September - November 1918

All the talk around here is now about the Spanish flu, a global outbreak of influenza that is said to be the worst the world has ever known. There are many locally who are suffering from it. Most of the schools have closed.

The origin of the outbreak isn't known but its popular name of Spanish Flu points to the most likely location. It started out in June-July this year but the more deadly wave hit in October. Some however are suggesting that it started when the Americans joined the war, so are blaming them.

Public opinion blames a variety of circumstances such as the lice ridden trenches, unsanitary conditions at the front and even that it was divine intervention for the terrible atrocities occurring throughout the war zones. No treatment has been discovered which has any real effect.

“Dear Barbara.

I expect you read about the man shot by terrorists in Cyprus recently. He was an Englishman employed by the police for interrogation. So I don’t expect he was very much liked. The only result was that the army had to search the village where it happened and found a store of bombs in the cinema. The bomb expert said they were too dangerous to move, and they blew up the lot, cinema and all. It was the latest idea of say that all bombs found on civil property are too dangerous to move and must be blown upon the spot and it seems rather a good way of dealing with such people. No compensation is paid, and insurance companies refuse to pay as well, which adds to the effectiveness.

I expect you have also heard about a Major who was court martialled for driving into a crowd in the Cyprus riots. He was acquitted which was a very good thing as it would have put everyone in very great difficulties and probably danger. The only thing to do when involved in a riot is to get out as soon as possible and on no account to stop or the crowd will grab the gun and probably shoot all the people in the vicinity. In the street in question there was no alternative but to drive on the street which is very narrow. I have driven down it quite often and get to the police HQ where there is a telephone extension and it would be very tricky to get caught in a riot just there. I shall just have to hope I don’t get caught in a riot as it seems whatever one does someone is going to say it was wrong. I never carry a gun if I can possibly help it just for that very reason. Still no need to worry – there are no riots at present.

Love
John”

“Dear Barbara,

An official visitor in a different sense of the term, is Baron von Bissing, who, together with his wife and two children, crossed to the Isle of Man on the 3rd April, this year. He had previously been interned in London, but, owing to a break-down in his health, had been, until the 2nd April, in a Nursing Home in the west of London. Walter Adophus von Bissing, born in Silesia, Germany, in 1855, half-brother of the German Governor-General in Belgium during the war, had resided in England since 1876, and had obtained a certificate of naturalisation as a British subject in 1906. His wife is the daughter of an English clergyman, their children are both quite young.

Apparently there was some little demonstration at Douglas harbour on the Von Bissing household arriving, but it was not long before the Manx people became used to their presence, and the family were able to move about without the slightest inconvenience. The order of the Secretary of State, which requires Von Bissing to reside in the Isle of Man, gave the Lieutenant-Governor power to determine his residence and to make other regulations respecting him.

Love from Peter”

I wonder if Peter has heard the news about Poland. They have declared their independence from Russia, and a new Polish government is proclaimed in Lublin. The new commander in chief is going to be Jozef Pilsudski.

And now it is November 11th, and the war is over. As soon as the news was announced, all the church bells began to ring, and every house around put a flag out of the window. I can hardly believe that it is true, that our prayers have been answered and that the war is truly over.

There have been many local street parties organised in the area, for this first weekend of peace, with everyone coming together and contributing what food they could.

I cannot begin to say how relieved we all are. An armistice agreement was signed in a railway car outside of Compiegne in France. John says he will not be home quite straight away, but by early next month hopefully. But I have not heard from Peter about how soon he will be released.

The Belgian royal family will be returning to Brussels by the end of the month, and I am sure most of the Belgians who have been living here will also be soon returning to their own country. There were 250,000 of them living in this country and another 100,000 wounded Belgian soldiers.

The German government of Max von Baden asked President Woodrow Wilson for a ceasefire somewhat earlier. After talks had taken place, Baden accepted Wilson's Fourteen Points Peace Programme. Wilson had more difficulty persuading the French and the British to accept this programme.

After Wilson agreed to accept changes concerning reparations, the Armistice was signed at Compiegne in France, on 11th November. All territorial conquests achieved by the Central Powers had to be abandoned. The German Army also surrendered 30,000 machine-guns, 2,000 aircraft, 5,000 locomotives, 5,000 lorries and all its submarines.

The papers are of course full of references to the end of the war. I will put in some of the more interesting ones from my point of view.

This is from Percival Phillips, Daily Express (12th November, 1918)

Just at eleven I came into the little town of Leuze, which had been one of the headquarters nearest the uncertain front. From the windows of all the houses round about, and even from the roofs, the inhabitants looked down on the troops and heard uncomprehendingly the words of the Colonel as he read from a sheet of paper the order that ended hostilities.

The band played ‘God save the King’. None heard it without a quiver of emotion. The mud-stained troops paused in the crowded street, the hum of traffic was stilled. A rippling cheer was drowned in the first notes of the Belgian hymn; the ‘Marseillaise’ succeeded it, and the army of each ally was thus saluted in turn. I do not think that any one heard the few choked words of the old mayor when he tried to voice the thanks of Belgium for this day of happiness.

