Half of an Officer's last letter before the Big Push. Can you please help me to decipher it?

[pierssc]

1 hour ago, A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy said:

This thread is a fascinating piece of deductive work.

If it was Captain Wace who shot the man giving the order to retire, thought to be an impostor, you do hope that he had got it right, and that it was indeed an impostor, though, in the heat of battle, it would not be surprising if errors were made. If it turned out that it was an error (how would one ever know - records of casualties in nearby units?), it wouldn't take away from the courage of the young man who wanted to be one of those placing himself in the forefront of the danger, rather than hanging back and watching others do so. I can't agree with his supposition that "anyone would".

A couple of very minor comments on the transcription; I think it must indeed have been gooseberries in the parcel, presumably tinned ones, as I think the words " us a taste/bit/bite/bait" are actually "in a tart".

I think that the last words of the first page may be "moving up", and the first word of the next page may be "munition". I'm wondering whether he may have explained that he'd volunteered to help with this since he goes on to say he'd rather be doing than just watching.

Also, though it doesn't alter the sentiment, I think that the word "exceedingly" may actually be "enormously".

It's a shame that those two or three lines of the letter are missing.

Fresh eyes!   This handwriting is a really difficult one - it can look meaningless and then suddenly slots into place.  I agree with the gooseberries being made into a tart.  "Moving up" and "munition" too, though I think that may actually be "ammunition" thus "moving up ammunition and tools to strengthen the line taken".  I struggle to see "enormously" but I think you are probably right - "I want to go on living enormously" sounds the sort of thing someone would say.

If  @high wood could have a go at copying the bottom of each page again (trying to get it really flat) we might be able to tease a further word or two out.  I know it's difficult with such delicate paper....

 

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

On 10/10/2021 at 21:34, Colin W Taylor said:

An order to retire was apparently given by an officer from another unit. One NCO thought that the order actually came from a German masquerading in British uniform.. 'Whoever it was,' wrote Lt Col Willan, 'was shot, it is believed, by Capt Wace with his revolver.'

Now  presumably lying in a CWGC grave as an UBO?

[high wood]

18 hours ago, pierssc said:

Fresh eyes!   This handwriting is a really difficult one - it can look meaningless and then suddenly slots into place.  I agree with the gooseberries being made into a tart.  "Moving up" and "munition" too, though I think that may actually be "ammunition" thus "moving up ammunition and tools to strengthen the line taken".  I struggle to see "enormously" but I think you are probably right - "I want to go on living enormously" sounds the sort of thing someone would say.

If  @high wood could have a go at copying the bottom of each page again (trying to get it really flat) we might be able to tease a further word or two out.  I know it's difficult with such delicate paper....

 

The letter is very fragile and several small pieces of the bottom edge came away as I photographed it for this thread. I am reluctant to handle it too much in case it deteriorates further.

Apart from the enormous respect that I have for Captain Percival Wace and his stoicism that reading this letter has given me, the other, somewhat inane, thought that arises, is how on earth to you send a gooseberry tart through the post?

Edited 13 October , 2021 by high wood

[pierssc]

58 minutes ago, high wood said:

The letter is very fragile and several small pieces of the bottom edge came away as I photographed it for this thread. I am reluctant to handle it too much in case it deteriorates further.

Apart from the enormous respect that I have for Captain Percival Wace and his stoicism that reading this letter has given me, the other, somewhat inane, thought that arises, is how on earth to you send a gooseberry tart through the post?

Ah well, I think we've got the gist of it and we'd be lucky to make out much more.  I respect your reluctance.

My impression is that the gooseberries were fresh.  At the back of my mind is the thought that the army postal service was very quick.  I'm sure there will be a post (pardon the pun) about it somewhere on the GWF.   However they may have been bottled or otherwise home preserved - I'm sure there'll be something in Mrs Beaton. While making a tart in the front line is unlikely, I imagine that maybe the officers enjoyed their gooseberry tart while in reserve when baking pastry might be feasible.

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

1 hour ago, pierssc said:

My impression is that the gooseberries were fresh.  At the back of my mind is the thought that the army postal service was very quick.  I'm sure there will be a post (pardon the pun) about it somewhere on the GWF.   However they may have been bottled or otherwise home preserved - I'm sure there'll be something in Mrs Beaton. While making a tart in the front line is unlikely, I imagine that maybe the officers enjoyed their gooseberry tart while in reserve when baking pastry might be feasible.

You may be right that the gooseberries were fresh. I was thinking that 1 July would be too early for them to be ripe, but, not being a gardener, I have now googled this, and see that some people recommend that gooseberries should be picked when underripe if they are to be made into tarts, so maybe that is what happened, and that would also have assisted them to survive the journey. Or maybe they were bottled, as pierssc suggests. The tart was definitely made in France, as the way the letter is phrased suggests that the fact that the gooseberries were in a tart would be news to Captain Wace's mother. I agree that this must have happened away from the front.

I have a letter written from France by my grandfather to his sister, which ends "By the way many thanks for the cakes etc., but no disrespect but pastry and cakes do not seem to keep fresh too long. The pasty from home was good but all crumbled up when it arrived ..." That's the gratitude of brothers for you.

Sorry to divert from the seriousness of the content of the rest of the letter from Captain Wace.

[TEW]

The shooting incident is also reported in the 35th Infantry Brigade diary WO95/1847/1 Ancestry page 90/645.

Capt. Wace gets a mention the battalion diary where the CO went forward to see for himself what was happening and found things confusing with men having fallen back to the German front line, standing on parapets not knowing what to do. Capt. Mace being the only officer present was trying to rally the troops and trying to get them to go forward.

The CO notes it was very dark and recognising anyone was difficult, the noise was deafening and an enemy barrage was on them.

