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They Also Served
Peter Chadwick
Privately published 2023 by Broughton District History Group.
Hard Back 594pp.
ISBN 978-1-3999-6061-8 £35 & £10 p&p
Available to collect (by arrangement - contact
This book lists and identifies the servicemen and women of the Broughton, Brymbo and Gwersyllt areas of Wrexham, who had in any way contributed to service in connection with the Great War 1914 - 1918, whether they died in service or not).
It lists and identifies most of the names (just a few have defied research), which appear on the local War Memorials for the areas concerned, Broughton, Brymbo, Gwersyllt and Southsea. The entries in the books ‘Broughton at War’ and ‘Brymbo Remembers’, which are now out of print, have been updated here with some corrections, additional information and names.
It also lists many connected with the areas, but who for whatever reason, were not included on the War Memorials even though they had died because of the war.
Also listed and of equal importance, are several hundred names of those who served their country during the war, whether ‘on active service’ or in ‘protected occupations’ and who survived the war, returning home to normal life after hostilities had ended.
In addition, there are several names of those who served in the military prior to the Great War. Some of these served in such places as South Africa, China and India.
There are nearly 2000 names listed, many of which have narratives of various lengths and many with photographs.
Although mention is sometimes made of battles engaged in, the object of the book is not so much the military engagements, rather than to simply identify and remember those who have long since been forgotten. A valuable local history resource.
Contact the author at:
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The newsletter for 2023 appear here. The first one is for March.
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The Dragon’s Voice
Welcome to the November issue. In fact, this is the first issue since May. This is down to my ill health which, hopefully, will recover after yet another visit to our local wonderful hospital in Bangor.
In this issue we have more from Bridget Geoghegan on her researches on local memorials, this time on the memorial at Llandegfan on Angelsey, and a review of the new book of photographs of important WWI sites throughout the globe. It was a world war, after all.
Llandegfan War Memorial
The Memorial outside the Village Hall
Great War 1914 – 1918
The shrine in the porch of the church of St Tegfan, Llandegfan
Llandegfan War Memorial Summary WWI and WWII
There are 14 men remembered on the War Memorial outside Llandegfan Village Hall; 13 on this shrine (Lieut M. S. Schwabe is not remembered).
This list also includes four men who are named in the churchyard of St Tegfan - two are commemorated on family graves; one died too late to be a war casualty and one had an interesting military career.
1 – Stoker. J. Creighton, R.N.
Stoker John Creighton, 6606S, Royal Naval Reserve, drowned when HMS Indefatigable sank at the Battle of Jutland on Wednesday 31st May 1916; age 21; commemorated on Portsmouth Naval Memorial, and on family headstone in churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan. Also listed as Christopher Creighton and John Craghton
2 – Owen Jones, R.N.R.
Petty Officer Owen Jones 1748D was a career man in the Royal Navy; son of Margaret and Owen Jones of Crossing Terrace, Llanfairpwll; married to Grace Jones of 22 Dale Street, Menai Bridge; killed in action when HMS Invincible was sunk by her own magazine exploding at the Battle of Jutland, Wednesday 31st May 1916; age 45; commemorated on Portsmouth Naval Memorial Llandegfan War Memorial Summary WWI – 3
3 – Major. R. Williams Bulkeley,
Major Richard Gerard Wellesley Williams-Bulkeley, Grenadier Guards until February 1915 when he joined the newly inaugurated Welsh Guards; son of Lady Magdalen and Sir Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley of Baron Hill, Beaumaris; husband of Victoria Alexandrina Stella Williams-Bulkeley; father of 3 children; wounded in action, sent back for home duties and died Thursday 28th March 1918 at a London Nursing Home; age 31; buried East Finchley cemetery London, also commemorated by East window in church of St Mary & St Nicholas, Beaumaris
4 – Lieut. M. S. Schwabe,
Lieutenant Maurice Salis Schwabe, served as Maurice Shaw; brought up in Middleton Manchester; Glyn Garth, built by his grandfather, was the family holiday home and later the Bishop’s Palace; educated Marlborough College; volunteered with the Highland Light Infantry, Transport Officer; possibly shot by German Prisoners of War who mistook him for a traitor (he spoke fluent German), died on Thursday 30th September 1915; age 44; buried Le Tréport Cemetery, France. His Aunt lived at Garth y Don, Llandegfan and probably asked for him to be named on the War Memorial.
