War Baby – a poem by Pamela Holmes

Richard Maddox

BRITAIN QUEUES FOR FOOD, 1945. Image Copyright © IWM. IWM catalogue reference D 25039. Original source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205202060

He has not even seen you, he
Who gave you your mortality;
And you, so small, how can you guess
His courage or his loveliness?

Yet in my quiet mind I pray
He passed you on the darkling way –
His death, your birth, so much the same –
And holding you, breathed once your name.

War Baby was written by Pamela Mavis Holmes, tying together two significant events in her life, her pregnancy and the death of her husband Frederick Claude (Peter) Hall.

Lieutenant Frederick Hall served with the Artists Rifles.

While seconded to 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment and serving in Tunisia, he was posted missing, believed killed in early December 1942.

He was aged 27 at the time of his presumed death. ⁽¹⁾

Their daughter was born four months later.

Having no known grave, he is one of almost 2000 men commemorated on the Medjez-el-Bab Memorial to the Missing, some sixty kilometres from Tunis. ⁽²⁾

More Information

A small selection of Second World War poetry can be seen on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission blog at https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/blog/remembering-the-poets-of-world-war-two

An introduction to the Artists Rifles can be found at https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-artists-rifles-a-history-of-the-regiment

A little about the 1st Battalion East Surrey Regiment during the Second World War can be found at https://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/short_history/sh14.shtml

Source

⁽¹⁾ https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2542009/frederick-claude-peter-hall – retrieved 23 March 2022

⁽²⁾ https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2054200/medjez-el-bab-memorial – retrieved 23 March 2022.

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‘In the Image of Man’ Robert Henderson Blyth, 1947

Richard Maddox

HIGH ABOVE A DEVASTATED community stands a headless, shattered figure of the crucified Christ slumps on a broken and burnt . Behind and below the figure soldiers from a British medical unit can be seen amongst the ruined buildings.

The road sweeps through the village or town to past shattered trees a flat fields to a distant horizon. The rusted remains of a lorry sit in a field facing away from the road as perhaps its occupants had tried to flee from the inevitable destruction that would overwhelm them.

Pock-marked buildings have been ripped open to reveal wallpaper, tilted floors and precariously balanced beds.  Broken intricate carvings and shattered fluted columns denote the destruction of culture. Piles of rubble are everywhere – except for the roads which have been cleared for military traffic.

The only signs of recent human activity are a British military ambulance, two British soldiers and military signs directing traffic to an Advanced Dressing Station and warning of the danger of mines.

This is a place for the conquerors not the defeated.

It is a painting that asks simply ‘What have we – humankind – done?’

IN THE IMAGE OF MAN, Oil on canvas by Robert Henderson Blythe 1947. Image Copyright © IWM, IWM catalogue reference Art.IWM ART 16010. Original source https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/2587.

A little about Robert Henderson Blyth

Born in Glasgow in 1919, landscape and semi-abstract artist Robert Blyth trained at Glasgow School of Art. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1941 and served with 157th (Lowland) Field Ambulance unit.

Part of his time was spent with the unit in Hamburg, northern Germany and his experiences there and elsewhere may have influenced elements of this painting. It is possible that

The city was targeted in July 1943 by a series of allied air attacks from 24 July until 3 August. (Operation GOMORRAH). Estimates for the death toll during GOMORRAH are between 34000 and 43000 individuals. ⁽¹⁾ 

It is possible that the destruction of the Church of St Nicholas (St. Nikolai-Kirche) – the spire of which was for a short time the tallest building in the world – also influenced his choice of subject. ^{(2) (3)} 

Post-war Robert taught at Edinburgh School of Art and at Gray’s School of Art.

