Six Weeks - British officers in the First World War

Gordon Gekko

Have just finished reading this book - really interesting read with lots of first-hand accounts throughout.

Fascinating insight into the motivations and often contradictory emotions that drove mostly junior officers to sustain proportionately the highest casualty rate in the British Army during the Great War. Worth reading also for the accounts of the day-to-day life of a junior officer at the front. Highly recommended (and no, I'm not the author ).

tac foley

My great-uncle Jack, in the London Rifles in WW1, told me once that they had had five platoon commanders [2nd Lts] in two weeks.

tac

arnhem44

The casualty rates for officers throughout the war was quite high,junior officers would of been in most cases young and most likely eager to start with.Also any officer would of stood out from other soldiers by uniform alone and would make for an easy target even in an advance of the line.I often wondered though did officers receive decorations more easily than other ranks?.I must check out that book Gordon.Could you tell me how much it cost?

tac foley

arnhem44 wrote: »

The casualty rates for officers throughout the war was quite high,junior officers would of been in most cases young and most likely eager to start with.Also any officer would of stood out from other soldiers by uniform alone and would make for an easy target even in an advance of the line.I often wondered though did officers receive decorations more easily than other ranks?.I must check out that book Gordon.Could you tell me how much it cost?

Sharpshooters/snipers, whatever, were/are trained to shoot at any enemy with -

1. A revolver.

2. and blowing a whistle.

3. A smarter uniform, with obvious badges of rank.

4. Binoculars.

5. A map-case.

6. Two-tone dress - khaki jacket and riding breeches.

7. A Sam Browne belt.

8. Standing up in front of everybody else.

9. Waving, as in 'Follow me' actions.

Sometimes, the young officer, make that mostly, had or did all of these things...

As for earning, proportionally, more medals, well, leading from the front tends to attract actions that EARN more medals.

Unusually posthumously.

My maternal grandfather earned a military cross on 21st June 1917 - he lies buried underneath it in the British military cemetery at Templeux-le-Guérard.

tac

arnhem44

Thanks tac for that.I know leading from the front would attract more attention to an officer and I'm not saying none of them deserved their awards,it took a fair man to face into any action especially those at the front of one,all I'm saying is did their awards come more easily than that of other ranks.Other ranks were in most cases the back bone of any attack and quite often were overlooked when it came to the issuing of any awards and were often the men who went over the top before any officer did.Even when it came to regimental diaries,other ranks are seldom mentioned whereas officers names appeared regularly.

Gordon Gekko

arnhem44 wrote: »

Thanks tac for that.I know leading from the front would attract more attention to an officer and I'm not saying none of them deserved their awards,it took a fair man to face into any action especially those at the front of one,all I'm saying is did their awards come more easily than that of other ranks.Other ranks were in most cases the back bone of any attack and quite often were overlooked when it came to the issuing of any awards and were often the men who went over the top before any officer did.Even when it came to regimental diaries,other ranks are seldom mentioned whereas officers names appeared regularly.

Actually that book covers that very topic. Apparently the lack of medals awarded to junior officers was a sore point - basically in order to be awarded a medal your act of bravery etc. had to be witnessed by a superior officer.

This meant that other ranks were often recommended for awards and medals by their officer (often very junior) - whereas often times, junior officers leading their men over the top had no more senior officer in their vicinity, resulting in no-one being around to witness the bravery and thereby recommend them for a medal. Apparently this was a particular issue for officers of the rank of captain - as their superior would generally be nowhere near the front line...

tac foley

Yup - happened in WW2 as well. My late Uncle Geoff, a sniper in the Princess Pats, was three times recommended for an MM, but on each occasion the reporting officers concerned were killed.

tac

xflyer

Later in the war, officers took to wearing ORs uniforms and carrying a rifle so as not to look too obvious. That lesson was re-learnt in WW2 as well. Continues today. You'd be hard pressed to spot an officer in a combat unit now.

Stovepipe

Hi all
I read where German snipers were trained to shoot the obvious Officers, ie, using a sidearm or sporting a mapcase or binoculars or even better quality clothing and then focus on NCOs, signallers, artillery spotters, ration carriers, engineers and sappers and any kind of specialist. The average soldier was really the last to be considered. It wasn't only British officers who had short frontline lives. The same applied to other Armies and especially to aircrew, who often never made it past two weeks at the front.

regards
Stovepipe