WßD ~ Chapter 32 ~ Harry Marshall Senior (Henry Alfred Marshall) ~ 2/5th Btn Gloucestershire Regiment ~ Harry’s Capture PART THREE
Windsor Street Days
Chapter Thirty-Two | Harry Marshall Senior (Henry Alfred Marshall)
PART THREE
Harry’s Capture ~ 22 March 1918
Chapter Thirty-Two incorporates the extensive research document compiled on my behalf by Bob Brunsdon, Researcher, Guild of Battlefield Guides, and that Research Document is registered as:
The War Service
of
Private 240925 Henry Alfred Marshall
of the
2/5th Battalion,
Gloucestershire Regiment
Harry was captured during the opening days of the German Spring Offensive in March 1918. The 61st division (including the 2/5th Gloucesters, 184 Infantry Brigade) was positioned in the St Quentin area, the 2/5th Gloucesters immediately in front of Holnon Wood.
In summary, the Division’s positions were overrun and eventually forced to withdraw. Rather than attempt to detail exactly what happened, the attached battalion, brigade and division war diaries, with the accompanying maps, tell the story.
The course of the battle from the perspective of the 2/5th Gloucesters can best be followed through the attached copy of Barnes’, “The Story of the 2/5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment”. This book will also detail Harry’s movements in the months leading up to March 1918, although the exact date he joined the battalion in France is not known for certain.
Harry’s capture is recorded in the German POW record, as taking place on 22nd March, the day after the initial German assault, so it is fairly certain he fought throughout the first day and was captured either when the battalion’s positions were outflanked on the 22nd or during the subsequent withdrawal, and possibly at the stand at Beauvois-en-Vermandois described by Conan Doyle’s, “The British Campaign in France and Flanders: January to July 1918”.
(Text by Robert Brunsdon)
The original history is laid in three columns. For ease of reading, I have relaid them vertically. KTW
In reading the account, the defence of the redoubts, the fog preventing a protective artillery barrage to cover the retreat to the Battle Zone, does, on this 14th day of February 2023, bring home all too clearly the ferocious trench warfare in Eastern Ukraine. It is estimated that the invading Russian forces are losing 800 men killed a day. Within four weeks, 28 days, if unchecked, this would mean the deaths of 22,400 Russian soldiers. This does not account for those who are wounded or otherwise taken prisoner. It is reasonable to assume that the Ukraine Armed Forces will have similar losses.
Russia is the invader.
Ukraine is defending itself in exactly the same way that we defended ourselves in 1940 against Adolf Hitler.
Vladimir Putin is no different.
Although I disagreed with the sentiment, a chap in his 30s on the respected BBC’s Question Time last Thursday, suggested that less should be done in support of Ukraine because the cost is too high given the enormity of the problems we currently face at home. The chap felt the money could be better used to solve our problems.
But here’s the thing. An audience of over a hundred listened to him politely. It is his right, and it is this very freedom - to express ourselves without fear - that the People of Ukraine are fighting for now. It was clear that 99 per cent of the audience throughout the debate were very much aligned to the Total-Cross-Party Support in Parliament and the devolved governments of the United Kingdom in their support for Ukraine and for actively supporting Ukraine militarily.
Yet for me the best moment was as the credits came up and the camera swept back as the audience gave the panel - who, let it be said, had been put through a very tough hour - warmly clapped. And the chap I mentioned also clapped. He was safe, and smiling. He had been able to freely express himself.
This is living, vibrant democracy.
I end with this chilling quote from the BBC three part documentary aired last week and now available on iPlayer and YouTube about Putin the Man.
“The world is better with dictators”
Chapter Thirty-Three continues with a series of Maps that lead us to the WAR DIARY of the 2/5th Gloucestershire Regiment ~ March 1918.
Unfinished ~ the remainder of this 60-page Research Document is being transcribed.
KTW
23 April 2024
All Rights Reserved
LIVERPOOL
© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Last published 14 February 2023
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