5 – Pte. H. S. H. Fuller,
Private Harry Stephen Hugh Fuller, born in Enfield Lock Middlesex, moved to Llandegfan to live with his grandparents; a baker by trade; married to Mabel Madeline Jones and lived at 19 Mason Street Bangor; first served with the Army Service Corps, later Private 29316 7th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment; killed in action Sunday 31st March 1918; age 29; buried in Bouzincourt Ridge Cemetery, France
6 – Pte. H. J. Jones,
Private Hugh John Jones 20583 14th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, born Criccieth, lived at Bryn Teg Llandegfan; killed in action Friday 24th December, 1915; age 22 (the same day as his brother died, Private Robert Evan Jones 20432, also 14th Battalion RWF); buried Rue-du-Bacquerot (13th London) Graveyard, France
7 – Pte. William Jones,
Private William Jones 25965 17th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers; lived at Penmon (or Penmaen) Llandegfan; died of pneumonia whilst in training camp in Llandudno on Sunday 30th May 1915; age 34; buried in the churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan (CWGC commemoration, private headstone)
8 - Pte. Walter Jones,
Private Walter Jones 20932 14th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers; adopted son of Mrs G Jones, lived at Penrorsedd Llandegfan; killed in action at the Battle of Mametz Wood Monday 10th July 1916; age 24; commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial and on family headstone at Capel Barachia, Llandegfan
9 – Pte. George Line,
Private George Line 39182 9th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers; son of Elizabeth and William
Pennington Line, born in Kendal Westmoreland, enlisted in Menai Bridge; killed in action at Ypres on Sunday 4th November 1917; age 29; buried Bus House Cemetery, Belgium. Also listed as George Lyne
10 – Gunner. E. Molyneux,
Gunner Edward Molyneux 310537 144th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery; eldest son of Mr E Molyneux of Brynteg Terrace, Llandegfan; worked at Penrhyn Castle Gardens; died on Sunday 18th November 1917 of wounds received on 16th November; age 20; buried Tincourt New British Cemetery, Somme, France and remembered on the family headstone in churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan, Llandegfan War Memorial Summary WWI – 4
11 – Pte. D. Morris,
Private Daniel Morris 22175 20th Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment; born in Llandegfan, family lived at Cae’r Ffynnon Llandegfan, enlisted in Liverpool where he probably worked; was reported missing at the Battle of the Somme, later declared killed in action Sunday 10th July 1916; commemorated on Thiepval Memorial and on family headstone in churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan
12 – Pte. Robert Owen,
Private Robert Owen 49013 17th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers; born Llandegfan, family lived at Bryn Cottage Llandegfan, enlisted in Altrincham Cheshire; killed in action Friday 6th September 1918; age 26; commemorated Vis-en-Artois Memorial, France and on family headstone in Capel Barachia, Llandegfan
13 – Sapper G. Roberts,
Sapper George Roberts 146835 12th Field Company, Royal Engineers; born Llandegfan, family lived at Bryniau Duon Llandegfan, married to Mrs Margaret E Roberts of West Lynne, 1 Charlton Street, Llandudno; killed in action Thursday 6th September 1917; age 29; buried Philosophe British Cemetery, France; also remembered on family headstone in churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan
14 – Sapper D. Williams
Driver David Williams 63045 Signal Department, Royal Engineers; son of William Williams, family lived at Penlon Llandegfan (later Tynlon Bach); accidentally wounded in the trenches when his pick hit a bomb, evacuated to Eastern General Hospital in Cambridge where he died on Saturday 13th May 1916; age 29; buried churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan (CWGC commemoration, private headstone).
Not on the War Memorial:
15 - John William Meredith, Private 3543 Australian Infantry; son of Mary Ann and John William Meredith (Meredydd) of Castellior; killed in action Thursday 20.09.1917; age 25; commemorated on Menin Gate in Ypres, War Memorial plaque in Church of St Sadwrn Llansadwrn, Cenotaph on St Tysilio in Menai Bridge & family grave in churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan
16 - Harold Madoc Jones, Lieutenant Royal Welsh Fusiliers 17th Battalion; son of the late John Robert of Bodfeirig and Eunice Martha Jones; parents lived at Bryn Cadnant, Llandegfan; educated Christ College Brecon and University College of Wales Aberystwyth; a teacher; twice Mentioned in Despatches; killed in action Tuesday 31st July 1917; age 38; commemorated on Menin Gate at Ypres, Christ College Brecon, Aberystwyth University, Wraysbury War Memorial in Berkshire & family grave in churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan
17 - Eleazer Llewelyn Jones, not an official war casualty; Welsh Regiment; died October 27 1925; age 34; buried in family grave in churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan
18 – Wilfred Henry Cullen Pery-Knox-Gore, not a war casualty; 2nd Lieutenant Royal Anglesey, Royal Engineers; served with Royal Welsh Fusiliers 1914 – 18, becoming Major; later Lieutenant-Colonel Royal Tank Corps, retired 1st February 1925; buried in family grave in churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan
Second World War casualties on the War Memorial:
19 - Major G. E. Gresty, R.W.F.
