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How it
all Began
1914
1915
When the War started Germany tried to beat France
quickly by rushing through Belgium. However,
because Britain had a treaty with Belgium, Britain
declared war on Germany and by quickly deploying
their small but skilful professional army delayed the
Germans allowing Russia time to attack Germany’s
eastern front. Germany faced with a war on two
fronts had to go on the defensive. The stage was
set for a long war that neither side was equipped or
trained to overcome.
1915 was the year that the harsh realities of
trench warfare on the Western Front really
became apparent. Barbed wire, machine guns,
gas and the worst killer of them all, artillery,
were lethal obstacles for soldiers to overcome.
The War was also fought in Eastern Europe,
the Middle East, Turkey and Africa but he
British Army’s greatest efforts were on the
Western front and in Turkey where large scale
amphibious landings at Gallipoli that failed.
The Royal Navy was easily the strongest navy in the
World and scored early victories. However, daring
raids on British ports along the North Sea coast by
the German Imperial Navy badly damaged Britain’s
reputation as ruler of the seas.
The British, eager to regain face after the
German attacks of December 1914, started
the year with a victory at the Battle of
Dogger Bank and continued to blockade
Germany. The Germans used their submarines
to place a stranglehold on Britain and her
allies but their campaign was restricted to
appease the United States after a submarine
sank the SS Lusitania off Ireland with the loss
of 1,198 lives.
1916
The Allies had high hopes of a smashing victory on the Western Front but the
attack along the Somme river on 1 July resulted in 20,000 British killed and
40,000 wounded, the British Army’s worst ever day. The battle lasted for
months. At the same time the French were dealing with a ferocious attack on
the fortress town of Verdun. During the year neither the Allies nor the Germans
made progress on the Western Front and both sides suffered heavy casualties.
Russia had more success on the Eastern Front in June defeating the AustroHungarian Army making Germany reinforce that front.
1917
The Germans supported the Austro-Hungarian Government whilst the
Serbs were allied with Russia who, in turn, was allied with France. Britain
supported the French and Russians but only went to War when Germany
invaded Belgium. Behind all of this there were many years of ill feeling.
The resulting War was fought not only in Europe. Campaigns were played
out in Turkey and other parts of the Middle East where Britain needed to
protect the Suez Canal in Egypt and oil fields in Iraq. Small campaigns
were fought in Africa and the Far East where both Britain and Germany
were determined to protect their interests as well as their transport
routes. Meanwhile, Japan, by assisting Britain, strengthened its political
position in South East Asia.
The countries that took part were
The Allies:
France
Great Britain
Dominion of Canada
Commonwealth of Australia
British India
Union of South Africa
New Zealand
Russia
Serbia
Montenegro
Belgium
Italy
Romania
United States
Japan
Portugal
Siam
Brazil
Greece
Central Powers:
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
Bulgaria
Jabal Shammar
Dervish State
Sultanate of Darfur
Azerbaijan
In Sunderland, on the day war was declared, there
was an enthusiastic gathering of excited people at
Town Hall. Time was not wasted improving the
defence of the town and port with troops from the
8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, the East Yorkshire Regiment and the
York and Lancaster Regiment being sent to dig trenches, patrol and keep
watch along the coastline. In time a gun emplacement was built at Roker and
block ships were placed in the harbour along with torpedo nets to defend
the port. The town’s industries started to concentrate on producing the ships
and other
materiel
required to fight
a total war.
The Machine Gun
Section of 20th
Battalion Durham
Light Infantry
which was largely
raised on Wearside.
Recruitment poster
for the 160th
(Wearside) Brigade
Royal Field Artillery
which was largely
raised in Wearside.
Nurse L. Burnop at
Ashburne during its
use as a Volunteer Aid
Detachment Hospital
during the War.
The long hoped for battle between the powerful battleships of the time was
fought over 31 May and 1 June off the coast off Jutland. Arguments continue as
to who won the battle as the British lost more ships but in reality the Germans
were chased from the battle back into port where they were
once more blockaded. By the end of the year it was only the
German submarines that were a threat to Britain.
1916 was the year that the War came directly to Sunderland in
no uncertain terms. On 1 April German Imperial Navy Zeppelin
L11 crossed the North Sea and brought death and destruction
to Wearside. Millfield, Deptford and Monkwearmouth were all hit
killing 22 people. Sunderland’s air defences were strengthened
with more anti-aircraft guns being located around the town and
an air base at Usworth was opened to provide fighter aircraft
protection. An acoustic sound mirror was also built at Fulwell to
give early warning of the approach of Zeppelins but no further
attacks on Sunderland took place. Conscription to the Army was
introduced for the first time in Britain.
