Great War (1914-1918): The Society and Culture of the First World War discussion

Hello - first, let me declare an interest. This is my book. It's about the post-WW1 battlefield clearances, the story of a small group of survivors who stay on searching for bodies and burying the dead. I'm fascinated not only by the war itself but the aftermath - and would love to hear what other members think.

When the guns fell silent in November 1918 there were still over 150,000 bodies unburied on the Western Front. Three years later 918 British War Cemeteries containing 580,000 named and 180,000 unnamed graves had been created. This is the largely forgotten story of the men who stayed on for an extra 2/6 a day combing the battlefields four, five, six times in search of the remains of men missing in action.

WW1 was the first time in British military history that the nation went to such great lengths to find, bury and commemorate each of the individuals who had served. At Waterloo the dead had been piled in a mass grave. Although attempts were made to treat the dead with more respect in the Boer War, neglect of the SA war graves had been a national scandal.

There was also the issue of repatriation. After 1915 there was a total ban in spite of fierce opposition. But how could so many bodies be returned to Britain (to say nothing of the many Empire nations)? And what would the population at home think when confronted - physically - with the enormous scale of the slaughter?

By 1921 this work was done. What remained was to establish a permanent memorial both to those laid to rest and those with no known grave. This, too, was not without controversy. The decision by the (then) Imperial war Grave Commission to impose a uniform headstone irrespective of family wishes caused widespread consternation but was nothing compared to the uproar created by the fact that they were headstones rather than crosses. Questions were asked in Parliament. The Archbishop of Canterbury become involved. Eventually, only a narrow victory in the House of Commons ratified the wishes of the commission and led to the establishment of the now iconic military cemeteries.

Even then, the work was not over. Between then and the outbreak of the Second World War a further 38,000 bodies were discovered. They continue to be discovered all the time, uncovered by farmers ploughing fields, builders digging foundations or simply pushed to the surface by the tidal movement of the mud.

There has been much talk recently of winning the peace (as well as the war). And we are now much more aware of the long-term effects of conflict on both survivors and their families as well as the relatives of the deceased. Much of what we now do and believe comes from the work of the men who made the military cemeteries of World War One. It's a story few people know. But one I hope to bring to wider notice.

Ordered-looking forward to a good read !

I began reading 'The Glorious Dead' 3 days ago (October 28, 2018) and it's my goal to finish reading it by this coming November 11th, in time for the observance of the centenary of the Armistice. ('Veterans' Day' here in the States since 1954.)

It's well-written, has already added to my knowledge of an aspect of the immediate post-war period of which I had no knowledge, and has a way of drawing the reader immediately into the story itself. (Ocker the Aussie soldier - aka Gilchrist - is quite a character.)

Great to know you're enjoying it Komet. Thanks for commenting.