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A Cavalry Chaplain
by
Henry C. Day
(S.J., M.C., Order of the White Eagle of Serbia)
With an Introduction by Lieut.-Gen. Sir W. E. Peyton, K.C.B.,
K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O.
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This is
the October 1922 Second Impression, published the month after
the First Edition |
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Front cover and spine
Further images of this book are
shown below
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Publisher and place of
publication |
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Dimensions in inches (to
the nearest quarter-inch) |
London: Heath Cranton Limited, |
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5½ inches wide x 8¾ inches tall |
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Edition |
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Length |
October 1922
[Second Impression.; first
published September 1922] |
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188 pages |
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Condition of covers |
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Internal condition |
Original tan cloth gilt. The covers are
scuffed and rubbed, somewhat dull and with fading around the edges., There
is a small but prominent stain on the front cover and noticeable variation
in colour throughout. The spine has faded slightly and with a blotchy
appearance. The spine ends and corners are bumped and slightly frayed, with
minor splits to the cloth at the head and tail. There are some indentations
along the edges of the boards and there is a marked forward spine lean. |
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There is a Library label on the front
pastedown ("Ex. Bibliotheca Congr. SS. Redempt. Domus ad S. Joseph,
Dundalk"), and an oval Library stamp on the browned and very discoloured
Half-Title page. Both the label and stamp have been partially defaced with a
small white circular sticker, marked "18/c". There is also a defaced
reference ("40D") on the pastedown. The front free end-paper has been
roughly removed, leaving some residue. All this can be seen in the final
image below. There is some scattered foxing and a few pages have grubby
marks though the text remains generally quite clean throughout on tanned paper. A few pages
have a short shallow groove in the margin, extending into the text and some
corners are creased. The
inner hinges are cracked and there is some separation between the inner
gatherings. The edge of the text block is dust-stained and lightly foxed. |
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Dust-jacket present? |
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Other
comments |
No |
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Now scarce in any 1922 Edition, this example,
notwithstanding the stain on the front cover and some discolouration, is in
quite reasonable covers and, once past the markings on the front end-papers,
is clean internally. |
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Illustrations,
maps, etc |
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Contents |
Please see below for details (but note that the
illustrations are all sketches) |
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Please see below for details |
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Post & shipping
information |
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Payment options |
The packed weight is approximately
600 grams.
Full shipping/postage information is
provided in a panel
at the end of this listing.
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Payment options
:
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UK buyers: cheque (in
GBP), debit card, credit card (Visa, MasterCard but
not Amex), PayPal
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International buyers: credit card
(Visa, MasterCard but not Amex), PayPal
Full payment information is provided in a
panel at the end of this listing. |
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A Cavalry Chaplain
Contents
Introduction
I. Posted to the Yeomanry
II Sent to the East Coast
III. With the H. A. C. At Mundesley
IV. On Board the "Karoa"
V. At the Base in Egypt
VI. In Barracks at Cairo
VII. Life in the Desert
VIII. A Nice Quiet Horse for a Padre
IX. Off to Gallipoli
X. The Last Fight at Suvla
XI. The Story of the Battle
XII. Chocolate Hill
XIII. In the Trenches
XIV. L'Envoy
Index
List of
Illustrations
1. A Cavalry Chaplain " .... frontispiece
2. A Bolshevist
3. Stables
4. The Street Vendor
5# A Nice Quiet Horse for a Padre
6. Disembarking from the "Old Doris" (Suvla Bay)
7. 2nd Mounted Division after Landing at Suvla
Bay
8. The Advance Across Salt Lake
9. Suvla Bay
10. By Piccadilly Circus in Asmac Dere
11. A Turkish Well
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A Cavalry Chaplain
Introduction by Lieut.-Gen. Sir W. E. Peyton
The Reverend Father Day having asked
me to write "a foreword " to his book, and in that it deals so much
with the stirring and gallant deeds of the original 2nd Mounted
Division, and the other yeomanry regiments which subsequently
joined us, I feel that my doing so will not be inappropriate; for I
saw our early days, and all the training that was eventually to
produce such brilliant results, though it was not my good fortune to
share the greater portion of their glorious record.
One word about " the Author," most gallant amongst that gallant body
of men " the padres " of all denominations, who in all theatres of
war shared the dangers, and hardships of the trenches, and the open
field; and ministered with such sympathy to both the spiritual and
bodily wants of all ranks : Father Day stood out for his simplicity,
bravery, and breadth of vision, and his experiences and the
impressions he received thereby must be of great interest to all
those who served with him, and also to their friends.
