Church bells rang

Steve Shannon writes about the Battle of Cambrai.

Aerial photograph of Cambrai, taken 1 October 1918 (DCRO D/DLI 13/2/246)

At dawn on 20 November 1917, over 1,000 British guns opened fire on a five-mile wide section of the Hindenburg Line in France. There had been no warning and the German defenders were completely taken by surprise. 

Then, ten minutes later, following a creeping barrage and covered by smoke, over 470 British tanks attacked. As the massed tanks crushed the barbed wire under their tracks and crossed the trenches, destroying German strong points, six infantry divisions followed. 

Within hours, the British divisions had advanced some five miles and taken over 8,000 prisoners, and seized many German heavy guns and machine guns. However, almost 200 of the British tanks had broken down or been destroyed. 

Across Britain, church bells rang out for the first time in years to mark a famous victory. But the German Army was not prepared to accept defeat at Cambrai. After the first few days of fighting, the German defences stiffened and the British advance ground to a halt on Bourlon Ridge, a few miles south-west of Cambrai.

Then on 30 November, after their artillery had rained high explosive and gas shells on the British positions, the Germans launched a counter-attack, forcing the British back from almost all their earlier gains and even seizing some of the old British front line. 

The fighting at Cambrai ended on 5 December 1917. In the two weeks of fighting, British casualties totalled over 44,000 killed, wounded and missing, including 6,000 prisoners, whilst the Germans lost 45,000 men, including 10,000 prisoners.

Three Durham Light Infantry battalions - the 2nd, 11th, and 14th Battalions - were in action at Cambrai. During their advance on the first day of the battle, soldiers from the 2 DLI bayonet charged and captured five German field guns. The three battalions suffered few casualties during the first few days of the fighting.

2nd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, Captain Joseph Shea is seated on left of the second row, August 1917 (DCRO DLI 2/1/267(33))

But the German counter-attack resulted in very heavy losses, including 2 DLI’s Joseph Shea. Born in 1873, he had first joined the DLI as a Regular in 1891. As a colour sergeant, he had fought in the Boer War and been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Promoted to regimental sergeant major, and then quartermaster, by 1917 he was Captain Shea. During the German counter-attack at Cambrai, Captain Shea organised a defence using all available men - storemen, cooks, tailors, and shoemakers - and held on until relieved by other soldiers. During this desperate fighting, Joseph Shea was mortally wounded. He died the next day on 1 December, aged 44 years. 

Grave marker of Captain Joseph Shea, c.1918 (DCRO DLI 7/627/2)

The Battle of Cambrai also saw the loss of Brigadier-General Roland Bradford VC MC, possibly the most famous Durham soldier of them all, whilst another Durham soldier, Captain Arthur Lascelles, was awarded the Victoria Cross. Their stories, however, will keep to another day. 

Note: Joseph Shea’s medals are in the DLI Collection and may be seen by appointment at the University of Durham’s Palace Green Library:

https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/dlimedals/

Beyond Praise

On Wednesday 8 November 2017, Wheatley Hill History Club launched their Thomas Kenny VC film, Beyond Praise, at the Gala Theatre, Durham. 

Thomas Kenny was in 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. He won his Victoria Cross medal whilst still a private, for action carried out in November 1915 when he rescued Lieutenant Philip Brown, who sadly died as he was being transported to a dressing station. Kenny survived the war and joined the Home Guard in the Second World War. He died in 1948.

Beyond Praise was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and has been produced in association with Lonely Tower Film and Media. It features interviews with local historians and family members (some of whom were at the screening), plus historical re-enactment. I was actually sat next to the man who played Kenny, his grandmother was so proud of him after seeing the film. There were also tiers of cupcakes, each with its own beautifully rendered icing sugar Victoria Cross.

Victoria Cross cup cake

You can watch the film and find out more about Thomas Kenny on the Wheatley Hill History Club’s website:
http://www.wheatley-hill.org.uk/thomaskennyvc/thomaskennytimeline.shtml

You can also look on the Durham at War website and see footage of the unveiling of Thomas Kenny’s VC paving stone:
http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/story/11173/

Conference 2017

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

-Carl Sagan

I feel like this quote is very fitting for our project. Saturday 4 November was the second Durham at War volunteers' conference, and a chance to hear about what incredible things they have discovered. All the talks were fantastic and I learnt a lot.

