Powerstock villagers unearth their Great War history

Roger Britton tooks at the life an untimely death of Frederick Biles.

Frederick Biles was born in Poorstock (sic) and baptised in the parish on August 29, 1880. His parents were George (a thatcher and hurdle maker, born in Poorstock in 1856) and Marianne (or Mary Ann, born in Symondsbury in 1852).

They married that year and settled in Whetley and had three more sons, Herbert, born in 1886, who became a farm labourer; James, born in 1892, worked at thatching, as did Fred and their father; Oscar, born in 1897.

Fred married Emma Hansford in December 1900 and set up home together. He died in Gallipoli on August 10, 1915.

As “The Royal Hampshire Regimental History” (by C.T. Atkinson, 1952) put it, after having named the ten officers killed at the same time and place, “other ranks killed and missing came to 155”.

As a private in the British Army, Fred was definitely among the “other ranks”.

Fred joined the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Hampshires in Winchester, part of the New Army, in September 1914.

After eight months training they were ready to go overseas.

The Dardenelles Straits is the only sea channel Russian ships had to sail from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

The Russians were losing to the Germans on the Eastern Front because they kept running out of ammunition.

If help could be supplied through the straits the Russians could more successfully reduce pressure on the Western Front.

The trouble was, the straits were held by Germany's ally, Turkey. If the Royal Navy, Churchill argued, could get through the Dardenelles fortifications, Constantinople would just cave in, Germany would be threatened from the rear. At a bold stroke the war could end and Britain would control the destinies of the near east.

The Royal Navy, though, had misgivings.

Nevertheless, in February 1915 the bombardment started well. More than 100 guns pounded away at long range, silencing all but one of the nearest (earth) forts.

Panic was reported in Constantinople, all according to plan. By March 18 the naval enterprise had failed to force the mine-strewn passage.

The allies had lost the advantage of surprise and keeping up the pressure. The Turks had had time to regroup. The fleet lost 700 lives and three great ships.

It retreated, never to return on a mission like this, thus marking the end of an age.

The Royal Navy was not omnipotent: imperial gunboat diplomacy could no longer be used to keep the natives in line.

The Turks fearfully awaited a renewal of the attack, but it never came. The First Sea Lord resigned stating: “Damn the Dardenelles! They will be our grave!”

This is where Fred Biles enters the war and the history of Poorstock.

By May 1915 he had completed his basic training in Hampshire. Meanwhile, army commanders on the spot in Gallipoli had decided to land an army on the peninsular forming the western part of the Dardenelles, from where they could open up an overland route to Constantinople.

The Gallipoli peninsular was an arid, apparently empty place of gullies and ravines. The planners had underestimated the difficulties of the rugged and virtually unknown terrain, particularly for this inexperienced “New Army”.

On July 6, 1915 Fred's battalion sailed from Liverpool aboard the terribly overcrowded “Transylvania”.

They were dropped on the island of Lemnos on July 26, among the hot dust and flies, suffering from thirst and diarrhoea.

Incessant “fatigues” (menial non-military tasks) severely limited their training. They were, in other words, in poor shape, mentally and physically.

Here they joined the Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) who were also demoralized after being dug in in cramped positions for so long.

On the afternoon of August 5, the 10th Hampshires embarked on small boats and the following day landed near the designated gulley in which they could hide in excavated shelters from Turkish observers and fire.

For the next four days they were led and misled so that by 5am on August 9, Fred and the others were not in the right place to start the planned advance.

By the time they were, at 6am, the Turks were ready and well placed.

The Hampshires waited until about 9am and moved forward when reinforcements arrived.

They were then stopped by heavy fire, machine guns and shrapnel, and could advance no further, so dug in. No more counter-attacks were attempted during the night, but with daybreak on August 10 the Turks came forward in great force.

Accurate details of what ensued have never come to light. By 10am, with the sun high in the sky, the British C.O. and almost all his officers had been killed, and the remnants were falling back into the ravines, where many were lost and never heard of again. Even in the 1960s their bones were still being found.