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Thread: 100 Years Ago Today

  1. #2301

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    Cracking edition Neil. Thank you

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  2. #2302

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    Sunday 25th March 1917
    Today we lost: 707
    Today’s losses include:
    · A Scotland International footballer
    · A battalion commander
    · Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    · Multiple sons of Justices of the Peace
    · Multiple families that will that will lose two sons in the Great War
    · The great grandson of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    · Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Richard Ingles Chitty (commanding 105th Mahratta Light Infantry) is killed at age 48. · Major Frederick Edward Thornton (Mahratta Light Infantry formerly Royal Scots Fusiliers) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend Canon F S Thornton JP Rector of Downham.
    · Lieutenant John George Will (General List attached Royal Flying Corps) is killed above Arras at age 24. He is a Scottish International Rugby Football player who scored two of London Scottish RFC tries in the last international match before the war, the Calcutta Cup in March 1914. At 08:25 Lieutenant Will takes off from Le Hameau aerodrome in Nieuport 17 No A6751 on an escort mission in company with another No 29 Squadron aircraft. The other pilot has to return to the aerodrome due to revolution counter problems he then changed aircraft and returns to the front, but fails to find Will, who does not return
    · Lieutenant Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest (Durham Light Infantry) dies of wounds at age 20. He is the great grandson of Charles William Vane 3rd Marquess of Londonderry.
    · Lieutenant John Solomon Riddell Hodgson (Dorsetshire Regiment) killed at age 20. He is the son of Harold Hodgson, JP.
    · Lieutenant Allix James William Griffith (Dorsetshire Regiment) is killed at age 22. He is the son of the Reverend Henry Wagner Griffith Vicar of Thorp Arch.
    · Lieutenant Robert William Stewart (Quebec Regiment) is killed on the Western Front at age 26. His brother will be killed in November of this year.
    · Second Lieutenant Harold Edward Hussey (Devonshire Regiment attached Manchester Regiment) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend James Hussey.
    · Second Lieutenant George King Hicks Cochrane (Indian Army Reserve of Officers attached Gurkha Rifles) is killed at age 22. His brother will die on service in December 1918.
    · Second Lieutenant Ralph Leslie Sargeant (Somerset Light Infantry) is killed at age 26. His brother will be killed in October.
    · Second Lieutenant Bernard Moore Blakeston (Indian Army Reserve of Officers attached Gurkha Rifles) is killed at age 25. He is the son of the Reverend Luke Harrison Blakeston Vicar of Womersley.
    · Private Joshua Prentice (East Surrey Regiment) dies of wounds on Salonika at age 23. His brother will be killed in October 1918.
    · Private Albert George Kiver (Devonshire Regiment) dies at age 42. His brother will die on service in February 1919.

    Air Operations:


    Only one of 6 Sopwith two-seater (No 70 Squadron) survive reconnaissance to Valenciennes (2 lost before on March 24).

    Canadian Billy Bishop makes his first claim of a German Albatros D. III. He goes on to claim 72 victories to become the top British ace, although his exploits and victories are very controversial.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 12


    Lt Butler, H. (Harry), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 30.

    Lt Chuter, H.A. (Harry Athelstan), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action.

    Lt Cooper, J.S. (John Stephen), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action aged 25, during an aerial combat near Bapaume.

    2Lt Gay, F.H. (Frederick Hollington), 16 Squadron, RFC. Died of wounds received at Vimy, aged 19.

    Capt Henderson, E.J. (Eric Joseph), 70 Squadron, RFC (Special Reserve). Killed in Action, aged 19, with 2nd Lieut J M Sim. Left Vert Galland airfield at 7.10am on a deep reconnaissance of the Hindenburg Line. One of five Sopwith 11/2Strutter's brought down following an aerial combat with nine Enemy Aircraft .

    2Lt MacQueen, A.N. (Alexander Norman), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 21.

    Lt Norris, L.A. (Leslie Archibald), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 23.

    2Lt Phillips, N.A. (Norman Arthur), 54 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 28.
    Lt Sim, J.M. (John Moir), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 25 March 1917 aged 23. Left Vert Galant airfield at 7.10am in Sopwith 11/2 Strutter flown by Capt E J Henderson, on a deep reconnaissance of the Hindenburg Line. One of five Sopwith 11/2 Strutter's brought down following an aerial combat

    2Lt Vane-Tempest, C.S. (Charles Stewart), 70 Squadron, RFC. Died of wounds as a POW at Ligny aged 20.

    Capt Ward price, L.S. (Leonard Stanley), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 27.

    Lt Will, J.G. (John George), 29 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 24.

    Claims: 12 (Entente 4: Central Powers 8)

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    Lt William "Billy" Avery Bishop claims his 1st victory with 60 Squadron, RFC. Flying a Nieuport 17 he shot down an Albators DII between St Leger and Arras. William Avery Bishop attended the Royal Military College before joining the 8th Canadian Mounted Rifles at the beginning of the war. After serving overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in December 1915 and received his pilot's certificate in 1917. Flying Nieuport scouts and the SE5a, "The Lone Hawk" was considered by some to be a mediocre pilot, but his extraordinary eyesight and consistent practice earned him a reputation as a crack shot. As the commanding officer of the "Flying Foxes," he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) after scoring 25 victories in just twelve days. On the morning of 2 June 1917, his single-handed attack against a German aerodrome on the Arras front earned him the Victoria Cross, making Bishop the first Canadian flyer to receive this honour. Before the war ended, he found time to write "Winged Warfare," an autobiographical account of his exploits in the air over France.

    Because Bishop flew many of his patrols alone, most of his victories were never witnessed. After years of controversy, a television broadcast entitled "The Kid Who Couldn't Miss" led to an inquiry by the Canadian government in 1985. In conclusion, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology discredited the film, finding it to be an unfair and inaccurate portrayal of Bishop.

    Bishop was the brother-in-law of Canadian ace Henry Burden. He died, age 62, at his winter home in Palm Beach, Florida.

    "The most important thing in fighting was shooting, next the various tactics in coming into a fight and last of all flying ability itself." William Bishop1

    "In nearly all cases where machines have been downed, it was during a fight which had been very short, and the successful burst of fire had occurred within the space of a minute after the beginning of actual hostilities." William Bishop1

    "[Like] nearly all other pilots who come face to face with the [enemy] in the air for the first time, I could hardly realize that these were real live, hostile machines. I was fascinated by them and wanted to circle about and have a good look at them." William Bishop1

    "He must be able to loop, turn his machine over on its back, and do various other flying 'stunts'—not that these are actually necessary during a combat, but from the fact that he has done these things several times he gets absolute confidence, and when the fight comes along he is not worrying about how the machine will act. He can devote all his time to fighting the other fellow, the flying part of it coming instinctively." William Bishop.

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    Lt Jacques Toussaint François Ortoli claims his 7th & 8th confirmed victories with N77.

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    Lt Edward Dawson "Spider" Atkinson claims his 1st confirmed victory with1 Squadron,RFC. Shooting down a balloon near Warneton-Wervicq. After serving with the 40th Panthans of the Indian Army Reserve, 2nd Lieutenant Edward Dawson Atkinson transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 2145 on a L. & P. biplane at the London and Provincial School, Hendon on 12 December 1915. On 1 May 1917, he encountered Jasta 28 and was attacked by "an exceptionally good pilot" flying a red Albatros scout. The German pilot was Karl Schafer and Atkinson was forced down behind the safety of his own lines in a Nieuport scout that was damaged beyond repair.

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    Offizierstellvertreter Paul Aue claims his 4th confirmed victory with Jasta 10.

    Lt Karl Deilmann claims his 3rd confirmed victory with Jasta 6.

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    Lt Heinrich Gontermann claims his 6th confirmed victory with Jasta 5.

    Lt Friedrich Mallinckrodt claims his 6th confirmed victory with Jasta 20.

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    Offizierstellvertreter Edmund Nathanael claims his 4th & 5th confirmed victories with Jasta 5. Shooting down a Sopwith 11/2 Strutter & a Niueport 17 near Velu and east of Beugny respectively.

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    Lt Alfred Niederhoff claims his 2nd confirmed victory with Jasta 20 before transferring to Jasta 11.

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    Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen claims his 31st confirmed victory with Jasta 11. Flying a Halberstadt DII he shot down a Nieuport 17 near Tilloy.

    Western Front


    Hard fighting south of St. Quentin.

    French reach neighbourhood of Coucy-le-Chateau.

    395 shells on Reims.

    Tunstills Men Sunday 25th March 1917:


    ‘L’ Camp, near Poperinghe

    The clocks had been advanced one hour overnight 24th/25th for the start of Summer Time, and, appropriately enough, it turned out to be “a glorious Spring day”. Training continued as did the inter-Battalion competitions, with the shooting competition and relay races being held.

    Pte. Arthur Slingsby died of broncho-pneumonia. He was 25 years old, originally from Retford, Notts. and had served with 1st/6th Battalion before being transferred to 10DWR. He was buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. He is the only Battalion casualty recorded for the month of March. His death was subsequently reported in The Retford Times (13th April 1917):

    Sincere sympathy is felt with Mr and Mrs J E Slingsby of the Old Lodge, Babworth Hall, Retford, in the loss of their son, Pte Arthur Slingsby of the West Riding Regt, who died from pneumonia in France on March 26th (sic.). He was 25 years of age and before joining the Colours in March 1916 was employed in the gardens at Park Hall, Mansfield Woodhouse. He had previously been employed at Osberton and at Rufford Abbey. He underwent his preparatory training at Clipstone Camp and had been out in France seven months. The gallant young soldier was a man of very fine physique and a very popular football player. When home on leave before going to the front he looked the picture of health and it was thought that he was quite equal to all the stress and strain of the battle field. His Company Q.M.S. writes to say that they had been on the march when he was taken ill and adds:- “He was a good soldier and although had not been with us long we all miss him very much.” On March 22nd the sister in charge of the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, France, wrote stating that he was seriously ill but assuring his parents that he was in a comfortable bed and that there were doctors and sisters who knew how to give him the care he needed. He passed away on March 26th (sic.) but his parents did not hear of his death until Monday April 2nd.

    Sgt. Wilson Pritchard (see 24th December 1916), who had been in England since September 1916 having been wounded, returned to France to re-join the ACC; he had been one of Tunstill’s original recruits but had been transferred to the ACC while the Battalion was still in training.

    The mother of 2Lt. Roland Herbert Wyndham Brinsley-Richards (see 20th March), who had been officially reported ‘missing in action’ following the action at Munster Alley in July 1916, wrote to the War Office in response to recent correspondence received by her:

    Dear Sir
    In answer to your letter of the 20th March asking me whether I have received any further news about my son , Second Lieutenant R.H.W. Brinsley-Richards, reported missing 30th July 1916, I regret to say that all the letters which have reached me from his brother officers leave me practically no hope that he has survived. Thanks to the Red Cross Society I have been put into relation with several of the privates who went out with my son on that night attack and although some of them saw him fall they evidently do not think he can have survived.

    A few days ago a rumour reached me which I am following up. One of the officers of my son’s Regiment recently home on leave said that news had been received at Christmas from one of the privates who was with my son on that night. He had written saying he was wounded and a prisoner in Germany and that he believed 2nd Lt. Brinsley-Richards was also taken prisoner.
    At present I am doing all I can to sift the matter as it is the only ray of hope granted to me during all these months. I will inform you of the result of my inquiries.”

    Eastern Front:

    Russia: General Alexeiev made C-in-C by Provisional Government (until June 4) instead of Grand Duke Nicholas, Tsar’s choice (arrived from Caucasus on March 23) .

    Western Russia:
    German gas attack in Dvinsk area repulsed, but attack on March 26 southwest of Baranovichi gains east bank of river Schara and 300 PoWs.

    Africa, Asiatic & Egyptian Theatres:

    French take Ouijan (Morocco).

    The Battle of Jebel Hamlin, 1917

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    Indian troops on parade.


    Forming part of the March-April 1917 Samarrah Offensive geared primarily towards the capture of the Turkish railway at Samarrah, the Battle of Jebel Hamlin saw a British-led force attempt to encircle 15,000 Turkish troops led by Ali Ishan Bey retreating from Persia en route to meet up with regional Turkish Commander-in-Chief Khalil Pasha.

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    Indian Machine Gun Team

    Led by General Keary the Anglo-Indian force of 8,000 men was concerned to prevent Ali Ishan Bey's force from rendezvousing with Khalil's main force of 10,000 men retreating north from Baghdad, which had fallen to the British on 11 March 1917. Ishan was himself retreating as a consequence of Russian operations in Persia during March.

    It was expected by the British that Ishan would attempt to meet up with Khalil's existing force at Baquba, where a Turkish garrison was in place. Consequently Keary's force was despatched on 14 March with Baquba in mind. On 17 March however the garrison at Baquba itself began to withdraw north to meet up with Ishan.
    Keary, intending to squeeze Ishan's 15,000 men between both his and (he presumed) the pursuing Russian Persian force, shifted towards the new Turkish position at the foot of the Jebel Hamlin mountains. Unbeknownst to Keary however the February Revolution in Russia had broken out, bringing a halt to Russian operations in Persia. In short his was the only force pursuing Ishan - with significant consequences.

    Meanwhile 4,500 men of Ishan's force proceeded to dig secure lines on high ground behind two canals among the mountains.

    Keary's consequent preparations to storm the Turkish lines were not undertaken in secrecy, with the result that when the British attack finally began on 25 March (having first laboriously navigated both canals) they found the Turkish defence well prepared.

    At 01:15 the 9th Brigade under the command of General Campbell arrives at the lower edge of the foothills and bivouacs. At 05:30 the brigade advances into the foothills in diamond formation with the 2nd Dorsetshire Regiment leading, the 1st/1st Gurhka Rifles on the left and the 105th Mahrattas on the right, the 93rd Burma’s to the rear and the 133rd Company Machine Gun Corps, Pioneers and Brigade Headquarters in the center. The Dorsetshire Regiment gains a forward crest line with only slight opposition. Advancing to the next crest about two and a half miles up they come under heavy fire. At 06:30 General Campbell detaches machine guns to support the Gurhkas and four guns to support the Dorsets. Two gun crews find themselves too far ahead and are killed during a Turkish counter-attack which drives the Dorsets back about 600 yards. By noon it becomes obvious no progress can be made and a withdrawal is ordered two and a half miles back to the position held the previous day.

    The attack is a failure, with British infantry casualties numbering 122 killed, 726 wounded and 316 missing while Ishan’s force manages to escape southwest, headed for Turkish forces sited on the River Tigris. Jabal Hamrin will be occupied in less than one week. With the path northwest now clear of Turkish forces General Keary continues onwards to meet up with his Russian allies in the first week of April. What he finds is approximately 3,000 discontented Russians apparently unwilling to fight; as a result he will turn around and rejoin the main advance upon Samarrah.

    With the path northwest now clear of Turkish forces General Keary continued onwards to meet up with his Russian allies in the first week of April. In the event he found approximately 3,000 discontented Russians apparently unwilling to fight; he therefore promptly turned around and rejoined the main advance upon Samarrah.

    Naval Operations:

    Dunkirk bombarded from sea.

    Shipping Losses: 28 (2 to mines & 26 to U-Boat actions)


    Political:


    Russia:
    Russian Provisional Government accepts responsibilities of former regime. Death penalty abolished and medals except St George Cross. All Tsar’s property and income transferred to State.

    Italy:
    National Board for War Invalids authorized.

    Britain:
    Commons votes £60 million war credit.

    Neutrals:


    U.S. Legation at Brussels removed to Havre; Belgian relief work to be undertaken by other neutrals.

    Anniversary Events:

    708 Constantine begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
    1634 Lord Baltimore founds the Catholic colony of Maryland.
    1655 Puritans jail Governor Stone after a military victory over Catholic forces in the colony of Maryland.
    1668 The first horse race in America takes place.
    1776 The Continental Congress authorizes a medal for General George Washington.
    1807 British Parliament abolishes the slave trade.
    1813 The frigate USS Essex flies the first U.S. flag in battle in the Pacific.
    1865 Confederate forces capture Fort Stedman, during the siege of Petersburg, Va.
    1879 Japan invades the kingdom of Liuqiu (Ryukyu) Islands, formerly a vassal of China.
    1905 Rebel battle flags that were captured during the American Civil War are returned to the South.
    1911 A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, a sweatshop in New York City, claims the lives of 146 workers.
    1915 The first submarine disaster occurs when a U.S. F-4 sinks off the Hawaiian coast.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 03-25-2017 at 09:52.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  3. #2303

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    Tomorrow will be my last Sniper Times for some time, I will try and make it good one as I prepare to hand over the baton to Chris. In the words of an immortal historical figure "I'll be back". (oops that should be science fiction figure not historical).
    See you on the Dark Side......

  4. #2304

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    ooh eck ! better sharpen my pencil then as I feel there are some busy days coming up, what with 'Bloody April' and the Battle of Vimy Ridge

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  5. #2305

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hedeby View Post
    ooh eck ! better sharpen my pencil then as I feel there are some busy days coming up, what with 'Bloody April' and the Battle of Vimy Ridge
    You better buy a whole new box of pencils!

  6. #2306

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    Percy Herbert Cherry, VC, MC (4 June 1895 – 27 March 1917) was born in the Australian state of Victoria, Cherry moved to Tasmania at the age of seven when his family took up an apple orchard. Becoming an expert apple packer, he was also a skilled rifle shot and member of the Franklin rowing club. In 1913, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 93rd Infantry Regiment, Citizens Military Force, and served as a drill instructor at the outbreak of war. Enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1915, he served at Gallipoli before transferring to the Western Front. He commanded the company's 1st Battery at Fleurbaix, Messines and on the Somme until 5 August, when he was wounded in a duel with a German officer at Pozieres. He and a German officer—who was leading an attack against Cherry's position—were exchanging shots from neighbouring shell-holes. Eventually, they both rose, firing simultaneously. The German officer hit Cherry in the neck but was mortally wounded by Cherry in return. Cherry approached the dying man, who pulled a package of letters from his pocket, and asked Cherry to have them censored and posted. Cherry promised to do so and the German handed over the letters, with the words; "And so it ends". He died shortly afterwards. As a result of his wounds, Cherry was evacuated to England for treatment.

    Promoted to lieutenant on 25 August 1916, Cherry returned to his unit on the Somme in November. The following month he was made a temporary captain and transferred back to the 26th Battalion as the commanding officer of C Company. His rank was confirmed on 14 February 1917, and on 1–2 March he was involved in the battalion's actions around the village of Warlencourt. At 03:00 on 2 March, Cherry led his company in an attack on the German held position of Malt Trench, situated between the villages of Warlencourt and Bapaume. Artillery fire had failed to adequately cut the barbed wire lines for the advancing troops, and Cherry led a section of men along the wire until he found a break in it. Once through the gap, he rushed two machine gun posts, capturing one single-handed, and turned one on the fleeing Germans before being wounded himself. For his actions during the engagement, Cherry was awarded the Military Cross.