The day began with Councillor Ossie Johnson welcoming and thanking the volunteers. He told us how he had already had a surprise in talking to volunteer David, whose talk he would not be able to stay for. He was interested in the Royal Naval Division as some relatives had been involved, it turned out that they were same as David’s relatives! 

The talks proceeded with Gillian Kirkbride (Heritage, Museums and Collections Manager) telling  us about the upcoming DLI Collection touring exhibition, When the Bugle Calls, on music and the regiment. It opens at Bishop Auckland Town Hall in December. Next we had a short talk on the use of Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) in First World War archaeology by myself and volunteer Dave [I’ll be doing a blog post of this in the future]. Then it was time for the all-important tea break and chance for people to chat and look around.

Poppy Rug produced by those involved in the Wessington U3A War memorials Project

We had a range of stalls including Friends of Durham County Record Office, the North East War Memorials Project and Darlington Library. Wessington U3A were also there with a wonderful poppy rug. There were displays too, including one on Girl Guiding in the county during the war, produced by project volunteers Pat and Fiona, and our Victoria Cross pop-up banners. There were others loaned  to us by Northumbria University, on the impact of the war on higher education.

Mark Smith of the Antiques Roadshow talking about his medal collection

Next up was our keynote speaker. Mark Smith has appeared on the Antiques Roadshow and Who Do You Think You Are? as an expert in militaria. His talk was perfect for the day: a look at the First World War based on his medal collection. From the medals, he started learning about the people, and from the people he started learning about the action. It was also personal, as he told us about how he became a medal collector, and how he has developed his collection - his aim is to collect a medal for each day of the war. It was a fascinating insight into the war period and its study.

This talk was followed by a look at the wartime letters of Prince Riedelski by Jackie and Elaine. Riedelski was a pretender to the Polish crown, whose letters to Robert Edleston of Gainford are held at Durham County Record Office. It also discussed the status of Poland, and its people, during this time. Continuing the international theme, we had a return visit by our Canadian emissary, Jim, who told about finding a personal connection to County Durham whilst doing research for a friend.

Some of the entries into the Tank Make and Bake competition

Inspired by last year’s First World War Bake Off and Tank Banks, we decided this year, we would have a Tank Make and Bake. Delegates were invited to bring a long a tank they had made, or baked, out of anything. Voting took place over tea break and lunch time. Participation was down on last year, but not quality and the results were announced after lunch. The 'Bake' was won by the Record Office’s own Lindsey, with two impressive gingerbread tanks, winning a mug decorated with tank blueprints. The 'Make' was hotly contested between one made from corned beef and sardine tins, and one out of balloons. A late surge led to the balloon tank, made by Margaret (writer of the Very British Romance blog posts), winning the prize of a replica tank bank. 

The afternoon took us to the sea. George began this session with a talk on the Cretehawser, a concrete tug beached on the River Wear near the Queen Alexandra Bridge. This answered a long held question of several audience members who had often seen it without knowing what it was. For the last full talk of the conference, we had David talking about the Royal Naval Division [RND], and how it sat uneasily between the Admiralty and the Army. He also looked at why a significant number of men from land locked areas of the county ended up serving with the RND. 

Lastly, we had an open session where volunteers, including Amanda and Margaret, could say a few words about what they had been doing. We also had Peter Welsh of Wessington U3A tell us about their new phone app, designed by a local teenager. 

It was lovely to see everyone enjoying the conference, and next year, you could too. Conference 2018 will be open to the general public.

Hive Radio were in attendance during the Conference, and interviewed some of the speakers. These interviews will be going out on Sunday and you can listen online here:
http://www.capne.org/hive_radio.html

The Durham County Council comms team made a video report of the day which can be watched below:

Getting conference ready

An excuse to post a picture of Chris Hemsworth, you probably need to have seen the first Thor film (and I highly recommend the new one)

Last year, we held a conference for our volunteers and it went so well, we're doing it again this Saturday. We are nearly done with the preparations, and a full write up will appear here next week.