He died in 1970. ⁽⁴⁾ 

More of his work can be seen at https://artuk.org/discover/artists/blyth-robert-henderson-19191970 – retrieved 29 July 2021

Sources

⁽¹⁾ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43546839 – retrieved 29 July 2021

⁽²⁾ https://www.hamburg.com/sights/places-of-worship/11747434/st-nikolai/ – retrieved 29 July 2021

⁽³⁾ https://joydellavita.com/museum-st-nikolai-memorial-hamburg/ – retrieved 29 July 2021

⁽⁴⁾ https://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst2958.html – retrieved 29 July 2021

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A little about ‘The Berliner’ British military train service – 1945 to 1991

Richard Maddox

FOLLOWING THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY in 1945, the country was divided into four sectors, each administered by a military government set up by one of the Allied Four Powers; the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France.

Although Germany’s capital Berlin lay within the and was surrounded by the Soviet Zone, it too was split and governed by a similar arrangement.

Entry to Berlin from one of the other Allied zone was only via specific strictly controlled transport routes or ‘corridors’.

In 1945 a train service run by the British Army’s a squadron within the Royal Corps of Transport was established to transport personnel, their luggage and small items of freight into from the British Zone into Berlin.

BRITISH MILITARY personnel disembark from ‘The Berliner’, the military train service operated by the British Army in Germany. Image copyright: © IWM. IWM catalogue reference BER 49-164-008. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205217713

AN EMPTY GREEN glass wine bottle from The Berliner British Military train. It is labelled ‘THE BERLINER / BELLE MAISON / CLARET’. Image copyright: © IWM. IWM catalogue reference EPH 1492. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30081626

The service regularly until after the fall of the Soviet Union except during the 11-month long Berlin Blockade from June 1948 until May 1949.⁽¹⁾

The last day of operations for The Berliner was 7 February 1991.

The train used modified German coaches, which were originally finished in dark blue. Each carriage carried the crest of the Royal Corps of Transport, a Union flag emblem and the wording ‘Eigentum der Britischen Rheinarmee’ (Property of the British Army of the Rhine).

In 1985 the colour scheme was changed to one using a lighter blue and off-white.

At Potsdam in East Germany an East German military Train Guard joined the train and it was coupled to an East German locomotive and at Marienborg, some 113 miles from Berlin all the passenger’s documentation was presented to a Soviet Army officer for examination.

At Helmstedt the East German Train Guard would be replaced by one from the British Army. ⁽²⁾

All the windows on the train were marked with notices stating ‘THE USE OF CAMERAS AND BINOCULARS IS PROHIBITED’.

The train would had a restaurant car which could accommodate forty-seven diners and in addition luggage vans carried bags, post and three days of food supplies in the event of unseen circumstances.

During its journey through East Germany the all the train doors were locked.In addition to the train’s crew, waiting and admin staff there were three armed soldiers on each train. Train staff included a Russian interpreter and were accommodated in a separate coach. ⁽³⁾ 

The final route of the train was from Charlottenberg station in Berlin to Braunschweig, a distance of 145 miles that was covered in approximately four hours.

Towards the end of its life the train became more a symbol of the continued British presence in Berlin and West Germany and somewhat less of a practical military asset.

French and American military trains also operated on various routes. ⁽⁴⁾ 

While the American services finished in 1990, the French continued operating their service from Strasbourg to Berlin until 1994. ⁽⁵⁾ 

More information

In addition to those quoted, the following links are a selection of those that provide more information on the Berliner.

https://www.british-berliner.org/

https://www.baor-locations.org/BMT.aspx.html

Source

⁽¹⁾ https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205217713 – retrieved 16 January 2022

⁽²⁾ https://www.militaryhistories.co.uk/berlin/rail – retrieved 16 January 2022

⁽³⁾ https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/rightlines-article/the-berliner-train.html – retrieved 16 January 2022

⁽⁴⁾ https://timetableworld.com/the-berlin-corridor/ – retrieved 16 January 2022

⁽⁵⁾ https://www.joc.com/berlin-british-military-train-chugs-history_19910207.html – retrieved 16 January 2022

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through to the present day and beyond.
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The end of British Tank B57 ‘Blarney Castle’ at Fontaine-Notre-Dame near Cambrai, 1917

Richard Maddox

ALTHOUGH FIRST USED AT THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME in 1916, and in subsequent actions during that year and the next, it wasn’t until the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 that large numbers of tanks were used in action. ⁽¹⁾ 

At dawn on 20 November 1917 after more than 400 tanks had been assembled near Cambrai in great secrecy the attack was launched.

