November 2013 – Edition 104

The fact that I have written quite a lot of stories about men who served in the First World War is a reflection of the high incidence of men serving in that War, coupled with the comprehensive service records which have been retained by the authorities.

Ada’s other sons who went to war

Herbert and Harold Percy Montague (Monty), two more of Ada’s sons, also served in the First World War, and a further son (Bernard John Gowran Fitz-Patrick) served in the Boer War. This provides the remarkable statistic that four of Ada’s seven sons served in a war.

Aubrey joins the Army

Aubrey, born in Barberton (see 1900 photo), South Africa in 1894, joined the South African Army in October 1914, his occupation listed as being a Clerk, Government Service (Native Affairs). His first field of battle was during the Maritz Rebellion in the Upington area of South Africa followed by action in German South West Africa (now Namibia). He served as a mounted machine-gunner in both conflicts and was granted the South West Africa Campaign Medal 1914-15 Star.

At the end of the Anglo Boer war twelve years earlier, all Boer soldiers had been asked to sign a pledge that they would abide by the peace terms. Some refused and were exiled from South Africa but many of them returned over the next decade, some of whom did not sign the pledge on their return. By the time of the Maritz Rebellion, those who had not signed the pledge became known as the “bittereinders” (“bitter enders”), a term that had been used by those Boers who had fought to the very end of the Anglo Boer war. The “bittereinders” believed that South Africa would fall into their laps as soon as England became involved in a war with a Continental power: “England’s misfortune is the bittereinders opportunity”. They viewed the outbreak of the First World War as that opportunity, especially since England’s enemy, Germany, had been their old supporter.

General Maritz (see photo) was the head of a commando of Union forces on the border of German South West Africa who allied himself with the Germans and the cause of the “bittereinders”. He issued an inflammatory proclamation on behalf of a provisional government that stated that “the former South African Republic and Orange Free State as well as the Cape Province and Natal are proclaimed free from British control and independent, and every White inhabitant of the mentioned areas, of whatever nationality, are hereby called upon to take their weapons in their hands and realize the long-cherished ideal of a Free and Independent South Africa.”

In reply the South African government declared martial law and proceeded to crush the rebellion. General Maritz was defeated in October 1914 and took refuge with the Germans.

Aubrey goes to France via England

Having already served in these lesser known (but important) battles of the First World War, Aubrey joined the South African Expeditionary Force on 8 November 1915 and embarked for England two months later, arriving in France in April 1916, where he was assigned to the South African Second Battalion which, at the time, was attached to the British 9th (Scottish) Division. The Division had 20 Battalions, of which four were South African, forming a Brigade.
This Division, with its battle hardened South Africans and its crack Highland troops provided a formidable foe for the Germans.

Aubrey plays Rugby

In the months he spent training in England before joining the war in France, Aubrey played rugby for the “Springboks” (South African infantry men) who were beaten by the “All Blacks” (New Zealander soldiers) on 16 April 1916. Remarkably, the game was recorded by British Pathé in newsreel that still survives.

The German Spring Offensive

For practical purposes the Germans and the Allies had spent a lot of time in previous years fighting over military objectives which had limited overall military significance, as described in my second article about Percy Hope.

However in early 1918 this changed with the German Spring Offensive.

Reinforced by a large number of Divisions freed up by the successful Russia and Middle East campaigns, this Offensive was Germany’s last ditch effort to push the Allies back to the Channel. Probably there was also a sense of urgency because the United States was pouring troops and equipment into France through the Channel ports.

For the first time, the Germans attacked swiftly along all the fronts in France, including the section occupied by Aubrey’s Scottish Division. In fact the Germans re-took virtually all the country which the Allies had laboriously gained at a huge cost of lives in the previous three years.

The South African troops resisted the German advance resolutely, notably in trying to defend the notorious Somme, where Aubrey had served the year before.

The swift German advance in fact led to their frontline troops outstripping their supply lines. This, coupled with the resistance of the Allies when they had regrouped, led to the Offensive running out of steam. Reputedly the German’s furthest advance was to Villers-Brettoneaux where they were repulsed by the Australians, as recounted in the Jerrems Journal of June 2011.

Aubrey was buried in the Wimereux Communal Cemetery (see photo of cemetery at top of the Journal and the photo of his grave). As usual, I find it so sad that his only substantial memorial is a lonely grave far from his country of birth and his loved ones, although he was remembered in the shorter term by several new babies of the Fitz-Patrick family being named after him.

Interestingly, the gravestones in the cemetery have not fallen over, they have been laid flat because the soil is sandy and will not support upright gravestones.

In my previous Fitz-Patrick article I described Alan and Dianne as being “distant cousins”. Alan has asked me to correct this by saying that they are in fact second cousins.

Conclusion

Thanks to Alan for the information in this article. In later articles I will include accounts of some of Ada’s other sons.