frederick russell corkerton

8/3/2019 Frederick Russell Corkerton

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The Short Life of Frederic Russell Corkerton 1894-1915

Originally,thiswassupposedtobeabriefnarrative,becausealthoughFredericCorkerton

hasbeenmentionedfrequentlybymembersofmymothersfamily,almostnothingisreally

knownabouthim,excepthediedintheGreatWarin1915.However,whenIdelveddeeper

intowhere

and

when

he

died,

Idiscovered

Fred

was

part

of

one

of

the

most

documented

incidentsoftheearlypartofWorldWarOne.

MyownknowledgeofWW1hasexpandeddramaticallyinthepastfewdays,andalthoughI

studiedhistoryatschool,coveringtheperiodrightupto1914,Imsurewhatweknownowis

differenttowhatweweretaughtinthe1960s.Theinternethasallowedsomuchmore

informationtobefreedfromthebowelsofrecordoffices.Historiansarenowabletotakea

freshlookatthewar,freefromtheriskofbeinglabelledatraitor,communistorpacifist,allof

whichwere,attimes,punishablebyprisonsentenceoreventhedeathpenalty.

ThemostremarkablepieceofevidenceIhaveuncoveredisincludedattheendofthe

biography.It

is

aletter

from

the

trenches,

by

ajunior

officer,

that

tells

the

frank

truth

about

whatwarwaslikeonthefrontline.Remarkably,thewriter,insteadofbeingcourtmartialed

forhiscomments,receivedaposthumousVictoriaCross.FredericCorkertonwouldhave

foughtalongsidethisman,SydneyWoodroffe,ashewasinthesamebattalion,fightinginthe

sameincidentandtheybothdiedonthesameday.

FinallybeforebeginningFredericCorkertonsbiography,itisimportanttorememberthat

Britainin1914wasnottheBritainweknowtoday.Ourfriendsandenemieswerealsovery

different.Britainstillhadalargerulingclassthatoccupiedmanyhundredsofstatelyhomes

andlargehousesthroughouttheland.WomenstilldidnothavethevoteandDublinwasstill

thesecondcityoftheUnitedKingdom.

TheBritish,RussianandGermanroyalfamilieswereallcloselyrelated,asthechildrenof

QueenVictoriahadmarriedacrossEuropeandhergrandchildrennowheldthepowerin

manycountries.SixofVictoriaschildrenhadmarriedGermans,oneaRussian,anothera

DaneandoneaScotsman.Germanwasindeedthefirstlanguageofmostofthesenior

membersoftheroyalhousehold.Thefamiliesusedtoholidayfrequentlyineachothers

palacesbeforehostilitiesbeganin1914.

BritainwasalsoexpectedtoremainneutralinanyEuropeanWar. Britainhadneverfireda

shotinangerataGermanbeforeAugust1914.Ourpotentialenemieswerethoughttobeour

traditionalfoes,theFrench,theAmericans(onlyindependentforjustover100years)andthe

Turks,who

controlled

the

whole

of

the

Middle

East

(Ottoman

Empire).

Aseventstranspired,BritainjoinedthewaronthesideofFrance,Russia,BelgiumandSerbia,

andbecauseoftreatiesaftertheRussiaJapanesewar,Japanwasalsoourally.Ouropponents

wereGermany,AustroHungary,TurkeyandItaly;theCentralPowers.

TheAmericansremainedneutraluntil1917.Theyjoinedtotrytofinishthewarmorequickly

becausethedrawnouthostilitieswereaffectingtheireconomy,andmoreoftheircitizens

becameunderthreatastheeffectsoftheconflictspread.Theyalsowerekeentokeepthe

balanceofpowerinEurope,withoutonecountrydominating,andsothreateningtheUS

placeintheworld. AmericanCongressinitiallyfavouredjoiningtheGermanside,asthey

thoughtthat

would

create

amore

stable

solution.


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WhytheyinsteadjoinedwithBritain,FranceandRussiahaslongbeendebated.TheBritish

supposedlyinterceptedamessagefromtheGermanstotheMexicanspromisingthem

supportinregainingTexasfromtheUS.Thisleakedlettercausedunrestinmanypartsof

America.Theotherreasonwasamatterthataffectstheworldtothisday.

TheJews

in

Palestine

had

been

forced

to

support

the

Turk/German

side,

although

that

was

theirnaturalinclinationanyway,asGermanyhadbeenattheheartofthebidforJewish

nationalism.However,throughoutthewartheTurkswereremovingJewsfromPalestine

ratherthanencouragingfurthermigration.

LobbyingbyinfluentialJewishfiguresinLondonpersuadedtheBritishgovernmentto

activelysupportapostwarJewishstate.BritainalsowantedtheUSAtojoinortheirside

ratherthanstayneutralsothiswaswinwinfortheBritishgovernmentandtheirJewish

friends.Later,in1917,thisbecametheformalBalfourDeclaration,apromisebytheBritish

governmentthattheywouldcreateaJewishstateinPalestine,iftheBritishwonthewarand

tookcontroloftheMiddleEastfromTurkey.ThisencouragedJewishcongressmentosupport

AmericanentryintothewaronthesideoftheBritishandFrench,andtherestishistory.

Therearealsorecenttheoriesaboutwhythewholesaleslaughterofsomanymen,onboth

sides,wasallowedtocontinueandevenintensify.ByChristmas1914,overamillion

Europeancitizenshadalreadydied.Eventuallythenumberwasover20million(militaryand

civilians)andstillthefightingcontinuedrightuptothemomentthatpeacewassupposedto

breakout,on11thNovember1918.

Socialunrestbytheworkingclassesandacallforamoredemocraticwayoflifehadbeen

increasinginmanywesternEuropeanstatesattheendofthe19thcentury.Francehadalready

haditssocialrevolutionahundredyearsbeforeandsohadtheUnitedStates.Russiahadput

downonesocialistuprisingin1906,andthereweremovementsforsocialdemocracyin

Britainand

Germany.

