I died in hell – They called it Passchendaele

—

Brigadier General Cecil Lowther. Unpublished diary, dated 22 January 1915.

I’ve seen these piège à Boches (which means Boche trap as far as I can tell) in more than one picture, but I hadn’t actually come across any references to them. Lowther’s mention here is a particularly early one too. Apparently they’re a particular quirk of French trench defences, along with barbed wire over the top of a trench.

From the AWM: French Army soldiers in a trench in the La Harazee sector preparing an anti-personnel spiked fence.

You can see the metal knife rest on the back of the trench here has been cut to a point, with wire over the top.

No impaling spikes here, but still wired above and down into the trench.

“The Royal Army Medical Corps was commonly derided as Rob All My Comrades.”

Australian officer Norman Nicolson accepted that it was “quite a legitimate thing to steal from Tommy [British] outfits provided it can be got away with”.

But in 1918 the a new group became the favoured targets. “In 1918, when the AIF encountered the novice Americans, they had a field day. After the attack on Bellicourt an enterprising Australian told advancing Americans to ‘pile your packs here, lads’, and then ratted the lot and sold the haul”. Bad Characters by Peter Stanley, pp113-114

—

Quoted from Bad Characters by Peter Stanley, p67.

Rubbing pus from gonorrhea sores into your eyes, a perfectly normal thing to do. Which is actually a pretty clear indicator of how bad morale and discipline were in the AIF at some points in the war, particularly when units had to head back to the line after rest periods.

The ration biscuit takes various forms, some of which are small and palatable, but the type most frequently met with in Gallipoli was large and square, possessing the appearance of a dog biscuit and the consistency of a rock. It was no doubt of excellent nutritive quality, but, unfortunately, no ordinary pair of teeth was able to cope with it. Some spread jam upon it, and then licked the surface, thereby absorbing a few crumbs; others soaked it in tea (when there was any); while a few pounded it between two stones, and found that the result did not make bad porridge. - Major Bryan Cooper

The universally loathed hardtack. The Australian War Memorial actually has a lovely little collection of hardtack dating back to the Boer War. There's also some excellent hardtack art.

Hardtack picture frame

Hardtack Victoria Cross

Like, the first one looks like some military letter? It's addressed to "Dear general Edmonds" and I see the word "long" capitalized in the top-right corner of the page. There's also a date that says "<month> 9th 1937" the month has to be either May or July since it's a short word ending with a "y," but the rest of the word doesn't really look like it says "May" or "July" and the last letter looks more like a "g" than a "y," so idk what's going on there.

But the body text, is, like:

(LINE 1) I <???> very <something that starts with "gu" or "qu" and ends with and "L" followed by something and then it ends with a "d," there might be a "z" in there? It kinda looks like the author was gonna say one thing then changed their mind? My best guess is "quized," but it might also say "guild," "gilded," or something else>

(LINE 2) <that might say "for" but could be wrong> <the first two letters are probably "ag" but could be wrong> from <that word ends with either "ounds" or "onds" it might say "arounds" or "wounds"?> <that either says "I" or "&">

(LINE 3) <long word that starts with "aff" there's also a "c" in the middle of that word> <that either says "to" or "&" if either of the things I said mean "&" then they can't both mean "&"> <some word that ends with "patting" >.

(LINE 4) I was in India in

(LINE 5) 1919; I <some word that starts with a "t", I think it says "think" or "thank"?> <???> my can

(LINE 6) atone <that's either a comma followed by an "&" or the word "it"> a mole <that looks like it says "tranquip" but that's not a word to my knowledge, the word definitely ends with "quip" tho> to

(LINE 7) <I want to say that word is "jumfo" but that's also not a word to my knowledge. The word definitely starts with a "j" and ends with "fo"> on to it; I now <that's a capitalized N followed by some letters. Looks like a 5 letter word? Can't tell if letters 2 & 3 are "ig," "iy," "ij," or "uj," but the last two letters are "ss," it could maaybe be "se" but it looks like "ss" it's probably someone's name?>

(LINE 8) <the word begins with "she" but idk what it is> <word starts with an "f" there's a "ct" that probably ends the first syllable, I think that syllable says "fract." The word ends with "icaly" but there's a letter between those two parts that looks like an "o"> senseless,

(LINE 9) I was in <???> with people

(LINE 10) who saw the <first letter is "h" and the word ends with "ths" i think it says "hearths"> in

(LINE 11) the city, <i think this is just a + sign> I know well

(LINE 12) <this either says "from" or "them" but I think it says "from"> <this might say "what" but it does look like a four letter word starting with "wh" followed by either "a" or "u" and ending with either "d" or "t"> my husband

