From Killorglin to the Somme: A Kerryman's Last Letter from the Trenches
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- On 3 September 1916 my great-uncle George Ernest Knightly Evans was killed in a attack on Guinchy during the Battle of the Somme. He grew up in Killorglin, Kerry and is commemorated in a window in Glenbeigh. This video is examines his background and especially his final letter from the trenches.
#Somme #trenches #trenchwarfare #militaryhistory #Killorglin #Kerry #irishhistory #worldwar1 #worldwar #worldwar1 #wwi #greatwar #westernfront
Thanks for this personal family history. Stories such as the one told through his letter help folks understand the overall history and dreadfulness of war. Did I understand correctly that he caught sight of his brother's horse, worn out? Can you imagine the pain that caused him?
Thanks Larry, glad you liked it. Yes, he came across my grandfather's charger (but now worn out). Just like the film Warhorse. The poor old horses were conscripted too, something we never think about.
@@forasfeasa To see the old horse would be a poignant connection to home as well
The weather must have been very bad for it to be so muddy as the Somme is a chalkland area- no different to much of the countryside on the other side of the Channel. All that birdsong in a paradoxical hellscape- a ghastly contrast which the men who survived men did not discuss when they came home. The Somme offensive had begun on a brilliant July morning and the bombardment being heard miles away in southern England and spluttered to a halt in November becoming a byword for horror in the process
In late August and early September, it was really bad - according to the war diary and other sources. Yes the Somme did become a byword for horror and remains such (although I know some people have been producing interesting accounts, which give the British army greater credit, for the hundreds of thousands who died or were wounded, this did not help)
@@forasfeasa The irony is that much was learned at the Somme that ultimately became a part of the methodology that led to an end to stalemate and breakthroughs on an epic scale two years on. It was rather sad that so many campaigns and offensives were necessary to reach this knowledge although 110 years on it is seems so incomprehensible it was not possible to bring the war to a halt by a negotiated means but I suppose it reminds us of the complexity and stubbornness of human nature.
War are unfortunately a good form of education. If only it were easier for societies to learn things. The British army learned a lot during the course of the war. But at a horrendous cost
Here in Australia I once knew 3 old soldiers of the AIF who had served in Gallipoli and later on the Western Front, they had signed up under age at 14, 15, crazy that most went undetected and these "old fella's" who i met on a lane up in the Adelaide Hills said "hello" as we passed and i returned the greeting. They'd stopped and called back to me "Irish?, where are you from Irish?"......and so that day i got introduced to Cookie Cook and his mate's, his RSL and the memory of "Paddy Kennedy" their old school friend and comrade of the front. Australia had less issue then with nationalities than Britian, most Aussie's were mixed English and Irish and Welsh, Scottish, German......in fact our State only speaks English not German because of a tight vote in the earliest Parliament of South Australia.
Very nice story, thanks for sharing. What is a RSL? Regimental...? :-)
@@forasfeasa It's a veteran's club and has administrative reasons also, some are big like a civic centre and the smallest are like a single small bar & kitchen.
@@forasfeasa Returned Services League is it's moniker
@@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg Thanks for that. I was way off in my guess then!!!
Had to repost this video.. so your comment about your relative disappeared! Sorry. Feel free to post it again as it sounds like a great story.