Hope turned to heartbreak for Shropshire's no-show soldiers
As the Shropshire soldiers landed in France in July 1917, the French dock workers must have smiled.
They were Territorials - soldiers who typically had peacetime jobs as farm workers, factory workers, foundrymen, shopkeepers, or whatever.
However, the reason for any smiles would have been nothing to do with the perceived fighting abilities of these troops of the 4th Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. It would have been all to do with how they were dressed.
Because these troops destined for the mud and the trenches of the Western Front were dressed in tropical kit, complete with shorts.
They had completed a long sea journey from the Far East and back home in Shropshire there was great excitement at the prospect of the return on leave of loved ones after nearly three years away.
Instead, in a remarkable act of military heartlessness, the Shropshire soldiers were given no leave whatsoever, and after calling in briefly at a British port were sent straight to France.
The soldiers had no choice in the matter, but back in Shropshire there was great anger.
The Shrewsbury Chronicle reported: "Telegrams were received by many of the wives and relatives of the men; and preparations were made to give them a hearty reception after their absence for nearly three years.
"Two or three towns displayed flags, and bands were hastily got together to meet the trains on which the Shropshires were expected. Several of the railway stations were besieged with anxious crowds, and the railway officials had a warm time in placating those who, not unreasonably, expected to see their long absent relatives.
"In the meantime, the Battalion had been embarked for 'somewhere in France,' whither they were sent in their Colonial kit, which attracted much attention wherever they went, as the men were suffering from cold.
"To those at home, it appears to be the refinement of cruelty to take these men without allowing them short leave to see their friends after so long an absence; and there is very much discontent and dissatisfaction throughout the county."
According to the paper: "The men reconciled themselves to the inevitable, however hard and unjust, not to say stupid, they may have considered it."
Questions were asked of the Under Secretary for War in the House of Commons by local MPs Sir Charles Henry and Sir Beville Stanier and Newport Urban District Council wired a protest to the War Office.
The reason given for not giving the Shropshires any leave was that there was an urgent need for men in France.
The MPs called on the Under Secretary to make representations for early leave for the Shropshire soldiers, but received a non-committal reply.
Some of the soldiers would never see their loved ones again. The battalion was pitched in to the fighting around Ypres and on just their first day in battle lost 130 men, compared with half a dozen lost to illness while in the Far East, where the soldiers had been on garrison duty in places like Hong Kong, Singapore - where they put down a rebellion and formed the firing squads to execute the mutineers - and Burma.
In France their crowning achievement came at a hill near Rheims in France, on June 6, 1918, which the soldiers stormed amid shot and shell in an exploit which saw the entire regiment awarded the Croix de Guerre avec Palme by the French.
The centenary of the Battle of Bligny is being marked by a series of events in Shrewsbury in June, with the climax being on Saturday, June 9, with a service at St Chad's Church, a commemorative lunch at Shrewsbury Castle, and a concert at the castle.
