David,
Thank you for your valuable information. I was going strictly by what I had seen on TV, a
WWI documentary. There was a quotation to this effect by an English politician on the
program. I figured that an English politician should know the facts. Just goes to show
that one cannot rely on the media or politicians for accurate information. One needs to
research everything stated before taking it as the gospel truth. The "hole"
that you point out is glaring, to say the least.
Good hunting,
Cliff.
On Thursday, August 4, 2016 2:14 PM, "fausset(a)fausset.plus.com"
<fausset(a)fausset.plus.com> wrote:
Cliff,
Many thanks for letting me know your source for the comment. I think it
must have been one those programmes where historical accuracy pays second
fiddle to 'THE MESSAGE', which, I am afraid, is all too common these
days. I attended a recent lecture from the Military Consultant on a major
WWI film epic of a year or so ago, enumerating the amount of times his
advice was over ridden by the famous director as it 'made better cinema'
The point here being that there was NO Election in Britain during WWI!
One was due in 1915, but it was decided not to hold it until the War was
over, and it duly took place in 1918.
Furthermore, the voters would have included Scotland, Wales and Ireland,
which makes the statement a load of 'old cobblers' to use the vernacular.
And it wasn't just sons dying in France. It was their brothers, fathers
and husbands.
On happier and safer ground, where I now live in Hampshire, there were
many Canadian regiments stationed in both wars, including a Hospital. We
have a Canadian War Cemetery in our sleepy village churchyard and every
year on Canada Day they are remembered. Many of the roads in the village
have Canadian names - Canada Way, Huron Drive, Montreal Walk and so on.
We recently made a contribution to the Canadian Red Cross towards the
forest fires in Alberta.
I grew up in tne 1930's, so I remember the not uncommon sight of ex
service men from WWI with missing legs or arms.
Later on my school was evacuated to the country because of the bombing.
One morning we woke up to find that a Canadian Tank Regiment had moved
into the woods beside the school, on their way to D Day. We were really
curious and a Canadian officer said that he would show us round a tank, on
condition that we then kept away from the camp.
It was amazing, and we spent the next days riding our bikes around the
paths pretending to be tank commanders.
Then one night they disappeared just like they had arrived. I often
wonder what happened to them all.
Regards,
Martin
Martin,
I got this bit of information from a war documentary produced in
England on WWI.Â
Typically the English troops were held back from the fiercest fighting in
the months just before elections in England. English politicians knew
that too many home deaths would be reflected in voting against them.Â
English mothers became very political when it came to their sons dying in
a foreign country. They may not have had the vote, but they knew how to
influence their husbands' votes, and they did. You are welcome to take
issue with the English politicians; however, I believe that they are all
deceased ;-)
Good hunting,
Cliff.
On Wednesday, August 3, 2016 9:52 AM, fausset via
<fermanagh-gold(a)rootsweb.com> wrote:
Cliff,
I was fascinated by your old soldier’s stories, but I am afraid that I
must take you to task over using Irish and |Scots troops to preserve
English soldiers’ lives in WWI.
I do not believe that the 4,006,158 soldiers recruited in England remained
in relative safety while the 557,618 recruits from Scotland, the 272,924
recruits from Wales and Monmouth, and the 134,202 recruits from Ireland
fought the difficult battles on their behalf. You may like to look at
the
various casualty rates for the several campaigns.
No old soldier’s tales, but my late (English) mother, years ago, once
recounted how as a young woman nursing Canadian wounded in England she
would read the daily posted casualty lists to watch the names of the young
men she had grown up with appear one by one until they were all gone.
Having said that, my late (Irish) father was the only one out of several
cousins to survive the First War, nor does it forget the Canadian victory
at Vimy Ridge, which had defied the French 1st Army – despite a brief
success by the 1st Moroccan Division – and the British XVII Corps.
Martin Fausset
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