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Trench Detectives Monday, July 23rd, 2007
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Readers lucky enough to receive UK TV channel 5 might want to make a date in their diaries to be out tomorrow.
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At 19:15 tomorrow (Tuesday) 5 will be starting a re-run of the series “Trench Detectives” which was their edited version of “Finding the Fallen”. The series concentrates on our group No Man’s Land and our work on five archaeological projects from the Western Front, including Serre, Loos and Beaumont Hamel.
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Actually the series gives a fair idea of the process involved in excavating sites of this type and in the backstories one can uncover about individuals whose bodies and possessions are uncovered on the battlefields.
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A number of the team who will be out at Plug Street are featured in the programmes, including a bizarre moment of Jon and Martin singing a Baptist hymn.
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Initial German Perspective Friday, July 20th, 2007
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For those who do not know me my name is Ralph Whitehead and I am what can be described as an historian with NML. I am quite pleased to be able to attend another NML dig and hopefully assist in identifying any finds the group makes. The Australian contingent is well represented and I look forward to meeting old friends and make some new ones. Some of you already know me and my interest in the German army. Hopefully all of the different perspectives of the fighting will allow us to piece together a better idea of the fighting and events that took place some 90 years ago.
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In looking over the German side of the battle we will probably be running into men who served in the 9th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, an active regiment in the 4th Bavarian Division. This regiment or the others in the division, the 5th Bavarian IR and 5th Bavarian RIR held this portion of the line for some months prior to the attack. On 7 June 1917 the regiment had taken over from the 5th Bavarian RIR that had suffered heavy losses due to artillery fire. The III Battalion (9th, 10, 11th and 12th Companies) took over the sector where the mines were detonated, in fact the 12th Coy was positioned directly above the Ultimo mine. When the mines were set off this company suffered the worst losses followed by the 10th and 11th Companies, both of which lost a major part of their men in the initial blasts. The 9th Company was located in the intermediate terrain between the front line and the second line of defence. They occupied shell craters and strong points.
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I looked over the available records for these units (9th and 5th Bavarian have regimental histories while the 5th Bavarian RIR did not publish anything in the post-war years). The 9th Bavarian IR had seen service in all main areas of the Western Front other than the fighting at Verdun in 1916. After reviewing the losses suffered by the regiment I found that the III Bn was the hard luck battalion in that they lost more men than the rest and the 12th Coy was the hard luck company having lost more men in the war by far than any other company in the regiment.
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An example of this was the time they served on the Somme from 31 August 1916 through 18 September. In this period the regiment suffered heavily in the tank attack at Flers on 15 September where the III Battalion was virtually destroyed. The total losses for the 19 day period was 5 officers, 182 men killed; 20 officers, 776 men wounded and 20 officers, 540 men missing for a total of 45 officers and 1,498 men.
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These losses required replacements and as such the men who were manning the trenches on 7 June were between the ages of 18 and 39. The losses suffered by the German Army required calling up the 1917 and 1918 Class of men early. 36 of the III Bn losses on 7 June were from these two classes.
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In looking at the total losses for the regiment in the war the 9th Bavarians lost 3,758 officers and men killed; 134 officers and men who died from disease or accident; 346 officers and men missing; 8,630 officers and men wounded; 1,260 officers and men captured for a total of 14,128 casualties in the war.
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In looking further at the losses I noted that one man from the 12th Coy listed as killed and presumed dead was a man born in New York. He was one of 6 fatal casualties that were born in the U.S. in this regiment, 4 from New York, 1 from Pennsylvania and one from a state yet to be identified. If these 6 were killed then I would suspect there would have been others serving in this regiment from the U.S. as well.
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I will have additional details on the names of the men who have known graves and those we might possibly come across during the excavation as well as details on the uniforms and equipment most likely to be found as well. If anyone has any specific questions or inquiries please let me know over the next week or so and I will make sure I bring this information with me.
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See you at the end of the month, possibly in Comines, possibly at Ypres, but eventually at Messines.
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Ralph
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An Australian Perspective Thursday, July 19th, 2007
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This is Michael Molkentin here. I am a historian and teacher from Wollongong, Australia; and following Richard’s gracious invitation, will be attending the Ploegsteert excavation.
