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Title: British Mutinies in France
Author: Tom Brown
Date: May 1944
Language: en
Topics: mutiny, World War I, anti-militarism
Source: Retrieved on 4th October 2021 from https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/hhmjch
Notes: Published in War Commentary for Anarchism, vol.5, no.14 Mid-May 1944.

Tom Brown

British Mutinies in France

Simultaneously with the strike action of the British Army in England

came the strikes of British Army units in France. Little of these is

recorded and many are entirely without printed word. Fortunately there

existed the Herald, a weekly paper, which, early in 1919, became a

daily, run by George Lansbury. The Herald and the Daily Herald of those

days were very different to the Herald of the T.U.C. and Odhams Press.

The files of Lansbury’s old paper give us a glimpse, though only a

glimpse of the unrest in the British Expeditionary Force in France and

Flanders.

Of the hitherto unrecorded mutinies one shall serve us as an example of

many. The 4^(th) Middlesex stationed at Caudry, Belgium was, like every

other fighting unit, glad of the promise of relaxed discipline and

parading brought by the Armistice. But the end of November, 1918, found

them parading more often than ever, all the while being subjected to an

intense “spit and polish” campaign. Utterly fed up, the men refused to

parade further and, after holding a meeting, marched into the village

where they were loudly cheered by the French inhabitants. Their action

resulted in the immediate repeal of the “spit and polish” order, the

lessening of parades and the relaxation of discipline.

Many protests against these and other grievances took the form of

parading, but responding to all orders by the singing of soldiers’

songs, not the songs of Peter Dawson or Rudyard Kipling, but real

soldiers’ songs—Mademoiselle from Armentieres and Charlotte the Harlot.

Others just did not parade.

Certain other mutinies were much more serious. B. G. A. Cannell in his

book From Monk to Busman describes one of them which he witnessed while

at the Ordnance Depot at Vendroux.

“After the Armistice things began to get very unsettled. We heard that

two men had been arrested for sedition, and were at Boulogne, and might

be shot in the Tower.

A strike committee was hastily formed, and every soldier in the district

marched down to Calais on January 27^(th), 1919.”

Two divisions of troops, recently recruited boys, were sent against the

strikers, but with little effect. The men took over the camp. When they

reorganised the feeding of the troops they found the camp well stocked

with food. Mr. Cannell states that this confirmed the belief of the men

that their food was being illegally sold.

“Our food was being ‘flogged’ to the French people. In fact, I saw with

my own eyes, clothes-baskets full of bully, cheese and bacon going out

of the camps at night.” (Ibid).

After about a week of the strike, General Byng held a conference in

Calais and promised remedy of the mens’ grievances. The two prisoners

were released, food improved, new huts were built and Saturday

afternoons and Sundays were made general holidays. The two prisoners,

however, said they had been badly treated in prison and one of them died

soon after. From their miserably small pay, the soldiers collected

nearly £150 for his widow.

About this time a serious mutiny threatened at Dunkirk which was held by

the 178^(th) Brigade. The threatened outburst was staved off by the

promise of immediate demobilization.

The most serious mutiny of all occurred at Calais, chief port of the

British Army in France. In a rather obvious attempt to minimise the

revolt and discredit the British soldiers, Winston Churchill wrote:

“A regular mutiny broke out at Calais. Between the 27^(th) and 31^(st)

of January the Army Ordnance detachments and the Mechanical Transport,

which were the least-disciplined part of the army, had seen least of the

fighting and were most closely associated with political Trade Unionism,

refused to obey orders. They met the Leave-Boats and induced a large

number of returning soldiers to join them. In twenty-four hours the

ring-leaders were at the head of about three or four thousand armed men

and in complete possession of the town.”

Churchill, The Aftermath.

Churchill’s account is important, not for what it tells,, but for what

it leaves out. Only from sheer necessity does he even mention the

mutinies in his “history” of the war and its aftermath.

T. H. Wintringham’s Mutiny contains a good account of one of the

mutinies in the Calais district, written by an unnamed private soldier.

An agitation for demobilization began in the Valdelievre camp and one of

the ringleaders was arrested and given fourteen days field punishment

for being a quarter of an hour late at work. The news quickly spread

and, although, it was pay day, the men, forgetting their pay,

demonstrated outside the C.O.’s office. The officers began a long-winded

argument of which the men soon tired. Refusing to be put off any

further, they smashed open the prison and released their comrade.

Later an attempt to re-arrest him was prevented by the vigilance of the

men who “by prearranged signal, swarmed out like bees.” The imported

military police then arrested the sergeant of the guard for failing to

prevent the rescue. The angry soldiers at once released the sergeant.

The C.O. then met the soldiers’ committee and made general concessions,

including a shorter working day.

Still suspicious, the men helped to organise the other camps in the

district. A few days later came the news of the re-arrest of their

comrade. Strike action was decided.

“Although, as prearranged, every man was on the parade ground, not one

fell in when the bugle sounded, and our pickets had already taken the

places of the sentries.

During the morning news came that at another camp, Vendraux, 2,000 men

were all out and were marching down that afternoon. They arrived headed

by the regimental band and with all their N.C.O.s participating. Both

camps then joined in a march on the headquarters of the Calais area to

interview Brigadier General Rawlinson.

Our bands were in attendance and the frightened French shopkeepers put

up their shutters as 4,000 very determined men marched through the

streets. The headquarters were surrounded and a deputation entered.

After a futile attempt to induce the besieging army to withdraw, the

general agreed to release our comrade (who had been transferred

elsewhere) and that he should be in camp by Tuesday[1] midday.

The deputation resolutely refused to discuss any of our grievances or

calling off the strike until our comrade had been released.”

T. H. Wintringham, Mutiny.

From Calais the strike organisation spread, greatly aided by the strike

committee’s control of road transport and the military railways. In this

they were aided by the French railmen who, in a strike a short time

previously, had been supported by the action of the British railway

section of the Royal Engineers. The strike organisation was known as

“The Calais Area Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Association.”

Everywhere such organisations were victorious. Briefly, the fruits of

victory were:

Rapid demobilization of millions of soldiers.

Pay was doubled.

Food, shelter and other conditions were improved.

Stupid parades and discipline were relaxed.

And perhaps greatest of all, the new war, the war on Russia, was

checked.

[1] It was Monday.