Journey's EndJourney's End at The New Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London First performed in 1929, Journey's End by R C Sherriff is set in the British trenches at St Quentin, and is based on the author's own experiences of the Front. Raleigh, a new eighteen-year-old officer fresh out of English public school, joins the besieged company of his friend and cricketing hero Stanhope, but finds that Stanhope, promoted beyond his years and experience and facing the realities of the front line has dramatically changed. The play is filled with humour in the face of certain tragedy and is as much the story of its many characters as it is an observation on war. Journey's End takes place during World War 1. It is set in an officers’ dugout in the trenches on the Western Front. This was the battle line between the Allies and Germans that lay across Northern France, Belgium and down to the Swiss Border. For much of the war this front remained fairly static, with neither side giving or taking much territory; indeed advances were measured in just a few miles gained over half a year or more. The Trenches of the Western Front stretched in a continuous line from the English Channel to the Swiss frontier. These were not two distinct parallel lines on a map but a rabbit warren of fire, communication and supply trenches. Getting lost in the trenches was a real possibility. The technique of advancing over a trench wall and running directly into your enemy’s line of fire across the barbed wire, decaying bodies and mud of 'no-man’s land' was costly to human life. Casualties were high. At the end of the 4 year conflict 908,371 British men had been killed and 2 million injured whilst 1,773,700 Germans were killed and over 4 million injured. The Front Line Trenches were zigzag-shaped to stop the enemy shooting at soldiers from one end of the trench. The trenches were protected by barbed wire at the front and sandbags placed along the top. Trenches were approximately 7 feet deep and 6 feet wide and a ‘fire step’ was cut into the trench to enable the soldiers to see over the top. When the soldiers in the play are told to ‘stand-to’ they must climb onto the ‘fire step’ in preparation for shooting at the enemy. ‘No-man’s land’ was the land between the German and Allied frontline trenches. The distance to the enemy frontline across ‘no-man’s land’ could be just a few feet. Behind the frontline trenches were the support trenches and joining these two were the communications trenches. This enabled the wounded to be carried away and men and supplies to go to the front line. Journey's End opens just before the advance at St Quentin, which lies 45 miles west of Amiens and 90 miles north of Paris. By 1918 German forces out-numbered the Allies on the Western Front and in the spring of that year Germany staged three offensives. The advance at St Quentin, a city in the Somme River Valley, took place in March 1918 and pushed British troops into a 30 mile retreat. Over the next four months, the Germans progressed east towards Paris shelling the city with their enormous guns, known as ‘Big Berthas’. These had a firing range of 75 miles. With American help, the Allies managed to contain the German advance. The turning point was the Second Battle of the Marne fought from 15th July to 6th August 1918. By early September 1918, the Allies had regained the territory they had lost that spring and, by the end of the month, Germany realised it could longer overcome the strength of the combined Allied forces. The Germans surrendered in November 1918. British soldiers on the Western Front would carry 30 kilos of equipment in total. This would include: a steel helmet, a rifle, two grenades, 220 rounds of ammunition, wire cutters, field dressing, entrenching tools, great-coat, two sandbags, rolled ground sheet, water bottle, haversack, mess tin, towel, shaving kit, extra socks, message book and rations. Rum was the alcohol rationed to soldiers. Each division (20,000 soldiers) had 300 gallons, which was usually distributed after an offensive and in very cold weather. Full website coming soon.... |