St Edmundsbury Local History St Edmundsbury in the early Twentieth Century. In January 1. 91. This was meant to apply to women as well as men. A_Brixham_trawler.jpg/800px-A_Brixham_trawler.jpg' alt='Nova Scotia Anglers Handbook For The Recently Deceased' title='Nova Scotia Anglers Handbook For The Recently Deceased' />At some point during the First World War a prisoner of war camp was set up at Chevington Grove in that village. Prisoners were marched along lanes to work on the farms, played football on Saturday afternoons and had their choirs and services on Sundays. Since the Battle of Jutland in May, 1. Royal Navy had bottled up the German surface fleet, and the naval blockade of Germany was unchallenged. Without imports into Germany, the civilian population was suffering malnutrition and even starvation as home agricultural production was still being left to the marketplace. Events that made newspaper headlines in the third month of this calendar year. Is and in to a was not you i of it the be he his but for are this that by on at they with which she or from had we will have an what been one if would who has her. Grain was fed to cattle instead of being used for bread, and the high price of meat led to slaughtering of stock rather than breeding from them. Military rations were also being reduced and the German army could only defend its existing positions, with no hope of an offensive. Luckily for Germany, the Russian Revolution began in February, 1. However, the German High Command was desperate to find a new initiative. Since October, 1. Germany had resumed submarine attacks on shipping to Britain, but had operated on a system known as the Cruiser Rules. Merchant ships of neutral nations on the High Seas were stopped and seached for any materials that might aid the Allied war effort. If found, the crews were told to take to the lifeboats and the offending ship was sunk. In January, at a conference chaired by the Kaiser, it was decided that unrestricted U Boat warfare was almost a last card in the German war effort. Some 1. 00 new U Boats had been built during 1. America, which was still neutral at this time. Thus, 1st February 1. Germans announced that unrestricted submarine warfare on merchant shipping would begin immediately. The USA broke off diplomatic relations with Germany on February 3rd, but President Wilson would take no further action for the moment. The German U Boat offensive soon began to affect the already shaky food situation at home. Potato flour became used for bread instead of wheat. Soon there would be a bread shortage of any variety. However, despite this situation the government would not act to begin rationing until November. In Haverhill the gas works failed during February, and the town was in darkness for several days. The 15 Suffolks TF continued training in Egypt. On 3rd March, they saw tanks for the first time. There had been rumours for weeks of this new machine, but some had now arrived in Alexandria. The 5. 4th Division, of which the 15 Suffolks were part were moved to take the ridge called Sheik Abbas to support an attack on Turkish held Palestine, at Gaza. They came under fire on March 2. In March the government completed its take over of the coal mines. The taking over of badly cultivated farms was reported to the West Suffolk War Agricultural Committee. The committee also launched a crusade against rabbits, sparrows and rats etc. According to the website, www. Brandonat. War. co. Thursday, 2. 9th March, 1. Messrs Norbury Smith and Co., of London, offered for sale the Brandon Hall estate, which comprised about 2,3. The lots included several farms, homesteads, and small holdings. In addition to the Hall, a Tudor residence, and 3. The Hall Farm and residences, comprising about 8. Mr E Mail, Downham Market, at 1,0. The rabbit warren of about 3. Mr C Nichol Murphy, of Streatham. The Poultry and game farm of about 7. Mr H. E. Bennett, of Tonbridge, for 5. The remaining lots went for lesser amounts, and many did not reach their reserve. During March the German U Boats had sunk nearly 6. April, 1. 91. 7. Having swallowed the loss of the Lusitania in 1. President Wilson suffered another nine sinkings before Congress agreed to declare war on Germany on April 6th 1. Even then, it had taken the evidence of the so called Zimmerman telegram to be the final straw. This was a coded message sent in January, 1. President of Mexico via the German Ambassador in Mexico City, by the German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmerman. It proposed that if Mexico declared war on the USA, then Germany would allow it to reclaim its lost American lands from the 1. Texas. Admiralty code breakers had intercepted and decoded the message, and eventually found a way to leak its contents to the American Embassy in London. In France the Battles of Arras took place during early April, followed by late April and early May, 1. On Easter Sunday 1. Chaplain of the 2nd Battalion Suffolks celebrated. Communion in the Chalk Caves at Arras. The next day the battalion was. German stronghold called the Harp. On April 9th the 1. Scarpe. At 5. 3. 0 a. German system of trenches. They managed to achieve their objectives but a. On the 1. 0th April the 7th battalion took part in a successful attack. Scarpe. On 2. 8th April the battalion took. Arleux an attack delivered on an eight mile front. British and Canadian troops. All the officers, except the Colonel, were. What was left of the 7th battalion was organised into. May. On April 1. 1th, at very short notice and without preparation, the 2nd battalion. Guemappe. Casualties amounted to 1. Thus the battalions undisputed. April 9th was followed. Zero hour on April 2. British troops. attacking on a front of about nine miles. The 4th Battalion Suffolks with two. Sensee valley. Ground was won, but by 3pm. Their casualties. Guemappe on April 2. On April 2. 8th the 1. Brigades attack. Roeux, which formed part of the battle. Arleux. During this battle the 1. On June 1. 2th the 2nd battalion took over trenches near Monchy le Preux. Infantry Hill. On June 1. Within ten minutes. Hook trench had been captured, and an hour later the remainder of the. British hands. The casualties in the battalion between June 1. In April the United States declaration of war on Germany boosted the morale of both civilians and troops. In Bury war shrines were dedicated in the cathedral. On Good Friday there was a gas explosion in a house at Broad Street in Haverhill. The British and the Canadians attacked Vimy Ridge in April and the Canadians took the ridge. The French were less fortunate and lost 9. Chuck Season 2 Episode 22 Download Mp3. Chemin des Dames. Their morale devastated, many French soldiers preferred mutiny to continuing with further attacks. In Egypt, a second attack on Sheik Abbas was launched on April 1. Suffolks, the 15th Norfolks and the 14th Norfolks. The ridge was taken after two days, and they remained here until June. Petain now took over the French army to rebuild confidence on 2. April. At Ypres General Haig was looking for a further attack on Messines and Passchendael Ridges where the Germans were overlooking and shelling them. They dug long tunnels up to 9 km under the German lines at Messines, with silent digging techniques. These tunnels had been dug since 1. On 7th June 1. 91. Messines. Some 2. Germans died and the attack succeeded. Back in Bury in May, the Mayor read out a royal proclamation that everybody should save stocks of food by eating a quarter less bread every week. There were regular cases of farmers or shopkeepers fined for selling produce at above the nationally set prices. In June a war shrine was set up near the gates of the Bury Cemetery. At the end of June, the 15th Suffolks moved to Samsons Ridge overlooking Gaza, and General Allenby took over command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Between July 3. 1st and November 1. British launched a series of. Third Battle of Ypres, or more. Passchendaele. Passchendael Ridge was not attacked until July and on 3. Late in the day a torrential storm turned the battlefield into a sea of mud. It rained for four days and nights and heavy shelling produced a wasteland. During these dark days in France, many people began to believe that Germany would win the war. There was an upsurge of anti German feeling at home. People with foreign sounding names were victimised, and businesses attacked. In this climate of hate, the name of the royal house was changed from Saxe Coburg to Windsor by royal proclamation on 1.