Tom Morgan's

Hellfire Corner

great war web-pages


   

Carrying

OCTOBER, 2017

At the beginning of this month, I received warnings that my site had been hacked.
To remedy this, I have removed every file from the server.
This is a holding page, while I rebuild the site by uploading "clean" versions of every file, from my  archived backups.

Please check back regularly.  As the site grows again, this is where the new versions of the Contents Page will be found.

Look for the note NEW VERSION UPLOADED beside each article title to see which ones have been replaced to date.



CONTENTS

THE BATTLEFIELDS TODAY

Tom Morgan - The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

Tom Morgan - The Armistice Clearing at Compiègne - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Tom Morgan - Decisions at Potters Bar - The L31 Crash Site - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Norman Thorpe, Rod Morris & Tom Morgan - The Thankful Villages  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Mark Hone - School Visits to the Battlefields, Then and Now  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Mark Hone considers the  history of school battlefield visits against a background of his own 20-year experience of organising such tours for his school, Bury Grammar School.
[Image] Ian Ronayne - Jersey's Forgotten War - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Mark Gardiner (with help from Neil Mackenzie) - A Tour of the Ypres Salient - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
In May 2007, two friends visited the battlefields around Ypres with the aim of calling at every British war cemetery within the Ypres Salient plus a few in the nearby areas - 170 in all.  Their tour involved far more than just ticking cemeteries off on a list. They had previously researched at least one soldier for each cemetery, so each visit was an Act of Remembrance.  Here is their diary.
Peter Vince - Headwinds and Hangovers the diary of a bike-ride along the Western Front  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

Charles Fair - Charles Fair's Battlefield Guide  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED                  

John Childs - Biking the Battlefields  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
   Philip Eagles - Mystery Chateau?   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
 
 Geoff Moran - The Gallipoli Campaign - Revisiting History   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
[Image] Jacky Platteeuw - At the Going Down of the Sun....- NEW VERSION UPLOADED
[Image] Jacky Platteeuw - The "Silent Cities" of the Ypres Salient  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

SSgt. R. Longstaff - The Western Front Revisited - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

WO2 R. Longstaff - Exercise Gallipoli Serpent  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

Pat Raftery - A Walking Holiday in Northern France - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

Maurice Alexander - A Visit to Verdun - 1998 - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

Maurice Alexander - 2002 - Verdun - The Return  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

Ted Smith - Ypres Battlefields - Disappearance and Discoveries - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

Mark Abercromby -   "Following in Australia's Footsteps" on the Western Front - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
                                                             

WAR MEMORIALS
 Ray Westlake's War Memorial Corner  
Tom Morgan - UK War Memorials - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Martin Middlebrook - The  Kelowna Cross - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
 John Duffell - Epping's Memorials to the Fallen - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
In this article, John Duffell gives an account of the history of all the Epping War memorials from the first one, erected in 1921, to the very latest latest one (2006).  The article concludes with a biographical listing of Epping's Great War dead.
Ray Westlake - Writing First World War Graves and Memorials in Gwent  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Stacy Chambless - A Memorial in Scarlet The Poppy and the Ritual of Remembrance  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Michael Farrier - Cemeteries and World War 1 Memorials  (Herts, Beds and Bucks) - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Terry Reeves - Triumph and Gloria -  a Coventry Memorial - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Christopher John - Royal Flying Corps Burials and Memorials  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Christopher John - Erdington Churchyard, Birmingham - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Alan Tucker Langford Budville Roll of Honour  An extremely well-researched article on the men whose names appear on the hand-written Roll of Honour to be seen in the church of this Somerset village. - NEW VERSION  UP

EXTENDED SERIES OF ARTICLES - "Sites within a Site"
Andrew Thornton - We had done All that was Expected of us     (7 articles) - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
 Tom Arnott - Canada (and "Red" Arnott) in the Great War    (9 articles) - NEW VERSION UPLOADED

