~ Chapter Nine ~
“Steady, The Buffs!”
At the age of twenty-two, George was one of the first of the two and a half million men who answered Lord Kitchener’s call for volunteers in his New Army to fight “the Hun”. But George’s role in the Great War would be a far cry from the soldiers he had heard about in his childhood; the gallant troopers who rode valiantly to the Relief of Ladysmith and Mafeking during the Boer War. Instead, he enlisted as a private in the “poor bloody infantry”, joining the East Kent Regiment, which was better known as The Buffs.
As early as February 1915, within six months of war being declared, George disembarked in France to serve on the Western Front. While it is not known how many or which engagements he was involved in, nor how many times he heard the famous regimental cry, “Steady, The Buffs!”, on the battlefield, it is almost certain that he took part in the brutal Battle of Ypres, which began in the third week of April 1915 and lasted over a month, costing more than one hundred thousand lives.
The Battle of Ypres will always be remembered not only for its murderous human toll, but also as the first time poison gas was used on a large scale on the Western Front. The following account, which was reported in The Daily Chronicle in the first week of the battle, may help to illustrate the horrors of that new type of warfare:
As early as February 1915, within six months of war being declared, George disembarked in France to serve on the Western Front. While it is not known how many or which engagements he was involved in, nor how many times he heard the famous regimental cry, “Steady, The Buffs!”, on the battlefield, it is almost certain that he took part in the brutal Battle of Ypres, which began in the third week of April 1915 and lasted over a month, costing more than one hundred thousand lives.
The Battle of Ypres will always be remembered not only for its murderous human toll, but also as the first time poison gas was used on a large scale on the Western Front. The following account, which was reported in The Daily Chronicle in the first week of the battle, may help to illustrate the horrors of that new type of warfare:
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George survived two years of carnage on the Western Front and another two years behind the lines when his and other infantry battalions were transferred to the Labour Corps, which was formed in 1917 to undertake the gargantuan task of building and maintaining the British Army’s vast infrastructure.
For his service in a theatre of war before 1916, George was awarded the 1915 Star. Like his father, he also received the Victory Medal and the British War Medal when the War ended in 1919. The combination of Star, Victory Medal and War Medal was often called “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred” after the strip cartoon in the Daily Mirror, the irreverence of that nickname reflecting the disillusionment with war experienced by many soldiers who lived through the killing fields of France and Belgium. We don’t know if the twenty-seven year-old George felt the same way, but it’s certain that he arrived back in Blighty a changed man.
For his service in a theatre of war before 1916, George was awarded the 1915 Star. Like his father, he also received the Victory Medal and the British War Medal when the War ended in 1919. The combination of Star, Victory Medal and War Medal was often called “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred” after the strip cartoon in the Daily Mirror, the irreverence of that nickname reflecting the disillusionment with war experienced by many soldiers who lived through the killing fields of France and Belgium. We don’t know if the twenty-seven year-old George felt the same way, but it’s certain that he arrived back in Blighty a changed man.