The attack plan – around three months in the making – called for massive artillery support and the use of eight infantry divisions, five cavalry divisions  together with air support for a coordinated attack on German positions on what became known as the Hindenburg Line. ⁽²⁾ 

The surprise and weight of the attack saw an initial British success until the Germans counteracts  inflicted heavy casualties. ⁽³⁾ 

Over the next few days heavy fighting developed between the German and British forces in their efforts to hold or take ground. 

The use of such a large number of tanks also saw the German forces use their anti-aircraft weapons against the British armour. ⁽⁴⁾ 

Several tanks were destroyed around the village of Fontaine-Notre-Dame, including Blarney Castle, a Mark IV of the British Army’s B Battalion, 6 Company, 12 Section, Tank Corps.

WITH PANELS REMOVED and evident damage, the British Mark IV tank ‘Blarney Castle’ awaits it dismantling after being destroyed at Fontaine-Notre-Dame near Cambrai. Taken by an official German photographer. Image copyright: © IWM. IWM catalogue reference Q 87618. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205080962

GERMAN SOLDIERS breaking up the hulk of the British Mark IV tank B. 57 ‘Blarney Castle’ destroyed at Fontaine-Notre-Dame near Cambrai. Taken by an official German photographer. Image copyright: © IWM. IWM catalogue reference Q 87624. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205080961

Blarney Castle was destroyed by an anti-aircraft gun of K FLAK Batterie 7 on the main road through the village. ⁽⁵⁾ 

The weapon was mounted on a flatbed lorry or similar. ⁽⁶⁾ 

After the battle German troops examined many of the tanks in detail.  

A number were made serviceable to test and evaluate as the German army was in the process of producing its own A7V tank. Unterofficier Heinrich Leu of the Kraftfahrtruppen or (Motor Vehicle Troop) became the first German to drive a British tank when he and Leutnant Müller managed to recover a working British tank from No Man’s Land near Notre Dame de Fontaine. ⁽⁷⁾ 

In May 1918 Mark IV F. 13 Falcon II of F Battalion – one of ten tanks knocked out at Bourlon village was photographed and filmed see (More Information below) being put through a rudimentary evaluation of knocking down trees etc.⁽⁸⁾ 

A photography in IWM’s care shows the tank being tested, Although captioned as an ‘Abandoned British Tank’ cross referencing with the film shows how it came to be poised above a shallow ditch and seemingly stuck against a tree.

BRITISH MK IV tank F 13, ‘Falcon II’ being tested against a large tree by a German crew. Taken by an official German photographer. Image Copyright: © IWM. IWM catalogue reference Q 87621. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205080960

A number of captured British tanks – officially called Beutepanzer, meaning ‘captured tank’ – were put back into service with its own crews, The two armies even used the same type of tank against each other in at least one action in October 1918. ^{(9) (10)} 

Blarney Castle was too badly damaged to enter service with the German Army and although it became a widely backdrop for many German soldiers (as the images in printed material and available on the internet show) its fate was to be dismantled where it finally came to rest. 

Its crew, commanded by  Second Lieutenant Julian Cecil Lazonby were all killed and having no known grave are commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial at Louvevral in the company of more than 400 who died that day, thirty from B Battalion Tank Corps. 

Second Lieutenant Henderson Thomas Henderson and his crew operated B. 57 on occasions, and he may have been responsible for the tank’s name.

