Gallant R. N. D., The

DESCRIPTION: "I'm going to sing a song about the gallant R. N. D., The lads who're in the Army though they ought to be at sea." "Why don't they send us back to Blighty?" The singer complains of the washhouses, doctors, food, shelter, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Nettleingham-TommysTunes)
KEYWORDS: soldier hardtimes navy
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Nettleingham-TommysTunes, #41, "The Gallant R. N. D." (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #10780
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune) and references there
NOTES [165 words]: What follows comes from ohn Keegan, The First World War, Knopf, 1999.
World War I opened in the west with the Germans attacking France through Belgium. After the Battle of the Marne, which halted this advance, both sides were trying to find a way to outflank the other, resulting in the so-called "Race to the Sea," the Belgians held a fortified camp around Antwerp, and tried to use that as a base to harass the Germans. This failed, and the Germans prepared an attack on Antwerp. In this situation, the Royal Naval Division was sent to Antwerp, with Winston Churchill also showing up to act as if he could do something while leading the troops (the organizing of the division itself had been his idea; Keegan, p. 237). Neither he nor they accomplished anything; Antwerp promptly fell, though most of the British troops got out and went to protect Ostend (Keegan, pp. 127-129). Later, they were sent to the Dardanelles (Keegan, pp. 240-241). Little wonder that they wanted to go home! - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: NeTT041

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