In remembrance of George Theodore Snelling, Hood Bn., RNVR (Photo Blog)

Authuille, France. A wooden cross marks the spot were George Theodore Snelling was killed by a hostile shell.

A journey in George's footsteps

George Theodore Snelling, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, R.N. Div., Hood Bn., R/4315

This blogpost is dedicated to George Theodore Snelling of the Hood Battalion, who served and fought in France in 1918. 
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​On March 21, 1918, he was a first eye-witness of the German Spring Offensive or the Kaiserschlacht as they said in Germany.  He must have seen it all: clouds with phosphene gas, heavy bombardments, combats in the trenches and in the open field. Only 2 months after his arrival in France he lost his live, during the defense of the British front line near Mesnil.
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I followed his footsteps: from the place where he first joined his comrades of the Hood Battalion near Havrincourt Wood, crossing the old Somme battlefields of 1916,  all the way to Mesnil (not far from Beaumont-Hamel and Thiepval). I visited some of the places where he lived behind the frontline and of course payed my respects at his grave and on the spot where he was killed by hostile shell fire.
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As George didn’t keep a diary (for as far as we know), I based a lot of my research on the Hood Battalion’s war diary. A source of incredible information which contains a detailled description of the actions during the first days of the Spring Offensive. 

And so I travelled to France, on a cold and grey January morning, with a copy of the war diary, a lot of trench maps and the Google maps overlays. ​
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Badges of the Hood Battalion

I hope my photos give you an insight of George’s soldiers live. A huge thanks to his grandson, who kept searching over the years until he found the exact location of the place where George was killed. He provided me a lot of information which helped me to reconstruct George’s life on the Western Front. ​

The arrival at the Western Front

George Theodore Snelling was a gardener from Weston-super-Mare, a small seaside town in Somerset, England. He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and started his training in Blandford Camp by the end of June 1917. George got the rank of Able Seaman, finished his training in January 1918 and was drafted to the Hood bn. in February of that same year. He joined his comrades in Eastwood camp near Havrincourt Wood (France) later that month. 

View towards Havrincourt Wood. The actual wood is rather large and stretches out al the way to Trescault. Eastwood camp, marked in the diary as Eastwood camp P18d, was situated in these fields. ​ ​It was here that the Hood Bn. was billeted on the 19th of February 1918.

Unfired English bullet found in the fields near Havrincourt Wood.

Nowadays Havrincourt Wood is a very large wood surrounded by empty fields. During the war this place would have been crowded with thousands of men along with their tents and barracks. Traces of rusty nails, unfired bullets and other debris mark the presence of human activity.
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Church of Neuville-Bourjonval, near Eastwood camp. Int his town were the bathing facilities for the soldiers.

Road leading up to Neuville-Bourjonval. On the right an old chapel.

The old chapel that was destroyed during the war and re-erected afterwards by a local family.
​A spot George must have certainly seen during his stay here. 

Short stay in Trescault

After spending some days in Eastwood Camp the Hood Bn. moved up to Trescault, a village just behind the frontline, where George and his comrades served, clearing duckboards and wiring trenches.

Street in Trescault, France. Screw pickets (or pigtails) are still being used today.

Trescault, France. Location of the Hood Bn. Headquarters.

Church and town centre of Trescault, France. 

Church of Trescault, France. 

View towards Ribécourt, France, taken from Trescault. Trenches were situated in these fields.

In the lines at Ribécourt

Just a few days later the Hood Battalion relieved the Hawke Bn. in the lines at Ribécourt, the British frontline. During these days Ribécourt and the surrounding back areas were heavily shelled with gas grenades, making several casualties. It was in this area that George entered the frontline for the first time, occupying the trenches opposite to the German frontline. 

Old German bunker in the old frontline near Ribécourt. The Kaisertrench, occupied by the Hood Bn. in 1918 during their stay in the frontline, ran right trough it.

View towards Ribécourt. The Kaisertrench, occupied by the Hood Bn. in 1918 during their stay in the frontline, was situated in this field. George must also have witnessed the crash of a German airplane, as described in the Hood’s diary. 

View from Ribécourt towards the Kaisertrench (in the far distance of the photo).

The church of Ribécourt.

Ribécourt itself was captured by the allies in 1917 during the battle of Cambrai and was occupied bij the British army since then. I had the oppurtunity to talk to the mayor of this village and he told me that in fact much of the living during the war was done underground. Right under the streets is a maze of tunnels and shelters, carved out by the local population in the centuries before the war/during the middle ages. 

 I wonder if George would have slept there during his stay in the lines. It was certainly used by the Germans so great chance that the allies did the same. Visiting was not possible at the moment of my passage due to the risk of accidents, but the mayor told me that acces is possible if accompanied by the Arras fire brigade.  I will put that on the agenda.

Short movie about the underground tunnels in Ribécourt.
Source: https://youtu.be/Q-Ie1I5ZJLg

Ribécourt, France. Entrance to the underground tunnels.

Town hall of Ribécourt, France.

Ribécourt Britisch Cemetery lies within the city boundaries.
​Some of the Hood Bn. soldiers who were killed during their stay at the frontline lie here.

Ribécourt Britisch Cemetery.

Road leading from Ribécourt to Trescault.

Start of the German Spring Offensive

After being relieved George returned to Havrincourt wood (Westwood Camp) until the 21th of March, the start of the German Spring Offensive. It was the Germans final attempt to push through the allied lines before the American army would be fully deployed.  

