Brothers in Arms: The Unique Collection of Letters and Photographs of Two Brothers from the Front Line during the First World War

256 Pages·2015·6.97 MB·English

by  Farrington

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright © Karen Farrington, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-47382-561-1
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-47385-970-8
PRC ISBN: 978-1-47385-969-2
The right of Karen Farrington to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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DEDICATION
This book is based on a handwritten biography by Lieutenant Colonel Robert
D’Arblay Gybbon Monypenny (Robin), his letters from the front, and his
compilation of diary entries and letters from his brother, Lieutenant Phillips
Gybbon Monypenny MC (Phil) who was killed in action 28 June 1918.
It is dedicated to Phil’s memory, but also to the millions of young men
worldwide who perished in the First World War, including Robin’s
commanders, comrades and the men under his command who died in the
trenches, men of whom he speaks so highly in his writings.
Robin’s grandchildren, Joanna, Tim and Simon, grew up listening to the lighter
tales of his past. This book captures the full story of those fateful years between
1914 and 1918.
Contents
List of Plates
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. ‘England had indeed been unprepared!’
2. ‘It was my first taste of any real sort of war atmosphere’
3. ‘There’s a tremendous din going on, like a huge thunder storm, as there’s
just now an artillery duel over our heads’
4. ‘The parapets and parados here were thick with dead bodies’
5. ‘It was a roaring, raging, swirl of destruction’
6. ‘Hour after hour the tempest raged as huge shells tore the earth up’
7. ‘I know a little more about chemistry now’
8. ‘The continuous angry flash looked very ominous’
9. ‘Then the downpour of steel started, a veritable drum-fire, almost blotting
everything out’
10. ‘There is a German sniper over there who has just parted my hair for me’
11. ‘I scrambled back through the wire, tearing my clothes and my hands,
hearing bullets whizzing past me’
12. ‘Fancy being shot at like this in England!’
13. ‘Brother Boche has had a bad time all round,’
14. ‘There were several cases of men being missed in the dark by their
comrades, and actually drowned in the mud’
15. ‘Nothing daunted we moved on, men dropping faster here and there and the
gaps being filled up from those behind,’
16. ‘I am also beginning to feel the effects of this war especially in the dark,
when a gun fires not very far away or a sniper skims the parapet’
17. ‘We were a very cheery and happy crowd together and dances were
arranged for us about once a week’
18. ‘What an awful night to die on!’
19. ‘It is stifling hot & the mosquitoes are simply awful, millions of them & my
arms & neck are puffing out with huge bites’
Conclusion
List of Plates
Kodak Autographical used at the front by Robin Monypenny.
Robin Monypenny after serving in the First and Second World Wars.
Robin was furious when he was compelled to send his camera home from
France.
Robin and his future wife Brenda at Highcliffe-on-Sea, 1916.
Phil and Robin at Highcliffe.
Robin’s friend Joe Ashley, wounded at Gallipoli, in Felixstowe outside Hamilton
Garden Billet, 3rd Essex, 1916.
Tommy Taylor, Joe Ashley and an officer Robin referred to as ‘B’ enjoying life
away from the front line at Felixstowe, 3rd Essex, 1916.
Robin’s older brother Rex, who was ambassador to Persia.
Rex driving when he was in the Diplomatic Corps in Isfahan, Persia, 1917.
Robin, standing second from the right in the middle row with a raised hat, during
his time abroad with the 64th Pioneers (Madras), Bangalore, 1922.
Phillips Monypenny joined the Royal West Kents in 1916.
The Monypenny boys at Bedford School.
Robin in Bedford School’s Cadet Corps in about 1908.
An official portrait of Robin as an officer.
Although she was a stern guardian, it was to Aunt Ethel that Robin wrote
throughout his time at the front.
The letter to Aunt Ethel, telling her about the camera film’s imminent return.
Aunt Ethel sent numerous comfort packages, often in response to requests from
Robin.
Weary figures on a bleak First World War winter landscape.
Trenches for shelter, communications and observation were dug with shovels.
Robin’s commission dated 15 February 1915.
Phillips’ commission dated 7 April 1916.
Robin’s daughter Sheila with his uniform and medals.
Thanks to his camera Sheila has had a greater insight into Robin’s experiences at
war.
An unnamed soldier brews up at the front.
Parapets and parados were sturdy with sandbags to protect against rifle fire.
However, they were less effective against artillery barrages.
Before steel helmets were issued men favoured woolly hats against the cold.
To avoid sniper fire, sentries used periscopes to observe enemy activity.
Despite the hardships there was a great sense of camaraderie in the trenches.
Men soon grew used to the lack of comforts and apparent perils of trench life.
Phil was delighted when he won the Military Cross given to soldiers for
‘exemplary gallantry’.
Phil’s bronze commemorative plaque, also known as the Dead Man’s Penny,
issued to mark those who lost their lives in the conflict.
Acknowledgements
A special thanks go to Sheila Ford (née Gybbon Monypenny), Robin’s daughter,
for access to the original letters and photographs. Sheila, and Robin’s other
children, Joy (dec.) and Gerald (dec.), transcribed part of these writings into type
or handwritten copies. Sheila’s son, Tim, compiled all the writings and many of
the images. The family would like to thank Karen Farrington for believing in
Robin’s story and bringing this book to life and Ian Hook, curator of the Essex
Regimental Museum.
Introduction
Warfare had been a frequent feature of European life for centuries, but the
tempest that erupted in 1914, after leaden clouds brewed for several decades on
the continent’s horizon, took human conflict to a grim new level.
There was wholesale destruction: to regiments, to historic towns, to the
dreams and aspirations of a generation, to a way of life. Almost every family
across Europe was affected, as loved ones either died or were forever and
irretrievably changed. The number of those killed and wounded by the war’s end
was 37 million. More than a third of the men mobilised in Britain were
casualties. The number for France and Russia was closer to three-quarters, while
ninety per cent of the men who were enlisted to fight for the Austro-Hungarian
Empire perished or were injured.
The Monypennys were just one family among millions to mourn the loss of a
promising and vibrant life taken too soon for uncertain gains. With this and other
deaths, a glorious future was denied to many, as nations were hobbled by their
losses. Letters home from the front, cherished for years by a spinster aunt, give a
partial picture of Phillips’ melancholy war story.
But as one brother died so another came home, a witness to the carnage and
the bungled orders, the courage of comrades and the heart-sickening duties
shouldered by many and shirked by a few. And it was the legacy of the living, to
tell their story to future generations and shine a light in the murky shadows of
encounters that remained achingly distant from most people’s daily lives.
Robin’s letters, also lovingly preserved, were fleshed out by his memories
written into numerous exercise books. Although he put pen to paper when he
was much older, his recollections of these formative and gruelling years
remained pin-sharp. Evidence from regimental diaries kept throughout the
conflict chime perfectly with his accounts. Starkly unsentimental and
unnervingly clear-eyed, his words are all the more affecting.