    On 26 March 1917, the 7th Brigade—of which the 26th Battalion was part—was tasked with the capture of Lagnicourt. It was during this engagement where Cherry was to earn the Victoria Cross. An artillery barrage opened up on the village at 05:15 and continued for twenty minutes, allowing the infantry to close in. The plan was that Cherry's company would storm the village itself while the battalion's other companies encircled it. For the assault, Cherry split his company into two sections; he commanded one section himself and placed the other under Lieutenant William Frederick Joseph Hamilton.

    The company was soon in action. Cherry's section captured a large fortified farm on the edge of the village. As they entered the muddy main street, the Australians came under heavy fire from the houses lining the road and from an adjacent stable yard. Cherry "rushed the stable yard" and a fierce firefight developed, before the Germans surrendered. As Cherry and his men moved through Lagnicourt, they found the main resistance coming from a large chalky crater, "spotted with white chalk", at the crossroads in the village centre. The Germans' stout defence was holding up the advance and Cherry sent a messenger back for more Stokes mortars. Becoming impatient at the delay, Cherry decided to rush the position under the cover of Lewis gun and rifle grenade fire. Capturing the crater, he found Lieutenant Harold Hereward Bieske at the bottom wounded. Bieske had taken over command of the second section when Lieutenant Hamilton was wounded, and it had now been reduced to six men.

    After capturing the crater, Cherry pushed on through the village, where his party emerged from among the buildings on the far side. Another stiff fight ensured with a group of Germans in dug-outs by the side of the road, before the company was able to meet up with its fellow units which had bypassed the village and were already established to the north and east of the area. Cherry's orders were to fall back into reserve, but he disregarded them as he sensed a counter-attack was forthcoming. At 09:00 on 27 March, the Germans launched a very strong counter-attack under heavy artillery fire. At one point, Cherry noticed that the Germans were firing yellow flares to pinpoint Australian positions to their gunners. He found some of these flares, and fired them away from his position. The German attempts to retake Lagnicourt—at a cost to the 7th Brigade of 377 casualties—raged all day before they abandoned the counterattack.

    In the afternoon of 27 March 1917, a shell burst in a sunken road to the east of Lagnicourt, killing Cherry and several other men. He was buried in Quéant Road Cemetery, Buissy, Plot VIII, Row C, Grave 10. The full citation for Cherry's posthumous award of the Victoria Cross appeared in a supplement to the London Gazette on 11 May 1917, reading:
    War Office, 11th May, 1917

    His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned Officers and Man:—

    2nd Lt. (temp. Capt.) Percy Herbert Cherry, M.C., late Aus. Imp. Force.
    For most conspicuous bravery, determination and leadership when in command of a company detailed to storm and clear a village. After all the officers of his company had become casualties he carried on with care and determination, in the face of fierce opposition, and cleared the village of the enemy. He sent frequent reports of progress made, and when held up for some time by an enemy strong point he organised machine gun and bomb parties and captured the position. His leadership, coolness and bravery set a wonderful example to his men. Having cleared the village, he took charge of the situation and beat off the most resolute and heavy counter-attacks made by the enemy. Wounded about 6.30 a.m., he refused to leave his post, and there remained, encouraging all to hold out at all costs, until, about 4.30 p.m., this very gallant officer was killed by an enemy shell.

    Cherry's Victoria Cross was presented to his father by the Governor of Tasmania, Sir Francis Newdegate, in Hobart during October 1917. In 1932, a photograph of Cherry was unveiled at the headquarters of the 26th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, at Annerley, Brisbane. His Victoria Cross is currently on display at the Australian War Memorial along with his other medals

    Lost in the same action:

    Pte. Jack Rohweder was serving with A Company 26th Battalion AIF during this battle, having returned from an NCO training course earlier in the month. On March 26, 1917 Jack's company fought in the same action around the village of Lagincourt where Capt. Cherry won his VC. The Germans were keen to dislodge the Australians from their newly won positions launching a number of local counterattacks and trench raids. It was during one such raid on this day, 100 years ago, that Pte. Jack Rohweder was shot and killed in action by a German sniper.

    Private John William Rohweder 4875 was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1891. The son of a German immigrant Johann Reinhold Casper Rohweder who arrived in Australia as an eighteen year old in 1883, he was originally christened 'Johann Wilhelm', but everybody called him 'Jack'. He had three brothers, one of whom was my great-grandfather and another my namesake Carl who passed away as an infant.

    When the Great War broke out Jack was 22 years old. A tradesman carpenter, Jack was discouraged from enlisting early in the war but signed up in late 1915. On 28 March 1916 Private Jack Rohweder 4875 embarked for Egypt from Brisbane as a reinforcement with the 9th Battalion AIF. After training in Egypt and the UK, Jack was posted to the 26th Battalion AIF and sent to France to serve in the trenches on the Western Front. After holding defensive positions on the line during the winter of 1916-17, in January 1917 the 26th Battalion was transferred to the Ancre Valley and then to Le Sars. In March 1917 as the German Army withdrew to the Hindenburg Line, the battalion was involved in a number of actions at Warlencourt and Lagnicourt, which have been described in some detail in the entry above concerning Capt. Percy Herbert Cherry, VC, MC who was the officer commanding C Company of the 26th.



    Today we lost: 1147
    Today’s losses include:
    · The son of a man who served in the India Mutiny
    · Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
    · A football player
    · A battalion commander
    · A man whose son will be killed in the Second World War
    · Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    · Brothers killed together

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Among those killed in the Battle of Gaza are:

    · Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Stirling Ashworth (commanding 4th Sussex Regiment) age 42, Lieutenant Colonel Ashworth’s son will be killed in the Second World War.
    · Captain Ivor Thomas Lloyd-Jones (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) and Lieutenant Vivian Gwynne James (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) all killed while leading their men into action at age 28. Captain Lloyd-Jones brother was killed on Gallipoli in August 1915 and they are sons of Reverend David Lloyd-Jones while Lieutenant James is wounded and while he is being carried back to the Casualty Clearing Station is killed by a bursting shell. He is a graduate of the University of Wales and an Assistant Master in Science at Callington County School, in Cornwall.
    · Captain Stanley Jackson Snowden (Middlesex Regiment) is killed at age 25. His younger brother Lieutenant H J Snowden will be accidentally killed in August. Captain Snowden joined the Inns of Court OTC on the outbreak of the War, and received a Commission in the Middlesex Regiment in October 1914. He was sent to Gallipoli in July 1915 and was wounded at Suvla Bay the following month. He was invalided home, but rejoined his Regiment in Egypt in February 1916.
    · Lieutenant Claud John Pym (Irish Guards) dies of wounds at age 24. His brother was killed in July 1916.
    · Lieutenant Denis Noel Tyrrell-Green (Sussex Regiment) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend Professor Edmund Tyrrell-Green.
    · Second Lieutenant Vivian Unsworth Green (Middlesex Regiment) is killed at age 33. He is the middle of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.
    · Second Lieutenant Arthur Rogers (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend John Rogers.
    · Second Lieutenant Evelyn Llewellyn Hustler Jones (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) is killed in Palestine at age 43. He is the son of the late Reverend Owen Jones.
    · Second Lieutenant Arthur Llewelyn Williams (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend John Williams. · Second Lieutenant Charles Vincent Edmunds (Essex Regiment) is killed at age 33. He is the son of the Reverend Charles Edmunds Vicar of Broomfield.
    · Lance Corporal Ernest Carpenter (Sussex Regiment) is killed. His brother will die as a prisoner of war in June next year.
    · Lance Corporal Charles Payne (Sussex Regiment) is killed. His brother will be killed in July 1918.
    · Private Arthur Roland Hill (Essex Regiment) is killed at age 23. His brother will die on the Western Front 4 days before the Armistice.
    · Private William Roger Crabb (Essex Regiment) is killed at age 23. His brother died of enteric fever in November 1915.
    · Private George Jenner Andrew (Essex Regiment) is killed at age 25. His brother will be killed in March 1918.
    · Brothers and Privates Theodore Frederick (age 25) and Wilfred Richard Wicking (age 26) (Royal Sussex Regiment) are killed together. Their brother was killed on Gallipoli in August 1915.
    · Private Arthur Papworth (Suffolk Regiment) dies at home after being discharged as medically unfit after a long illness at age 42. His brother was killed in March 1915.

    Killed on the Western Front this day are:
    · Second Lieutenant Francis Gore (Middlesex Regiment) killed in action at age 37. He is the son of the Honorable Emily Gore and his father Lieutenant Augustus Frederick Wentworth Gord served during the India Mutiny.
    · Gunner Bernard Christopher Rance (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 21. His brother will be killed in June.
    · Corporal David Collie Martin (Black Watch) is killed at age 27. He was a successful football player for Brechin Hearts, Brechin City, Dundee and Dundee Hibs. He was the first player to score five goals for Dundee Hibs. During the 1914-15 season he completed the season with an amazing twenty-nine goals in 25 league matches.

    Air Operations:

    Palestine:
    Germans (8 Rumplers and a few Halberstadt fighters) outperform RFC (21 serviceable aircraft) in vital reconnaissance role during First Battle of Gaza (until March 28).

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    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 2


    2Lt Leask, J. (John), 56 Squadron, RFC. Accidentally Killed while flying S.E.5 A4587 at Court Moor near Aldershot when caught in snow blizzard and overturned.

    2Lt Thomas, E.L. (Evan Llewellyn), RFC. Killed in action.

    Claims: 1 (Entente 1: Central Powers 0)

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    Praporshik Grigory Eduardovich Suk claims his 1st confirmed victory today with 9th Corps Fighter Detachment. Flying a Nieuport 11 he shot down a Hansa-Brandenburg CI near Nedzy-Vozargal.

    Western Front


    Heavy snow and rain (plus hail on March 27).

    Somme:
    Australians capture Lagnicourt (c.50 PoWs), 6 miles northeast of Bapaume.

    Aisne:
    French Third Army push back Germans beyond Barisis-Servais line and recapture Coucy-le-Chateau.

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    Tunstills Men Monday 26th March 1917:

    ‘L’ Camp, near Poperinghe

    The weather again turned much colder, and very wet in the morning. Training continued; there were also the finals of the inter-Battalion boxing competitions, although planned cross-country runs were postponed due to the wet weather.

    Eastern Front:

    Russians attacked south-west of Baranovichi (centre), retire on east bank of Shchara, losing 300 prisoners.

    Southern Front:

    French take trenches west of Monastir and 2,000 prisoners.

    Austrians occupy Italian advanced trenches south of the Vipacco (Carso).

    Africa, Asiatic & Egyptian Theatres:

    The First Battle of Gaza, 1917

    With all Turkish forces forced from the Sinai Peninsula in early January 1917 British-led forces, commanded by Sir Archibald Murray, were able to consider an assault into Palestine itself.

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    In doing so - for it was quickly determined that a push towards Gaza was feasible, albeit under pressure from the British War Office - it was imperative that the British should first dislodge Turkish forces from commanding positions from a series of ridges between Gaza and Beersheba; these formed the only practical entry into Palestine. Turkish forces in Gaza, some 18,000 men, were commanded by German General Kress von Kressenstein.
    The Turkish force was outnumbered two-to-one by forces led by General Sir Charles Dobell, Murray's subordinate and commander of Eastern Forces. Kressenstein was nevertheless ordered to hold the position by Djemal Pasha.

    EEF Pre-Attack Bombing
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    A series of bombing raids on the railway from Junction Station to Tel el Sheria aimed to disrupt the Ottoman lines of communication during the build-up to the battle. No. 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps and No. 14 Squadron bombed Beersheba in mid February, destroying 3 German planes, and on 25 February assisted a French battleship's shelling of Jaffa, by directing the ship's fire. On the same day, the German aerodrome at Ramleh was bombed. Then on 5 March six aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) conducted bombing attacks intended to interfere with the Ottoman withdrawal from the Khan Yunis line. They bombed Beersheba and the Palestine railway at Tel-esh-Sheria 12 miles (19 km) to the northwest. Although the damage was not great, the railway at Tel esh Sheria continued to be bombed in moonlight on 7 March, by relays of aircraft. Junction Station and supply depot, an important junction of southern Palestine railways with the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway many miles to the north, was also bombed on 9, 13, and 19 March.

    The Attack
    Dobell assembled the core of his force 8km from Gaza near the coast and behind the Wadi Ghazi. Advancing under the protection of a dense sea fog his cavalry successfully cut off the rear of Gaza east and south-east on the morning of the attack's launch, 26 March, meanwhile deploying so as to / prevent the supply of reinforcements to the town.

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    The central infantry advance, conducted by 53rd Infantry Division, was launched across difficult terrain from the ridge of Ali Muntar and was greatly assisted by the encircling cavalry.

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    Inexplicably with victory apparently in sight towards the end the of the day Sir Philip Chetwode withdrew his cavalry forces under orders from Dobell, the latter mistakenly believing that the infantry advance was proving a failure.
    Kressenstein coincidentally arrived at the opposite conclusion and cancelled his own call for reserves believing Gaza a lost cause.

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    Kressenstein resting

    Resumed again the next day the British unsurprisingly found that Kressenstein had hastily reinforced the town's permanent garrison of 4,000. A combination of Turkish counterattacks combined with a lack of water supplies finally persuaded Dobell to call off the attack.
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    A Turkish artillery battery fires on British troops during the First Battle of Gaza. A wounded man is just carried away on a stretcher

    In the encounter Dobell suffered 4,000 casualties set against approximately 2,400 Turkish losses. Disastrously however Murray wrote to the War Office in London suggesting Turkish losses to be three times their actual figure while implying that the battle was a clear-cut British victory (rather than the draw it was).

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    Turkish battery hidden at gaza

    Murray's despatch convinced London of the potential success of operations on the Palestine Front. Murray was consequently ordered to launch a fresh assault at the earliest opportunity, with the target Jerusalem itself. Second time around Murray found his Turkish opponents ready and waiting.

    Gaza: After eight months of painstaking advances, the British have succeeded in driving the Turkish forces from the Sinai Peninsula where they had been attempting to menace the Allied supply route through the Suez Canal. The British now are trying to advance into Palestine with the goal of cutting off the Turkish forces in Mesopotamia and on the Arabian Peninsula. As a first step, they need to capture the stronghold of Gaza which dominates the southern coastal route into Palestine.

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    The First Battle of Gaza is the first predominantly infantry assault of the campaign and is a costly defeat for the British. Map Mcdwd The estimated Turkish strength in the Gaza-Beersheba area is about 15,000 troops; of which 4,000 are believed to be in Gaza itself, perhaps 2,000 in Beersheba with the remainder in the surrounding country. The British forces involved in the attack number 22,000 and comprise the 53rd and 54th Divisions, two brigades from each of the Anzac and Imperial Mounted Divisions plus the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade.

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    Troops waiting to move

    The assault on Gaza is to be a swift attack with all units, including artillery, advancing during the night which involves crossing the deep Wady Ghuzze. The advance which starts at 02:30 is hindered by a thick fog which does not dissipate until 08:00.

    The main assault will be carried out by the 53rd Division, under the command of Major General A.G. Dallas, with the support of one brigade (the 161st Brigade) of the 54th Division. The two mounted divisions and the camel brigade would provide screens on the flanks; the Anzac Mounted Division would surround Gaza to the east and north while the Imperial Mounted Division and camel brigade were positioned on the eastern flank to hold off Turkish reinforcements from elsewhere in the Gaza-Beersheba line. Attack 26th Despite the fog, the mounted troops complete their encirclement of Gaza without mishap. While the fog makes navigation difficult, it also shielded the horsemen’s movements from observation.

    The advance completely surprises the Turks; two German aircraft are destroyed on the ground, a number of isolated Turkish posts are surrounded and the commander and staff of the Turkish 53rd Division are captured while travelling to take command of the Gaza garrison. The advance of the infantry is less successful. The plan is for the 53rd Division to have crossed the Wady Ghuzze by 05:00 and be in position to assault Ali Muntar, south-east of Gaza, at 08:00 after a preparatory bombardment from the artillery. The 158th Brigade would attack from the right (east) and the 160th Brigade from the left (west) with the 159th Brigade in reserve. However the infantry are not in position until 08:30 and the artillery does not commence the bombardment until 09:00 by which time any element of surprise is lost.

    General Dallas delays the attack as uncertainty about the Turkish strength makes him hesitate and he leaves his headquarters to go forward and view the battlefield. Dallas and his staff are absent from the 53rd Division’s headquarters for two hours or more, during which time General Philip Chetwode is trying to contact him with orders to commence the attack immediately. Sightings of raised dust in the distance suggest to Dallas that Turkish reinforcements are approaching making him even more nervous to commit to the attack, though it turns out to be a false alarm.

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    Around noon finally Dallas commences his infantry attack. He receives support from the 161st Brigade and the 54th Division artillery at 13:00. Meanwhile, recognizing that the available daylight is slipping away, Chetwode orders General Chauvel, commander of the Anzac Mounted Division, to attack Gaza from the north and east with his two mounted brigades. The infantry attack across 4,000 yards of open ground under continuous Turkish shrapnel fire. When the line approaches to within 1,000 yards of the Ali Muntar position, the Turkish machine guns and riflemen open fire and the attack begins to falter. At 13:00 Dallas sends in his reserve brigade, the 159th. At 15:00 some of the British reach the cactus hedges on the slopes of Ali Muntar and a close-quarters melee begins. At 16:20 the 161st Brigade, having arrived from reserve, is sent in to assault the hill with three battalions. At this point the British commit all their infantry to the battle. The Turks are driven from the summit of Ali Muntar around dusk but make an orderly retreat towards the Gaza Township. Shortly after 13:00 the Australian 2nd Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade move in towards Gaza from the north and east respectively. The Turks have been lulled by the inactivity of these brigades and had withdrawn troops from these flanks to face the British attacking from the south. Consequently the soldiers are able to ride close in to Gaza before dismounting and are quickly amongst the cactus hedges.

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    By 18:00 the Turkish position has become perilous with the ring closing tightly around Gaza. However, in a decision that dismays most of their soldiers, Dobell and Chetwode decide to call off the attack and retreat, delivering victory to the Turks. Brigadier General Ryrie of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade is so incensed by the order to withdraw that he enforces his right to receive it in writing.

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    Both Dobell and his superior, General Archibald Murray, portray the battle as a success in their reports to the British War Office and excuse the withdrawal by claiming the approaching Turkish reinforcements were a threat and that the horses of the mounted troops had not been watered all day. However, the reinforcements that had engaged the defensive screen of light horsemen had been repulsed with relative ease and the claim of watering the horses was false as a number of the brigades had found water supplies on the battlefield and were in no immediate need of relief. The failure to capture Gaza on his first attempt is fatal for General Murray’s ambitions in Palestine. Where Turkey had previously been demoralized by the retreat through the Sinai, and are contemplating withdrawal towards Jerusalem, it is now motivated to defend the Gaza-Beersheba line.

