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Thread: 100 Years Ago Today

  1. #2451

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    Black Fokker Leader by Peter Kilduff ISBN 978-1-906502-28-7
    Not easy to find this one as most firms were out of stock. But I found it on "grub Street". Not cheap but an interesting book, so I bought a copy. Once again, thanks for the heads up. Mike

  2. #2452

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    25th May 1917

    Lots happening today but there is only one place to start GOTHA RAID

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    Gotha bombers of Kagohl 3 preparing to raid England

    On 25 May 1917 a new threat to Britain from the air emerged when the German Army launched its Gotha bombers against London for the first time. Thick low cloud over the capital, however, forced the aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 3 der Oberste Heeresleitung (Kagohl 3 - Battle Squadron 3 of the Army High Command) to turn away and attack targets in Kent instead.

    The 21 Gothas passed west of Rochester and dropped the first bombs at 5.42pm when four 50kg bombs fell in fields around Luddesdown and Harvel. South of Maidstone another 50kg bomb dropped in a field on Eagles Farm at Linton, after which Kagohl 3 picked up the main railway line to the port of Folkestone at Marden where four 12.5kg HE bombs fell in fields at Dairy Farm. Further bombs dropped as Kagohl 3 followed the railway line. Six 50kg bombs landed around Smarden, smashing eight panes of window glass, and 10 of the smaller bombs landed without effect at Dering Farm, nearby at Bibbenden Green. At Pluckley an HE bomb landed in a meadow on Turner Farm and at Bethersden two bombs fell, one exploded in the air over Barnshurst Farm breaking 12 panes of glass and the other landed in a field on Snoad Farm without causing damage. Directly ahead lay Ashford.

    The Gothas dropped six bombs on Ashford. Two fell near Bond Road, one at Beaver Green, one at Rugby Gardens and two over Providence Street, one of which exploded in the air and killed Gladys Sparkes (18). The bomb also injured two men, a woman and a child. Other bombs were responsible for breaking windows over a wide area and damaged a few ceilings. From Ashford the Gotha formation spilt into two. The more northerly group dropped five bombs in open ground between Shadoxhurst (south of Ashford) and Kingsnorth and another five at Mersham, which fell in a field at Elm Farm killing two sheep. Meanwhile the southern group approached the Royal Military Canal, dropping two HE bombs at Ruckinge where one landed in a field on Hogtub Green Farm and the other in a neighbouring wood. Three HE bombs followed at Bilsington, one landing in a field at Bridge Farm, another at Dines Farm and the third in Country Field Wood. A fourth missile, claimed to be an unexploded bomb in some reports, fell into an empty grave in the village churchyard. The police, however, identified it as an aerial dart. The formations closed up again over Lympne where 22.

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    Bombs in position under the fuselage and wing of a Gotha bomber prior to a mission against London.

    bombs, mostly the smaller 12.5kg, were aimed at the aerodrome, home to No. 8 Aircraft Acceptance Park of the RFC. Most of the bombs fell in the centre of the aerodrome, but two exploded near a hanger (damage was negligible), one in a quarry east of the aerodrome towards Oat Hill and one prematurely burst 400 feet above the ground over Folks’ Wood. A little further on a bomb that dropped 100 yards from the eastern end of the railway tunnel near Sandling failed to explode. From there the Gothas approached Hythe.

    About 20 bombs dropped in and around Hythe at 6.15pm. Unexploded bombs penetrated through houses in Cobden Road (two) and Marine Parade. One exploded in the air above the Metropole Steam Laundry, south-west of the town, and even though shell fragments penetrated the roof, none of the women working there was injured. Not far away two more bombs exploded in the air, over the gas works and the coastguard station, but without damage. A number of bombs fell harmlessly on the beach but another that exploded in the air over Ormonde Road killed Amy Parker (43) as she was making her way to her home. Other bombs fell on two golf courses. In the centre of town a bomb exploded outside St. Leonard’s Church where it mortally wounded the verger, Daniel Lythe, who was speaking to the vicar and his wife at the church entrance at the time; the vicar’s wife received a slight injury. Other bombs landed nearby in North Street, Hillside Street and Castle Road.

    Directly ahead now lay the vast military camp at Shorncliffe, spread out between Cheriton and Sandgate. The exact number of bombs dropped is unclear and there may be some duplication in the records. Among the bombs that fell on the camp amongst Canadian troops, one exploded on a tent between two huts in Howitzer lines where it killed 11 infantrymen about to set off on a march and injured many others. A bomb that landed on Risborough Field killed four Canadian gunners and an American serving with them while they were erecting a tent. Another Canadian died when struck by an unexploded bomb on the Cavalry Drill Ground and a British soldier was killed in a quarantine camp. As well as those killed, over 90 soldiers were injured; one bomb that struck the tailor’s shop in the 8th Canadian Battalion’s lines accounted for 25 of these men.

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    Florrie Rumsey aged 16

    Bombs also fell at Cheriton and Sandgate. At Cheriton, close to Risborough Barracks, a bomb in Royal Military Avenue killed Alfred Down, aged 54, and injured two others. Another, in Oaks Road, killed Dorothy Burgin (16) and five-year-old Francis Considine. In addition to the casualties many windows were broken including all those at the front of Enbrook Manor. At Sandgate a bomb exploded in a stream in the grounds of Enbrook House. A fragment of the bomb smashed the plate glass door of the Fleur-de-Lis public house in the High Street. The bomb also sent lumps of rock from the stream flying through the air, damaging nearby properties. The next bombs (about 40) fell on the town of Folkestone with devastating effect. It was a fine Friday evening and many of the town’s residents were out shopping or enjoying the good weather before a Bank Holiday weekend. Approaching from the west, the first bombs killed Doris Walton (16), while she was playing tennis in the grounds of a school on Shorncliffe Road, and Albert Castle (41) who was working as a gardener at another school on the same road. A bomb at the corner of Jointon and Trinity roads cut down Maggie Bartleet (24) and nine landed close to the Central Station but only two detonated, even so that was enough to kill 45-year-old Edward Horn, butler to Sir Thomas Devitt who he had gone to collect from the station. Following the railway line more bombs fell east of the Central Station and one that landed at the junction of Foord Road and Radnor Park Road fatally injured George Butcher who was delivering coal. Eight bombs then struck central Folkestone. One, smashing into 21 Manor Road brought much of the building crashing down and killed the cook, Jane Marshment (50). Another of these bombs exploded in the street outside 19 and 21 Bouverie Road East claiming the lives of five people. Moments later a bomb landed in Tontine Street, a busy shopping thoroughfare, where a large queue had formed outside Stokes’ greengrocer shop following a delivery of potatoes. At 6.22pm a bomb exploded outside the shop, the blast ripping through the people, mostly women and children. When the dust and smoke settled 44 shattered bodies lay amongst the rubble, killed instantly, and another 17 later succumbed to their injuries. No single bomb in Britain caused more civilian casualties throughout the war. The Gothas dropped a few more bombs on the town then headed out to sea.

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    The RFC and RNAS responded to the attack, flying 77 sorties, but most of the aircraft struggled to get up to the Gotha’s height and were left trailing in their wake. Almost all the RFC aircraft were of the BE type, normally used against Zeppelins and provided little threat to the Gothas. A few aircraft made sightings but only two managed to engage. RNAS aircraft from Dunkirk had more luck, intercepting the returning Gothas and shooting down one over the sea. The nature of the air campaign over Britain had dramatically changed.

    For a change in perspective here is a first hand account from one of the survivors - A first-hand account of an air raid on Folkestone, written by Mrs Coxon, whose husband was serving with the RNVR at Dover.

    My First Experience of an Air Raid

    It was an exquisite summer's day in May. Some people had been having afternoon tea with me, and after they left, about 5.30, being such a perfect evening, I thought I would go and see some friends living in Earl's Avenue, so strolled out, and before I got any distance I became interested in a very large flight of about twenty aeroplanes circling and pirouetting over my head. I stopped to watch their graceful antics, and thought to myself: at last we are up and doing, fondly imagining they were our own machines practising. I leisurely walked on, and as I was crossing Earl's Avenue I noticed a woman coming towards me carrying a basket. I had hardly time to reach the Olivers' garden gate when a bomb fell behind me, killing the poor woman I had just seen, and falling on the very spot of ground I had just walked over. She was picked up very shortly afterwards, but died on her way to hospital.

    No sooner was I in the house before another bomb crashed in Grimston Gardens, breaking all the glass of the conservatory. There is ahvays an uncanny "calm" after a bomb falls, and when I could realize what had happened I at once started off to Brampton Down School to see if my daughter was safe. Going through Grimston Gardens it was exactly like walking through a thin coating of ice on a winter's day, which crackled and broke under one's feet. The roads were thickly strewn with finely-broken glass from the hundreds of windows that were smashed from the concussion, and in Grimston Gardens Tennis Courts the fall of one bomb had made a hole twenty-five feet across.

    I breathed once more when I found all the girls well and safe, and greatly excited at their experience, the mistress telling me that they had behaved uncommonly well, and in doing exactly what they were told no accident had occurred. I then telephoned to my maids at Pembury Lodge to ask if they were safe. The answer was ''Yes" but it was nothing short of Divine Providence that our house stands to-day, as an aerial torpedo fell in a piece of waste ground just in front of our garden. It was a "dud" and nothing happened, beyond some windows smashed and tiles dislodged from the roof.

    Not three hundred yards away, in Kingsnorth Gardens, a lot of structural damage was done, and at the Central Railway Station two cabmen and their horses were killed outright. There is no doubt the enemy were aiming at the railway bridge, and it was exceedingly good shooting for they only missed by a few yards. Passing over Folkestone they unfortunately got a very nice house absolutely in the centre, demolishing it to matchwood, and, alas, killing two maids who were in the kitchen at the time. The entire staircase was cut in half, and nothing remained but a heap of dust, bricks, and broken furniture.

    The enemy then dropped their final lot of bombs on Tontine Street, the poorer quarter of the town, near the harbour, and where crowds of women were doing their week-end shopping. I was not there myself, but I was told afterwards by a medical man, that it resembled a battle-field — a gruesome sight of severed heads, arms, legs, etc., mixed up with wreckage of broken houses and windows. Doctors and ambulances did their utmost to alleviate the awful suffering, and in a very short time every available bed in the different hospitals was filled. The exact number killed did not come out until some time afterwards, but including Shorncliffe Camp it amounted to several hundreds and a large number of horses. In Folkestone alone the killed were 16 men, 31 women, and 25 children — total, 72; injured: 31 men, 43 women, 12 children — total, 86. The material damage was estimated at Ł20,000.

    I do not think many people will be likely to forget the first visit the cultured Hun paid us on the then undefended town of Folkestone.

    Staying with the war in the air - today we saw the loss of one of France's early aces... Sous Lieutenant René Pierre Marie Dorme

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    Sous Lieutenant René Pierre Marie Dorme (30 January 1894 – 25 May 1917), Légion d'honneur, Médaille militaire, Croix de Guerre was a French World War I fighter ace credited with 23 victories. Rene Dorme served as an artilleryman in North Africa before becoming a pilot. He was injured in a crash before he saw action. He did not get into combat until March 1916. He was posted to N3 to fly Nieuport fighters in June 1917. He was officially noted as having at least 43 probable victories.

    Sous Lieutenant René Pierre Marie Dorme has been credited with 23 victories although officially noted with a probable 43. He had started his service as an artilleryman in North Africa before becoming a pilot and managing to get injured in a crash before even seeing action. But that didn’t stop him—He got into combat in March of 1916 and achieved his first credited victory in July shooting down an L.V.G. The French called him “the beloved” and even the great Guynemer called him France’s greatest air fighter. His plane was only hit twice in all his fights earning him the name “unpuncturable.” Dorme was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, the Médaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre (with 11 palms!). While flying on May 25th 1917, Dorme disappeared over German territory after downing a plane. Two weeks later the enemy reported he was killed in combat, but nothing more than that was ever heard of him—no trace ever found!

    7 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON FRIDAY MAY 25TH 1917

    Capt. Anthony, J.R. (John Richard) 1 Squadron RFC
    Capt. Eccles, C.G. (Charley Gordon) 46 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Goodison, F.B. (Frank Bowler) 48 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Jeffery, R.E. (Roland Edward) 55 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Johnson, S.M. (Stanley Morrell) RFC
    2nd Lt. Palmer, P.R. (Percy Rogers) 55 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Wood, P.J. (Philip John) RFC

    There were 38 claims by aces on this day including 4 for Georges Guynemer numbers 39, 40, 41 and 42

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    Georges Guynemer Victory number 41

    Robert Little Australia #20
    Arnold Chadwick Canada #2 #3

    Sidney Ellis Canada #1

    The son of Reverend and Mrs. John D. Ellis, Sidney Emerson Ellis joined the Royal Naval Air Service in August 1916. Posted to 4 Naval Squadron, he scored his first two victories in the spring of 1917 flying the Sopwith Pup. In July 1917, Ellis scored three more victories flying the Sopwith Camel. He was one of the first two pilots to score a victory with this aircraft, shooting down a Gotha bomber northwest of Ostende on the morning of 4 July 1917. Five days later, he was killed when his Camel went into a spin and crashed.

    Listed in some sources as Sydney Emerson Ellis.

    James Martin Child England #2
    Stanley Cockerell England #6
    Reginald Conder England #4
    Cyril Marconi Crowe England #7
    Francis Cubbon England #16 #17
    Arthur Percival Foley Rhys Davids England #5
    Frederick Thayre England #15 #16
    René Dorme France u/c
    Karl Allmenröder Germany #19 #20
    Otto von Breiten-Landenberg Germany #2

    Carl Degelow Germany #1 (his first confirmed kill)

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    Friedrich Gille Germany #3
    Robert von Greim Germany #2
    August Hanko Germany #3
    Bertram Heinrich Germany #3
    Heinrich Kroll Germany #5
    Heinrich Lorenz Germany #4
    Rudolf Matthaei Germany #3

    Hans Pippart Germany #1

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    As an experienced pilot and aircraft manufacturer, Pippart volunteered for the German Air Force when the war began. An instructor before transferring to the Eastern Front, he achieved his first victories flying a Roland D.II against Russian aircraft and balloons during the summer of 1917. On 11 August 1918, after attacking an enemy balloon, Pippart was forced to jump from his damaged Fokker. He was killed when his parachute failed to open.

    Eduard von SchleichGermany #1

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    Eduard-Maria Joseph Ritter von Schleich (August 9, 1888 – November 15, 1947), born Schleich, was a high scoring Bavarian flying ace of the First World War. He was credited with 35 aerial victories at the end of the war. During the Second World War he served in the Luftwaffe as a general. While Schleich was recovering from his wounds of August 1914 he decided to volunteer for the Royal Bavarian Air Service and was accepted for training as an observer. After service with FEA 1 on two-seaters, he applied for pilot training and qualified in September 1915. In October 1915 he joined FA 2b, and in January 1916, during an observation flight, Schleich was wounded in the arm by an exploding anti-aircraft shell. Instead of returning to base, while still in the air he had his crewman bandage his wound and then completed his assignment. He was decorated with the Iron Cross First Class for this action. The wound meant he did not see further active service until September, when he assumed command of Fliegerschule 1. He joined Jasta 21 in May 1917 and commanded the unit from June onwards. Prior to his leadership, Jasta 21 had a lacklustre combat record and low morale, but under Schleich within a month the Jasta had downed 36 enemy aircraft, 19 of them credited to Schleich personally.

    When Leutnant Erich Limpert, his best friend on the Jasta, was killed in a dogfight, Schleich ordered his plane to be painted all black. This black plane soon led to Schleich being dubbed 'The Black Knight'. Ongoing Prussian and Bavarian political arguments over a non-Prussian commanding a Prussian fighter unit caused a new Bavarian Jasta to be formed, and in October 1917 Schleich was reassigned to command Jasta 32, with his tally of kills then at 25. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite Order in December 1917, and after a spell commanding Jastaschule 1, on 15 March 1918 he took command of Jagdgruppe Nr. 8, a collection of Jastas 23, 34 and 35, and in the last month of the war he commanded Jasta 21. By the war's end his score was 35.


    Julius Schmidt Germany #5
    Paul Strähle Germany #6
    John Cowell Ireland #4
    Flavio Baracchini Italy #3
    Nikolai Kokori Russia #4
    Aleksandr Kozakov Russia #9

    Oliver LeBoutillier USA #1

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    Having trained at the Wright School in Mineola, New York, Oliver Colin LeBoutillier, the son of an English father and Canadian mother, joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 21 August 1916. Posted to 9 Naval Squadron (later 209 Squadron), he scored 10 victories flying the Sopwith Triplane and the Sopwith Camel. On 21 April 1918 he was one of the four American airmen who participated in the dogfight that ultimately led to the death of Germany's greatest ace, Manfred von Richthofen. Captain LeBoutillier was transferred to the unemployed list on 11 February 1919. Post-war, he returned to the United States where he became a skywriter and gave Amelia Earhart her first lesson on twin engined aircraft. In 1928, LeBoutillier was Mabel Boll's pilot in her failed attempt to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic in a plane. As a Hollywood stunt pilot, LeBoutillier appeared in eighteen movies including "Hell's Angels." In all, he had 19,000 hours of flight time when his flying career finally ended.


    Captain Tunstill's Men: The weather became very hot.

    Although there is no specific mention in the War Diary, another man, Pte. Luther Taylor (16th January) was killed before the Battalion was relieved by 8th Yorks and Lancs in the early hours. On completion of the relief at around 4.30am, on a beautiful morning, the Battalion marched seven miles, via Kruistraat, to Brandhoek, from where they were taken by train to Abeele and then marched the final two miles north to billets in the Boeschepe training area, near Watou. In addition to the sixteen men killed over the course of the six-day tour, a further thirty men had been wounded by the time the Battalion was relieved.