George Edgar Gresty, Major 85107 6th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers; educated Rossall School, Fleetwood in Lancashire; son of John Edgar and Margaret Gresty of Menai Bridge; killed in action 18th July 1944, age 24 after D Day Landings; commemorated Bayeux Memorial, France; Church of St Mary in Menai Bridge & Cenotaph St Tysilio, Menai Bridge
20 – Pte. Moses Parry, 1 Welch
Private Moses Parry 396725, 1st Battalion Welch Regiment; killed in action 23rd May 1941 in Greece, buried Suda Bay Military Cemetery on Crete; commemorated on his brother’s grave in Capel Barachia, Llandegfan
21 – C.P.T.R. Harry Griffiths M.N.
Henry Griffiths, Merchant Navy Carpenter, SS Biela; she was chased by a U-boat, hit by torpedoes and sunk on 15th February 1942; all hands lost; commemorated on Tower Hill Memorial, churchyard of St Tegfan, Llandegfan
22 – G.N.R. Roy Evans, R.N.
Roy Vivian Evans P/JX 248532 Acting Able Seaman, Royal Navy, HMS President III (MV Fort Richepanse); son of Mr & Mrs Owen Evans, husband of Lucy Wynne Evans of Bolton in Lancashire; killed 25th May 1941, age 28; commemorated Portsmouth Naval Memorial, St Tysilio Cenotaph in Menai Bridge; Church of St Mary in Menai Bridge.
Book Review
In the Centennial Footsteps of the Great War
From Sarajevo to Versailles
Attila Szalay-Berezeviczy
MCC Press, 2022, £64.50
This is a heavyweight tome of some 400 pages, written by a Hungarian gentleman who clearly has some very powerful connections, eg it was launched in the UK at a reception in the Hungarian Embassy in London. The book is only available from the publishers in Budapest, and I should add that it covers 1914 and 1915. There is a second volume that covers the rest of the war.
So, what is this book about and what is the interest to WWI enthusiasts? Well, to my mind the be all and end all of this book is the photographs, taken by the author. Yes, there is text but really it only exists to put the photographs in context. The book does deal with the Western Front but I would suggest that the interest to those of us in Western Europe is the photographs, and explanations thereof, dealing with the war in Eastern Europe and beyond. The author has travelled far and wide to produce photographs of the relevant sites, and has many photographs of re-enactments and commemorations. There are, for example, photographs of the Armenian commemoration of the Armenian genocide, and of the memorial in South West Africa where hostilities ceased.
Of the war in the East, one example is the Gorlice-Tarnow offensive in Western Galicia, then part of Austro-Hungary and today part of Eastern Poland. These battles are detailed in Alexander Watson’s book The Fortress (the fortress being the fortress complex of Przemsyl).
In the current book, the key point is the traces left today, such as the 400 WWI cemeteries in Western Galicia. Unlike those on the Western Front, they are very varied in their design. The Austro-Hungarian grave markers, for example, are usually crosses with a “pitched roof” over the top of the cross.
So, if you are interested in photographs of WWI, and especially if you are interested in the Eastern Fronts and indeed the Middle East, Asia and Africa, you will find this book fascinating.
Gorlice-Tarnow offensive in Western Galicia (Austro-Hungary and Russia)
By June 1915, the Russians had sustained 100,000 casualties by the end of the Gorlice-Tarnow campaign, and the Central Powers some 90,000.
Austro-Hungary constructed some 400 cemeteries within western Galicia, today eastern Poland, but they are varied in design.
Western Galicia cemeteries (Eastern Poland today)
The Carpathian campaigns (Austro-Hungary and Russia) –Usok Pass
The memorial is at the top of the Usok Pass, today in the Ukraine. It is at 2917 feet. The battle was in January 1915, in atrocious conditions.
Carpathian campaigns
This cemetery lies 100 miles to the west of the Uzok pass. It is located in a pass that connects Gorlice, today in Poland, with Bardejov, today in Slovakia.
Red, white and green are the Hungarian national colours
Carpathian campaigns
German South West Africa (Namibia) (South Africans and German forces)
The campaign here ended with the defeat of the German forces, largely native troops, at the Battle of Otavi on 1st July 1915.
