I hate the Ypres front more than any, but I know it can’t be helped. Fresh divisions are wanted to stem the German attack. We get no news down here but I gather there is a pause while the Germans are collecting for their fresh efforts. I do not think it can be long delayed and I have no doubts the higher commands know where it is likely to develop. I am taking Boulogne on my way to Flanders tomorrow to get a fresh temporary plate. The one I have now no longer fits, too big and is very uncomfortable and I can’t eat anything but soft food with it. I don’t know but it seems to me that if the Flanders front remains quiet and we are going nearly into trenches again that I might be able to get some leave as soon as I have got training classes started. The only bright features of returning to that part is that we go to the again. I love [General Herbert] Plumer and I think he likes me. Eddy SW seems to be quite amiable but I can imagine his grievance, which is of course that he was never given a corps and that he was sent home, but it was the only thing to do and as to his getting a corps that would have been impossible. He had entirely lost his nerve. I should like to meet Sir Edward Goschen [1847-1924]. He was ambassador in and Alick Russell was military attaché at the outbreak of war. He would be very interesting. One result or possible result of the present very grave crisis will I hope be that will be compelled to take her share of the burden. My French interpreter told me the French are very bitter and will never forgive us for not having mobilised every available man long ago. They don’t realise that we have to build ships for the world and that we are clothing all the allied armies including the Americans and making guns and munitions for them all as well as that & we must retain a large amount of men. Even so there are tens of thousands still in England who ought to have been called up. If we lose the war now, the French will be our deadliest enemies for generations. The bits of home news are refreshing. I don’t mind how much you tell me of these. I am very battered and mentally weary and so sad to think of all my men, dead, wounded or prisoners and I feel it so much the more that I know they were wasted unnecessarily. F.D. has asked if he may go back to his battalion now and I said yes of course so I shall have to look for another ADC not an easy thing to find nowadays. Tell Alison that Oliver behaved with great gallantry one day & remained in a shell hole refusing to retire and F.D. had to go back & fetch him. I am desirous of giving him the .

11th April 1918 We are not being attacked at the present ourselves but there is a severe battle going on just to the South of us and very close. It rather seems to be extending our way. Last night was very disturbed. The Boche shelled the back areas all night and several shells hit the back behind which I have my dug-out, with a very unpleasant whump and shocked me nearly out of bed. I hear this evening that the news is better. We have got back Messines and Wytschaete. And seem to have held the Boche attack all along the line. What we have to do now is to hang on a bit longer and let the Boche exhaust more divisions in attacking us. Soon I believe we shall be in position to deliver a real big counter attack at our own chosen moment and that way turn the tables completely. The Americans will shortly be arriving in really big numbers, thousands of them every week. They will be attached to British divisions and will form part of them until they are thoroughly trained and can act on their own and then they will form their own divisions. Another fortnight should see the strain lifted. The Boche knows that as well as we do and he is too good a soldier to be taken by surprise…

12th April As you may have gathered the situation is very grave again. I am afraid the Germans entirely misled our Intelligence into believing they were going to attack us at and suddenly yesterday morning they developed a big attack up here. According to tonight’s reports they are very close to where I spent the winter and spring of 1916 and 1917. They are attacking on a big front and pressing hard. One of my brigades has been fighting very hard and has done very good work for a counter attack. I have no doubt troops are being rushed up from down South and I know the French are helping, but the Germans have got the start of us and they are attacking in such waves that it must take time to collect enough men to stem the rush. I expect Messines and Wytschaete have both gone and this evening the Germans were attacking Kemmel and Neuwe Eglise. I expect the last two are only names to you all but Eddy would know them well. The remainder of the division may have to retire at my recommendation. We are waiting, pretty well all packed up and a lot of baggage in stores already sent. We were shelled all last night and are being shelled now but we have good dugouts here and it is doing no harm (I have touched wood). Another fortnight if we can stop the Boche gaining any decisive advantage should see the turn of the tide. I heard today that General Foch has said that the war will be over in three months one way or the other….i am getting rather tired as the shelling, especially when there is an extra loud bang close by wakes me two or three times every night and keeps me awake however nothing can last for ever…