    Pte. George Drake (see below) wrote to the mother of Sgt. Jack Hudson (see 23rd May) who had been killed two days previously;

    "Dear Mrs. Hudson, - It is my painful duty to inform you that your son was killed on the 22nd (sic.), along with another six, by an enemy shell which fell in the midst of them. I can assure you that he suffered no pain whatever, his death being instantaneous. He was buried the same night, along with his comrades, in a cemetery halfway between Ypres and the line. In the course of a few days a cross will mark the place. He was a good pal and everyone in the Company liked him; he did his duty nobly and was a brave soldier. It was about five o'clock when he was killed. Had he lived a few more hours he would have gone out of the trenches the same night to seek billets for the battalion.

    Jack Hargreaves (I am, as yet, unable to make a positive identification of this man), who comes from Farnhill, was one of the party who buried him. He told me they were buried decently, and a parson read the Burial Service. All the Company and the non-commissioned officers and men join in tendering you their deepest sympathy in your sad loss. He was my best pal, and I was nearly heartbroken when I heard about it. You have my deepest sympathy, but he has died in fighting for the freedom of Old England and the banishing of Prussianism. We are out of the trenches at present.

    Jack's old pal, George Drake."

    George Drake, along with his younger brother John Drake, had enlisted with Hudson and with two other men (names unknown) from Bradley in the early days of the war. All had served initially with 9DWR, but George Drake and Hudson had subsequently been transferred to 10DWR. George Drake had enlisted aged 19 (his brother was a year younger); they were two of seven children of John Thomas Drake and his wife, Annie. The family lived in Bradley, and both of the brothers worked in the local textile mills.
    Just a week after being transferred, Pte. Albert Saville (see 17th May) was reported absent without leave from 298th Labour Company, based at Ripon. L.Cpl. Maurice Bannister (see 4th October 1916), who had been wounded at Le Sars, was now formally discharged from the army, with the award of the Silver War Badge. On leaving the army he resumed his former employment as a fitter with one of the local engineering firms in Keighley.

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  3. #2453

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    Saturday 26th May 1917
    Today we lost: 369

    Air Operations:


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 11


    Lt Armstrong, P.T. (Percy Towns) Kingsnorth Airship Station , RNAS. Accidentally Killed aged 31, at Kingsnorth Air Station when a gas holder exploded.

    A Mech 3 Ball, E.G. (Edwin George) Recruits Depot, RFC. Aged 23. NFDK.

    2Lt Evans, F.W. (Frederick Woodham) 20 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action aged 23, during an aerial combat.

    Lt Hains, C.L. (Cyril Lalande) 2 (N) Squadron, RNAS. Killed in Action aged 21, with Flight Sub-Lieut W Houston Stewart.

    LM Harris, C.W. (Charles W.) Kingsnorth Naval Airship Station, Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President. Accidentally Killed when gas holder exploded 26 May 1917
    A Mech 3 Harris, R.C. (Robert Charles) Recruits Depot, RFC. NFDK

    Flt S-Lt Houston-Stewart, W. (William) 2 (N) Squadron, RNAS. With C L Hains.

    2 Lt Scholfield, J.D.P. (John Douglas Price), RFC. Accidentally Killed in aeroplane crash at Hungerford on the evening of aged 23.

    Flt S-Lt Sims, J.T. (James Theodore), RNAS. NFDK.

    A Mech 2 Taylor, A.E. (Albert E.), RFC. Aged 25. NFDK

    2Lt Watson, W.J. (William John), RFC. NFDK.

    Claims: 30 confirmed (Entente 24 : Central Powers 6)

    Maurice Benjamin #6th & #7th confirmed victories.
    William Bishop #20th confirmed victory.
    Edric Broadberry #4th confirmed victory.
    Fulco Ruffo di Calabria #9th confirmed victory. (Italy)
    Arnold Chadwick #4th confirmed victory.
    Reginald Conder #5th & #6th confirmed victory.
    John Cowell #5th & #6th confirmed victories.
    Douglas Cunnell #2nd confirmed victory.
    Arthur Percival Foley Rhys Davids #6th confirmed victory.
    Albert Enstone #3rd confirmed victory.
    Robert Farquhar #4th confirmed victory.

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    2Lt Philip Fletcher Fullard claims his 1st confirmed victory with1 Squadron, RFC. Shooting down an Albatros DIII near Lompret. A natural athlete, Philip Fletcher Fullard was a reserve on the Norwich City football club before joining the army in 1915. In 1916, he transferred from the Royal Fusiliers to the Royal Flying Corps and was an instructor before being posted to France in April 1917. Scoring 40 victories that year, Fullard was the highest scoring ace in 1 Squadron and the highest scoring ace to fly Nieuport Scouts. Three days before the final British offensive at Cambrai on 17 November 1917, he suffered a broken leg during an off-duty football match and was unfit for duty until September of the following year. When the war ended, Fullard remained in the Royal Air Force, attained the rank of Air Commodore and retired from service at the end of World War II. He died, age 86, in a hospital at Broadstairs in Kent, southern England, where he lived.

    Georges Guynemer #43rd confirmed victory. (France)

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    Lt Archie Jenks claims his 1st confirmed victory with 20 Squadron, RFC. Shooting down an Albatros DIII near Comines. A dental student at McGill University, Archie Nathaniel Jenks enlisted in February 1915. After serving with the 13th Battalion of the Royal Horse Guards, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on 15 March 1917. Flying the FE2d, he scored 7 victories as an observer with 20 Squadron before returning to Canada as an instructor. Post war, he became a dentist and took his own life in 1938 after shooting his wife.

    Nikolai Kokorin #5th confirmed victory. (Russia)
    John Herbert Towne Letts #8th confirmed victory.

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    Sous Lt Pierre Fortaner Paul de Cazenove de Pradines (France) claims his 1st confirmed victory with N81, shooting down a scout near Reims. After joining the army in 1914, Pierre de Cazenove de Pradines transferred to the French Air Service in March 1916. He received a Pilot's Brevet four months later and after additional training was assigned to N81 in December 1916.

    Harold Satchell #2nd & #3rd confirmed victories.
    Frank Sharpe #2nd confirmed victory.
    Hugh White #3rd confirmed victory.

    Hans Bethge #6th confirmed victory.
    Reinhold Jorke #3rd confirmed victory.
    Otto Kissenberth #4th confirmed victory.
    Otto Rosenfeld #3rd confirmed victory.
    Paul Strahle #7th confirmed victory.
    Werner Voss #30th confirmed victory.
    Richard Wenzl u/c.

    Western Front


    Three German attacks in Champagne, all successful.

    Tunstills Men Saturday 26th May 1917:


    Boeschepe training area, near Watou

    A beautiful Summer day. Over the next week the Battalion was to be occupied in intensive training for the coming Messines attack, using trenches built to replicate the German defences in the area of Hill 60 and the Caterpillar with which the Battalion was already so familiar from their previous tours and which would be the objective of their assault on 7th June. In their training they were assisted also by a scale model, based on maps and aerial photographs, which had been constructed by Lt. Oakley of 8th Yorkshires. The meticulous nature of the planning for the attack has been highlighted as one of the key reasons for the success of the operation.

    Detailed orders for the attack to be made by 69th Brigade as part of the opening of the Battle of Messines had been first issued on 19th May and revised five days later. These orders would form the basis of the rehearsals and instruction which were to take place over the following two weeks. The need for secrecy was impressed in the opening of the orders which stated that, “Officers, NCO’s and men are strictly forbidden to enter into any conversation on the subject in public places or at any time excepted when required by duty”. The Division had been allocated the far left (north) of the British Second Army attack. The divisional assault was to be conducted by two brigades across a frontage of around 2,000 yards astride the railway line in the Hill 60 sector. 70th Brigade had the far left flank, attacking north-east of Hill 60 and was also charged with holding the defensive flank which would be created by the limit of the British advance. To their right (south) was the section of front allocated to 69th Brigade, from Windy Corner (I.35.a.0.2) to The Snout (I.29.d.3.7). They would be attacking across the German defences at Hill 60, the Caterpillar and on through Battle Wood toward, and ultimately beyond, the Ypres-Commines Canal. 10th Battalion were responsible for the far right sector of the Divisional front with 11th West Yorks and 8th Yorkshires to their left.

    The orders laid out the plans for a five-day preliminary bombardment, building on existing artillery barrages intended to destroy the German wire, and for the detonation of a series of mines along the German front line. Following the detonation of the mines there would be a ‘creeping barrage’, advancing successively from the German front line at specified intervals to support and shield the advancing infantry. The infantry assault was to commence fifteen seconds (the plan had originally specified two minutes) after the detonation of the mines, with the assault “to be carried through without halt as close up to the barrage as possible”. Prior to the detonation “all dugouts and subways will be evacuated and assaulting troops formed up lying down in front of their trenches”.

    The ultimate objective was to penetrate the German lines to a depth of around 1,400 yards, to what was known in the plan as the black line. This advance was to be conducted in two phases. In phase one the advance would be firstly to the red line (roughly the line of the German support trenches) and then, after only a short delay, straight on to the intermediate objective (the blue line). For 10th Battalion this was towards the southern edge of Battle Wood. At this point there was to be an extended pause in the assault of around three hours to allow for consolidation and reinforcement of the ground won and for fresh troops to pass through and carry the attack forward. There would then be a further advance to the black line, beyond the original German defences and located so as to give a commanding position over the plain to the east. In 10th Battalion’s case this black line lay beyond the southern edge of Battle Wood and across the Ypres-Commines Canal.
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    Plan of 69th Brigade positions and three lines of objectives.
    10DWR was designated 'A' Battalion

    The specific plan for 10DWR provided for the first wave of the attack to be carried out by ‘D’ Company on the left and by ‘A’ Company on the right advancing in extended order and to press on, without delay, through the red line objective and on to the blue line, where they were to halt and consolidate. Immediately behind this first wave was to be a second wave, of one platoon each from ‘C’ and ‘B’ Companies. Their task was to clear and consolidate the German support and reserve lines, leaving clear indications (by the use of coloured flags) as to which dugouts had been cleared of the enemy. Behind these ‘moppers up’ (as the second wave was designated) were two further waves, comprising the rest of ‘C’ and ‘B’ Companies who were to clear and consolidate the red and blue lines and also to ensure passage between the two lines through the communication trenches. The timing of the British barrage allowed for three minutes from zero hour before it would lift from the German front line; seventeen minutes later the barrage would lift from the red line and finally, at zero plus 45 minutes, the barrage would lift from the blue line, allowing the troops to advance to their final first phase objectives.

    There was a clear statement in the orders of the need to secure the first phase objectives before the final advance to the black line, to be carried out by fresh troops from 9th Yorkshires and 12th DLI, was attempted. Two key strongpoints were to be established as soon as possible in the old German support line; each of them manned by two machine guns and twenty riflemen. Battalion HQ would also be moved forward as soon as the blue line was secured. The planning for the transmission of ammunition, equipment and other essentials to the new positions was meticulous, down to an individual level. Troops in the fourth wave had the principal responsibility and in each platoon specific sections were to be responsible for the delivery of wire and stakes; sandbags; bombs (grenades); and small arms ammunition. Having deposited their initial loads these carrying parties were given strict instructions as for their return journeys:

    “Carrying parties on return journeys must bring back salvage or prisoners. If there are none of these, rifle and equipment from casualties nearby must be carried back. Parties must never return empty-handed. The NCO in charge of each section must keep his men closed up together.”

    These carrying parties were to wear distinctive yellow armlets to ensure their passage through the lines as:

    “No NCO or man is allowed to move back from the front (except wounded) unless he is wearing a distinctive armlet. Any men so found are likely to be arrested by Battle Police. … Wounded men must not be allowed to discard their arms and equipment unless their wounds are so severe as to render the men incapable of carrying them. Slight wounded walking cases who have disobeyed this order will be sent back by Battle Police to fetch their rifle and equipment.”

    The minutiae of these orders serves to confirm the meticulous nature of the planning.

    A similar level of detail was transmitted to the men with regard to the arrangements for the passage of information. The captured German positions were to be clearly marked with signboards indicating their new identification (‘blue line’, ‘red line’ etc). Large quantities of very lights for use in signalling were to be carried by all Companies and comprehensive instructions were given for the precise manner in which runners were to be used in the despatch of messages. All messages were to be issued in duplicate and carried by two runners, to be despatched fifty yards apart, carrying the messages in their top right hand pocket. Details were made clear as to exactly how the messages were then to be relayed back to Battalion HQ. A forward signals party was to advance with the fourth wave (the carrying parties) so as to “miss the enemy barrage but must not take any part in the fighting”. This party would then establish communications (by runner) from the front line back to Battalion HQ. There was also a stern reminder in the orders regarding any failure to press home the attack:

    “It must be impressed on all ranks that the word of command "RETIRE" does not exist. The enemy use it frequently as a ruse. It is only in very exceptional cases that men should be ordered to withdraw. In such cases the order will be "WITHDRAW". Anyone using the "RETIRE" will be treated as an enemy.”

    The prescribed ‘fighting kit’ for the men was to be steel helmet; haversack on back; water bottle filled; entrenching tool; waterproof sheet; one large tool on back of every other man in proportion of 5 shovels to 2 picks; tube helmet; box respirator; field dressing; two sandbags per man; two grenades, one in each top pocket of jacket, to be collected by section commanders on reaching objective and used to form a reserve; 120 rounds small arms ammunition; two flares every other man, one in each bottom pocket of jacket; one iron ration; one day’s preserved meat and biscuits”. It was also ordered that, “All Infantry Officers must be dressed and equipped the same as their men. Sticks are not to be carried”; clear lessons had been learned about the capacity of the Germans to identify and target officers during attacks.

    With time to reflect on recent events, a number of the colleagues of Pte. Arthur Gill (see 22nd May) who had been killed a few days earlier, wrote home to his family. Pte. William Boodle (see 22nd May) had been with him at the time and had himself been injured; "I am sorry to tell you that your son was killed on May 22nd, about 2-50 a.m. He had just got into a dugout to have a sleep after being on patrol all night, and he had not been in it an hour when the Germans opened a very heavy bombardment upon us. The first shell knocked the dugout in and buried five of us. We got out all right, but suddenly found that your boy was still under, being covered with the remains of the dugout. I at once started to dig him out, and after working for an hour succeeded. I then got him on to a stretcher and saw him out of shellfire, as I was for hospital myself. His last wish as we parted was that I should write to you. We have been chums ever since we came to the Battalion, and I shall miss him very much. I can quite understand your feelings at the sad news which this letter brings you, and if ever I have the good luck to get over again I will come and see you and explain how it happened, as I live in Leeds myself." Pte. John William Atkinson MM (see 22nd May) had been one of the stretcher bearers who had attended to Gill; “You will no doubt have heard about the death of your loving son Arthur, as I wrote to my wife and mother to let you know. Well, the Germans gave us a terrible bombardment on the 22nd inst. I am sorry to say Arthur was in a dug-out which they knocked in with a shell, and he was very badly wounded and died nearly right away. It is with deepest sympathy that I am writing this letter, but I thought it my duty to let you know as early as possible. He was very well respected by all, and I am sorry to say we have lost such a good soldier. He, however, died a hero doing his duty to the last. I hope our Heavenly Father will be a comforter to you in this awful hour of trial and trouble." 2Lt. Robert Oswald Milligan (see 6th November 1916) was Gill’s platoon officer; “You have probably by this time been informed officially of the extremely sad death in action of your son. Gill had been in my platoon from the time he joined this battalion and was always a favourite amongst his fellows. His cheery spirit made him popular wherever he went, and he was one of the men on whom I could always depend. Some months ago I chose him as my 'runner,' that is, my constant attendant in action, and it was his lot to be by my side during many a lonely watch and in many an exciting hour. He received his unfortunate wound whilst resting. Only a few hours before his death, during a very heavy bombardment, we both escaped miraculously from a shell which burst within six feet of us. And so, having my self realised his worth, I can in some small way realise how great is your loss. Please convey to his mother my deep sympathy, and be assured that I hope and pray that you all may have strength to bear your great loss, and to feel the pride of having sacrificed so much for the great cause." Sgt. Alfred Dolding (see 10th May) also wrote; “I am writing to let you know how sorry the lads and myself are at having lost your son Arthur. He was loved by everyone in the platoon, and he died doing his duty. He was always cheerful, and had a good word for everybody. He never once gave me an anxious moment, as his Platoon Sergeant. I can speak as I found him. I know it seems very hard for so young a boy to be cut off - but I believe he will receive a just reward for the good life he lived. I hope you will accept our deepest sympathy. Your, son was a good boy."

    Sgt. George Richard Goodchild (see 28th March) was appointed Orderly Room Clerk.

    Pte. John Killerby (see 5th May) again found himself on a charge, this time for being “improperly dressed on parade”; he was ordered to be confined to barracks for three days.

    Pte. Fred Heppinstall (see 21st April), who had only returned to duty a month earlier following treatment for scabies, was again admitted to hospital with the same complaint, this time via 50th Casualty Clearing Station, to 3rd Stationery Hospital at Hazebrouck.

    Cpl. John Stewart (see 16th May) who had spent the previous ten days at 71st Field Ambulance, suffering from ‘Pyrexia, NYD’ (high temperature, not yet diagnosed), was now discharged to duty.

    Pte. Thomas Wood joined the battalion; he was a 24 year-old packer from Bethnal Green and married with one daughter. He had been due to join some weeks earlier, having been posted to France in late March. However, on arrival in France he had reported sick, suffering from an inguinal hernia. He had been admitted to 4th General Hospital at Camiers for treatment and had then been posted to 34th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples where he had spent five weeks.