The German forces had not attempted to defend the capital Windhoek, so the South Afrcians under Louis Botha captured it without a fight.
The CWGC cemetery is at Windhoek (Namibia).
The church is a German Lutheran church built in 1909.
German South West Africa
The Khorab memorial (bottom centre) marks the location of the surrender of German forces in South West Africa, 9th July 1915.
The Schutztruppe memorial (top right) is to German native African soldiers.
The Caucasus (Ottomans and Russia)
Lake Van and the Armenian cathedral, which are today in Turkey, not Armenia. It seems very unlikely that there is any Armenian population in the area now.
The Caucasus – the Trebizond (Trabzon) campaign
After their victory at Erzurum, see below, Russia captured thousands of square miles of Ottoman territory and the Black Sea port of Trebizond (top photo).
From there, they moved inland and captured the strategic city of Erzincan.
The Caucasus - The Russians attack Erzurum in January 1916
In January 1916, the Russians attacked the fortress city of Erzurum, which the Ottomans believed to be impregnable, and took it on 16th February 1916.
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War in Peace
Robert Gerwarth and John Horne
Oxford University Press 2010
This book stems from an academic symposium on paramilitary violence in the period from before WWI to the 1917 Russian revolution and into the 1920s. Each chapter is written by a different author, some from the countries concerned. Robert Gerwarth is professor of Modern History at University College Dublin and John Horne is now the emeritus professor of Modern European History at Trinity College Dublin. The location of their alma mater means a wider viewpoint than is often the case with historians based elsewhere. For the record, Robert is German and John is English.
Paramilitary violence was an important aspect of the clashes unleashed by class revolution Russia in 1917. It lead to the counter revolutions in central and Eastern Europe, including Finland and Italy, which in the name of order and authority reacted against a mythic version of the Bolshevik class violence – a case of getting your retaliation in first, if you will. It also helped to shape the struggles over borders and ethnicity in the new states that replaces the multi-ethnic empires of Russia, Austro-Hungary and the Ottomans. It was prominent on all sides in the Irish War of Independence. Paramilitary violence was charged with political significance and acquired a long-lasting symbolism and influence. Various of the movements in World War Two can trace their origins to this period. One thinks of, for example, the Nazis in Germany, the Fascists in Italy, the Ustase, IMRO and Cetniks in Yugoslavia, the communist groups in many countries, and other quasi-fascist groups in, eg, Latvia. Being a civilian minding your own business was a very hazardous, and often fatal, existence in any country where any of these groups operated. As with any civil war situation, the picture is often a complex one of competing groups with an ideology of sort, local warlords and criminals. Two interesting examples where paramilitary violence did not occur on any major scale were mainland Britain and France.
Perhaps two of the most interesting chapters for those interested in WWI are those by John Paul Newman on the Balkans in the 1912-1923 period, and Ugur Umit Ungor on paramilitary violence in the collapsing Ottoman Empire.
The Balkans – where WWI started
Newman’s chapter on the Balkans starts with the history of the region in the 19th century and the struggles by various groups against the Ottomans, as of course this area was part of the Ottoman Empire. These groups emerged with an increasing awareness of national identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Large paramilitary bands with coherent political goals and official support originated from the early 20th century. They were in conflict with the Ottomans and with each other, more so after the Ottomans were expelled. Both Serbia and Bulgaria used existing paramilitary groups in the first Balkan War. The period between the end of the Second Balkan War and the start of WWI, 1912-1914, was marked by attacks on civilian populations, and each other, by armed bands representing a national cause. This was easier, if that is the right word, because the overarching authority of the Ottomans had been removed. The Kingdom of Serbia was the clear winner in the Balkan Wars. It saw as further targets for its nationalist dream the Hapsburg states of Bosnia and Herzogovina and, in the north, the lands of the Vojvodina (which indeed is part of modern Serbia today). However, Serbia was in no fit condition after two Balkan wars to engage in a struggle with anybody, much less the Hapsburg state. Nevertheless, Serbian nationalist elements both inside and outside the state sought to engage the oppressive colonist of Serbian populated lands, the Hapsburgs. Thus, the two years leading up to WWI were marked by a number of failed assassination attempts on Hapsburg officials and dignitaries carried out by members of the South Slav youth. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a Serb schoolboy was very nearly yet another incompetent assassination attempt on Austro-Hungarian officialdom.