The 2nd Mounted Division as originally formed, was comprised of
material both in officers and men who were bound from their breeding
and instincts to fling themselves into the breach at the call of
their King and Country. Soldiering as I have been for thirty-seven
years, and commanding as I have troops of all arms and descriptions,
I can honestly say that in looking back, there is no command in
which I have had more pride, or no body of men so instinct with
sympathy and readiness to meet every wish I had, before even those
wishes framed themselves into "orders." Many friends I made, and
many staunch friends I have retained, and alas many whose loss I
mourn, and in whose sacrifice I glory.
The 2nd Mounted Division met its baptism of fire on the 21st August,
1915. The words of General Sir Ian Hamilton best describe how they
met the ordeal:
"Whilst this fighting was in progress the 2nd Mounted Division moved
out from Lala Baba in open formation to take up a position of
readiness behind Yilghin Burnu. During this march they came under a
remarkably steady and accurate artillery fire. The advance of these
English Yeomen was a sight calculated to send a thrill of pride
through anyone with a drop of English blood running in their veins.
Such superb martial spectacles are rare in modern war.
" Despite the critical events in other parts of the field, I could
hardly take my glasses from the Yeomen; they moved like men marching
on parade. Here and there a shell would take toll of a cluster;
there they lay; there was no straggling; the others moved steadily
on; not a man was there who hung back or hurried."
Weary months in the trenches sitting under point blank range of the
Turkish guns, ravaged by disease, their indomitable spirit never
forsook the troops; and when the evacuation of the Peninsula took
place, the Division once more sought their horses, and in a few
weeks were again in the Field, some on the Eastern, and some on the
Western frontiers of Egypt. The operations of the latter frontier
were rendered classical and historic by the charge of the Dorset
Yeomanry. I believe I am right in saying that they were the first
cavalry regiment to givea practical demonstration of the possibility
of a successful charge on machine guns in action. Subsequently, all
units of the Division took part either mounted or dismounted in
Allenby's brilliant operation culminating with the capture of
Jerusalem and the flight and annihilation of the Turco-German
forces. Not yet, however, were the services of those gallant yeomen
to be dispensed with; as machine gunners and as infantry they were
hastened to France, there to withstand the onslaught of the German
Offensive, and finally to take part in the glorious enterprise which
finished the greatest War the world has ever known.
That the Yeomen of the Midland Counties, the men from Dorset,
Nottingham, and Derby, the best of the youth of London and the
Scotsmen of Tullibardine and Lovat may find their reward, by the
emulation of future generations, to keep alight the flame of
patriotism, and combativeness against wrung, which they so
brilliantly set burning, is my most ardent and sincere wish.
W. E. PEYTON,
Lieut.-General, (late Commander 2nd Mounted Division.)
May, 1922.
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A Cavalry Chaplain
Excerpt:
XI. The Story of the Battle
Arrived on Chocolate Hill I was dumbfounded to observe its changed
and forlorn appearance. The densely crowded hill of the previous
evening was this Sunday morning but sparsely occupied by a handful
of war-worn men. They were engaged in selecting sites, and digging
in. My first impression was that this was all that was left of our
splendid Division. A line of forgotten verse revived in my memory :
" One moment in annihilation's waste."
But no, it was not complete annihilation. The men I saw were the
remnants of a single Brigade, the Bucks, Berks, and Dorsets. Most of
the Division had retired to the sea during the late hours of the
night, or the early hours of the morning. These troops were expected
to rejoin us in the front line by evening. The only other
information I could immediately glean was that the 2nd Brigade with
whom I now found myself had started the attack on the left and
managed to push forward a considerable distance, before they were
eventually forced to retire, after sustaining terrible casualties.
My favourite regiment, the Dorsets, had suffered most. This unit was
reduced to the barest skeleton formation—no officers except the
Commanding-Officer left, few N.C.O.'s, and only one hundred and
fifty men. I had not the heart to search for my friends. The sight
of Colonel Troyte-Bullock giving directions to the little groups of
survivors was touching. I approached him, and expressed in a few
words my sympathy. The Brigade had also lost its gallant chief.
Brigadier-General Lord Longford fell leading his men.
To give the reader a clearer insight into the part taken by our
Division, I venture to insert an extract from Sir Ian Hamilton's
Despatch dealing with the battle of 21st-22nd August as a whole :
" At three p.m. an advance was begun by the Infantry on the right of
the line. The 34th Brigade of the 11th Division rushed the Turkish
trenches between Hetman Chair and Aire Kavak, practically without
loss, but the 32nd Brigade, directed against Hetman Chair and the
communication trench connecting that point with the south-west
corner of the Ismail Oglu Tepe Spur, failed to make good the point.
