Response from Helmut Schlieper

Date: 17th December 1919

Address: ???e Str. 30, Dortmund

From:Otto Schlieper

To: (Mr.Gray)

Dear Sir

I thank you very much for your letter from 11 of this month which I have received today. I also do not understand how I could find this Pay-Book last year. But it can be, that 1) your son has not been buried, or, 2) an other soldier, perhaps a friend of your son, has taken the Pay-Book and has thought, I shall give this book to his father, if the war has finished.

I cannot say where I have seen the body, because we have made the whole offensive last year. At first, beginning 21.III.1918 from La Fere, Chauny, north of Noyon till Rollos (in the sud of Montpelier?, then beginning at Laon, over Chavonne/Aime, Braine to Longport near Villers-Cotleb, where I was rather wounded. We have found many bodies of British and German soldiers who were not yet buried, although they were killed before long time. Do you not know a friend from your son, who was with him in action and who can say you, if he is, fallen or missing? And can this officer not say how that is? Where are his other papers and his other things. You have written: he is fallen. Who has written this to the British War-Office? He must have been on the side of your son in action, or not?? I have found only this book.

When I came wounded to Germany last year, ???, I took the book with me, to write you at once, if the war was over. But I must at once again in action, where I was caught and came to Holyport / Berkshire. More - I am sorry - I do not know. From Oct 17 till March 18 we were not in action. In summer 1917 we fought 5 1/2 months on the Chemin des Dames near Laon.

I am yours truly

Helmut Schlieper

From Wikipedia:
In France, the Chemin des Dames (literally, the "ladies' path") is part of the D18 and runs east and west in the département of Aisne, between in the west, the Route Nationale 2, (Laon to Soissons) and in the east, the D1044 at Corbeny. It is some thirty kilometres long and runs along a ridge between the valleys of the rivers Aisne and Ailette.

Three battles were fought along the Chemin des Dames east-to-west ridge located to the north of Paris during the First World War. All are named after the river which flows on the south side of the ridge. Their names are as follows:

• First Battle of the Aisne (1914) - Anglo-French counter-offensive following the First Battle of the Marne.
• Second Battle of the Aisne (1917) - main component of the Nivelle Offensive.
• Third Battle of the Aisne (1918) - third phase (Operation Blücher) of the German Spring Offensive.

The best-known battle, called the Second Battle of the Aisne, took place between 16 April and 25 April 1917. To soften up the German defenses, General Robert Nivelle, an artilleryman by training and experience, inflicted a six-day artillery preparation involving 5,300 guns. This, of course, provided ample warning that a major French attack was coming. Then, on 16 April, seven French army corps attacked the German line along the Chemin des Dames ridge. But Nivelle had underestimated the enemy's defensive preparations; the Germans had created a network of deep shelters in old underground stone quarries below the ridge, where their troops took shelter from the French barrage. The German positions also dominated the southerly slope over which the French attackers were progressing. On the first day, French infantry and some colonial Senegalese troops progressed to the top of the ridge in spite of intense German artillery counterfire and poor weather conditions. However, as French infantry reached the plateau, it was slowed down and then stopped by the intense fire of a very high number of the Germans' new MG08/15 machine guns. As a result, the French took 40,000 casualties on the first day alone. Furthermore, during the following 12 days of the battle, French losses continued to rise to 120,000 casualties (dead, wounded, and missing). The final count, when the offensive was over, was 271,000 French casualties and 163,000 Germans casualties. The German defenders suffered much less, but lost some 20,000 prisoners, 40 cannons, and 200 machine guns. The high French casualty count, in so few days and with such minimal gains, was perceived at headquarters and by the French public as a disaster. Furthermore, the agonizingly slow evacuation of the French wounded also demonstrated a lack of logistical preparations. Nivelle had to resign, and the French Army became plagued by many refusals to march amounting to mutinies in several infantry divisions.

Found on the Battlefield

Date: 28th November 1919

Address: ?? Street 30, Dortmund, Westfallen

From: Helmut Schlieper

To: Mr.Gray

Dear Mr. Gray

During one of our offensives in the summer of 1918 I found on the battlefield the body of your son Mr.T.Gray #15601 Durham L.I. Together with his comrades around him he was killed by machine-gun fire. I know his name, because I have found his Pay-Book "with his Will".