Thus, WWI for the nationalist groups in the Balkans became synonymous with the struggle to rid themselves of the Austro-Hungarians and their central power allies, the Bulgarians. (There was a significant ethnic Bulgarian population in the Balkans at the time, outside the borders of modern Bulgaria).
Yugoslavia (“the land of the southern Slavs”) was created after WWI as an amalgam of the various ethnic groups and religions within the Balkans. The southern portion would be contested after WWI as it had been before WWI by the paramilitary groups (that is Macedonia, Kosovo and Northern Albania. Bulgaria experienced major upheaval. It had been on the side of the Central Powers and lost territory as a result of the Treaty of Neuilly. Thus, from the spring of 1920 the paramilitaries of IMRO crossed the border from Bulgaria to carry out attacks on Yugoslav civilians and gendarmes, in territory which Bulgarians regarded as theirs. The Bulgarian Prime Minister Stamboliski who had sought to relinquish claims on Macedonia territory and make the country part of the European status quo was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by IMRO in 1923.
Serbia, now part of Yugoslavia, used its army and paramilitaries to tackle IMRO incursions into Yugoslavia and fight Albanian guerrilla bands, Kacaks, in Kosovo and Northern Albania and “punish” anyone they did not happen to like. Macedonia was declared to be part of Serbia. A process of colonisation commenced with Serbs being encouraged to move to the area, and the suppression of all Bulgarian institutions.
In that part of the new Yugoslavia comprising the Adriatic coast, the Italian- Yugoslav border and the central European lands of Croatia and Slovenia, matters were complicated by Italy intermeddling and arming paramilitary groups. Italy had been promised by the Allies during WWI that it would get Dalmatia in the break-up of Austro-Hungary, but the Allies went back on their promise when they created Yugoslavia. So, Italy has a grudge with the new Yugoslav state. Typical of the disintegration of Austro-Hungary were the “green cadres” that were active in Croatia and Slovenia. These were Hapsburg deserters, draft dodgers and returned PoWs.
The Croat legion was a group of ex Hapsburg army officers who sought to reverse the territorial changes of the Paris treaties and take Croatia out of the Yugoslav state. Their most important sponsor was Italy which pursued a double move. On one hand, Italy reminded the Allies of their wartime promises re Austo-Hungarian territory and, on the other han, sponsored paramilitary groups with the aim of breaking up the new Yugoslav state. Italy was also sponsoring Albanian separatist paramilitary groups. Italian interference engendered the creation in those regions bordering Italy of a pro-Yugoslav, anti-Italian groups, ORJUNA which also attacked communist, members of the Croatian peasants’ party and retired Hapsburg army officers. ORJUNA was succeeded by TIGR which continued resistance to Italy in those regions which were contested by both countries.
It is also worth recording the attacks on religious minorities in the region, notably the Moslem population, throughout and after this period continuing into the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
The chapter on paramilitarism in the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire makes for even more heartrending reading.
The Collapsing Ottoman Empire
“In the process of Hapsburg, Ottoman and Russian imperial collapse, between 1912 and 1923, millions of soldiers were killed in regular warfare. But hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians also died – victims of expulsions, pogroms and other forms of persecution and mass violence. The Balkan wars of 1912-13 virtually erased the Ottoman Empire from the Balkans and marked a devastating blow to Ottoman political culture. The years of 1915-16 saw the destruction of the bulk of the Anatolian Armenians, primarily (but not exclusively) by Young Turk paramilitary units. Lastly, the period of 1917-23 is of great significance for the history of the Caucuses, both North and South, as it witnessed wars of annihilation and the massacre of civilians. All three episodes occurred amidst a deep crisis of inter-state relations and societal conditions, as well as inter-ethnic relationships between and within states. In all three episodes, paramilitary units played a decisive role in the initiation and execution of violence against both armed combatants and unarmed civilians.”
The Ottoman paramilitary units were mostly made of unemployed young men who were refugees from the Balkans. They numbered about 30,000. It is an example, says the author, of the phenomenon whereby victims of violence in one society cross borders and become the recruits for paramilitary units that inflicts violence on another ethnic group. In the troubled world of the late 19th and early 20th century Balkans, the Ottomans used paramilitaries to kill civilians randomly as a method of securing the submission of recalcitrant populations.
A watershed in the nature and extent of paramilitary violence in the Ottoman Empire came with the Young Turk coup d’état of 23 January 1913. Their party, the CUP, then imposed a de facto political dictatorship. Assassinations within the political classes became commonplace.