The Brigade had lost direction in the first instance, moving
north-east instead of east, and though it attempted to carry the
communication trench from the north-east with great bravery and
great disregard of life, it never succeeded in rectifying the
original mistake. The 33rd Brigade, sent up in haste with orders to
capture this communication trench at all costs, fell into precisely
the same error, part of it marching north-east and part south to
Susuk Kayu.
" Meanwhile the 29th Division, whose attack had been planned for
three-thirty p.m., had attacked Scimitar Hill (Hill 70) with great
dash. The 87th Brigade, on the left, carried the trenches on
Scimitar Hill, but the 86th Brigade were checked and upset by a
raging forest fire across their front.
" Eventually pressing on, they found themselves unable to advance up
the valley between the two spurs owing to the failure of the 32nd
Brigade of the 11th Division on their right. The Brigade then tried
to attack eastwards, but were decimated by a cross fire of shell and
musketry from the north and south-east. The leading troops were
simply swept off the top of the spur, and had to fall back to a
ledge south-west of Scimitar Hill, where they found a little cover.
. . .
" Now that the 11th Division had made their effort and failed, the
2nd South Midland Brigade (commanded by Brigadier-General Earl of
Longford) was sent forward from its position in readiness behind
Yilghin Burnu, in the hope that they might yet restore the fortunes
of the day. This Brigade, in action for the first time, encountered
both bush fire and musketry without flinching, but the advance had
in places to be made almost by inches, and the actual close attack
of the Yeomen did not take place until night was fast falling. On
the left they reached the foremost line of the 29th Division, and on
the right also they got so far as the leading battalions. But, as
soon as it was dark, one regiment pushed up the valley between
Scimitar Hill and Hill 100 (on Ismail Oglu Tepe) and carried the
trenches on a small knob near the centre of this horse-shoe. . . .
" As the men were too done, and had lost too heavily to admit of a
second immediate assault, and as the knoll actually held would have
been swept by fire at daybreak, there was nothing for it but to fall
back under cover of darkness to our original line."
Thus owing to one Brigade mistaking its direction and another" being
held up by a bush-fire, the Division on left and right could not get
through. The reserves called into action later succeeded no better.
The result was that the attack on Hill 70 (Scimitar Hill) and Ismail
Oglu Tepe, though fiercely maintained for several hours, completely
failed. General Sir Ian Hamilton, who watched the fighting till
dark, has suggested different causes. The preliminary bombardment
was nearly futile. This was not the fault of the gunners. It was due
on the one hand to an unexpected mist which interfered with the
aiming of the guns, and, on the other, to shortage of ammunition
which prevented the inaccuracy of the shooting being compensated by
quantity. Then the bush-fire came along and put an impassable
barrier between the heroic 29th and the Turks. The " fine edge " of
the 11th Division had also been blunted.
It was said, moreover, that the 9th Division had been shouldered off
the true line of attack by the 11th Division, driven in by fire, and
that the 11th Division had been barged into by the Yeomen and thrown
off their line. But the root cause of all the trouble seems to have
been the afternoon mist. This was wholly unexpected, and has been
described by the Commander-in-Chief as " sheer bad luck." He had
reckoned " on the enemy's gunners being blocked by the declining
sun, and upon the Turkish trenches being shown up by the evening
light with singular clearness. This would have been the case in
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But actually we could hardly see
the Turk's lines this afternoon; whereas to the westwards our troops
stood out in strong relief against the luminous mist, and offered
excellent targets to the enemy."
The ensuing account of the doings of the Mounted Division is made up
from scraps of information gathered at different times from various
sources:
On the day of the battle Major-General Peyton left us to assume
command of the 9th Corps, in order to leave General de Lisle free to
conduct operations. The command thus vacated by General Peyton was
given to General Kenna. Colonel Sir John Milbanke took over the 3rd
Brigade. These temporary changes provoked some criticism at the
time, on account of the prevalent belief that the officers in
question were without previous experience in handling the larger
formations with which they were suddenly entrusted. A further
disconcerting fact was the lack of local knowledge on the part of
regimental commanders. No reconnaissance had been made. General
Kenna, alone of our officers, visited the front line beforehand.
Consequently, when the attack, which started at a late hour, took
place, officers had to push their troops forward, through an
unexplored, heavily entrenched country (the enemy had been
concentrating for days) with only the haziest knowledge of their
objectives.
General Kenna established his battle Headquarters and assembled all
the machine guns of the Division at Chocolate Hill, on the night of
the 20th. Events proved that these guns would have been of
infinitely greater use with their units.