    After spending a week at 13th General Hospital at Boulogne being treated for shrapnel wounds, Pte. Walter Pedley (see 16th January) was evacuated to England onboard the Hospital Ship St. Denis; it is not clear to which hospital he was admitted once in England.

    Cpl. James Shackleton MM (see 17th March), who was in England having been seriously wounded in February, was married, at Ingrow Church, to Edith Davies.

    Pte. George Slater (see 29th July 1916), who had been back in England since being wounded on the Somme in July 1916, appeared before an army medical board. The board found him unfit for active service and ordered that he be transferred to the Army Reserve, Class P; this classification of the reserve had been introduced in October 1916 and applied to men “whose services were deemed to be temporarily of more value to the country in civil life rather than in the Army”.

    William Neville Dawson (see 10th February), who had been ordered to relinquish his commission following extended proceedings regarding his capacity to hold the post of Second Lieutenant, re-enlisted in the army at Barnard Castle, joining 16th (Transport Workers) Battalion York and Lancasters.

    Southern Front:

    Italians take and lose Kostanjevica, but capture 10 guns.

    Naval Operations:


    SMS V84, Kaiserliche Marine, a V25 class destroyer, struck a mine and sank in the North Sea with the loss of five of her crew.

    Shipping Losses: 20 (2 to mines & 18 to U-Boat action 5 alone to SM UC-20)


    HMHS Dover Castle, with six hundred thirty-two patients, is torpedoed fifty miles north from Bona. HMS Camelon comes to her aid and takes off the majority of the crew and the wounded. The Captain with a volunteer crew stays on board believing the ship might be saved but the U-Boat returns for a second attack and sinks the ship. HMHS Karapara takes two hundred seventy of her patients to Gibraltar. Seven crewmen are killed.

    Political:


    Mr. Balfour arrives in Canada.

    French Minister of Marine states Germans have sunk 2,400,000 tons in first four months.

    Brazil annuls its neutrality decree.

    Anniversary Events:

    17 Germanicus of Rome celebrates his victory over the Germans.
    1328 William of Ockham is forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII.
    1647 A new law bans Catholic priests from the colony of Massachusetts. The penalty is banishment or death for a second offense.
    1670 Charles II and Louis XIV sign a secret treaty in Dover, England, ending hostilities between England and France.
    1691 Jacob Leisler, leader of the popular uprising in support of William and Mary's succession to the throne, is executed for treason.
    1736 British and Chickasaw forces defeat the French at the Battle of Ackia.
    1831 The Russians defeat the Poles at the Battle of Ostroleka.
    1835 A resolution is passed in the U.S. Congress stating that Congress has no authority over state slavery laws.
    1864 The territory of Montana is organized.
    1865 The last Confederate army surrenders in Shreveport, Louisiana.
    1868 President Andrew Johnson is acquitted of all charges of impeachment.
    1896 The last czar of Russia, Nicholas II, is crowned.

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    See you on the Dark Side......

  4. #2454

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    Blimey Tunstill's men had a lot of column inches... think they have been saving it all up for you Neil - had next to nothing all week. Thanks for picking up the thread again whilst I go and explore the countryside

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  5. #2455

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    Yes looks like they are now in the thick of action. Let's see what tomorrow might bring.

    Quote Originally Posted by Hedeby View Post
    Blimey Tunstill's men had a lot of column inches... think they have been saving it all up for you Neil - had next to nothing all week. Thanks for picking up the thread again whilst I go and explore the countryside
    See you on the Dark Side......

  6. #2456

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    Thanks both of you. Interesting posts again! Enjoy your "exploration " Chris. Mike

  7. #2457

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    Sunday 27th May 1917
    Today we lost: 545

    Air Operations:


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 9


    2Lt Carey, A.S. (Allan Stewart), 45 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action. NFDK.

    2Lt Coates, S. (Sydney), 52 Squadron, RFC. Killed whilst flying aged 19.

    A Mech 2 Gibson, H.N.J. (Harry Norman John), 2 (N) Wing, 'F' Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II'. Accidentally Killed aged 19, in a bomb explosion at Marion airfield, Macedonia. Also Killed were AM1 L Oldman, AM1 F C Mitford and CPO Mech W H Woolhead.

    Capt McArthur, L.W. (Lawrence William), 45 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 26. NFDK.

    A Mech 1 Mitford, F.C. (Frederick C.), 'F' Squadron, No.2 (N) Wing, Mudros, Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II'. See above entry Gibson for details.

    2Lt O'Sullivan, J.A. (John Anthony), 1 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 21. NFDK.

    A Mech 1 Oldman, L. (Leslie), 'F' Squadron, No.2 (N) Wing, Mudros, Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II'. See above entry Gibson for details.

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    2Lt Tennant, H. (Henry), 52 Squadron, RFC. Killed while on artillery observation aged 19.
    Second Lieutenant Henry Tennant (Dragoons attached Royal Flying Corps)) is the son of the Right Honorable H J Tennant MP, Under Secretary for War and Mrs. Tennant, the Director of Women’s National Service.

    CPO2 Woollhead, W.H. (William Hugh), 'F' Squadron, No.2 (N) Wing, Mudros, Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II'. See above entry Gibson for details. Aged 23.

    Claims: 26 Confirmed (Entente 23 : Central Powers 3)

    Leonard Barlow #2nd & #3rd confirmed victories.
    James Belgrave #6th confirmed victory.
    William Bishop #21st confirmed victory.
    James Broadberry #5th confirmed victory.
    Alfred Carter #5th confirmed victory.
    Cyril Marconi Crowe #8th confirmed victory.
    Francis Cubbon #18th & #19th confirmed victories.
    James Glen #2nd confirmed victory.

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    Sous Lt Claude Marcel Haegelen claims his 1st confirmed victory with N3, shooting down an enemy aircraft near Nauroy. (French)

    Reginald Hoidge #8th confirmed victory.
    Victor Huston #6th confirmed victory.
    Phillip Johnston #2nd confirmed victory.
    Harold Kerby #7th confirmed victory.

    Capt Alexander Walker Merchant claims his 1st & 2nd confirmed victories with 48 Squadron. As an observer in a Bristol F2b, with pilot Lt Thomas Middleton, he shot down an Albatross DIII & a 2-seater south west of Douai. Alexander Walker Merchant joined the army in August 1915 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1917. He scored 8 victories as an observer with 48 Squadron before being wounded whilst flying with Keith Park on 24 July 1917.

    1901 residence was Islington, London.

    Thomas Middleton #4th & #5th confirmed victories.
    Jean Matton #6th confirmed victory. (French)
    Phillip Prothero #4th confirmed victory.
    Frederick Thayre #17th & #18th confirmed victories.


    Paul Aue u/c
    Albert Haussmann #4th confirmed victory.
    Max von Muller #13th confirmed victory.
    Kurt Schneider #14th confirmed victory.

    Offizierstellvertreter Erich Schütze claims his 1st confirmed victory with FA201 shooting down a Spad near Craonne.

    Western Front

    Small actions along Moronvilliers, Verdun and Alsace fronts.

    Tunstills Men Sunday 27th May 1917:


    Boeschepe training area, near Watou

    On another glorious day only the Church Parade was allowed to interrupt training, and even then training was resumed at the conclusion of the service.

    L.Cpl. James Henry Howarth (see 5th May) was confirmed and paid in his rank, having previously held it unpaid.

    Capt. Hugh William Lester MC (see 12th March), who had spent the previous few months away from the Battalion on attachment to both 69th Brigade and 23rd Division Headquarters, re-joined.

    Two former members of 10DWR, Ptes. John Cork and James Duncan Foster (see 11th May) joined 2DWR from 34th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples.

    Southern Front:

    Italians take S. Giovanni (Carso, third Austrian line), and cross River Timavo; lose and regain Hill 126, east of Gorizia. Austrians claim 13,000 prisoners.

    The Tenth Battle of Isonzo:

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    With nine largely unsuccessful Isonzo battles conducted within an eighteen-month period to date, Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna - responsible for launching all nine - became increasingly uncomfortable at the prospect of German intervention to aid their weakening Austro-Hungarian ally on the Italian Front.

    For while it was clear that the Austro-Hungarian Army was suffering in what had become a war of attrition, the same could be said of Cadorna's army. Casualties suffered to date were tremendous and with each renewed battle tended to be higher on the Italian attackers side.

    The UK’s's new Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, had long believed that the war could not be won on the Western Front alone. Dubbed an "easterner" at home Lloyd George was nevertheless in favour of diverting British and French resources from the Western Front to the Italians along the Soca (Isonzo), to "knock the props out" from under the Central Powers.

    However Lloyd George's own field commanders, including Commander in Chief Douglas Haig - along with the French - disagreed, arguing that resources could not be spared from the Western Front, particularly with French Commander-in-Chief Robert Nivelle's upcoming Aisne Offensive, aimed at ending the war in the west within 48 hours.

    Consequently, Nivelle dispatched Ferdinand Foch to meet with Cadorna and discuss their possible options. In the event the British and French agreed to rush aid to the Italians only in the event of an emergency - for example, large-scale German military assistance to the Austro-Hungarians; a contingency plan was thus developed to meet with such an eventuality.

    The agreed plan was duly invoked - too late - in late October 1917 in the wake of the Italians' disastrous performance at Caporetto in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo.

    With the contingency plan arranged the French pressed Cadorna to launch a major offensive of his own along the Soca (Isonzo) to generally co-ordinate with their own large-scale Aisne Offensive (deployed in April 1917). Cadorna agreed and the tenth Isonzo offensive was launched with a preliminary artillery bombardment on 10 May 1917.

    The offensive


    The Italians, deploying 38 divisions - against only 14 of the Austro-Hungarians - switched tactics once again. The previous three Isonzo battles had seen Cadorna concentrate short, sharp initiatives against closely defined targets, generally aimed at extending their sole bridgehead east of Gorizia. This time the Italians returned to the Kras Plateau south-east of Gorizia, setting in train an infantry advance along a 40 km front in order to achieve a breakthrough towards Trieste. The second aim of the offensive was to conquer Mount Skabrijel, thus opening the way to the Vipava Vallet.

    Initially success appeared likely. By the close of May the Italian Army had advanced to within 15 km of Trieste almost reaching the coastal town of Duino, although subsidiary attacks elsewhere failed. Nevertheless, a major Austro-Hungarian counter-offensive launched on 3 June reclaimed virtually all lost ground and by the time the battle was called off by Cadorna on 8 June little territory had been gained.

    Some fighting also took place in the northern sections of the front in the Julian Alps, where the Austro-Hungarians strengthened their positions along the Vrsic mountain ridge.

    Casualties continued to be high: 157,000 Italian losses were sustained, with a further 75,000 Austro-Hungarian casualties. With morale in the Italian army plunging Cadorna planned one further breakthrough attempt as he massed the greatest number of divisions and artillery yet along theSoca (Isonzo) river. Accordingly, the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo was initiated some two months later on 19 August 1917.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 9 (All to U-Boat action)


    Political:


    Germans threaten to sink at sight all hospital ships in Mediterranean.

    Announced that 600 German daily papers ceased publication since beginning of war.

    Anniversary Events:

    1564 John Calvin, one of the dominant figures of the Protestant Reformation, dies in Geneva.
    1647 Achsah Young becomes the first woman known to be executed as a witch in Massachusetts.
    1668 Three colonists are expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptists.
    1813 Americans capture Fort George, Canada.
    1907 The Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  8. #2458

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    Monday 28th May 1917

    Today we lost: 511

    Air Operations:


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 2


    2Lt Phalen, R.U. (Ralph Uriel), 60 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 20. NFDK.

    A Mech 2 Samuel, J. (John), RFC, aged 35. NFDK.

    Claims: 16 confirmed (Entente 11 : Central Powers 5)

    Charles Booker #14th confirmed victory.
    Phillip Fletcher Fullard #2nd confirmed victory.
    Albert Earl Godfrey #2nd confirmed victory.
    Claude Haegelen #2nd confirmed victory. (France)
    Leslie Mansbridge #3rd confirmed victory.
    Roderick McDonald #3rdconfirmed victory.
    Keith Muspratt #2nd confirmed victory.
    William Wright #4th confirmed victory.
    Luigi Olivi #5th confirmed victory. (Italy)
    Pier Piccio #3rd confirmed victory. (Italy)
    Phillip Prothero #5th confirmed victory.

    Karl Allmenroder #21st confirmed victory.
    Walter Blume #2nd confirmed victory.
    Josef Jacobs u/c.
    Otto Konnecke #3rd confirmed victory.
    Kurt Schneider #15th confirmed victory.
    Werner Voss #31st confirmed victory.

    Western Front


    German attacks near Hurtebise repulsed.

    Tunstills Men Monday 28th May 1917:


    Boeschepe training area, near Watou

    Another hot day as training continued.

    A draft of forty men joined the Battalion. Among this draft was Pte. John Oldfield Greenwood; he had attested in November 1915 but had not been called up until March 1917. He was 20 years old, from Skipton, and had been working as a “carriage washer” on the railways. Pte. Herbert Ridley (see 11th May) was re-joining the Battalion more than fourteen months after being wounded. Pte. John Edward Scott was a 20 year-old woolcomber from Shipley. He had married Ethel Gibbs in January 1915 and their son, Marshall, had been born six months later. Scott had attested in December 1915 and had been posted to France in September 1916, joining 8DWR. He had been posted back to England in Januaru 1917, suffering from broncho-pneumonia, and had spent a month at the Southern General Hospital in Bristol. Once recovered he had been posted to 3DWR at Tynemouth and had twice been reported absent without leave before departing for France. Pte. Elijah Sudworth (see 11th May) was re-joining the Battalion after a period in England following a bout of influenza. Pte. John William Sutcliffe was a 21 year-old mule spinner from Elland. He had attested in February 1916 and had been called up two months later. He had been posted to France to join 9DWR in September 1916 but had served only a month before being hospitalised due to ‘trench foot’. He had then been posted back to England in November and had only returned to France on 11th May, being originally destined to join 2DWR before being being re-directed to 10DWR. Pte. Jacob Sweeting (see 20th May) also re-joined the Battalion, which he had left having been wounded in action on 29th July 1916. Pte. Harry Willey was 20 years old and from Laisterdyke, Bradford. He had attested under the Derby Scheme in December 1915 and had been called up in April 1916. In August 1916 he had been posted to France to join 2DWR and had been wounded in October, suffering wounds to his back and right leg. He had remained in England until being posted back to France on 4th May.

    L.Cpl Albert Earnshaw (see 11th February) was promoted Corporal.

    Pte. Victor Alexander Wildman (see 5th April) again found himself on a charge; on this occasion he was found to have been “unshaven on 8am parade”. He was reported by Sgt. Smith (unidentified)and sentenced by Capt. Adrian O’Donnell Pereira (see 7th May).

    Pte. Samuel Wilson (see 9th April) re-joined the Battalion, having spent the previous seven weeks in hospital.

    In a letter home to his wife Brig. Genl. Lambert (see 21st May) told her,

    “I have just been told by General Babington (commanding 23rd Division) that they have given me the Legion of Honour! So I have to go over to be kissed by the French C-in-C in a day or two I expect! Perhaps it is quaint that my only honour should be a French one! I know you will be pleased.”

    Pte. Harold Dale (see 15th May) was transferred from no.10 Convalescent Depot at Ecault back to no.34 Infantry Base Depot at Etaples.

    After spending five days at 32nd Stationery Hospital at Wimereux, having been wounded in action, Ptes. Fred Morrell and William Postill Taylor (see 22nd May) were evacuated to England onboard the Hospital Ship St. Andrew; on arrival in England they would be transferred to hospital in Bradford.

    Sgt. Norman Roberts MM (see 6th April) was commissioned Temporary Second Lieutenant with the Machine Gun Corps; it has not yet been established exactly when he had left 10DWR.

    Southern Front:

    Italian guns within 10 miles of Trieste.

    In Plava sector Italians drive enemy to end of Globna valley. Claim nearly 24,000 prisoners in last fortnight.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 11 (All to U-Boat action)


    The steam ship Antinoe (Master A De Rouffignae) is torpedoed and sunk 150 miles west southwest from Bishop Rock with a loss of 21 including the Master.

    Political:


    Mr. Balfour's remarkable reception at Toronto University.

    French Socialists decide to attend Stockholm Conference.

    MM. Ribot, Cambon, Painleve, and General Foch's agreement with War Cabinet in London

    Anniversary Events:

    585 BC A solar eclipse interrupts a battle outside Sardis in western Turkey between Medes and Lydians. The battle ends in a draw.
    1805 Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned in Milan, Italy.
    1830 Congress authorizes Indian removal from all states to the western Prairie.
    1863 The 54th Massachusetts, a regiment of African-American recruits, leaves Boston, headed for Hilton Head, South Carolina.
    1859 The French army launches a flanking attack on the Austrian army in Northern France.
    1871 The Paris commune is suppressed by troops from Versailles.
    1900 Britain annexes the Orange Free State in South Africa.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  9. #2459

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    Tuesday 29th May 1917

    Today we lost: 508

    Air Operations:


    The first British air sea rescue occurs when two seaplane crew are rescued from North Sea in flying boat. Flight Lieutenant James Lindsay Gordon, Flight Sub Lieutenant George Ritchie Hodgson, Leading Mechanic Sydney Francis Anderson and Wireless Telegraphist Bertram Harley Millichamp (Royal Flying Corps) rescue two men from an upturned float in the North Sea.