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    A second attempt will be made to capture Gaza on 19 April by which time the Turkish defenses are more formidable and the task confronting the British more difficult. Map 1830 A patrol consisting of Lieutenant Cyril Ernest Scott, Sergeant Henry Armstrong Hammond, Sergeant Joseph Gahan and Corporal Edward Gordon Ogg of the Australian Light Horse encounters a Turkish officer with fifteen men who immediately throw up their hands to surrender at Gaza. Upon seeing how few Australians there are, the Turks pick up their rifles and shoot Sergeant Joseph Gahan dead and bayonet Corporal Ogg in the leg. Lieutenant Scott shoots five of the Turks while Sergeant Hammond gets one before the Turks again surrender.


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    Australian prisoners

    British and Australian casualties include 467 killed, 2,900 wounded and 500 missing against Turkish losses of less than 2,500 killed, wounded, missing and prisoners.

    Naval Operations:

    Shipping Losses: 5 (1 to a mine, 1 to friendly collision & 3 to U-Boat action)


    Political:


    Statement re: prisoners of war in House of Commons.

    Mr. Bonar Law appeals to engineers on strike at Barrow to resume work.

    Bread rises to 1s. per 4-lb. loaf, and new standard of flour applied to bakers.

    Neutrals:


    Enlistment for U.S. Navy to be increased to maximum of 87,000.

    Anniversary Events:

    1517 The famous Flemish composer Heinrich Issac dies.
    1799 Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa, Palestine.
    1804 Congress orders the removal of Indians east of the Mississippi River to Louisiana.
    1804 The territory of New Orleans is organized in the Louisiana Purchase.
    1827 German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven dies in Vienna. He had been deaf for the later part of his life, but said on his death bed “I shall hear in heaven.”
    1832 Famed western artist George Catlin begins his voyage up the Missouri River aboard the American Fur Company steamship Yellowstone.
    1885 Eastman Film Co. manufactures the first commercial motion picture film.
    1913 The Balkan allies take Adrianople.

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    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 03-27-2017 at 00:35.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  7. #2307

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    OK that is signing off in style - although doesn't look like the pictures have uploaded

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  8. #2308

    Default

    Seem ok to me.

    Try another pair of glasses and not the drinking kind!
    See you on the Dark Side......

  9. #2309

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc

    Try another pair of glasses and not the drinking kind!

    But...beer goggles make things look better!
    ( https://www.irishtimes.com/news/heal...tive-1.1067309 )

  10. #2310

    Default

    Chris would probably use a pair of Bristols if he could see through them.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  11. #2311

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    Chris was right, though; there were no pics when I first read this, but they are there now.
    Karl
    It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus

  12. #2312

    Default Another Casualty for 26 March 1917 - Pte. Jack Rohweder 4875

    I beg your indulgence to add another name to the casualty list for 26 March 1917.

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    Private John William Rohweder 4875 was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1891. The son of a German immigrant Johann Reinhold Casper Rohweder who arrived in Australia as an eighteen year old in 1883, he was originally christened 'Johann Wilhelm', but everybody called him 'Jack'. He had three brothers, one of whom was my great-grandfather and another my namesake Carl who passed away as an infant.

    When the Great War broke out Jack was 22 years old. A tradesman carpenter, Jack was discouraged from enlisting early in the war but signed up in late 1915. On 28 March 1916 Private Jack Rohweder 4875 embarked for Egypt from Brisbane as a reinforcement with the 9th Battalion AIF. After training in Egypt and the UK, Jack was posted to the 26th Battalion AIF and sent to France to serve in the trenches on the Western Front. After holding defensive positions on the line during the winter of 1916-17, in January 1917 the 26th Battalion was transferred to the Ancre Valley and then to Le Sars. In March 1917 as the German Army withdrew to the Hindenburg Line, the battalion was involved in a number of actions at Warlencourt and Lagnicourt, which have been described in some detail in the entry above concerning Capt. Percy Herbert Cherry, VC, MC who was the officer commanding C Company of the 26th.

    Pte. Jack Rohweder was serving with A Company 26th Battalion AIF during this battle, having returned from an NCO training course earlier in the month. On March 26, 1917 Jack's company fought in the same action around the village of Lagincourt where Capt. Cherry won his VC. The Germans were keen to dislodge the Australians from their newly won positions launching a number of local counterattacks and trench raids. It was during one such raid on this day, 100 years ago, that Pte. Jack Rohweder was shot and killed in action by a German sniper.

    The following are documents obtained from witnesses to Jack's death:

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    Jack is commemorated at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France and on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial. His name is also inscribed on the cenotaph in the Brisbane Valley town of Esk near where his father, my great-great grandfather, first cleared land at Boonah.

  13. #2313

    Default

    It will be an honour to add him to the list. I have placed the entry just below that of Cherry.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 03-27-2017 at 00:36.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  14. #2314

    Default

    Thank you Carl for adding some real substance to this days reportage. it is always good to get a personal touch.
    May both Jack and Percy RIP.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  15. #2315

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    Many Thanks Carl well worth the award of ....

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  16. #2316

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jager View Post
    Chris was right, though; there were no pics when I first read this, but they are there now.
    Karl
    What that man said...

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  17. #2317

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    So thank you to Neil and the baton is well and truly back in my care for the next couple of weeks. Lets see what gems we can find this evening.... and lets start with a Victoria Cross

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    Brigadier Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey, VC, MC (1 September 1888 – 24 August 1980) was an Irish Canadian soldier and rugby union player. During the First World War, while serving in the Canadian Army, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the Military Cross and the French Croix de Guerre. Educated at Portora Royal School and Ellesmere College, Harvey played rugby for both Wanderers and Ireland. He is one of three Ireland rugby union internationals to have been awarded the Victoria Cross. The other two are Tom Crean and Robert Johnston, who both served in the Second Boer War. Like Harvey, Crean and Johnston also played for Wanderers. His two brothers Arnold and Duncan were also notable sportsmen. Both also represented Ireland at rugby, while Arnold also represented Ireland at cricket and athletics.

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    Harvey made two senior appearances for Ireland. He played in the 1907 Home Nations Championship against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park, losing 29–0. His team mates on the day included James Cecil Parke and Basil Maclear. He played for Ireland for the second and last time in the 1911 Five Nations Championship at the Mardyke, winning 25–5 against France. Harvey first arrived in Canada in 1908 where he worked as a surveyor in northern Alberta and High River. On 18 May 1916 he enlisted in the 13th Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles, at Medicine Hat, Alberta. He was subsequently commissioned as a lieutenant and posted to the Western Front in 1916. He then transferred to Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), part of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade. Harvey was awarded the Victoria Cross following an incident on 27 March 1917 at the village of Guyencourt.

    During an attack by his regiment on a village, a party of the enemy ran forward to a wired trench just in front of the village, and opened rapid fire and machine-gun fire at a very close range, causing heavy casualties in the leading troop. At this critical moment, when the enemy showed no intention whatever of retiring, and fire was still intense, Lt. Harvey, who was in command of the leading troops, ran forward well ahead of his men and dashed at the trench, skilfully manned, jumped the wire, shot the machine-gunner and captured the gun. His most courageous act undoubtedly had a decisive effect on the success of the operations. Interestingly Harvey was originally awarded the Distinguished Service Order but this was later upgraded to a VC. In March 1918, Harvey was also awarded the Military Cross for the same action that earned Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew the VC.

    After the war Harvey remained with Lord Strathcona’s Horse and was promoted to captain in 1923. He then served as the Instructor in Physical Training at the Royal Military College of Canada from 1923 to 1927. In 1938, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became the commanding officer of Lord Strathcona’s Horse. In 1939, he was made a brigadier and commander of the 13th Alberta Military District. Harvey retired in December 1945, but maintained an active interest in horses as a judge of hunter and jumper competitions. He also served as Honorary Colonel of Lord Strathcona’s Horse from 1958 to 1966. He died aged 91 years and was buried at Union Cemetery in Fort Macleod, Alberta.

    The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
    is founded. These are the first official British service women.

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    The United Kingdom's Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (1917–1918), later named the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (1918–1920), was the women's unit of the British Army during and immediately after the First World War.

    It was formally instituted on 7 July, 1917 by Sir Neville Macready, the adjutant-general, who had appointed Dr Mona Chalmers Watson the first Chief Controller and senior officer. Over 57,000 women served between January 1917 and November 1918. On 31 March 1917 women in the WAAC were first sent to the battlefields in France, just 14 cooks and waitresses. Helen Gwynne-Vaughan was the Senior Officer overseas, and Florence Leach was the controller of the cooks. In 1918 women medical personnel were sent to the front in France; one such was Dr. Phoebe Chapple, who was awarded the Military Medal for her actions during an air raid on the WAAC shelter trench outside Abbeville in May 1918. The corps was disbanded in September 1921. After a German air raid in September 1940 most of the service records did not survive. Those which did have suffered fire, water and mould damage. The National Archives in Kew, Surrey, digitised these to prevent further damage and they can be searched and viewed online. The last WAAC veteran was Ivy Lillian Campany, who died in 2008.

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    Helen Gwynne-Vaughn

    There were no aerial victory claims on this day, however the RFC still managed to lose eight of its men...

    2nd Lieutenant Frederic Allinson 70 Squadron RFC. Died of Wounds 27 March 1917 as Prisoner of War in German Hands at Ligny aged 24.

    2nd Lieutenant Cecil Charles Gibbs 14 Squadron RFC. Killed in Action 27 March 1917 aged 27 - although there does not seem to be a record of how he died.

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class John WIlliam Grindley
    34 Kite Balloon Section. Died of heart failure 27 March

    Air Mechanic 1st Class John Jenkin
    Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II - died on this day in 1917 - no further information was available.

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Frank Sadler Peterson Recruits Training Centre, Halton. Died on this day in 1917

    Lieutenant Sidney Stretton 66 Squadron RFC Killed while flying 27 March 1917 aged 28

    Lieutenant Ernest Wallace RFC SChool of Aerial Gunnery. Killed while flying 27 March 1917 aged 28

    Captain Charles Harry Williamson 14 Squadron RFC. Killed in accident 27 March 1917 aged 29

    On this day 634 British (and allies) troops were lost...

    Percy Cherry's VC was announced in yesterday's edition, alas today we report his death.

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    Captain Percy Herbert Cherry VC MC (Australian Infantry) is killed by a shell burst at age 21 one day after performing acts during an attack on the French village of Lagnicourt that will win him a posthumous Victoria Cross. After all the officers of his company had become casualties he carried on with care and determination, in the face of fierce opposition, and cleared the village of the enemy. The 7th Brigade is tasked with the capture of Lagnicourt. An artillery barrage opens up on the village at 05:15 on the 26th and continues for twenty minutes, allowing the infantry to close in. The plan is that Cherry’s company will storm the village itself while the battalion’s other companies encircle it. For the assault, Cherry splits his company into two sections; he commands one section himself and places the other under Lieutenant William Frederick Joseph Hamilton.

    The company is soon in action and Cherry’s section captures a large fortified farm on the edge of the village. As they enter the muddy main street, the Australians come under heavy fire from the houses lining the road and from an adjacent stable yard. Cherry rushes the stable yard and a fierce firefight develops, before the Germans surrender. As Cherry and his men move through Lagnicourt, they find the main resistance coming from a large chalky crater, “spotted with white chalk”, at the crossroads in the village center. The Germans’ defense holds up the advance and Cherry sends a messenger back for more Stokes mortars. Becoming impatient at the delay, Cherry decides to rush the position under the cover of Lewis Gun and rifle grenade fire. Capturing the crater, he finds Lieutenant Harold Hereward Bieske at the bottom wounded. Bieske had taken over command of the second section when Lieutenant Hamilton was wounded, and it has now been reduced to six men.

    After capturing the crater, Cherry pushes on through the village, where his party emerges from among the buildings on the far side. Another stiff fight ensures with a group of Germans in dug-outs by the side of the road, before the company is able to meet up with its fellow units which have bypassed the village and are already established to the north and east of the area. Cherry’s orders are to fall back into reserve, but he disregards them as he senses a counter-attack is forthcoming. At 09:00 today the Germans launch a very strong counter-attack under heavy artillery fire. At one point, Cherry notices that the Germans are firing yellow flares to pinpoint Australian positions to their gunners. He finds some of these flares, and fires them away from his position. The German attempts to retake Lagnicourt (at a cost to the 7th Brigade of 377 casualties) rage all day before they abandon the counterattack.

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Lieutenant John Savin Jones-Savin
    (Army Cyclist Corps attached Royal Welsh Fusiliers) dies of wounds received in action in Greece at age 27. He is the son of Canon Richard Jones-Savin.
    Second Lieutenant Edward Rodney Hasluck Grantham (Northumberland Fusiliers) killed in action at age 20. His older brother was killed twenty-seven days earlier.
    Second Lieutenant Harold Penrose (Royal Fusiliers) dies of wounds at age 23. His brother will be killed in April 1918.
    Company Sergeant Major David Francis Gillespie (Australian Infantry) dies of wounds at home at age 29. He is an Australian Rules Footballer.
    Lance Corporal Alexander Thomson (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) is killed at age 26. His brother was killed in July 1916.
    Private Alfred Hook (Royal West Kent Regiment) is killed at age 25. His brother will be killed in two weeks serving with the Canadian forces.
    Private Cecil Lockwood (Essex Regiment) is killed in Palestine. He is the middle of three brothers who will lose their lives in the War.

    Middle East

    At first light the Turks begin shelling the 54th divisional artillery on the Mansura Ridge, and they also re-occupy the eastern slopes of Sheikh Abbas. Later in the morning heavy enemy fire and infantry attacks develop from Ali Muntar and in the east from an enemy force advancing from Beersheba. By midday, the British realize the situation is hopeless and by last light their brigades have withdrawn south of Whadi Ghuzze.

    The War at Sea

    In the war at sea, the mercantile ship SS Thracia (Master R Nicholas) is on a voyage from Bilbao to Ardrossan with a cargo of iron ore when she is sunk by a torpedo fired from the German submarine UC69 twelve miles north of Belle Isle. Thirty-six men, including the Captain, are lost.

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    On the 27th March, between 8 and 9 p.m., the Thracia (2,891 tons) was torpedoed when on passage from Bilbao to Ardrossan with a full cargo of ore. She was one of a string of twelve vessels being escorted by a French destroyer and two trawlers on a short stage from Belle Ile to Brest. They were steaming at night and anchoring during the day. The Thracia, which was a quarter or half a mile distant from the nearest vessels, was struck just forward of her stoke‑hold. The explosion burst her boilers, killing outright an engineer, a greaser, and two firemen. The ship sank with appalling suddenness, and there was not time even to attempt the lowering of the boats. The crew numbered thirty‑eight all told, and of these there were only two survivors. One was the gunner, who had time to put on a lifebelt, and was picked up after a short interval by a neutral steamer. The other was a cadet, named Dove, a boy of fifteen, who was acting fourth officer. This lad had been on watch with the chief officer till eight o'clock, and when the ship was struck was lying in his bunk reading. He put on a greatcoat and went on deck, and as the ship was rapidly sinking he was thrown immediately into the water. The weather was intensely cold, with a north wind blowing, and the sea was very choppy. He succeeded in reaching an upturned boat, climbed on it, and lashed himself to it. Seven others of the crew also got on the boat, but were either washed off, or drowned while trying to swim towards a vessel which was seen. Three hours after the Thracia was sunk, a submarine came close up to the boat, and hailed the boy, who was now its only occupant. After asking him questions about the ship and its cargo, they called him an English swine, and threatened to shoot him. He replied, "Shoot away, and be damned to you," on which they said shooting was too good for him, and left him where he was, to drown. At eleven o'clock next morning he was picked up by a fishing boat, after thirteen hours in the water, and was later transferred to a destroyer. The official record states that when he was seen in Liverpool he was very shy, and his story had to be dragged out of him.

    Germany: Long-range ocean U-cruiser Flotilla formed with U-155; 5 boats by September 22. In or outside prohibited zones ships without lights to be sunk without warning.

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    ‘U-155’ was converted from the commercial submarine ‘Deutschland’ (U-151) and was one of a class of 8 long-range U-boats. The boats were obsolete in the last year of the war, but were important as the first long-range subs ever.

    Western Front
    France: a French soldier writes ‘Victory is smiling on our arms.’
    Aisne: French reach Aisne-Oise Canal north of Soissons.

    Politics
    Russia: Petrograd Soviet appeals to peoples of the world for peace.

    Neutrals
    USA: Wilson tells E House war decided ‘What else can I do?’.

    Home Fronts
    Russia: Grand Dukes and Princes renounce hereditary rights.
    Britain: Commons blockade debate.

    and finally from the annals of Capt. Tunstill's men:

    The cold weather of the previous day persisted. Training continued and in the afternoon there was the inter-Battalion cross-country race which had been postponed from the previous day; 10DWR finished in third place, behind 11th West Yorks. and 9th Yorks. Brig Genl. Lambert (see 22nd March) described the event in some detail in a letter to his wife, “We held our cross country race and it was a very pretty sight at the start – 300 starters. The West Yorks. won rather easily but they had practiced more carefully than the others and so deserved it. It was nearly 2 ½ miles long and the first man was in in 12 minutes which is good going. We had time limits so it was not strictly a race except against time. Those who got home under 18 minutes counted 1 point; those outside 18 but under 25 counted zero; those over 25 lost a point for their side. The West Yorks. got the first 9 out of 10 and by means of a ‘whipper in’ got the whole of their pack of 50, except one, in under the 18 minutes. This last man was a few seconds late! It was quite a good run.”

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  18. #2318

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hedeby View Post
    Duplicated post - well nice to see somethings don't change
    Perhaps somebody oiled the press? You do perform maintenance I believe!

  19. #2319

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rebel View Post
    Perhaps somebody oiled the press? You do perform maintenance I believe!
    I just did, with a bigger hammer Reg.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  20. #2320

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    I just did, with a bigger hammer Reg.
    Rob.
    Ahh, the fitter's universal tool. You can't beat it. With it you can!

  21. #2321

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    I used to use a king **** spanner. Great on '43' starting engines.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  22. #2322

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    The presses have been tinkered with, spanners and wrenches large and small have been employed, so hopefully today's edition runs off the presses without issue (as it were)

    March 28th 1917

    Lets start today with a bit of war in the air...

    Air War
    Macedonia: 10 KG 1 bombers attempt raid on Snievche airfield (No 47 Squadron Royal Flying Corps) but are intercepted by 4 Sopwith 1-1/2-strutters, 1 Sopwith triplane & and BE 12 (Murlis Green) and chased all the way back to their Hudova base.
    Western Front: 5 Halberstadt fighters shoot down 3 FE2bs (No 25 Squadron) covering BE2 artillery observation aircraft.

    How this was reported by the the RFC general headquarters for the day...

    General Headquarters, March 29th.

    "Two German aeroplanes were driven down in a damaged condition yesterday, as a result of fighting in the air. Three of our machines are missing."

