News from the Front - 15th March 2023
The weekly newsletter from from 1914-1918 - The First World War.
News from the Front exists to share great stories and interesting historical aspects of the First World War
One anniversary
18th March 1915 - The Allies try to force the Dardenelles
The stalemate on the Western Front led the Allies to cast around for a new way to bring the war to a speedy conclusion. Winston Churchill was a keen advocate of an attack through the Dardanelles, that could force Turkey out of the war, open a new front and weaken the Central Powers.
On the 18th March 1915, a British and French combined naval force attempted to force their way through the Dardanelles, the narrow straights that connected the Mediterranean with the Black Sea. The straights were defended by a series of forts along the hills on either side of the waterway and by a series of naval mines strung across the narrows. To force the narrows, a force of mainly pre-dreadnoughts was employed, each equipped with heavy guns that, it was hoped, would make short work of the forts in the surrounding hills.
Preparatory bombardments had damaged the forts at the entrance to the narrows, the first line of mines had been cleared and the locations of further lines of mines that blocked the straights had been mapped. However, the Turks had laid a further line of mines in the Eren Keui Bay in which they had seen the Allies’ ships manoeuvring. The plan called for the force of six British and four French ships to move forward in three lines and methodically bombard the forts and smaller gun emplacements along the hills. Then, at the end of the 18th, they would withdraw from the narrows and finish the operation the next day.
The operation started at 1130h when the first line of British ships entered the narrows and traded blows with the guns in the forts and received harassing fire smaller emplacements concealed in the hills. The forts would periodically fall silent, suggesting that the naval gunfire had been effective, but would then start again, apparently undiminished.
At 12.05pm, Admiral de Robeck ordered the second line, comprised of French ships, to pass through the first line and engage targets further into the narrows. Here they came under heavy fire, with the Souffren taking a hit to a turret nearly resulted in the ammunition magazines exploding; only swift action to flood the compartments saved the French flagship. In the same encounter the Gaulois was struck just above the waterline and, with armour ruptured, began to this ship water. The ship was only saved by grounding her on a nearby island and making hasty repairs, before eventually limping to Malta for repairs.
The ships traded blows until about 1400h when the Bouvet was struck by a shell and then hit a mine. Sinking fast, 66 men were saved from the water, but over 630 men were killed. At around 1610h, the unknown line of mines became known when the Inflexible, which was already listing from damage by shellfire, struck a mine and limped out of the straights. Then, just four minutes later, the Irresistible hit a mine and began to sink. HMS Ocean, attempting to tow the Irresistible to safety, circled around and, at 18.05pm struck another mine, eventually being abandoned later in the evening.
At 1750h, de Robeck realising that the losses to his force were unsustainable, ordered his force out of danger. The plan for a renewed attack the following day was abandoned. The difficulties inherent in forcing the narrows with naval power alone were clear and the inexorable logic that led to the ground campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula was unfolding.
One news story
Commemoration service held for men killed in the loss of SS Mendi
This week’s news comes from Portsmouth, where a church service has been held to commemorate the loss of 616, mostly black, men from the who were lost when their ship, the SS Mendi, was sunk in the English Channel.
823 men of the 5th Battalion of the South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC) were on board and were being shipped to France to assist in labouring tasks behind the Western Front. The ship was finishing the last leg of its journey from Cape Town with a voyage from Portsmouth to Le Havre. The Mendi was escorted by a destroyer, HMS Brisk, against the submarine danger.
The need for general labour to support the armies in the field, led to the Labour Corps being formed to help with supply logistics and to free up men for the front lines. The South African government was unwilling to provide black men for combat roles, despite plenty of volunteers for this, but did allow the creation of the Labour Corps. By the end of the war, around a third of a million men had joined the Labour Corps. 70,000 of that number joined the SANLC.
On the 21st February 1917 the sea was calm but a thick fog made visibility difficult. In the fog, the Mendi was struck at 0457h on her starboard side by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company ship Darro, a ship nearly three times her size. Water flooded into her forward hold and she listed heavily, which prevented the launch of her starboard lifeboats, leaving man men onboard. Sinking fast, she foundered about 19km south of St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight.
The Darro failed to stop to help survivors, presumably because they had sustained some serious damage and were concerned about the threat of submarines; this lack of action led to a lengthy investigation against the Master of the Darro, Henry W Stump, which found him guilty of having, “travelled at a dangerously high speed in thick fog, and of having failed to ensure that his ship emitted the necessary fog sound signals.” Whilst the escorting Brisk was quick to help, it was not enough and the majority of the men on board drowned, many of whom could not swim.
As the men waited for the end, aboard the sinking ship, the Reverend Isaac Williams Wauchope, a minister and interpreter, stepped forwards to comfort the men with the following words.
“Now then stay calm my countrymen!
Calmly face your death!
This is what you came to do!
This is why you left your homes!
Peace, our own brave warriors!
Peace, you sons of heroes,
Today is your final day,
Prepare for the ultimate ford!”
From Wauchope’s obituary by S.E. Krune Mqhayi.
One from the archives
On les aura!
This week’s one from the archives is one of the most famous French propaganda posters of the Great War. The artist Jules Able Faivre (1867-1945) appears to have split his career between producing posters and risqué portraits of partially dressed women; he’s also responsible for those classic posters promoting the Chamonix ski resort.
The poster, featuring an incredibly enthusiastic poilu (French soldier) encouraging his comrades forward, is captioned “On les aura!”, which translates as “We shall get them!” and was intended to drive up subscriptions for the Second National Defence Loan.
Wars cost huge amounts of money and, in common with other belligerents, France needed to raise government loans to help pay for the conflict. Following an initial loan offered on the 25th November 1915, the Second National Defence Loan was offered on the 5th October 1916, with subsequent loans around the same time in 1917 and 1918.
The 1916 loan was sold through the main French banks, whose buildings were liberally plastered with posters encouraging the people of France to invest their savings in the government’s loans. The 1916 loan issue raised 10,082,453 French Francs and offered an interest rate of 5%.
In addition to raising money from the general populace, the French government also raised money on the London financial markets and relied heavily on US financial support in the form of loans. Here, the French benefited from falls in the value of the French Franc after the war, when the value of loans, which were denominated in Francs, effectively reduced their value. Apparently this was not popular with those who’s investments suffered!
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