(LINE 13) <that looks like it says "same" or "samed" tho the "s" might be a different letter> India <the word "my" is there, but there's a letter before it that might be a separate word but it might be the same word. I think the word "dry" is being used instead of "l my"> his

Wife of General Dyer of [Umridge]

[?], Long [Ashton], Bristol

[July] 9th, 1937,

Dear General Edmonds,

I was very [grateful] for your kind words of appreciation + sympathy. I was in India in 1919; I [?] [in] my [car] alone, + a mob [?] to [jump] on so [?*] [saw or ran] Miss [* or Jo] [Sherwood][practicaly] senseless. I was in [So?I?] with people who knew the [horrors] in the city + I know well from what my husband [?*] in India [by] his

Dear General Edmonds, I am very grateful for your kind words of appreciation and sympathy. I was in India in 1919; I had my car stoned, and a mob trying to jump on to it; I saw Miss Sherwood practically senseless, I was in touch with people who saw the horrors in the city and I know well from when my husband served Indian Army his …

If you want some context, it's a letter from Frances Dyer, wife of infamous piece of shit, Reginald Dyer. You probably haven't heard of him before, but you might have heard of the Amritsar massacre that he ordered. The Miss Sherwood mentioned in the letter was a missionary who worked in Amritsar, and whose attack by a local mob, was one of the inciting factors for the massacre.

Soldiers in woodland near Ypres marching along 'Regent Street', 1915

by Fortunino Matania

After the “war to end war” they seem to have been pretty successful in Paris at making a “Peace to end peace”.

'In the spring of 1916' wrote Bridges, 'I got a recruit for the Division.' Bridges had been having lunch with Arthur Capel, a wealthy Anglo-French businessman (who famously had a decade long affair with Coco Chanel) and as he left, he spotted a lion cub in the yard. Capel offered Bridges 'the beast', which he had 'won in a Red Cross raffle a few days before'. Fetching a 'champagne basket', Bridges bundled the lion cub up and took it back to his division's HQ. There, they named the cub Poilu (the nickname for French soldiers, literally hairy). Poilu was apparently quite comfortable at divisional HQ. He 'made himself at home, for he was an amiable beast, and never showed temper and he stayed with us, running loose, until September 1917 when I was wounded.'

Bridges even wrote about how they found enough meat for Poilu.

He was not difficult to feed and it was one aide-de-camp’s job to see that he did not go hungry and this officer could be heard sometimes telephoning, 'Anybody got a dead horse this morning? All right, I'll send a car down for a haunch.'

Given the number of horses, donkeys and mules killed on the Western Front, I think it's likely they didn't have too hard a time finding food for Poilu.

Bridges' replacement in the 19th Division wasn't a fan and Poilu was crated up to be sent back to England.

Poilu escaped on the journey to England. Unfortunately for everyone involved, this happened at sea. Bridges wrote 'there was quite a party on board ship when he broke out of his crate during a rough passage and took command of the vessel, treeing crew and passengers on the bridge or in the rigging, until finally induced to enter a first-class cabin.' No word on how they got him out of the cabin.

Poilu's new home was in the private zoo of Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, a wealthy businessman who had an interest in animals and conservation. Poilu remained at the zoo for the next 18 years, fathering 5 lion cubs in that time.

Of Poilu's end Bridges wrote: 'Always the perfect gentleman, he contrived to die aged nineteen, on the 19th of June, this mascot of the 19th Division.'

So, where does the leg come in? Bridges' right leg was shattered by a shell explosion in September 1917 and was amputated either that night or the following day. What actually happened to the leg is not recorded.

But when your general's leg gets amputated and he's well known for having a pet lion, of course soldiers, of all people, are going to say he fed the leg to the lion. The rumour practically writes itself.

And it turns out to be based on a story that Bridges himself told. Here it is from a 1925 newspaper.

The story popped up repeatedly over the next few decades and the details vary on whether it was a wisecrack made to a nurse before surgery or whether he made sure the leg made it back to Poilu. Although according to some accounts, he seemed to joke that the leg did make it to Poilu.

By the end of his life, the story had grown, as stories tend to do, and we get the story in its fullest form.

It's a good story, and you can see how it's been polished (or embellished) over the years. Not sure why he had to throw the sexism in though.

Poilu was buried on the grounds of the Tyrwhitt-Drake zoo, Maidstone, in what is now Cobtree Manor Park, where his headstone still stands.