15th April Yesterday and last night were quiet on my point…The Germans have not gained ground and we ought to have enough reinforcements to deal with them on 2nd Army front, if they try again…I am much amused at F and A’s [Nugent’s children] method of sending themselves to sleep with melancholy ditties. It reminds me of a poor old Frenchman we found living alone in a deserted village where all was ruins. He had refused to go and the Germans had left him. He was a kind of mascot of the French whom we took over and he was solemnly handed over by them to us when we went up there. There were special instructions that he was to be shaved on Wednesdays and Sundays…He always wept when he was being shaved but whether it was due to the bluntness of the razors or sad, sad memories I don’t know. He had no teeth and his food had to be specially soaked and pounded for him. He was fond of wine too and used to get exceedingly drunk on it when he used to weep floods of tears and the men used to pat him on the back and wash his face & put him to bed. I hope the old buzzard wasn’t done in, but unless he was removed, he could not have got away himself…

Allied troops were warned against booby-traps in abandoned German trenches, D2238/2

Document 3: The Baird family suffer the loss of a beloved nephew on the front. The Belfast Evening Telegraph is unexpectedly shut down for one day by the Command in Ireland [D3300/1/18]

Having published countless memorial notices to soldiers from the North killed in France and elsewhere, Robert H.H. Baird and his brother William (serving in the Royal during the war) were anguished to have to do up a notice in early April 1918 for their 21-year-old nephew, Captain Marcus O’Keefe, Royal Artillery, (of Shooter’s Hill, London) killed 2nd April by an exploding shell while sleeping in a ruined farm house. O’Keefe had been awarded in 1916 for the rescue, under fire, of comrades buried in earth lifted by shellfire. His father, Major-General Manus O’Keefe, Director of Medical Services, R.A.M.C., was supported at the simple funeral by Colonel Sinclair, Belfast surgeon, a friend and fellow-officer in the Corps.

Following the careless release of information considered unsafe under the Defence of the Realm Act the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in Ireland, accorded authority under Martial Law, chose to ban the staunchly Unionist Belfast Evening Telegraph. The shocked editors called to their side every available political and administrative resource and, with the aid of a written apology to the Censor for the misdemeanour, got the back into operation after a break of two and a half days. Irish , of various political affiliations, expressed collegial sympathy with the Bairds

6th April 1918 Manus O’Keefe to Robert & Billy (Baird), Shooters Hill, Woolwich You have by now heard that Marcus was killed by an enemy shell on Tuesday morning at 6 am at a place called Forceville about five miles NW of Albert in France. He was in command of his battery at the time, as the major commanding had been wounded a few days before. He had been fighting hard on Monday and was on duty in the waggon lines where the battery horses are kept on Monday nights. He was sleeping with about twenty of his men in a farm house and about five am there was a very severe fire from the enemy guns. He was probably asleep at the time, a shell struck the house and burst right over Marto breaking in the back of his head, and one fragment passing through his right lung, with several other wounds. He never recovered consciousness and died in half-an-hour. I was in the Northern Army the 2nd, about 90 miles away from him. I heard of it late that night, and went up to where he was killed as soon as possible. I saw the exact place and house, and was in time for his burial. We buried him in a nice little cemetery and I was lucky enough to find a parson on his way up to his regiment. I was just taking Marto out to bury him myself as I had to hurry away, when we found the parson, a Mr Smith, chaplain of the 4th Bedford Regiment. It was about 12 noon, any amount of big guns blazing all round us, so Marto did not want for a volley. The sun was shining, and rather a touching thing, a flock of about 50 beautiful pigeons circled round and round the open grave. We buried him in his uniform and wrapped up in a rug. He suffered absolutely no pain but he is a great loss to the battery. He had got a high place in the Battery Commander’s exams at Shoeburyness. They all told me he was very cool and collected under the heaviest fire; one Major said he was splendid and had no nerves. Poor Nettie and Eileen feel it terribly. I have just got three days leave and am going back tomorrow; I have a heavy and responsible job. I enclose cuttings of notice in and would be obliged if you would put in a notice on same lines in the Evening Telegraph and Irish Times. Colonel Sinclair was very kind indeed and accompanied me all through the trying day. I had to hurry away and take over charge of a Northern Army so I had a very full day. Will you please forward this to Billy; it is a terrible low. Marto was a boy we loved very much. Love to Clara and May Ever yours sincerely - Manus A. O’Keefe.

