Another Day over the Somme 21 April 1918
Years ago, almost a lifetime for me; a great deal more than a life time for all too many, I worked in a brick factory. Not for long. Perhaps two weeks. I can honestly say that it was the most boring job, in the most boring place, that I ever had the unpleasent necessity to experience. But needs must and times were difficult. A mature student with a wife and a few months old child, desperate for economic security and hopeful of keeping the student debt at bay. But I never want to see the inside of a brick factory again, let alone die near one. Why a brick factory?
Why, in the middle of nowhere, on just another day, in just another place, would anyone want to become just another casualty? Another dead hero, amongst countless thousands of dead heros, the vast majority of whom remain nameless, unknown, forgotten in history, to generation after generation, until some haven’t even heard of the war you died in, never mind your name! But that is exactly what happened to one casualty. Only his name is known, by all, and possibly for all the
wrong reasons! Why? Because his country needed a hero at the time?
Who creates heros? Is it the hero himself? Doubtful! Is it the men and women who follow his examples, trying hard to emulate them; idolising him, worshiping his very being? Possibly, to a small degree. Is it the countless thousands, millions even, of his fellow combatents? Unlikely, since most of them are heros too and regard what he does with interest, fear, even envy, but they do the same as he does and they want to destroy him in the same way he wants to destroy them, without compassion, with little interest and with mainly a desire for personal survival the only real criteria involved. But commanding officers, politicians and the media? Now there’s a different kettle of fish, so to speak!
When things at home are going badly; when the countless thousands of innocent, tired, hungry, anxious, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters; loved ones of all kinds, who want nothing to do with war, nothing to do with killing, are becoming restive, scared, even angry and, God forbid, possibly rebellious; what do you need? Why, a hero of course. Success! It lifts the souls of many, when its on your side. It takes minds away from personal hardship. Look at what the hero does, the sacrifices he makes, not for himself, but for you, the people. Do you then not feel ashamed of your complaints, your own hardships. He is helping us to win, he is God like, a true celebrity, putting his own life at risk for his country, his leader – with him on our side we cannot lose!
Aah! But therein lies the problem! What if he fails? What if he dies? Catastrophic! Because then, the effects on moral are quite likely to be reversed. Best not to have heros then – perhaps best not to have them at all. That does not make their achievements any the less; their bravery any the less, their supreme courage any the less; their personal sacrifice any the less. But the effects on moral may be less when they go. And most of them do!
“What did you do in the war Grandad?”
“Hush Tommy, you know Grandad won’t talk about it! He wants to forget. You’ll only upset him. Now run along and play your game, there’s a good boy.”
And what did Grandad do? Shoot down 80 enemy aircraft and destroy as many men or more? Is that what makes a hero? Blow up as many in a few days, working behind a huge piece of artillery perhaps! Or was he a machine gunner who riddled with bullets the living and made corpses of as many as that in a few seconds during a major attack! Lets face it, they were all heros, even those who didn’t kill a soul!
But there you have it. On just another day, in just another field, near a boring old brick factory, a light was put out. The star lay on the ground, sightlessly staring up at the heavens he had mastered for a year or more.
And back home there must have been a collective gasp. The headlines stopped the mug of ersatz coffee from reaching the lips of the breakfast taker. The mother momentarily stopped thinking about the child she had given birth to, lieing in pieces, out there somewhere, wiped her tears and read of the tragic death of a hero she new little or nothing about and was horrified! Does that now mean we shall lose the war after all?
Perhaps, best not to have heros!
Late on 21st April 1918 – aerodrome at La Houssoye
Present in the Officer's Mess: Lt William Rhodes-Moorhouse; Cptn A Roy Brown; Lt Wilfrid May; Lt Arthur Hammond; “Mick” and another pilot involved in the mornings action with Brown.
“Did you see that?”
“See what? What are you blathering on about old boy?”
“It was him, I swear it! The German Freiherr whats-is-name that flies the red kite!”
“Oh, you mean von Richtoffen! No I didn’t see him and I doubt you did either.”
“It was him, definitely. Ask the young rookie over there. The one that looks like he’s seen a ghost and is into, what, his second bottle of whiskey already, since he collapsed into that chair not twenty minutes ago. Bloody close shave that kid had I can tell you.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on there just a second. You’re way ahead of me here. Slow down and tell me what you saw. All of it.”