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As a historian who has only experienced the Battle of Messines through paper records, I am curious to see how archaeology can contribute to our understanding of the battle. Pouring over the multitude of maps, war diaries and private accounts of the 33rd Battalion’s advance at Trench 122, I have often struggled to visualise things like fields of fire, distances, the impact of flanks etc. These things should become clearer by just walking the ground, but given Flanders apparently (now) featureless geography, getting down into the dirt is probably the only way that we will really be able to appreciate the layout of the battle.
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From an Australian perspective I also hope that this project will ignite some popular interest in Western Front operations. Here in Australia most people tend to think that Australia’s First World War experience began and ended at Gallipoli in 1915. Where there is some interest, it is usually based on a series of ‘Blackadder’ or Wilfred Owen style stereotypes. For example, when I recently spoke with a well-read ex-school principal about his grandfather who went missing during the Battle of Messines he commented “Tactics in the First World War? What tactics?”. Believe me, after trawling through hundreds of pages of operations orders for the Messines operation there were certainly tactics employed. Major General Monash is reported to have even specified the distinct movements of individual sections in his scheme for the attack!
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I have attached some results of some of my recent work at the Memorial. Firstly there is a sketch map of the crater that was consolidated by A Company on 7 June 1917. As it was right on the exposed flank of the entire operation it came under heavy fire. Most of the platoon tasked with taking it were killed and it was held throughout the day by seven men. That night, help arrived and established wired posts armed with Lewis guns.
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The second map demonstrates the 33rd Battalion’s objectives for 7 June 1917, all of which it achieved. Remarkably, the black line that the troops managed to dig very closely matched that prescribed in the operation orders before the attack.
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Michael
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Of maps and men Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
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Yesterday we had our chum Peter Chasseaud visit. Peter is the foremost expert on the maps of the Great War as well as the Plug Street Project’s artist in residence. He had brought some maps over and a selection of aerial photographs that are the fruits of his labours in the photographic collection at the Imperial War Museum.
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The photos seem to show a British line that doesn’t alter much but a German line that is constantly being strengthened and refortified. Until the 28th June 1917 AP that is. The Ultimo mine has clearly shattered the line and spread its upcast across the trenches, it was also possible to see hints of the refortification done by Anzac 3 Div. The picture was taken a fortnight after the mine was blown and shows how it became part of the fortifications. We know from written accounts that the Australians had practised this type of work on Salisbury Plain (the British Army’s main training ground) and have seen the crater there but it’s interesting to see trenches. Digging might show what they actually did. We couldn’t look closely at the crater here in UK because it has badgers living in it and they are protected by law!
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Anyway thanks to Peter. Now we look forwards to Birger’s results – he is our Belgian partner who is studying air photos of the front for his PhD.
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By way of thanks to Peter we took him out to see some of our archaeology on the Plain, including some lovely practice trenches on Beacon Hill and some rather nice hillforts and burial mounds (we know how to entertain!).
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Exciting news Monday, July 9th, 2007
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Exciting news from one of our Australian team members, Michael. One of the main project aims is to see how training on Salisbury Plain influenced (if at all) the effectiveness of combat units at Messines, specifically the Australian 3rd Division. We already have a large number of trench maps and aerial photos of the site from the Great War (thanks to another team member, Peter Chasseaud) but now have a specific map from the attacks of 7th June.
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Michael has been to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and has located the ‘Consolidation’ map of the 33rd Btn; the unit that was detailed to capture the German lines at ‘Ultimo’ and ‘Factory Farm’ craters. This shows the re-wiring and new trenching of the 33rd Btn following their Messines success. This map is produced below with new work (as of post 7th June 1917) shaded.
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We will build this into our survey work and will hope to explore further this summer…
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Yesterday’s Burials Thursday, July 5th, 2007
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The newspapers and news websites have all been carrying pieces about the funeral of the Lancashire Fusiliers that I was talking about yesterday. The BBC are now carrying this piece from their military history correspondent Peter Caddick-Adams of the UK Defence Academy:
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6273292.stm
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In the piece he describes the difficulties of arriving at any identification for the bodies that are still being recovered from the Western Front. He describes visiting the “Finding the Fallen” exhibition at the National Army Museum last year and learning how the smallest details could help identify a man.