    The residents of Hythe stone the air mechanics stationed outside the town because of a German air raid on the town.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 6

    Lt ****, G.M. (George MacDonald), 5 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 20. NFDK.

    A Mech 2 Freeman, D. (David), RFC, aged 37. NFDK.

    2Lt Glynn, B.J. (Bernard James), 34 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 20. NFDK.

    2Lt Murray, J.L. (Joseph Leonard), 5 Squadron, RFC. Missing – Killed in action. NFDK.

    A Mech 3 Rankin, C., Southern Aircraft Repair Depot, RFC. NFDK.

    2Lt Smith, J.R., 18 Squadron, RFC. NFDK.

    Claims: 5 confirmed (Entente 2 : Central Powers 3)

    George Kemp #8th confirmed victory.
    Henri Hay de Slade #2nd confirmed victory. (France)

    Karl Allmenroder #22nd confirmed victory.

    Vizefeldwebel Hans Bowski claims his 1st confirmed victory with JAsta 14, shooting down a Spad near Filain. As a member of Jasta 14, Bowski was officially credited with 5 victories before he was wounded in action on 3 September 1917.

    Lt Alfred Lindenberger claims his 1st confirmed victory with FA 234 shooting down a Spad near Cerny. During World War II, Lindenberger served with the Luftwaffe and scored 4 victories during 1944.

    Western Front

    Near St. Quentin and in Champagne heavy artillery and small patrol actions.

    Tunstills Men Tuesday 29th May 1917:


    Boeschepe training area, near Watou


    The weather was somewhat cloudier but still fine and warm as training continued with the whole Brigade practising a trench attack.

    Brigade orders were issued dealing with the provision of water during the forthcoming offensive. All were reminded that, “The urgency for salvaging water tins and returning them to the nearest water point must be impressed on all ranks. In addition to the present supply each battalion will be issued with 100 petrol tins which will be stored at Battalion Headquarters for consumption on three days preceding Z day (Z day being the day of the attack). They must, however, be filled on the night of Y/Z and be carried forward, filled, to the objective of the unit”.

    Specific orders were also in hand dealing with the clearing of the battlefield and the disposal of the dead. These duties for the whole of 69th Brigade were entrusted to 2Lt. Andrew Aaron Jackson (see 23rd May) of 10DWR. He would have charge of 2 NCO’s and 28 men and he and his men were to “on receipt of orders, report at the time and place then mentioned, for duty”.

    Ptes. Arthur Lund (see 11th January), Willie Nichols (see 11th January) and Luther Pickles (see 16th January) were all promoted (unpaid) Lance Corporal.

    Pte. Jacob Carradice Green (see 23rd May), who had been wounded nine days previously, and had undergone an operation died from his wounds and from septicaemia at no.3 Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne. In a letter to his mother, Major A.L. Burch, chaplain, stated, "I exceedingly regret to have to write that your son died here today at 6 o'clock. He will be buried with military honours on the 31st in the military cemetery at Boulogne."

    CSM William Jones MM (see 10th March), having completed his officer training, was granted a commission as Temporary Second Lieutenant and posted to 3rd Battalion, Border Regiment

    Southern Front:

    Italians win trenches near Medeazza (southern Carso).

    Austrian attacks on Vodice fail.

    Naval Operations:

    Russian naval raid on Anatolian Coast.

    Shipping Losses: 12 (All to U-Boat action: 3 alone to SM UC-69 and 3 to SM UC-28)


    French liner "Yarra" torpedoed in Mediterranean: 56 lost.

    H.M.S. "Hilary" sunk, 4 lost.

    Political:


    Mr. A. Henderson goes to Russia on special Mission.

    Mr. Balfour addresses Canadian Parliament in French and English.

    Anniversary Events:

    1453 Constantinople falls to Muhammad II, ending the Byzantine Empire.
    1660 Charles II is restored to the English throne, succeeding the short-lived Commonwealth.
    1721 South Carolina is formally incorporated as a royal colony of England.
    1790 Rhode Island becomes the last of the original thirteen colonies to ratify the Constitution.
    1848 Wisconsin becomes the thirtieth state.
    1849 A patent for lifting vessels is granted to Abraham Lincoln.
    1862 Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard retreats to Tupelo, Mississippi.
    1911 The Indianapolis 500 is run for the first time.
    1913 The premier of the ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) in Paris causes rioting in the theater.
    1916 U.S. forces invade the Dominican Republic.

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    See you on the Dark Side......

  10. #2460

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    Thanks for the last three posts Neil. Mike

  11. #2461

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    Wednesday 30th May 1917

    Today we lost: 381

    Air Operations:


    Thirteen pilots of 46th Squadron perform eighty-seven hours of flying on this day alone. Though no members of the Squadron are lost this day.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 6


    2Lt Carlton, R.S. (Roy Septimus), RFC. AccidentallyDrowned in a boating accident at Weybridge, whilst off duty on the evening, aged 22. He was boating with a fellow officer, Lieut Hunter R.F.C. when they had an accident.

    2Lt Charlesworth, A.T.B. (Alick Thomas Bentall), 44 Reserve Squadron, RFC. Died of accidental injuries aged 24, received that day, whilst flying.

    2Lt Ezard, H.H. (Herbert Henry), 24 Reserve Squadron, RFC. Killed whilst flying aged 25.

    Cadet Fraser, A.W. (Allan Watson), 83 Reserve Squadron (Canada), RFC. Accidently killed whilst flying aged 19.

    2Lt Morgan, J.A. (Joseph Anthony), 1 Squadron, AFC. Killed in Action when shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Gaza on Artillery observation duty aged 19.

    Lt Stones, G.C. (Gerald Cunliffe), 1 Squadron, AFC. Downed by anti-aircraft fire over Gaza while on artillery observation duty.

    Claims: 1 confirmed (Entente 1 : Central Powers 0)

    Lt Julien Anatole Guertiau claims his 3rd confirmed victory with C43. Guertiau joined the army in 1907. When war broke out, he was recalled to serve with 7e Regiment de Hussards before transferring to aviation on 4 November 1915. He received his Pilot's Brevet on 20 March 1916 and was assigned to Escadrille C43 on 23 June 1916. Having scored 4 victories as a two-seater pilot, he received additional training on fighters and joined Spa97 on 6 December 1917. The following year, he assumed command of this unit, scoring 4 more victories by the end of the war. In 1921, Guertiau served in Indochina.

    Western Front


    Stubborn fighting on Moronvilliers massif.

    Tunstills Men Wednesday 30th May 1917:


    Boeschepe training area, near Watou

    Training continued.

    Pte. Harold Clarkson (see 22nd February) was reported ‘killed in action’. The circumstances of his death are unclear. In a letter to Clarkson’s mother 2Lt. Charles George Edward White (see 9th May) told her that, “Your son was killed at 8am this morning, May 30th, by the concussion of a shell. I cannot speak too highly of him. He always did his duty without a murmur and took everything as it came”. The most likely explanation, especially given that Clarkson was buried close to the front line at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, seems to be that he was killed whilst on a working party in the front line.

    2Lt. Frank Wilkinson (see 22nd April) who had been with the Battalion for six weeks, left, having reported sick; I am, as yet unable to make a positive identification of this officer.

    2Lt. Harry Widdup (see 1st May), who had been in England since being taken ill in December 1916, was formally transferred from 9DWR to 3DWR, having been declared fit only for sedentary employment.

    An official at the War Office replied to the recent letter from Mrs. Marion Atkinson, mother of Capt. John Atkinson (see 15th May), who had been declared unfit for further service overseas as a result of trench fever. Mrs. Atkinson had requested a gratuity for her son, but she was informed that, “wound gratuities are not issuable in respect of sickness contracted on active service”.

    Payments were authorised to the families of the two men who had been killed in action on 20th February. A payment of Ł3 9s 3d was authorised, being an amount found to be still outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Herbert Bayfield (see 20th February); the payment would go to his widow, Alice. The payment in respect of Pte. Robert Cheshire (see 20th February) amounted to Ł4 19s 5d and would be divided in four equal shares between three of his brothers and a married sister.

    Southern Front:

    Austrians reported asking for German aid for Trieste.

    Africa, Asiatic & Egyptian Theatres:

    East Africa: General van Deventer succeeds General Hoskins in command of British forces in East Africa (see January 20th).

    East Africa: German forces break south from Rufiji towards Portuguese territory.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 7 (3 to mines & 4 to U-Boat action)


    Political:


    Soviet announces International Conference at Stockholm.

    Austrian Reichsrat meets for first time since war broke out.

    Anniversary Events:

    1416 Jerome of Prague is burned as a heretic by the Church.
    1431 Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by the English.
    1527 The University of Marburg is founded in Germany.
    1539 Hernando de Soto lands in Florida with 600 soldiers in search of gold.
    1783 The first American daily newspaper, The Pennsylvania Evening Post, begins publishing in Philadelphia.
    1814 The First Treaty of Paris is declared, returning France to its 1792 borders.
    1848 William Young patents the ice cream freezer.
    1854 TheKansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compromise.
    1859 The Piedmontese army crosses the Sesia River and defeats the Austrians at Palestro.
    1862 Union General Henry Halleck enters Corinth Mississippi.
    1868 Memorial Day begins when two women place flowers on both Confederate and Union graves.
    1889 The brassiere is invented.
    1912 U.S. Marines are sent to Nicaragua to protect American interests.
    1913 The First Balkan War ends.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  12. #2462

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    Thursday 31st May 1917

    Today we lost: 456

    Air Operations:


    442 German to 271 Allied aeroplanes brought down in May.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 5


    AC2 Ellingworth, C. (Charles), Tresco Naval Air Station, St Mary's, Scilly Isles, Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II', aged 20. NFDK

    2Lt Hughes, R.B. (Ronald Baskerville), 45 Reserve Squadron, RFC. Accidentally Killed while flying at South Carlton aged 18.

    Lt Inchbold, G. (Gerald), 55 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 25. NFDK.

    Capt Perkins, T. (Thorold), 41 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 31. NFDK.

    2Lt Sleeman, W.F. (William Fraser), 55 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 21. NFDK.

    Claims: 14 confirmed (Entente 9 : Central Powers 5)

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    Capt Fred Everest Banbury claims his 1st confirmed victory with (N) Squadron, RNAS. Flying a Sopwith Pup he shot down a C type near Ostend. The only son of Robert Samuel and Susannah Beatrice (March) Banbury, Fred Everest Banbury attended high school in Wolseley and then went to Victoria College (1911-1912) and University College (1912-1914). He enrolled in the Atlantic Coast Aeronautic School at Newport News, Virginia in March 1916 and received pilot's certificate Am. 507 on a Curtiss biplane. In July 1916, he arrived in England and enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service. After additional training he was posted to France with Naval 9 in March 1917. He scored his first two victories flying the Sopwith Pup and scored nine more flying the Sopwith Camel. Killed in a flying accident on 1 April 1918, Banbury was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

    William Bishop #22nd confirmed victory.
    George Blaiklock #3rd confirmed victory.

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    Lt William Charles Cambray claims his 1st confirmed victory with 20 SquadronAs an observer in a FE2d, flown by Pilot Lt Donald Cunnell, he shot down an Albatros DIII near Comines. The son of William Charles and Caroline Cambray, William Charles Cambray scored six victories with 20 Squadron in 1917.

    Douglas Cunnell #3rd confirmed victory.
    George Kemp #9th & #10th confirmed victories.
    Harold Stack #2nd confirmed victory.
    Yevgraph Kruten #5th confirmed victory. (Russia)

    Gottfried von Banfield #9th confirmed victory.
    Leopold Anslinger #8th confirmed victory.
    Friedrich-Karl Burckhardt #4th confirmed victory.

    Vizefeldwebel Max Kahlow claims his 1st confirmed victory with FA 42, shooting down a Nieuport near Elipicesti.

    Josef Veltjens #4th confirmed victory.

    Western Front


    Artillery action in Ypres and Wytschaete salients.

    Violent German attacks on Moronvilliers massif fail.

    Tunstills Men Thursday 31st May 1917:

    Boeschepe training area, near Watou

    Training continued on another hot day.

    Capt. **** Bolton (see 21st May) re-joined the Battalion following ten days’ leave in England. However, given that he had not been involved in the extensive preparations and planning for the coming attack, active command of ‘A’ Company remained with 2Lt. Bob Perks, DSO (see 21st May).

    After spending a week at 23rd Divisional Rest Station at Remy, being treated for ‘myalgia’, Pte. John Blackburn (see 23rd May) re-joined the battalion on light duties.

    Pte. Jacob Carradice Green (see 29th May), who had been wounded on 20th May and had died on 29th was buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

    10DWR’s casualties were recorded as:

    Killed 14

    Accidentally killed 0

    Died of wounds 2

    Wounded 30

    Accidentally wounded 1

    Missing 0

    The official cumulative casualty figures for the Battalion since arriving in France were now:

    Killed 172

    Accidentally killed 4

    Died of wounds 9

    Wounded 809

    Accidentally wounded 51

    Missing 116

    Lt. Paul James Sainsbury (see 18th May) appeared before a further Medical Board. The Board confirmed his fitness for light duty, but found him still unfit for normal home service for a further month and for general service for at least three months.

    A payment of Ł10 10s 7d was authorised, being an amount found to be still outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Clifford George Unwin (see 13th April); the payment would be divided equally between his married sister, Blanche McEnnerney, and Miss Ivy Brayshaw, who may have been his ‘sweetheart’. A payment was also authorised to the family of Pte. Fred Greenwood (see 15th February); the payment of Ł2 6s 2d would go to his father, William.

    Southern Front:

    Austrian counter-attack in Vodice sector repulsed.

    Venizelist forces in Macedonia now amount to nearly 2,000 officers and 60,000 men.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 8 (1 to a mine & 7 to U-Boat action)


    Political:


    Emperor Charles promises a more liberal Constitution after the war.

    Meat Sale Order in Great Britain published.

    Anniversary Events:
    1433 Sigismund is crowned emperor of Rome.
    1678 The Godiva procession, commemorating Lady Godiva's legendary ride while naked, becomes part of the Coventry Fair.
    1862 At the Battle of Fair Oaks, Union General George B. McClellan defeats Confederates outside of Richmond.
    1879 New York's Madison Square Garden opens its doors for the first time.
    1889 Johnstown, Pennsylvania is destroyed by a massive flood.
    1900 U.S. troops arrive in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.
    1902 The Boer War ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging.
    1909 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) holds its first conference.
    1913 The 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for direct election of senators, is ratified.
    1915 A German zeppelin makes an air raid on London.
    1916 British and German fleets fight in the Battle of Jutland.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  13. #2463

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    Friday 1st June 1917

    Today we lost: 433

    Air Operations:


    The RFC changes its reporting nomenclature from HA for Hostile Aircraft to EA for Enemy Aircraft.


    Zeebrugge, Ostend and Bruges heavily bombed by R.N.A.S.

    An attack prior to the Battle of Messines Ridge on a British supply train by German aircraft disrupts the supply of British ammunition, forcing British artillery to cease firing after three hours.


    The main bombardment began on 31 May, with only one day of poor weather before the attack. Two flights of each observation squadron concentrated on counter-battery observation and one became a "bombardment flight", working with particular artillery '"bombardment groups" for wire-cutting and trench-destruction; these flights became "contact-patrol flights" intended to observe the positions of British troops once the assault began. The attack barrage was rehearsed on 3 June to allow British air observers to plot masked German batteries, which mainly remained hidden but many minor flaws in the British barrage were reported. A repeat performance on 5 June induced a larger number of hidden German batteries to reveal themselves.


    On 1 June, the British bombardment became more intense and nearly every German defensive position on the forward slope was obliterated. The Luftstreitkrafte (German air service) effort reached its maximum from 4–5 June, when German aircraft observed 74 counter-battery shoots and wireless interception by the British showed 62 German aircraft, escorted by up to seven fighters each, directing artillery fire against the Second Army. British air observation on the reverse slope was less effective than in the foreground but
    Mesen and Wijtschate villages were demolished, as were much of the Höhen and Sehnen lines, although many pill boxes survived. Long-range fire on Comines, Warneton, Wervicq and villages, road junctions, railways and bridges caused much damage and a number of ammunition dumps were destroyed.

    The Lafayette Escadrille gets Nieuport 29C-1s this month.


    The NiD.29 was an equal-span biplane with ailerons on both upper and lower wings. It had a fixed tailskid landing gear, a nose-mounted engine and a single open cockpit for the pilot. The prototype NiD 29 first flew on the 21 August 1918 powered by a Hispano-Suiza 8Fb engine piston engine, it performed well in test but could not achieve the required ceiling. The second prototype was modified with an increased wingspan and on achieving the required ceiling it was ordered into production in 1920, becoming the fastest service fighter in the world at that time. Production aircraft did not have ailerons on the upper wing and the lower wing ailerons were increased in size.

    The first deliveries were made in 1922 to the French Air Force and the type was popular although it did have a tendency to enter a flat spin. The French military bought 250 aircraft which were built by Nieuport and seven other companies. The Ni-D 29 was to become an important fighter in the 1920s with purchases of 30 by Spain (including 10 Spanish licence built aircraft), 108 by Belgium (87 licensed built by SABCA)). The Italian Regia Aeronautica bought 175 aircraft including 95 built by Macchi as the Macchi-Nieuport 29 and 80 built by Caproni. Sweden bought nine aircraft and designated them J2. The Japanese company Nakajima bought a pattern aircraft and built 608 for the Imperial Japanese Army as the Ko-4.

    Racing versions of the aircraft were developed and they gained eight world speed records and won the 1920 Gordon Bennett Trophy and the 1922 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe competition.

