1914: THE LAST STAND OF THE THIN RED LINE 117
I do think that the English people haven’t yet realized the seriousness of
this show. Every man of military age ought to be put into trainingat once.
We have got to lick these chaps, and we are only playing at it at present.
Our Expeditionary Force will be practically wiped out in a month, and
more men must be sent. I don’t take a pessimistic view of the ultimate
result, but by our present shilly-shallying we are likely to keep the war
lasting for years.^32
The spirit of Henty was alive and well even in death. Jack Archer could
have spoken the lines penned by Julian Grenfell:^33
Darling Mother, Isn’t it wonderful and glorious that at long last after long
waiting the Cavalry have put it across the Boches on their flat feet and
have pulled the frying pan out of the fire for the second timeWe are
practically wiped out but we charged and took the Hun trenches yesterday.
I stopped a Jack Johnson [a variety of German artillery shell] with my
head and my skull is slightly cracked. But I’m getting along splendidly. I
did awfully well. To-day I go down to Wimereux, to hospital, shall you
be there? All all love. Julian of the ’Ard ’Ead.^34
Grenfell died of infection on 26 May 1915. His account underscored that
the dashing cavalry charge was a thing of the Victorian past.
Though the BEF remained in the line, French Marshal Joseph Joffre saw to
it they did not face any stiff resistance when the retreat finally ended and they
took to the offensive in the Battle of the Marne. Joffre’s troop dispositions
took into account his distrust of and disdain for Sir John French. The British
were to hit the crease that had developed between the German First and
Second Armies, a gap occupied only by three under-strength divisions of the
German II Cavalry Corps. Even then only an emotional personal appeal from
Joffre himself convinced French to turn and fight.^35 The British played only
a minor part in turning the German offensive; their next intensive action
would come on the River Aisne.
Even at this late stage, in the face of assaulting the prepared German posi-
tions on the Chemin des Dames Ridge above the Aisne, the Victorian ideal
survived. The citation of Captain William Henry Johnston, Royal Engin-
eers, was strikingly similar to that of Brevet Major Frederick C. Elton in the
Crimea. Johnston’s citation reads in part: ‘On 14 Sep. 1914 at Missy, France,
Captain Johnston worked with his own hands on two rafts on the River
Aisne’^36 while Elton’s reported that: ‘he was command of a working
party in the advanced trenches in front of the Quarries, encouraging his
lily
(lily)
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