At the end of the First World War and during the years that followed, many authors, artists and playwrights responded to the conflict through their work. One such example is the play Journey’s End by R C Sherriff.
Set over a period of four days from 18th – 21st March 1918, it recounts the experiences of the officers of a British Army company. The scenes take place in the trenches around Saint-Quentin in the days leading up to Operation Michael and the beginning of the German Spring Offensive.
The play premiered at the Apollo Theatre in London on 9th December 1928, starring a very young Laurence Olivier as Captain Stanhope. In 2017, it was adapted into a film starring Sam Claflin in the same role.
The original manuscript for the play is part of IWM’s collection and the First World War galleries at IWM London contain many objects connected with the events and themes explored in the play.
Explore the themes of the play and the events that feature in it with IWM''s Tony Richards, Head of Documents, and Alan Wakefield, Head of First World War.
Trench Raids
“IWM holds a vast archive of unique documents dating from 1914 to the present day. Among the archives that we hold is the original manuscripts of the play, Journey's End by R.C. Sheriff. Journey's End was based on Sheriff's own experiences as an army officer in the First World War. The story plays out over four days, the 18th to the 21st of March 1918, the start of the German Spring Offensive.
Here we've got part of the original manuscripts of Journey's End and we can see here that this is scene one of act three and this is a particularly nice page to look at because they start by the characters talking about making coffee and then they carry on and on the same page they're then talking about the preparations for the Trench Raid that they're about to embark on. There's a nice bit here where they're talking about when the information has to reach headquarters and the colonel says: “it has to reach by seven this evening. If we wait till it's dark, we shall be too late.” With Trench Raids I mean, as you said it was one of those regular occurrences, raids, and patrols, I mean every night men would go out and patrol into no man's land to check the wire just check no, no Germans were out on patrol coming near the lines but then also obviously with raids the idea is mainly to go and get information. So the idea is to get into the enemy line quickly, grab prisoners, grab any documents you can get and get these, these information sources back across no man's land as quick as possible. I mean, interestingly in the gallery in the 1918 section is a large board with German regimental shoulder titles. That, again would have been sudden information they were trying to get back because the numbers on the shoulder titles are the regimental numbers, so by taking those, you know, those badges you could actually tell which regiment was opposite you. So those were the sort of things if it wasn't possible to bring a prisoner back, just grab those off any dead bodies and take those back as well, yeah, because it’s another information source. And, of course, because you're in a confined space in a trench the idea is to go in with quite old-fashioned hand to hand weapons as well and obviously in the First World War gallery we've got a whole case full of sort of trench knives and clubs, very sort of nasty looking things and you'd normally find that the guys who would be picked for a Trench Raid well actually most of the lot of them would actually volunteer because for a lot of people this was the excitement because you got for sort of a very boring period of time in the trenches mostly, it's not quite large actions and things. So some men sort of pick themselves I think in the manuscript he mentions a particular corporal that he wants to go along so he's obviously very good at raids and then he says go and call for some volunteers and the chances are there won't be any shortage of volunteers because some of these guys were actually, you know, even though this is quite scary thing to do they were quite up for that sort of fighting.”
By 1915, commanders on the Western Front were becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress and worried about the depleting morale of the soldiers in the trenches. Trench Raids were seen as a way of both capturing enemy troops and gaining intelligence, but also as one officer put it, to ‘worry the enemy to death and maintain … fine fighting spirit’.
Raids and patrols became a regular occurrence with the aim of gathering intelligence as quickly as possible to get back to headquarters. These ‘minor enterprises’, as they were known, were also a chance for soldiers to actively engage with the enemy, not just endure their artillery bombardment. The nature of these raids meant hand-to-hand combat was often the end outcome. A variety of weapons including clubs, knives and knuckledusters existed for confrontation with the enemy. Examples of British, French and German trench weaponry can be seen in the First World War Galleries at IWM London.
German Offensive
“And in the back of everything that's happening is just that underlying knowledge that the Germans are gonna launch this offensive and it's coming, and they know it, and then they find out about halfway through, it is gonna be on the 21st.
So they know that they are gonna be the ones in the frontline when it happens. I mean, it is pretty touch and go and Hagoth comes out with that backs to the wall order where he basically says nobody is allowed to retreat from this position, you have to fight it, you have to fight in a position to the last man. It's that serious at this point.
Yeah, I mean, they really did think that this might be it, didn't they really? I mean, the Germans were gonna win. Yeah. And for a few weeks, you know, it didn't seem to be any other option really, right? Because they're pushing forward to Amiens, the big rail network. If they have seized that, then it's all pretty chaos in the rear areas.
I mean, the whole offensive was based on an overwhelming heavy artillery bombardment but of short duration, so you would basically smash the front line any frontline defences in like wire defences etcetera with artillery fire, artillery positions behind the lines, command post, etcetera would be hit with gas. And then what would happen is the first troops are gonna hit you in this offensive were there German stormtrooper units who were specially trained assault units and down in the gallery we've got a uniform and equipment of one of those storm troops.
The storm troops will very quickly rush through the position. They're lightly equipped. Lots of grenades, sort of, they've even got their own light artillery etcetera with them, and they go in, as I say, try to overwhelm the position, but if they don't, they just go round a position like a wave breaking round a rock, and they carry on.