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    General characteristics

    • Crew: 1
    • Length: 6.49 m (21 ft 3˝ in)
    • Wingspan: 9.70 m (31 ft 10 in)
    • Height: 2.56 m (8 ft 4ľ in)
    • Wing area: 26.70 m2 (287.41 ft2)
    • Empty weight: 760 kg (1,675 lb)
    • Gross weight: 1,150 kg (2,535 lb)
    • Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza 8Fb V-8 piston engine, 224 kW (300 hp)

    Performance

    • Maximum speed: 235 km/h (146 mph)
    • Range: 580 km (360 miles)
    • Service ceiling: 8,500 m (27,885 ft)
    • Rate of climb: 6.06 m/s (1194.26 ft/min)

    Armament

    • 2 × fixed forward-firing 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine guns

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    Birdseye B. Lewis and Chance M. Vought found the Lewis & Vought Corporation, which later will become the Chance Vought Corporation.

    U.S. Army Colonel Raynal Bolling leads a Bolling Mission to Europe to examine the practicality of constructing British and French fighters in the United States. It leads to the establishment of the Engineering Division of the U.S. Department of War '​s Bureau of Aircraft Production to test its recommendations and to the manufacturing of the Airco DH-9 bomber and Bristol F-2B fighter in the United States.

    Four German Jagdstaffeln are combined to form Jagdgeschwader 1 under the command of Baron Manfred von Richthofen. Von Richthofen's 'circus' brought together many of Germany's finest fighter pilots and forced the Allies to concentrate their best squadrons opposite whichever sector the Jagdgeschwader occupied.

    The German Army Airship Service is abolished. All their surviving Zeppelins are broken up or transferred to the Navy for operations over the Baltic.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 13


    Cpl Clark, A. (Alfred), Recruits Depot, Farnborough, RFC. Died of injuries received while flying aged 29.

    2Lt Clarke, N.F. (Nathaniel Fuhrmann), 13 Training Squadron, RFC. Killed whilst flying (crashed) aged 32.

    A Mech 1 Foyard, W. 13 Training Squadron, RFC. Killed whilst flying (crashed) aged 33.

    A Mech 2 Holt, A.J. (Albert James), 12 Squadron attached 35th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, RFC, aged 20. NFDK.

    Lt Martinson, K.L. (Karl Ludwig), RFC. Died of wounds aged 20. NFDK.

    Lt McKissock, W.E. (Wilfred Earl), 16 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action aged 26, Shot Down by Enemy Aircraft in aerial combat.

    Lt Nixon, A.W.L. (Arthur William Lennox), 16 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action. NFDK.

    2Lt O'Longan, P.C.S. (Paul Charles Stacpoole), 41 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action. According to a German message he fought to the last and when only 200m from the ground, turned his machine gun upon the aircraft attacking him.

    A Mech 2 Ponting, D. (Daniel), RFC. Died a POW aged 30.

    Lt Rowe, B.F. (Benjamin Franklin), 2 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 1 June 1917. Machine hit by anti-aircraft fire, whilst taking Photographs on German side of the lines. Aircraft seen to crash near Lens. Pilot was Killed and Observer wounded in left leg.

    A Mech 2 Shephard, A.L. (Arthur L.), Royal Navy Air Station Thassos, RNAS. NFDK.

    A Mech 2 Stuckey, R.W. (Rupert Wyatt), 6 Squadron, RFC. Died of wounds aged 19. NFDK.

    A Mech 1 Tucker, L.E. (Lennard E.), attached 144th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, RFC. NFDK.

    Claims: 15 confirmed (Entente 11 : Central Powers 4)

    Fred Everest Banbury #2nd confirmed victory.
    Raymond Collishaw #9th confirmed victory.
    Albert Earl Godfrey #3rd confirmed victory.
    George Kemp #11th & #12th confirmed victory.

    Lt Archibald William Buchanan Miller claims his 1st confirmed victory with 29 Squadron, RFC. Flying a Nieuport 17 he shot down an Albatros DIII near Brebieres. The son of Rev. Thomas Duncan Miller, M.A., and Margaret Julia (Grant) Miller of Inveraven, Bridgen, Perth, Archibald William Buchanan Miller served with the 1st Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers before joining the Royal Flying Corps. He was killed in action when his Nieuport Scout was shot down by Hans von Adam of Jasta 6.

    Listed in the 1901 Scotland Census; 1901 residence was Kirkurd, Peeblesshire.

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    2Lt Gordon Percy Olley claims his 1st confirmed victory with 1 Squadron, RFC. Flying a Nieuport 17 he shot down a C type near Messines. Gordon Percy Olley joined the Queen Victoria Rifles, served with the Royal Fusiliers and then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (service number 6313). After serving as a dispatch rider, he became an observer with 1 Squadron. After pilot training, he rejoined the squadron to fly Nieuport scouts in 1917. His Military Medal was gazetted 17 September 1917 and on 28 January 1918 Serjeant Olley was promoted to temporary 2nd Lieutenant. Toward the end of the year, he returned to England, serving as a ferry pilot. Post-war, Olley became a commercial airline pilot, wrote a book entitled "A Million Miles in the Air," and founded Olley Air Services in 1934.

    Pier Piccio #4th confirmed victory. (Italy)

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    Fl S-Lt Ellis Vair Reid claims his 1st confirmed victory with 10 (N) Squadron, RNAS. Flying a Sopwith Triplane he shot down an Albatros C type west of Wervicq. The son of Albert Nelson and Agnes E. Reid, Ellis Vair Reid graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in architecture and was employed by Burke, Horwood & White. He left Toronto in January 1916 and joined the Royal Naval Air Service in England. Flight Sub-Lieutenant Reid received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 3817 on an Avro biplane at Royal Naval Air Station, Redcar on 6 July 1916. After training he was posted to No. 3 Wing near Nancy in July 1916. In early 1917, when the unit was disabanded due to heavy losses, Reid was reassigned to 10 Naval Squadron. With this squadron he scored 19 victories flying the Sopwith Triplane in the summer of 1917. During that time he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and recommended for the Distinguished Service Order. Missing in action on 28 July 1917, Reid was later reported killed in action.

    Maurice Douglas Guest Scott #5th confirmed victory.
    Oliver Manners Sutton #4th confirmed victory.


    Hans Bethge #7th confirmed victory.
    Otto Brauneck #8th confirmed victory.

    O-Lt Theodor Hermann Dahlmann claims his 1st confirmed victory with Jasta 29 shooting down a balloon near Prosnes.

    Augustin Novak u/c.
    Joseph Veltjens #5th confirmed victory.

    Western Front


    With the failure of the French Nivelle offensive, the British launch attacks on the Flanders Front, hoping to drive the Germans from the Belgian coast. The initial objective is Messine Ridge


    Continued artillery duel in Wytschaete salient.


    Germans attack near Laffaux Hill (Chemin des Dames) gains some ground.


    During "Spring offensive", Allies have captured 52,000 Germans (including 1,000 officers), 446 guns, and 1,000 m.g.'s.


    Since beginning of war, British have taken 76,067 prisoners on the Western Front.


    Tunstills Men Friday 1st June 1917:


    Boeschepe training area, near Watou

    Training continued

    At 8am on another fine, warm day the Battalion departed on a six-mile march to a new camp at Scottish Lines in the Boeschepe area where two nights were to be spent. After arriving at Scottish Lines Pte. Thomas Thompson (see 4th October 1916) was presented with the ribbon of the Medaille Militaire, which he had been awarded following the actions at Le Sars, by the Divisional Commander, Major General Sir J.M. Babington KCMG. There was to have been a Yukon Pack competition between 10DWR and 11th West Yorks, but this was cancelled due to the move. The Yukon Packs would be much used in the forthcoming offensive. Both the medal ceremony and the cancelled Yukon Pack competition were referred to in a letter home to his wife Brig. Genl. Lambert (see 28th May). He also gave her a hint as to the coming return to action. He told her, “The medal presentation by the French C-in-C, General Petain, did not come off yesterday, so General Babington presented them today after we had moved. He made a very nice little speech about Barker (CO of 11th West Yorks.) and myself and we had an audience of two of the battalions. The other two were too far off to bring in. It has been another very hot and dusty day but I fear we shall be getting a thunderstorm or a change to wet soon. We are in for a strenuous time again after our rest and I am glad to get the medal before we go in … Intended to have a great competition for carrying loads today but had to postpone it til tomorrow. I had arranged for 18 per battalion to carry stores in ‘Yukon Packs’ which are not unlike the things the Swiss carry loads etc. in. Each man has to carry nearly 100 lbs and marks are given for quickness in loading and unloading as well as for marching.”

    (I am greatly indebted to Juliet Lambert for her generosity in allowing me access to Brig. Genl. Lambert’s diary and letters).

    Just three days after his first promotion, L.Cpl. Willie Nichols (see 29th May) was now promoted Corporal.

    Ptes. Fred Sutcliffe (see 17th October 1916) and Harold Precious (see 25th May) were reported by L.Cpl. Robert Holdsworth (see below) and Cpl. Ronald Jeckell (see 29th January) respectively as having been, “improperly dressed on parade”; on the orders of Capt. James Christopher Bull (see 25th May) both would be confined to barracks for two days.

    Robert Holdsworth was an original member of the battalion and had been promoted Lance Corporal during training in 1914-15; other than that, I am, as yet, unable to confirm a positive identification for this man.

    Pte. Leonard Briggs (see 22nd May) re-joined the battalion; he had spent the previous ten days at 71st Field Ambulance, being treated for ‘myalgia’.

    2Lt. Bob Perks, DSO (see 31st May) rode around eight miles to meet his former fellow 10DWR officer Lt. Leslie Guy Stewart BollandMC(see 16th July) who was now serving with a Battalion of the Manchester Regiment.

    Trooper Claude Darwin (see 24th May), serving in Egypt with 1st Field Squadron, Engineers, Anzac Mounted Division, was sent to 54th Casualty Clearing Station, having been diagnosed as suffering from tonsillitis. He had been at a rest camp near Alexandria where he had been recuperating following treatment to a minor injury to his right hand. He was the brother of Tunstill recruit, Pte. Tom Darwin (see 24th May), who had recently re-joined 10DWR.

    The weekly edition of the Craven Herald carried a report on the death of Pte. Edward Fawcett of the Northumberland Fusiliers, which confirmed that news of Fawcett’s death had been passed to his family in a letter from Sgt. Allan Wharton (see 3rd November 1916), who was now serving with the same Battalion. It has not been established when Wharton had been transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers, although it would appear to have taken place once he was recovered from wounds suffered on the Somme in July 1916.

    ANOTHER GARGRAVE SOLDIER KILLED

    As briefly announced in our last issue, Pte. Edward Fawcett, of the Machine Gun Section of the Northumberland Fusiliers, met with his death instantly in action on April 28th last, aged 28 years. His parents have not as yet had any official intimation the event, but an Earby youth named Allan Wharton, who formerly lived in Gargrave, sent the news to his mother, who has passed it on here. Wharton is in the same regiment as deceased. Prior to enlisting at Keighley on May 6th, 1916, Pte. Fawcett was manager of Messrs. Fred Green and Son's warehouse at Clapham, and was a member of the Gargrave Mechanics' Institute and of the local Oddfellows' Friendly Society. Rev. A. C. Blunt, vicar, feelingly referred to his sad death at the evening service on Sunday last at the Parish Church, and the congregation stood while Mr. E. Burlend (organist) played the 'Dead March.'

    There was also news of another of Tunstill’s original Company, Pte. Johnny Smith (see 22nd April):

    IN A TORPEDO ATTACK

    Mr. and Mrs. F. Smith, have received word from their son, Private Johnny Smith, who was on the transport torpedoed on Sunday April 15th. He writes, “You will be glad to know I was one of the lucky ones amongst the saved from the big boat (SS Cameronia, sank 150 miles east of Malta) torpedoed on Sunday night, April 15th, at half past five. There were over 3,000 on board and I cannot tell you how many were saved, but thank God I am. I have been in bayonet charges, but they were nothing compared with the sight I saw when the boat was going down and I don’t want to see another. I am now safe and sound at Malta. We were 18 hours sailing after we were torpedoed and I’ve never had such a long 18 hours in all my life”.

    In a further letter he adds, “They did not give us long at Malta to get over our shock, but never mind, we are now safe in Egypt. It only took us about 70 hours, but I can tell you they seemed like 70 days to me. There is nothing to grumble at here; it is very hot and dusty, but I think I can stand that all right. We are here for equipment, then I expect we shall go forward to Mesopotamia”.

    There were also reports on the deaths of Sgt. Jack Hudson (see 25th May) and Pte. Arthur Gill (see 26th May).

    ANOTHER BRADLEY SOLDIER KILLED – ONE OF THE FIVE

    News was received on Wednesday morning by Mrs. Hudson, of Pear Tree Terrace, that her youngest son, Sergeant John Hudson, of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, was killed in action on May 22nd.

    Sergeant Hudson was one of the five Bradley lads who enlisted at the commencement of the war, and went to France in July 1915. He was wounded in the hip and shoulder on December 19th the same year. In July 1916, he was wounded in the arm and was in hospital eight weeks. He had just got back into the fighting line when he had his equipment blown away without any injury to himself, and had to take the clothes off a dead gunner. He was mentioned in despatches in July and October 1916, and again in April this year. He was 22 years of age and an old scholar of the Primitive Methodist Sunday School. Prior to enlistment he was employed by Mr. T. Chapman, builder, Skipton. The deepest sympathy is felt for Mrs. Hudson and family. The following letter was received by Mrs. Hudson from Geo. Drake, one of the five lads mentioned above:-

    May 24th, 1917

    "Dear Mrs. Hudson, - It is my painful duty to inform you that your son was killed on the 22nd, along with another six, by an enemy shell which fell in the midst of them. I can assure you that he suffered no pain whatever, his death being instantaneous. He was buried the same night, along with his comrades, in a cemetery halfway between Ypres and the line. In the course of a few days a cross will mark the place. He was a good pal and everyone in the Company liked him; he did his duty nobly and was a brave soldier. It was about five o'clock when he was killed. Had he lived a few more hours he would have gone out of the trenches the same night to seek billets for the battalion.

    Jack Hargreaves, who comes from Farnhill, was one of the party who buried him. He told me they were buried decently, and a parson read the Burial Service. All the Company and the non-commissioned officers and men join in tendering you their deepest sympathy in your sad loss. He was my best pal, and I was nearly heartbroken when I heard about it. You have my deepest sympathy, but he has died in fighting for the freedom of Old England and the banishing of Prussianism. We are out of the trenches at present.

    Jack's old pal, GEORGE DRAKE."

    SKIPTON SOLDIER REPORTED DEAD

    We regret to state that news has been received from an unofficial source that Private Arthur Gill, West Riding Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. T.H. Gill, Newmarket Street, Skipton, has died from wounds received on the Western Front. The sad news is contained in a letter written to his wife by a Skipton stretcher-bearer of the West Riding Regiment named Pte. J.W. Atkinson, whose home is in Nelson Street. Pte. Atkinson says:- "Private Gill was seriously wounded and died almost immediately."

    Twenty years of age, Private Gill enlisted in December 1914, and went out to France in May the following year. He had been wounded twice previously in the left leg on the 1st July 1916, and in the left leg and right arm on the 1st January following. In civil life he was a butcher in the employ of the Skipton Co-operative Society, and was connected with the Skipton Baptist Church and a member of the local Liberal Club.

    Since the above was written, Mr. Gill has received a letter from Pte. J.W. Atkinson, in which the latter says:- "You will no doubt have heard all about the death of your loving son Arthur, as I wrote to my wife and mother asking them to let you know. Well, the Germans gave us a terrible bombardment on the 22nd inst. I am sorry to say Arthur was in a dugout which they knocked in with a shell, and he was very badly wounded and died nearly right away. It is with deepest sympathy that I am writing this letter, but I thought it my duty to let you know as early as possible. He was very well respected by all, and we have lost a good soldier, but he died like a hero, doing his duty to the last. I hope our Heavenly Father will be a comfort to you in this awful hour of trial and trouble."

    Pte. W. Boodle, West Riding Regiment, has also written to the bereaved parents as follows:- "I am sorry to tell you that your son was killed on May 22nd, about 2-50 a.m. He had just got into a dugout to have a sleep after being on patrol all night, and he had not been in it an hour when the Germans opened a very heavy bombardment upon us. The first shell knocked the dugout in and buried five of us. We got out all right, but suddenly found that your boy was still under, being covered with the remains of the dugout. I at once started to dig him out, and after working for an hour succeeded. I then got him on to a stretcher and saw him out of shellfire, as I was for hospital myself. His last wish as we parted was that I should write to you. We have been chums ever since we came to the Battalion, and I shall miss him very much. I can quite understand your feelings at the sad news which this letter brings you, and if ever I have the good luck to get over again I will come and see you and explain how it happened, as I live in Leeds myself."

    Second Lieut. R.O. Milligan writes:- "You have probably by this time been informed officially of the extremely sad death in action of your son. Gill had been in my platoon from the time he joined this battalion and was always a favourite amongst his fellows. His cheery spirit made him popular wherever he went, and he was one of the men on whom I could always depend. Some months ago I chose him as my 'runner,' that is, my constant attendant in action, and it was his lot to be by my side during many a lonely watch and in many an exciting hour. He received his unfortunate wound whilst resting. Only a few hours before his death, during a very heavy bombardment, we both escaped miraculously from a shell which burst within six feet of us. And so, having my self realised his worth, I can in some small way realise how great is your loss. Please convey to his mother my deep sympathy, and be assured that I hope and pray that you all may have strength to bear your great loss, and to feel the pride of having sacrificed so much for the great cause."

