Come Into the Lighter

DESCRIPTION: "Come into the lighter, Maude, The fuse has long been lit, Come into the lighter, Maude, And never mind your kit. The waves grow high, But what care I, I'd rather be seasick Than blown sky-high, So come into..., Or I'm off in the launch alone"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 2001 (Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver)
KEYWORDS: soldier ship
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1864-1917 - Life of General Sir F. Stanley Maude
1915 - The Dardanelles campaign. British forces attack Gallipoli; the Australians and New Zealanders form the spearhead of the second phase of the attack, at Suvla Bay. All the attacks are bloody failures
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, p. 104, "Come Into the Lighter" (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Come Into the Garden, Maude" (tune, according to Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver)
NOTES [187 words]: According to Stephen Pope and Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, Dictionary of the First World War, 1995 (I use the 2003 Pen & Sword paperback), pp. 309-301, General Sir F. Stanley Maude began World War I in charge of a brigade on the Western Front (where he was severely wounded), then was promoted to divisional command in the Dardanelles campaign. He commanded the 13th Division, which suffered more than 50% casualties. After that, he, and it, were transferred to Mesopotamia. Put in charge of the Mesopotamian campaign, he was having success when he died suddenly of cholera in 1917.
Every source I have checked considers him the best commander the British had in Mesopotamia, and none seem to blame him for the losses at Gallipoli. But one can understand the perspective of the song: His troops took horrid casualties in the Dardanelles, and he was a British officer commanding colonials. Even if the losses weren't his fault, it's easy to understand how his soldiers would blame him. And when he slowed them down as they tried to leave the beaches under fire, as he apparently did, it's easy to see why they waxed sarcastic! - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: AWTBW102

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