Posted By pferguson on November 10, 2023

Le Francport: 5:45 a.m.

The signature at this place…at this time…near to Compiènge went into effect at 11:00 a.m. marking an armistice between warring nations. The document signed by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch was only the beginning as this day, 11 November 1918, though a peace was not a formal surrender with Germany.

Prior to this day other armistices were signed by the Allies against former enemies Bulgaria (the Armistice of Salonika: 29 September 1918); the Ottoman Empire (the Armistice of Mudros: 31 October 1918); and Austria-Hungary (the Armistice of Villa Giusti or the Padua Armistice: 3 November 1918). There was now with the 11 November 1918 signing, peace, but the Great War with Germany did not come to a procedural and documented end until the Treaty of Versailles was signed 28 June 1919.

However, even before Versailles, in German East Africa…Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) German commander Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck along with about 1,500 troops continued to raid after 11 November 1918. At the Chambeshi River 14 November 1918 Lettow-Vorbeck was informed of the 11 November 1918 armistice. On 25 November 1918, his undefeated army surrendered at Abercorn.

Category: Remember Them Well | No Comments »
Tags: 11 November 1918, Armistice, Armistice of Mudros, Armistice of Salonika, Armistice of Villa Giusti (or the Padua Armistice), Austria-Hungary, Buglaria, Ferdinand Foch, German East Africa, Le Francport (France), Ottoman Empire, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Peace, Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919)

Posted By pferguson on October 29, 2023

The soldier’s question.

Returned Soldier Writes of Ghosts

Too often the loser in that struggle was the ex-soldier, reduced to plead[ing] hopelessly with soul-less powers who renege their promises made, who grind these broken veterans to starvation, shame and suicide. (Will R. Bird M.M. (Returned Soldier) in Death So Noble, J. Vance, p. 119)

William Richard Bird was a soldier whose shared Great War experience with so many veterans became the impetus for his work as a writer. His brother, Stephen Bird, was killed by that war and William wished to take his place at the front. For two years William served with the 42nd Canadian Infantry Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada). From this time at the front and the emotional legacy left by his brother William penned two books And We Go On (1930) and Ghosts Have Warm Hands (1968).

Having decided in 1928 to become a fulltime writer his work appeared in the Toronto Star Weekly, Family Herald and the Saturday Evening Post. In 1931 MacLean’s Magazine sent William Bird back to France where his return to the conflict in the peace, became the series Thirteen Years After. The series further became a tour and a book. Yet for all of William’s efforts towards providing and sharing his experiences of this Great War, known to many veterans, war was not done with this former soldier.

William and his wife Ethel lost their only son Captain Stephen Stanley Bird (North Nova Scotia Highlanders) leading to William producing stories sharing his grief, and his connection to ghosts with warm hands.

What will you do for us afterwards the soldier asks?…I will write…I will read.

The Bird Family

Stephen Carman Bird was killed 8 October 1915, age 19 while serving with B Company of the 25th Canadian Infantry Battalion. Stephen is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) War Memorial. Previously reported missing it is believed that Stephen was killed by the explosion of an enemy mine.

Stephen Stanley Bird was killed 8 July 1944, age 24 while serving with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. He is buried at Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, France.

William Richard Bird was awarded the Military Medal for Bravery in the Field. There is no citation for the award. William died 28 January 1984, age 92,

Ethel May Sutton Bird married William 18 June 1919 at Nappan, Cumberland, Nova Scotia. They had two children Stephen and Betty. Ethel died 25 July 1982, age 86.

Apart from Stephen and William Bird they had two more brothers. Lewis Bransby Bird and Hubert Craige Bird. Hubert served in the 193rd Canadian Infantry Battalion and was wounded 29 September 1918 in the left arm, left knee and head while serving with the 85th Battalion. By profession Hubert was a photographer prior to joining the army.

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Tags: 25th Canadian Infantry Battalion, 42nd Canadian Infantry Battalion, 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion, And We Go On, Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, Ethel Bird, Ghosts Have Warm Hands, Hubert Craige Bird, Lewis Bransby Bird, Military Medal, Stanley Stephen Bird, Stephen Carman Bird, Thirteen Years After, William Richard Bird, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial

Posted By pferguson on September 18, 2023

German field gun captured at Loos.
(Postcard image by St. Andrew’s Service)

War and War Trophies

Prior to the attack 533 British guns fired more than 250,000 shells during a four-day bombardment commencing 21 September 1915. At the time, the engagement was the largest Great War British offensive. The battle also marked the first use of gas by the British Army. Specialized units of the Royal Engineers released chlorine gas one hour prior to the assault. Weather was, however, not accommodating and gas blew back towards the British lines as well as settling in no-man’s land where the gas created considerable confusion.