    Artillery Co-operation — Thirty-seven targets were dealt with artillery with aeroplane observation.

    Hostile Aircraft —

    Lt C C Clark, 1 Sqn, Halberstadt D out of control Lesquin at 10:45/10:45; Oblt Hans Bethge, Jasta 30, Ok [?]
    Lt E S T Cole, 1 Sqn, Albatros Scout out of control Lesquin at 10:45/10:45; Oblt Hans Bethge, Jasta 30, Ok [?]

    2nd Lt E S T Cole, 1 Squadron, drove down an Albatros scout out of control near Ronchin. 2nd Lt C C Clark, 1 Squadron, engaged a hostile machine near Lesquin which he drove down completely out of control.

    There were 5 reported RFC losses on this day

    2nd Lieutenant George Howard Boorne 37 Reserve Squadron RFC Killed while flying 28 March 1917 aged 24

    Lieutenant Chaloner McCrae Humphrey Mannington Caffyn 60 Squadron RFC Killed while flying 28 March 1917 aged 24, when his aeroplane collapsed while practicing ground strafing.

    Air Mechanic 3rd Class Harold Flower RFC Recruits Training Centre died on this day in 1917

    2nd Lieutenant Alfred George Severs
    25 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 28 March 1917 aged 23. Dogfight report from earlier in January... A dogfight ensued between Jasta 11 and members of 25 Squadron RFC on a photography mission. Captain Oscar Greig and 2nd Lieutenant John Eric MacLennan in an FE2b (6997) were brought down behind enemy lines near Vimy and taken prisoner. Leutnant Manfred von Richthofen claimed the victory though it was probably more of a group effort. Their colleagues, 2nd Lieutenants William Drummond Matheson and Ernest George Green got a modicum of revenge when they shot down one of the attackers, an Albatros Scout. Later in the day, 2nd Lieutenants James Leith Leith and Alfred George Severs also from 25 Squadron claimed another Albatros Scout destroyed – Leith’s 3rd victory with three different observers.

    2nd Lt AG Severs who was killed (shot through the head) and originally buried in Lens but now commemorated on the Arras Flying Services memorial. Severs had started training as a pilot but severe hay fever meant he could not see the ground on landing so they had made him an observer instead. His Pilot, Lieutenant Norman L Knight of 25 Squadron was shot down and taken prisoner. They were shot down by Lothar Von Richthofen - who in doing so claimed his first kill.

    Lieutenant Hugh 'Toby' Welch
    1 Squadron RFC Killed in aerial combat 28 March 1917 aged 20

    There were also the following claims...

    Oberleutnant Lothar Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen of Jasta 11

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    When the war began, Lothar von Richthofen was an officer in the cavalry. Following Manfred von Richthofen's example, he transferred to the German Air Force in 1915 and was assigned to Jasta 11 on 6 March 1917. Under the watchful eye of his older brother, Lothar scored 24 victories in 47 days and was credited with shooting down English ace Albert Ball on 7 May 1917. On 13 May 1917, Lothar was badly wounded in a dogfight with a B.E.2e but recovered and assumed command of Jasta 11 on 24 September 1917. Wounded again on 13 March 1918, he crash landed his Fokker DR.I after being shot down by Camel pilot Augustus Orlebar and Bristol F.2b crew Geoffrey Hughes and Hugh Claye. The following month, he was still in a hospital bed when he learned of his brother's death. In the summer of 1918, Lothar returned to duty and achieved ten more victories by the end of the war. Scoring his final victory on 12 August 1918, he shot down a Sopwith Camel flown by English ace John Summers. The following day, Lothar was seriously wounded for the third time 13 August 1918 when his Fokker D.VII was shot down over the Somme by a Sopwith Camel of the 148th Aero Squadron. A commercial pilot in 1922, Lothar was killed in a crash on a flight from Berlin to Hamburg. A plaque honors his memory in the family plot at Südfriedhof in Wiesbaden but Lothar was actually buried near his father in the Garrison Cemetery at Schweidnitz, Germany. Schweidnitz was transferred to Poland at the end of World War II and the graves at Swidnica, Poland have been lost.

    Cecil Clark England #3
    Edwin Cole England #3
    Jean Casale France #7
    Honore de Bonald France #2
    René Doumer France #7
    Jean Matton France #5
    Hans Bethge Germany #4
    Lothar von Richthofen Germany #1
    Alexander Pishvanov Russia #2

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    Just 150 Sopwith Triplane were built and served only with Royal Navy Air Service units as a counter vs Albatros fighters.
    In summer 1917 the famous Canadian Collishaw destroyed 18 German aircraft only in June.

    Western Front
    France: Foch hands back command of Eastern Army Group to Castelnau.
    Verdun: French troops recapture Hill 304.

    A daylight trench raid is carried out by Lieutenant A F Neatby and 8 men of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry at Bois Des Alleux Trenches between Duffied and Grange. The party has a difficult time with the large number of enemy and is involved in hand to hand fighting. Five defenders are killed by the raiding party and two by snipers. The Canadians suffer one killed and one wounded and missing who turns out to be taken prisoner and three wounded.

    Home Fronts
    Russia: All Romanovs have taken oath of loyalty to Provisional Government.
    Germany: Hindenburg and Ludendorff in Berlin food talks with Austrians.
    Britain: *Asquith announces conversion to female suffrage (Lloyd George announces bill on March 29).
    India: Viceroy asked if 100,000 troops could be raised to relieve British.


    On a day when there were 468 British losses, today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Lieutenant Colonel M J Whitty (Royal Army Medical Corps) dies on service at home. His son was killed in July 1916 serving in the Royal Flying Corps.
    Captain Christopher Francis Hewitt Puckridge (Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 22. He is the son of the Reverend Oliver Puckridge of Pinhoe Vicarage.
    Private George Henry Bowhay (Devonshire Regiment) is killed in action. His brother will be killed in May next year.
    Private William Hyslop (London Regiment) dies of wounds at age 26. His two brothers will be killed next year.
    Private William Hepburn (Quebec Regiment) is killed in action. His brother will be killed next November.
    Private Ernest Potter (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 18. His brother will be killed in August.
    Gunner Charles Henry Firth Bernard (Motor Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 23. He is a holder of the Royal Humane Society’s Medal and Carnegie Hero Certificate for Life Saving.

    A quiet day for Captain Tunstill's men:
    Fine Spring weather returned as General Sir Herbert Plumer, commanding 2nd Army, inspected the Battalion on the parade ground. Brig Genl. Lambert (see 27th March), had been concerned that, “Our parade grounds are bad, so I hope the rain will hold off.”
    There was also an exercise for Brigade and Battalion Signallers involving contact aeroplanes.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  23. #2323

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    Nope still churning out copies, need a bigger hammer

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  24. #2324

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    If in doubt use a bigger hammer, if still in doubt use a cold chisel with it.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  25. #2325

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc View Post
    I used to use a king **** spanner. Great on '43' starting engines.
    I didn't know that 'size' was a rude word. Yes, yes I know they say that it isn't important but just tell that to a Pygmy.

  26. #2326

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    Quote from post 2322 above: The presses have been tinkered with, spanners and wrenches large and small have been employed, so hopefully today's edition runs off the presses without issue (as it were): Quote

    Surely a contradiction in terms!

  27. #2327

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    If by issue you mean edition yes it is Reg.
    However, if you mean addition as in offspring, then it is most appropriate as to what is taking place.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  28. #2328

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rebel View Post
    I didn't know that 'size' was a rude word. Yes, yes I know they say that it isn't important but just tell that to a Pygmy.
    As for this rude word, how do you think our Author Charles ****ens would feel if he knew his name was regarded as obscene on the Drome Reg, but strangely not on the Sails Forum. Must be something to do with the age tat sailors lived in and the places the inhabited.
    Richard Turpin is O.K. in his own environment but not here. Whoever came up with this form of censorship which cannot distinguish between slang and proper words must be a complete Richard cranium.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  29. #2329

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    As for this rude word, how do you think our Author Charles ****ens would feel if he knew his name was regarded as obscene on the Drome Reg, but strangely not on the Sails Forum. Must be something to do with the age tat sailors lived in and the places the inhabited.
    Richard Turpin is O.K. in his own environment but not here. Whoever came up with this form of censorship which cannot distinguish between slang and proper words must be a complete Richard cranium.
    Rob.
    The spellchecker strikes again!

  30. #2330

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    If by issue you mean edition yes it is Reg.
    However, if you mean addition as in offspring, then it is most appropriate as to what is taking place.
    Rob.
    Are you telling me that a spring has fallen off?

  31. #2331

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rebel View Post
    Are you telling me that a spring has fallen off?
    It happened when they put the clocks forward an hour Reg.
    Better let the Editor get on with his proper work now or we will be in bother!
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  32. #2332

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    It happened when they put the clocks forward an hour Reg.
    Better let the Editor get on with his proper work now or we will be in bother!
    Rob.
    O K Skipper, understood. Over and out!

  33. #2333

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    Right settle down chaps having had the small matter of a 442 mile round trip for an interview today, I am relaxing with a large Merlot and some chill out music (I would recommend 'Porcupine Tree' really good...) anyway all this banter in the editor's office, its a wonder any work gets done at all... so on with the war... what's that I can see on the horizon?? it looks like a flag with some stripes and some stars on it, who can they be? and does this mean that there will be some new participants in the great global struggle that engulfs us? keep watching this space....

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    March 29th 1917

    I think we have the lull before the storm that will become known as Bloody April as again from an aerial perspective things are pretty quiet over the Western Front, and as a result I am unable to report on any aerial victory claims on this day. However the RFC still managed to lose four of its fine fellows... According to the RFC records Weather was unfavourable for air work.

    Artillery Co-operation — Eleven targets were dealt with by aeroplane and 12 with observation by kite balloon.

    2nd Lieutenant Arthur Boon 37 Reserve Squadron RFC. Killed while flying 29 March 1917 aged 22

    James Boon and Mercy Patrick had married in the Wolstanton area of Staffordshire. They had moved to the Stockport area by 1895 as Arthur’s birth is registered in the town. By 1914, they were living at 127 Shaw Heath, then a very well-to-do part of town. During the wartime period, Mr & Mrs Boon also had addresses at “Brooklea” and “Trevor House”, both large properties in the North Wales village of Ruabon. After the War, they had settled at Temple Road, Buxton.

    Arthur enlisted into the army on 11 November 1914, joining the 2/7th Battalion, Manchester Regiment and he was given the service number 3028. His service papers still exist at the National Archives and these show him to have been about average height for those times at 5’ 7”. On 26 March 1915, he was promoted to Corporal and, shortly afterwards, was selected to become an officer. Arthur received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant on 5 July 1915 and was posted to one of the Battalions of the Manchester Regiment still in training in the UK. Early in 1916, he was leading his men on night exercise near Oxford, when he fell down the steep side of a quarry. He was unconscious for about half an hour and had injured his abdomen. He was admitted to the Army’s 3rd Southern General Hospital at Oxford where he remained for ten days before being pronounced fully fit. The National Archives confirms that Arthur had an entitlement to service medals. This means that he served overseas on active service at some point but it is not known if this was with the Manchester Regiment or after he transferred to the Flying Corps and qualified as a pilot. At the time of his death, he was attached to 37th Reserve Squadron and was killed in a flying accident near Coventry.

    Lieutenant Howard Forester Duncan 70 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds 29 March 1917 aged 22. Wounded 24 March 1917 in Sopwith 1? Strutter A956, flown by Capt A G Saxty, who was also wounded.

    Boy Mechanic Frederick Wilson King
    RNAS H.M.S. 'Daedalus' died on this day in 1917

    More on HMS Daedalus (its not a ship...)

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    Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus) was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and administrative centre of the Fleet Air Arm. Situated near Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire, approximately four miles west of Portsmouth on the coast of the Solent at grid reference SU560019, the establishment has now been closed down. Naval aviation began at Lee-on-Solent on 30 July 1917 when the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) opened the Naval Seaplane Training School as an extension to the seaplane training station at nearby Calshot. The school's first commander was Squadron Commander Douglas Evill. Initially, aircraft had to be transported from their temporary hangars to the top of the nearby cliff, then lowered by crane onto a trolley which ran on rails into the sea. Permanent hangars, workshops, accommodation and a new double slipway were soon constructed, however.

    On 1 April 1918, the RNAS combined with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to form the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Lee-on-Solent Naval Seaplane Training School became an RAF station. Naval aviation training continued throughout the 1920s under the RAF with both Calshot and Lee-on-Solent providing training in operating seaplanes - initially using the wartime Short Type 184s and, from late 1921, the new Fairey IIID. On 1 April 1924, the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force was formed, encompassing those RAF units that normally embarked on aircraft carriers and fighting ships (including those at shore bases such as Lee-on-Solent). In 1931 the first grass airstrip at Lee was constructed to the west of the town, Lee-on-Solent became HQ RAF Coastal Area, and a major rebuilding programme ensued. On 14 July 1936, an expanded RAF Coastal Area became RAF Coastal Command, with the HQ remaining at Lee-on-Solent.

    Air Mechanic 3rd Class F. Tester RFC Recruits Depot - alas I can find no further information, not even a record of a first name. RIP F. Tester

    Middle East
    Mesopotamia – Action of Duqma (‘the burning Marl’): Caley’s 13th Division (514 casualties including Second Lieutenant Slim wounded) defeats but fails to trap 3,000-strong Turk 52nd Division (over 380 casualties) against Tigris.

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    British Troops in Mesopotamia

    Politics
    Germany: Bethmann declares no German intention of meddling in Russian home affairs nor to be blamed for Sino and US hostility.
    Russia: Provisional Government acknowledges Poland’s independence
    The Swedish prime minister resigns over WWI policy

    The War at Sea

    The Q-20 (also known as Bayard) is run down in the dark by S S Tainui Commanded by Lieutenant Walter Larmond Scott DSC RNR is ‘loitering’ in the English Channel, hoping to attract German U-Boats, but as the weather worsen, steers for shelter under the Isle of Wight. Under sail, she is close hauled on the port tack, steering northwest. At 20:00 she encounters a southbound convoy heading for France. She steers to pass astern of the leading escort, P-19, and ahead of the convoy. Unfortunately, the leading ship of the convoy, the Tainui, does not see the lugger in the gloom until the last minute. Uncertain of her course, the Tainui alters to port, which actually takes her into the lugger. The resulting collision cuts the Bayard in half. Fourteen men are lost, including Lieutenant Scott. The senior survivor Sub-Lieutenant Keith Morris survives by grabbing a rope trailing from the Tainui’s anchor chain. Lost in the collision is Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Henry Robert Henderson Watson age 22. He is the Scout Master of the 11th Stirlingshire Troop.

    More on the Q20: HMS Q 20 was a decoy ship, which also used a number of other names, ie Bayard, Ledger 898 and Syren. The vessel was a motor lugger built 1908, 220 tons, which carried 1 x 13 and 1 x 3 pdr guns. On March 11, at 4.45 a.m., the German submarines U85 and U66 (off Newhaven, i.e. in about 50°40'N-00°08'E), opened fire on the small "Q" ship, the "Bayard" (Q.20), a lugger fitted with a motor and armed with one 13-pdr. and one 3-pdr. Q.20 was on a course S.E. when a submarine on the starboard quarter opened fire. A few minutes later another on the port beam opened fire. The wind seems to have been about S.W., and bringing the ship round to N.W., Lieutenant Walter Scott, R.N.R., sighted a submarine close on the port quarter. The order was given to get the boats out. The submarine was brought on the port beam, and at a range of only about 75 to 100 yards, Q.20 opened fire. The submarine returned the fire immediately, and a shell struck the ship, wounding two men. Down went the submarine, but four rounds were got off from each gun. Two explosions were seen (note: second and third shot of 13-pdr.) in the submarine, which was about 200 - 250 feet long. H.M.S. "Forester" came steaming up and cruised round about while Q.20, which was badly holed, made for land.
    For this action GBP 200 was awarded to the ship; Lieutenant Walter L. Scott, D.S.C., R.N.R., was awarded a bar to his D.S.C.; Skipper Joseph Cowley received the D.S.C. and two seamen a D.S.M. Lieutenant Scott never received his in person, for Q.20 was sunk in collision on March 29 (note: C-in-C Portsmouth, Telegram 580 of March 29, 1917. The date June 26, 1917, in Navy Losses is an error); her captain and twelve men were drowned and the bar to his decoration had to be presented to his widow.

    Captain Tunstill's Men;

    2Lt. Maurice Tribe MC (see 10th February), who had been severely injured at Le Sars, appeared before a Medical Board at Caxton Hall, London, having recently been discharged from hospital. The Board found him unfit for General Service for three months; unfit for Home Service for two months; and unfit for light duties at Home for six weeks. He was accordingly awarded six weeks’ leave before being re-examined.

    Gnr. Harry Beaumont who had recently been called up for service with the Royal Garrison Artillery was posted to ‘C’ Mountain Battery in the 5th Reserve Brigade; he was the elder brother of Pte. Mark Beaumont (see 13th March), who was in hospital in England having suffered severe shrapnel wounds to his left thigh when the Battalion billets in Ypres had been shelled in January.

    A payment of £3 7s 7d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Thomas Rigby (see 3rd August 1916), who had died of wounds following the actions on the Somme in the Summer of 1916; the payment would go to his father, Thomas snr.

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    2nd Lieutenant Bob Perks DSO

    The Zimmermann Telegram

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    Reproduced below is the speech given by the German Foreign Minister Dr Arthur Zimmermann in which he confirmed the authenticity of the so-called Zimmermann Telegram. In the telegram - in the text below Zimmermann dismissed suggestions that he separately wrote a letter to the Mexican leader General Carranza - Zimmermann suggested that Germany seek a military alliance with Mexico in the event that the U.S. entered the war against Germany. Zimmermann argued that there was nothing reprehensible in sending such a telegram, since Germany only intended to seek an alliance with Mexico were the U.S. to open hostilities against Germany. Zimmermann's arguments however merely increased American sentiment against Germany. Until he gave the speech many in the U.S. doubted the authenticity of the telegram; such suspicions were dispelled by Zimmermann when he explicitly confirmed the telegram as genuine.

    Arthur Zimmermann's Speech Regarding the Zimmermann Telegram, 29 March 1917

    I wrote no letter to General Carranza. I was not so naive. I merely addressed, by a route that appeared to me to be a safe one, instructions to our representative in Mexico.

    It is being investigated how these instructions fell into the hands of the American authorities. I instructed the Minister to Mexico, in the event of war with the United States, to propose a German alliance to Mexico, and simultaneously to suggest that Japan join the alliance.

    I declared expressly that, despite the submarine war, we hoped that America would maintain neutrality.

    My instructions were to be carried out only after the United States declared war and a state of war supervened. I believe the instructions were absolutely loyal as regards the United States.

    General Carranza would have heard nothing of it up to the present if the United States had not published the instructions which came into its hands in a way which was not unobjectionable. Our behaviour contrasts considerably with the behaviour of the Washington Government.