INDIVIDUAL LIVES - RESEARCH AND REMEMBRANCE
David Whithorn - A Special Centenary -NEW VERSION UPLOADED
David's tribute to his uncle, Tom Young, written one hundred years to the day 'Uncle Tom' died in France.
David Whithorn - 24 Hours of Research  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Just to show that you don't necessarily have to buy an expensive set of medals to be launched onto the path of research.  And sometimes you don't have to spend a lot of time over the research, either!
 Shane Cawley - The Hannon Brothers in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers 1914-1918 - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
An account of two brothers' journeys through the war, researched from their individual service records and regimental movements during their active duty.
Alan Tucker - Open Warfare - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The diary of Captain Arthur Impey, a Battery Officer of 79th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, from August 16th 1918, when he returned to France after being wounded in 1917, to November 11th 1918, the day of the Armistice.  An excellent account of the last "Hundred Days" of the war, made even better by Alan's further articles, giving a background to people and events mentioned.
John Anderson - David Cruickshank - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
How a chance purchase at a French bric-a-brac market let to the discovery of one soldier's amazing adventure in the Great War. 
Alan Reed - The Christmas Truce of 1914 - New Evidence from a Captain's Diary - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
A recently-discovered new eyewitness account of the famous truce.
  Annette Burgoyne - The 1st Bn. KSLI at Morteldje Estaminet - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Annette Burgoyne, author of "The 6th Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry" tells the story of a little-known action which involved the 1st Battalion.  This action may not get much of a mention in the history books, but it brought the battalion the highest praise.
Kevin Patience - An East African Victoria Cross   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
This article by Kevin Patience extends the site's sphere of interest beyond the Western Front and recounts an incident which took place in East Africa and which resulted in the posthumous award of a Victoria Cross. Kevin's account has appeared on the site before, but this updated version contains so much new information as to make it a new article.
Michael Farrier - "On HMS India, November 1914…"   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Subtitled "A Personal Family Tragedy of the 1914 - '18 War" this is a family research story which started with an old postcard.   
Chris Basey - Nurse Edith Cavell  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Thanks to Chris for writing this excellent account of the 2004 Act of Remembrance at Norwich Cathedral - not one of the best-known annual observances, but certainly one of the most poignant.
Alastair H. Fraser - The Identification of a German Soldier  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
While archaeologists were searching for "Wilfred Owen's Dugout" near Serre in 2003,  for a BBC TV programme, the remains of two German soldiers were found.  Here Alastair Fraser describes how one of them was positively identified.
 Conor Dodd - Captain Joseph Edward Lynch  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Conor Dodd tells the story of one of the many Irishman who fought and died while serving in English Regiments during the Great War.
 Conor Dodd - John Vincent Holland V.C. - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Continuing his researches into Irish soldiers, Conor Dodd tells the story of an Irish VC winner.
Des Blackadder - Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Commemorating 1st July, 2004 - the story of the The 12th Royal Irish Rifles (Central Antrims) and their attack on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
John Guy Gillbert - A Month in Gallipoli  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Written in 1964 and edited by Stephanie Horton, this is Lieut. Gillbert's memoir of his time in Gallipoli with the 6th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.
Pat Phillips - One Son Died of Wounds, 1919  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
"One Son Died of Wounds, 1919" was a note beside a husband and wife's name on a handwritten family tree drawn up by Pat Phillips's grandmother.  This sad little note moved Pat to find out more about this forgotten relative.
[Image] The Rev. Dr. Daniel Hörnemann, OSB - A Human Tragedy  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Heinrich Plesker, buried in the German Cemetery at Langemark, was Daniel Hörnemann's Great-Uncle. Daniel's research led to this moving article.
[Image] The Rev. Dr. Daniel Hörnemann, OSB - Those They Longed For - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The fate of the Brothers of the Benedictine Abbey at Gerleve, Germany, who went missing during their military service.
[Image] The Rev. Dr. Daniel Hörnemann, OSB - One Who Survived  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
As a follow-up to his excellent article about the Brothers of the Benedictine Abbey at Gerleve who died in the war, Daniel Hörnemann tells the story of one who came home again.
[Image] The Rev. Dr. Daniel Hörnemann, OSB - Lest We forget   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Daniel Hörnemann's moving description of Gerleve Abbey's new memorial, dedicated to the memory of the 19 brothers who died as a result of war or accident between 1905 and 1987.
[Image] The Rev. Dr. Daniel Hörnemann, OSB- Found at Last - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The search for a German victim of World War 1
[Image] The Rev. Dr. Daniel Hörnemann, OSB - More on Theodor Hörnemann - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
"I Only Hope This Terrible War Will End Soon!"