At five-thirty in the afternoon of the 21st, the 2nd and 4th
Brigades were ordered into action. Their instructions were of the
vaguest description. They were to seize " W " Hill on the east slope
of the Anafarta ridge, and then move forward indefinitely. The 2nd
Brigade wheeled round the left foot of Chocolate Hill, while the 4th
started from the other side and attacked on the right. The fighting
on the left has been already described. Jt was the most successful
part of that night's operations. The Bucks, Berks, and Dorsets,
alone of our Yeomanry, got in bayonet touch with the Turks. The
events on the right are vividly described by Captain Wedgwood Benn:
" During the next advance (from Chocolate Hill) we had no shell fire
to meet, only rifle and machine gun. We ran across the front field
and jumped into a line of trenches—supports of our own, then out
again and formed into the next trench, leaping in on top of the men
of the Division ahead of us. . . . From here we got into a
communication trench filled with men of the Irish Division, whose
gallant attempt earlier in the day had failed. We had to stand aside
to let pass a pitiable, ghastly procession of maimed, most of whom
had been half-stripped to have their wounds bound by their friends.
The horror of that scene will bear no description. Fearing the
effect on the moral of our men, we decided to leave this trench and
run across the field in front to a small hill a little ahead of us.
As far as we could see it provided good cover, for there appeared to
be a number of reserves lying there in perfect quiet and safety. Out
we sprang with a shout, and ran forward to the selected spot, only
to find that it was under brisk machine-gun fire. The reserves were
quiet, indeed —for they were dead. We saw nothing for it now but to
get up and shift our position. For one thing the bushes in front of
us were alight, and the fire was already advancing on to the corpses
at our side. It was from this incident that the bill became known as
'Burnt Hill' Having made up our minds, we rose, leaped over a low
communication trench, across another field, and tumbled into the
advance support trench. We were now behind the spot which came to be
known later as ' Yeomen's Knoll.'
" By the time we reached the ' Yeomen's Knoll ' it was getting dark,
and we began to arrange our forces on the left and right to make up
the line in order to hold it for the night. Orders were received
that our Colonel was to take command of the whole of this portion of
the front. We were all in a state of the greatest uncertainty, not
knowing who was who, or where the enemy was to be found. The Rough
Riders were on our left, and we were in touch with them. The
Sharpshooters were on our right.
" Having consolidated the position, we sat for the next few hours in
the trench, deepening it and improving it in various ways. Once,
about half-past twelve, we feared an attack, and fixed bayonets
ready to leap out and meet the oncoming Turks. This definite
offensive act of picking up a rifle and fixing a bayonet conveyed a
feeling of real relief after hours of helpless, defensive waiting.
However, no Turks came, and we settled down again, re-filling our
water-bottles from a spring, and doing other useful jobs. . . .
" About half-past one, in reply to several requests that we might be
permitted to go on, the order came that the Brigade was to retire at
once . . .
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Please note: to avoid opening the book out, with the
risk of damaging the spine, some of the pages were slightly raised on the
inner edge when being scanned, which has resulted in some blurring to the
text and a
shadow on the inside edge of the final images. Colour reproduction is shown
as accurately as possible but please be aware that some colours
are difficult to scan and may result in a slight variation from
the colour shown below to the actual colour.
In line with eBay guidelines on picture sizes, some of the illustrations may
be shown enlarged for greater detail and clarity.
There is a
Library label on the front
pastedown ("Ex. Bibliotheca Congr. SS. Redempt. Domus ad S. Joseph,
Dundalk"), and an oval Library stamp on the browned and very
discoloured Half-Title page. Both the label and stamp have been
partially defaced with a small white circular sticker, marked
"18/c". There is also a defaced reference ("40D") on the
pastedown. The front free end-paper has been roughly removed,
leaving some residue.
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U.K. buyers:
To estimate the
“packed
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an additional amount of 150 grams is added to allow for the packaging
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books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard book-mailer).
The weight of the book and packaging is then rounded up to the
nearest hundred grams to arrive at the postage figure. I make no charge for packaging materials and
do not seek to profit
from postage and packaging. Postage can be combined for multiple purchases. |
Packed weight of this item : approximately 600 grams
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International
buyers:
To estimate the
“packed
weight” each book is first weighed and then
an additional amount of 150 grams is added to allow for the packaging
material (all
books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard book-mailer).
The weight of the book and packaging is then rounded up to the
nearest hundred grams to arrive at the shipping figure.
I make no charge for packaging materials and do not
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Shipping can
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the limit is 2 kilograms). |
Packed weight of this item : approximately 600 grams
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Book dimensions are given in
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Fine Books for Fine Minds |
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