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I am proud to say that the exhibition was based on the work of No Man’s Land and took it’s title from a TV series that featured our work. NML is, of course, the lead body in the Plug Street Project and many of its members are key people in the August dig.
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The BBC article underlines what I was trying to say yesterday – that attention to detail is important because it is those small clues, like the position of buttons on a cuff, that could make all the difference.
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Great War Burials Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
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According to today’s BBC web pages the bodies of a number of Lancashire Fusiliers will be buried today with full military honours:
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/6268464.stm
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The men all fell during World War One and one of them has been identified as Private Richard Lancaster of the 2nd Battalion, who was killed near the dig site. The men are to be buried in Prowse Point Cemetery, en route to site. I imagine this means we will call in to pay our respects during the dig.
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The BBC have also published a photograph of Mr Lancaster on the net. This is always something I find remarkable and difficult – in more normal archaeology is is far from usual to see the face of the person one has carefully exhumed but I have now had the experience of seeing the face Jakob Hones, who I helped recover in 2003. The frisson is remarkable but it really punches home the responsibility the excavator has to seek out each clue that might lead to a positive identification. If you want to know more about Jakob Hones then go to the No Man’s Land pages about the excavation at Serre.
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Some people think the dead of the War should be left where they are but in an age of major development and agri-business that isn’t an option so what you are left with is a responsibility to do the best job possible and to be respectful of the person in front of you as you try to recover their earthly remains and the artefacts that can help identify them.
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Cheery stuff but at least you now know it’s not digging folk up for fun!
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The German defenders Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007
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I am putting together an historic outline of the German defenders of this location. It seems the mines hit at the junction of two regiments, the 9th Bavarians and the 5th Bavarian IR.
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It seems the Ultimo mine went off just below the 12/9th Bavarian IR whose ranks included a fellow New Yorker who was listed as missing presumed killed.
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I hope to have the full details and at least one map if not two shortly.
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Ralph
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It’s getting worryingly close to the first spadeful Sunday, July 1st, 2007
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July. Crumbs, it’s July! At the end of this month we actually have to start digging holes and making sense of the site. At least we know we have a crack team in the field (no pressure guys) and some good friends waiting in the wings to help us out.
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Last Friday Richard and I were pleased to see Dr Rob Janaway from Bradford University, who gave us some invaluable advice on conservation of finds. Although some of the techniques are standard for archaeological sites the relative newness of some of the materials, notably the organics, means that care and flexibility may be the order of the day. Between Rob and NML finds supremo Luke have excellent support.
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In the meantime we are watching the weather and hoping that the pea crop in M. Delrue’s field will be lifted in time for the launch of the project. Watching the weather is a common preoccupation at the minute. Belgium has been having similar weather to the UK and Claude (patron of the excellent Auberge) has told us to bring our wet suits. Mind you, they were saying on the TV that it was the wettest June since 1914 and I keep comforting myself with the thought that July and August 1914 were remarkably good, giving that image of the Edwardian Summer that ends on 4th August (a bit like the project).
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Family Ties Friday, June 1st, 2007
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We asked the team for their family connections to the Great War and to the area where we will be working this morning and already have had a few responses so far including grandfathers in the Royal Garrison Artillery, relatives in a number of Scottish units, a medic and a number of Australian connections. However the tie so far for the best connections is between an ancestor pinned down by De Valera’s men during the Easter Rising in Dublin 1916 and another who served in a Hapsburg Viennese regiment.
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This question of connection is a more serious issue than my introduction suggests. In researching Great War sites we are entering a relatively recent and well-documented period from which some of us can still remember our own family members who served. In recognising our own family connections we must interrogate our motivations for seeking to enter the world they inhabited during their service – what makes us want to do this? We must also recognise that the project may elicit responses different to those we would have on more traditional archaeological sites. In acknowledging our connections we can factor them into our responses to the processes of excavation, interpretation and dissemination. We can also recognise that we may develop a feeling of ownership for places or events that may not be appropriate in academic discourse. Or is is in appropriate?
More on this subject as we go forward, no doubt.
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