Vintageview
The Great War was reckoned at the time to be “the war to end all wars”. Of course, it didn’t. Wars have continued somewhere in the world ever since. But WW1 cast long shadows over people’s lives, and a century later, those shadows still lurk in modern New
Commemorating the end of the Great War
Over the last four years Vintage Perspectives has dealt with many events of the Great War – the invasion of Samoa in 1914, the heroism of Kiwi yachtsmen at Chunuk Bair, at Zeebrugge and on the Dover Patrol, our Hospital Ships, Jack Cornwell at the battle of Jutland and Lt. Cdr Sanders of the Q Ship Prize.
Now – exactly 100 years since the guns stopped firing after four years of unprecedented, brutal conflict, it’s a time to reflect on that war and the profound effect it had on our society. A 100,000 New Zealand men fought overseas, 10% of our population. Over 18,000 of those men died, and 45,000 were wounded, at Gallipoli, on the Somme, at Passchendaele and at sea; a complete generation of our young men were physically, emotionally and politically altered forever by the time the survivors returned.
But the war did bring out a passion for the British Empire like nothing had ever done before, and it also brought out a pride of nationhood in New Zealanders who were rightly gratified with the significant part the country had played on the global stage, from Samoa to Le Quesnoy.
Like my father, many of the men who joined up were first or second generation New Zealanders from Britain, eager to visit ‘Home’ for the first time. At the declaration of war, the sporting clubs had vied with each other to produce volunteers ‘for the Front’.
Yacht clubs were perhaps the most vigorous and their members were well-fitted for war. Many had played rugby in the winter and sailed all summer, racing on the harbours and cruising in the Bay of Islands, the Hauraki Gulf, the Marlborough Sounds or the Otago Harbour when provisioning was largely done with a .22 rifle and a fishing line and nets. Most had a sound background in either the Volunteers or as Cadets in the Territorials, so they were already handy and fit.
All-over tans were the aim, as ladies were totally debarred on cruising yachts or anywhere near a popular anchorage. In September 1914 the examining medico at the Drill Hall in Rutland Street, Auckland, asked one strapping fellow, “Part Maori, lad?” “No Sir, yachtsman” was the reply. Their fitness was tested to the extreme in the Hell of Gallipoli, the Somme and Passchendaele.
Initially there were few outlets for yachtsmen’s skills in the Great War. We had no naval forces of our own and relied on the handful of Royal Navy’s light cruisers stationed here and the fledgling Australian navy to protect our shores.
At first a semi-official Motor Boat Patrol was set up by eager yachtsmen in Auckland but that did result in problems, mainly political. Each of the two New Zealand Hospital Ships – Maheno and Marama – had yachtsmen aboard running a pair of donated motor launches, intended to act as tenders to tow lifeboats carrying wounded out the ships, but they suffered so badly in the ocean passages that they saw little use.
...a complete generation of our young men were physically, emotionally and politically altered forever by the time the survivors returned.
However, New Zealand yachtsmen and launch men eventually did find a very important role at sea. Many travelled to England to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and, in late 1916, the Royal Navy, with the help of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, recruited 80 yachtsmen and 100 mechanics into the Motor Launch Section of the RNVR for training in England.
They formed an important element of the crews manning the Us-built Elco 75ft and 80ft Motor Launches of the Dover Patrol and other patrols all around the British Isles and the Mediterranean. These were highly effective at anti-submarine work and in actions like the Zeebrugge Raid of April 1918.
Aviation was the exciting new frontier. The Walsh brothers combined the skills of yachtsmen, boatbuilders and mechanics at their successful flying school at Kohimarama. Leo Walsh, a competent businessman, had been local agent for Kelvin marine engines for some time while his brother Vivian was a pioneer aviator.
The school built several of its own aircraft, employing competent local tradesmen including Bill Logan, the youngest of the Logan brothers and Alf Bell, Charles Collings’ partner in Collings & Bell. Alf was an expert mechanic as well as a boatbuilder.
But for the vast majority of New Zealand’s young men it
was the trenches of France and Belgium. Many of the survivors came back so changed they couldn’t fit back into normal life again. By early 1919 the war was over at last, and the H1N1 virus, called the Spanish ‘Flu, had come and gone, killing 40 million people world-wide, 8,000 in New Zealand.
Were there any positives from the war? Obviously, there was a massive acceleration in technology during wartime which brought considerable benefits to the post-war world. For a time, too, the Armistice and the Peace Treaty that followed resulted in significant disarmament while the establishment of the League of Nations seemed as if it would ensure that international tensions would be solved by debate.
But the harshness of the reparations the Allies demanded from Germany and its economic repression ensured that populist, nationalist right-wing governments sprang up, manufactured internal and external enemies, and the Second World War became inevitable.
That frightful cycle may be repeating itself.
...the Armistice and the Peace Treaty that followed resulted in significant disarmament.