My two Grandfathers almost met in World War 1 in 1918
In 1914 the two men who would become my two Grandfathers were totally
unaware of the existence of each other and were living 220 miles apart in the
UK.
Granddad George Henry Tame, born in 1891, was living in Wolverhampton
where he was working in a local brewery.
Granddad John William Proom, born in 1892, was living in a small
coastal village in Northumberland called Seaton Sluice, where he was a
coalminer, together with his father and two brothers.
John William Proom
In 1914 WWI started.
Granddad Tame enlisted in Wolverhampton where he joined the 1/5th
South Staffs Regiment.
Granddad John William Proom and his two brothers joined the army in
Northumberland, Granddad joined the Northumberland Fusiliers and his brother
Alfred joined the Durham Light Infantry. His second brother, Robert, joined the
Royal Engineers, survived the war and emigrated to South Africa. Alfred Proom died,
aged just 20, on the Somme in Aug 1916.
By 1918 both my Granddads had spent some considerable time in the
trenches in France and were both now located just a few miles apart in the
region near Bullecourt in Northern France.
It was known by now that the German General Luderndorff was planning an
offensive but no one knew where or when this would take place.
On March 21st 1918 Luderndorff launched his offensive, known
as the KaiserSchlact.
This was a major German offensive which was the Germans last gamble
attempt to win the war by breaking through the British and French lines before
USA troops joined the war in France.
Several thousand Germans guns blazed away to a predetermined plan that
lasted for five hours, firing a mixture of Shrapnell shells, which exploded in
mid-air raining down shell fragments and balls of lead, high explosive shells
that detonated on impact and three types of gas shells containing either,
chlorine, phosgene or a type of tear gas.
In just five hours, the Germans fired one million artillery shells at
the British lines held by the Fifth Army – over 3000 shells fired every minute.
Grandad Tame was with the 1/6th South Staffords holding a
line at Annequinn when the Germans began this tremendous bombardment. Believing
this was to be a German assault they manned their defences in readiness for the
German attack. The attack never materialised.
Further south, in Hirondelle Valley to the west of Bullecourt the 2/6th
South Staffs were also waiting for the German offensive, and when it came the 2nd
South Staffs were overwhelmed, with 6 officers and 106 men being killed and many
more being taken prisoner.
Further up the line near Bullecourt, the Northumberland Fusiliers,
including Granddad Proom were also in a state of readiness. But here the artillery bombardment was
followed by an attack by elite German storm troopers. This was a new tactic, these
soldiers travelled lightly and did fast, hard-hitting attacks before moving on
to their next target. Unlike soldiers burdened with weighty kit etc., the storm
troopers carried little except weaponry (such as flame throwers) that could
cause much panic, as proved to be the case in this attack. Granddad Proom’s Battalion found themselves being
attacked and overwhelmed.
An eye witness account says ‘We kept up rapid fire as the Germans
advanced, but there were so many of them and we seemed so few. Eventually we
could do no more and some of the men put up their hands to surrender. Others
decided to fall back to reserve positions, a decision that cost many men their
lives as they were under shell and machine gun fire as they retreated.
From what I have been told, I believe Granddad Proom started to retreat
but fell into a shell crater, and sheltered there from the bullets and shells until
the advancing Germans found him and took him prisoner.
Granddad Proom was captured on 21st March 1918. He was made a prisoner
of war but told the Germans he was a farmer, because he knew if he’d told them
he was a miner he would probably been sent to work in a German coalmine.
By the end of the first day of the German attack, 21,000 British
soldiers had been taken prisoner and the Germans had made great advances
through the lines of the Fifth Army. Senior British military commanders had lost
control of the situation. They had spent three years used to static warfare and
suddenly they had to cope with a German onslaught. The British Fifth Army were
ordered to withdraw. The German attack was the biggest breakthrough in three
years of warfare on the Western Front. Ironically, the British gave up to the
Germans the Somme region – where so many British and German
soldiers had been killed in the battle of 1916.
The Germans kept up the offensive for 5 days but it proved difficult to
hold on to the newly gained territory due to a lack of resources and the
KaiserSchlact petered out by the start of April 1918.
Not long afterwards, the British and allied forces prepared for another
push forward and Granddad Tame’s South Staffs Regiment were involved in the
Battle of St Quentin, an attempt to break through the German defences on the Hindenburg
line. By now the British were being supported by American troops, but were
still outnumbered by the German forces.
During this ferocious battle, Granddad Tame was bringing transport
containing rations and small arms ammunition to the front line under heavy
shell fire. In recognition of this he was awarded the military medal, for
bravery in the field. When he returned to Wolverhampton he was awarded a pocket
watch by the Patriotic committee in recognition of his honour.
Granddad Tame lived the rest of his life in Wolverhampton, where he
brought up 4 sons including my Dad, and he worked for 50 years at Butler’s
Brewery. He died in 1963.
Granddad Proom returned to Seaton Sluice after the war where he lived
until his death in 1979. After the war he always celebrated 21st March as a
second birthday, as he was of the opinion that being captured on that day
probably saved his life.
Bob Tame, family history researcher.
Web site: - www.tameclan.me.uk