After January 1913, two of the leading lights in the CUP began merging the disunited and disparate groups of paramilitaries into the “Special Organisation”. In fact, there were five groups of Ottoman paramilitary forces during WWI. First, there was the rural gendarmerie in both static and mobile units. They were trained to modern standards and lead by a professional officer corps. The gendarmerie was used to keep order in the countryside. Second was the tribal cavalry that had grown out of 29 Kurdish and Circassian cavalry regiments. These were led by tribal chieftains and were responsible for various internal security units. The third group were the “volunteers” made of various Islamic groups from outside the Ottoman Empire, mostly Turkish refugees from the Balkans. Fourth was the Special Organisation which was initially an intelligence service that sought to foment insurrection in enemy territory and carry out espionage, counterespionage, and counterinsurgency. The command structure of this organisation would absorb the other groups. Finally, a fifth group were simply called “bands”, a hodgepodge of non-military guerrilla groups not fully subject to centralized command and control but often acting as the paramilitary wing of individual Young Turk leaders. They enjoyed some political protection for their crimes because of their association with the various Young Turk leaders. They were poor unemployed men, referred to in Turkish as “roughnecks” or “vagrants”.
The CUP created paramilitary units by releasing criminals from prison, preferably those with associations with outlaw gangs.
Paramilitary units were used in the Caucasus, primarily against the Russians. In the early winter of 1914, these groups infiltrated into Russian territory and Persia to incite the Muslim populations to rise in rebellion and join the Ottoman forces. In fact, the paramilitary units engaged in plundering and massacres of the local non-Muslim populations. This also applied on Ottoman territory when the Ottoman army was forced back. The Ottoman regular army found the existence and behaviour of these groups both objectionable and problematic, but the paramilitaries had political cover from the CUP.
This lead on to the Armenian genocide of the winter of 1914-1915 in which the paramilitary groups were to the fore.
Ethnic Greek populations were also a target. Some 100,000 ethnic Greeks were expelled to Greece in 1914 alone, and the remaining population was exposed to ethnic terror, ordered by the Young Turks. In the Turko-Greek war of 1919 to 1923, the same Young Turk paramilitary units massacred Greeks in Smyrna, and murdered and expelled the Pontic Greeks from the Black Sea coast.
In the South Caucasus, the collapse of the Russian state during 1917 removed a constraint on the Armenian-Azeri conflict, the Ottoman Empire having collapsed as well after 1918. The most notorious examples were the massacre of Azeris in Baku on Black Sunday, 31st March 1918 and the massacre of thousands of Armenians in the capital of Nagorno-Karabagh, Shusha on 22-26th March 1920, in revenge for a failed Armenian paramilitary raid.
Armenian nationalist parties sought to inflict vengeance for the genocide of 1914-15. This happened in three phases – in 1916-18 in occupied Ottoman territory (ie occupied by the Russians), in 1917-22 in the South Caucasus, and international assassinations against the former Young Turk leaders in the 1920s.
When the Russians took Ottoman territory, they used Armenian paramilitaries and Cossack cavalry against the local Muslim population. In the valley of the Chorukh river in the South West Caucasus 45,000 civilians were killed, mostly by Cossack units. The Kurds were as much a target for the Armenian paramilitaries as were the Muslims. The Turkish and Kurdish military units with the Ottomans would take no Armenian prisoners, and vice versa. It was an ethnic war of annihilation. The Russian writer Shklovskii said that he had seen Galicia and Poland during the war “but that was all paradise compared to Kurdistan”.
By the summer of 1918, inter-ethnic warfare between Azeri and Armenian paramilitaries had enveloped several pockets in the South Caucasus. The various Armenian militias were the power in a number of areas and held the monopoly of violence.
The Armenian Dashnak party decided in 1919 to orchestrate an assassination campaign against the now former Young Turk leaders, wherever they were. For example, Cemal Pasha was killed on 21 July 1922 in Tbilisi, in Georgia by Stepan Dzaghigian. Dashnak agents also killed many Armenians whom they accused of collaborating with the Young Turks and denouncing other Armenians during the genocide.
In conclusion, the success of the Balkan ethnic groups in expelling the Ottomans by the use of paramilitary power encouraged other groups throughout the Empire to do likewise, including expelling or annihilating rival ethnic groups. These chain reactions could not be stopped by neighbouring countries or the Great Powers. The Armenian genocide happened under the noses of the German army, and the massacre of Azeris in Baku in the presence of the British army.
Paramilitary groups were also used to quell dissident groups within Turkey, eg against the Sunni Kurds in Diyarbekir in 1925 and the Shi’ite Kurds in Dersim in 1937. More recently, Turkish action against the Kurdish PKK has involved extra-legal paramilitaries conducting a scorched earth campaign in 1994-95. The First World War is not over yet.