Thursday April 11th The suspension of the Belfast Evening Telegraph and Irish Daily Telegraph was an event unique in the history of W & G Baird. R.H.H.B. called with Commissioner Smith…and he received a message from at about 1.30pm to the effect that the works of W & G Baird might proceed and that the weekly papers might be printed including the Ireland Saturday Night. The Ballymena Telegraph and Irish Post were therefore printed as usual and although this permission did not arrive from Dublin until about 1.30pm yet by the good nature of the Commissioner the works started as usual at 8 am. The Lord Mayor of Belfast was in Dublin and he immediately left the office of the Food Control and spent the afternoon in endeavouring to have the embargo on the publication of the Belfast Evening Telegraph removed and he at one time was so far successful that he made an appointment with Mr Moneypenny to remain at the City Hall all evening in order that the B.E.T. might be able to publish an edition, but it appears that the authorities seemed to look upon the publication of the Irish Daily Telegraph on Wednesday morning as a serious offence, after notice had been issued at 12.30 am, drawing the attention to the order of the Irish Press Censor, whereas as a matter of fact the Irish Daily Telegraphs [I.D.T.] on that morning were well on their way to their destinations before the notice was received in the office of the I.D.T. Mr Stewart went to Dublin by the 2.45 train and he was met by Mr Wayland who assisted him in endeavouring to the have the suspension of the B.E.T. and I.D.T. removed. Mr Moles was wired to at London, also the MPs, [Hugh] Barrie, [Edward] Carson and [William Arthur] Lindsay…At about 9.30 pm a wire was received from London that a request had been sent to Lt-General [Bryan] Mahon [Commander-in-chief of British Army in Ireland, 1916-1918] at Dublin presumably from the Irish Office in London, asking that the suspension of the B.E.T. should be removed from that paper if they published an apology. R.H.H.B. accompanied by Mr Jack Sayers met the Lord Mayor of Belfast at the Great Northern Railway station at 9pm. All three adjourned to the Transport office and night telegram letters were forwarded to General Fry and one has been prepared to be sent to Mr [Henry] Duke, Chief Secretary of Ireland, at London, but in consequence of the wire received at 9.30 pm already mentioned, this communication was not sent. Copies of the Dublin evening Ppapers were sold at 6d per copy at the G.N.R. station. Mr Thompson had the forethought to get a dozen or so copies of the 4th & 6th editions of the Telegraph printed for filing purposes. Mr J.H. Neill and Dr Murphy called and phone messages were received from many friends. All sorts of rumours were abroad, one being that there had been a fearful disaster at the front and that the Telegraph suspension was so that the people would not receive the news. Letters of sympathy were also received word received from Ritchie Brown from to say that he was safe….