    President Wilson after our note of January 31, 1917, which avoided all aggressiveness in tone, deemed it proper immediately to break off relations with extraordinary roughness. Our Ambassador no longer had the opportunity to explain or elucidate our attitude orally.

    The United States Government thus declined to negotiate with us. On the other hand, it addressed itself immediately to all the neutral powers to induce them to join the United States and break with us.

    Every unprejudiced person must see in this the hostile attitude of the American Government, which seemed to consider it right, before being at war with us, to set the entire world against us. It cannot deny us the right to seek allies when it has itself practically declared war on us.

    Herr Haase [note: a German socialist] says that it caused great indignation in America. Of course, in the first instance, the affair was employed as an incitement against us. But the storm abated slowly and the calm and sensible politicians, and also the great mass of the American people, saw that there was nothing to object to in these instructions in themselves. I refer especially to the statements of Senator Underwood. Even at times newspapers felt obliged to admit regretfully that not so very much had been made out of this affair.

    The Government was reproached for thinking just of Mexico and Japan. First of all, Mexico was a neighbouring State to America. If we wanted allies against America, Mexico would be the first to come into consideration. The relations between Mexico and ourselves since the time of Porfirio Diaz have been extremely friendly and trustful. The Mexicans, moreover, are known as good and efficient soldiers.

    It can hardly be said that the relations between the United States and Mexico had been friendly and trustful.

    But the world knows that antagonism exists between America and Japan. I maintain that these antagonisms are stronger than those which, despite the war, exist between Germany and Japan.

    When I also wished to persuade Carranza that Japan should join the alliance there was nothing extraordinary in this. The relations between Japan and Mexico are long existent. The Mexicans and Japanese are of a like race and good relations exist between both countries.

    When, further, the Entente press affirms that it is shameless to take away allies, such reproach must have a peculiar effect coming from powers who, like our enemies, made no scruple in taking away from us two powers and peoples with whom we were bound by treaties for more than thirty years.

    The powers who desire to make pliant an old European country of culture like Greece by unparalleled and violent means cannot raise such a reproach against us.

    When I thought of this alliance with Mexico and Japan I allowed myself to be guided by the consideration that our brave troops already have to fight against a superior force of enemies, and my duty is, as far as possible, to keep further enemies away from them. That Mexico and Japan suited that purpose even Herr Haase will not deny.

    Thus, I considered it a patriotic duty to release those instructions, and I hold to the standpoint that I acted rightly.

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    Hold on tight chaps we are on our way....

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  34. #2334

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    A very elucidating piece on the Zimmermann telegram thanks Chris.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  35. #2335

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    A very elucidating piece on the Zimmermann telegram thanks Chris.
    Rob.
    Funny how piece of paper 99% of the world has never heard of is so staggeringly important...

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  36. #2336

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    So as I am out this evening this will be delivered in stages, some now some much later so please bear with me. thank you

    30th March 1917

    The weather was obviously better yesterday as we have some definite aerial combat going on, there were a smattering of claims as follows...

    Claiming his 5th kill and joining the ranks of the aces we have Leutnant Julius Karl "Karlchen" Allmenröder of Jasta 11 , who shot down a Nieuport 17 (number 6780) over Bailleul

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    One pilot who obviously liked this day was Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Buddecke of FA5 who claimed a double on this day, having also had a victory on this day in 1916. This brought his tally for the war to 12, he would have to wait until February 1918 before he claimed his 13th and final victory before falling himself in March of that year.

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    ANother German victor (they are all german today) was Leutnant Rudolph von Eschwege of FA 30 who claimed his 6th confirmed victory.

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    Having joined the army before the war, Eschwege saw action with the cavalry before his transfer to the German Air Force in 1915. In August of that year, he was posted to FA 36 as a reconnaissance pilot on the Western Front. In 1916, he was credited with his first two victories after joining FA 66 on the Macedonian front. Reassigned to FA 30 in January 1917, Eschwege became known as "The Eagle of the Aegean," achieving 18 additional victories with a variety of fighter aircraft. Having just been recommended for the Blue Max, he was killed in action during an attack on a decoy balloon launched by No. 17 Balloon Section of the Royal Flying Corps. As Eschwege engaged the target, the British ground crew detonated 500 pounds of explosive in the balloon's basket, damaging the German's Halberstadt Scout and causing it to crash.

    Finally today we have Oberleutnant Kurt Robert Wilhelm Wolff. One of the biggest scourges of Bloody April he will go on to claim a further 20 victories in April alone...

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    A former railway transportation officer, Wolff entered the military in 1912 and transferred to the German Air Force in July 1915. On his very first flight, Wolff survived a crash that dislocated his shoulder and killed the plane's pilot. On 5 November 1916, Wolff was posted to Jasta 11 but failed to score any victories until Manfred von Richthofen assumed command of the unit in January 1917. Scoring his 9th victory on 11 April 1917, Wolff downed a Bristol Fighter flown by Irish ace David Tidmarsh. On 6 May, having achieved 28 victories, Wolff was given command of Jasta 29. With this unit, he scored two more victories before returning to command Jasta 11 on 2 July 1917. Wounded nine days later, his left hand was injured in a dogfight with 10 Naval Squadron. When he returned to duty on 11 September 1917, he began flying one of the new Fokker Triplanes. Four days later, in another encounter with 10 Naval Squadron, Wolff was shot down by a Sopwith Camel flown by Norman McGregor. His Dreidecker, the first of its kind to be lost in aerial combat, went into a spin and crashed.

    Much more to come later... and now we are back.

    Not a good day for the RFC with another 9 airmen lost (I can't help but feel this is going to get worse rather swiftly) In fact it was a worse day for the RNAS who suffered most of the losses on this day.

    Lieutenant William Patrick Garnet 60 Squadron RFC Killed in action on this day in 1917. He was no doubt the 4th victory of Ltn. Kurt Wolff of Jasta 11. Garnett fell in the vicinity of Fresnoy, E. Gavrelle, NW Arras.

    Lieutenant William Raymond Higham Australian Air Force No.1 Squadron Died of Wounds in hospital train at El Arish 30 March 1917 aged 26, after he and his pilot (Capt D W Rutherford) were wounded when their aeroplane was attacked by an Aviatik.

    Flt Sub-Lt Joshua Martin Ingham
    RNAS Killed in Action 30 March 1917 aged 23. Serving with "A" Squadron, No.2 Wing, he was shot down near Philloppolis, Greece. Buried in the Dedeagatch British Cemetery, Greece. Aged 23, he was the son of Joshua and Annie Ingham of 781, Broadview Avenue, Toronto, Canada.

    Sub Lt. John Earle Maxwell RNAS 'A' Squadron, No.2 (N) Wing Killed in aerial combat 30 March 1917 aged 24

    Flt. Lieutenant John Emil Morgan RNAS killed on 30 March 1917 aged 26

    2nd Lieutenant Allan Ingham Murphy
    RFC Killed while flying 30 March 1917 aged 19

    Sub Lt. Arthur Sandall RNAS Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Howe Battalion, Royal Naval Division Killed in Action 30 March 1917

    Lieutenant Douglas Monteith Farquhar Sinclair
    40 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 30 March 1917

    AC. Cecil Deacon Skinner
    Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II' died on this day in 1917

    On this day 421 British lives were lost

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain ‘The Honorable’ Lawrence Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth
    (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action at age 29. He is the eldest son and heir to the 1st Baron Shuttleworth. His younger brother will die within four months and his two sons, the 2nd and 3rd Barons, will both be killed in action in World War II.

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    Captain George Lawden Boys-Stones MC (Hiriana Lancers Indian Army) is killed in Mesopotamia at age 29. He is the son of the Reverend George Boys-Stones Vicar of St Thomas Garstang.
    Lieutenant Regional Norman Balding (Bedfordshire Regiment attached Machine Gun Corps) is killed in Mesopotamia at age 22. He is the son of the Reverend J W Balding.
    Private James Henry Fynn VC (South Wales Borderers) is killed in Mesopotamia at age 23. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 9th April last year when after a night attack he was one of a small party which dug in in front of our advanced line and about 300 yards from the enemy’s trenches.

    For most conspicuous bravery. After a night attack he was one of a small party which dug-in in front of our advanced line and about 300 yards from the enemy's trenches. Seeing several wounded men lying out in front he went out and bandaged them all under heavy fire, making several journeys in order to do so. He then went back to our advanced trench for a stretcher and, being unable to get one, he himself carried on his back a badly wounded man into safety. He then returned and, aided by another man who was wounded during the act, carried in another badly wounded man. He was under continuous fire while performing this gallant work.

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    Capt. Tunstill's Men: A very wet day. The inter-Battalion competitions concluded with the tug of war and Lewis Gun competitions, with 10 DWR “easily winning” the Lewis Gun competition. However, overall, the Battalion came in fourth of the four Battalions, with 11th West Yorks winning and 9th and 8th Yorkshires second and third respectively.

    Middle East
    Mesopotamia: British Cavalry Division occupies Delli Abbas, Keary occupies Jebel Hamrin (March 31).
    Palestine: War Cabinet telegram makes Jerusalem Murray’s objective.

    Western Front
    Somme: Heavy rain. British occupy 8 villages (4 more on March 31) towards Cambrai.

    Southern Fronts
    Salonika: Due to investiga*tions into Black Hand and internment of 180 suspect officers at Bizerta (Tunisia), General Bojovic abolishes Serb Third Army and splits its formations between the other two armies.

    Russian Provisional Government Issue Proclamation acknowledging the Independence of Poland (see 14th, November 5th, 1916 and April 5th, 1917).
    British hospital ship "Gloucester Castle" torpedoed between Havre and Southampton, but towed in.

    Meanwhile back home:
    Sir George Kenrick, presiding to-day at a meeting of the Education Committee, commented upon the action of the Labour Committee of the City Council in recommending that the teachers paid by the Corporation should be excluded from the scheme for giving additional remuneration to non-manual employees. The view of the special sub-committee officers’ salaries was that it would not be just to exclude the teachers; and they recommended that the Council be asked to rescind the words of the Labour Committee’s report excluding the teachers from the advance suggested to be paid to the non-manual employees. Sir George emphasised that it was absolutely necessary that they should as a committee keep satisfactory terms with the teachers. The latter had not made unreasonable demands, and he believed that the committee had always met the teachers in a fair and reasonable spirit. The terms existing between them had been excellent, but he should be afraid of a change if the recommendations of the Labour Committee were actually put into force. Those recommendations meant the total exclusion of the teachers. The suggestion was that there was a sort of understanding that their case was going to be dealt with in some other place and presumably some other time. If he were a teacher, he should not be inclined to trust what was “only a rumour” and about which there was nothing official. Nothing but the extra actual remuneration would be satisfactory in a case of this kind. It was suggested by the Labour Committee that where a teacher was entitled to an advance such advance should be on a more liberal scale than usual, but how were they to discriminate? Then if a “temporary” maximum were given to those teachers who were paid maximum amount that would be equivalent to a bonus. Many persons felt that the time had come for a general revision of the salaries of teachers, irrespective of bonuses, and with that contention agreed. The recommendation was agreed to.
    Last edited by Hedeby; 03-30-2017 at 15:47.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  37. #2337

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    March 31st 1917

    Well tomorrow sees the start of bloody April and all that entails, we also have the Battle of Vimy Ridge on its way, not to mention (at last) the arrival of the good old US of A into the war, but for today...

    5 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON SATURDAY MARCH 31ST 1917

    2nd Lieutenant Frank Bower 60 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds 31 March 1917 aged 18 He was in a flight led by an inexperienced William 'Billy' Bishop...

    An article about Bishop sheds more light on the loss of Bowers: Billy's world completely turned around between March 28 and August 16. On March 28, he led his first patrol, an event that proved completely uneventful. However, the same was not true on March 30, when the inexperienced Billy led his second patrol. His flight was decoyed into a numerically superior German force and his friend Lt. W. P. Garrett was shot down and killed. An explosive bullet from behind struck Frank Bower, another friend. Bower, in a state of severe shock, in extreme pain and with blood pouring from massive abdominal wounds, held his intestines in his body with one hand and flew back to base using his other hand to control the plane. After landing, he managed to walk 40 yards from his plane before collapsing. He died the next day, and the day after that Billy led his third flight, a flight in which he again was caught by a German ambush and in which two of his pilots were killed. Bishop was profoundly shaken by these deaths and vowed to develop tactics that complemented his natural skills.

    "Bower saw the sharp nose of an Albatross closing behind him and tried to turn out of its line of fire, but he wasn't quick enough. A bullet lodged in his stomach and he fought unconsciousness in an effort to stay in the battle. Then his engine started to vibrate as other bullets smashed into it. Coaxing his engine to keep him aloft, Bower headed back toward his own lines. Still fighting black-out he glided through a barrage of anti aircraft fire and landed in a field near Chipilly,behind his own line. He managed to climb out of his machine,then fainted from loss of blood. Next morning he died. Frank's aircraft was a Nieuport 23 ser.no A6774 .

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    Billy Bishop and his 60 Squadron Nieuport 17

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Herbert Arthur Boyes
    RFC Recruits Depot Died 31 March 1917 aged 32

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Laurence Cane RFC Recruits Depot Died of meningitis 31 March 1917 aged 18

    2nd Lieutenant William Gerard Talbot Clifton 11 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds received in Action 31 March 1917 aged 23 (See Pilot's P.O.W. report - L A F STRANGE, 1206 204/5/2619) On Photographic Duty. Attacked by Enemy Aircraft when in rear position in formation. Observer was mortally wounded in the stomach by enemy gunfire.

    AC2 William A. Hill Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President' Died 31 March 1917

    On this day the famous Italian unit the 83a Squadriglia Caccia is formed. Now I wish I could find their story in English, but alas although there are many articles they are all in Italian.

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    There were six aerial victory claims on this day...

    Claiming his second victory we have William Avery Bishop VC DFC of 60 Squadron RFC

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    William Avery Bishop attended the Royal Military College before joining the 8th Canadian Mounted Rifles at the beginning of the war. After serving overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in December 1915 and received his pilot's certificate in 1917. Flying Nieuport scouts and theS.E.5a, "The Lone Hawk" was considered by some to be a mediocre pilot, but his extraordinary eyesight and consistent practice earned him a reputation as a crack shot. As the commanding officer of the "Flying Foxes," he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) after scoring 25 victories in just twelve days. On the morning of 2 June 1917, his single-handed attack against a German aerodrome on the Arras front earned him the Victoria Cross, making Bishop the first Canadian flyer to receive this honor. Before the war ended, he found time to write "Winged Warfare," an autobiographical account of his exploits in the air over France.

    Because Bishop flew many of his patrols alone, most of his victories were never witnessed. After years of controversy, a television broadcast entitled "The Kid Who Couldn't Miss" led to an inquiry by the Canadian government in 1985. In conclusion, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology discredited the film, finding it to be an unfair and inaccurate portrayal of Bishop.

    Chalking up victory number 18 we have Sous Lieutenant René Pierre Marie Dorme

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    With a balloon busting victory number seven we have Leutnant Otto Brauneck of Jasta 25

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    Also registering (his second kill) we have Hauptmann Adolf Ritter von Tutschek

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    After graduating from the Royal Bavarian Cadet School, von Tutschek's joined the 3rd Bayerischen Infantry Regiment in 1910. During the war, he distinguished himself in combat while serving in France and on the Eastern Front. Severely wounded during a gas attack at Verdun (his second wound of the war), von Tutschek was ill for months. When he recovered, he transferred to the German Air Force and after pilot training, served as a two-seater pilot with FA 6. On 25 January 1917, he was assigned to Jasta Boelcke as a scout pilot. Having scored three victories with this unit, he was given command of Jasta 12 on 28 April 1917. On 11 August 1917, von Tutschek was badly wounded in the right shoulder when his black-tailed Albatros D.V was shot down by Charles Booker of 8 Naval Squadron. Out of action for six months, he wrote his memoirs while recovering: Sturme and Luftsiege (Attack and Air Victories). On 1 February 1918, von Tutschek assumed command of Jagdgeschwader II. Mid-morning on 15 March 1918, the triplanes of JG II tangled with the Royal Flying Corps near Brancourt. Tutscheck was killed when his green Fokker DR.I (404/17) was shot down by an S.E.5a flown by South African ace Harold Redler.

    Oberleutnant Kurt Robert Wilhelm Wolff
    of Jasta 11 claimed his 5th kill joining the ranks of the German aces

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    and finally troubling the scorers for the first time we have Lieutenant (Later Lieutenant Colonel)Alan John Lance Scott 60 Squadron RFC

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    Lieutenant Alan John Lance Scott, of the Sussex Yeomanry, received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 975 on a Maurice Farman biplane at Netheravon School, Netheravon on 20 November 1914. He broke both legs in a flying accident during flight training. Although he recovered, he had difficulty walking unaided and often required help getting into and out of the cockpit. An aggressive pilot with a tendency to get into trouble, Scott often patrolled the lines alone. Doing so on 28 May 1917, he encountered Karl Allmenröder who scored his 21st victory by forcing Scott's Nieuport down.

    Saturday 31 March 1917 – We Lost 470

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    The hired drifter Forward III (T/Skipper James Mitchell RNR age 30) is sunk by a mine off the Shipwash. Her crew of ten including her Skipper is lost.

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Lieutenant Colonel John William Moore Morgan DSO (Assistant Director of Supply at Boulogne, Army Service Corps) is accidentally killed at age 47. He is the son of the Reverend Canon W Moore Morgan.

    Lieutenant-Colonel J.W.M. Morgan Army Service Corps, was accidentally killed overseas on 30th March. He was the eldest son of the late Rev Canon W. Moore Morgan of Armagh. Born in 1870 and educated at Haileybury and Sandhurst, he obtained a commission in the Royal Irish Fusiliers in May 1891 and three years and a half later transferred to the A.S.C. as a Lieutenant. He was promoted Captain in June 1899, Major in March 1906 and Lieutenant Colonel in October 1914. Colonel Morgan served in the South African war and received the Queens medal with clasps. At the time of his death he was serving on the staff as an assistant director of supplies, for his services in which capacity he had been mentioned in despatches.

    Major George Edward Savill Young (Irish Guards) dies of wounds at age 33. He is the son of the Reverend Henry Savill Young.
    Lieutenant William Gerard Talbot Clifton (Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry attached Royal Flying Corps) dies of wounds received in action at age 23. His brother will be killed in action in August 1918.
    Second Lieutenant Frank Whaley (Yorkshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 21. He is the son of the Reverend Frank Whaley.
    Gunner Louis Charles Fletcher (Royal Garrison Artillery) dies on service in the Balkans at age 23. His older brothers were both killed in 1915.
    Private William Welsh Linton (Australian Infantry) is killed the same day his brother Private Thomas Linton (Australian Infantry) is killed.
    Privates and brothers George Craigie and John Craigie (Central Ontario Regiment) are killed together. George dies at age 29 while John was 21.
    Private George James Gordon Hill (Somerset Light Infantry) is killed at age 28. His brother was killed last September.
    Private Philip Henry Symonds (Wiltshire Regiment) is killed at age 18. His older brother died of wounds last September.