The plans for the 5th Berks are all laid out with enough detail to know where each company was and their flanking companies/battalions. Unfortunately, units were all mixed up having got lost in the dark.

The 9th Essex were noted for seizing a trench and taking prisoners although it was not their objective trench.

TEW

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

I was actually engaged in typing the relevant portion of the 5th

4 hours ago, TEW said:

Capt. Wace gets a mention the battalion diary

I was actually engaged in typing the relevant portion of the 5th Berks WD when Tew uploaded his post. A "Narrative of Operations" on 3 July 1916 describes the attack, and how the first waves reached the German front line. The narrative continues:

"After crossing the front line the leading waves pushed on over the second trench, and into what is known as “Shrapnel Terrace” – there some of the enemy were encountered, and hand to hand fighting ensued – many dugouts were bombed, and it became obvious that unless we could procure a plentiful supply of bombs it would be impossible to hold on to what ground we had gained – It proved to be a very dark morning, and in the darkness it was extremely difficult to recognise friend from foe, or even the trenches themselves which had been considerably damaged by shell fire, besides which, the noise of the bombardment which had now lifted to the northern outskirts of the village, and the fire of innumerable machine guns, was deafening, and made it quite impossible to hear orders given ...The Commanding officer and Adjutant went forward shortly after the last wave had left, it was still quite dark, and impossible to discern faces 50 yards away. On reaching the German front line trenches about 100 men were found, between there and the second line. Considerable bombing was heard on the right and in front, and the enemy could be seen advancing from the left. There was much confusion in the darkness, and men from the 7^th Suffolks and 9^th Essex were seen to be mixed up with our men. The noise was deafening, and it was impossible to make oneself heard. The bulk of the men fell back to the German front line trench, some were inclined to go further, these stood on the top and appeared not to know what to do. Only one officer could be found in the locality [Captain WACE] and he was endeavouring to rally the men, and to get them to go forward. After a brief reconnaissance the Commanding officer decided that it would be quite impossible to retain our hold on the German front line trench, which was almost entirely obliterated, and extremely deep, exposed as we were to an attack from both flanks, as well as from the front. It would have been impossible to have consolidated in the time available, added to the fact that we should probably have had to remain there throughout the entire day quite unsupported, and entirely cut off, with no reserve of bombs or S.A.A."

The Commanding Officer therfore withdrew with what men he could collect and dug in on the Albert-Ovillers Road until the following night. Casualties in the engagement were as follows:

Officers: 2 killed, 2 died of wounds, 3 wounded, 7 missing

ORs: 2 killed, 212 wounded, 104 missing.

 

Edited 13 October , 2021 by A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

5 hours ago, TEW said:

The shooting incident is also reported in the 35th Infantry Brigade diary WO95/1847/1 Ancestry page 90/645.

Thank you Tew, I have now looked at the report in the Brigade WD, and see that it is in fact Lieutenant Colonel Willan's hand-written report signed by him on 4 July 1916, and is more or less word for word the source of the passage quoted by Colin W. Taylor timed at 21.25 on Sunday from On the Somme - The Kitchener Battalions of the Royal Berkshire Regt 1916.

I have also looked at the accounts in the WDs of the 7th Suffolks and 9th Essex, both of which confirm that there was a very great deal of confusion in the noise and the darkness, that ultimately, for various reasons, there was no real option but to retreat, and that at some point that order was indeed given by a British officer, and may have been given by more than one, British officer and at different times.

However, whatever the truth about who did the shooting, and who was shot, there can be little doubt that Captain Wace was doing his courageous best, in very difficult circumstances, to do his job and not to fail his men, as he prayed he would be able to do in his letter written a few days earlier.

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

As an addendum to the above, on the day of writing the letter, 28 June 1916, Captain Wace's unit were at Molliens-au-Bois. At that point they had been training behind the line for several days, which had no doubt given opportunity for the gooseberry tart to be made. On 28 June the WD records that orders previously given for the Batallion to move were cancelled, but on 30 June 1916 they moved to Franvillers, and the following day marched to Henencourt Wood, where packs were gathered in and all ranks were issued with two extra bandoliers and two bombs, and 200 entrenching tools were issued, all of which was foreshadowed in the letter. 

At 5.00pm they received a "sudden order" to move to Albert to relieve the 8th Division, which took until dawn on 2 July, then at about midnight on 2 July they received their orders for the fateful attack on Ovillers, for which zero hour was 3.15am on 3 July.

Edited 29 March , 2022 by A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy

[Hugh2]

Was Wace adjutant of the Oxford University OTC in the summer of 1915?

[mrfrank]

On 29/03/2022 at 11:02, Hugh2 said:

Was Wace adjutant of the Oxford University OTC in the summer of 1915?

Late coming to this thread, but in answer to the above question, Capt Percival Beckwith Wace went out to France with 5th Berks in May 1915.

Found this thread as I was trying to confirm the identities of the 5 officers featured in a photo I’ve had for several years that was probably taken on the eve of their departure for France in May 1915.
L-R I think the C Company officers are as follows: 

2nd Lt Alan Napier Scott (Bn WD 11Jul15 - ‘severely wounded by rifle bullet while standing near C Coy HQ dugout’)

Capt Percival Beckwith Wace (KiA 03Jul16)

Capt Oliver Nowell Chadwyck-Healey 

Lt John Erskine Warner

2nd Lt Harry Cunvin Horsford (KiA 08Apr17)

 

 

Edited 28 November , 2023 by mrfrank

[mrfrank]

Unusual format for a Gale & Polden produced photo too - with a montage of the individual C Coy platoons

 

Edited 28 November , 2023 by mrfrank