Early in the morning on march the 21th 1918 the lines were heavily shelled. The Hood Bn. was ordered to stand to, short for 'Stand-to-Arms'. Bayonets were fixed, guns were loaded and they were ready to counter an enemy attack. Shortly after 7 AM  two clouds of phosphene gas were blown over their positions. 
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They were ordered to move up to Trescault to hold the second line. The area was still being shelled as described in the Hood Bn. diary: Battalion moved up by wooden road to Trescault. St Hubert’s X was being shelled in passing.
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Road leading from Havrincourt Wood to Trescault.

I assume that there would have been quit some chaos at the moment. 
Eventually George and his comrades were forced to retreat from the lines at Trescault and took positions near Ytres. When the Germans finally attacked their trenches they had to fall back and were finally ordered to march 14 km, crossing the old Somme battlefields of 1916, to the neighborhood of Martinpuich near the Albert - Baupaume road. 
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The Official Historian, Brigadier-General Sir James E. Edmonds wrote

After three days of battle, with each night spent on the march or occupied in the sorting out and reorganization of units, the troops – Germans as well as British – were tired almost to the limits of endurance. The physical and mental strain of the struggle against overwhelming odds, the heavy losses, the sinister rumours which were rife, all contributed to depress morale.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Michael#cite_note-FOOTNOTEEdmonds1935400-59​

Martinpuich, France. Screw pickets (or pigtails) are still being used today.

The 189th Brigade, were the Hood was part of, held the ground just north of High wood, not far from the Albert - Baupaume road. George ‘s battalion was in support in Martinpuich. Waiting for orders. 

​On March the 25th the Germans attacked and the Brigade had to fall back. The Hood battalion, already in close support, covered the retreat. They finally fell back towards the road itself near the old Sugar factory and held the line for a while until the orders were received to take positions at Thiepval just east of the river Ancre. 
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View from Martinpuich towards High Wood. In these fields the Hood Bn. covered the retreat of the 189th Brigade.

The road between Albert and Baupaume. The old sugar factory is situated in the far left.

Location of the old  sugar factory.

Behind the lines

On the 26th, after spending the night at Thiepval, they received orders to evacuate and occupy the lines west of the Ancre near the railway, just outside the village of Mesnil. After being relieved , George spent some time in the area behind the frontline in villages like Englebelmer, Forceville and Hédauville. 
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An impression of Englebelmer.

An impression of Forceville.

Old farm in Hédauville, France.

Back in the frontline at Mesnil

On the 7th of April he returned to the front near Mesnil again and occupied the trenches there. 

Mesnil lies on the higher ground not far from the railroad track. The Chateau, mentioned in the dairy, was used in the first days of their arrival as the Bn. HQ., before it moved to the town centre, out of sight of the Germans. Old gates still stand in the field before the Chateau. I wonder if they were the pre-war entrance gates. From the spot of the Chateau you have a great view over the valley and the old frontline, with the Thiepval memorial standing guard on the horizon. A view that George would have witnessed himself. 
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View taken from Mesnil towards Thiepval. 

Mesnil, France. The old chateau, former HQ of the Hood Bn.

A crusifix, Mesnil, France.

Remembrance wreath, ​Mesnil, France.

Town centre of Mesnil, France.

​Church of Mesnil, France.

The final stand 

George and the other members of his Lewis gun crew occupied the lines near the railway. A place without much shelter and in clear sight of the enemy. On the 11th of april a direct hit of an enemy shell took George’s live and that of his comrades. 

The railway near Mesnil, France.

It was George’s grandson who started looking for George’s military history and kept searching until he found the actual spot where he was killed. Eventually a small memorial was erected in the form of a wooden cross, right on the spot where he and his comrades lost their lives on that tragic April morning back in 1918. Behind the cross the leaves cover what’s left of the old trenches. Nature took over here and peace found his way towards the old battleground.

Memorial Cross beside the railway, on the spot where George lost his life.

View from Authuille towards the memorial cross (between the 2 trees in the far distance).

The wooden cross is a lonely reminder of a terrible loss, in the memory of George.
I wonder how the landscape along the front would look like if there was a cross on each spot where a soldier lost his live. Would be a moving but also a very confronting sight.
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Memorial Cross beside the railway, on the spot where George lost his life.

Road leading to the memorial cross.

 Lonsdale cemetery at Authuille

They buried George not far from the spot were he fell on the other side of the railroad. He was reburied in 1920 in Lonsdale cemetery at Authuille. Engraved in his gravestone are the simple but powerful, all saying words:  “At Rest”. 
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Lonsdale cemetery at Authuille

Always kind of touching when you are standing before the grave of a soldier you learned to know better in the past months. It is that moment when it all comes real. Right beside him was his comrade Able Seaman T. Wallace, who got killed on that very same day. 
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May they all rest in peace.

Lonsdale cemetery at Authuille

Join us in remembering George Theodore Snelling

My interest in the great war was always driven by the stories itself: stories of soldiers, the places where they fought, slept, walked and suffered under the hard circumstances so typically for the first world war. 
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Walking into the footsteps of these men connects me with history and makes me understand their stories better. One of these men was Able Seaman George Theodore Snelling of the Hood Battalion.
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Please join us in remembering him and all his fellow soldiers who fought and died at the Western Front. If you are in the neighborhood, please put some flowers on his grave or his memorial. 
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“Nooit meer oorlog” we say in Flanders. “No more war, ever again”. Keep these words in mind during your battlefield visits.
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Thanks again to his grandson, who gave me the idea for this post, for all the effort he made and the documentation he shared with us. 

Tom and Sarah
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Battlefield Photography

Sources
The Hood Battalion, Leonard Sellers
the Hood Battalion’s war diary
https://youtu.be/Q-Ie1I5ZJLg
Quote of the Official Historian, Brigadier-General Sir James E. Edmonds 

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We take you along our photographic journey through the World War battlefields in Belgium and France. With our black and white photographs and self written poetry, we share our impression of these historic, heroic and tragic events.