    Sea War
    For March Allied shipping losses 556,775t or 310 ships (German official figures 564,497t or 281 Allied ships including 61,917t in Mediterranean). Of 1,200 British collier March sailings (con*voyed) to France only 3 ships lost. 3 U-boats lost.

    Western Front
    Germany: Army ration strength 7,630,456.
    France: During March French order 150 Renault FT-17 light tanks.

    Air War
    Western Front: In March Royal Flying Corps losses 120 aircraft. German fighters claim 60 Allied aircraft in February and March for loss of 7.

    Home Fronts
    Britain: Only 9 weeks supply of wheat and grain in country. Now 300 War Pensions committees (68,269 widows pensions granted). First WAAC draft arrives in France (6,023 by March 12, 1918).
    Russia: Pig iron production down 17.6% on first quarter of 1916.
    Italy: war costing £30 millions per month (£730 millions so far).

    On March 31, 1917, the U.S. took formal possession of the Danish West Indies. Renamed the Virgin Islands, this chain consists of St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and about fifty other small islands, most of which are uninhabited. Lying about sixty-five kilometers east of Puerto Rico at the end of the Greater Antilles, the U.S. purchased the islands from Denmark for $25 million because of their strategic location in relation to the Panama Canal.

    and to make it a truly awful day ...Order limiting output of beer in United Kingdom issued.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  38. #2338

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    Thanks nice read.

  39. #2339

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    Really good stories bit sparse at the moment - but there are some huge ones incoming shortly....

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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    Thought long and hard about slipping an April fool into the thread then thought better of it - not really appropriate alongside the tales of those who fought and fell. Today's edition differs slightly, we have plenty of the regular features but also there is a fair bit of summary - a sort of 'sit rep' of where we are at present and what is coming down the line in the days and weeks to come.

    Air War
    Western Front – ‘BLOODY APRIL‘: Richthofen’s ‘Flying Circus’ rules the skies. Only the exploits of Collishaw, Dallas, Little and the Sopwith Triplanes of RNAS ‘Black Flight’ hold promise the tide will eventually turn. Royal Flying Corps has 754 aircraft (41 squadrons) in France. British combat pilots on the Western Front suffer a 50 percent casualty rate during Bloody April as the Germans shoot down 150 fighter planes. The average life expectancy of an Allied fighter pilot is now three weeks, resulting from aerial dogfights and accidents.

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    Pilot and rear-gunner of a Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutter, the main British tactical bomber at this time.

    Western Front
    BEF establishment strength 1,893,874 men (including 139,353 Anzacs and 130,255 Canadians).
    Somme: British Fourth Army capture Savy with Savy Wood 4 miles west of St Quentin. French President Poincare visits liberated area.
    Aisne: French push back Germans to Vauxaillon northeast of Soissons.
    Champagne: Germans shell Reims (25,000 shells in one week).

    Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (The 2/4th Battalion)


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    At 3 a.m. on April 1 C and D Companies were ordered forward to support the Bucks in an attack on the line of single railway which runs northwards from Vermand. The attack gained the ridge east of the railway and no support by us was wanted. Ten prisoners were captured by the Bucks, whose only casualties resulted from our own shells dropping short and an unfortunate mistake of some other troops, who lost direction and, pressing forward, encountered men of their own side. Towards evening the General ordered D Company forward to occupy Montolu Wood. The journey was made at dusk through a blinding storm of hail and rain. The wood to which I went was the wrong one altogether. Nevertheless to my wood my company returned twice later, till tactical recognition was gained for it from the failure of the staff to observe the mistake and my own to disclose it. The wood I went to was some half-mile distant from the proper one, but the same shape, as near the railway, and answering the General’s map-description to a nicety. I like to think of my wood, where I was so rarely found, whither perplexed runners brought orders so late, where I never was relieved, but where my old shelters of tin and brushwood escaped disturbance in my absence.

    Sea War
    Atlantic: APRIL SHIPPING LOSSES (373 Allied ships) REACH RECORD MONTHLY TOTAL OF 545,200t (world-wide losses 873,754t). Now 120 German U*-boats in service. In April British Aircraft join seaplanes on anti-U-boat patrols.
    USA: 600,000t German merchant shipping (interned since 1914-1915) seized by US.
    Mediterranean: In April Japanese 2nd Detached Squadron (Rear-Admiral K Sato), cruiser Akashi and 8 wartime-built destroyers arrive (c.April 17), based at Malta (made public by lord R Cecil on May 24). Cruiser Idzumo arrives with 4 more destroyers in August, 2 Royal Navy destroyers turned over in June.
    Adriatic: Austrian U-30 lost by unknown cause in Otranto Straits (or following day).
    Baltic: In April Bolsheviks claim 1,400 members aboard 22 ships.

    Secret War
    France*: Langevin tests his first quartz transmitter in laboratory tanks, it kills fish in its path.

    The Arras offensive, 1917 (Battle of Arras)

    Once again the British are called upon to launch an attack in support to a larger French offensive: the battles of the Chemin des Dames and the hills of Champagne. The opening Battle of Vimy and the First Battle of the Scarpe are very encouraging, but once again the offensive – often known as the Battle of Arras – bogs down into an attritional slog. Final attempts to outflank the German lines at Bullecourt prove terribly costly.

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    The Allies' plans for 1917

    After the Chantilly Conference of 16 November 1916, where the military leaders decided Allied strategy for the following year, General Nivelle, newly promoted to the post of commander-in-chief of the French Army, and his British counterpart, General Haig, drew up plans for a combined action to breach the German line.

    The town of Arras, situated in the British zone, was picked to be the theatre of a diversionary offensive. This operation, combined with a large-scale attack in the French sector, was to draw in German reserve troops several days before the start of the French assault and thus facilitate the much hoped for breakthrough at Chemin des Dames Ridge in Champagne.

    Once the British began to prepare their plan of attack, which was to begin in early April 1917, the main worry for the high command was how to concentrate a large number of troops near to the front without arousing the suspicions of the enemy. Anxious to avoid a repeat of the slaughter inflicted on the Allied troops in the battles of Verdun and the Somme the previous year, the British general staff elaborated an innovative plan whereby New Zealand engineers would create a vast underground network of tunnels through which the troops could pass to come up directly in front of the German front line without having to face the deadly machine gun fire of no man's land.

    Preparing the spring offensive

    By the end of March the tunnelling works, the largest ever undertaken by the British Army, were complete. On the eve of the Battle of Arras the caves and quarries under the town contained more than 24,000 soldiers, as much as the civilian population of the town prior to the war. The network of tunnels was divided into two main sections. The first, situated under the Cambrai Road, was the domain of the Scots of the 9th infantry division, who baptized their galleries with familiar names such as Carlisle and Glasgow, and the English of the 35th division, who likewise named galleries after their home towns of Manchester, Liverpool and Chester. The network of tunnels under the Ronville district of the town was, from 12 February 1917, the exclusive territory of the New Zealanders who named their galleries after home towns such as Wellington. The total length of the tunnels amounted to nineteen kilometres.

    The soldiers had to spend prolonged periods in the tunnels and so the latter were equipped with kitchens, water supplies from the mains or wells, and electric lighting throughout. Latrines for officers and highly-ranked persons were installed in every room. Although not quite coming up to the standards usually required by the strict health policies of the British Army for their temporary camps, the tunnels under Arras did provide a high degree of safety compared to the trenches at a comparable distance from the front and this was of some comfort to the men as they waited to go into battle. Harbouring no illusions about the battle to come the British Army also installed a hospital capable of treating 700 wounded in a quarry known as "Thompson's Cave", named after its architect, under the crossroads between rue du Temple and rue de Saint-Quentin. It was fitted out like a normal hospital with waiting rooms for the wounded, an operating theatre, a rest area for the stretcher-bearers and the reserves, and a mortuary. It was even equipped with signposts to ensure users could find their way around and had electric lighting throughout.

    The tunnels would be the key feature of the offensive however the battle plan also called for an exceptionally intensive preliminary bombardment. Targets were methodically identified through aerial reconnaissance missions and raids into enemy territory which had been carried out since late 1916. The larger ground raids deployed several hundred men to test the resilience of the enemy and gather as much information as possible on the structure of the German defences. The missions allowed for the construction of large models so that the officers, including the company leaders, could familiarize themselves with the terrain they were expected to conquer. New weapons were also to be deployed such as tanks, which were being used for only the second time after their unconvincing trial on the Somme, and a recent innovation called the Livens Projector. Named after its inventor Captain F.H. Livens of the Royal Engineers, the projector was a steel tube, similar to a mortar, which could fire cylinders great distances so poison gas could be delivered to the enemy without fear of the wind blowing it back.

    Thompson's Cave

    As an ancient town with Roman origins, Arras had an extensive network of cellars, tunnels and sewers - known as boves - running beneath it. But the Royal Engineers had also learned that the countryside between the British and German positions was full of underground caves from where chalk had been quarried during the Middle Ages. Some were cathedral-sized caverns.

    Sappers of the Royal Engineers decided that if they could link all these various subterranean holes in secret, an entire Army would be able to move safely from the rear to the front of the German positions and avoid all the initial horrors of the Somme.
    Until then, tunnelling had merely been used by both sides to detonate explosives under enemy lines. Now, it would take on a very different purpose. It was a hugely ambitious plan, but the 500 men of the New Zealand Tunnelling Company - all professional miners - set to work with a battalion of "Bantams", Yorkshire miners below the Army's minimum height of 5ft 3in. In a matter of months, they had created two interconnected labyrinths, 12 miles long and capable of hiding 25,000 troops. The tunnellers named this dark, damp kingdom after home towns. The southern part of the network became New Zealand. From one huge quarry called Auckland, soldiers could march through to Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch, Dunedin and so on. The northern section linked Glasgow, Edinburgh, Crewe and London among others, plus a side-tunnel which led to a trio of quarries called Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney.

    The soldiers could enter the network through a few cellars in the town and then walk for miles to their positions and wait there for days.

    At this point it would appear we have been invaded by another thread.. as this monumental achievement has been remembered 100 years on...

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    On this day is 1917 we lost 503 men

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain Eric Francis Brown (Wiltshire Regiment) is killed at age 27. He is the first of four brothers who will lose their lives in the Great War.
    Private Reginald James Gent (Australian Infantry) is killed in action at age 22. His brother was killed in May 1915.
    Private A Vannet (Highland Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 20. His brother will be killed in July 1918.
    Private Frederick Henry Masham (Honourable Artillery Company) is killed. His son will be killed serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in June 1940

    5 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON SUNDAY APRIL 1ST 1917

    2nd Lieutenant Arthur Duppa Collins 52 Squadron RFC Died 1 April 1917 of wounds received in aerial combat on 26 March aged 22

    Cadet John Robert Ware Ekins
    - Recruits Depot RFC died 1st April 1917

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Albert Charles Geering School of Aerial Gunnery died on this day in 1917

    Lieutenant Adrian Somerset Mackenzie 15 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 1 April 1917

    Sapper A Simpson RFC 2nd Kite Balloon Company died on this day aged 19

    There were just the two claims on this day.. (both by German pilots)

    Oberleutnant Fritz Otto Bernert of Jasta two starts a very hot streak (beginning with a balloon over Villers-au-Fler) by claiming his 10th victory. In the next 11 days he will claim another 10 victims.

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    The second victorious pilot was Leutnant Werner Voss again of Jasta 2 - who claimed his 23rd victory by shooting down B.E.2e (2561)

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    Tunstill's men: (and trouble about bathing...)

    On a very cold and wet day the Battalion remained in training, including, “Special Course in Bayonet Fighting under an Army Instructor, & Special instruction in the use of the Lewis Automatic Rifle by an Instructor from the School at Etaples”. The men of the Battalion were also taken to Poperinghe to bathe in the Divisional Baths. It was here that L.Cpl. Lionel Vickers (see 5th March) found himself in trouble with CSM. James Davis MM (see 16th February). Vickers would be admonished by 2Lt. Harold Watthews (see 20th February), as a result of, “hesitating to obey an order; not having a bath when ordered”.

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  41. #2341

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    This month will keep you busy with German victories and RFC losses alone!

    Just in the interests of historical accuracy, perhaps you would consider removing the reference to Raymond Collishaw's 'Black Flight', which was not formed until the end of May 1917, seeing action throughout June and July of that year.

  42. #2342

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    I worth leaving any references to Sopwith Triplanes in just to wind Chris (Boney10) up...

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  43. #2343

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    2nd April 1917

    Time is limited today as I have drawn the short straw on the parental taxi run.. airport pick up in Manchester at 10:30 - oh joy, should get back about 12:30 in time to get up again at 05:30... marvellous. So grumbles and excuses aside on with today's edition.

    knew we would be in for some long lists this month - so without further ado - 14 airmen were lost on this day. (including four men lost to Manfred von Richthofen)

    Air Mechanic 1st Class Walter Harold Bond 6 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds 2 April 1917 aged 22

    Air Mechanic 1st Class Percy Bonner 13 Squadron (Observer) RFC Killed in Action 2 April 1917, Downed by Manfred von Richthofen at 08.35 hours, when he forced the pilot too low to avoid the roof of a house and the fuselage snapped in two (See below)

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Thomas Bramley 35th Kite Balloon Section RFC - Died of accidental injuries 2 April 1917 aged 38

    2nd Lieutenant Robert Campbell Cameron 8 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds received whilst flying 2 April 1917 aged 27

    Sergeant Ruel Dunn 43 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds 2 April 1917 aged 24. He was with 2nd Lieut. A P Warren who was flying Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter No. A 2401 on a Photographic Reconnaissance when they were attacked by Manfred von Richthofen at 11.15 hrs (His 37th Victory). The fuel tank was hit.

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Alfred George Foster Recruits Depot RFC Died of meningitis 2 April 1917

    Lieutenant Henry Loveland 22 Squadron RFC Killed in Action, while flying over Gouzeaucourt 2 April 1917

    2nd Lieutenant Alfred Henry Margoliouth 57 Squadron RFC Missing - Killed in Action 2 April 1917

    Lieutenant Patrick John Gordon Powell 13 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 2 April 1917 by Manfred von Richthofen who forced them too low to avoid the roof of a house and the fuselage broke into two.

    2nd Lieutenant Patrick Alfred Russell 22 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 2 April 1917 aged 27. Born Hamilton, Lanarkshire in 1889, the second son of Margaret D. W. (daughter of the late Robert Walker, of Lethamhill, Lanarkshire) & the late Patrick Brown Russell, of Edinburgh. Educated at Edinburgh Academy & Sherbourne College. Member of the Duke of Buccleuch & Northumberland Hunt, & a prominent rider at the Border Hunt Steeplechase at Kelso.

    Lieutenant Hubert Pelham Sworder 57 Squadron RFC Killed in aerial combat 2 April 1917 aged 19.

    One unfortunate double today belongs to the German pilot Leutnant Erich Konig of Jasta 2. König scored 6 victories with Jasta 2 before he was killed in action on his 27th birthday. He was shot down to an F.E.2d of 57 Squadron.

    Victories on this day included the following:

    Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen of Jasta 11, who claimed his 32nd and 33rd kills on this day.

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    In his own words...

    32: 08:35hrs Farbus village. BE two-seater No.5841, motor PD 1435/80. Occupants both killed. Name of one - Lieutenant Powell. the second occupant had no documents or identification. I attacked an enemy artillery flyer. After a long fight I managed to force adversary nearly to the ground, but without putting him out of action. the strong and gusty wind had driven the enemy plane over our lines. my adversary tried to escape by jumping over trees and other objects. Then I forced him to land in the village of Farbus where the machine was smashed against a house. The observer kept shooting until the machine hit the ground.

    Editor- The crew were Lieutenant Patrick Powell and Air mechanic 1st Class Percy Bonner of 13 Squadron (see above)

    33: 11:15hrs Givenchy. Sopwith two-seater A2401. Motor Clerget Blin without number. Type 2, occupants Sergeant Dunn and Lieutenant Warrens. Together with Leutnants Voss and Lothar von Richthofen, I attacked an enemy squadron of eight Sopwiths above the closed cloud cover on the enemy's side. The plane I had singled out was driven away from its squad and gradually came over to our side. The enemy plane tried to escape and hide in the clouds after I holed its benzine tank. below the clouds I immediately attacked him again, thereby forcing him to land 300 metres east of Givenchy. But as yet my adversary would not surrender and even as his machine was on the ground, he kept shooting at me, thereby hitting my machine very severely at an altitude of five metres. I once more attacked him, whilst on the ground and killed one of the occupants.

    Editor - this was Sergeant Ruel Dunn. (the observer) the pilot who survived was 2nd. Lieutenant Warren Algernon Peter 43 Squadron RFC.

    Captain Stanley Cockerell 24 Squadron RFC claims his 5th victory whilst flying his DH.2

    Stanley Cockerell received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 3271 on 21 July 1916. While serving with 24 Squadron, he was wounded and forced to land by Martin Zander of Jasta 1 on 10 October 1916.

    Captain Kelvin Crawford 24 Squadron RFC claims his 4th victory flying D.H.2 (5925) and shooting down an Albatross D.II

    Captain Oliver Manners Sutton 54 Squadron RFC opened his account by shooting down his first plane whilst flying his Sopwith Pup

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    The youngest son of Algernon Charles and Winifred Alice (Fell) Sutton, Oliver Manners Sutton joined the Public Schools Corps in 1914 and served with the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment until severely wounded at the Battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915. The following year, as a 2nd Lieutenant with the South Lancashire Regiment, Special Reserve, he received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate on 23 September 1916. After flying two-seaters for 21 Squadron on the Somme, he was posted to 54 Squadron where he scored seven victories flying Sopwith fighters. Post-war, Captain Sutton served with the Inter-Allied Commission of Control in Germany. Captain Sutton, aged 25, was killed in an aeroplane accident at the Martlesham Aerodrome and Experimental Station on 16 August 1921. Four days later, he was buried with full military honours in the Withyham Churchyard.

