The Postcard
A carte postale that was published by Sensen Vanneste of Poperinghe.
The card was posted via the British Army Post Office on Tuesday the 18th. April 1916.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"My Darling Blanche,
Hope you are keeping in the
best of health Dearie.
Arrived quite safely this
afternoon after a fairly good
journey.
You will be delighted to know
Sweetheart that me and my
chum have got a very nice
billet, 10d. a day for the two
of us".
The British Army Postal Service
During the Great War, the British Army Postal Service despatched over two billion letters and cards. Assuming an average length of 6 inches, if they were laid end to end they would stretch for 189,394 miles (304,800km) - that's over seven and a half times round the Earth's equator.
The Great War lasted for 1,567 days, therefore the Postal Service were kept busy handling an average of over 1¼ million pieces of mail every day of the war's duration.
Poperinghe
Poperinghe (also spelled Poperinge) is a town in the Belgian province of West Flanders. It has a history going back to medieval times.
Poperinghe is situated about 8 miles to the west of Leper/Ypres. As well as lace production, the region is famous for growing hops, and supplies 80% of Belgian production.
The town is home to the National Hops Museum, and is nicknamed 'Hops City'. A hop festival and parade is held every three years in September. One of the local brews is known as Hommel (which means hops in the local dialect).
There are over 800 different types of beer in Belgium. Another of the famous local beers is Sixtus, which is brewed in the St.-Sixtus Abbey near Proven, about 2.5 miles (4 km) north-west of Poperinge.
Poperinghe in the Great War
During the Great War, the town was one of only two in Belgium that was not under German occupation.
Throughout the Great War Poperinghe, or 'Pops' as British soldiers called it, was used by the British Army as a gateway to the battlefields of the northern Ypres Salient.
Poperinghe was an important rail centre just behind the front line, and was used for the distribution of supplies, for billeting troops, for casualty clearing stations and for troops at rest from duty in the forward trench areas. Vast numbers of troops passed through this small town at some time or other.
The main square of Poperinghe (shown in the photograph) formed the hub of five main roads leading into the town, and was therefore constantly bustling with military traffic, military personnel and those civilians who had stayed on in the town.
Artillery and Aerial Bomb Attacks
Because of its importance to the military behind the front Allied lines, the town was frequently targeted by long range German artillery. During the Third Battle of Ypres (31st. July - 10th. November 1917) Poperinge and the surrounding area was repeatedly bombed by German aircraft. Some bombs landed on the Casualty Clearing Stations nearby.
Toc H
The town formed an important link for soldiers and their families, especially through the rest house known as Talbot House (or 'Toc H'). It was established by the Reverend 'Tubby' Clayton in December 1915 as an 'Everyman's Club' for soldiers and officers of the British Army. It is now a museum.
'Toc H' is a shortened form of Talbot House, with 'Toc' signifying the letter T in the signals spelling alphabet used by the British Army in the Great War.
Death Cells
A grim reminder of that time remains within the town hall, where two death cells are preserved, and outside in the courtyard, where there is a public execution post that was used by firing squads.
Military Cemeteries
Another reminder of the Great War is the location of a number of military cemeteries on the outskirts of the town which contain the graves of Canadian, British, Australian, French, German, and American servicemen, as well as men of the Chinese Labour Corps.
One of these cemeteries is Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery for soldiers who had been wounded near Ypres and later died in the large Allied casualty clearing stations located in the area.
Shot at Dawn
Sergeant John T. Wall of Bockleton, near Tenbury, Worcestershire had enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment as a drummer boy aged 16 in 1912, and served bravely in many actions on the Western Front from the beginning of the Great War.
At 5.25 am on the 6th September 1917, Sergeant Wall was executed by firing squad at Poperinghe for desertion. He was 22 years of age.
He is buried in Poperinghe New Military Cemetery. His parents William and Harriet Wall placed the following inscription on his gravestone:
'For ever with the Lord'.
He was one of hundreds of British soldiers of the Great War who were shot by their own men for supposed cowardice or desertion.
Sergeant Wall was executed at dawn for refusing to take his men to a near-certain death. He had spent the night before in one of the death cells referred to above.
The ground he was supposed to cover was a pestilent porridge of poison gas-soaked, bomb-cratered mud that had been turned into a glutinous, knee-deep swamp by a previous heavy thunderstorm. The area was intensively raked by enemy shells and machine gun fire.
He was charged with desertion and executed, although refusing to lead his men in a suicidal attack was in reality good soldiering common sense. Common sense was however, sadly often in short supply in the upper hierarchy of the British Army during the Great War.
A Typical Execution
The condemned private spends his last night in a small room, alone with his thoughts before his execution at dawn. He might be writing painful letters to family and friends. He is also likely to be encouraged to drink heavily in order to be insensible during execution. The private is guarded by two military policemen (MPs or redcaps) and ministered by a chaplain.