By a tragic coincidence, he and his crew also died that day at Fontaine-Notre-Dame  while commanding B.54 Behmoth II. ⁽¹¹⁾ 

More information

Details of the battle can be found at https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-cambrai-operations-1917-battle-of-cambrai/

A German Federal Archive film entitled Nach der Tankschlacht bei Cambrai Dezember 1917 (After the tank battle near Cambrai in December 1917) showing captured and destroyed tanks after the First Battle of Cambrai, and including British tanks being initially evaluated can be seen at https://www.filmothek.bundesarchiv.de/video/583347?topic=doc6inpxc60sdsjxt7j7yp&start=00%3A00%3A00.00&end=00%3A12%3A34.03

At approximately 3 minutes 5 seconds into the film, (after a German caption titled Abmontieren zerschossener Tanks) a snow covered Blarney Castle can be seen in partially dismantled form on the edge of the village by German engineers as marching infantry move past the hulk.

Falcon II‘s evaluation starts at approximately 3 minutes 14 seconds and concludes at around 7 minutes 42 seconds.

An article at https://www.forces.net/news/army/tide-iron-cambrai-1917 also shows an image of the tank being scrapped.

A little about IWM’s A7V (which was dismantled at the former home of the museum at Crystal Palace in south London in 1922) is available at https://wordpress.com/post/iwmvolunteerlondon.wordpress.com/9870

IWM currently London has a Mk V British tank – a development of the tanks that saw action at Cambrai – in its collection and on display in its First World War Galleries.

Sources

⁽¹⁾ https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/battles-and-fighting/weapons-on-land/chars-et-vehicules-blindes/ – retrieved 5 December 2021

⁽²⁾ https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/battle-of-cambrai-1917-facts/ – retrieved 5 December 2021

⁽³⁾ https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-the-battle-of-cambrai-changed-fighting-tactics-on-the-western-front – retrieved 5 December 2021

⁽⁴⁾ https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/87109-lorry-mounted-77mm88mm-aa-guns-at-cambrai/ – retrieved 5 December 2021

⁽⁵⁾ http://blarneyhistory.ie/the-tank-and-the-tender/ – retrieved 5 December 2021 

⁽⁶⁾ https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/87109-lorry-mounted-77mm88mm-aa-guns-at-cambrai/ – retrieved 5 December 2021 

⁽⁷⁾ https://www.keymilitary.com/article/british-steel-iron-cross – retrieved 5 December 2021 

⁽⁸⁾ https://tank100.com/cambrai/bourlon-village/ – retrieved 5 December 2021 

⁽⁹⁾ https://www.keymilitary.com/article/british-steel-iron-cross – retrieved 5 December 2021 

⁽¹⁰⁾ http://www.landships.info/landships/tank_articles/French_Beutepanzer.html – retrieved 5 December 2021 

⁽¹¹⁾ http://blarneyhistory.ie/the-tank-and-the-tender/ – retrieved 5 December 2021 

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1914 through to the present day and beyond.
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An Unended War – United Nations intervention in Korea 1950 – 1953

Richard Maddox

IT WAS THE FIRST MILITARY INTERVENTION sanctioned for by the United Nations. It was the first conflict of what was to become the ‘Cold War’. And during its three-year duration an estimated five million people on all sides were killed. ⁽¹⁾ 

British military deaths – that is not including those of Commonwealth troops – are put at around 1100. ⁽²⁾

This is more than the number British service personnel killed in the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan combined.^{(3) (4)( 5)} 

CORPORAL ALEX BURNETT, 1st Battalion, The Black Watch with ‘Peace’ a Communist propaganda newssheet. Image Copyright: © IWM. IWM catalogue reference IWM MH 33236. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205189656

As the image above shows the conditions were harsh, The weather was described as described as ‘unpredictable’ with a period of monsoons separating hot, humid summers and winters where temperatures regularly fell below zero and frostbite was common.