    Also claims from

    Karl Allmenröder Germany #6
    Fritz Bernert Germany #11
    Sebastian Festner Germany #3
    Edmund Nathanael Germany #6
    Attilio Imolesi Italy u/c

    Monday 2 April 1917 – We Lost 1,075 including two men who had survived the sinking of the Lusitania

    Second Lieutenant Osmond Bartle Wordsworth (Machine Gun Corps) is killed in action when he is shot in the heart at age 29. He is the son the Reverend Christopher Wordsworth Chancellor of Sarum Cathedral and grandson of the Reverend Andrewes Reeve Vicar of Kimmeridge. He is the author of A Happy Exchange.
    Private Robert Hedben (Northumberland Fusiliers) is also killed. Both men survived the sinking of RMS Lusitania and are now commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Brigadier General Francis John de Gex (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) dies in France while serving as the Base Commandant. He dies at age 55 and is the son of the Reverend F de Gex.
    Major Brinley Richard Lewis (Royal Field Artillery) is killed when a shell strikes the mess he is in. He was a Welsh Rugby International twice and also played for Cambridge.
    Captain Philip Urban Vigors MVO (Worcestershire Regiment) dies on service at home at age 42. He is the son of the Reverend R W Vigors.
    Lieutenant Edward Charles Coleman (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 25. He played cricket at Dulwich College from 1907-10 and was the teams Captain in his last year. He then played for Essex County Second XI in 1910 and the County first XI in 1912.
    Lieutenant Audley St John Perkins (Devonshire Regiment) is killed at age 33. He is the son of Alfred Edward Perkins JP.

    Western Front
    Aisne: French rangefinder and counter-battery work begins for 4,544 guns (3 million shells) but hampered by weather and German air opposition.
    Artois: BEF capture 9 villages (6 fall to 7th Division and 4th Australian Division with 700 killed and 240 PoWs for 1,000 casualties) between Arras and St Quentin.
    France: Petain meets Prime Minister Ribot for first time at dinner.

    Sea War
    Mediterranean: 13 German and 2 Austrian U-boats at sea.

    Home Fronts
    Russia: Equal rights for women. Legal and religious curbs and capital punishment abolished, 8 hour day for workers on April 6.

    On this day President Woodrow Wilson Addresses the US congress....

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    President Woodrow Wilson addresses Congress this day, asking those present to support war against Germany.

    Gentlemen of the Congress:

    I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making.

    On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe-conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle.

    I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in the at tempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meagre enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except these which it is impossible to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of noncombatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people can not be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.

    It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion.

    When I addressed the Congress on the 26th of February last, I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim necessity indeed, to endeavour to destroy them before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questioned their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such circumstances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual; it is likely only to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one choice we can not make, we are incapable of making: we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life.

    With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the Government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it, and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defense but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end the war.

    What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension to those governments of the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment of the Navy in all respects but particularly in supplying it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for by law in case of war at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation....

    While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by them I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate on the 22d of January last; the same that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the 3d of February and on the 26th of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such circumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among nations and their governments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states.

    We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their Government acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns and tools. Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbour states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked out only under cover and where no one has the right to ask questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs.

    A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honour, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what they would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honour steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own.

    Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, character, or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all their naive majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a league of honour.

    One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without our industries and our commerce. Indeed it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have more than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United States. Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people towards us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that Government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted [<a href="zimmerman.html">Zimmermann</a>] note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence.

    We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.

    Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for.

    I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honour. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights.

    It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early reestablishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us -- however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present government through all these bitter months because of that friendship -- exercising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy, who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their neighbours and to the Government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few.

    It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts -- for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.
    Last edited by Hedeby; 04-02-2017 at 16:38.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  44. #2344

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    3rd April 1917

    So we are now just three days away from the Americans joining the war and a few more days away from the Battles at Vimy Ridge and Arras. Lets see what today holds for us...

    Air War
    Mesopotamia: Royal Flying Corps BE2c damaged by German Fokker E (9 aircraft newly arrived). Another BE2c (flown since November 1915) shot down by Halberstadt fighter over Samarra (April 15), but RFC new Bristol Scout destroys a Halberstadt on April 22.

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    German Lieutenant Emil Meinecke poses beside his Halberstadt fighter after a hard air combat with British aircraft in the Middle East. Meinecke was flying for the Turks.

    The War at Sea

    The sailing vessel Ellen James (Master R C Jones) is captured in the Bay of Biscay and sunk by gunfire from UC-71. Five are killed including her master.
    Brazilian steamer, "Parana", torpedoed by German submarine in Channel.

    Western Front
    France: GQG moves north from Beauvais to Compiegne.
    Somme: French occupy 7 villages south and southwest of St Quentin (*until March 4).

    Capt Tunstill's Men: Training continued. There was further snow, heavy during the morning, and the weather remained bitterly cold.

    Eastern Front
    Pripet: Linsingen’s Germans cross river Stokhod, take 10,000 PoWs in Russian Tobol bridgehead.

    Political, etc.

    Barrow strike over.

    Russian Provisional Government forms War Committee, and repeals anti-Jewish legislation.

    Kaiser and Emperor Charles meet at Homburg.

    Loss of one of the War Poets

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    Captain Arthur Graeme West (Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry) is shot dead by sniper near Bapaume at age 25. He is one of the Great War Poets his poems including The Night Patrol, God! How I Hate You, You Young Cheerful Men!, and At Last Post. West was born in Norfolk, educated at Blundell’s School and Balliol College, Oxford. He enlisted as a Private with the Public Schools Battalion in January 1915. He joins from a feeling of duty and patriotism, but the war has a profound effect on him. An individualist who hates routine and distrusts discipline, he develops an intense abhorrence to army life and begins to question the very core of his beliefs – in religion, patriotism and the reason for war. This growing disillusionment finds expression in two particularly powerful war poems he writes during this time: God, How I Hate You and Night Patrol. In August 1916 he becomes a second lieutenant in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. Shortly after, he writes to his new battalion threatening to desert the army – but he cannot bring himself to send the letter. West is principally known for one book, The Diary of a Dead Officer, which presents a scathing picture of army life and is said to be one of the most vivid accounts of daily life in the trenches. The book will be published posthumously and edited by C E M Joad, an Oxford colleague of West’s and an active pacifist (and contemporary of West’s at Blundell’s). The book gives voice to one officer’s struggle to come to terms with the realities of war and is a poignant tribute to a lost generation of soldiers. It was reissued in 1991 by the Imperial War Museum and published again by Greenhill Books in 2007 with an introduction by Nigel Jones. The first edition of the book consisted of an introduction by Joad, extracts from West’s 1915-17 diary, and several essays and poems. Joad edited the book as pacifist propaganda and it was published jointly by the left-wing Herald newspaper and ‘Sir’ Francis Meynell’s Pelican Press (Meynell’s other publications had included Sassoon’s protest in 1917).

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    God how I hate you - by Arthur Graham West

    God! How I hate you, you young cheerful men,
    Whose pious poetry blossoms on your graves
    As soon as you are in them, nurtured up
    By the salt of your corruption, and the tears
    Of mothers, local vicars, college deans,
    And flanked by prefaces and photographs
    From all you minor poet friends — the fools —
    Who paint their sentimental elegies
    Where sure, no angel treads; and, living, share
    The dead’s brief immortality
    Oh Christ!
    To think that one could spread the ductile wax
    Of his fluid youth to Oxford’s glowing fires
    And take her seal so ill! Hark how one chants —
    “Oh happy to have lived these epic days” —
    “These epic days”! And he’d been to France,
    And seen the trenches, glimpsed the huddled dead
    In the periscope, hung in the rusting wire:
    Chobed by their sickley fœtor, day and night
    Blown down his throat: stumbled through ruined hearths,
    Proved all that muddy brown monotony,
    Where blood’s the only coloured thing. Perhaps
    Had seen a man killed, a sentry shot at night,
    Hunched as he fell, his feet on the firing-step,
    His neck against the back slope of the trench,
    And the rest doubled up between, his head
    Smashed like and egg-shell, and the warm grey brain
    Spattered all bloody on the parados:
    Had flashed a torch on his face, and known his friend,
    Shot, breathing hardly, in ten minutes — gone!
    Yet still God’s in His heaven, all is right
    In the best possible of worlds. The woe,
    Even His scaled eyes must see, is partial, only
    A seeming woe, we cannot understand.
    God loves us, God looks down on this out strife
    And smiles in pity, blows a pipe at times
    And calls some warriors home. We do not die,
    God would not let us, He is too “intense,”
    Too “passionate,” a whole day sorrows He
    Because a grass-blade dies. How rare life is!
    On earth, the love and fellowship of men,
    Men sternly banded: banded for what end?
    Banded to maim and kill their fellow men —
    For even Huns are men. In heaven above
    A genial umpire, a good judge of sport,
    Won’t let us hurt each other! Let’s rejoice
    God keeps us faithful, pens us still in fold.
    Ah, what a faith is ours (almost, it seems,
    Large as a mustard-seed) — we trust and trust,
    Nothing can shake us! Ah, how good God is
    To suffer us to be born just now, when youth
    That else would rust, can slake his blade in gore,
    Where very God Himself does seem to walk
    The bloody fields of Flanders He so loves!

    8 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON TUESDAY APRIL 3RD 1917


    Lieutenant Edgar Thomas Colin Brandon 11 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 3 April 1917 aged 22. Son of F. J. T. and Annie Elizabeth Brandon (nee Collins), of Elandslaagte, Natal, South Africa. Also served in German South West Africa with Natal Carabineers.

    Air Mechanic 1st Class Richard H Carney Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President' Dunkerque Naval Air Station. Died of Wounds 3 April 1917 aged 32

    AC2 Albert Jenner Royal Naval Air Service Kingsnorth Airship Station died 3 April 1917 aged 29

    Kingsnorth Airship Station

    The site of the First World War RNAS Kingsnorth. The station was built in 1914 to carry out patrols and was further expanded into an airship developmental and construction site after airship construction ceased at the Farnborough works in 1915. The base closed in 1920 and was decommissioned in 1921 though remains of this site can be seen on aerial photographs taken in 1952. The base comprised of the main airship hangars, smaller buildings including those for accommodation and a hydrogen production plant. RNAS Kingsnorth was connected to the branch line by a light railway and the Medway via a jetty. At the beginning of the First World War the airships Astra Torres and Perseval were based there from where they carried out anti-submarine patrols over the river Thames and the English Channel. Various non-rigid airship types were developed at the base including the "SS" Submarine Scout and the "C" Coastal types. The base was listed as being authorised for heavy anti aircraft armament of unspecified calibre in 1916, although this may not have been provided. After the station closed the hangars were used as a wood pulping factory (see NMR 1537949) while some of the buildings to the north and the jetty became part of the Berry Wiggins oil refinery (see NMR 1537943). Almost the whole of this site has since been built over by the Kingsnorth power stations and nearby works. One RNAS building (possibly a barrack building) may survive; it was still visible on an aerial photograph taken in 2007. This site was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project.

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    2nd Lieutenant George Masters 11 Squadron RFC Missing - Killed in Action 3 April 1917 aged 26

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    George Masters fought his war on the ground and in the air.

    Hastings-born Masters took part in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 before being posted to Europe. Attached to the New Zealand Pioneer Batallion, Masters showed courage when his company came under heavy shellfire. His bravery was recorded in the London Gazette, which reported on an incident in September 1916. With his commander dead and other officers wounded, 2nd Lieutenant Masters, through "coolness and personal example", kept his platoon working on a vital communication trench to reach a captured enemy position. His citation remarked on his "good work and devotion to duty" in the grim struggles on the Western Front in France. In October 1916, Masters was attached as an observer to the Royal Flying Corps.

    He served a probationary period with 11 Squadron, which was based at Izel-les-Hameau, a village in northwest France near Amiens. Aviation historian Errol Martyn has reported that Masters survived being shot down in March 1917. As a trained observer, the New Zealander would sit in the nose of a Royal Aircraft Factory Farman Experimental 2 aircraft, mixing the duties of gunner, artillery spotter and reconnaissance man. The pilot in these awkward craft sat behind the observer, with the Rolls-Royce engine and propeller immediately behind him. To defend the plane against enemy attack the observer needed to stand up in his tiny cockpit and fire a 303-calibre Lewis gun while clinging on to the weapon.

    At 1pm on April 3, 1917, Masters, then 26, took off with pilot Lieutenant Edgar Brandon, a South African. Brandon, at 22 a veteran of the campaign in German Southwest Africa, was on a reconnaissance patrol. At some point their aircraft was hit by flak. Errol Martyn, in For Your Tomorrow, a three-volume account detailing the fate of New Zealanders who flew with the RNZAF and allied air services, reported that an eyewitness saw the plane come down in the Scarpe River. In Masters' service record, there is a hand-written line that the New Zealand High Commissioner recorded soon afterwards, saying a message confirming the fate of the aircraft and its crew had been dropped into British lines by a German pilot. Masters is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial, which lists the names of nearly 1000 World War I casualties with no known grave.

    2nd Lieutenant John Ingram Mullanniffe O'Bierne 25 Squadron RFC (Observer) Killed in Action when a close burst by Manfred von Richtofen hit him in the head while flying at Vimy Ridge 3 April 1917 aged 24 (Pilot - 2nd. Lieutenant Donald Peter McDonald was captured and made a Prisoner of War)

    2nd Lieutenant Walter Pilling 5 Reserve Squadron RFC Killed while flying 3 April 1917. Aeroplane crashed in the Midlands

    2nd Lieutenant Henry Scotson Richards
    25 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds 3 April 1917 as a prisoner of War in Hospital at Karlsruhe, aged 21. He had received three bullet wounds to the stomach

    2nd Lieutenant James Herbert Sayer 15 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 3 April 1917 aged 19

    The following claims were made on this day:

    Claim number 34 for Manfred von Richthofen:

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    16:15 hrs between Lens and Lieven. Vickers two-seater, No. A6382 Motor unrecognisable. Occupants Pilot Lieutenant O'Bierne, killed, Observer McDonald
    Together with Leutnant Schafer and Leutnant Lothar von Richthofen, I attacked three enemy planes. the plane I myself attacked was forced to land near lieven. After a short fight the motor began to smoke and the observer ceased shotting. I followed adversary to the ground.

    The other claims were again all by German pilots with nothing to show in return for the RFC (or any of the Entente for that matter). These included a 'double' for Fritz Bernert

    Fritz Bernert Germany #12 #13

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    Edmund Nathanael Germany #7
    Paul von Osterroht Germany #2
    Karl Schäfer Germany #9
    Adolf Schulte Germany #6 u/c
    Hans Schüz Germany #7

    and finally in Russia there were isgnificant developments:

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    On 3 April 1917, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from exile. Lenin's arrival turned the Bolshevik party upside down and changed the course of history. Just weeks earlier, demanding an end to the bloody slaughter of World War One, the masses of working class and poor in Russia had risen up in a revolution and driven out the Tsar and government. But they were not yet conscious of their own power or of what to do. While Bolshevik members were in the workplaces and streets alongside their fellow workers making the revolution, the leaders of the party were still, by necessity, in exile.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  45. #2345

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    Wow Chris. West's poem is so intense. Thanks for printing it.

  46. #2346

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    My pleasure Reg, once I read it, there was no way I couldn't share it

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  47. #2347

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    4th April 1917

    The preparations for the Arras offensive continue...

    Western Front

    Artois: BEF 2,000-gun Arras barrage begins including gas shells, wreaks great destruction on 12*-mile front.
    Aisne: German raiding party captures copy of division order at Mt Sapigneul giving movements of 3 corps on right of French Fifth Army. Nivelle told on April 7.

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    The crew of a British 12-inch howitzer prepares to open fire at the beginning of the Battle of Arras.

    The preliminary bombardment of Vimy Ridge started on 20 March; and the bombardment of the rest of the sector on 4 April. Limited to a front of only 24 miles (39 km), the bombardment used 2,689,000 shells, over a million more than had been used on the Somme. German casualties were not heavy but the men became exhausted by the endless task of keeping open dug-out entrances and demoralised by the absence of rations caused by the difficulties of preparing and moving hot food under bombardment.Some went without food altogether for two or three consecutive days.By the eve of battle, the front-line trenches had ceased to exist and their barbed wire defences were blown to pieces.The official history of the 2nd Bavarian Reserve Regiment describes the front line as "consisting no longer of trenches but of advanced nests of men scattered about".The 262nd Reserve Regiment history writes that its trench system was "lost in a crater field".To add to the misery, for the last ten hours of bombardment, gas shells were added.

    Zero-Hour had originally been planned for the morning of 8 April (Easter Sunday) but it was postponed 24 hours at the request of the French, despite reasonably good weather in the assault sector. Zero-Day was rescheduled for 9 April with Zero-Hour at 05:30. The assault was preceded by a hurricane bombardment lasting five minutes, following a relatively quiet night. When the time came, it was snowing heavily; Allied troops advancing across no man's land were hindered by large drifts. It was still dark and visibility on the battlefield was very poor. A westerly wind was at the Allied soldiers' backs blowing "a squall of sleet and snow into the faces of the Germans". The combination of the unusual bombardment and poor visibility meant many German troops were caught unawares and taken prisoner, still half-dressed, clambering out of the deep dug-outs of the first two lines of trenches. Others were captured without their boots, trying to escape but stuck in the knee-deep mud of the communication trenches.

    The War in the Air

    Although the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) entered the Battle with inferior aircraft to the Luftstreitkräfte, this did not deter their commander, General Trenchard, from adopting an offensive posture. Dominance of the air over Arras was essential for reconnaissance and the British carried out many aerial patrols. Trenchard's aircraft, acting in support of ground forces, carried out artillery spotting, photography of trench systems and bombing.The reconnaissance activities were coordinated by the 1st Field Survey Company, Royal Engineers. Aerial observation was hazardous work as, for best results, the aircraft had to fly at slow speeds and low altitude over the German defences. It became even more dangerous with the arrival of the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, with his highly experienced and better-equipped Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1, Richthofen's Flying Circus) in March 1917. The presence of JG 1 led to sharply increased losses of Allied pilots and April 1917, became known as Bloody April. A German infantry officer later wrote,

    ...during these days, there was a whole series of dogfights, which almost invariably ended in defeat for the British since it was Richthofen's squadron they were up against. Often five or six planes in succession would be chased away or shot down in flames. — Ernst Jünger

    The average flying life of a RFC pilot in Arras in April was 18 hours and from 4–8 April, the RFC lost 75 aircraft and 105 aircrew on operations. The casualties created a pilot shortage and replacements were sent to the front straight from flying school; during the same period, 56 aircraft were crashed by inexperienced RFC pilots

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    British machine gunners fire on German aircraft near Arras

    Sea War
    North Sea: Royal Navy decides to convoy Scandinavian ships carrying imported wood pulp.
    Western Mediterranean: British liner City of Paris (122 lives lost) sunk by UC 35 south off Nice.

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    City of Paris SS was a British Passenger/Cargo Steamer of 9,239 tons built in 1907 by Barclay Curle & Company, Glasgow for Ellerman Lines Ltd (G.Smith & Sons), Glasgow. She was powered by a steam, quadruple expansion engine, 670nhp giving a speed of 15 knots. On the 4th April 1917 whilst on a voyage from India to Marseille carrying general cargo and 13 passengers when she was struck by a torpedo from German submarine UC-35 when 46 miles S by E of the Cap d'Antibes.Those on the vessel got into the boats the submarine commander shouted for the captain, but he could not be found. The submarine fired a second torpedo and finished her off. All in all 122 people were killed. French warships picked up three lifeboats containing 29 dead Lascar crew members. Another 12 dead were found in another boat and the rest were never seen again.