From Philip Gibbs, Daily Chronicle (12th November, 1918)

Our troops knew this morning that the Armistice had been signed. I stopped on my way to Mons outside brigade headquarters, and an officer said, ‘Hostilities will cease at eleven o'clock’. All the way to Mons there were columns of troops on the march, and their bands played ahead of them, and almost every man had a flag on his rifle, the red, white, and blue of France, the red, yellow, and black of Belgium. They wore flowers in their caps and in their tunics, red and white chrysanthemums given them by the crowds of people who cheered them on their way, people who in many of these villages had been only one day liberated from the German yoke. Our men marched singing, with a smiling light in the eyes. They had done their job, and it was finished with the greatest victory in the world.

Sergeant T. Grady, USA Army, (11th November, 1918)

Cold and raining. Runner in at 10.30 with order to cease firing at 11.00 a.m. Firing continued and we stood by. 306th Machine-Gun Company on my right lost twelve men at 10.55, when a high explosive landed in their position. At 11.00 sharp the shelling ceased on both sides and we don’t know what to say. Captain came up and told us the war was over. We were dumfounded and finally came to and cheered - and it went down the line like wildfire. I reported Jones’ death and marked his grave. Captain conducted a prayer and cried like a baby.

Sydney Morning Herald (12th November, 1918)

The end of the war in the capitulation of Germany is an event so much greater in importance than any within the experience of the modern world that it is impossible to grasp its full significance. The most tragic chapter in the history of mankind is at last at an end. Hundreds and thousands of men will today be relieved of a constant burden of mental and physical suffering, hundreds of thousands of their kinsfolk will at last be free of the daily anxiety which has been theirs ever since their sons and brothers went into the firing line. There will be many whom this news of victory will not save from personal grief. The sounds of rejoicing cannot but bring some reminder of their loss. To them, however, the news of victory will mean more than to any others, since it will assure them that their sacrifice has not been in vain.

Every man who saw his duty and did it when the choice was before him has had his share in the destruction of the most maleficent Power that ever afflicted mankind. The Australian people will recognise that to them they owe their safety, that through them their honour stands high among the free peoples of the world. Peace that has been won by so much suffering and so many tears must be honoured by a new spirit of fraternity and public service. The flower of this generation has perished. Their loss is irreplaceable, but their sacrifice makes an unanswerable appeal for the democracy they have honoured and preserved.

And what do the Germans think of it all? Here is one point of view mentioned in the papers.

Herbert Sulzbach, German soldier (13th November, 1918)

In spite of it all, we can be proud of the performance we put up, and we shall always be proud of it. Never before has a nation, a single army, had the whole world against it and stood its ground against such overwhelming odds; had it been the other way round, this heroic performance could never have been achieved by any other nation. We protected our homeland from her enemies - they never pushed as far as German territory.

Another death notice in the paper about a Marple man.

Lance-Corporal William Barnes, elder son of Mr. Geo. Barnes, boat builder, and of Mrs. Barnes of Lockside, Marple, has died from wounds. He was one of the first to enlist from Marple at the outbreak of war, and was the first scholar from the Marple Wesleyan Sunday School to join the army to fight for justice, freedom, and the cause of humanity. He enlisted on September 4th 1914. Before that he worked at Hollins Mill, and was a member of the Marple Wesleyan Band of Hope, a scholar of the Sunday School, attended the Wesleyan Church, was a member of the Sons of Temperance, and a member of the Marple Wesleyan Boy’s Brigade. He was one of the most esteemed and popular boys in Marple. He had the goodwill of everyone.

He was in the 9th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment, and took part in every great offensive on the Western Front for during three and a half years. He was wounded in the side over a year ago, in 1917, and for a time was in Etaples in France in hospital, where he was a general favourite. He returned to France and was in the great offensives. He was severely wounded in the head on November 3rd, eight days before the signing of the armistice.

His father and mother went to London twice to see him. the first time he seemed much better and there were hopes for his recovery, and his condition was promising until Monday of last week. He then became worse. His father and mother were sent for later. They got to where he was on Wednesday and never left his side until he died, not even going outside the hospital. He passed away on Friday last week, aged 24 years. He was in the First London General Hospital at Camberwell.

The body was brought home on Tuesday night, and the remains were interred on Wednesday afternoon at All Saints Church, Marple. The service at the home was conducted by Mr. E.A. Wade, and at the church the Rev. C. S. Mylrea, the vicar, conducted the service. Lance Corporal Barnes was also a member of the Bible Class at the Wesleyan School. His brother John Barnes, is in Mesopotamia, where he has been since June 1916, and the brothers never saw each other for three years.
The flag is half mast at the Marple Council Offices in honour of Lance Corporal Barnes.

The funeral of Lance-Corporal Willie Barnes, as he was known to his many friends, was of a very impressive character. In front of the hearse marched 37 local soldiers in uniform, most of them in khaki. Some were in hospital blue. Others bore wound stripes. A number wore stripes which showed long service abroad. Some were returned prisoners of war. Never has Marple had so many of its own soldiers together in uniform as at this funeral, and they gathered to do homage to a comrade who had given his life for his country. Other soldiers walked at the church.
 
There were also representatives present from the Marple Wesleyan Sunday School and Church and institutions associated with the church, namely, Mr. W.R. Goudie, representing the Sunday School; Mr. E.A. Wade and Mr. F.J. Burgess representing the Onward Bible Class. Many people gathered along the route to witness the procession, and at the church there was another large gathering. There was a large congregation in the Old Church and a big concourse assembled around the grave. The bearers from the church to the grave were soldiers. After the reading of the service the Last Post was sounded by one of the soldiers, and altogether the proceedings were solemn though picturesque.”