    Sergeant Dolding, of 'C' Company, West Riding Regiment states:- "I am writing to let you know how sorry the lads and myself are at having lost your., son Arthur. He was loved by everyone in the platoon, and he died doing his duty. He was always cheerful, and had a good word for everybody. He never once gave me an anxious moment, as his Platoon Sergeant. I can speak as I found him. I know it seems very hard for so young a boy to be cut off - but I believe he will receive a just reward for the good life he lived. I hope you will accept our deepest sympathy. Your, son was a good boy."

    Southern Front:

    Successful Italian attack south of Kostanjevica (Carso).

    Naval Operations:

    Shipping Losses: 4 (All to U-Boat action)


    Political:


    Lord Devenport resigns office of Food Controller.


    French Government announces no passports to French delegates to Stockholm Conference.


    British Labour Party appoints deputation to Stockholm and Petrograd.


    Socialist revolt at Kronstadt against Russian Provisional Government.


    Anniversary Events:

    193 The Roman emperor, Marcus Didius, is murdered in his palace.
    1533 Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s new queen, is crowned.
    1774 The British government orders the port of Boston closed.
    1789 The first U.S. congressional act on administering oaths becomes law.
    1812 American navy captain James Lawrence, mortally wounded in a naval engagement with the British, exhorts to the crew of his vessel, the Chesapeake, “Don’t give up the ship”.
    1862 General Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate army outside Richmond after General Joe Johnston is injured at Seven Pines.
    1864 The Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, begins as Confederate general Robert E. Lee tries to turn Union general Ulysses S. Grant’s flank.
    1868 James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, dies.
    1877 U.S. troops are authorized to pursue bandits into Mexico.
    1915 Germany conducts the first zeppelin air raid over England.
    1916 The National Defense Act increases the strength of the U.S. National Guard by 450,000 men.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 06-01-2017 at 08:34.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  14. #2464

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    Billy Bishop VC
    Captain William Avery Bishop (Royal Flying Corps) who has been sent out to work independently, flies first to an enemy aerodrome, where finding no machines, flies on to another aerodrome about three miles south east, which is at least twelve miles the other side of the line. Seven machines, some with their engines running, are on the ground. He attacks these from about fifty feet, and a mechanic, who is starting one of the engines, is seen to fall. One of the machines gets off the ground, but at a height of sixty feet, Captain Bishop fires fifteen rounds into it at very close range, and it crashes to the ground. A second machine gets off the ground, into which he fires thirty rounds at one hundred fifty yards range, and it falls into a tree. Two more machines then rise from the aerodrome. One of these he engages at a height of 1,000 feet, emptying the rest of his drum of ammunition. This machine crashes three hundred yards from the aerodrome, after which Captain Bishop empties a whole drum into the fourth hostile machine, and flies back to his station. Four hostile scouts are about 1,000 feet above him for about a mile of his return journey, but they do not attack. His machine is very badly shot about by machine gun fire from the ground. For his actions this day Captain Bishop will be awarded the Victoria Cross.

    It seems to have been common practice at this time to allow Bishop to claim victories without requiring confirmation or verification from other witnesses

    Today we lost: 509

    Air Operations:


    The US Aviation Section is redesignated the Airplane Division, US Army Signal Corps.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 9


    Lt Bottomley, E.R. (Edwin Rhodes), 35 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 22. NFDK.

    Flt S-Lt Dissette, A.C. (Arthur Clarke), 10 (N) Squadron, RNAS. Killed in action aged 31. NFDK.

    Flt S-Lt Duncan, D.A. (David Alan), Killingholme Naval Air Station, RNAS. Killed whilst flying aged 22. NFDK.

    2Lt Fletcher, G.H. (George Herbert), 4 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 31. NFDK.

    Lt Griffiths, G.A. (Gwyn Arthur), 35 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action aged 24. Shot down by anti-aircraft fire.

    2Lt McNamara, J.C. (Joseph Charles), 4 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action. NFDK.

    Flt S-Lt Orchard, W.E. (Wallace Ernest), 3 (N) Squadron, RNAS. NFDK.

    Lt Ritter, W.H. (William Henry), 15 Squadron, RFC. Died of accidental injuries received while flying aged 23.

    AC1 Wiseman, G.I. (George I.), Royal Naval Air Station, Dunkerque, RNAS. Drowned aged 26.

    Claims: 9 (Entente 9 : Central Powers 0)

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    Capt William Melville "Mel" Alexander claims his 1st confirmed victory with 10 (N) Squadron, RNAS. Flying a Sopwith Triplane he shot down a C type near St Julien. Immediately after receiving his certificate on a Wright biplane at the Stinson school, San Antonio, Texas, on 23 March 1916, William Melville Alexander joined the Royal Naval Air Service as a Flight Sub-Lieutenant, on probation. Posted to 3 Wing on 3 December 1916, he joined 10 Naval Squadron on 26 April 1917 and was assigned to the "Black Flight" under Raymond Collishaw. With this squadron he scored 22 victories flying Triplanes and Camels on the Western Front. In April 1917 his commanding officer recommended him for a Bar to the Distinguished Service Cross. He was also recommended for promotion to the rank of temporary Major in August 1918.

    "By the end of 1915 Curtis School was filled, Wright Brothers had opened a school in Dayton, and it was filled. Well, I went down and signed up with the Stinson School in San Antonio, Texas. I went down there and learned to fly on a model B Wright, an old pusher where we sat... like you sit on a bob-sleigh, with your feet hanging out, looking down... The machine was put together with what we call baling wire, just fabric doped, cotton fabric or linen fabric, and wooden wings... I did exactly 210 minutes before I flew my test." Mel Alexander, Royal Naval Air Service

    William Bishop #23rd, #24th & 25thconfirmed victories’.
    Raymond Collishaw #10th confirmed victory.
    John Cowell #7th confirmed victory.
    Clive Brewster-Joske #2nd confirmed victory.
    Ellis Reid #2nd confirmed victory.

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    Capt Richard Michael Trevethan claims his 1st confirmed victory with 20 Squadron, RFC. Flying an FE2d, with observer AM2 John Cowell, he shot down an Albatros DIII near Gheluvelt. From St. Kew in Cornwall, Richard Michael Trevethan, the son of Michael and Clara (Pearce) Trevethan, was born in Utah in the United States but gave his nationality as English. He attended Falmouth Grammar School, Portsmouth Grammar School, and the Imperial College of Science, London. He enlisted in 1914 and was commissioned a temporary second lieutenant on 22 September. In 1917 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. As anFE2d pilot, he scored twelve victories before being wounded in action on 18 September 1917. He was granted a permanent commission in the rank of Flying Officer on 1 August 1919.

    Western Front


    Artillery active near Wytschaete.

    British advance south of Souchez river.

    Tunstills Men Saturday 2nd June 1917:


    “Scottish Lines” in the Boeschepe training area, near Watou.

    Another hot, windy and dusty day.

    Pte. Albert Edward Everitt (see 22nd February) was admitted, via 50th Casualty Clearing Station, to 71st Field Ambulance; he was suffering from scabies.

    2Lt. Bob Perks, DSO (see 1st June) wrote home to his father:

    My Dear Dad
    I have suddenly remembered that to-day is your birthday. I am very much afraid this will be too late to wish you Many Happy Returns but I hope not too late to tell you that I did wish you the best of times on the day itself. Til yesterday I have not had time to write a letter for days and have hardly written a letter for the last 12 days. I have had to arrange a number of things extra to the ordinary routine including practically reorganising the company for a glorious future during which glorious future, I am again to command the Company.
    It might please Mr. Kitchen to know that throughout the past week I have ridden a horse with great success, so much so that I quite trusted myself on a horse which strongly desisted standing still and did not very much like passing motors. I rode about 8 miles to see Bolland (see 1st June) yesterday evening and had a lovely ride back in the moonlight with willing horses who had to be reined in.
    Our Captain (Capt. **** Bolton, see 21st May) is back now and has brought back three records which we are now trying, but I fear it is about the last time we shall hear it for a time. We move nearer the line to-morrow (Sunday move as usual).

    Please thank Mother for her letter of 28th just arrived. Bravo the pig! I expect you spend most of this lovely day having a birthday holiday, pottering round the animal and the garden generally. Where do you keep her? And whoever looks after it? I suppose it is meant to be the forerunner to a village full of pigs. Everytime I hear from the Shoesmiths I am told about the wonderful hens Mr. Shoesmith keeps. Now I can reply.

    Thanks very much for the body shield. Really thanks - as you know I regarded them as more likely to kill one by their weight than save life but this is quite light and although it may be hot, is quite a protection. This we doubted until one of our revolver bullets failed to penetrate at 4 yards! Then I said I have got a new waistcoat.
    Love Bob

    Albert Isherwood, who had died the previous week, aged 17, was buried at Slaidburn Church; he was the younger brother of Ptes. Edwin (see 11th April) and Walter Isherwood (see 17th October 1916), both of whom had been among Tunstill’s original recruits and both of whom had died in service.

    Naval Operations:

    Shipping Losses: 10 (1 to a mine, 1 to surface action & 8 to U-Boat action)


    In the early morning the hired transport SS Cameronian (Captain Robert Roberts) is torpedoed and sinks almost immediately fifty miles northwest by north from Alexandria, Egypt while en-route to that port. Captain Roberts and ten of the crew are drowned, as are an officer and forty-seven men of the Royal Army Service Corps and an officer of the London Regiment. She is carrying a large number of mules, with a few soldiers to look after them. Unfortunately a number of men are asleep in hammocks on the lower deck. The explosion floods this deck and many of the men drown as the ship sinks in five minutes. Among those killed are · Drivers and twins Percy and Walter Hodkinson 24 lost while serving as horse transport drivers with the Army Service Corps.

    Political:
    Brazil revokes her neutrality as between U.S.A. and Germany, and seizes German ships in Brazilian waters.

    Anniversary Events:

    1537 Pope Paul III bans the enslavement of Indians in the New World.
    1774 The Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to allow British soldiers into their houses, is reenacted.
    1793 Maximilien Robespierre, a member of France's Committee on Public Safety, initiates the "Reign of Terror."
    1818 The British army defeats the Maratha alliance in Bombay, India.
    1859 French forces cross the Ticino River.
    1865 At Galveston, Texas, Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith surrenders the Trans-Mississippi Department to Union forces.
    1883 The first baseball game under electric lights is played in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
    1886 Grover Cleveland becomes the first American president to wed while in office.
    1910 Charles Stewart Rolls, one of the founders of Rolls-Royce, becomes the first man to fly an airplane nonstop across the English Channel both ways. Tragically, he becomes Britain's first aircraft fatality the following month when his biplane breaks up in midair.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 06-02-2017 at 01:29.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  15. #2465

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    Sunday 3rd June 1917

    Today we lost: 698

    Private John George Pattison VC (Alberta Regiment) is killed in action at Lens, France at age 41.
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    On 10 April 1917 at the Battle of Vimy Ridge when the advance of Canadian troops was held up by an enemy machine-gun which was inflicting severe casualties, Private Pattison, with utter disregard of his own safety, sprang forward and jumping from shell-hole to shell-hole, reached cover within thirty yards of the enemy gun. From this point, in the face of heavy fire he hurled bombs killing and wounding some of the crew, and then rushed forward overcoming and bayoneting the surviving five gunners. His initiative and valor undoubtedly saved the situation. For this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

    Air Operations:


    Aerodromes at Zeebrugge, Bruges, etc., again heavily bombed.

    Flight Lieutenant Raymond Collishaw (Royal Naval Air Service) shoots down an Albatross scout in flames.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 10


    2Lt Baines, G. (George), 48 Squadron, RFC. Died of Wounds received while flying over enemy lines aged 33.

    2Lt Foster, F.H. (Frank Hawley), 49 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 18. NFDK.

    Sgt Giles, A.M. (Arthur M.), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action. NFDK.

    2Lt Haller, E.D. (Edward Denison), 45 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 22. NFDK.

    Capt Harley, F.W. (Frederick William), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 28.

    Flt S-Lt McNeil, P.G. (Percy Gordon), 10 (N) Squadron, RNAS. NFDK.

    2Lt Neill, R.M. (Rolf Mayne), 70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 19. NFDK.

    A Mech 1 Pearmain, F. (Frank), 6 Squadron attached 186th Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, RFC, aged 28. NFDK.

    A Mech 2 Poulter, F. (Frank), 24 Squadron, RFC, aged 40. NFDK.

    Sgt Turner, W.C., 38 Training Squadron, RFC. NFDK.

    Claims: 30 confirmed (Entente 19 : Central Powers 11)

    Francesco Baracca #13th confirmed victory. (Italy)
    Flavio Baracchini #4th confirmed victory. (Italy)
    Honore de Bonald #4th confirmed victory. (France)
    Maurice Boyau #2nd confirmed victory. (France)
    William Charles Campbell #4th confirmed victory.
    Arnold Chadwick #5th confirmed victory.
    Raymond Collishaw #11th confirmed victory.
    Robert Compston #7th confirmed victory.
    Albert Earl Godfrey #4th confirmed victory.
    Thomas Harries #3rd confirmed victory.
    Fred Holliday #12th confirmed victory.
    Alexander Merchant #3rd confirmed victory.

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    Flt Cmd Thomas Frederick Le Mesurier claims his 1st confirmed victory with 5 (N) Squadron, RNAS. Flying a DH4 with observer FSL RG ST John, he shot down an Albatros DIII west of Brugge. The son of Ernest Cecil and Gertrude Le Mesurier, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Thomas Frederick Le Mesurier received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 2753 on a Maurice Farman biplane at Central Flying School, Upavon on 17 March 1916. Posted to 5 Naval Squadron, he scored seven victories flying the DH4 in 1917.

    Thomas Middleton #6th confirmed victory.

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    Lt Gastone Novelli (Italy) claims his 1st confirmed victory with 81a, flying a Nieuport he shot down an enemy aircraft. NFDK.

    Luigi Olivar #7th confirmed victory. (Italy)
    Antonio Reali u/c. (Italy)

    Ellis Reid #3rd confirmed victory.
    Jean Sardier #2nd confirmed victory.
    Anthony Wall #12th confirmed victory.


    Hans von Adam #3rd confirmed victory.
    Karl Allmenroder #23rd confirmed victory.
    Adolf duBois d’Aische #2nd confirmed victory.
    Eduard von Dostler #8th confirmed victory.

    Lt Rudolf Francke claims his 1st confirmed victory with Jasta 8, shooting down a Sopwith 11/2 Strutter near Pombrouk.

    Bertram Heinrich #4th confirmed victory.
    Adolf Heyrowsky #10th confirmed victory.
    Max von Muller #14th confirmed victory.
    Josef Purer #5th confirmed victory.

    O-Lt Ernst Strohschneider claims his 1st confirmed victory with Flug I, shooting down a Farman near Monte Korada.

    Alexander Tahy #4th confirmed victory.

    Western Front


    Intense artillery duel in Wytschaete salient.

    Germans recover ground south of Souchez river.

    Five heavy German attacks repulsed on Chemin des Dames front.

    Tunstills Men Sunday 3rd June 1917:


    “Scottish Lines” in the Boeschepe training area, near Watou.

    Another hot and dusty day. There was the usual church parade at 10am before a further eight miles march took the Battalion to fields between Brandhoek and Ouderdom where they bivouacked for the night.

    In the continuing absence of Lt. Col. Robert Raymer (see 18th May) there were a series of temporary promotions to provide for the command of the Battalion in the coming operations. Maj. Charles Bathurst (see 21st May) was confirmed in temporary command of the Battalion, and was temporarily promoted Lieutenant Colonel. Capt. Hugh William Lester MC (see 27th May) was promoted Temporary Major and Second-in-Command and Capt. Leonard Norman Phillips (see 9th May), who had previously been Acting Adjutant, was now confirmed in his post.

    LCpl. Edwin Lightfoot (see 10th April) was promoted (unpaid) Corporal.

    Capt. James Watson Paterson was transferred away from the Training Reserve and posted instead to the West Riding Regiment; he would, in due course, be posted to 10DWR. Born in Edinburgh in 1889, he was the son of Thomas Watson Paterson, a teacher. He had joined the Scots Guards following the outbreak of war and had been posted to France on 25th May 1915 with 2nd Battalion, but was discharged on appointment to a temporary commission with 11DWR on 23rd July 1915. He was promoted Temporary Lieutenant with effect from 1st May 1916 and Temporary Captain from 1st September 1916, whilst, it seems serving with a Training Reserve Battalion.

    Southern Front:
    Austrians repulsed on San Marco (east of Gorizia). They open a great counter-offensive on the Carso.

    Naval Operations:

    Austrian torpedo-boat sunk by submarine.

    Shipping Losses: 13 (1 to a mine & 12 to U-Boat action)


    Political:


    Proclamation of Albanian independence under Italian protection.

    Socialist Conference at Leeds.

    Provisional Government formed in China.

    Anniversary Events:

    1098 Christian Crusaders of the First Crusade seize Antioch, Turkey.
    1539 Hernando De Soto claims Florida for Spain.
    1861 Union troops defeat Confederate forces at Philippi, in western Virginia
    1864 Some 7,000 Union troops are killed within 30 minutes during the Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia.
    1888 The classic baseball poem “Casey at the Bat,” written by Ernest L. Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  16. #2466

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    Good to see the Times filling up with mostly Air related news at last Neil.
    Thanks for continuing to manfully post all this each day.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  17. #2467

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    Thanks for continuing to manfully post all this each day.
    Agreed. Thanks Neil. Mike

  18. #2468

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    Thomas Harold Broadbent Maufe VC (6 May 1898 – 28 March 1942) He was educated at Uppingham School and he was 19 years old, and a 2Lt in the 124th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

    On 4 June 1917 at Feuchy, France, Second Lieutenant Maufe, on his own initiative and under intense artillery fire repaired, unaided, the telephone wire between the forward and rear positions, thereby enabling his battery to open fire on the enemy. He also saved what could have been a disastrous occurrence by extinguishing a fire in an advanced ammunition dump caused by a heavy explosion, regardless of the risk he ran from the effects of gas shells in the dump.

