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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Links Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
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Thanks are due to Dr Dan Todman who has linked us to his Trench Fever site. You can return the favour by visiting his excellent blog here
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http://trenchfever.wordpress.com
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Dan is at Queen Mary College, London and has written a number of key First War texts. He was also involved in the BBC Radio 4 programme on the “forgotten victory” of 1918 in a series entitled “Things we forgot to remember”.
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Around the Media Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
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Richard gave an interview on Garrison Radio this lunchtime with the lovely Josette. It broadcasts to all major British Army garrisons in UK and as well as talking about our work here he also talked about the Plugstreet Project and our aspirations for the dig, as well as our view of the war (nobody mention futility, or lions and donkeys, okay?).
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http://www.army.mod.uk/GarrisonRadio
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They have been great supporters of our work.
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Meanwhile in the Kaiser’s Bunker…
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Actually the site www.kaisersbunker.com isn’t quite as frivolous as it looks as it’s got spottery detail on all manner of stuff but you know the real reason to go there is because of the pictures of the dachshund in a spiky helmet.
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It’s not all futility, you know (again, don’t get me started on futility).
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I was alerted to this excellent site by my chum Lucy on her blog http://livesbythewoods.blogspot.com
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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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Anniversaries, or not… Monday, July 16th, 2007
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Last week there was a terrific hoo-hah in the UK media about the 90th Anniversary of the opening of the Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele as it is commonly remembered. There was a ceremony with attendant Royals, the full ceremonial thing and our last veterans on parade. The tone was “90 years to the day”, except it wasn’t. The battle began on 31st July 1917 but I am told that by then the respective Royal families will have gone on holiday so the anniversary was shifted.
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In a sense it doesn’t really matter so long as the events and the fallen are commemorated but the inaccuracy was very poor. I also heard the usual stuff about poor command and control and futility. One of the key things we have seen from the very inception of this project is that Messines was a model of preparation and of execution. Old General Plumer might look like Colonel Blimp but he knew his stuff and the troops were well prepared for the battle, which is why they did incredibly well. And that, my best beloved, is why the battle is forgotten – it doesn’t fit the popular paradigm of the First World War.
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Breaking News…TV Coverage Friday, July 13th, 2007
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Thanks to many people (especially Mat),
We now have confirmation that the Film and TV office in Australia has agrees to provide funding to film the excavations at Messines for TV broadcast. We hope to use this as the basis of a documentary for screening in Australia on the archaeological work. Obviously the storyboard of the programme will develop depending on what the excavations uncover. Still – very exciting news!
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Our in-house film crew will also be on-site to document the excavations for our own records.
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The Australian War Memorial Monday, July 9th, 2007
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The AWM are a key partner in the project and were instrumental in its inception (actually it was in a pub near the UK National Army Museum where Pete Stanley of the AWM and Richard and I were discussing the Anzac practice trenches at the Bustard on Salisbury Plain, after that things just growed).
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The AWM has a very good page leading to all sorts of information about the 1917-2007 Messines anniversary here:
http://blog.awm.gov.au/1917
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I commend it to you.
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Amazing Trench Map evidence Monday, July 9th, 2007
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This morning Richard posted a copy of a trench map kindly scanned for us by Michael Molkentin. It shows our area of digging with the gains and consolidations made by the Anzac troops as the advanced across No Man’s Land toward and through the German lines. The Germans (Bavarians) were pretty disordered following the blowing of the mines.
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The map appears to be on the front page now but if it vanishes again, as it did earlier, go to the July menu in the bar on the right hand side of the screen to find and open it. The map is quite remarkable and well worth your perusal.
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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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