The slaughter of the innocents

[Chris Boonzaier]

Private H.J. Milton, (probably of the Highland Light infantry)

?22nd Oct 1914

The enemy charged about 7 or 8 p.m. ? they charged within 50 yards of our firing line and we simply mowed them down, our fire was terrific during this time, the enemy were simply running into death, they gave great yells after they started, but very few got back as far as we could make out. The screams were terrible.?

Captain Harry Dillon 2nd Oxford and Bucks light infantry

?It came with a suddenness that was the most startling thing I have ever known. A great grey mass of humanity was charging, running for all God would let them, straight on to us not 50 yards off. Everybody?s nerves were pretty well on edge as I had warned them what to expect, and as I fired my rifle the rest all went off almost simultaneously. One saw the great mass of Germans quiver. In reality some fell, some fell over them, and others came on. I havenever shot so much in such a short time, could not have been more than a few seconds and they were down.

Then the whole lot came on again and it was the most critical moment of my life. Twenty yards more and they would have been over us in thousands, but our fire must have been fearful, and at the very last moment they did the most foolish thing they possibly could have done. Some of the leading people turned to the left for some reason, and they all followed like a great flock of sheep. I don?t think one could have missed at that distance and just for one short minute or two we poured the ammunition into them in boxfuls. My rifles were red hot at the finish.

The firing died down and out of the darkness a great moan came. People with their arms and legs off trying to crawl away; others who could not move gasping out their last moments with the cold night wind biting into their brken bodies and the lurid red glare of a burning farm house showing up clumps of grey devils killed by the men on my left, further down. A weird awful scene; some of them would raise themselves on one arm or crawl a little distance, silhouetted as black as ink against the red glow of the fire.

The British defence annihalated whole companies, in many other units all the officers were killed, leaving NCOs in charge as in the case of Offizier-stellvertreter (Proxy Officer)Heuschmidt.

On the 23rd of October the British pushed the Germans back, but in the first days of November it was the Germans turn again. Army High Command reported on the 11th of November that the regiments had stormed to their deaths singing the ?Deutschlandlied?.

[Chris Boonzaier]

After the German defeat at the first battle of the Marne, the German high command realised it would have to save its right flank by extending as rapidly as possible to the English Channel. Many Reserve units were rushed to the front and were put under the command of the AOK4 to plug the line between Lille and Antwerp.

The still green troops were tasked to occupy the coast between Dunkirk and Calais. The Allies were aware of the weak German flank and were rushing troops up to Belgian in order to exploit this weakness. It was the start of the ?Race for the sea? (Wettlauf zum Meer).

The German 6th Army managed to stabalise the front to the North-North east of Lille, and the III Reservekorps managed to do the same in the ostende region.

Marching towards Ypres was the AOK4 with the XXVII., XXVI., XXIII. And XXII. Reservekorps was taking very heavy casaulties. The units formed with young half trained volunteers was marching forward with no Artillery support and encountering bitter resistance from well trained regular army British units. By the 20. Oktober 1914 when the first battle of Ypres began they had already suffered heavy losses.

Ypres was an important hub of Road, Rail and canal transportation and was to become one of the bloodiest battlegrounds of the war. A pincer movement was to be carried out by the XXVI R.K. from the North with the 51. reservedivision (Generalleutnant von Dankenschweil) and the 52. reservedivision (Generalleutnant Waldorf). The Divisions were to advance through Paschendaele, Poelkappelle and Langemarck and were to achieve the dubious distinction of being the main victims in the "slaughter of the innocents".

It was to be known as the slaughter of the innocents to the Germans as it was the mass destruction of the flower of German youth. In complete Regiments, half trained young volunteers advanced waving their flags, only to be cut down?. The British army regulars had been trained to fire 15 aimed shots a minute with their Lee Enfields and the Germans suffered accordingly.

Below is the death certificate to a soldier killed during "the slaughter"

[Chris Boonzaier]

tt

[Chris Boonzaier]

Was able to pick up the death doc this week on Ebay :-))

[David Gregory]

Great thread and good examples of the common men who often only had a simple EK2 for their sacrifices.

I really must find some time to scan some documents and post them.

Edited April 27, 2006 by David Gregory

[Chris Boonzaier]

As seen by the artists of the day....

[VtwinVince]

Chris, that's a great item, thanks for showing it. Reminds me of my grandfather, Kriegsfreiwilliger 5. Garde Regiment zu Fuss, who was severely wounded in the fighting at Dixmude, and was the first enlisted man in the 213 Res. Rgt. to win the EK2.

[Guest Rick Research]

Emil Busse, Eisenbahnpraktikant 1. Klasse, Kriegsfreiwilliger 4./RIR 246, was born in Stuttgart 3 April 1892.

Page 88, "Ehrenbuch der Gefallenen Stuttgarts 1914-1918," published 1925.

[Les]

Great thread and good examples of the common men who often only had a simple EK2 for their sacrifices.

Powerful reading.

The common solider often got nothing more than something to cover the face, and a spot in a mass grave. Getting a medal required having someone -see- you do something and live to report it, and if you were a German that usually meant no posthumous awards at all.

Les

[Bob Hunter]

So very, very sad. They were among the last to die.