    By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of major, one of the youngest to hold that rank. After the war Maufe completed his interrupted education at Clare College, Cambridge and the Royal School of Mines where he was a member of The Chaps Club.

    Maufe served in the Home Guard as a volunteer during WW2 in 28th West Riding (Otley) Bn. He was killed in an accident with a misfiring trench mortar during training at the age of 43 on 28 March 1942 near Ilkley. He is buried in Ilkley Cemetery.

    Maufe's name is listed on a war memorial on the gates of his former prep school, Nevill Holt, near the village of Medbourne, Leicestershire, along with other casualties of the World Wars.

    He was the son of Frederick Broadbent and Helen Mann Maufe, of Warlbeck, Ilkley West Yorkshire,. He married Mary Gwendolen Carr. The family name was originally Muff but was changed to Maufe in 1909. The family owned the Bradford department store Brown, Muff. In response to their rising fortunes they left Bradford and changed their name to Maufe, thereby inspiring the local ditty:

    "In Bradford 'tis good enoof
    To be known as Mrs Muff.
    But in Ilkley by the river Wharfe,
    'Tis better to be known as Mrs Maufe!"


    Today we lost: 512


    Air Operations:


    The Royal Naval Air Service provides service in the bombardment of Ostend.

    French air-raid by night on Treves.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 9


    2Lt Andrews, W.J.M. (William James Morrison), 7 Training Squadron, RFC. Killed whilst flying aged 26. NFDK.

    A Mech 3 Bott, G.F. (George Frederick), RFC. Died of cancer.

    2Lt Cameron, R. (Robert), 16 Squadron, RFC. Died of wounds received whilst flying. NFDK.

    2Lt Cass, W.E. (William Edward), 40 Training Squadron, RFC. Accidently killed whilst flying aged 21. NFDK.

    2Lt Gee, G.R.D. (Geoffrey Richard Dudley), 21 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 21.

    Lt Honer, D.J. (Douglas James), 55 Squadron, RFC. NFDK.

    A Mech 1 Howell, C.T. (Charles Thomas), 26 (South African) Squadron, RFC, aged 29. NFDK.

    2Lt Paton, H.F. (Henry Forsyth), 21 Squadron, RFC. NFDK.

    Capt Pixley, R.G.H. (Reginald George Hewett), 54 Squadron, RFC. Killed in aerial combat over Gouy aged 24.

    Captain Reginald George Hewett Pixley MC (Royal Field Artillery attached Royal Flying Corps) is killed in action at age 24 when his Sopwith Pup is shot down by Werner Voss south east of Douai. In 1911 he represented a combined English Schools rifle team in Canada having been the Captain of the Shooting VIII at Eton. His grave where the Germans buried Pixley will be discovered in 1919 by a friend who had known him since childhood and who had gone to France, at the behest of the Pixley family, with the express purpose of establishing his fate. His grave is in the garden of a house in Guoy and has been carefully tended by the French lady who owned the property.

    Claims: 22 confirmed (Entente 17 : Central Powers 5)

    William Alexander #2nd confirmed victory.
    Alfred Auger #6th confirmed victory. (France)
    Douglas John Bell #2nd & #3rd confirmed victories.
    William Charles Campbell #5th confirmed victory.
    Charles Meredith Bouverie Chapman #5th confirmed victory.
    Raymond Collishaw #12th confirmed victory.
    Robert Compston #8th confirmed victory.
    Arthur Percivial Foley Rhys Davids #7th confirmed victory.
    Albert Deullin #16th confirmed victory. (France)
    Sydney Ellis #2nd confirmed victory.
    Phillip Fletcher Fullard #3rd & #4th confirmed victories.
    Thomas Gerrard #7th & #8th confirmed victories.
    Tom Hazell #4th & #5th confirmed victories.

    Karl Allmenroder #24th & #25th confirmed victories.
    Otto Konnecke #4th confirmed victory.
    Karl Schafer #30th confirmed victory.
    Werner Voss #32nd confirmed victory. (See Pixley entry in RFC losses)

    Western Front


    Continued artillery activity in Wytschaete salient.

    Tunstills Men Monday 4th June 1917:


    Bivouac between Brandhoek and Ouderdom.

    Another fine, hot day. In the afternoon the Battalion was addressed by Brig. Genl. Lambert, commanding 69th Brigade, before the bulk of the Battalion moved again to the area known as ‘Railway Dugouts’, just a mile and a half behind the front line. However, as was the case ahead of any major attack, “Several officers and a proportion of NCO's and men were left behind at the Reinforcement Camp”. These men would form the nucleus around which the Battalion would be ‘rebuilt’ in the event of heavy losses in the coming action. It seems that Capt. **** Bolton (see 31st May), having only just returned from leave on 31st May, may have been one of the senior officers charged with this task as he did not lead ‘A’ Company when they went into action a few days later.

    Pte. Joe Arthur Bentley (see 16th January) was admitted to 70th Field Ambulance, suffering from “P.U.O” (pyrexia, or high temperature, of unknown origin).

    Pte. William Boodle (see 26th May), who had been wounded on 22nd May was evacuated to England. Once returned to England and sufficiently recovered from his injuries, he would be transferred to the Royal Defence Corps.

    2Lt. Thomas Arnold Woodcock (see 24th May), who had served with the Battalion for only three weeks before reporting sick on 7th April, was transferred to England from no.14 General Hospital at Boulogne. He travelled onboard the hospital ship St. Patrick and on arrival in England would be admitted to 2nd Western General Hospital in Manchester.

    2Lt. Herbert Edwin James Biggs (see 1st March) arrived in France en route to joining 10DWR.

    A payment of Ł4 11s 6d was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Arthur Moore (see 19th March); the payment would go to his mother, Harriet.

    Eastern Front:

    General Brusilov appointed commander-in-chief of Russian armies in succession to General Alexeiev.

    Southern Front:

    Very heavy fighting on the Carso; Italians forced back south of Jamiano, but hold line elsewhere.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 10 ( 1 to a mine & 9 to U-Boat action)


    Anniversary Events:

    1615 The fortress at Osaka, Japan, falls to Shogun Leyasu after a six-month siege.
    1647 Parliamentary forces capture King Charles I and hold him prisoner.
    1717 The Freemasons are founded in London.
    1792 Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Britain.
    1794 British troops capture Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
    1805 Tripoli is forced to conclude peace with the United States after a conflict over tribute.
    1859 The French army, under Napoleon III, takes Magenta from the Austrian army.
    1864 Confederates under General Joseph Johnston retreat to the mountains in Georgia.
    1911 Gold is discovered in Alaska’s Indian Creek.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  19. #2469

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    1859
    The French army, under Napoleon III, takes Magenta from the Austrian army.

    Right Neil.
    I suppose that makes this a red letter day for the French then.
    Kyte.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  20. #2470

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    Tomorrow is my last post for awhile as Chris is back from R&R and in the saddle.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  21. #2471

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    John Manson Craig VC (5 March 1896 – 19 February 1970) was 21 years old, and a 2Lt in the 1/4th Battalion, The Royal Scots Fusiliers, attached to 1/5th Battalion during WW1 when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

    On 5 June 1917 in Egypt, an advanced post having been rushed by the enemy, Second Lieutenant Craig immediately organised a rescue party and after tracking the enemy back to his trenches, set his party to work removing the dead and wounded under heavy rifle and machine-gun fire. An NCO was wounded and a medical officer who went to his aid was also wounded. Second Lieutenant Craig went out at once and got the NCO under cover, but while taking the medical officer to shelter was himself wounded. Nevertheless, the rescue was effected, and he then scooped cover for the wounded, thus saving their lives.

    He served in the Royal Air Force during WW2.

    Today we lost: 780


    Air Operations:


    RFC Lieutenants Harold Satchell and Thomas Lewis of No. 20 Squadron shoot down and kill German ace Leutnant Karl Emil Schäfer. His 30 victories will place him in a tie with five other pilots as the 28th-highest-scoring German ace of World War I.

    Flight Lieutenant Raymond Collishaw (Royal Naval Air Service) shoots down a two-seater Albatross in flames.

    The United States Navy's First Aeronautical Detachment disembarks from the collier USS Jupiter in France under the command of Kenneth Whiting. It is the first U.S. military unit to arrive in Europe.

    Operation Turkenkreuz 2

    The Imperial German Army's Luftstreitkräfte conducts the second raid of Operation Türkenkreuz ("Turk's Cross"), a heavier-than-air bombing campaign targeting London. Unable to bomb London due to weather, the 22 Gotha G. IV bombers divert to a secondary target, a Royal Navy facility at Sheerness.

    With the weather not ideal for an attempt on London, Kagohl 3 set out with 22 Gothas to attack secondary targets on the Essex and Kent coasts. The formation came inland between the rivers Blackwater and Crouch at about 6.15pm where they were greeted by a mobile AA gun at Burnham firing off two rounds. The first RNAS aircraft took off at 6.05pm, followed thirteen minutes later by the first of those from the RFC, but it would take precious time to claw their way up to operational height.

    The first two bombs dropped harmlessly in fields at Great Wavering at 6.20pm on the north side of the Thames estuary, followed by another at Bunkers Nursery at North Shoebury with similar effect. At Shoeburyness the Royal Artillery had a School of Instruction. About 24 bombs, mainly HE, were dropped over the town with three or four HE bombs falling on the gun park where they killed two soldiers and a horse. Two AA guns at the School and one on the Experimental Ranges opened fire causing Kagohl 3 to open out from their tight formation. Other bombs fell in Smith Street, Grove Road (incendiary), in a garden at Sandpit Cottages, two in the grounds of South Shoebury Hall, an incendiary in the garden of the Cambridge Hotel on Ness Road and others on the beach and in fields. Outside the Royal Artillery establishment, the Essex Police recorded the only damage as broken glass.
    As Kagohl 3 now headed south across the Thames two Gothas broke away and headed for home, having presumably dropped their bombs, while the rest headed towards the garrison and dockyard town of Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. On the Kent side of the Thames, six AA guns had opened fire. Five HE bombs landed in the Dockyard. One struck the Grand Store, setting a major fire burning, one exploded on the quay of No.3 Dry Dock, narrowly missing a ship and killing a dockyard worker, George Frier, and another struck the goods office at the Dockyard Railway Station. In the Blue Town district of Sheerness bombs fell around the Ravelin Battery and over Well Marsh Camp where the King’s Royal Rifles (KRR) were based. Three soldiers of the 5th KRR died while an officer and six men of the regiment suffered injury as did an officer of 6th KRR.

    In Blue Town High Street a 50kg bomb exploded on Messrs Gieves Outfitters, killing the manager Edward Perry and customer, Herbert Gandy, a warrant officer serving on Torpedo Boat No.7. Other bombs fell at the Botany Road Camp, south of the town, where the 29th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (recently transferred to the Labour Corps) were quartered. One of the men, Private Frank Smith, was killed and eleven injured (also killed was Private Benjamin Corby, 2nd Garrison Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment). A number of bombs also fell in residential New Town. Of these two fell in Coronation Road (on Nos. 27 and 105) causing widespread damage while the 50kg HE bomb on No.105 also injured a Mrs Bothwick and her son John. A bomb that exploded by Duttells Opening off Cavour Road killed Samuel Hawes, Chief Armourer at the Royal Navy’s shore establishment, HMS Actaeon. This bomb may have also killed Joseph Davis, an officer’s steward on HMS Dominion, who had been visiting his mother in Alma Road. Two bombs in Berridge Road caused significant damage, another that fell at the rear of 33 Unity Street also damaged properties, and two fell on allotments behind Jefferson Road. A bomb on a footpath by 173 Invicta Road injured three and caused serious damage to the house as well as to others nearby. On the coast five bombs landed around Cheyney Rock without causing damage.

    The bombing of the town lasted about five minutes and was over by 6.34pm. In that time, however, one of the Gothas had descended to about 9,000 feet and was hit by AA fire, crashing into the sea. Only one of the three-man crew, Georg Schumacher, survived. Credit for the victory was given to the AA gun at Barton’s Point.
    The final bombs dropped were eight seemingly aimed at the Power Station near the village of Halfway Houses to the south of Sheerness. The nearest bomb landed 100 yards south-east of the Power Station. Four landed in the open between the Power Station and Danley Farm and others further distances away to the west of the target.
    The RNAS and RFC flew 62 sorties but only three Naval aircraft got close enough to the departing Gothas to attack - without result. Four RFC pilots saw the Gothas but were unable to climb quickly enough to engage. However, two RNAS squadrons based at Dunkirk intercepted the returning Gothas and shot down one while another crash landed near Bruges.

    Casualties: 13 killed, 34 injured

    Damage: Ł5,003

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 11


    Capt Allcock, W.T.L. (William Thomas Lloyd), 40 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 21. NFDK.

    2Lt Bennie, R.S. (Robert Smith), 45 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action. NFDK.

    Sgt Cook, E.A. (Ernest Albert), 45 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 24. NFDK.

    2Lt Inglis, S.H. (Sidney Herbert), 16 Squadron, RFC. Died of wounds aged 19. NFDK.

    Lt Metheral, T.A. (Thomas Arthur), 45 Squadron, RFC, aged 22. NFDK.

    2Lt Mouritzen, R.W. (Roy Walter), RFC. NFDK.

    Lt Sawden, W.W. (William Wright), 20 Squadron, RFC. Died of Wounds received near Belgian Battery Corner aged 26.

    A Mech 2 Shaw, H.V. (Harry V.), 45 Squadron, RFC, aged 19. NFDK.

    2Lt Stevenson, W.H. (Walter Henry), 29 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 25. NFDK.

    2Lt Williams, R.V. (Roland Vaughan), 32 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 18. NFDK.

    A Mech 2 Worthing, G. (Gerald), 20 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action. NFDK.

    Claims: 35 confirmed (Entente 28 : Central Powers 7)

    Oliver LeBoutillier #2nd confirmed victory. (America)
    Maurice Boyau #3rd confirmed victory. (France)
    Carleton Clement #7th & #8th confirmed victories.
    Raymond Collishaw #13th & #14th confirmed victories.
    Douglas Cunnell #4th confirmed victory.
    Llewelyn Davies #3rd & #4th confirmed victories.
    Albert Enstone #4th confirmed victory.

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    Capt Matthew Brown "Bunty" Frew claims his 1st & 2nd confirmed victories with 45 Squadron, RFC. Flying a Sopwith 11/2 Strutter with observer 2Lt MJ Dalton he shot down 2 Albatros DIII’s near Menin & Warneton respectively. The son of Henry and Annie Frew, Matthew Brown Frew joined the Highland Light Infantry in 1914. After serving in France, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in August 1916. Posted to 45 Squadron on 28 April 1917, he served in France and Italy and was credited with 23 victories while flying the Sopwith 11/2 Strutter and Sopwith CAmel. In 1918 he was injured when his Camel was hit by anti-aircraft fire. He returned to England and served as an instructor for the duration of the war. Frew remained in the Royal Air Force, was knighted and retired with the rank of Air Vice-Marshal in 1948.

    Albert Earl Godfrey #5th confirmed victory.
    Tom Hazell #6th & #7th confirmed victories.
    John Herbert Towne Letts #9th confirmed victory.
    Yevgraph Kruten #6th confirmed victory. (Russia)
    Harold Mott #3rd confirmed victory.
    Augustus Orlebar #2nd confirmed victory.

    Lt John William Pinder claims his 1st confirmed victory with 9 (N) Squadron, RNAS. Flying a Sopwith Triplane he shot down an Albatros DIII near Ostend. Posted to 9 Naval Squadron, John William Pinder scored his first 3 victories flying the Sopwith Triplane in the summer of 1917. He later served with 13 Naval Squadron and 45 Squadron as a Sopwith Camel pilot, scoring 14 more victories by the end of the war. In 1920 Pinder, together with Brazilian pilot Aliatar Martins, attempted to make the first flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Buenos Aires, Argentina in a Macchi 9 flying boat. A damaged propeller forced them down at Lagoa dos Esteves and after repairing it, they were attempting to restart the engine when Martins was hit by the prop and fell into the water. Pinder attempted to save his friend but both men drowned.

    Ellis Reid #4th confirmed victory.
    Harold Satchell #4th confirmed victory. (See Karl Shaffer entry above)
    Alan Scott #4th confirmed victory.
    Alexander Shook #4th & #5th confirmed victories.
    Oliver Manners Sutton #5th confirmed victory.
    Frederick Thayre #19th confirmed victory.
    Walter Bertram Wood #2nd confirmed victory.


    Karl Allmendroder #26th confirmed victory.
    Hans Bethoe #8th confirmed victory.
    Otto Brauneck #9th confirmed victory.
    Alfred Niederhoff #3rd confirmed victory.
    Theodor Osterkamp #3rd confirmed victory.
    Richard Runge #2nd confirmed victory.
    Werner Voss #33rd confirmed victory.

    Western Front

    Artillery still active near Wytschaete.

    British make small advance south of Souchez river, and begin an attack north of river Scarpe.

    German attack near Hurtebise (Chemin des Dames) fails.

    Tunstills Men Tuesday 5th June 1917:


    Railway Dugouts

    A very hot day. There was considerable German shelling throughout the day.
    There was no doubt among the men about the significance of what they were about to do as illustrated by a letter written by Pte. Samuel Woodhead (see 17th October 1916) to his wife, "It is a beautiful day and you wouldn't think there was a war on, but all the same, the Huns are going to get hell - one of the most terrible battles in the history of the world. If I should get knocked out I hope this reaches you all right."

