Albert Turner

From cavalry to infantry was the change Private 23398 Edward Robins made when he transferred out of the 10th (Prince of Wales’s Own Royal) Hussars. He swapped a sword for a rifle and received the new number 35515 when he joined ‘D’ Company of the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (O.B.L.I). Despite originally enlisting in November 1915 he did not go to France until well into 1916. As such he earned the British War & Victory Medals only.

Edward was born on 21st January 1891 at Warbleton, Sussex. His father was James Robins who subsequently worked at Lodge Farm, Ringmer. During this time the family lived in a house on Half-Mile Drove. Education was at Ringmer School from 9th January 1899 until 2nd May 1902 and again from 1st April 1903 until he was finally exempted by age on 1st February 1904. It is likely the interim period was spent back in Warbleton where James Robins was to ultimately farm at Liberty Island in that parish. One of Edward’s brothers was George, at school in Ringmer with him from 9th January 1899 until he reached school leaving age on 22nd March 1901. A cousin, also named George, died in the Great War and he is named on Warbleton War Memorial which is inside their church. That George was killed at the age of 30 on 27th March 1918 whilst serving with the 9th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment.

On the night of 27th February 1917, the 2nd O.B.L.I. relieved the 2nd Highland Light Infantry from their front line duties near Warlencourt Village on the Somme. The change over was not completed until 3am on 28th, owing to an excessively dark night. ‘D’ Company was in support in Grundy Trench just behind the front line. The dawn was misty, our front and support line trenches were shelled by the enemy. And then they were shelled again, this time by our own artillery; the result of a ghastly error. This was in a forlorn attempt to cut the wire in front of nearby German lines. It seems possible Edward may have died as a result of one of those tragic accidents which invariably happen in the confusion of war.

There is no known grave to visit for Edward Robins and instead he is commemorated on the largest and most impressive of all the memorials. It was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens and is situated at Thiepval on the site of an old chateau. On its panels of stone are inscribed the names of 73,412 men who died in this region in 1916-17 and have no known grave. The village of Thiepval was totally destroyed in the fighting during the Battles of the Somme and uniquely of all such villages, was never rebuilt.

Ernest Plummer was baptised in Ringmer on 1st October 1882 and went to the local school where his brothers were also educated. He was the son of Albert Thomas and Emily Plummer who lived at Clayhill, Uckfield Road, Ringmer. On the 1891 Census he is recorded as William Ernest Plummer.

It was to the Royal Sussex Regiment that Ernest enlisted at Lewes in September 1914. One report suggests he first joined the 1/5th Territorials but soon transferred into the 12th (Southdown) Battalion which formed part of the 39th Division. They were known as ‘Southdowners’ as most of their recruits were downsmen. Soon however, local newspapers christened them, ‘Lowther’s Lambs’ after the man who instigated their formation. Colonel Claude Lowther M.P. raised these battalions as part of the effort to increase the size of Kitchener’s New Armies. Soon there were three Southdown Battalions - the 11th, 12th and 13th. After training they were sent to France on 5th March 1916.

By now a Lance Corporal, with the number SD/ 1643, Ernest Plummer saw action in several parts of the Front before his Battalion was made ready for a major attack on 30th June 1916. It was to be at a place called Richebourg that the three Southdown Battalions were flung headlong against the enemy. Yet another diversionary move, it was principally intended to deceive the Germans into believing the main offensive was to be other than on the Somme the following day. Overall the attack that morning was a disaster and the three battalions lost 366 officers and men. There were almost three times that number wounded, among them L/Cpl. Ernest Plummer.

On 3rd September 1916 the 39th Division were in action again and on that day attacked the enemy’s position immediately north of the River Ancre. This is a tributary of the main River Somme. The objective was the enemy’s third line and it was reached but found impossible to hold on to. The gallant 12th Battalion did hold on however until 6pm when they were ordered to withdraw. The survivors re-assembled in the village of Hamel until relieved at 7pm by the 1/6th Cheshire Regiment. They then proceeded to Fort Moulin to rest. The casualties were regarded as light with three officers and seven other ranks killed or missing and a total of 57 wounded. Among the latter was Ernest Plummer who had recovered from his earlier wounds and rejoined his unit. These latest injuries proved to be fatal however and he is buried at Couin British Cemetery some seven miles from where he was hit. Ernest married Jane Divall from Ringmer in 1904. By the time of the 1911 Census they had had three children: Nellie Emily, William Thomas and Annie Laura. Following the death of her husband, Jane  subsequently remarried and as Mrs Jane. Blackman, moved to South Street, Chailey. She was sent her deceased husband’s British War & Victory Medals. Ernest had a brother, Alfred Charles, who was also to lose his life in the service of his King and Country.

George, the son of Thomas, a navigation labourer, and Emily Funnell of Rushey Green, Ringmer was born in the parish on 9th February 1890 and baptised on 20th July that year. They lived then at Ashton Green but moved to Rushey Green soon after. George attended Ringmer School from 25th September 1893 until 31st March 1902 when he became a cowman.

George Funnell married Jemima Parks on Christmas Day 1912 and they set up home in Rushey Green, Ringmer.
He enlisted at Chichester sometime after 31^st December 1915 with the number 14727 into the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) but later transferred into the 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. As a Private he was given the new number G/61054 and his battalion formed part of the old Regular Army 3rd Division. During 1916 and 1917 he will have seen much action before his fateful year of 1918.

