October 2005

 

THE SOLDIER'S WIFE

by J Lethbridge

A First World War soldier's wife from Attleborough near Nuneaton had a separation allowance of two pounds, one shilling and eight pence per week. This was for herself and four children aged eleven, ten, eight and five. To supplement her income and relieve her loneliness she took to prostitution working with a nineteen year old girl. The soldier's wife properly fed her children but neglected to properly cloth them, they being "poorly clad'. Neither did she do any cleaning. The home in which she and her four children lived was in what the Birmingham Post called a 'frightful state". All rooms, including the kitchen, were covered in dirt "which appeared to have been there a long time". The bedding and bed clothes were 'rotting and dirty.'

Eventually the police, under Police Sergeant Houseman, raided the house. She was charged with neglecting her children and aiding and abetting her fellow prostitute's immoral acts. The soldier's wife appeared before the Nuneaton magistrates in October 1917 and admitted to being "thoroughly ashamed' of herself. What decision did the magistrates reach. Was the accused: (a) sent to prison and if so for how long? (b) fined and if so how much? or was (c) the case thrown out of court and the police told to mind their own business? For answer see below

INTELLIGENCE: USE AND MISUSE

Before the war MIS identified a German barber in North London as the German espionage "letter box" in Britain and, through him, all the other German agents here. They could, of course, have been rounded up there and then but, instead, it was decided to keep them under surveillance but only intern them immediately on the outbreak of war when it would be more difficult for the enemy to rebuild their network than in peace time. The tactic worked and Germany never had any effective agents in Britain throughout the war.

Immediately before Mons when British cavalry and pilots reported that the Germans were making a wide turning movement, they were disbelieved because the French and British general staffs considered that they did not have enough divisions for this. In October when the chief intelligence officer of the BEF was asked by the C in C what the position was, he replied that he had identified several new enemy formations on the British front, the latter exclaimed 'How do you expect me to conduct my business if you keep coming up with these new corps?"

In 1918, to conceal the movement of the Canadians south from the Salient to take part in the Battle of Amiens, a skeleton signals network was left behind and operated so as to create the impression that the corps was still in place, The Germans were taken in.

On the outbreak of war the Admiralty established a chain of radio listening posts along the East Coast which could intercept German naval signals. This meant that the German High Seas Fleet could never leave harbour without us knowing. It also arranged for Germany's transatlantic cable to be cut. The Swedes, neutral but pro German, allowed them to use theirs but this, conveniently, ran through London where it was tapped.

The signals and telegrams were, of course, in code so a team of decoders was established in Room 40 in the Admiralty building. They were mostly academic types in naval uniform for the duration but were clever and soon were not only able to decode German naval and diplomatic codes but also discern their meanings.

At the end of 1916 when the President of the then neutral USA was attempting to mediate between the warring nations, he allowed the Germans to use the State Department's cable solely to further the process. They abused this privilege and early in 1917 Zimmerman, their foreign secretary, used it to send a telegram to the German Ambassador in Washington. It instructed him that Germany was about to resume unrestricted U boat warfare (which would almost certainly bring America into the war against Germany) and that he should bribe Mexico to enter the war on Germany's side with money and the promise of the reconquest of the states of New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.

It was intercepted (the cable ran through London) and decoded. To avoid letting the Germans know that their codes had been broken and the Americans that their cables were being tapped, the Director of Naval Intelligence, Captain 'Blinker' Hall, devised what Baldrick would call a cunning plan. He knew that a copy of the cable had been sent via the Swedish cable to the German Minister in Mexico City in a simpler code-He therefore had a copy stolen from the telegraph office there and, with the connivance of a senior American diplomat in London, for it to be decoded in his presence in the Admiralty. It was then put out that the diplomat had decoded the telegram himself using Admiralty code books. It was depicted as an American intelligence coup thus removing any doubt as to its authenticity and without arousing suspicion. In fact the Germans suspected that there was a leak in their Mexico legation. The telegram caused outrage in the USA and helped to counter any opposition to America's declaration of war on Germany.

Unfortunately not all those at the Admiralty were as astute as "Blinker", in fact the Director of Naval Operations, Captain Jackson, was the exact opposite. His attitude was that the decoders, being civilians in uniform and not conforming to the traditional idea of naval officers, could not possibly understand the relevance of the decodes to naval operations. It was a question of 'You decode - I'll decide.' Thus the Admiralty failed fully to exploit the priceless intelligence that Room 40 provided.

In the early stages of the Battle of Jutland Jackson made only his third or fourth visit to Room 40 and demanded to    know the whereabouts of 'DX', the call sign of the C in C of the German High Seas Fleet. He was told that it was in the Jade. Had he trusted the decoders and asked where the High Seas Fleet was, he would have been". told that it was at sea and that the C in C transferred DX to a shore station when at sea and used a different call sign. He never asked for or allowed any explanation and, pig headed, signalled Jellicoe the C in C of the Grand Fleet, that the main enemy fleet was still in harbour and that he would only meet enemy battle cruisers. Later the British encountered the full High Seas Fleet: it could have been disastrous and, in any case, denied Jellicoe the opportunity of springing a trap which had been made possible by earlier Room 40 decodes.

After a brief encounter between the main battle fleets, the Germans turned for home. During the night, Jellicoe, by skilful manoeuvring, placed himself between them and Germany. While he was trying to decide which course home the enemy would take, a decode that would have made it clear, was not sent. The High Seas Fleet therefore escaped what would almost certainly have been a severe pounding. Needless to say, Jackson was later promoted.

 

ANSWER: (a) The accused was sentenced to three months in prison for child neglect and three months for aiding and abetting her fellow prostitute. Whether the sentences were consecutive or concurrent is not stated. My source fails to reveal how the soldier reacted when he learnt of his wife's behaviour. As for the children several things may have happened to them. A relative may have taken them in; they may have gone into the workhouse; or an orphanage place may have been found for them.

 

BOOK OF THE MONTH: Cheerful Sacrifice by Jonathan Nicholls- List number 40. An excellent account of Arras, the first real British victory on the Western Front : BOB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA

Compiled by Bob Butcher