In A Flanders Field

A Territorial Battalion at Ypres, October 1917

John Waite

• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781399037259
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War I
• Index: History

Written neither as a conventional biography or battalion history, this work centres on theremarkable life of Joe Waite, a boy soldier of the Great War. Though, in telling his story, thenames and lives of 64 of his fallen comrades are also revealed. All were lost in just onemonth of fighting, during the hell that was the Third Battle of Ypres – also known asPasschendaele. Born in a tough, working-class neighbourhood in Coventry, in the heart of the industrialMidlands, Joe's childhood was blighted by the loss of his mother and tempered by his father'sdecision to separate him from his siblings and re-marry. The need to earn his keep forced himinto factory work from an early age, soon resulting in a humbling brush with the law.Eventually, the outbreak of war, and later, a family row over a pair of boots, lead to hisenlistment in the army, at just 16 years old. Hiding the secret of his true age from his comrades in the 1/7th (TF) battalion, The RoyalWarwickshire Regiment, Joe left Coventry and its troubles far behind as he fought his wayacross Northern France, including at the infamous Battle of the Somme. His time on theWestern Front would eventually draw to a close outside the town of Ypres in Belgium, inOctober 1917. In that month, and still officially too young to fight, Joe was awarded aMilitary Medal for his bravery at the Battle of Broodseinde. Using sources such as war diaries, personal, public, and military records, the account of notonly the battle, but also the story of each man of Joe's unit who fell there, is told. With furtherreference to a unique eyewitness account, voice is also given to what thoughts and feelingsthe men may have experienced as they fought in the mud of Ypres. Then, as the culminationof an exhaustive and painstaking research project, the stories of the fallen are told, together, for the first time. From civilian life to military service, each mini-biography is a sensitive andrespectful telling of the unique and varied accounts of so many men, from so many differentbackgrounds, allowing for a renewed appreciation of a generation now lost to history. These stories tell of men from all over Britain and even beyond. Men who eventually becamesoldiers in an infantry battalion originally raised in Coventry, but whose makeup changed somuch, as war exerted its toll. Where records allow, it also tells of how their families andcommunities remembered the fallen, so many of whom have no known resting place.Standing chiefly as a fitting tribute to those lost soldiers, this work concludes with the storyof Joe's life after the Great War. With one final tragedy to come, its telling will eventuallylead to a stark truth; that it isn't only through the eyes of a soldier that the cruelty of warcan be seen so harshly.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 From Cradle to Khaki
• Chapter 2 The British Army of 1914
• Chapter 3 Marching to War
• Chapter 4 The Battle of Broodseinde
• Chapter 5 On the Ground in October 1917
• Chapter 6 The Fallen
• Chapter 7 Druid: The Story of a Tank
• Chapter 8 After the Guns
• List of Chief Information Sources