Étaples Mutiny

The Étaples Mutiny was a mutiny by British Empire troops in France, during the First World War.

Background

Étaples, about Convert|15|mi|km south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, was a notorious base camp for those on their way to the front. Under atrocious conditions, both raw recruits and battle-weary veterans were subjected to intensive training in gas (chemical) warfare, bayonet drill, and long sessions of marching at the double across the dunes. After two weeks at Étaples, many of the wounded were only too glad to return to the front with unhealed wounds. Conditions in the hospital were punitive rather than therapeutic and there had been incidents at the hospital between military police and patients. [http://www.geocities.com/cordobakaf/mutinies.html David Lamb, "Mutinies", www.geocities.com] ]

On August 28 1916, a member of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), Private Alexander Little, verbally abused a British non-commissioned officer after water was cut off while he was having a shower. [Kevin Baker, 2006, "Mutiny, Terrorism, Riots and Murder: A History of Sedition in Australia and New Zealand", Dural NSW, Rosenberg Publishing (ISBN 1-877-05849-1)] As he was being taken to the punishment compound, Little resisted and was assisted and released by other Australians and members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). Four of these men were later identified, court-martialled for mutiny and sentenced to death, although three had their sentence commuted (possibly because of AIF regulations which barred imposition of the death penalty on its personnel). However, Private Jack Braithwaite, an Australian serving with the NZEF, in the 2nd Battalion of the Otago Regiment, was considered to be a repeat offender — his sentence was confirmed by General Douglas Haig and he was shot by a firing squad on October 29.

The major mutiny

It appears that relations between personnel and authorities at the camp deteriorated after the Little incident. They came to a head on Sunday, September 9 1917, after the arrest of Gunner A. J. Healy, a New Zealander belonging to No. 27 Infantry Base Depot. He and others by-passed the police picquets that patrolled the bridges that gave access to a small fishing village, which was out of bounds to troops. His son recalled:

:It was the practice for those who wished to visit the township to walk across the estuary or river mouth at low tide, do their thing and return accordingly. However in my father's case the tide came in, in the interval and to avoid being charged as a deserter, he returned across the bridge and was apprehended as a deserter by the Royal Military Police and placed in an adjoining cell or lock up. When news of this action reached the NZ garrison, the troops left in a mass and proceeded to the lock up. [http://www.shotatdawn.org.uk/page31.html www.shotatdawn.org.uk] ]

A large crowd of angry men gathered and did not disperse even when told the gunner had been released. It was clear that the protest over the arrest was only the tip of an iceberg and the atmosphere was tense. The arrival of military police only made matters worse and scuffles broke out. Suddenly the sound of shooting was heard. Private H. Reeve, a military policeman, had fired into the crowd, killing Corporal W. B. Wood of the 4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, and injuring a French woman standing in the Rue de Huguet, Étaples. Thereafter, the police simply fled.

News of the shooting spread quickly. By 7.30 pm over a thousand angry men were pursuing the military police who fled in the direction of the town. The Camp Adjutant describes how the men "swarmed into the town, raided the office of the Base Commandant, pulled him out of his chair and carried him on their shoulders through the town."

The following morning measures were taken to prevent further outbreaks and police pickets were stationed on the bridges leading into the town. Nevertheless, by 4 pm men had broken through the pickets and were holding meetings in the town, followed by sporadic demonstrations around the camp.

On Tuesday, fearing further outbreaks, the Base Commandant requested reinforcements. Meanwhile, the demonstrations gathered momentum.

On Wednesday, September 12, in spite of orders confining them to camp, over a thousand men broke out, marched through the town. Later that day, reinforcements of 400 officers and men of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) arrived, armed with wooden staves. The HAC detachment was composed mainly of officers, contained no working-class men, and was the one unit on which complete reliance could be placed. The HAC were supported by cavalry from the 15th Hussars Regiment and a section from the Machine Gun Corps. The threat worked: only 300 men broke camp and were arrested at Etaples. The incident was now over and the reinforcements were dispersed.

Political significance

Incidents such as this one among Allied forces in the First World War may have been a factor in preventing the victorious Western powers from intervening in the Russian Revolution on a larger scale than actually happened.

"The Monocled Mutineer"

William Allison and John Fairley's 1978 book "The Monocled Mutineer" gave a somewhat speculative account of the life and death of Percy Toplis and his involvement in the mutiny. It prompted questions in Parliament about the events of the Mutiny when it was first published, which led to the discovery that all the records of the Etaples Board of Enquiry had been destroyed long since.cite book | last = Badsey | first = Stephen | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Media and International Security | publisher = Routledge | date = 2000 | location = | pages = pp. 83-84 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0714648485] A popular BBC1 TV series of the same name was adapted from the book, and caused some controversy at the time of its first transmission in 1986, being used by the right-wing press as an example of the BBC's supposed "left wing" bias. Some advertising material issued to promote the series inadvisedly claimed that it was a "true-life story".

Toplis has been shown to have been in India in 1917 and to have contracted malaria not long before the Étaples Mutiny. It is believed very unlikely that he could have returned to Europe in time to participate in it. [Citation | last = Kelbie | first = Paul | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = The Monocled Mutineer is innocent | newspaper = The Independent | pages = | year = | date = 12 February 2006 | url = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-monocled-mutineer-is-innocent-466366.html]

ee also

* 1915 Singapore Mutiny
* French Army Mutinies (1917)

References