The

Labour

Party

in

Britain

was

becoming

amajor

parliamentary

force,

andtheywantedtoremovethepoweroftheBritishrulingelite.

ManyhistoriansbelievethatwithouttheGreatWar,therewouldhavebeenarevolutionon

mainlandBritain,notjustinIreland.Whatbetter,therefore,thantoallowtheseworkingclass

socialiststobethecannonfodderonbothsidesofawar,orchestratedbytheiraristocratic

masters.

RevolutiondidhappeninRussia,IrelandandeventuallyinGermanyitself,withtheKaiser

beingforcedfromthecountryatthetimeofthenegotiationoftheArmisticeinOctober1918.

OnlytheBritishrulingclassessurvivedintact,althoughtheyfoundtheirgrandhousesno

longertenable,

as

social

values

had

changed

by

the

conflict

and

their

servants

were

no

longerattheirbeckandcall.

Itwasthisbelligerentworldthatthechildrenborninthe1880sand90sweretoenterand

whatforsomanywastoendinamuddyfieldinnorthernFrancebetween1914and1918.

*****************


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Frederic Russell Corkerton was born 1st

May 1894, the oldest son of Joseph and

Eveland Corkerton. The family were living at the time at 36 Sheepen Road,

Colchester. Joseph was a postman, but was famous for having a number of other small

enterprises, which he operated on the side. These included market stalls and a

chimney sweep business. He was always smartly dressed and never short of a fewbob in his pocket.

Fred had two older sisters and four younger brothers. There was also another sister,

Edith Maud, fifteen years his junior and the baby of the family. The spelling of his

name seems to have been Frederic, with a missing k, as this appears in all official

records. However, he was known to family and friends as Fred.

By 1901, Fred and the rest of the family had moved to 34 Colne Bank Road, on the

outskirts of Colchester, and it remained the family home till his mother, Eveland, died

in 1927.

At the time of the 1911 census Fred was nearly 17 years old and a compositor

apprentice in a printing works. Fred could have started work there from the age of 12,

although it was possible to stay at school to 13 or 14.

This printing firm might have been Spottiswoode & Co, a company that still exists

today. This large London firm opened a printing works in 1908 at Hawkins Road, the

Hythe, Colchester. We dont know if Fred did work there, but the timing of a large

new works opening in the town in 1908, would be perfect for a young lad to take his

first steps in work. However, there were other existing and flourishing local printing

firms, in Colchester, at which Fred could have been apprenticed.

Benham's and Wiles were general printing firms who printed local newspapers.

Cullingfords was founded in 1885, and by 1913 employed 36 apprentices and printers

at the works in East Stockwell Street and also had a shop in High Street. Mason's was

started in 1905, as a small photographic printing business, which also produced the

blueprint paper and drawing office equipment needed by local engineering firms. It

also pioneered photocopying. There may be clues as to which printer Fred worked for

somewhere in the old photos and memorabilia which still exist, but the identity of his

employer is still unknown.

Nothing is really known either about Fred as a personality, except he was well lovedby parents and family, and sorely missed when he was gone. There are no

photographs, but he was a lasting memory of his brothers and sisters and he is still

talked about a hundred years later. Fred was the only one of the immediate family to

die in the war, although his elder sisters husband, William Edwards, was killed soon

after he married Florence.

The next we know of Fred Corkerton was the day he signed up to join the Army in

Colchester on 31st

August 1914.


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War was declared on 3rd

August 1914, as the British Cabinet responded to a

complicated series of treaties dating back into the 19th

century. The British had signed

treaties with their rivals France and Russia in 1898, when a united Germany started to

become a growing threat in Europe. Britannia ruled the waves in 1900, and they

didnt want any single country to rule the landmass of Europe.

However, there was still plenty of doubt which side the British would join, if any, as

war beckoned during July 1914. Britains traditional enemy for over 700 years had

been France and the German, Russian and British Royal families were all members of

one close knit family group. The German Kaiser believed right up to the first shot

being fired, that the British would remain neutral, and this was a major part of the

German strategic planning.

Belgium was the key to British foreign policy in Europe, as it offered an outlet to the

open sea for Germany, which could threaten Britains naval supremacy. It was

essential for Britain, that Belgium remain a neutral country. In 1914, the Germans had

begun to occupy the small country, as a route around the French fortifications alongthe Rhine, and refused to withdraw. The British government also feared they would

capture the channel ports and so that was the final signal to declare war on Germany.

The British actually had more pressing problems in Ireland, with an almost daily call

for independence. A European war to support bickering allies was regarded as

secondary importance to the break up of the United Kingdom. So despite the obvious

warnings about German military armament the British government were not properly

prepared for what was to come.

The whole organisation of the British Army, from fighting strategy to numbers and

types of weaponry, was still based on the small land wars fought in South Africa and

Sudan. The British Army could fight set piece battles, using limited numbers of well

marshalled troops, but it was not ready for siege warfare and the German innovations

in battlefield tactics, which were to dominate the Great War.

The Royal Navy was the key to Britains strength in the world, and indeed from 1906

onwards, the Army had been dramatically reduced in size. Britain was very much the

poor relation of the four nations, in terms of the strength of its army, and had never

fought a large scale land war.

The initial strategy was for the British to offer support on the flanks to the muchlarger French army, in an attempt to block the Germans from leaving the plain of

Flanders and force them back into Germany.

The British people were told that the British Expeditionary Force sent to Belgium and

France to push the German forces back to their own borders would be home by

Christmas. This was to be just a small adventure before the Irish problem was finally

solved. The people supported the government, believed the propaganda, and

volunteered in their millions, little realising that just four years later this was to be

known as the war to end all wars, with at least 20 million of the population of

Europe dead.


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Colchester Garrison occupied a major part of the western side of the ancient Roman

town. The Army was seen as an integral part of the life of the whole area, with

soldiers, horses and materials constantly on the move. Several regiments had their

headquarters in Colchester, and so any local young man enlisting would already have

a good idea what a soldiers life entailed.