“He’s right you know! And that kid, as you called him, is a mate of mine. His name is May, Wilfrid May. Although his mates call him Wop.””
“Oh, hello Brown, where did you spring from?”
“From right behind von Richtoffen, like your friend said. Only I’ll let him tell the story.”
“OK” said William. “Well, it was like this you see. This morning, early, we received orders to go out on offensive patrol. See anything at all of the hun and we are to chase them off or preferably destroy them; usual thing! So three of us, the Skipper (Lt Harold Medlicott ace), Arthur (2nd Lt Arthur Hammond) and myself (2nd Lt William Rhodes-Moorhouse), flew east towards Vaux. Thought we’d give our colonial pals there a bit of a show if we could!
Wasn’t long before we ran into some company. Three rather attractive looking Dr1s!” (Obltn Wilhelm Habich; Ltn Ernst Benzler; Ltn Fritz Brünig)
“Yea ok, get on with it!”
“Ok, ok, keep your hair on! Well, they came up from the south east and just happened to be heading in our direction. They were obviously up to no good, perhaps intending to give the Aussies a bit of a strafing. Anyway, they were looking for a fight and no mistake. Next thing you know we were darting around the sky like a flock of swifts in the summer searching for food. Daka daka daka daka, daka daka daka daka, everyone playing the same tune yet again. Suddenly one of their’s went down (Habich hit by Medlicott for 5 with wound + 3 with wound. 1 kill to Medlicott; Medlicott fired upon by Brünig “0”; Moorhouse fired upon by Habich “0,0”; Habich fired upon by Moorhouse – guns jam - “0,0”). I think the skipper got him. But he quickly followed himself (Medlicott hit by Brünig – “0 + Boom”. 1 kill to Brünig; Brünig hit by Medlicott (ace marksman) “1, 0, 1” - “0” ignored). Hun in a Dr1, that looked like a ruddy zebra, opened up at point blank range and the skipper’s Camel just seemed to conk out in mid air. The last I saw of him he was heading for the trenches below. Hope the Aussies picked him up ok, poor old sod! Hasn’t had the job more than a week or two! Same hun almost took me out too, we were that close to a collision. And me with jammed guns and all. Made my stomach turn I can tell you. Made me quite windy for a bit, I don’t mind saying!”
After that, it all got a bit confusing, looking this way and that and half the time not seeing a thing!
I know Arthur got a bit over zealous because, in his enthusiasm to exact revenge on the zebra, he flew right across my bows. He got pots at both of the remaining Dr1s though and I swear I don’t know how the zebra didn’t go down (Brünig hit by Hammond for “4” – Hammond misses Benzler “0”).
“Yes, well I believe you were pretty luck on that occasion old man!”
“Aah, Arthur, there you are. Back at last huh! Welcome. Any sign of the skipper?”
“Not yet I’m afraid. I saw him go down, but that’s the last I know.”
“Oh! That’s not good. Anyhow, how come you think I was lucky?”
“Because those two huns whipped around really fast and one of them let me have it, just as I passed you. Peppered my machine which is now full of holes (Hammond hit by Benzler “2, 1”). Reckon you owe me a drink for that one old chap!”
“Ok” William said with a chuckle, “as soon as the skipper turns up we’ll pop down town and see if good old Madam Freseux will cook us up one of her specials. We’ll wash that down with a bottle or two of whatever she has hidden away in that cellar of hers and I’ll treat the lot of us!”
“Wow! Generous of you old man! Ok you’re on. Anyway, are you going to continue your story? We’re all waiting to hear about your sighting of von Richtofen you know!”
“Sure. Well, just after you dashed past me, those two huns did so too, only in the opposite direction. I made to follow them and as I did so, I swear, I saw his red tri-plane off to my right, well low down and following one of ours!”
“Do you mind if I butt in there William? Only I know exactly what happened!”
“Of course you may, Brown, I want to know what happened exactly, same as everyone else here!”
“Thanks. I was in a bit of a tussle myself, with a couple or three of those hun. We’d been out huntin’ them, but, when we found them, I thought we’d bitten off a bit more than we could chew. A few of our guys had already taken themselves off after a couple of two seaters and two more had turned back for the barn with engine trouble. So we had our hands full, being outnumbered an’ all. Well, young Wop over there is a greenhorn and we’d ordered him to head on back home if we got into any kind of serious scrap! So sure enough, I spotted him diving away and felt pretty good, ‘cos he’s an old school pal of mine and I kinda felt responsible, if you know what I mean!”
