Landmarker

History in the remaking?

Between the years 1914 & 1918 approximately FIVE MILLION MEN served in the British Army. I respect the memory of every single one of them. They helped to preserve a way of life we have been lucky to maintain. Their sacrifice helped safeguard our country and we owe them all an immense debt.

 

I have sometimes wondered how I would react under fire. Continuous bombardment would be too terrifying for my limited imagination to cope with. A living hell. An ear piercing cacophony of inbound and out bound ordnance targeted to kill and maim. The ground beneath my feet shaking and exploding, throwing up tons of earth. The end of the world? For many it was.

I am a child of welfare state Britain. The state nurtured me from the cradle - hopefully the grave is someway off yet and I'm not sure the process will endure- but I digress. The state provided a decent home for my parents to rent. Warm and dry. The state educated me roundly and well. As the nineteen -sixties swung by. I was eighteen years old as that decade came to an end, although the swinging continued for a couple more years yet.

Many of the young men called to arms in Flanders in the 'Great War' were aged eighteen, and some were even younger. This generation had few of the comforts I enjoyed. These were the Sons of a Britain which still held a mighty empire. A Britain which assumed superiority over all, and there were few to argue. Deference was almost inborn. Forelock tugging to the higher classes was commonplace and most folk knew their station. Social mobility had not been invented. Even successful businessmen were frowned upon in some quarters and tradesmen regarded as quite 'low'. The hoi-polloi, a bracket I'd have fallen into, well for some in the higher echelons they were beneath contempt.

The marbled corridors of power were the province of Royalty, and the landed gentry. It was here where wars were conceived and plotted, the politicians did their bidding - they knew their place too - and many politicians liked to flex their military muscle, so long as others did the flexing on their behalf of course.

So, as the cream of Britain's youthful manhood spilled from the boats in French and Belgian ports in 1914 it may have been seen as an adventure to most. ' All Over by Christmas' was the clarion call as the pals marched wide eyed and cheerful into a living nightmare. Naïve no doubt to the horrors of war. Some of these men distinguished themselves, some of them survived intact with stories to tell, or more likely keep to themselves. For everyone of those there were men who returned home minus a sense, blinded maybe or deafened by the roar of warfare. Or many were invalided by gas like my the Grandfather I never knew, who survived but was never the same man I'm told. Others may have sacrificed a limb or suffered some dreadful injury which would change their lives forever. But they had survived ! The only common injury were the mental scars of a war so dreadful it was expected to end all wars.

There were also those who ran away. Who defied orders to fight. A tiny, tiny minority. Around three hundred of these soldiers were shot , charged with cowardice or some similar offence. Let me say here that I have the utmost respect for soldiers old and new. I was a member of the Royal Air Force for a very short time myself. This was at a time c.1970 when the military was a comparatively risk free career choice. As I signed up I likened the outlook of those times to a map of Britain. With conflict as my coastline back then joining the R.A.F. was the equivalent of a cosy cottage in deepest Leicestershire, or some other land locked county.

The Army of 1914 - 18 was a huge military machine. A giant undertaking . Held together by unblinking discipline and order which kept the whole thing cohesive. Armies the world over are dependant on such methods. To differ would result in disintegration during adversity.
The mindset of many men reduced them to little more than cannon fodder & so in their tens of thousands, no! their hundreds of thousands they fell. Cut down by the rat-tat-tat of German machine guns, or were torn asunder in their filthy , squalid trenches by deadly artillery .

These conditions are frankly beyond my comprehension. These were simply, different times. Hardship and deprivation endurable only by means of comradeship, incredible stoicism and a black sense of humour. For even in those dark , bleak years trench humour was alive and well.

Ninety years later we learn that the 300 soldiers who were executed as 'cowards' are to be 'officially pardoned' How do you react to this news? The first, perhaps knee jerk response is to say 'of course, why not?' I do not criticise anyone who responds this way. However, in my opinion deeper consideration is needed here.

We cannot bestow the enlightened times we live in retrospectively to earlier days. Our standards are of our age. The very term 'coward' is highly emotive and is seldom used today. The concept of cowardice, in these touchy-feely days of the Counsellor, and Post Traumatic stress disorder is itself a misnomer. It can be said to be an outdated, outmoded concept. We encourage our children, rightly, to walk away from trouble.

Things were very different in 1914. There was , as ever a thin line between bravery and foolishness. Survival was the order of the day, yet not at any cost. The command 'over the top' was a signal to abandon common sense and self-preservation. Keep your head down Tommy and you might just get through, against the odds. God is with you after all.

Some, inevitably could not cope. I do not judge these men. I am not fit to. Every story is different. How 'cowardly' were the ones who refused to fight on? When they knew a firing squad was the only other option? I feel humbled in writing of them, they were probably braver men than I.

Who would deny a descendant of such a soldier the chance to clear a stain on their Father or Grand-father's name? Certainly not I. For undoubtedly in the fog of war mistakes were made and miscarriages of justice took place. Where evidence still exists & individual wrongs can be righted then so be it.

I cannot however support a blanket pardon for all those executed for 'cowardice' and related offences. This,I realise might be an unpopular opinion, but let me attempt to explain why.
We can only change our view of history. We can never change history itself. This practice is for totalitarian states who might wish to blot an unpopular or shameful era from the public domain.

The imposition of almost a centuries worth of enlightenment, evolution & mental health advances is as unfair to those who dispensed the punishment as it is the those who did not yield, and did not run. Is their sense of duty, perhaps viewed today as blind allegiance and obedience diminished by a mass pardon of their less committed comrades?

No U.K. Government could today rely on an entire generation to volunteer to fight for any dubious cause. If such a folly could be seen likely to end in mass slaughter and annihilation then the very suggestion is laughable. The genie of mass subservience and unquestioned patriotism is, thankfully out of the bottle. One hundred years ago the opposite applied. The cork was hammered in tight and the bounds of duty entwined a generation to the bidding of their nation's leaders.

What we have today is an unpopular government looking for certain easy causes. Gesture politics which are both lazy, and cheap. A blanket pardon by a Government anxious to right selective wrongs with a broad brush approach. Anxious to restore a tarnished reputation. This is, on the surface an easy, superficially sweet, victim-free decision. Scratch the surface and it is just plain wrong. and further reduces the credibility of this tacky regime.

If we are to learn anything from history it must be viewed in context. Above all it must not be tampered with.

I do not expect my opinion on this to be popular, but it is carefully considered & sincerely expressed.

 

landmarker

 

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