Once the B.E.F. had left for France in August 1914 there was an immediate call for

reservists to volunteer, to fill the gaps left by the departed battalions. Millions

answered the call and queues at recruiting offices were up to a mile long. Men were

also urged to sign up with their friends, and there were even Pals Regiments, with

large numbers of men from the same street or factory fighting together in France and

Belgium. This was supposed to help recruitment and morale, but it had a catastrophic

effects on many communities, when whole companies of Pals were killed in a single

encounter. Fred probably enlisted with friends or work mates, but there is no record of

who they were.

Crowds in Whitehall answering Kitcheners call to join the army.

Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, believed, in opposition to most of the

Cabinet, that this would be a long and difficult war, and that exceptional measures

needed to be taken early in the conflict, to enlist as many men as possible.

However, there was very limited equipment for this influx of volunteers, so uniforms

and equipment from previous wars had to be exhumed from storage. There were also

few officers left in England to train the volunteers, and no weaponry to practice with,

as everything had been sent across the Channel. Anyway, there was a general feeling

in the Regular Army that this reservist adventure was doomed to failure. In the end

it saved the nation from humiliation, although after Kitcheners death in, 1916, the

reservist/volunteer battalions were merged into the main regimental units to form an

integrated fighting force.


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Fred Corkerton took up Kitcheners call and enlisted on 31st

August 1914, with the

Prince Consorts Own Rifle Brigade, who had a battalion based in Colchester. Freds

army number was B/2522.

The 1st

Battalion Rifle Brigade had already left Colchester for France on 23rd

August,so Fred and his fellow recruits were to form part of the new 8

thBattalion of reservists,

part of Kitcheners New Army. These volunteer battalions were attached to their

home Regiment but consisted entirely of volunteer soldiers, and not mixed with the

regulars. Fred was immediately sent to the regimental headquarters at Winchester for

training and to wait on standby for further orders.

8th Battalion, Prince Consorts Own Rifle Brigade was formed at Winchester on 21

August 1914 as part of Kitcheners Army 1 (K1), and attached to 41st Brigade in 14th

(Light) Division.

The Rifle Depot at Winchester had already accomplished the task of clothing,equipping, arming, feeding and posting over five thousand Regular and Special

reservists in five days, before they embarked to France in mid Aug 1914.

Immediately they were faced with the influx of the New Armies, and 30,000 men

were dealt with by September, 1914. They arrived without notice, and in varying

numbers; over 6,000 arrived in one period of twenty-four hours. Every assistance was

given by the local authorities and the inhabitants of Winchester. This was a war that

initially had 100% support of the nation.

Fred and his 8th

Battalion then moved to Aldershot for training, going on to Grayshott

in November 1914 and returned to Aldershot in March 1915.


7/22

They received their orders to proceed to France soon afterwards and landed at

Boulogne on 20th May 1915. From there they moved the 50 miles towards the Ypres

Salient.

I think we must remember that this was initially a war of men on foot and officers on

horseback. There was little mechanised transport, apart from the railways and so wecan expect Fred and his battalion marched at least part of the way. The letter from

Sydney Woodroffe, transcribed later, indicates a rather shambolic journey, with no

immediate travel or battle plans made for the 8th

Battalion.

The original BEF, composed of pre-war regulars and reservists, did do quite a lot

of marching, but they would have been very unlucky to have to tramp all the way

from Boulogne to Belgium. As far as possible men moved by train until they were a

few miles from the front, and as the war went on and motor lorries became

available these too were used to speed up movement. As early as 1914 London

buses were shipped out to the front for use as troop carriers.

At the immediate outbreak of war in August the B.E.F. were sent to France to protect

the northern flank of the French front lines that had been established for some time

along the disputed Alsace border. In the first few weeks of fighting, hundreds of

thousand of French and German soldiers were killed in the Alsace battle zone.

The war then quickly became more mobile, with a series of skirmishes and short

battles. This became known as the race to the sea, as both sides tried to outflank the

other. By December 1914, this had created a battle front that stretched all the way

from the Belgian coast to Switzerland. Both sides then started digging trenches, and a

four year battle of attrition had begun.

Britain became seriously involved in the conflict during October 1914, with the first

Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. This was the most strategic point on the whole front line

for both the Germans and the French/British allies. It was the gateway for the

Germans to enter France and the Channel ports and for the allies to counter attack into

Germany. Whoever held Ypres would control the war.

Initially the Germans briefly took the town of Ypres, but were pushed back by the

British. Both sides made attacks to try to breech the others defences, but as the

British and French were initially more aggressive, they constantly pushed their

defensive line forward. Although this was a victory for the allies the losses for theBritish amounted to a huge proportion of the B.E.F,, which consisted of virtually the

whole of the Regular Army. Kitcheners early plans to recruit a million reservists had

proved correct.

The Germans had been driven out of Ypres early in the conflict and had retired across

relatively flat land, to a line of low hills. It was this retreat that had caused the bulge,

or salient, in the line of fortifications. This made that part of the line more vulnerable

to counter attack, as it could be approached from three sides. The Ypres Salient

became the most fought over place on the Western Front, with 250,000 dead before

the end of the war. There were major battles fought there from 1914 through to 1918,

and at no time was the area under anything but constant threat.


8/22

To the east of Ypres, on the Menin Road, was the small settlement of Hooge, which

had a chateau and stables. The two combatants lines of trenches, around the salient,

were at their closest at Hooge, and so created a tempting opportunity for each side to

gain ground from the other.

Field map used in 1915

Sydney Woodroffes letter gives a good idea of the movement of the 8th Battalion

after they left Boulogne on 23rd

May. They seem to have been held in reserve from

the front line for ten days, but were still taking casualties from random shelling. They

were called up to stand by in a major incident on the salient, which was probably the

one below, but they were not called on for action.