This site already contains an article about Daniel Hörnemann's Great Uncle, Theodor. In this new article he is able to tell us more about the man, having discovered many of the letters and postcards written by and to him during the war.
  David Bluestein -  Captain Roy Roswell Poulton    - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
A very welcome account of the story behind another group of medals in David Bluestein's collection.
  David Bluestein -  Acting Major Charles Blair-Wilson     - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Research following the purchase of a soldier's medals resulted in this article written in memory of a young and highly-regarded officer of the 42nd Battalion Royal Highlanders Of Canada CEF, killed in Action September 15, 1916 on the Somme.
Linda Preston - A Midnight Feast   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
How a young and hungry soldier "beat the system" and found his way to the hospital kitchen!
 Thomas Hutchinson - T.F.T. - Thomas Franklin Townsend   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Completely re-written in the light of new research
 Bob Coulson - The Knott Brothers   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The story of two brothers, killed in action seventy miles apart, but reunited in death thanks to the efforts of their influential father, who ensured that they were buried side-by-side.
Bob Coulson - The Chaplain VCs of the Great War   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Bob Coulson tells the stories of the three "Padres" or "Sky Pilots" who won the VC during the war.
Bob Coulson - The Nine VCs of the First Day on the Somme  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Details of all nine VC winners and pictures of most of them.
John Hartley - Robert Brough - A Great-Uncle still in Belgium  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Hanging on the wall near his computer, John Hartley has a photograph of his grandfather, Thomas Brough, among his comrades in "E" Company, 17th Battalion The Manchester Regiment. Until recently, he never suspected that his grandfather's brother, Robert, might also be in the photograph. 
John Hartley - Thomas Brough - Private 9210   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Pte. Brough served in "A" Company, 17th Battalion  The Manchester Regiment. John Hartley's research into the Great War serice of his Grandfather grew and grew until it had become an excellent account of his Battalion's service, too.  
John Hartley - An Unlucky Soldier  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Details of the career of  Private Harry Eastwick, MS/1520 18th Anti-Aircraft Section, Army Service Corps
John Hartley - Lost and Found  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Until he found out quite by chance,  John Hartley didn't know he had a Great-Uncle who died in the war. The soldier didn't appear on any local war memorial, so he was almost lost for ever. But not now.
  John Hartley - In From The Cold - A Manchester at Gallipolli  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
In his latest "Hellfire Corner" article, John Hartley tells the story of Sgt. Thomas Worthington, 1/6th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, who was killed at Gallipoli.  John's research indicated that Sgt. Worthington was not commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The article's title, "In From the Cold", refers to John's decision to try to get this omission corrected..............
   Philip Eagles - The 8th August, 1918  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
In the early hours of the morning of the 8th of August 1918 a blanket of fog around the river Somme concealed a massive military force which was about to be unleashed. Two thousand British, Australian, Canadian and French cannon were deployed in a line stretching south-west from Hamel and north to and beyond the Somme.
   Philip Eagles - The Essex Regiment at Langemark - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
In this article, Philip Eagles tells the story of his grandfather, who was a 21-year-old Lieutenant with the 1st Battalion, the Essex Regiment.
   Philip Eagles - Alfred Lawrence Jessop  -NEW VERSION UPLOADED
An article remembering Driver Jessop, of 101st Howitzer battery, Anzac Corps, written by his great-nephew, Philip Eagles.
 Kevin Johnstone - Private John Farrer - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Remembering Pte. Farrer, of the Londale Battalion - 11th (Service) Battalion, the Border Regiment - who was killed in Action near Thiepval on 1st July, 1916.
Andy Fisk - Sgt William Falla, D.C.M.   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
This article is the result of Andy Fisk's research into the life of his relative Sgt. Falla, who served in the 1st Battalion, the Bedfordshire Regiment.
Richard Racey - WW1 Escape Recipe   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
(Stealth, Torn Trousers and Skinny-Dipping in the Dark) This is Richard Racey's edited version of his Father's Great War Diary, telling a story of capture nearYpres, imprisonment in a sucession of camps and, finally, escape to neutral Holland.
 Mike Neal - In Search of a Lost Pal   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
As a teenager, Mike Neal was not particularly interested to learn that his Great Grandfather had been killed during the Great War. Later though, after 20 years in the army himself, he took a much more profound interest and the result is this excellent  and moving piece of research and remembrance.
[Image] Private Frank Last (transcribed by Rick Riehl) -  My War Diary   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Rick Riehl's transcription of Private Last' Diary. A most moving account of a very eventful time spent in battle and as a prisoner.
[Image] Private Frank Last (transcribed by Rick Riehl) Fini La Guerre!   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The story of Frank Last's journey home.