The hostilities came to an end on the Eastern Front during November and December 1917 following the Russian Revolution and Germany was able to redeploy most of her forces to France and Belgium. With the American entry into the War on 6th April 1917 Germany became anxious to settle the matter before the U.S.A. built up their forces and destroyed her. Britain and France were low on manpower following the blood letting at Passchendaele and Verdun and were waiting on the United States to send sufficient men to resume the offensive. 21st March was the day chosen by Germany to launch what became known as the ‘Kaiserschlacht’ (the Kaiser’s Battle). The onslaught came first on the Somme and then it was the turn of Flanders on 9th April. The stubborn resistance of our Armies blocked the advance and dulled the cutting edge of the war machine so that by 29th April the worst was over. Germany progressed no further on our front. That is not to say she was defeated, far from it, the enemy continued to shell our lines and attempt intermittent raids. The Bösche also continued to advance into areas of French control, pushing their weakened Armies back towards Paris. Defeat was inevitable however as German munitions and supplies became exhausted. They could not be replaced in sufficient quantity by a hinterland starved of basic raw materials and food, brought about by a very effective allied naval blockade.

This was the situation facing Private Funnell on 21st August 1918, a time when the British 3rd and 4th Armies attacked on a ten mile front between the Rivers Somme and Ancre. They were determined to recapture ground lost in March. At Courcelles-le-Comte zero hour was fixed for 4.55am and the 4th Royal Fusiliers advanced a total of 4,500 yards towards the Achiet le Grand - Arras railway line in very heavy mist.

During the course of the advance on 21st August 1918 Private George Funnell was killed. He earned the British War & Victory Medals and is buried in Railway Cutting Cemetery, Courcelles-le-Comte near where he fell. This serene and rarely visited burial site has all 108 graves in one straight line alongside the railway track. Jemima returned to her old home town of Ore and lived in Percy Road after the War with their daughter Emily.

A view of the isolated and rarely visited Railway Cutting Cemetery

Adapted from Valiant Hearts of Ringmer by Geoff Bridger: Ammonite Press, 1993

The invasion force landed on 5th November 1914 almost unopposed and the strategic town of Basra was occupied with ease as the Turks fled. It was the success of this operation that led the Government to believe further advances into the heart of Mesopotamia would be a walkover. They ignored the inhospitable disease ridden terrain and the total inadequacy of the logistic and transportation services available to Force ‘D’. Unfortunately their apparent continued success in seizing territory belied an increasingly precarious position. The Turkish Army was a formidable power to be reckoned with and totally underrated by the General in overall charge of the 2nd Indian Army Corps - Sir John Nixon. Baghdad was the prize coveted by the British Government and Nixon belittled his subordinate commander’s caution and agreed to attempt its capture without further reinforcements. Nixon considered that the Allied attacks on the Dardanelles and the Russian action in Armenia would split the enemy forces and allow his meagre column an easy victory. It was despatched on a mission of conquest under Major-General C.V. Townshend. Nixon evidently had not heard of Cromwell’s famous remark, ‘No man goes so far as he who knows not whither he is going.’

On the way to Baghdad, inside a large loop of the River Tigris, lay the Arab town of Kut-al-Amara. The obvious way to carry supplies was by river yet few boats were available and so movement was slow. Supplies were stored in the town and the Corps pressed on. About sixteen miles from the Magic City, at a town called Ctesiphon some 20,000 well armed and determined Turks were waiting. In the forthcoming battle 4,500 of our men became casualties. The medical resources were woefully inadequate and the exhausted survivors were dying from exposure out in the desert. Townshend, who had lost 40% of his entire force, including half the white officers, decided the only course left open to him was to retreat. He proposed to make a stand in Kut-al-Amara and wait for a relief column to come to his aid. The date was December 3rd 1915.

Food stocks were considered barely adequate for a siege of two months and yet proper preparations for a possible long wait were disregarded in anticipation of a quick rescue. Three bungled and costly attempts to relieve the besieged troops were made in January but the rescuers from the 7th (Meerut) Division could not breach the Turkish lines. The local population of Kut remained and consumed the dwindling food supplies at a prodigious rate. Strict rationing was not introduced in that two months, at the end of which time it was realised that relief would not be imminent. The annual floods now greatly hampered a break through and hindered the muster of sufficient troops to force the Turkish lines. On 9th March around 20,000 troops of the recently formed Tigris Corps made another attempt. It failed, largely through the inept leadership of Major General Kemball and the unwillingness of Townshend to venture out of his enclave to assist. The cost of this debacle was another 3,474 casualties. No further large-scale attempt was to be made. The Turks could afford to wait for the inevitable and did not invade the town.

By April rations inside Kut were down to starvation levels and the Indian soldiers were in a particular plight, as they would not eat horseflesh on religious grounds. An attempt to secure terms of repatriation on parole not to take up arms again, failed. This was despite a ‘bribe’ of £2,000,000, which the Turks despised. They demanded unconditional surrender and on 29th April after a siege of 143 days Townshend complied after destroying all possible military equipment. About 3,000 British and 6,000 Indian troops were taken prisoner and most died in captivity from gross ill treatment, starvation and disease. Among them was Allan Parsons who is recorded as dying of sickness on 29th August 1916 at the age of 26. He would have been buried close to the prison camp at Anatolia where he died. After the Armistice his body was exhumed with many others and re-interred at Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery. It seems Gunner Parsons finally achieved his goal and reached the Magic City of Baghdad but surely not in the way he expected. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War & Victory Medals.