Published in Windlesora 30 (2014)
© WLHG
W J Wood, who had left his post as a porter at the Old Windsor Workhouse to enlist in the 6th Dragoon Guards, still thought that the war would be over soon. He wrote to the Master of the Workhouse in December 1914 (published in the Windsor Express on 9 January 1915) to thank him for a gift of tobacco and cigarettes:
…You have seen by the papers that the cavalry are doing trench work… At one time when we were in the trenches, the weather was so severe that every man and officer had frost-bitten feet. We were in the trenches 72 hours on that occasion. It has left my feet very tender, but otherwise I am all right with the exception of rheumatism. The position that we hold now is quiet safe. The enemy has made several rushes every day but to no purpose. The general idea out here is that the war will be over by the end of February. Anyway we are strengthening our positions every day, and there is no possible chance for the enemy who have been beaten ever since we retired from Mons…
But Bombardier C A Bilbo, Royal Field Artillery, of Old Windsor, did not share the belief that the war would soon be over. Writing from ‘Somewhere in the mud on the Frontier of Belgium and France’ he said:
… The war in my opinion will last a long time yet, and when the advance comes, as it seems to me it must do in the early spring, well, someone will get hurt… I have not seen any of the German atrocities, except in one case; no doubt a lot have occurred, but I think also that this matter is exaggerated. The case I refer to is of a young volunteer motor cyclist, who was bayoneted and burnt with his bike on a haystack; whether he was dead when put there I do not know… If I was allowed, you would have a letter containing more interesting matter from me, but it would not pass the censor.
A letter from another Bombardier, H Alderman, 46th Battery Royal Field Artillery, of Eton, was published on 16 January. He wrote that they ‘had a very hot’ time in November with severe losses, but proudly claimed that ‘our infantry are, without a doubt, the finest in the world; the manner in which they have held their ground against overwhelming odds, time after time, can never be forgotten.’ He concluded:
... On the 23rd of December, we were recalled to the firing line to relieve the Indian troops, who were a little fatigued after the hard fighting they have had… We had a very happy Christmas; we sent the enemy our greetings (a few rounds of gunfire) but they did not return the compliment, so we had a very quiet day. Christmas cards from the King and Queen were issued, also pudding, and Princess Mary’s gifts, so we did very well indeed.
Ambulance driver Streamer wrote a harrowing account to his brother in Albert Street, about the day he had to go out to an Artillery Battery, which had received a direct hit:
… a dreadful sight met my eyes — a sight I never want to see again… the poor men were blown to pieces; we identified them by their identity disc, so we gathered up the pieces and put them into a grave we had previously dug in the moonlight.
One soldier who wished the war would soon be over was Private George Groves of the Royal Scots Regiment. He wrote home to his parents at Hundred Steps Lodge, Windsor Castle in December 1914:
… You will see by my address that I have joined my old battalion, but I don’t know how many are left, as we have had 32 officers and 700 men killed, wounded or missing. We are at a place in Belgium and have just come out of the trenches, after being in them three days and three nights with water up to our knees and so cold. The German trenches are only 200 yards from us. We are getting plenty of clothes. I shall not be sorry when this war is over.
The letter was published on 19 December, but sadly Private Groves was already dead; he had been killed on 14 December. His body was never found and he is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres.
From Windsor in the Great War by
Derek Hunt and Dr. Brigitte Mitchell
Windsor Local History Group 