On 2nd June 1915, a severe German bombardment from 5am to noon, followed by an

infantry attack, led to the loss of the ruins of the Hooge Chateau and Stables. At this

time the position had been occupied by regiments of the 3rd Cavalry Division. During

the evening, two Companies of the 1st Lincolns, and one of the 4th Royal Fusiliers of

9th Brigade of the 3rd Division counterattacked and successfully recovered theStables, but not the Chateau.

Rather as portrayed in Blackadder goes Forth, thousands of men on both sides, were

being killed to gain small patches of land.

General Melchett trying to move his drinks cabinet six inches closer to Berlin, or

pouring over a map of ground gained in the last great push, and asking Captain

Darling, what scale is this, ("er, one to one, Sir").

Some days there was no gain, and the next day the territory gained was lost in a

counter attack by the Germans.


9/22

A cardinal principle of military doctrine, at least in the British army, is that

defence must be aggressive, and that in defence one must endeavour to dominate no

mans land. By doing so the defender has the initiative: the enemy is prevented

from close reconnaissance and from interfering with the defenders obstacles (at

that time, barbed wire). Aggressive defence for infantry means patrolling, sniping

and ambushing in no mans land, and trench raiding.

Trench raiding is one way of ensuring that ones own troops do not become

defensive minded, but think aggressively and have a sense of hitting the enemy

rather than just holding a line of trenches.

The Germans in the opposite trenches were also, often, volunteer reservists, with a

similar lack of training and small arms practice. However, they had seemingly

limitless amounts of heavy artillery and shells, something the British did not.

If we are to follow Sydney Woodroffes account, then the 8th

Battalion Rifle Brigade

were sent into the front line, at the head of the salient, soon after the stables wereretaken, and they spent a harrowing few days manning some of the most dangerous

trenches on the Western Front.

Soldiers were rotated in and out of the front line on a weekly basis, but often a

Company was relieved because they had lost so many casualties, and was no longer a

functional unit. Men were picked off randomly, either by sniper or from shell blast,

and there was the even present danger of a gas attack, the lingering effects of which

could last for days. A soldier might be killed making a strategic move to storm an

enemy trench or when carrying water, well away from the lines. Whether you lived or

died was just a total, human lottery.

One of the novel forms of warfare, which became very important in the war of

attrition, was the use of huge charges of explosive placed at the end of mineshafts,

dug under the defences and into the enemy lines. Special Tunnelling Units made up

from teams of coal miners, would spend weeks and months excavating the shafts. The

timed detonation of these enormous explosions was accompanied by major artillery

fire and an assault by infantry.

The plan to recover the lost ground around the Chateau at Hooge, involved such a

mining operation.

To try to take the initiative around the Hooge Chateau, the British decided on a

mining action, to blow a crater and so allow them to take the higher ground from the

Germans. At 7 pm on the 15th July 3,500 lbs of Ammonal were blown, creating a

crater some 120 feet wide and 20 feet deep. As with all craters that were blown, the

idea was for the attackers to move quickly and hold the furthest most lip of the crater

before the enemy got into it. Captain Billy Congreve, son of the commander of the 6th

Division, reported The mine went off most successfully and the Middlesex took the

crater without much trouble, but were unable to stay there as they ran out of bombs.

The crater is huge, and the explosion greater than we thought possible; so great that

several of the storming party were burned by falling debris, in spite of the fact that

they were all withdrawn south of the main road. Capt Congreve went on to win aMilitary Cross at Hooge, and ultimately a posthumous VC.


10/22

The following is the recollection of Private George Clayton, 175th Tunnelling

Company, from Max Arthurs book Forgotten Voices of The Great War.

We were digging through a grey clay in the Ypres Salient that was easy enough to

work, so you could get ten yards done in a shift, and thirty yards in a day - ten days of

that made three hundred yards. We were heading towards the Hooge Chateau, wherethe cellar had become the headquarters of the German officers. When we got there we

laid it with explosives, and then stemmed it with sandbags and tree trunks to stop the

force of the explosion blowing back towards us. Then we ran the wire back up to the

support line. When the Hooge Chateau was finally blown up I was about 250 yards

away watching from my trench, and I saw the earth come up and shake the ground. It

made a dull thud like an earthquake and left a hole like a quarry.

British defences on the rim of the Hooge crater.It was a few days after this on 23

rdJuly 1915 that Freds 8

thRifle Brigade was called

into action at the crater. Units were constantly being redeployed and the Hooge sector

was now being held by 41st Brigade of 14th Division.

British soldiers, in sandbag shelters, on the edge of the Hooge Crater.


11/22

On the night of the 30th

July, the 8th Rifle Brigade held the nearside crater lip, with

the 7th Kings Royal Rifle Corps on their right, across the road. These battalions had

relieved the others of the Brigade during the night.

At 3:15 am on Friday, 30 July 1915 the Germans (Wurttemberg Infanterie-Regiment

126, part of the 39th (Alsatian) Infanterie-Division) launched their attack. Theremnants of the stables were blown up, whilst the men of the 8th Rifle Brigade (at

battalion strength) were subject to jets of flame streaming from the German parapets,

rather like water might come from a large hose. At the same time a massive

bombardment of shells and mortars, grenades and machine-guns was opened on the

communication trenches and the 300 yards of ground between the Front Line and the

support lines behind them, in Zouave and Sanctuary Woods.

This was the first time that liquid fire flamethrowers had been used by the Germans

against the British.

Map of Hooge on day of flamethrower attack.C Company of 8th Rifle Brigade, to the right of the crater, seemed to have been

almost completely obliterated very early on in the attack.

8th Rifle Brigade went into the line with 24 officers and 745 other ranks; it lost 19

officers and 469 other ranks killed, wounded and missing.


12/22

The following description of the flame-thrower attack is by a Second Lieutenant

Carey, and is from the book At the Going Down of the Sun.