Ukrainian paramilitaries 1919
Poster from the Soviet-Polish war of 1920 - Beat the Bolsheviks!
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SomeKindHand Pilgrimage
Update November 2019
It’s been quite some time since I last wrote about our continuing exploits across the burial grounds and memorials of the Great War in honour of our servicemen.
The first of three tours this year – April - brought us back to a campsite that we first visited in June 2012; in the town of Aubencheul, between Cambrai and Douai. It’s your typical French site, mostly laid out to static residential caravans, although when we arrived at the beginning of April, it was only busy at the weekends. Not surprising as prior to Easter, most mornings we awoke to an early morning frost.
From here, over a twenty six day period we visited 126 burial grounds, all within the confines of Department Nord. The vast majority of the sites were started during 1918 and coincided with the defeat of the Germans on the Hindenburg Line from the 27th September, 1918, although many of the burials dated from the Battle of Cambrai of November and December, 1917.
By the last few days of our Pilgrimage, we were travelling in excess of an hour to arrive at our first burial ground of the day and in the end this excessive travel time and frustrations of locating private memorials brought a premature end to our first tour, leaving around ten sites still to complete.
The Pilgrimage continues to be a real challenge on mind, body and soul for both of us. I no longer have the strength to haul Nancy and wheelchair up cemetery steps and around the often steep gradients of communal cemeteries. Nancy finds it difficult to cope with any form of temperature variation and by the end of most days she was completely drained of any energy that she had, meaning getting her in and out of the vehicle, then the caravan, became so difficult.
Nevertheless, after four weeks back home we had forgotten about the difficult times – as one does – and by the first days of June, we were back in France!
Again, we planned to stop at just one site and yet again paid the price with extended journey times. Villers-Sire-Nicole is a small village a few kilometres north of Meaubeuge on the road to Mons. From here we planned to visit sites in the department of Nord and the Belgian province of Hainaut. The vast majority of burial grounds were communal cemeteries, with British plots. The CWGC burial grounds that we did visit, contained mostly servicemen who fell during the last few days of the war, particularly during the Battle of the Sambre (4th November, 1918).
After our tough first Pilgrimage of the year in April and improved weather, we promised to ease up on our schedule and convinced ourselves that the dead weren’t going anywhere soon, and if we ran out of time, then we would just have to come back another day! We even gave ourselves a couple of days off and managed to watch the England Lionesses (and V.A.R) defeat Cameroon in an ill-tempered World Cup game at Valenciennes. We also visited the CWGC’s new visitor’s centre at Arras.
We deliberately keep the summer months clear, knowing full well the hot weather impacts on Nancy. Depressingly, our second Pilgrimage of the year coincided with a heat wave, forcing us to admit defeat for several days. To rub salt in our wounds, I had my phone stolen from outside a communal cemetery. I had left the window ajar, clearly by too much for some “snake hand”!
By the time we left for home, we had completed a further 114 burial grounds, but still needed to return to complete both Nord and Hainaut later in the year, having initially hoped two visits would have been enough.
Our third and final visit of the year in September required more planning in terms of campsites. Proposed visits would not be possible from just one site. In preparation, we booked the municipal site in Tournai, Belgium, which hopefully would see us complete all remaining burial grounds in the department of Nord. Our second site took us to the Belgian province of Hainaut, where we planned to not only to complete Hainaut, but the remaining isolated sites across Belgium. This required a two day journey, broken by an overnight stop in the town of Spa.
Our site in Hainaut was close to the town of Escudinnes, north of Charleroi. Not the best site we have stayed at, made worse by the fact that it rained almost continuously during our stay.
After three weeks I was ready for home and was quite prepared to head back north. I have a fear of “going through the motions,” and felt that I was close. Anyhow, the municipal site at Soissons was still open as we entered October, so off we set, with no improvement to the weather.
From Soissons we visited 16 burial grounds in the department of Aisne. Although we said “Thank You” to servicemen from the earliest days of the Great War, the vast majority of those that we “Thanked”, fell during the (Third) Battle of the Aisne (27th May - 6th June, 1918) and the 2nd Battle of the Marne, 15th July – 6th August, 1918), when several British divisions served under French command.
Our final visit, (in the pouring rain,) was to the Memorial to the Missing in Soissons. It commemorates 3,887 servicemen who fell during the period May – August 1918 and have no known grave. With the exception of the small New Zealand Memorial at Marfaux, it was our final Memorial to the Missing.