Friday 12th April 1918 The suppression of the B.E.T. and I.D.T. by General [Bryan] Mahon commanding the military forces in Ireland became operative at 9.45 pm on Tuesday night and was withdrawn at 12.15 pm today. The efforts of friends in London, Mr H.T. Barrie, Sir Edward Carson, W.A. Lindsay and Lord Londonderry, have been effectual in obtaining the influence of the Prime Minister to ask General Mahon to remove the ban which he did at the time mentioned. Mr Stewart was in Dublin and he called by appointment with Lord Decies, Press Censor, for the withdrawal of the suspension…Mr Stewart was at the office of the Irish Command at noon and was in conversation with General Fry. Mr Stewart phoned to Belfast and dictated a letter of guarantee which he had given the General on behalf of the proprietors of the Belfast Evening Telegraph and Mr Sayers, who was in the office of R.H.H.B. (and there was also present Mr S. Williamson) phoned the issuing of an apology which Sayers had written and had put into type earlier in the morning. As the conversation was going on between Stewart and Sayers R.H.H.B. was asked to go to the phone to speak to the Commissioner of Police and that gentleman told R.H.H.B. that the ban had been lifted and that he, Commissioner Smith was very glad there would be no further trouble in this respect. Over 300 wires were sent to the agents of the B.E.T., the cost of wiring alone being about £10, announcing the fact that the B.E.T. will be sold as usual on Friday evening. Mr McMonagle called three or four times during the day and was very anxious as to the position of affairs. A nice letter of sympathy was received from Mr T. Brewster of the Independent and other friends signifying their disapproval of the act of the Government in this matter. The Freeman’s Journal published two very nice leaders complaining of the treatment by the authorities to the press in general and to the BET especially in this respect….

Document 4: Arthur Stuart, Lord Castlestewart of Stewartstown, County Tyrone (1889-1961), manages a peaceful journey home from Salonika to London, April 1918 [D1618/15/15/1]

The Macedonian front had remained stable for much of 1917 and early 1918. A multi-national force faced a Bulgarian army in difficult terrain. There was no resolute effort to break the Bulgarian defences until the late summer of 1918. Stuart by that time had come home on extended leave having spent two years at the port of Thessalonica in (Salonika). Interludes between fighting of this kind formed a good part of all military service.

22nd April 1918 Salonika

My dear mother, Safely over the water. It was rather a rough passage and we lay on our baggage all night. However the next night we passed in a rest camp. Last night spent in the train & tonight we shall spend in a rest camp. On the whole not too unpalatable, though I got landed with a lot of men to look after. However they don’t worry us much & are very old hands by now, quite capable of looking after themselves. White bread again today, it seems strange & hard that we young fellows should have such luxuries while you go without. I picked up three of the fellows I travelled home so it is not too lonely. We go back same way as we came I believe. Your eggs & apples & cake were very much appreciated. I told you that Mrs Gribble came and saw me off. She looked as young as ever but a little smaller & was fairly hopeful about Julian…

30th April Just a line to say all well so far; clean for the first time since we started though I fear it will not last long, as we move on again very shortly. Nice & sunny which is a very great blessing when travelling especially in troop trains. I got a tent to myself in this camp by waiting till last. It is curious how much little things like that matter even on service. I hate sharing sleeping accommodation with anyone, and railway carriages with the windows shut are the worst billet in the world…

14th May At least submarine perils are now over though the journey is not yet quite finished. On the whole things have not been too bad in the way of discomfort; dust being the chief enemy & grime the next worst while waiting in rest camps to complete the next stage. No news of you or of the company yet though I trust all is well at both ends. I expect to be getting your letter in about four days. It is delightfully warm without being too hot just now…

Document 5: Short series of letters home from Richard Perceval-Maxwell of Finnebrogue, Downpatrick, County Down, recruited to 10th Scots Rifles, aged 19, during four months previous to death in action [D1556/27/3/5]

These letters were kept in a bundle by his heart-broken mother (Edith Perceval- Maxwell) among the family papers. They are difficult to read without a sense of the great pathos of young life lost. His memories of family and the landscape around Downpatrick are interspersed among reports of the adventures of war and training.

19th April 1918 Saturday Darling Mother, Just a line to say my address is 10th Scots Rifles BEF & that I arrived safely. I go up the line tomorrow.