I remember having a strong presentiment, as I plodded up to the line that night that I

would never come back from it alive (in the event, I was the only officer in my

company to survive the next 24 hours). The silence after we got into the line becameuncanny. There was something sinister about this. About half-an-hour before dawn

there was a sudden hissing sound and a bright crimson glare over the crater turned

the whole scene red. I saw three or four distinct jets of flame, like a line of powerful

fire-hoses spraying fire instead of water, shoot across my fire-trench. Then every

noise under Heaven broke out - trench mortars and bombs, machine-guns firing,

shrapnel falling and high explosive shells. It was a death trap to stay where we were

and our Company Commander gave the order to get the remnant of my platoon back

to the support line. About a dozen men were all that I could find. Those who had faced

the flame attack were never seen again.

Flamethrowers in action probably taken by German cameraman.

The 7th King's Royal Rifle Corps held the line near the stables, running south to

Sanctuary Wood. The flamethrower attack was not directed specifically at them,

though they did suffer some effect from the wall of flame and clouds of smoke.

The Germans, who had captured the crater area, now poured over the Menin Road and

attacked trenches in the rear and from the south. Meanwhile, further south, just above

Sanctuary Wood, the Germans launched a flamethrower attack on G1 and a very

exposed position - the Sap. However, the Germans, who attempted to rush across the

20 yards between the trenches succumbed to the fire from the British. They tried oncemore with bombs, but once more failed.

Meanwhile, in the complex of trenches between Zouave and Sanctuary Woods scenes

of extraordinary chaos, and individual initiative were taking place, as bombing and

counter-bombing took place, with even a spare group of Royal Engineers being

thrown into the fray.

Survivors from the 8th

Battalion withdrew if they were able, and the remnants

retreated back to the woods. The Germans stopped their forward rush to consolidate

their position, but tried to extend it eastwards by launching an all-out assault on the

7th King's Royal Rifle Corps (also a battalion), who eventually succumbed to the

pressure and surrendered most of its trenches.


13/22

There was a general policy of trying to counter attack almost immediately after

positions had been lost. It was thought that the enemy would be unfamiliar with their

new surroundings and therefore more vulnerable than waiting for hours or days later.

In reality it meant that the British had little time to count the cost of their losses, or

carry out the necessary preparation and reconnaissance.

The counter attack comprised all men that could be got ready in time. The Battalion

that had been relieved before the Crater attack, was recalled to the line, even before

they had been fed and rested. The few survivors of the 8th

Battalion were also called,

to re-enter the scene of their worst nightmare.

One can only feel sorry for the two battalions that had been relieved earlier - 8th

King's Royal Rifle Corps and 7th Rifle Brigade. 7th Rifle Brigade had only reached

its rest billets at Vlamertinge (several kilometres to the west of Ypres) at 3:45 am; at

4:45 am it was put on the alert, and by 5:30 am they were ordered back to Ypres -

tired, unwashed, not fed or rested, and probably with a clear idea of what was likely

to be in store for them. 7th King's Royal Rifle Corps was eventually forced to retireback to the northern edge of the woods, having spent almost the whole day being fired

at from front, back and flanks by all manner of weapons.

In this case, like many others the counter attack failed and with a great loss of life,

and no ground gained. This despite great gallantry being shown by the 8th Battalion

and 7th RR Brigade, who were tired and unfed and only just relieved. The 9th

Battalion and 6th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry also took part in the attack, the

former regaining some of the lost trenches facing east. Lieutenant-Colonel C. S.

Chaplin, 9th Battalion, was killed in the counter attack.

Fred Corkerton was one of the many hundreds of men, who disappeared without trace

on the battlefield that day. It is not clear whether he died in that first horrific

flamethrower attack, in the early hours of the morning, or whether he was able to

escape that carnage only to be killed in the foolhardy counter attack that took place

only a few hours later.

The records show confusion about who was where and at what time. This was a very

chaotic and confused event, and with the 8th

Battalion losing most of its officers and

two thirds of its men, there were few people left to tell the tale. The Hooge

flamethrower attack is one of the most recorded incidents of the early part of the

Great War and so we are lucky to have some knowledge of what happened to Fredand his comrades.

No knowledge of this incident has passed down the Corkerton family. Whether the

details were so horrific that father, Joseph, decided not to tell the rest of the family, or

whether they never knew the truth. Perhaps they simply accepted that Fred had been

killed, and got on with their lives.

There is room for further research as knowledge of which Company Fred served with,

would help to pin down his movements more accurately, and even help discover

exactly when he died.


14/22

One of the casualties of the afternoons counter assault was Lieutenant Gilbert Talbot,

a member of 9th Rifle Brigade.

The Battalion War Diary comments on 31st July,

"A correct casualty list is very hard to prepare without details from the ClearingStations, and owing to many being killed, and wounded beyond reach."

Talbot's Company (C) attacked to the left of the Old Bond Street communication

trench. The War Diary has him listed as "missing believed killed". Subsequently a

note has been added, "Body found. Killed."

Toc H Association, a charity that supports serviceman, started in Talbot House, a

place of sanctuary and sanity, set up a few miles behind the lines, near Ypres. The

Chaplin of the rest centre was the brother of Gilbert Talbot and the founders of the

centre thought it appropriate to name the building after Gilbert, as a symbol of the

bravery of the British Tommy.

The 43rd Brigade relieved the badly hit 41st Brigade during the late afternoon and

evening of the 30th

July. During the night, another flamethrower attack was repulsed,

but further efforts on the 31st, to reclaim the lost position, came to nothing.

Brigadier-General Nugent's estimate that a whole Division would be necessary to

have retaken the crater immediately, was afterwards found to be correct.

A surprise attack by 6th Division, on 9th August 1915, regained all of the ground lost,

including the ruins of the Chateau Stables.

The whole area surrounding and including Ypres was totally flattened. It was said there was nothing

left higher than a man sat on horseback. The town was later completely rebuilt, using the original town

plan, and everything you see there now is part of that reconstruction.


15/22

The Menin Gate, with the names of 55,000 soldiers who have no known grave.