If you desire, I shall send you this book.

I am your
Helmut Schlieper
Lieutenant I.Reserve

I have not yet written, because I have been a Pris.of War in Holyport, Berkshire.

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Notes:

1.



Picture of  Holyport POW Camp from ICRC Historical Archives

2. The pub now known as "The Belgian Arms" was called "The Eagle" until 1917. However, German prisoners of war used to salute the Prussian Eagle as they marched passed it, so the pub was re-named after Belgium, where many of the villagers served in the war.

Letter of Condolence 2

Date: 29th December 1917

Address: The Villas, Thornley, Durham

From: J.& H.J.Wilkinson and family

To: Tom

My Dear Tom

We received your letter and I can assure you of my heartfelt sympathy on your sad loss.

Your Tom was an extraordinary fine fellow and I am certain if he had been spared he would have made a name for himself but we have to bow to the Divine Will and these things are beyond our ken but we have the assurance that now he is in the presence of God who will value his sacrifice and manhood at their true value as He alone can know "the spirits strong deep longings".

The pains of death are past
Labour and sorrows cease
And life's long warfare closed at last
His soul is found in peace

I pray that God in His great Goodness may be your support in your sad bereavement and that you may realise that He alone is your refuge.

Give our kindest regards to Mrs.Gray and family

Yours in deepest sympathy

J.& H.J.Wilkinson and family

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Notes

1 The quote "the pains of death are past..." is from "on the death of an aged minister" by James Montgomery printed in a number of sources including "A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship" compiled by Francis William Pitt Greenwood, 1835.

2 J.Wilkinson of The Villas is listed as lodge secretary for Thornley in the Durham Mining Museum archives: http://www.dmm.org.uk/dmaarchv/1915addr.htm

Letter of Condolence

Date: 26th December 1917

Address: Ramside, Durham

From: Miss Pinkerton

To: Mr.Gray

Dear Mr.Gray

I am most deeply (...) to hear your sad loss. Your son was such a help to us in the hospital and I got to know him so well that when he left we all missed him and the good influence he had. So much.

I hoped that he had not been obliged to return again to the front. He was such a splendid fellow. I shall never forget his patience and pluck, through that long and trying illness - nor the day I went with him to Dr.Maclay's in Newcastle. Whatever they did to him he always saw the bright side and never grumbled.

I feel sure in my own mind that men like that are not taken from us, unless they are headed for higher work on the other side. I know what the loss of such a son must be to you and I pity you from my heart for the lonely and empty days, but it will be a great comfort to you to know, that having lived a good straight life, all will be well with him.

I feel I have lost a real friend. If you have more particulars later, would (you) write and tell me anything you hear, I should feel so grateful.

Sincerely

Miss Pinkerton

Army Form B. 104-82

Date: 18th December 1917

No. 68/8184/3530 (If replying please quote above No.)

Address: No.1 Infantry Record Office, York

From: Officer in Charge of Records No.1

To: Mr. Thos Gray, 9 South Terr. Horden

Sir

It is my painful duty to inform you that a report has been received from the War Office notifying the death of:-

(no.) 15601  (Rank) Cpl.
(Name) Thomas Gray
(Regiment) 14th D.L.I.
which occurred in France
on the 3.12.17.
The report is to the effect that he was killed in action

By His Majesty's command I am to forward the enclosed message of sympathy from Their Gracious Majesties the King and Queen. I am at the same time to express the regret of the Army Council at the soldier's death in his Country's service.

I am to add that any information that may be received as to the soldier's burial will be communicated to you in due course. A separate leaflet dealing more fully with the subject is enclosed.

I am, Sir, Your obedient servant

P.T.O.

NOTE

If any articles of private property left by the deceased are found, they will be forwarded to this Office, but some time will probably elapse before their receipt, and when received they cannot be disposed of until authority is received from the War Office. Some delay is therefore inevitable.

Any application regarding the disposal of any such personal effects, or of any amount that may eventually be found to be due to the late soldier's estate should be addressed to "The Secretary, War Office, Park Buildings, London, S.W."