The Death of Hope by Andrew Wareham (inspirational books for women txt) 📕

The colonels had nobody to blame and sufferedin official silence. All who had influence wrote Home to complain.

Richard informed Primrose of all that hadbefallen the battalion, including the casualties, more than a tenth of his menlost to him, dead or too much wounded ever to return to the front. He mentionedthat he had now lost six second lieutenants, two lieutenants and one captain,the junior six all dead having marched into the machine guns in the initialassault and tidying up later. He continued in indignation.

‘Wincanton, you will be pleased to hear,was unharmed, having led his men from the front, as was proper, and been first ofhis company into the German front line. I am informed that he was waving a heavywalking stick and shouting ‘tally-ho, you chaps’ as he jumped into the trench.The stick was bloodstained when I saw him later in the morning. I have been forcedto put his name forward for a decoration! I have also no choice other than tomake him lieutenant – Brigade has confirmed him in the rank this day.’

He blamed the failure of the battle on thelack of artillery support, due to the shortage of shells. He knew that Primrose’sfather, Lord Elkthorn, had some minor role in the Ministry and would make hiswords heard in government.

General French was less subtle. Heinformed his pet newspaper correspondents of his complaints, let them publishthat all was not entirely well with the artillery while informing their editorsand owners of the reality of a massive shortage of ammunition of all calibres.His words were quoted in Parliament, embarrassing Mr Asquith, the PrimeMinister, who did not like to be offered blame, much preferring a quieter,gentlemanly existence. He was heard to complain that the damned people seemedto expect him to be responsible for the war.

Lloyd George, Minister of Munitions forsome six months, was outraged. He had done much to increase the output of explosivesin Britain and had been responsible for buying in massive quantities fromAmerica and other neutrals. He had said, repeatedly, that by the spring of ’16,there would be a sufficiency to hand but that no major battles should belaunched before then – stocks would not be high enough. French had indulged inthe offensive at Loos against Lloyd George’s wishes; now he was blaming theWelsh Wizard for his failure.

French’s fate was sealed. No man stabbedLloyd George in the back twice. Only the bravest or most unaware attempted itonce.

That having been decided, the problem wasto find a general who was any better. The press demanded Haig, courtesy primarilyof the amount of money his plutocratic family pushed in their direction. The Houseof Commons strongly supported Haig, for much the same reason. A few voicespointed out that he was no more competent than French and had shown the leastlittle bit shy at Le Cateau; they were ignored. Asquith did not like Haig,primarily because Haig ignored him; he was too weak to form a coalition againstHaig and in any case knew of no better alternative.

The names of a few other generals who had showncompetent were brought forward, publicly mentioned as better than Haig; theybecame marked men.

Allenby especially was offered as an intelligent,able, go-ahead younger man; he was posted immediately to the Middle East, theWar Office preferring a nonentity in France. The War Office as well had discoveredthat Haig had any number of friends who, between them, knew where every body hadbeen buried and were happily prepared to raise old scandals in pursuit of theiraim of advancing their man.

Primrose wrote scathingly, increasinglycontemptuous of the leadership of the country who were jeopardising the warand, far more importantly, placing her fiancé’s life in additional danger.

‘The Press is distinguished solely by itsdishonesty now. Previously it might have been said that they buried some of thetruth in the national interest. Now they publish outright lies in pursuit oftheir own political aims. It was used to be the case that the Arts provided ahaven for those opposed to the national consensus – one could look to the playwrightsand authors to offer the cool, clear voice of sanity and dissent. Now, themusicals, the plays, the revues, all present nothing other than the crudest,most simplistic jingoistic form of government propaganda. No book can bepublished that is critical of the official view, with the exception of somepoetry – there are a very few poets who have more to offer than Rupert Brooke’ssickeningly sycophantic doggerel.’

Richard was impressed by her words. He hadnever read a line of poetry in his life and had only vaguely heard of RupertBrooke, remembering a brief comment from Brigadier Braithwaite about him as ‘anOxford poofter who had died without ever seeing action’.

He did not think that he should passBraithwaite’s opinion on to Primrose – she might well quote it in company.

Letters Home were subject to censorship atbattalion level and, in theory, Richard was obliged to offer his mail to theAdjutant to be read and edited as appropriate. In practise, he put his lettersinto the postbag with a quick scribble of ‘passed’ on the envelope. He tooksome pains not to mention names or places, showing willing in case a German spyshould somehow read his offerings. The reality was that the High Command preferredthat the people in England should not be told of the bad food and poor conditionsthe soldiers endured; it was easier to censor than to make the effort toimprove things.

‘Jam, Primrose! Ordinary enough stuff, onemight say, and we are now getting supplies through. Tasteless, too sweet andfull of hard lumps! The men say the raspberry jam is swede boiled up with sugarand with red colouring and sawdust added to counterfeit the pips. I am inclinedto believe them, especially as one of the new replacements worked in a confectioneryand jam factory until he was eighteen and old enough to join up. The stories hetells are horrifying! Do not, under any circumstances eat shop-bought gingercake! The strong flavour makes it possible to disguise any number of sins! Thebully beef is more gristle than meat, the cans often no more than half-full andconsequently rotting because of the enclosure of air. There is a