There was a general buzz of approval at that.
Only then, I spotted this other aircraft dropping down to get on his tail. I had no idea who it was, but I could see the black crosses on his wings and knew that Wop was likely in a heap o’ trouble. Ignoring the guys I was playing with, I made a dash towards the two of them and, given my dive speed, managed to kinda catch up just as Wop started hopping around above some trees. It was plain to me that the hun was gettin’ pretty close an’ I could hear his guns poppin’ off pretty regular like (Rookie hit by von Richtoffen for “1+1”).
So I tucked myself in nice an’ cosy behind the hun and let ‘im have it. I must have hit him ‘cos he broke off tailin’ Wop for a bit and his aircraft kinda hiccuped a bit! (von Richtofen hit by Brown for “3”+ engine damaged)
But it didn’t stop him! He managed to close Wop down and gave him one hell of a burst, (Rookie hit by von Richtofen for “5 +1 (2nd shot) +4 + 1 (2nd shot”) ignoring the “0” and jam – marksman) just as I caught up again after avoidin’ hittin’ them trees (von Richtofen hit by Brown for “2”. Brown’s gus jammed). I could see bits of all sorts breakin’ off of Wops Camel an’ I was sure Wop was a gonner!
“But then the hun just broke off the attack and kept on goin’. That’s why I’m so darn sure I hit his engine or somethin’ else pretty important. He broke off his attack and I wasn’t about to go follow him ‘cos Wop wasn’t out of the woods yet. And that was that. I’m told by some of our flight that the hun was most definitely von Richtofen, so I guess I missed a trick there, by not goin’ after him”
“Not at all old chap. You saw Wop safely behind our lines again and he probably wouldn’t have made it otherwise! That hun was best left alone is what I think” and everyone else seemed to agree. Except for a Mick that sat scowling by the bar. For him the only good hun is a dead hun! Another day perhaps, were his thoughts!
“Well that was a tale and no mistake! How about another round chaps. I think we deserve it, don’t you?” said Arthur.
“Sure do” replied Brown.
“Then we better hear the rest of William’s story, ok William?”
“Not a great deal more to tell really. Everyone was flying around in circles taking pop shots at any hun that appeared in the sights!
“I managed to get in a few hits against the zebra (Brunig hit by Moorhouse for”2” + rudder damage, then again for “2 + 1”. Moorhouse’s guns jammed) before my guns jammed. I must have a word with the armourer about that too. It’s happening too damned frequently for my liking and makes me rather windy. Not nice being up there in the middle of a scrap and nothing to thow back at the hun!
“I think the Zebra had a go at you too Arthur, right?” (Hammond hit by Brunig for “2 + 0 + rudder damage)
“Yes he did old chap. Damaged my rudder in the process too. Rather inconvenient that! But I hit him too and saw his engine take fire! (Brunig hit by Hammond for “2” + fire. 1 kill to Hammond) Next thing you know, down he went! Horrible thing that. Seeing a man go down in flames. Makes my stomach turn over. I shall have bad dreams about it for days, I’m certain!”
“Yes, well I thought that was going to be just about it for the day!” said William, “Only a single hun left facing us, so I thought he’d head off home. But he was having none of it! I saw Arthur struggling so I guess that must have been him trying to fix his rudder. He disappeared off, but the hun started following him. So I followed the hun. Nothing much else to do under the circumstances and he seemed to be heading back east. But then, suddenly he turned off to port. That’s when I saw our Camel again. Wop I guess it must have been. Uh oh! I thought.
“And sure enough, the hun went after him!”
“Yea, the so an’ so overshot Wop though, and put a few rounds a bit too close to yours truly” Brown commented (Brown hit by Benzler for “3 + 0”).
“I saw that” William added. “In fact I was rather put off my aim, seeing you heading in my dirction. Put in a couple of bursts, but I’m not sure I did much damage! ( Benzler hit by Moorhouse for “0”; then for “1 + 1 (2nd hit); then for “0 + 4 + 1 (3rd hit) + smoke. Moorhouse’s guns are jammed again) Not the first couple of bursts anyhow. But then I managed to catch him on the turn and I saw smoke coming from his machine. I take it that was my doing. But he still didn’t go down. Plucky blighter, I’ll give him that!