The offensive proved that the German lines could be penetrated however the ability of the British Army to exploit attacks into major successes proved difficult. In the future to achieve success heavier bombardments would be required as well as more ammunition and better communications. More than 50,000 British soldiers became casualties at Loos. German losses were about half the British total.

Twenty-one Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions during the battle, including Piper Daniel Laidlaw (King’s Own Scottish Borderers), George Maling (Royal Army Medical Corps) and Kulbir Thapa (2nd Battalion, 3rd Queen Alexandra’s Own Gurkha Rifles.

Captured German guns from the Battle of Loos 25 September – 8 October 1915 were sent to England where some were publicly displayed in Horse Guards Parade near to Trafalgar Square. These events, exhibiting captured enemy equipment, were popular with the public and continued throughout the Great War. Many of the captured guns were later distributed to communities where they were displayed as trophies of war. In Canada two fields guns remain on exhibit in Esquimalt Memorial Park, British Columbia. Guns such as these are rare survivors as many of these community souvenirs were scraped during the Second World War to produce metals required for the war effort. The 77 mm field gun, shown in the postcard, was captured by the 19th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment.

Captured German Guns on Show – London (1914-1918). British Pathe.

Category: Snapshots of the Great War | No Comments »
Tags: 19th (County of London) Battalion, 25 September 1915 - 8 October 1915, Battle of Loos, Chlorine Gas, Esquimalt Memorial Park, German Field Gun, Royal Engineers, Salvage, Scrap, Souvenirs, Trophies of War, Victoria Cross, War Exhibitions, War Trophies

Posted By pferguson on August 31, 2023

Walking the Mill Road, Somme, France.
(P. Ferguson image, April 2007)

Delicate Hope

Its been a long while…our last visit to the Somme.

This day we end our Somme series (for the time being)…no doubt there will be a return. The last actual walk was August 2018 – a drive from Ypres to the Somme with friends and family…Rosemary…at long last has learned why this ground continues to provide reflection for her other half.

Rosemary knows me well – of my struggle to recognize the peace in this beleaguered ground I walk. I search the conflict in the peace as well as peace in the conflict. Subtle differences these words. Close together – contrasting effect.

It is this juxtaposition of words that guides each step, a slight jog to the left or right. There are smaller things to find. A new path to take. Not just the fields of lives too short, markers of too few words, or memorial sites too small for the lives they embrace and yet too large a record of stories lost somewhere deep within their engravings. While here within the conflict we find the peace – a flower bloom across the field – cornstalks rising skyward. It is more than the shards and stonework of the Great War. Delicate hope for this tortured ground…and peace in the conflict.

Category: Our Thoughts, Remember Them Well | No Comments »
Tags: Conflict, Mill Road, Peace, Somme

Posted By pferguson on July 30, 2023

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial.
(P. Ferguson image, September 2017)

Remembrance on the Somme

A visit to the Commonwealth War Graves website begins Close to 150,000 Commonwealth casualties are buried in close to 350 sites on the Somme. They range from large cemeteries with thousands of graves to individual graves in churchyards and burial grounds.

There are eight memorials to the missing of the Battle of the Somme including Beaumont-Hamel. I have visited Beaumont-Hamel at times but on this one occasion in 2017 more poignant knowing I came to fulfill a family request to picture from one panel – two names who remain somewhere in France.

This was the most recent visit but an earlier visit in 2006 was equally poignant as I heard from one fellow interested in the Devonshire Regiment and their thoughtful encounter with this place of memory…the Devonshire Cemetery..and its memorial tablet…

Devonshire Cemetery Tablet, Somme, France.
(P. Ferguson image, September 2006)

The Inscription

The Devonshires Held This Trench
The Devonshires Hold It Still

1st July 1916
The 8th and 9th Devons
Suffered Very Heavy Casualties
As They Left Their Forward
Trench to Attack

Later That Day
The Survivors Buried Their Fallen
Comrades In That Same Trench
And Erected A Wooden Memorial
With The Words Which Are
Carved In The Cross Above

Semper Fidelis

Category: Remember Them Well, Snapshots of the Great War | No Comments »
Tags: Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland) Memorial, Devonshire Cemetery, Devonshire Cemetery Tablet, Inscriptions, Somme 1916