20th April 1918 …I am writing this in the train on my way up the line. I don’t know where we’re going but I don’t think we’ll get up before tomorrow at earliest. I’m quite pleased to be going back to the 10th as I think there are one or two people about there who were with me when I was there last. I haven’t heard any news about the war but it seemed to be going fairly well for us when I last saw a paper. Just after writing last night an air-raid started but I went to sleep after the first two shots were fired. Last night we spent under canvas as it froze hard so it was not much fun washing in cold water this morning. There was ice in the baths. We had a good journey over in the boat, not rough, but we had a very heavy sleet shower which was nasty. On the whole we’ve been fairly comfortable…

23rd April 1918 …I have reached the battalion or hope to when they come out tonight. We left Calais on Sunday & stopped at Etaples & then to where we are now…two nights rest the others were spent in the train. We had a very cheery lecture by a GHQ officer at the base…I am sitting out of doors & writing. Write soon & let me know all the news about Jock. I hope to see him some time soon…

29th April 1918 I am still out at rest. We had a scare on about 2 am this morning, orders came to move & we rushed off to a place about 20 miles away south & then when we arrived there we got busted back again to the place we had left. I rode over to Jock’s regiment yesterday but Jock had just gone up after a few days rest so I missed him which was bad luck. They say that their part of the line is very quiet…there has been a good deal of strafing further north last night & this morning…hope you have good news of father…

1st I am all right & still out at rest…have absolutely no news. I will write again when I have something to say. Love to all, your loving Dick.

11th May 1918 I am down on a general course of training which I think I said I might possibly go on. It is in a small town about 2 kilos from the sea and most gloriously peaceful. It is quite close to where we disembark when coming over to France. I had been four days in the line & came straight out down here. When in the line we were very close to the Germans only a narrow river between us, about the width of the Quoyle at the Forge Bank Lock. Then on my left I had an island which neither hold, but we both use to take midnight strolls there, luckily he and I never clashed but it was quite exciting, specially as the island was partly wooded. We had one broken bridge to crawl across & the noise we made getting over it was fit to be heard fifteen miles away. My sergeant who I used to take over with me was very good but had a nasty ‘acking’ cough and reserved it to when we were about five yards off a Boche post & then burst out in full force. However we never got strafed. Otherwise it was very pleasant at day we use to retire into cellars of ruined cottages which were very low and about 1½ inches of soot on the ceiling, most of which I took away in my hair. Otherwise it was very quiet. I must end now but I will write again soon.

21st May 1918 Darling mother Just a line to thank you for the tobacco & writing pad which have arrived…I am so glad father is safely in England and has been home, let me know his address. We are having the most terrific weather, sweltering isn’t the word for it. We have a very strenuous time, rushing about in sand dunes, which is very heavy going. However we get talking which is always something. Had a very good view of an air raid a few nights ago. He was raiding a town not very far away & one could see everything that went on. I’m so glad your new governess is a success…

30th May 1918 I have very little to say you know I’m well out of any strafing…everything is going on just the same as ever…the work is getting quite interesting. We were inspected by the Army Commander which was quite amusing. I shan’t be very sorry when this course is over, as I hate being away from my battalion for long, one feels like a stranger when one gets back. How are things going on at home? I wrote father the other night…I hope all the younger ones are fit as flies…

12th June 1918 We have hardly any time to ourselves. We are working up to five o’clock and then there are all kinds of sports which have to be finished up so the only time is between nine & ten & then I am usually so tired that I couldn’t write…the course ends on Saturday 15th…

16th June 1918 I am really most awfully sorry that the course has finished as I had a top hole time also I learnt quite a lot. I think that my battalion should be out of the line by now…I had a letter from Jock and he was having a very quiet time…Has Paddy been in for his exam yet?...