Corporal Alex Burnett is seen outside a makeshift bunker with a Communist propaganda item, modelled on a typical military news paper, Entitled ‘Peace‘ it has sections entitled ‘China Offers an Immediate Truce Again’ and ‘News from Your POW Buddies’,

Britain was one of fifteen nations that sent troops to fight as part of the UN force, while another four sent medical aid. ⁽⁶⁾ 

It is estimated that approximately 60,000 British servicemen fought in Korea. ⁽⁷⁾

However, a figure in excess of 81,000 is cited on the Korean War Memorial on Victoria Embankment, London (see More Information below),

After three years of bitter fighting the Korean War ended not in a victory but in an armistice, with the country divided between two different ideologies. Although the armistice agreement was accepted by the warring factions, South Korea did not sign, hoping that this would prolong the war and that a victory over the North would bring the whole of the Korean peninsula under the control of the South. ⁽⁸⁾

Britain was the last nation to have a national memorial to the servicemen killed in Korea.

Unveiled in December 2014 it was a gift from the people of South Korea, The memorial’s dedication gives a figure of 81, 084 members of the British military having served in Korea, with deaths given as 1106 and 1060 becoming prisoners of war. ⁽⁹⁾ 

One of those 11,000 British dead was Trooper James William Grace of the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, an armoured unit with the 1st Commonwealth Division.

Born in Stepney, East London, he was killed 5 November 1952, just a week from his twentieth birthday and shortly before his two-year period of compulsory military service (called National Service) was to end. ^{(10) (11)} 

Today the Korean War is little known by many, a conflict far away in time and distance, squeezed between the Second World War, and Vietnam and overshadowed by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, although it is not forgotten in China. ⁽¹²⁾

In September 2021 South Korea’s president called for an international declaration to immediate end to the war, a situation that North Korea has also called for in the past but believes it can accept at the moment because of South Korea’s ‘double standards’ in the matter. ^{(13) (14)} 

More information

The Royal British Legion had a page summarising the war. Please see https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/stories/the-korean-war – retrieved 24 October 2021

The American Library of Congress has a collection of printed propaganda material from both sides of the conflict https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2017/09/korean-war-propaganda-leaflet-collection-at-the-library-of-congress/

A little about the Korean War memorial in London can be found at https://www.donaldinsallassociates.co.uk/projects/korean-war-memorial/

An overview of National Service in the UK is at https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/what-was-national-service

Sources 

⁽¹⁾ https://www.history.com/topics/korea/korean-war#:~:text=Korean%20War%20Casualties – retrieved 24 October 2021

⁽²⁾ https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/korean-war – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽³⁾ https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/british-army-and-falklands-war – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽⁴⁾ https://www.gov.uk/government/fields-of-operation/iraq#:~:text=A%20total%20of%20179%20British,a%20result%20of%20hostile%20action. – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽⁵⁾ https://www.gov.uk/government/fields-of-operation/afghanistan#:~:text=British%20fatalities%20in%20Afghanistan&text=As%20at%2023%20July%202015,a%20result%20of%20hostile%20action. – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽⁶⁾ https://picturethisongranite.com/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-korean-war/ – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽⁷⁾ https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/korean-war – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽⁸⁾  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-27/what-an-end-to-the-71-year-korean-war-would-mean-quicktake – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽⁹⁾ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/memorial-to-the-korean-war-unveiled-in-london – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽¹⁰⁾ http://veterans.mod.uk/roll-of-honour.php?SerialNo=X3296 – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽¹¹⁾ https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1093/?name=Alma_Groce&death=_IN&count=50&fh=1100&fsk=BEFn4FgIgAAERQMJCcc-61- – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽¹²⁾ https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/the-war-to-resist-america-how-china-remembers-the-korean-war/ – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽¹³⁾ https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korean-leader-repeats-call-declaration-end-korean-war-2021-09-21/ – retrieved 24 October 2021 

⁽¹⁴⁾ https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-says-suggestion-declare-end-korean-war-is-premature-kcna-2021-09-23/ – retrieved 24 October 2021 

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IWM is the world’s leading authority on conflict and its impact on people’s lives from
1914 through to the present day and beyond.
You can learn more about volunteering at IWM here.