The Wolds Waggoners - page 17
Image details
| Corps | RPC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Books |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | The Wolds Waggoners |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1988 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1908 |
| Late date | 1983 |
| Transcription |
Germans: 'Presently half-finished trenches, German biscuit tins, cavalry lines, broken stacks; then the whiff of war, the stink of dead things from the woods; here, there and beyond dead horses of the Uhlans - some shot, some ridden to death; then suddenly a line of waggons: No. 6 Reserve Supply Park, with all the men. The lads capped me and shouted "Hulloa, sir. 'ave you coomed?" - then more of them, No. 4, and so, into where I found the rest of them. "Food's grand, sir," was the report of all.' Wagoner 451 Fred Baron of West Lutton. He was ater transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers, but was posted missing in October 1917. When this photo was taken, he was in his early twenties, but was only sixty-one inches tall - the muzzle of the rifle reaches up to his chest Passing some wounded men on the road, Sir Mark was appalled by the sometimes haphazard treatment they could receive. When he told his wife about this, Lady Edith immediately raised a subscription fund for medical supplies and for doctors and nurses to go to France. With the money and offers of help she received, she immediately converted Hull's Metropole Hotel into a military hospital, and also set up a hospital in a converted villa in Dunkirk. Lady Edith and her sister Eva ran this hospital until the summer of 1915, when it was taken over by the military authorities. Some old civilian habits died hard, and the sight of a local housewife offering a glass of beer to one of the drivers could result in a sudden halt and a traffic jam on the road behind (much to the annoyance of the man's officers and of any drivers stuck behind the stationary wagon). Equally unmilitary was one voice which hailed Sir Mark while he was in France, 'Give us a lift, Guvnor. Hi come from Shantilly with Mr. Walker's 'orses, sir.' The fate of the ordinary private soldier who addressed any other lieutenant-colonel in the British Army in that fashion is better imagined than experienced. At this stage of the War, the Parks never went close enough to the Front Line to be menaced by German gunfire, but several men in all of the companies were injured by the kind of kicks and knocks which must be expected when working with horses and wagons (in addition to the driver of the 5th Park - not a wagoner, it must be said - who contrived to contract venereal disease after only one night in Le Havre). Casualties occurred amongst the animals as well as the men. Horses were difficult to replace locally, since the French government had purchased or requisitioned most of the available beasts. However, some farmers could always be persuaded to sell one or two of their beasts - for a suitably inflated price - and many wagoners enjoyed looking after a pair of Percherons or the like. But it was not always possible to acquire horses by honest means, as Wagoner 1030 William Thompson later recalled: 'In France I pinched, borrowed or swapped horses. We were on the retreat for many days and had stopped in a big wood. I saw this shire some 200 yards away. My best one had been pinched earlier and you needed a good horse. This was a beauty and all the men around were so tired. Nobody had slept for weeks - since we had set off |
| Book number | R0398 |