February 2016

The actions at Fromelles (18-19 July 1916) and Pozieres (21-24 July 1916) are of significance to Australia as the first large scale actions of the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front. They are equally important for Bucks for, directly alongside the Australian formations, were the 2/1st Bucks Battalion at Fromelles and the 1/1st Bucks Battalion at Pozieres. If 1 July 1916 is remembered as a particularly catastrophic day for the British army, the period between 18 and 24 July 1916 was the Bucks equivalent. A total of 124 men from the 2/1st Bucks were killed between those dates, and 69 from the 1/1st Bucks. Men from the 2/1st Bucks entered the notorious German ‘Sugarloaf’ stronghold at Fromelles before being driven back, while the 1/1st Bucks captured Pozieres itself on 23 July.

As reported in The Times on 5 February 2016, relatives of fallen British soldiers have been banned from the centenary commemorations. The Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs, tasked with organising the events by the French government, have said that British representatives and relatives are not welcome to attend, only those with Australian passports or residency. A departmental spokeswoman, Jennifer Stephenson, said the focus would be on Australian casualties, adding, ‘This is not to diminish the role of other nations but simply a recognition of the Australian focus of the event we are organising.’

There has been understandable outrage on the part of relatives of the British fallen from the 61st (Fromelles) and 48th (Pozieres) Divisions, both raised from Bucks, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, at the appropriation of the battles by the Australians. This forms a continuing pattern in the Australian re-invention of the ‘Anzac myth’ since the 1980s to emphasise national and cultural differences in ways that would have been incomprehensible to those many Anzacs who were British rather than Australian-born.

The Bucks Military Musuem Trust is working to ensure appropriate British representation. Details will be announced in due course. 

by Ian F W Beckett

An in-depth study of the impact of the conflict on Buckinghamshire between 1640 and 1660.

Chapters: The Community and the Approach of War; The War and the County Community; The War and the Local Community; The Revival of the County Community. 

Now available from Pen & Sword Military. Pp.204 + x, 7 tables, 15 full colour illustrations

ISBN 1473856035, £25

Thursday 29 October 2015, 7.30 p.m.

The Church of Christ The Cornerstone, Milton Keynes, MK9 2ES

In aid of SSAFA

[The Charity giving lifelong support to our Armed Forces and their Families]

A combination of live performance and film describing the effect of music in wartime from Napoleonic times to the two World Wars. Joining Isla is film maker Patrick King, who gives a ‘behind the scenes’ look at making their \award winning documentary films about music in war. Also featuring the Milton Keynes Pipe Band.

Tickets  £10 from The Church of Christ The Cornerstone and from Wilkinsons Estate Agents in Leighton Buzzard and Winslow. Or telephone 01296 712513

www.ssafa.org.uk

Talk by Martin Brown

1 October 2015 at 7.30 p.m.

Stowe School, State Music Room, Stowe, MK18 5EH

Discover how archaeology, anthropology and science combine to help identify fallen soldiers in  a presentation that takes the audience from the discovery of bones to full military funeral.

Tickst £8 from www.oxboffice.com

Bucks Military Museum Trust and High Wycombe Library

Saturday 26 September 2015, 10.00-16.00

Learn about the Buckinghamshire Great War Virtual Trail

Search our databases of Bucks servicemen in the Great War

Get advice on researching Great War lives

Bring in your images and memorabilia for identification

Display of uniforms and equipment

Display on 2/1st Bucks Battalion at Fromelles (18-19 July 2016)

Talk on Bucks in the Great War at 1100

An exhibition by the Bucks Military Museum Trust and the Buckingham Heritage Trust

At the Old Gaol, Buckingham from 18 August 2015

The 1/1st Royal Bucks Hussars sailed for Egypt in March 1915 as part of the 2nd (South Midland) Mounted Brigade. Leaving the horses in Egypt, the regiment was sent to Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, landing on 18 August 1915. Three days later, the brigade advanced acorss the ‘Salt Lake’ to attack the Turkish trenches on ‘Chocolate Hill’ and ‘Scimitar Hill’. Heavy casualties resulted, the regiment remaining on Gallipoli until November 1915.

This new exhibition tells the story of that baptism of fire for the 1/1st Royal Bucks Hussars a century ago.

Sunday 12 July 2015 at Pullingshill Wood, Marlow Common 11.00-16.00

An event to commemorate the First World War Training Trenches dug in 1915 by the Grenadier Guards, Welsh Guards and Royal Engineers stationed in the vicinity.

Sergeant-Major’s Drill and Children’s Assault Course; Guided walks, talks and displays on the history of the trenches; Remembrance Service at 1100; Local cadets undertaking military tasks.

Free Entry. Free parking at Danesfield Primary School, Henley Road (A4155), Medmenham, Bucks, SL7 2EW.

The Woodland Trust in partnership with Marlow Remembers World War 1 Association

The fruits of the research by the Chiltern U3A Family History Groups on the men commemorated on the Amersham War Memorial is now available both as a book and also online.

See www.amershamhistory.info/wwi/amersham-remembers

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Viney House (Army Reserve Centre), Oxford Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8RN

1830 for 1900 Hours

Tickets £15 each (to include refreshments) from: 

BMMT, c/o Ms G Richmond, 25 Market Square, Leighton Buzzard, Beds, LU7 1EU (Tel: 01296 712717)

We are delighted to announce that this year’s lecture will be delivered by eminent historian, biographer and broadcaster, Andrew Roberts. Andrew will speak on ‘Napoleon at Waterloo’.

It is appropriate in this bicentenary year to have the talk on the subject of Waterloo. Two regiments associated with Bucks were present on 18 June 1815. The 3/14th Foot, the Waterloo Colour of which is preserved at Claydon House, was raised in Bucks in 1813 and was rushed to Belgium when Napoleon returned from Elba to reclaim his throne. Tradition has it that new recruits hastily raised from the Royal Bucks King’s Own Militia were still wearing their militia uniforms on the battlefield. The 52nd Light Infantry, later 2nd Battalion, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, played a crucial role in the repulse of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard at the battle’s climax.

Andrew Roberts’s publications include Salisbury: Victorian Titan (1999), Masters and Commanders (2008), Napoleon and Wellington (2001), Waterloo: Napoleon’s Last Gamble (2004), and his most recent book, Napoleon the Great (2014), The latter was listed as one of the Books of the Year by The Spectator, The New Statesman, The Mail on Sunday and The London Evening News, and as one of the Biographies of the Year in The Daily Telegraph and The Observer. Napoleon the Great has just won the Los Angeles Times Biography Prize.

From 5 June 2015

This new exhibition opening on Friday 5 June 2015 tells the story of signals intelligence in the First World War, leading to the creation of the Government Code & Cypher School in 1919, which relocated to Bletchley Park in 1939. The first phase, from June, tells the story of MI1(b), set up by the Army, and the Admiralty’s Room 40, together with the technologies they used. A second phase, opening in 2017, will concentrate on the Zeppelin raids, naval warfare, and the interception of the Zimmermann telegram, which contributed to the American entry to the war in 1917.

The exhibition is part of the normal programme at Bletchley Park, and there is no additional charge. Summer opening hours 0930-1700, £16.75 for adults and £14.75 for senior citizens.

For further details, see www.bletchleypark.org.uk