Many of these soldiers were buried in mass graves, or their original grave cross was

lost. Others simply disappeared and were unaccounted for, after being blasted by

artillery shells or buried under tons of debris in the aftermath of an explosion.

Freds father, Joseph, received his three medals posthumously, awarded for service in

the Great War. They were distributed from 1921 onwards.

It is interesting that there was again confusion about the Corkerton name and Freds

medals had to be reissued with the name officially changed from Cokerton to

Corkerton. What happened to his medals remains a mystery. His father may well have

kept them and they were then disposed of after his death in 1951.

1914/15 Star medal that Joseph received on his sons behalf in 1921.

He was also awarded the British War Medal and Victory medal.


16/22

The medal card, showing the awards to be made and the next of kin.

There was also the confusion of the address given on the certificate from the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which commemorates Freds sacrifice. His

address was given as The Floods, Ipswich Road, Colchester. There was no memory

of this address in the family and the mystery remained until 2008.

It was discovered that after the death of his first wife, Eveland, Joseph moved to The

Floods, around 1928-30. As Freds next of kin this must have been the address which

ended up on Freds service record, when certificates were finally produced, after the

Menin Gate memorial was opened in 1927.

Two of Freds younger brothers also enlisted. Joe (my grandfather) and William both

fought in France, but the younger two, John and Charles seem to have escaped the

horrors of the trenches because of their age. There is a photograph of young Joe in a

pipe and drum band and the story is he served as a horseback courier. William

(G70013) joined the Queens Regiment as did his cousin from Lancashire, Charles W.

Corkerton. This was either a rather strange coincidence unless the two families werestill in close touch.

These war records are all missing and seem to have been amongst those lost in the

Arnside Street fire in 1940, when 60% of the British military records were destroyed

by German bombing.

Remarkably, Joseph Corkerton, senior, volunteered to serve his country, only a few

weeks after the death of his eldest son. There is no record of Joseph serving in the

Army previously, but at the age of 51, he answered the call for the older generation to

help his country and he joined the Army Service Corps. Details of his service are in a

separate article.


17/22

Although we have no record of Frederic Corkertons life in the short 70 day period

between arriving in France on 21st

May and his death on 30th

July, I have found a

remarkable account of life in the trenches, by Sydney Woodroffe, also of the 8th

Battalion, and the first member of Kitcheners New Army to win a Victoria Cross.

Woodroffe was born in Lewes, East Sussex and educated at Marlborough College.

He was 19 years old, and a second lieutenant in the 8th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade

(Prince Consort's Own), British Army during the First World War when the following

deed took place, for which he was awarded the VC.

On 30 July 1915 atHooge,Belgium, when the enemy had broken through the centre

of our front trenches, Second Lieutenant Woodroffe's position was heavily attacked

with bombs from the flank and subsequently from the rear, but he managed to defendhis post until all his bombs were exhausted. He then skillfully withdrew his remaining

men and immediately led them forward in a counter-attack under intense rifle and

machine-gun fire, and was killed whilst in the act of cutting the wire obstacles in the

open. (citation with his V.C.)

Here is a transcript of a letter written by Sydney Woodroffe to his old school friend at

Marlborough College. Sydney was killed on the same day as Fred Corkerton and

could have been his commanding officer. There is also part of a second letter sent

about the same time, to his mother, which tells some of the same facts but in a slightly

gentler tone.

What is remarkable about the first letter is the frankness of the account, with no

attempt to say anything, but describe his true thoughts about the reality of the

situation. A similar letter from a private would surely have been censored and the

sender court martialed. A senior officer would likely have been more loyal to the

cause and couched his letter in less graphic terms.


18/22

The letter is addressed to Aidan Wallis (Boko) of Althorne, Essex. He was the head

boy at Marlborough when Sydney Woodroffe was in the school.

12/7/15

My dear old Boko,I wonder if you would mind if this letter does for Jack Barnes, Paul and Thomas H. if

they come to read it, as I owe them all letters and it simply impossible to write. In that

case one apology for not writing will do for all of you!

I don't know if I have told you anything so far, but anyhow for the first six weeks we

wandered over Northern France and Belgium and no one seemed to have any use for

us at all. We flopped about in the appalling heat and flopped into trenches in different

parts of Europe, each lot being worse than the last, and losing a few men here and a

few there, amongst others Hooker and Lawson-Walton. Nothing particularly exciting

happened and I didn't even get lice. Then at the beginning of last week we were put

into the worst trenches in the British Line. This is an absolute fact - I'm not trying to

be funny - as no Division ever takes them over for more than a month or it becomes aplatoon and a long roll of honour. We were stuck in these trenches for 9 days on end

and I will try to give you some idea how beastly it was.

The place was the extreme tip of the furthest advanced part of our line, i.e. at the end

of the well known "salient". This means that we were engulfed by guns from both

sides, and so were fired on from 3 directions at once. There was one 8 inch howitzer

that used to shell us regularly every evening right away from jolly old "Hill 60". One

man in our company was hit when he was 400 yards away from the burst. Another

shell, a 15 inch one, burst in Ypres the other morning and the base of it, weighing

over a hundredweight, knocked down a wall 900 yards back.

All the water in this God-forsaken country is undrinkable, and every drop of water we

consumed in the trenches was brought up by hand in petrol tins over a mile at night.

In one part we were in all the streams had been poisoned with arsenic by these

bleeding Bosches. You can occasionally find a Jack Johnson hole into which water

has drained - probably via an impromptu cemetery and a few refuse pits - and this

affords a doubtful wash. You never get your boots off the whole time you are in the

trenches, and after about 10 days a change of socks is decidedly desirable!

One thing that practically turns you inside out at first is the flies. Every kind of

disgusting and bloated bluebottle and fly in various stages of torpor buzz about or

sleep on beams, and flop down your neck when you bang your head on them for the

hundred and one-th time.