Plans for 2020
Over the last few weeks whilst at home Nancy and I have been working on the accuracy of our database. At some stage, it had become corrupted and subsequently we discovered that we STILL had sites in Belgium to visit!
In total we have 209 burial grounds remaining, which includes 21 in Belgium (mostly churchyards in West Flanders). The French burial grounds are spread throughout France, and are not just in the departments which covered the Western Front. With the exception of 26 burial grounds in the department of Marne - mostly British CWGC cemeteries from the May – June 1918 fighting – there are a further 42 French departments that contain burial grounds, including Bouches-du-Rhone and Herault in the south, Gironde in the west, to Bas-Rhin in the east. In the west, our Pilgrimage will take us to Finistere, Brittany and include burials on two islands off the Atlantic coast!
We plan to complete our Pilgrimage in 2020 and therefore we are focussing on just two further visits; one with caravan (April) and one with vehicle (September). The caravan will be used to visit the sites to the east, where the department of the Marne (26) will lead us eastwards towards Ardennes (16), Meuse (6), Moselle (11), Meurthe-et-Moselle (13), and Bas-Rhin (12). Once at Strasbourg, we hope to be able to store the caravan for about ten days so that we can head south to complete several other departments. Our April 2020 journey will commence with seven days in Ypres, to complete our Belgian Pilgrimage. It is hoped that five weeks should be enough time to complete all 136 planned visits. Then and only then, can we plan what should be our final Pilgrimage.
Footnote
Last week there was an attempted theft of our caravan. The thieves removed the hitch lock, cut the farmers fence and towed it across open fields, before getting bogged down in mud. Thankfully we got it back with no damaged, unfortunately they didn’t steal the blow up awning...pity. What a waste of money that turned out to be!
Below are several images from our burgeoning collection; now totalling 30,000.
There are around 250 burial grounds throughout the department of Nord that were started in 1918, the vast majority see just a handful of visitors each year; certainly once one moves clear of Cambrai. Throughout the entire weeks of 2019 that Nancy and I visited the burial grounds, we only saw other visitors in Flesquieres Hill Cemetery. This is Awoingt British Cemetery with 653 burials, it was used by several Casualty Clearing Stations who established themselves close by from October 1918. It was, like many of the larger burial grounds in Nord, extended by the concentration of graves from smaller burial grounds after the Armistice.
It was late afternoon when we started our Pilgrimage and the sun was already creating shadows which made reading difficult. We returned the following morning to take photographs, marking several graves with stones. It was always desirable that British graves faced the enemy – east – and therefore Spring afternoon sun can cause problems.
The beautifully located Beaurain British Cemetery with 57 burials (inc. one unknown). Many of the smaller burial grounds from October 1918 feature the graves of the same battalion, Brigade or Division. Here, the burials are mainly 37th Division: 13/King’s Royal Rifle Corps and 13/Royal Fusiliers. With no cemetery registers available in the small CWGC cemeteries – a minor frustration - we usually wait till we get home to check the on-line history and burials. For only the second time in seven years of visits, I photographed a group of three continuous servicemen with Military Medals; all 13/Royal Fusiliers who died on the same date, 24th October, 1918.
The further reaches of the Nord include many British and Commonwealth burials within French Communal cemeteries. Here at Sains-du-Nord, all 26 burials date from March – May 1918 and died as prisoners of war. In larger cemeteries the burials are normally regrouped; much easier to locate than here!
Le Rejet de Beaulieu Communal Cemetery with 52 known burials. Usually where there are more than 40 burials a Cross of Sacrifice is in situ. The British plot here has been further enhanced with a raised wall. Many of the graves here are servicemen who fell during the last great offensive, the Battle of the Sambre, from 4th November, 1918. It was by comparison larger than the Battle of the Somme, but other than the death of war poet Wilfred Owen is little known about.
Many of the communal cemeteries in the province of Hainaut, Belgium contain the graves of servicemen who died post Armistice. I think of these men as “The Forgotten”; even in my own eyes. I was determined to honour them with due reverence. The first post Armistice burial we paid our respects to was Gunner Harry Hewitt of the Royal Garrison Artillery, who is the single burial at the very isolated Belgian communal cemetery at Fontaine-Valmont. He died of heart failure on the 2nd January, 1919. His wife chose the inscription: “HIS MEMORY IS PRECIOUS BEYOND EXPRESSION”. It was as though it was written for my attention!
The inscription on the headstone of Sergeant Frederick Marcus Bridges of the Labour Corps, 29th May, 1919, buried in Marcinelle New Communal Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium.