The Silent Division and One Mans War

[Herekawe]

“The Silent Division, New Zealanders at the Front: 1914-1919” has recently been republished and I was lucky enough to receive a copy in my Christmas stocking. The original was written by Ormond Burton, MM, Md’H with a forward by Major General Sir Andrew Russell, this edition was edited by John Gray with the forward by Dr Christopher Pugsley and a biography of the author by David Grant.

Originally I believe the book sold poorly - being published in 1935 - at a time when people had had enough about the Great War and Depression and things were not looking to good in Europe again.

However as a bonus, part of Burtons autobiography, “Concerning One Man’s War” written in the 1960s is included in this edition, so in one volume one has two books, the 30 chapters of The Silent Division and 18 chapters of One Man’s War. One Man’s War has extra editorial material by John Gray who is well able to flesh out the story and provide context. Full Appendices, Bibliography etc. are provided, with selected maps and photos.

So how does this two book thing work? The answer is very well. In The Silent Division you get a through story of the activities of the NZ Division from formation to disestablishment. Burton's style is to not mention any names other than General Russell’s on the principle I guess that it was a cooperative effort by thousands. In One Man’s War you get a perceptive autobiography, full of comments and anecdote’s some sad, some funny, if somewhat influenced by other events in the 30 or so years between the writing of the two books. You can read the books in sequence or as I did on my second reading flicking between the two and matching events from each book. There is not a complete match, Burton working on the Lutzow a hospital ship for the first part of the ANZAC landings, likewise he was wounded three times; at Broodseinde and on the Somme in March and August 1918 so the stories diverge at times.

So who was Ormond Burton? His complete biography runs to many pages, but here goes. A teacher by training and a very religious man he enlisted as a stretcher bearer early in the war and consequently ended up on the hospital ships off Gallipoli before coming ashore remaining with his unit until the evacuation. Then with the rest of the Division service in France and Belgium and the Battle of the Somme. After a raid in February 1917 near Estaires a friend of his Lt. Jock Mackenzie was mortally wounded and lying in No Man’s Land and Burton went out to get him. Fully expecting to be shot he saw German soldiers climb onto their shattered parapet and signal cease fire, including one officer who waved his stick until a machine gun further back also ceased fire. Stretcher bearers where then able to retrieve the NZ wounded. As a result of this he received the MM but Burton made a decision to be more aggressive and transferred to a front line company where he stayed until the end of the war, taking part and observing the major battles before being sent away for officer training after his second wounding at Grevillers in 1918. Post war he wrote the history of the Auckland Regiment and continued as a teacher and minister his anti-war attitudes hardening as he did so. Come WW2 he was a convinced pacifist and as a result of this spent time in gaol for refusing to stop publicising his opinions.

More than this he was obviously a man with a certain presence. He met with General Russell and other senior officers on occasion on matters of morale. He produced a pamphlet for General Russell for issue to all troops on why the war was fought “Our Little Bit” issued after the armistice. He produced a range of other books and articles. It appears he was a man who moved easily between the different ranks of the NZ Division and was respected by most. No doubt he annoyed a few people and some comments would have raised eyebrows among those who might recognise themselves from his description of incidents. He evidently corresponded with Vera Brittain and Ernst Junger. For a man of religious and pacifistic leanings he plainly felt the best was to stop the war was to fight as hard and efficiently as possible, his efforts to stop himself being evacuated to England seem extreme, as a doctor says at one point he is unaware of anyone refusing repatriation to England!

All in all then this is a great book, written by a man who lived through it and had two cracks, 30 years apart to explain the contribution of the NZ Division in the Great War.

The Silent Division is published by John Douglas Publishing Ltd see www.jdpublishing.co.nz

[Black Maria]

I started to read my original copy of 'The Silent Division ' a couple of months ago but as a devotee of memoirs I gave up after a couple of chapters because it read more like

a divisional history than a memoir , but this new book looks like it may be of interest to both memoir and divisional history buffs.