This last lot of trenches we were in were ones that were captured from the Germansabout a month ago. We were in reserve for that attack and sweated with fear all one

night that we would be pushed into it. Practically every trench and road out here has

a nickname, generally absurd but cheery names like Piccaddilly Circus, Eastbourne

Pier, etc; in this last lot it was "Hellfire Corner", Suicide Corner" and "Dead Mans

Alley" and such like, which of course cheers one to start with!

Well, first of all our company was put in a support trench quite isolated, about half a

mile in rear, and Rae's(one of the masters from Marlborough) platoon was in another

little trench about 50 yards behind us. We were warned that they shelled us all day

every day, and my goodness it wasn't far wrong. It was so bad that fires could only be

allowed between 2 - 3am (jolly time for a meal) as the smoke doesn't show in that

misty light - otherwise shells galore. It is beastly hardly ever having anything hot toeat and drink, especially when you are tired and fed up. The one amusing thing was


19/22

that most of the shells that just missed us generally used to get Rae's trench! You get

pretty selfish out here - as long as the shell misses you personally it is all right!

The first day we were there they gassed us with (prussic acid) gas shells. My God, it isbestial. With these foul shells which possibly explode a few yards away from you, the

stuff is on you and inside you before you have time to make a selection from your

stock of respirators and helmets. (Once you have been gassed you take jolly good

care) It makes your eyes (and nose) sinply stream, you cough and retch and have a

beastly sore throat and violent headache. While suffering like this a confounded great

horse-fly bit me on the hand and reduced me to an absolute frenzy of rage.

The next day we were treated to a similar gassing, one of the shells knocking down

the parapet about 5 yards away from me and covering me with earth. That night I had

the most horrible time I have ever had, and ever hope to have. I was sent with a party

of 100 men to clear up a trench which had never been touched or occupied since we

had captured it from the Germans a fortnight before; since nicknamed "Dead MansAlley". I had a look in the daylight first, though couldn't start work until dark as it

was under fire, and the place nearly made me sick, although you get used to a good

deal out here. There was I landed in the dead of night on my own entirely, to make

100 none too willing men work in this perfectly godless place. Besides all the

countless equipment, rifles, overcoats etc we collected, we buried 23 corpses (4

English), 2 heads, a dismembered hand and a foot. As it was a pitch dark night what I

had to do was to wander about by myself, and on smelling something that nearly

knocked you over backwards, cautiously shine my torch until I saw a ghastly

blackened face grinning up at me - and then tell off a small party to dispose of it!.

Evey one of us had to wear our respirators the whole of the 3 1/2 hours we were

there, and at the end of it I had had quite enough. To add to the discomfort, once

when I shone my torch in the sky by mistake for the ground, we were promptly treated

to two shrapnel shells.

The next day we were gas shelled again - and properly this time. They got the range

exactly and put them right on the parrapet. The first smashed to pieces our one and

only anti gas sprayer; the second blew to blazes the stretcher bearers dug out and

buried a stretcher; the third blew the head clean off the captain of my company, killed

two corporals in my platoon and wounded a sergeant and another man in about 5

places, and so on. You can't imagine how bestial it was with the place as an absolute

fog, and everybody coughing and choking in their helmets. I was wearing 3 myself, so

couldn't see or hear!. In desperation, finally, to get out of the blasted place I got holdof a sergeant and we sweated off with one of the men on a stretcher. It was a pretty

absurd thing to do as it meant haring down a road which can be seen and is invaribly

shelled if anyone shows his nose down it. One shell removed practically the entire

road not more than 10 yards in front of us and nearly knocked us silly. The man we

were carrying on the stretcher had been hit in the head and practically the whole

inside of his head came out on the way down, which didn't make things pleasanter. I

continued to cart stretchers until I thought the gas might have departed a bit !!!

That night the powers decided that ours really was rather a ridiculous trench, so we

were shifted up to the firing line trenches to recover! All except the wretched Rae's

platoon - he was left there alone all the time.


20/22

It is extraordinary how the gas hangs about, especially low down on the ground. Two

morning's later I took a small party in the still smaller hours of the morning - about

3.30 am, as that is when the German Gunners go to bed for a few hours - to try and

dig out a lot of equipment and property that had been buried where the shells burst. It

took us 3 1/2 hours, simply because we couldn't stay in the place more than a minute

at a time wearing all the respirators in the world.That night it fell to my lot to take a ration party - about 80 men - a mile back from the

fire trenches to drawout the next days rations for the battalion. It was all down a long

communication trench and road, both of which were invaribly shelled. Ten men were

killed in the trench alone on similar jobs while we were there. What makes it so

beastly is that you have so little control over a vast string of men in single file.

That night they bombarded us and knocked the trenches about a lot; early the next

morning a party of German bombers came and bagged the trench occupied by one of

our platoons. I was shaken up in a very deshabille and sleepy condition and told to

take my platoon and help get it back. I had not the haziest idea what was happening

and had never seen that particular trench before. Feeling extraordinarily frightened

and trying not to look it, I collected a party of bombers and stalked up (unfortunatelydiscovering on the way that the only kind of bomb we were carrying was the only kind

I had never seen in my life and not knowing how on earth to use them). Luckily, a

platoon of another regiment on our left came to the rescue and had helped to clear the

devils out before I arrived. We slew about 8 of them in all. The Germans then got sick

and bombarded us until 4 in the afternoon, banging our trenches to pieces, knocking

out a lot of men, and preventing me from getting anything to eat until 5pm.

That night I was in charge of a ration party again. On the way we were cheered up by

passing a man who had recently had the whole of his face blown off. The next

morning there was a big attack on our left, which I expect you read about, and we

bombarded the Germans opposite us in order to keep their guns quiet. This sounds all

right, but unfortunately the German thoroughly entered into the spirit of the thing and

gave the unoffending us back about twice as much as they received. Also they will

insist on having these shows at the unchristian hour of 3 or 4 in the morning. I stood

there shivering with cold and simply deafened by the appallingly ridiculous noise, and

every now and then showered with earth and muck - net result - trenches again

bashed in and more men knocked out. It was made unnecessarily unpleasant again by

our having been told that we might be wanted to attack as well.