    Neutrals
    USA: Senate votes war resolution 82-6.

    Secret War
    Switzerland: Lenin and Zürich councillor Platten negotiate with German Berne Ambassador Romberg.

    On this day 663 British Troops were lost

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain Francis Julian Bolster (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend R C Bolster.
    Second Lieutenant Charles Chalmers Jameson (Australian Infantry) is killed in action at age 21. He is the son of Judge Charles Jameson of the District Court in Brisbane.
    Private Charles Henry Barber (Sherwood Foresters) is killed in action at age 19 at Le Verguler. His brother will be killed in September 1918.
    Private Frederick Richard Wilkshire (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed at age 20. His older brother was killed in April 1915.
    Private Thomas David McGregor White (Highland Light Infantry) a divinity student dies of wounds at age 28.
    Private David Knibbs (Wiltshire Regiment) is killed at age 23 on Salonika. His brother will be killed in October 1918.

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    Charles Jameson

    7 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON WEDNESDAY APRIL 4TH 1917

    Lieutenant WIlliam Eldon Chappell 58 Reserve Squadron RFC Killed while flying 4 April 1917 aged 20

    2nd Lieutenant Alfred Emmerson 12 Squadron RFC Shot down and Died of Wounds in hospital 4 April 1917 aged 25

    2nd Lieutenant Karl Christian Horner
    12 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds 4 April 1917 aged 20

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Frederick George Mitchinson 12 Squadron RFC 4 April 1917 aged 29

    AC2 Joseph Vincent Quinn Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II' died on this day in 1917

    2nd Lieutenant Alfred Ernest Venables 15 Reserve Squadron RFC Accidentally Killed flying near Doncaster 4 April 1917 flying RE8 A3445

    Bombardier Harry Collier Warren Australian Flying Corps School Died of accidental injuries 4 April 1917 aged 23

    There were only a couple of pilots making claims on this day... (both German)

    Opening his account we have Oberleutnant Hans Klein of Jasta 4

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    When the war began, Klein joined the army and served with the infantry on the Western Front. Commissioned in March 1915, he transferred to the German Air Force in the spring of 1916 and was assigned to Jasta 4 in November 1916. Credited with his first victory in the spring of 1917, he was wounded in action on 9 May 1917. He was wounded again at Gistel on the morning of 13 July 1917. On 27 September 1917, Klein assumed command of Jasta 10. After scoring 6 more victories, he was wounded again, losing his right thumb on 19 February 1918. Upon recovering, he rejoined Jasta 10 but served the remainder of the war as a ground officer. In 1935, Klein joined the Luftwaffe, later served as Deputy Commander of all fighters and attained the rank of Major General before his death in 1944.

    The other successful pilot (and flying for the Italians) we have Tenente Ferruccio Ranza of 77a Squadriglia.

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  48. #2348

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    Need an amendment to your claim list not 'both German' but '1 German and 1 Italian'.

    Love reading the paper at breakfast and a nice good read too.

    From me sick bed Neil
    See you on the Dark Side......

  49. #2349

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    I had meant to change that, but was too tired and missed it.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  50. #2350

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    5th April 1917

    So lets start with the 31 claims that are made today... 18 Entente and 13 Central Powers (and a couple of those were unconfirmed)
    With there being so many we will focus on those claiming their first victories

    Roderic Dallas Australia #8

    Captain Hugh Bradford Griffiths Canada #1

    The son of Dr. Alexander R. Griffith, Hugh Bradford Griffith studied art at McGill University. He enlisted on 14 November 1914 and served with No. 6 Field Ambulance of the Canadian Army Service Corps before he joined the Royal Flying Corps on 24 October 1916. He scored 5 victories as an observer with 48 Squadron flying the Bristol F.2a. He was a banker in Quebec in 1930.

    James Smith Canada #4

    Lieutenant Laurence Allen England #1

    Lawrence Wilfred Allen was granted a short service commission in the rank of Flying Officer with effect from 24 October 1919. Listed as Laurence Wilfred Allen and Laurence William Allen in some sources. Allen was originally was a member of the Territorial Army, being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Warwickshires on 20 November 1915 before switching to aviation. On 5 April 1917, after being assigned to 48 Squadron in France, he scored his first aerial victory while crewed with pilot Captain Alan Wilkinson in a Bristol F.2a Fighter. On 9 April, Allen and Wilkinson shared two more victories with Captain John Letts and his observer. On 11 April 1917, Second Lieutenant Allen was officially seconded to the Royal Flying Corps.By the end of Bloody April, Allen's score had reached seven. He would score twice in May while being piloted by Letts, being wounded in action on 24 May 1917 while downing his ninth foe. His Military Cross was gazetted two days later. He would score once more, on 16 June 1917. His final tally included: an Albatros D.III destroyed singlehanded; two more D.IIIs destroyed in victories shared with other aircrews; a two-seater reconnaissance plane and four D.IIIs single handedly driven down out of control; two Albatros D.IIIs driven down and shared with other aircrews.

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    The new Bristol F.2a fighter, of which so much is expected, finally comes into action on this day. For 48th Squadron’s first ever operation, six Bristols make an offensive patrol over Douai. Leading them is Captain William Leefe-Robinson VC, famous by this time for having shot down the SL11 airship. The patrol has the great misfortune to meet Manfred von Richthofen and the Albatros D.III’s of Jasta 11 and in the disastrous air battle that follows the patrol is virtually destroyed. Four of the aircraft are shot down within thirty minutes beginning at 10:15, the pilots and observers, including Leefe-Robinson, being made prisoner, one of which will die of his wounds the following day. These events the mauling of the new fighter and the loss of the Victoria Cross winner, causes great anxiety for the Royal Flying Corps while a surge of confidence passes through Germany’s fighting units.

    Lieutenant Harry Atheling Russell Boustead (Middlesex Regiment attached Royal Flying Corps) dies of wounds at age 24. In 1913 he won the 100 yard swimming race against Cambridge for Oxford. Though mortally wounded himself after his observer is killed in an engagement with an enemy aircraft he succeeds in crossing to our lines and bringing his machine down safely. He dies very shortly afterwards.
    His observer Second Lieutenant Charles Gustave Rochefort Mackintosh (General List attached Royal Flying Corps) was a winter sports representative in Switzerland for the Royal Automobile Club and Daily Mail He was accused of spying and imprisoned for 10 weeks in Switzerland before being released.

    Captain Reginald Morse "Reg" Charley England #1

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    The son of James Smith and Eva (Morse) Charley, Reginald Morse Charley studied electrical engineering before accepting employment in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, arriving in New York, New York on 1 February 1914. On 2 May 1916, he received his pilot's certificate on a Curtiss biplane at the Atlantic Coast Aeronautic School, Newport News, Virginia. The following month, he was back in England as a member of the Royal Flying Corps and received a promotion to 2nd Lieutenant (on probation) on 14 June 1916. The following year, Charley flew Sopwith Pups with 54 Squadron in Belgium. On the day he became an ace, 11 September 1917, Lieutenant Charley with appointed Flight Commander and promoted to temporary Captain. After scoring his sixth victory in November 1917, he returned to England.

    Robert Compston
    England #2

    Frank Hudson England #3

    Captain Geoffrey Arthur Henzell Pidcock England #1

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    Pidcock completed his basic flight training, and was awarded Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 3259 on 17 July 1916, being commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) the same day. He was appointed a flying officer on 4 August, and was confirmed in his rank on 24 August. Although posted to No. 60 Squadron in August 1916,[4] he did not gain his first aerial victory until 5 April 1917, when flying a Nieuport 17 he shared in the driving down out of control of an Albatros D.III over Riencourt with five other pilots. Soon after, on 14 April, he was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain, and shortly afterwards returned to England where he was transferred to No. 44 Squadron on Home Defence duties. In October 1917 he was posted to the Fighter Instructors' Refresher Course, and on 17 December 1917 was promoted to lieutenant. Pidcock returned to France in March 1918, posted to No. 73 Squadron, flying the Sopwith Camel, and soon after, on 1 April, the Army's Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged to form the Royal Air Force. A week later, on 7 April, Pidcock drove down a Fokker Dr.I north of Lamotte, and on the 12th he destroyed an Albatros D.V over Lestrem. On 3 May he drove down another D.V over Ploegsteert, and on 11 June gained his fifth victory by destroying another D.V north-east of Courcelles, earning his "ace" status. Two days later, on 13 June, he shared in the destruction of a Type C reconnaissance aircraft south of Thiescourt. On 23 September he was awarded the Croix de guerre by France

    Maurice Douglas Guest Scott
    England #2

    Captain (later Air Vice Marshall) Hugh Granville White England #1

    A Sandhurst graduate, Hugh Granville White joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. He was assigned to 20 Squadron in July of that year and downed 3 enemy aircraft as an F.E.2 pilot. After a stint as an instructor, White joined 29 Squadron as an S.E.5a pilot in February 1918. He claimed his final victory on 19 May 1918, colliding with a Pfalz D.III flown by Karl Pech of Jasta 29. The Pfalz went into a dive with White close behind firing his machine guns until the enemy aircraft lost its right wings. Pursued by five Pfalz scouts, White was able to reach the safety of his own lines before crash landing his badly damaged plane. White remained in the Royal Air Force, attained the rank of Air Vice-Marshal and received a CB and CBE before he retired in 1955.

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    Alan Wilkinson England #11

    Captain Henry Winslow Woollett England #1

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    On 12 April 1918, Henry Winslow Woollett downed six enemy aircraft in one day.

    "Captain H. W. Woollett of No. 43 Squadron achieved the war's record by bringing down six enemy aircraft in one day, very largely owing to the excellent qualities of his machine. Thus at 10.30 a.m., whilst leading a patrol, he saw a German machine, out-manoeuvred it, fired about thirty rounds and saw it spin down and crash. During this fight he had been attacked by several other machines. Without delay he climbed rapidly above his attackers and dived on to a two-seater, firing as he went, causing this machine also to crash. Once again he out-climbed his opponents, looped away from two attacking Fokkers, made a vertical bank, and again dived on the tail of an Albatross. After he had fired about 40 rounds, this machine burst into flames and fell to pieces. He then went home. At 5 p.m. the same evening he attacked thirteen enemy aircraft, having absolute confidence in his own skill as a pilot and knowing that his machine could out-manoeuvre any of those he was attacking. He first fired 30 rounds into one of the enemy aeroplanes, which turned over on its back and fell to pieces. He then climbed again, manoeuvred rapidly among the remaining twelve machines, avoiding the fire of his opponents until he could fire a burst into an Albatross, which spun down and crashed. He then made for home. On crossing the lines he saw another enemy machine above him. Once more the climb of his 'bus enabled him to get over his enemy, and he crashed his sixth machine for the day. This day's work, the record for the war, illustrates the necessity for speed in the air—speed in climb and maneuverability."

    Jean Chaput France #9 #10

    Leutnant Hans Auer Germany #1

    In 1917, Auer scored 5 victories before he was assigned to FEA 1b.

    Albert Dossenbach Germany #10

    Sebastian Festner Germany #4 #5

    Oberleutnant Karl Menckhoff Germany #1

    One of the oldest pilots in the German Air Service, Menckhoff was in his 30's when the war began. On 23 September 1917, he was shot down while trying to assist Werner Voss in his famous dogfight with 56 Squadron. He and Voss were both shot down by Arthur Rhys Davids. Five days later, Menckhoff was shot down again by 56 Squadron. Finally, on 25 July 1918, Menckhoff was shot down near Château Thierry by Lt. Walter Avery, an American with the 95th Aero Squadron. It was Avery's first air combat and Menckhoff was captured. In August 1919, he escaped from Camp Montoire, made his way to Switzerland and remained there until his death

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    Manfred von Richthofen Germany #35 #36

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    In his own word...

    BF2.A No. A3340, 48 Squadron RFC. 11:15hrs Lewarde South of Douai, Bristol two seater no.3340, motor no. 10443
    Occupants Lieutenant McLickler and Lieutenant George - both seriously wounded. It was foggy and altogether very bad weather when I attacked an enemy squad flying between Douai and Valenciennes. Up to this point it had managed to advance without being fired upon. I attacked with 4 planes from my STaffel. I personally singled out the last machine which I forced to land after a short fight near Lewarde. The occupants burnt their machine. It was a new type of plane which we had not seen as yet; it appears to be quick and rather handy. A powerful motor V-shaped, 12 cylinder, its name could not be recognised. The D.III both in speed and in ability to climb, is undoubtedly superior. Of the enemy squad which consisted of six planes, four were forced to land on our side by my Staffel.

    BF2.A No.3343 48 Squadron RFC. 11:30 hrs Cuincy, Bristol two seater. Pilot Lieutenant Adams, Observer Lieutenant Steward - unwounded. Plane details not at hand as the machine was burned.
    After having put the first adversary near Lewarde out of action, I pursued the remaining part of the enemy squadron and overtook the last plane above Douai. I forced him to land near Cuincy. The occupants burned their machine to ashes.

    Georg Schlenker Germany #6

    Adolf Schulte Germany u/c

    Otto Splitgerber
    Germany #2

    Ernst Wiessner Germany u/c

    Giles Blennerhasset Ireland #2 #3

    Victor Huston Ireland #2 #3

    Ernest Norton Wales #3 #4

    After all that lot it is no surprise that there were RFC casualties on this day...

    8 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON THURSDAY APRIL 5TH 1917

    2nd Lieutenant Oswald Frederick Grevatte Ball 13 Squadron RFC Killed in Action when hit by British guns while flying low 5 April 1917 aged 22

    Lieutenant Harry Dudley Blackburn 43 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 5 April 1917 aged 23

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Joseph Henry Bolton
    13 Squadron A Flight RFC Killed in Action 5 April 1917 aged 22

    Lieutenant Harry Atheling Russell Boustead 18 Squadron RFC Died of Wounds received in aerial combat 5 April 1917 aged 24

    Lieutenant Lloyd Elsley 23 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 5 April 1917 aged 21

    Lieutenant Herbert Howell 'Herb' Evans 13 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 5 April 1917, shot down by one of our shells.

    2nd Lieutenant Charles Gustave Rochefort Mackintosh
    18 Squadron RFC Killed in Action in aerial combat 5 April 1917 aged 38

    Air War
    Western Front: Royal Flying Corps at Arras bombing starts with attacks against kite balloons (only 5 destroyed until April 8). No 100 Squadron RFC bombs Douai airfield (‘Richthofen Circus’ base), 4 hangars damaged (night April 5-6) repeated twice (April 7-8) with new 1-prd pom-pom strafing; Frankl in Albatros of Jasta 4 shoots down a BE2c in first planned night interception.
    RFC loses 75 aircraft (105 crew, until April 9), another 56 crashed or written off. Bristol Fighter two-seater flies first offensive patrol, 4 of 6 shot down by Richthofen’s 5 Albatros DIIIs. British airman’s April life expectancy 23 days.
    Macedonia: KG 1 bombs and destroys munition train and dump at Karasuli by Lake Ardjan north of Salonika.

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    A German observation balloon is prepared for launching.

    On the night of 5 April the sound of an aeroplane engine was heard off the coast of north-east Kent shortly after 10.00pm but low-lying clouds limited any opportunity for observation. A single seaplane of SFA1 came inland near Broadstairs at 10.38pm before dropping four bombs on open land south of the town as the aircraft headed towards Ramsgate. According to a newspaper report ‘one found a billet in a road in a sparsely populated area between two towns, and did no material damage. The others dropped among potato seeds’. A police report confirms the breaking of 11 panes of glass in a greenhouse and at a house, estimating the damage at £4.

    Just north of Ramsgate a bomb dropped in the grounds of East Cliff Lodge, the home of Mrs Harriette Sebag-Montefiore, where it damaged a few fruit trees.

    From Ramsgate the aircraft continued towards Sandwich dropping three more bombs between the town and the sea where they caused no damage. Two fell close together on marshy ground about three quarters of a mile west of Shingle End Coastguard Station and the third gouged a hole four feet deep on the North Rifle Ranges. All bombs dropped were of the high-explosive type.

    The raider then headed out to sea. No aircraft attempted to intercept due to the low clouds. The raid caused zero casualties and damage valued at £4

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    East Cliff Lodge at Ramsgate, where a bomb landed in the grounds on 5 April 1917

    Western Front
    Somme: Allied pursuit of retiring Germans has been impeded by bad weather, collapse of roads, demolitions, booby traps and rearguards. But now most German outposts have been driven in and Allies face Hindenburg Line.

    Home Fronts
    Britain: Rejected and some disabled men to be re*-examined for military service. Assistant Chief Commissioner Thomson finds ‘a good deal of ignorant alarmism [about industrial unrest], especially among the generals present’.
    Rumania: King Ferdinand proclamation promises land and civic rights to peasants (and Army order on May 6).

    Captain Tunstill's Men : will today provide the sports news ...On a fine, bright day training continued. Meanwhile, the first round of the Divisional football competition was held with 69th Brigade defeating the Royal Artillery 3-2. 10DWR had four representatives in the 69th Brigade team; 2Lt. John William Pontefract (see 8th January), Sgt. John Thomas Hall MM (see 28th March) who, before the war, had been captain of the Keighley Celtic football team, Cpl. Thomas Arthur Sturdy (see 8th January) and Pte. Anderson (I am unable to make a positive identification of this man).

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    69th Brigade football squad
    The photograph comes from the collection of Lt. **** Bolton, by kind permission of Henry Bolton.
    **** Bolton noted (on the reverse of the image) only the names of Sgt. John Thomas Hall MM, who had been an original member of Bolton's Company, and 2Lt. John William Pontefract (seated centre with the ball at his feet).
    A copy kept by Brig. Genl. Lambert was annotated with the names of all the members of the squad: (left ro right) starting with the back row: Sgt. Hall (10DWR); Pte. Timms (9Yorks); Sgt. Bee (9Yorks); Cpl. Raffell (9Yorks); Pte. O'Shea (11West Yorks); Cpl. Sturdy (10DWR); Pte. Hood (8Yorks); Pte. Shepperd (11West Yorks); Pte. Wild (11West Yorks); Cpl. Gibson (8Yorks); Pte. Anderson (10DWR); Cpl. Simpson (9Yorks); Pte. Leyburn (11West Yorks); Sgt. Miller (8Yorks); 2Lt. Pontefract (10DWR); Sgt Sams (11West Yorks); Pte. Dobson (9Yorks).

    Meanwhile in Russia

    Burials were held in St Petersburg for the “martyrs of the revolution”. Many of us at the time were attending an exhibition at Dobychina’s Artistic Bureau, and saw through the windows the event unfolding on the Field of Mars. Gorky did not long remain an observer; he was called upon to bless the graves, and he dragged me behind him. They even photographed us in front of an open grave.

    Our mood was more ironic than anything else. It was even said that, owing to the unsatisfactory quantity of martyrs cut down in the revolutionary fighting, a number of ordinary citizens who had happened to die at the same time were added to the grave to make up the numbers.

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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