23rd June 1918 Thanks awfully for the book…we are having a very good time at present not in the line…I am so sorry your foot has been troubling you…we are having very cold weather here so cold that we lit a fire this morning…I haven’t had any news from Jock for a day or two…will write again soon…

27th June 1918 …thanks awfully for your letter& the Stephen Leacock book. It’s rather a coincidence that we have a craze for Stephen Leacock in our company at present so it will be very welcome…we had rather an excitement a few days ago. One of the battalions in our Brigade did a raid and took six prisoners, one of whom was an NCO. They took him & the others to Brigade headquarters…separated the NCO from the men & when they had questioned him sent for a special escort to take him to Division. When the escort arrived they had no ammunition in their rifles & their bayonets weren’t fixed. The staff captain told them to load up etc & when the Boche saw them load & fix swords he thought he was going to be shot & made one bolt and got away. Brigade then sent down a message saying a desperate Boche prisoner had escaped & we had people hunting for him all over the place that night & the next day. I was just taking my sergeant round posting groups over the bridges…when some Canadians put him up & caught him. I was most awfully bucked, it was just like finding a hare after drawing blank all day…

5th Jock is well away by this time down at Boulogne so that is one source of anxiety removed…we are having fairly decent weather…I had a very nice note ride the other day. Paddy is by now in the throes of the Sandhurst exam, I expect. Aunt Rosa will probably give him a good time when it is over…how is your foot? I hope you can get about on it by now. Tell father that Shepherd wasn’t thought much of in this Battalion. I didn’t know him personally. Eddy Perceval won the jumping competition at Banyay Divisional Horse Show…

8th July 1918 Darling mother, …is your foot better yet? We are having glorious weather…the war seems to be going on the same old way…I see Mick Barnard is dead. When I was down at the 1st Army infantry school, I was passing a veterinary depot & I saw a horse labelled ‘Lord Farnham’, I suppose it will remain till he comes home as the veterinary people hang on to any decent horses that come down. I told Jock about it so he might get a ride on it if he takes the trouble to ask the depot. Has Paddy finished his exam yet? How are the other brothers getting on?

18th July 1918 I am well & very comfortable. We have moved but where I daren’t say. We are in a most delightful village and I have a bed and clean sheets and every home comfort except a pukka bath. But we have a river not very far away, a shower bath in the village, eggs, fruit and fresh vegetables. Oh it’s a very bonne war here may it last for ever. All the villagers are all out to do everything. The weather has been very hot & thunderous…will write again soon…

21st July 1918 Just a line to let you know I am very well & having a good time. We have been out at rest for the last week…the weather is absolutely boiling and inclined to thunder…The French and Americans seem to have done a very successful push also a strong rumour that the Canadians have pushed at Arras…give my love to Father & everybody. Must end now, your loving Dick.

Document 6: Letter to W. S. Armour from Rev. James Brown (J.B.) Armour, commenting on the hostile reaction to the suggestion that conscription be extended to Ireland [D1792/A/3/9/12]

The British Government considered bringing in conscription in the weeks after the German Offensive but was opposed by Irish Home Rulers. J.B. Armour was particularly incensed by the attitudes of the Irish Roman Catholic hierarchy and , leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party after the death of , in March 1918, and by the attempts of Irish nationalists to secure President 's sympathy and support.

Ballymoney 24th April 1918 Ireland you will see is in a state of frenzy over conscription. The bishops have thrown off the mask. Most of us knew that they were in heart deadly opposed to Home Rule and now they have come out into the open. They have embraced Sinn Féin. [John] Dillon is too much of a mad-head and too little of a real statesman to guide a party in a crisis. [Joe] Devlin has a leveller head. The mayor of Dublin is resolved to go across and interview [Woodrow] Wilson. Some say he should not get a passport but that would be foolish. Wilson is level-headed and would likely tell him straight that he could not listen to a man who is agitating to get the soldiers American and Irish murdered in thousands by the Germans while he and his party refuse to take part in winning the war which is of more importance for liberty and civilisation than the case of unreasonable Irishmen. As for the mayor's desire for an independent nation, he would likely say America spent millions of men and rivers of blood to keep the southern states from seeking to be an independent nation and that he has no notion of reversing the policy of the American republic for the sake of the Irish bishops. The government has bungled the business from first to last and has shown itself barren of common sense. Is it riding as some think for a fall?

Please note all the documents used in this blog have been edited for clarity and, in some cases abridged. For more information on the documents and PRONI’s sources relating to the First World War see our Guide to the Manuscript Sources for the Study of the First World War in PRONI.

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