The condemned man’s commanding officer (CO) orders a company of men to witness the execution, wanting to set an example to other would-be deserters. Meanwhile a firing squad assembles, sick with nerves, in the dawn light. Some of the men know the condemned and have mixed feelings about his fate, some even carrying deep resentment at having to execute him. Their rifles have been pre-loaded—one with a blank—to take some of the individual responsibility away from shooting their fighting pal.
The condemned man is led, blind drunk, to a post by two redcaps, his hands tied behind his back. The lieutenant waits at the side of the shooting party, with a medical officer (MO). The lieutenant (Lt.) gives the order to shoot the prisoner. Some deliberately shoot wide. Two of the men vomit on the spot. The MO checks the prisoner over and concludes that the private is mortally wounded, but not dead. The young lieutenant, with shaky hands, administers the coup de grâce: a bullet to the head.
A military ambulance stands by to take the corpse off to be buried. That same evening the battalion colonel writes a letter to the private’s parents informing them that their son has been shot at the front. He leaves the message deliberately ambiguous, sparing the man’s family any difficult feelings about his execution.
Posthumous Pardons
The 'Shot at Dawn' Memorial in Alrewas, Staffordshire, originally contained the names of 306 men who were executed for 'cowardice' or 'desertion'.
With many now recognised as having been suffering from mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder, these men were posthumously pardoned by Royal Assent in November 2006.
The Staffordshire memorial was created to honour their sacrifices, along with all those who died in combat fighting for the British Empire during the Great War.
200,000 serving soldiers were officially court-martialled by the British High Command during the Great War.
Of these, 20,000 were found guilty of offences that carried the death penalty. 3,000 officially received it, although most of these sentences were subsequently commuted.
In the end, of the 3,000, 346 executions were carried out by firing squad.
Now, of the 40 names left off the Shot at Dawn Memorial, three have been added, thanks to the persistence of memorial creator Andy DeComyn.
They are New Zealander Jack Braithwaite, Gunner William Lewis from Scotland, and Jesse Robert Short, from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
Jack Braithwaite
Braithwaite's 'mutiny', according to the Birmingham Mail, consisted of nothing more than a misdemeanour.
The bohemian former journalist, who'd confessed at his trial to not being a natural soldier, had tried to calm down a belligerent prisoner at Blargies prison in Rouen by taking the man to his tent to feed him.
The soldier, Private Little, had been a ringleader in a small uprising against the prison guards. But Little was an Australian, and couldn't be executed because Australia's government wouldn't allow Great Britain to execute its soldiers.
Unfortunately Braithwaite was a New Zealander, and could be executed. His attempt to defuse the potential riot (sparked by appalling conditions at the prison) involved him leading Little away from the custody of a staff sergeant, which officially amounted to mutiny.
Jack was subsequently shot by firing squad on the 28th. August 1916.
Gunner William Lewis
Jack's execution occurred within five minutes of Gunner William Lewis, who'd also been involved in the uprising at the prison.
Corporal Jesse Short
Meanwhile, Corporal Jesse Short was condemned to death for uttering:
"Put a rope around that bugger's neck,
tie a stone to it and throw him into the
river".
He was said to be inciting guards barring his exit from the infamous 'Bull Ring' training camp to rebel against their officer.
This was the September 1917 Étaples Mutiny, an uprising by around 80 servicemen rebelling against what are now acknowledged to have been harsh and unreasonable conditions at the camp.
The uprising was depicted in the 1978 book (and 1986 BBC series) 'The Monocled Mutineer', the lead character in which is said to have been based at least partially on Corporal Short.
Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, confirmed Short's death sentence (as he had Lewis's a year earlier).
Short, Lewis, and Braithwaite received their pardons and have been honoured along with comrades who fell in battle.
The remaining 37 men who were shot, according to Richard Pursehouse of the Staffordshire military history research group the Chase Project, were not executed for mutiny, but murder.
As this also would have resulted in a death sentence even under civil law codes of the time, it was decided that their names should not be added to the memorial.
The Death of Rocky Boy
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted to Blanche?
Well, on the 18th. April 1916, Chippewa leader Rocky Boy passed away, shortly after negotiating treaties with the United States Government for Blackfoot tribes in Montana.
The agreements included the creation of the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation which was named after him.
Oral tradition among elders suggested Rocky Boy may have been poisoned by rival Cree in the area, although the rumours were never substantiated.
The Invention of the Nissen Hut
Also on that day, Captain Peter Norman Nissen completed the prototype Nissen hut.
The Nissen hut became a standard military structure for barracks or supplies for many military bases throughout the world.
