world war one - the death of Lt. Stokes

On 5th March 1917, 2nd Lt. O. C. Stokes of the 2nd Btn. Royal Munster Fusiliers took part in a patrol against the positions of the 73rd Füsilier Regiment. The sentries opened fire and threw grenades and succeeded in driving off the British patrol. Lt. Stokes, however, was fatally wounded and died in the German trench which was occupied by Ernst Jünger's company.

War Diary of the 2nd Btn. Royal Munster Fusiliers

This is held at the Public Record Office at Kew (London). The War Diary folder (WO 95/1279) contains contemporaneous, handwritten records of significant events and batallion orders recorded daily, or near daily, by an officer on the battallion's staff. For the days in question here (5 and 6 March 1917), we read:

A large fall of snow during the night made the trenches very dirty. [sic] and men had to work very hard to keep the front line clear. Much good work has already been done and the whole front line is now passable. D Coy sent out an officers partrol (2nd Lt. KELLY) with the object of bombing a sniper's post in ST ELOI WOOD. The sniper however was not discovered. B Coy sent out an officer's patrol (2nd Lt O. C. Stokes) at 3am. [Next page] Patrol consisted of six men under 2Lt. O. C. STOKES. Their object was to reach the German wire and bomb the front line. 2nd Lt STOKES, NO4170 Sgt. HAWLEY and three men went through a gap in the German wire and proceeded to bomb the front line. When returning 2Lt STOKES and Sgt HAWLEY got caught in the German wire and a machine gun opened fire on them - wounding both. The Germans sent out flanking patrols to try and cut off the remainder of the patrol - but they did not succeed in doing so. The patrol returned and reported the incident. C.S.M. Dennchy [spelling unclear] and a Sgt. at once went out but could find no trace of either 2Lt STOKES or Sgt. HAWLEY, both of whom were therefore reported "Wounded and Missing".

At the end of the Month, under 'Notes', the officer writes:

On 18th March, when the battalion was moving to Villiers-Carbonnel the grave of 2Lt. O.C. STOKES (missing since [blank] March) was found. Map reference (62CSW)N30C5.8. The grave was wired around and a wooden cross erected with the inscription "LTN. STOKES . R. MUNS. Fus - killed 6-3-17." This had been done by the enemy. Our men planted box palm around the grave and put white stones around it.

In Stahlgewittern

Jünger's account of this incident is given at the start of the chapter "Der Sommerückzug". In the first edition, pp. 67-68:

Am 5.3 näherte sich in den frühen Morgenstunden eine Patrouille unserem Graben und begann, das Drahtverhau zu durchschneiden. Der Leutnant Eisen eilte mit einigen Leuten auf die Meldung eines Postens herbei und warf Handgranaten, worauf die Angreifer sich zur Flucht wandten und zwei Mann liegen ließen. Der eine, ein junger Leutnant, starb gleich darauf; der andere, ein Sergeant, war schwer am Arm und Bein verwundet. Aus den Papieren des Offiziers ging hervor, daß er den Namen Stokes trug und dem Royal Munster 2. Füslier-Regiment angehörte. Er war sehr gut angezogen, und sein vom Tode verkrampftes Gesicht war intelligent und energisch geschnitten. Wir begruben ihn hinter unserem Graben und setzten ihm ein einfaches Kreuz. Ich ersah aus diesem Erlebnis, daß nicht jeder Patrouillengang so glücklich zu enden brauchte, wie meine bisherigen.

In the 1926 edition he adds: In seinem Notizbuch las ich mit einer gewissen Rührung eine Menge Adressen von Londoner Mädchen (p. 111).

The later editions show only minor changes in sentence structure.

Regimental War Diaries

Both war diaries mention the incident briefly. In Szrzepanski's book, we read:

Am 5.3, 4.30 morg., stellte der Offizier vom Grabendienst, Lt. Eisen, fest, daß vor einem hervorspringenden Grabenstück eine fdl. Patr. vom etwa 7 Mann an dem Drahtverhau sich zu schaffen machte. Sofort nahm er die in der Nähe befindlichen Posten zusammen und ging im Handgranatenangriff auf die gefährdete Stelle zu. Es gelang ihm dabei, einen am Arm verwundeten Engländer zu fassen und einzubringen, während ein schwerverwundeter engl. Offizier im deutschen Graben starb (p. 93).

Voigt merely embellishes Szrzepanski's account with the names of the sentries and adds 'Der Rest dieser feindlichen Patrouille eines irischen Regiments konnte entkommen' (p. 470).

Conclusion

There is a precise overlap between the three independent accounts concerning names and dates. As far as this incident is concerned, we can therefore be very certain that Jünger's published account was indeed factual and unembellished. Whilst we cannot with any absolute certainty extend this conclusion to the remainder of the war diary or In Stahlgewittern, it does lend a good degree of confidence to the assertion that Jünger's war books are based on fact and not fiction, as some critics have previously postulated. What makes them interesting, therefore, is not any divergence from fact but rather the narrative construction and the belief system assembled around it.