The next night we stood to arms the whole blessed night as there was the probability

of a German counter-attack. However, besides a few scares entailing furious blasts of

rapid fire at nothing at all and besides the usual nightly ration of a thousand odd

shells, trench-mortars, grenades etc - nothing. What you do discover though is thatthe sleep you were so much looking forward to never seems to come off.

After 9 days of this we were relieved. I had to guide part of the relieving battalion up,

which meant an extra 5 miles walk for me. The billets we came to were 14 miles back,

so in all I started at 8.30pm and walked some 19 miles all through the night before

eventually arriving here at 7.30am . Trenches do not get you into the best of training;

very little sleep and eating vile tinned things at irregular intervals. To make matters

worse I was striken for the last 9 miles with the worst stomach ache of modern

times,and arrived completely doubled up at this most delightful of farms, where I slept

22 out of the first 24 hours.

Such is life here. Time drags in the trenches, nothing done to further the interests of

our country as far as one can see, and the battalion lost 5 officers and 100 men, andthe brigade about 350 in all. This is war!!. The German supply of shells seems quite


21/22

unlimited. If our guns fire we cheer; even when they lay out men by dropping them in

our own trenches (which has happened twice to us) we don't like to discourage them.

As a matter of fact, really their gunners aren't a patch on ours and it will make all the

difference in the world when we get the ammunition.

The most humorous thing that has happened to me so far was when an absolutley

spent rifle bullet hit me plumb in the back of the head - and simply bounced off,marely giving me a bruise!

There is going to be the hell of a battle soon. I bet you anything you like. The

Germans I believe have massed about a million men and guns opposite this part, so

we are led to believe. With any luck we shall get a move on too. All the same there is

nothing out here to make one believe the war will be over for the hell of a long time.

Also it is simply becoming a war of shells and hand grenades.

How I would love to be able to get over to M.C. before you all leave. If I ever see it

again it will be so horribly different after this term. It was perfectly priceless about

Cheltenham. I hope Jack Barnes treats Rugby in the same way. How's the tennis -

also Lower? I shall begin snorting with delight shortly at the thought of you enmeshed

in endless certificate exams. You can comfort youself in return at the thought of aweary and fly-blown S.C.W. with a 15 inch shell. If you haven't heard a 15 inch just

go and listen to Duck's motor bus and it will give you some idea. Nothing will give

you any idea of the noise it makes when it bursts though.

Are you going to Camp? It sounds awfully nice. I live just around the corner from

Swanage, i.e. Bournemouth. Isn't it simply rotten about Busslo. This stinking war. I

saw him just before we left Aldershot. Isee Heal is dead, too. Pretty creditable my

surviving 2 months I think.

Will you give W-W my love and tell him Reggie Layden came over today. He has been

at Rouen lately. He is looking much older, rather sadder and slightly grey haired.

Look here, quite seriously, however hard up you are for copy - and with certificate

exams I know what it is like - please ( we were once comrades in trouble) don't put

any part of any letter I write in the Malburian! Otherwise I will never write again. I

do mean this. Give my love to:

(1) The Walls

(2) The Perks

This is the longest and worst letter I have ever written. I won't afflict you again.

Very Best Love

S.C.W.

Contrast the graphic black tone of that letter with one sent to his mother at the same

time.

"Dearest mother. Here we are still in these jolly old trenches! Thank goodness we are

getting out of them tomorrow night. That will make nine jolly old days of it, thanks

very much. For one thing I shan't mind getting my boots off and changing my socks!

"Hooray too for a wash all over in (possibly!) warm water. I should like to go to a

nice farm well away from the sound of guns and racket and miles away from thisghastly gas ."


22/22

The final words about the death of Fred Corkerton come from a source which luckthrew my way. Earlier I discovered that the 8

thRifle Brigade had done some of their

initial training in Grayshott, an area that was home to my parents for over 25 years. In

1978, J.H.Smith wrote a history of the parish and included in it another letter about

the terrible events of 30th

July 1915.

The men were billeted in local homes in the village and at Grayshott Hall. The

residents were keen to play their part in supporting the troops.

In the aftermath of the sad events, Colonel Maclachan, of the 8th

Rifle Brigade, sent a

letter to the Vicar of Grayshott, Rev A.E. Simms, describing the fate of his men.

We had only gone into those trenches that night, and for the next 24 hours were

fighting for our lives. Practically all the officers are gone; Sheepshanks, Govell-

Barnes and myself represent the remnants, and we lost in killed and wounded about

two thirds of the men. We cannot trace a large number of them, I fear, as the Germans

got the front trenches thanks to using those devilish gases. I am so awfully proud of

them all, but it is hard to start afresh. The officers were a very happy family, and we

often used to discuss our jolly billets at Grayshott, and recall the hospitality shown not

only the officers but the men as well.

The remnants of the 8th

Battalion, Rifle Brigade, are greatly touched by your

sympathetic letter, and we are most grateful to all at Grayshott for their kindly

remembrance of the battalion. Everyone in the battalion fought right well, and Ive

never in my life felt so proud of them. The companies in which the heaviest losses

were are A Company, billeted in the village, and C Company at the Hall. They were

both in the front line and were simply enveloped in this flaming liquid. Curiously

enough both Mr McAfee and Mr Scrimgeour survived the first attack but both were

killed in the afternoon at the head of their men, gallantly leading a counter-attack

across the open ground against simply murderous machine gun attack. I hope to get

many of the wounded back later on, but I fear nearly all those reported missing were

killed fighting in their trenches. I want to add that every officer, NCO and man of the

battalion looked back on their time in Grayshott with the happiest recollections, and it

was a very frequent topic of conversation in the trenches, and the hospitality of all has

never been forgotten.

frederick russell corkerton

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