And then they would have other divisions coming up behind and then it's the other infantry guys just turn up and just mop up anybody who's resisting. So, if you so if you survive the artillery bombardment and the Stormtrooper attack, then you've still got these other guys coming up behind you as well. Yeah, because the Germans have managed to move all of these troops from the Eastern Front, where the Russians have dropped out of the war.
For a while, just like little while the Germans have got a manpower advantage. Yeah. And they need to try to win the war before, of course, hundreds and thousands of Americans are going to turn up. And really turn the tide, so they've got a very short window. The attack on the 21st of March, I mean it was a, it was a big success, wasn't it, for the Germans? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They punch a hole right through, you know, through the line on on, on a pretty wide front as well. The big problem is with the German attacks is that they don't have any transport. They didn't even really have any cavalry by 1918, cause all the horses had to go into transport units because they’re short of horses. So, they don't really have anything that can keep the offensive going. So, in a way, it's a bit like the German advance in 1914 where it's all down to basically how fast a bloke can march. Yeah. And then you have to fight as well and if you try to keep that going day after day after day at some point you're gonna run out of steam, and that's that's, that's the offensive. And obviously the first day of that offensive is actually here in the play.”
By the spring of 1918, it was evident to the German forces that one final push was needed to beat the British and French forces on the Western Front before the abundance of American manpower and resources could be fully deployed. On 21st March 1918, the German forces began to launch attacks on allied soldiers on the Western Front – these consisted of artillery bombardment followed by gas and then advance by Stormtroopers.
Although the offensive failed to defeat the allied forces, the threat felt by British forces was real. R C Sherriff’s Play is set on the days preceding the offensive and looks at the thoughts and feelings of the officers before.
Everyday Life in the Trenches
“So here we've got part of the original manuscripts of Journey’s End. So, looking at the photos of the first stage production, we've got this one which is a really wonderful picture because you've got so many of the characters there, haven't you? And they're all sitting around the table in the dugout. Looks like they're having their, their meal because he's eating from a bowl or a plate and they've got their tin mugs there.”
“Yeah, it's quite interesting because he's not looking too happy. Uh, with the with the actual food that's on offer, almost like questioning. You got your Mason the, the, the batman there, soldier servant there. He’s obviously prepared this meal. So, we've got very tinned food. Obviously, you know, tinned food was very good because it’s preserved, lasts for a long time, so in trenches it is easy to get that sort of food up to the front lines. And we've actually got some original tinned rations in the First World War Gallery in the long case where it's like a life in the trenches. There's four or five different types of tin ration there, I think Bully Beef and that Maconochie stew that used to get in a tin.”
“Oh yes, that's right, yes.”
“And obviously also because being officers, they would have had extra food, so Mason would have had his own little dug out the back where he could actually prepare food for the officers and actually bring it out. They obviously, they, there's lots of references to drinking whiskey and things as well. And again, they could have had whiskey sent out to them. Obviously, the other ranks weren't supposed to be drinking when they were on duty. But of course, the rum ration used to come round in those sort of stoneware jars. Again, there's, there's actually one of those in the in the gallery as well. The SRD, which everybody said it stood for ‘Seldom Reaches Destination’, because people used to nick the rum on the way up to the frontline, but that was the only time and I think the men would only be given a run ration, obviously, even just before they were gonna go and do an attack to sort of put some steel into them, or if it was particularly cold and then you would get a run ration as well. But the officers were allowed to sort of drink, obviously in moderation, obviously if you, if you went on duty absolutely hammered, you would be up on a charge pretty, pretty soon. But it's a really nice photograph because it does give you this, this idea of life in the dugout.”
For the officers in Sherriff’s play, life would be more comfortable than the everyday soldiers’, but it was nonetheless still difficult and dangerous.
Food was important for those in the trenches both to keep them physically fit and attempt to maintain morale. In the First World War Galleries at IWM London, there are examples of tinned food such as ‘Maconochie’, a beef and vegetable stew, named after the company that made it. Maconochie was a staple of a soldier’s trench life even though it was largely detested, especially when it couldn’t be heated up. The rum ration and cigarettes were also important to those serving on the frontlines.
Stereotypes in the Play
“I always think in a way the play is full of what modern audiences would say are stereotypes, but you have to remember that when the play was written and first performed this was actually for many people shocking the way it was so realistic and the way in which it not necessarily questioned the war, but it didn't portray it in the kind of rosy way that lots of people were still doing in the 1920s.”
“Yeah, yeah. Well, this is it. Everybody thinks about the anti-war writings, but that really came sort of later in 20s and into the 30s, so immediately after the war there were a number of novels and things that came out, you know. The autobiographies are quite a positive spin on people's wartime service. And you know, with this it you can, you could read this as a quite an anti-war piece but really it is just a general typical experience of four days in the, in the line before a large offensive.”
Representations of life for the soldiers who fought the First World War are now common – from poetry and novels, to film and television. Sherriff’s play, first staged ten years after the end of the war, depicts what was then seen as shockingly realistic in its portrayal of life in the trenches, the characters, and the struggles they faced.
Discover more about the themes Journey’s End explores in the First World War Galleries at IWM London.