“That’s when Arthur finally decided to rejoin us after slouching off for a break.”
“Hey, that’s enough of that, young William. Unless you want me to tip you on your backside right now! It isn’t easy fixing a rudder in mid air!”
“Yes, we all know that” replied William. “Keep your hair on, we all know you do your bit!
“Well don’t you forget it!”
“Calm down boys. I guess the drink is beginning to mouth off, don’t you. Why don’t we have another round, then I shall finish off this story. Because, you know what? I guess it was me as got that last hun!”
So they refilled their glasses and toasted, first the skipper, in the hopes he would return, then their gallant foe, which they hoped wouldn’t!
“So, for the record” announced Brown, “ I was circling around to try and get position on our hun, when I saw Arthur here come steaming in, guns blazing away! But the hun still wouldn’t go down (Benzler hit by Hammond for “3”). He did however, finally decide it was time to get out of there, ‘cos he turned sharply away from our Wop over there, and started to head off. But I guess he left it too late! I got on his tail and let him have some more lead (Benzler hit by Brown for “3”. 1 kill to Brown) And that’s when he finally bit dirt, so to speak! Down he went! Game over!”
“So there you have it gentlemen” William exclaimed. “We have three claims to make, against their one! A good days work if you ask me, providing the Skipper makes it back in one piece. So here’s to the Skipper again. May the Aussies be giving him a royal feast at this very moment!”
So, dear reader, as you have just witnessed, the Red Baron came nowhere near the brick factory this time around. Makes me wonder what difference that might have made a few years later!
We never learn, do we?
The End
The Butcher’s Bill
Central Powers
Obltn Wilhelm Habich: / SD ET / WIA / No kills
Roll 2D6 = 6 + 2 = 8 – 1 SD – 2 WIA = 5 Injured – skip 1D3 scenarios.
Roll 1D6 = 3 skip 2 scenarios.
E & E: Roll 2D6 = 2 + 4 = 6 – 2 WIA – 1 ET 3 = Captured and escaped – skip 1D3 scenarios.
Roll 1D6 = 1 Skip 1 scenario.
Result – Skip 2 scenarios.
Ltn Ernst Benzler: / SD ET / No kills
Roll 2D6 = 5 + 3 = 8 – 1 SD = 7 Injured - skip 1D2 scenarios.
Roll 1D6 = 6 Skip 2 scenarios.
E & E: Roll 2D6 = 4 + 1 = 5 – 1 ET = 4 Captured and escaped – skip 1D3 scenarios.
Roll 1D6 = 2 Skip 1 scenario.
Result – Skip 2 scenarios.
Ltn Fritz Brünig: / SD ET / 1 Kill
Roll 2D6 = 4 + 1 = 5 – 1 SD = 4 Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios.
Roll 1D6 = 2 Skip 2 scenarios.
E & E: Roll 2D6 = 4 + 1 = 5 – 1 ET = 4 Captured and escaped – skip 1D3 scenarios.
Roll 1D6 = 6 skip 3 scenarios.
Result – Skip 3 scenarios
Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen: Decided to break off his attack after receiving engine damage to his machine. Left the contended area stage right.
Entente
Lt Harold Medlicott (ace) MC; CdG Flight leader: EXP FT / I Kill
Roll 2D6 = 4 + 3 = 7 – 3 EXP = 4 Injured – skip 1D6 scenarios
Roll 1D6 = 3 Skip 3 scenarios
Result – skip 3 scenarios
2nd Lt William Rhodes-Moorhouse / RTB / No kills
Alls good when you land well
2nd Ltn Arthur Hammond / RTB / 1 kill
Alls good when you land well
(I believe this is Hammond’s 5th kill)
Rookie: Managed to survive his experience, just, with 13/15 damage. Exited from friendly edge.
Captain Arthur Roy Brown: Survived to exit via friendly edge. 1 Kill to his name.
Mission Results:-
Entente:
Kaiser’s Eagles aircraft shot down – 3 6VP
“Rookie” Camel exits the west edge of battle area 3VP
“Veteran” Camel exits the west edge of battle area 1 VP
Total: 10 VP
Central Powers:
Bulldogs aircraft shot down – 1 2VP
Ace Fokker exits east edge (eventually) 3VP
Total: 5VP
Result: Entente Victory
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