 Jon Toohey - Brothers in Arms   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The story of two brothers from Ireland, both of whome served in the war, and both of whom have no known grave. They are remembered on memorials to the missing, but a world apart.
Andrew Wegg - Finding a Lost Soul   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The story of Andrew's research into the Great War service of his relative, Stanley Butwright, who was killed withing just a few weeks of his arrival in France.
  Chris Mills - Loose Ends   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The  charming story of Chris's journey in honour of his uncle, Pte. Ted Mills, of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, along with his son - also called Ted Mills - to tie up some family Loose Ends.
  Chris Shepherd -   Hubert Gooding, M.M. - 1st Bn the Essex Regiment - NEW VERSION UPLOADED                      
This is Chris Shepherd's article based on his research into the life (and death at Cambrai) of his grandfather's uncle.  Chris has used letters written home from the front to give a very moving insight into life at the Front. 
  Andrew Thornton - There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
The story of Company Sergeant-Major William Thompson M.M of the North Staffordshire Regiment, researched by his great-grandson, Andrew Thornton.
  Tom Morgan - At the Going Down of the Sun   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Tom Morgan's article following research into the life Private Harry Woods, 1st. Bn. The Dorsetshire Regiment, who almost disappeared without trace in 1915. Just to show that you can't always find information, no matter how much you try!
 Earl Chapman - Jack Chapman 1897-1918   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
This is Earl's Memorial to his relative, who was born in England and who emigrated to Canada in 1911. Jack Chapman is one of more than 11,000 Canadians who have no known graves.
  Alex Deeley - Requiescat for Two Uncles   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
In this article Alex Deeley, a young Australian, remembers his two relatives who died in the war, one serving in the British Army and the other in the Australian Imperial Force.
 Geoff Moran - The Diary of William Dick Stevens   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
This is Geoff Moran's well-edited version of the diary of an Australian soldier, from his departure for the war in 1915 to the time of his death at Pozieres, Somme, in 1916.
 Glenn Hyatt - Ollie O.Olive - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Glenn Hyatt saw this striking name on his local war memorial in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and simply had to find out more.
Tom Oates - The Colonel's Runner   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
John Wright - No Known Grave  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Chris Murphy - Albert Jacka  -V.C., M.C. and Bar  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Capt. Steve Newman, PPCLI - The Unknown Sergeant  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
 Capt. Steve Newman, PPCLI - The Unknown Lieutenant   - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
John Watts - Return to Cavalry Farm  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
John Watts  & Martin Soilleux-Cardwell - "Striking I Defend"  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Kyle Tallett - Pte. John (Jack) Clegg - Royal Marine Light Infantry    - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Peter Porteous - Transcription of the Diary of Private Harry Broun  - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Nicholas Lovell - The Five Victoria Cross winners of Bromsgrove School - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
GENERAL INTEREST ARTICLES
Tom Morgan - Dover, Louis Blériot and the Royal Flying Corps - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Tom Morgan - The Great Zeppelin Raid of January 31st/February 1st, 1916 - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Tom Morgan - Three Great War Burials - April, 1998 - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Tom Morgan -  The Burial of Pte. Russell Bosisto, 27th Bn. AIF - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Tom Morgan - The Christmas Truce - 1914 - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Tom Morgan -  Vimy Ridge - the 80th Anniversary - NEW VERSION UPLOADED
Tom Morgan - The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (France)
Tom Morgan - The German Cemetery on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire  
Martin Middlebrook - The Writing of The First Day on the Somme  
Janine Lawrence - Doing Their Bit - the Voluntary Aid Detachment
Richard Mackay - The Royal Naval Submarine Service 1901-1918  
John Duffell - A Town at War - Epping in 1915
 Ian Livingston - North British Locomotive Company, Glasgow
 Ian Livingston - 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers Football Club
  Robert Hoskins - Celtic Football Club and the Great War
Nicholas Saunders - Trench Art - Symbols and Memories of the Great War
Gary Butler - I Have Seen Sights Which No Man Should See    
Harold Pollins - Jewish Soldiers in 1/17th Battalion, The London Regiment in the First World War
Harold Pollins - Jewish Officers in World War 1
Harold Pollins - The Rothschilds as Recruiters for Buckinghamshire
John Brandon - Private George Nugent - Discovery
John Sheen - Private George Nugent - Identification
Andrew Thornton - The Staffordshire Brigade at Wulverghem
Taff Gillingham - The Christmas Truce 1914 - 1999
Judith Lappin - The Machine Gun Corps Old Comrades' Association
 Paul Reed -  The Mark IV Tank discovered at Flesquieres   with 2 updates
Terry Powell - Remembering July 1st., 1916, the Welsh at Mametz Wood
Lt. Col. E. R. Pratt OBE, MC - The Origin of a Fuse
Jack Cavanagh - Twenty Years on - Counting the Human Cost in 1938
Steve Wilson - Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
Tom Morgan - Who's Tom Morgan? 

To comment on an article or any aspect of HELLFIRE CORNER, email Tom Morgan