Recruitment in Sunderland was strong and
men were joining various regiments and the
Royal Navy. Two units were specifically linked
to Sunderland this year: the160th Wearside
Field Brigade (Royal Field Artillery)
from 1st March and the 20th
Battalion Durham Light Infantry
from 20th June. Sunderland’s
industrial effort began strongly and
166 ships and vessels were built in
the shipyards in 1915. Women are
finding work in various occupations
to fill the places left by men. In June
10 women are employed as tram
conductresses for the first time.
1918 started badly for the Allies as the Germans attacked the British in
force. Despite suffering heavy losses the British fell back in good order
and the German attacks fell short of a break through. In the summer
the Allies, reinforced by troops from the United States, attacked and
achieved the long sought after break through using aircraft and ground
troops in co-ordinated attacks. By November the Germans were in
retreat and asked for a cease-fire to start at 11am
on 11 November.
1917 saw another year of failed Allied attacks. The French suffered
serious setbacks which resulted in a mutiny of the French Army and the
British Army’s year ended badly with the Battle of Passchendaele. Russia
was torn by the revolutions resulting in the Bolsheviks taking control
under Lenin who took Russia out of the War. However, the United States
entered the War on the Allies side.
1914 - 1918
The immediate cause of the War was the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the
Austrian Royal Family by Serbian nationalists on
the 28th June 1914.
1918
Many young women went to work in transport,
industry or on the land. Here female workers of
Sunderland Post Office staff pose for their
photograph in 1917.
A 4.5 inch anti-aircraft gun on
Tunstall Hill crewed by men
of 20th Anti-Aircraft Battery,
Royal Garrison Artillery.
With the German Fleet stuck in port it had been left to the submarines
to take the War to Britain. To make the campaign more effective the
Germans decided to attack any ship they thought a
target without making sure they were an Allied
ship. This change was a major factor in bringing the
United States into the War on the side of the Allies.
By 1918 the British blockade was causing real
hardship for the German people. In October, when
the German Navy was ordered to go to sea again
for the first time since 1916, the sailors mutinied.
This resulted in a revolution in Germany that overthrew the German government.
The War continued to bring misery to the families
of men lost on the front as the casualties mounted
but there was no serious protest against the war.
Industry continued to turn out war materials in
large amounts and in June King George V paid a
morale boosting visit to the North East visiting
shipyards in the Borough. In December the people
of Sunderland were reminded that the War was
never far away when German U Boat UC32 sank
after hitting one of the mines it was laying just
outside of the harbour.
Sunderland school children were each
presented with a commemorative medal by
Sunderland Council during the peace
celebrations of 1919.
Special Constables based
at Monkwearmouth.
An X Lighter
(a type of landing craft
designed for use at
Gallipoli) being launched
at William Doxford and
Sons in April 1915.
Supposedly the shooting down
of Zeppelin L34 at Hartlepool on
27 November 1916.
The Peace
The German submarine campaign was also by now
biting hard and rationing of certain foods was
introduced in this year starting with sugar and
then meat, butter, cheese and margarine. Victory
and peace were welcomed by the people who had
given so much over the years. Sunderland’s
shipyards had built 360 ships totalling about
900,000 tons. About 18,000 men from Sunderland
served in the armed forces with about 6,000 being
killed or wounded. However, the misery was not
yet over as a new and unforeseen threat came in
the form of the Spanish Flu that in Britain killed
about 300,000 people and worldwide an estimated
50 to 100 million.
The merchant ship
SS Holbrook, built by
Joseph L. Thompson
and Sons in 1917,
painted in dazzle
camouflage.
A soldier of the Northern Cyclists
Battalion. These troops patrolled the
remoter parts of the coastline.
www.sunderlandfirstworldwar.co.uk
Sunderland
in
the
First
World
War
1914
1915 1916
1917
1918
In 1919 people were happy to
see the end of the war with the
signing of the Treaty of Versailles
on 28 June.
A Peace Parade marched through Sunderland on
July 1919 with elaborately decorated floats
representing the countries of the Allies as well as
local organisations and military units taking part.
Britannia with the
Museum’s Wallace
the Lion in the Peace
Parade of 1919.
Memorials remembering those who went to war
and those who did not return were erected in
local towns and villages whilst businesses and
institutions produced their own memorials.
Sunderland Borough’s memorial, a Winged
Victory, was erected in Mowbray Park on Burdon
Road in 1922.
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