    The Battalion drew iron rations as required by Brigade orders in preparation for their final move into the front line, relieving 11th Northumberland Fusiliers. However, this was delayed by German shelling and would not actually begin until the early hours of 6th June.

    Pte. John William Mallinson (see 6th May) was ordered to be confined to barracks for three days having been found to be “improperly dressed on parade”.

    2Lt. George Henry Roberts (see 1st January), formerly of 10th Battalion, but currently on sick leave from 3DWR following compound fractures of his left tibia and fibula, appeared before an Army Medical Board. The Board found that, “The wound is soundly healed and an excellent result has been obtained; union of bone being perfect. He walks with a very slight limp, but is able to negotiate 2 miles with comfort and says he is improving each day and should again become an excellent officer. We have told him to return to his home and await instructions from HQ”.

    Trooper Claude Darwin (see 1st June), serving in Egypt with 1st Field Squadron, Engineers, Anzac Mounted Division, returned to duty following a short period of treatment for tonsilitis. He was the brother of Tunstill recruit, Pte. Tom Darwin (see 1st June), who had recently re-joined 10DWR.

    Southern Front:

    Italians withdraw further south of Jamiano.

    Naval Operations:

    Naval action between light craft in North Sea; German ship sunk. SMS 20, a S13 class torpedo boat was sunk in
    the North Sea off the coast of Belgium by HMS Canterbury & HMS Conquest.

    Ostend bombarded from the sea.

    Shipping Losses: 9 (All to U-Boat action)


    Anniversary Events:

    1099 Members of the First Crusade witness an eclipse of the moon and interpret it as a sign they will recapture Jerusalem.
    1568 Ferdinand, the Duke of Alba, crushes the Calvinist insurrection in Ghent.
    1595 Henry IV’s army defeats the Spanish at the Battle of Fontaine-Francaise.
    1637 American settlers in New England massacre a Pequot Indian village.
    1783 Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier make the first public balloon flight.
    1794 The U.S. Congress prohibits citizens from serving in any foreign armed forces.
    1827 Athens falls to Ottoman forces.
    1851 Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes the first installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in The National Era.
    1856 U.S. Army troops in the Four creeks region of California, head back to quarters, officially ending the Tule River War. Fighting, however, will continue for a few more years.
    1863 The Confederate raider CSS Alabama captures the Talisman in the Mid-Atlantic.
    1872 The Republican National Convention, the first major political party convention to include blacks, commences.
    1880 Wild woman of the west Myra Maybelle Shirley marries Sam Starr even though records show she was already married to Bruce Younger.
    1900 British troops under Lord Roberts seize Pretoria from the Boers

    Karl Emil Schaffer:
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    Karl Emil Schäfer (17 December 1891 – 5 June 1917) was a one of the major German flying aces of the war, with 30 confirmed aerial victories.


    Schäfer was born in Krefeld and joined the Jager Regiment zu Pferde Nr.10 of the Prussian Army for his one year volunteer military service. An engineering student who spoke fluent French and English, he was a fine draughtsman, and was studying in Paris when the war broke out, but managed to return to Germany and was assigned to the Reserve Jäger Bataillon 7 in Buckeburg. He won the Iron Cross 2nd class and was promoted to Vizefeldwebel during September 1914, before being badly wounded and hospitalised for six months. After returning to the front line he was commissioned in May 1915.
    Requesting flying duties Schäfer trained as a pilot and served over the Eastern Front with Kampfgeschwader 2 from July 1916 onwards. He moved to the west and now flew with Kampfstaffel 11 of KG 2, where he gained his first victory. With just this single victory, he impudently telegraphed Manfred von Richthofen, who was assembling a "top gun" (kanone) squadron at Jasta 11, "Can you use me?" Richthofen replied, "You have already been requested."

    Schäfer was then posted to Jasta 11 on 21 February 1917. In intensive operations during Bloody april he became a flying ace, being credited with 21 victories and awarded the Pour le Merit. While a member of Jasta 11, "Karlchen" (Charlie) became known as the squadron's prankster and recorded many vivid incidents in combat and at play. He flew an Albatros DIII with red and black markings. Somehow amidst all this he found time to pen his autobiography, Vom Jaeger zum Flieger ("From Soldier to Pilot").

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    Schäfer was then given command of Jasta 28 on 26 April, and after gaining further victories for a total of 30 claims Schäfer was shot down and killed in action on 5 June 1917 in combat with No 20 Squadron, by ace crew Lt. Harold Satchell and Lt.Thomas Lewis. Satchell and Lewis' fire did not strike Schäfer, but disabled his plane, which broke apart in midair. They reported that the Albatross fell in flames; German ace witness Max von Ritter reported seeing it break up, but noted no fire. Photos of the wreckage show no scorching and the wings still attached to the aircraft. Nevertheless, his Jasta 28 comrades recovered Schäfer's body, noting that it had no bullet wounds, but that every bone in his body had been broken

    List of aerial victories
    No.
    Date/time
    Unit
    Aircraft
    Foe
    Location
    1 22 January 1917 Kasta 11 Albatros D.II Caudron West of Pont-ŕ-Mousson
    2 4 March 1917 @ 1150 Jasta 11 Albatros D.III Sopwith 1˝ Strutter (A1109) South-west of Haisnes
    u/c 4 March 1917 Jasta 11 D.H.2 or F.E.8 Near Lens
    u/c 4 March 1917 Jasta 11 D.H.2 or F.E.8 Near Béthune
    3 6 March 1917 @ 1145 Jasta 11 Sopwith 1˝ Strutter (A978) Lens
    4 6 March 1917 @ 1155 Jasta 11 Sopwith 1˝ Strutter Lens
    5 9 March 1917 @ 1120 Jasta 11 F.E.8 (6397) Faschoda
    6 9 March 1917 @ 1122 Jasta 11 F.E.8 (4874) Pont-ŕ-Vendin
    7 11 March 1917 @ 1120 Jasta 11 B.E.2c (6232) Loosbogen
    8 24 March 1917 @ 0900 Jasta 11 Sopwith 1˝ Strutter Anzin, near Arras
    9 3 April 1917 @ 1620 Jasta 11 F.E.2d (6371) South of Lens
    10 6 April 1917 @ 1020 Jasta 11 B.E.2 Givenchy
    11 6 April 1917 @ 1037 Jasta 11 B.E.2 West of Vimy
    12 7 April 1917 @ 1745 Jasta 11 Nieuport 23 Mecatal
    13 8 April 1917 @ 1440 Jasta 11 D.H.4 Épinoy
    14 9 April 1917 @ 1900 Jasta 11 B.E.2d (5742) Aise Roulette
    15 11 April 1917 @ 0910 Jasta 11 Bristol F.2A (A3318) Fampoux
    16 11 April 1917 @ 1250 Jasta 11 B.E.2e Arras
    17 13 April 1917 @ 1830 Jasta 11 F.E.2b (A6372) Le Point du Jour
    18 14 April 1917 @ 1705 Jasta 11 F.E.2b (4877) Lievin-Eleu
    19 14 April 1917 @ 1720 Jasta 11 B.E or Bristol F.2a La Coulette
    20 21 April 1917 @ 1745 Jasta 11 Nieuport Scout (A6797) East of Fresnes
    21 22 April 1917 @ 2020 Jasta 11 F.E.2b North-west of Moncy-Tilloy
    22 25 April 1917 @ 1040 Jasta 11 F.E.2b (A837) Bailleul
    23 25 April 1917 @ 2030 Jasta 11 Bristol F.2a (A3352) Bahnhoff Roeux
    24 1 May 1917 @ 1240 Jasta 28 Farman Dixmude
    25 1 May 1917 @ 1300 Jasta 28 Nieuport Scout East of Poperinghe
    26 9 May 1917 @ 1900 Jasta 28 Sopwith 1˝ Strutter Warneton
    27 18 May 1917 @ 1110 Jasta 28 F.E.2d Hollebeke
    28 23 May 1917 @ 1615 Jasta 28 F.E.2d Warenton
    29 23 May 1917 @ 1845 Jasta 28 Sopwith Pup Wytschaetebogen
    30 4 June 1917 @ 1410 Jasta 28 D.H.4 (A7420) Moorslede


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    See you on the Dark Side......

  22. #2472

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    Another great edition Neil, looks like I have some reading to do to catch up with events from the past week (curse of hols with no phone or internet, but that does have other advantages)

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  23. #2473

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    Big thanks for covering my holiday's Neil, its nice to be back (well if Neil has left me anything to report on that it), so without further ado here are the events 24 years before something else happened on this day....

    June 6th 1917

    Lets start with the first flight of a new aircraft type....

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    The Sopwith T.1 Cuckoo was a British biplane torpedo bomber used by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and its successor organization, the Royal Air Force (RAF). The T.1 was the first landplane specifically designed for carrier operations, but it was completed too late for service in the First World War. After the Armistice, the T.1 was named the Cuckoo.

    In October 1916, Commodore Murray Sueter, the Air Department's Superintendent of Aircraft Construction, solicited Sopwith for a single-seat aircraft capable of carrying a 1,000 lb torpedo and sufficient fuel to provide an endurance of four hours. The resulting aircraft, designated T.1 by Sopwith, was a large, three-bay biplane. Because the T.1 was designed to operate from carrier decks, its wings were hinged to fold backwards. The T.1 could take off from a carrier deck in four seconds, but it was not capable of making a carrier landing and no arresting gear was fitted. A split-axle undercarriage allowed the aircraft to carry a 1,000 lb Mk. IX torpedo beneath the fuselage. The prototype T.1 first flew on 6th June 1917, powered by a 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba engine. Official trials commenced in July 1917 and the Admiralty issued production orders for 100 aircraft in August. Contractors Fairfield Engineering and Pegler & Company had no experience as aircraft manufacturers, however, resulting in substantial production delays. Moreover, the S.E.5a had priority for the limited supplies of the Hispano-Suiza 8. Redesign of the T.1 airframe to accommodate the heavier Sunbeam Arab incurred further delays.

    In February 1918, the Admiralty issued a production order to Blackburn Aircraft, an experienced aircraft manufacturer. Blackburn delivered its first T.1 in May 1918. The aircraft immediately experienced undercarriage and tail skid failures, requiring redesign of those components. The T.1 also required an enlarged rudder and offset vertical stabilizer to combat its tendency to swing to the right. Fairfield and Pegler finally began production in August and October, respectively. A total of 300 T.1s were ordered, but only 90 aircraft had been delivered by the Armistice. A total of 232 aircraft had been completed by the time production ended in 1919. Blackburn Aircraft produced 162 aircraft, while Fairfield Engineering completed 50 and Pegler & Company completed another 20. After the Armistice, many T.1s were delivered directly to storage depots at Renfrew and Newcastle.

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    After undergoing service trials at RAF East Fortune, the T.1 was recommended for squadron service. Deliveries to the Torpedo Aeroplane School at East Fortune commenced in early August 1918. Training took place in the Firth of Forth, where Cuckoos launched practice torpedoes at targets towed by destroyers. Cuckoos of No. 185 Squadron embarked on HMS Argus in November 1918, but hostilities ended before the aircraft could conduct any combat operations. In service, the aircraft was generally popular with pilots because the airframe was strong and water landings were safe. The T.1 was easy to control and was fully aerobatic without a torpedo payload. The Arab engine proved unsatisfactory, however, and approximately 20 T.1s were converted to use Wolseley Viper engines. These aircraft, later designated Cuckoo Mk. II, could be distinguished by the Viper's lower thrust line. The Arab-engined variant was designated Cuckoo Mk. I.

    The Cuckoo's operational career ended when the last unit to use the type, No. 210 Squadron, disbanded at Gosport on 1 April 1923. The Cuckoo was replaced in service by the Blackburn Dart. Throughout 1917, Commodore Sueter proposed plans for an aerial torpedo attack on the German High Seas Fleet at its base in Germany. The carriers HMS Argus, HMS Furious, and HMS Campania, and the converted cruisers HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious, would have launched 100 Cuckoos from the North Sea. In September 1917, Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, proposed a similar plan involving 120 Cuckoos launched from eight converted merchant vessels. Today, no complete Cuckoo airframe survives, but a set of Cuckoo Mk. I wings are preserved at the National Museum of Flight in Scotland.

    The End of the Zeppelins ?

    News just reaching us from within the German Air Service (apparently from June 1st) The German Army Airship Service is abolished. All their surviving Zeppelins are broken up or transferred to the Navy for operations over the Baltic.

    Staying with the war in the air there were some notable events on this day...

    Flight Lieutenant Fabian Pember Reeves (Royal Naval Air Service) is killed at age 21 (one of 12 airmen lost on this day). He is the son of the Fabian socialist and suffragist Magdalene Stuart Robinson. He is the 34th victim of the German Ace Werner Voss.

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    Voss vs. Pember-Reeves

    At the time (around mid-day) Reeves was flying a Nieuport, XVIIbis biplane (N3204), attached to 6 Naval Squadron. The five planes of the 6 Naval Squadron was under the command of Flight Commander Chris Draper and was escorting some FE2b’s on a line west and northwest of Cambrai.

    The British formation came across elements of Jasta 5, led by the legendary German fighter ace Werner Voss. The Germans had the advantage of height before swooping to attack. Draper (who would subsequently claim one enemy destroyed and another out of control during the engagement) later reported the Germans easily outnumbered his own command. Initially Voss would be credited for shooting down Reeves (his 34th victory of 48 kills), but after the war, eyewitness accounts from Draper would put doubt as to this being what actually happened. Reeves was seen to have been chased by a German fighter. “Reeves threw his Nieuport around the sky in his efforts to shake loose his tormentor but then his wings were seen to fold and peel away from his fuselage.” (Reeves would crash behind enemy lines). Whether Reeves was shot down by enemy machine gun fire or by the stresses induced by his own violent manoeuvring remains unclear. In Werner Voss’s own report, “he had gotten on to the tail of a Nieuport which, he sent spinning down into the British lines. (Reeves crashed behind German lines) It seems possible that Reeves simply broke up in the air and that Voss’s rather optimistic claim related to a dogfight with Draper who was forced to make a hurried exit to his own side by diving down to the safety of the British trenches, and from what I can tell, landed safely. Whether it was Reeves that Voss shot down or whether it was Draper that was chased back to British lines will always be the subject of debate. Who ever it was, they managed to slightly wound Voss and cause enough damage to his Albatros DIII that caused his own subsequent crash landing. Reeves remains were never recovered, he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the Missing in France. He was twenty-one years old.

    Flight Lieutenant Raymond Collishaw (Royal Naval Air Service) shoots down two Albatross scouts in flames and kills the pilot of a third. Flight Sub Lieutenant Ellis Vair Reid (Royal Naval Air Service) attacks and drives down one of four hostile scouts this machine dives nose first into the ground and is destroyed.

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    Lots of lovely 'Tripehounds' just look at the wing spacing on those....

    A total of 12 airmen were lost on this day...

    2nd Lt. Arbery, E.E. (Ernest Edward) 41 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Baylis, C.J. (Charles John) 42 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Cotterill, H.G.K. (Harold Gordon Knight) 35 Squadron RFC
    AC 2 Creasy, W. (William) RNAS Tresco Naval Air Station, St Mary's, Scilly Isles
    Lt. Devenish, G.W. (George Weston) 35 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Grevelink, E.J.Y. (Edward James Yzenhoed) 54 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Hamer, H. (Harold) 56 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Jacot, E. (Edward) 42 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Porter, S.F. (Stanley Fitzherbert) RFC
    Flight Lt. Reeves, F.P. (Fabian Pember) 6 (N) Squadron Royal Naval Air Service (see above)
    Major Sutcliffe, C.E. (Charles Elliott) 54 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt.Thomson, W.I. (Wardlaw Ivor) 27 Reserve Squadron RFC

    On the German side, today saw the loss of Leutnant Paul Bona of Jasta 1
    Bona was an ace with 6 accredited victories.

    The following aerial victories were claimed on this day...

    William Alexander Canada #3
    Raymond Collishaw Canada #15 #16 #17 (see above)
    Ellis Reid Canada #5
    Geoffrey Bowman England #3 #4
    Christopher Draper England #5 #6

    Capt. Robert Foster DFC England #1

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    Robert Mordaunt Foster attended Royal Military College, Camberley in 1914. He served with the Royal Fusiliers before he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. Posted to 54 Squadron in 1917, he scored his first victory flying the Sopwith Pup. Flying the Sopwith Camel in 1918, he claimed fifteen more enemy aircraft with 209 Squadron.

    James Hubert Ronald Green
    England #6
    Geoffrey Hemming England #2 #3
    Oliver Manners Sutton England #6

    Eugene Camplan France #1

    Wounded twice and pronounced unfit for further service in the infantry, Camplan joined the French Air Service on 28 August 1916. He scored his final victory and was wounded again during air combat with eight enemy aircraft on 1 August 1918

    Médaille Militaire
    "Pursuit pilot of bravery and indescribable spirit of devotion. Constantly giving proof of the highest military qualities. He particularly distinguished himself during the course of the latest operations by strafing enemy troops at a very low altitude, by attacking balloons, several times, and making long distance solo reconnaissances under particularly perilous conditions. He recently downed his fourth enemy plane. Two wounds. Three citations." Médaille Militaire citation

    Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur
    "Elite officer. Having been wounded twice in the infantry and rendered unfit for this service, he was trained as a pursuit pilot at his request, where for two years he has gained the admirations of all by his integrity, bravery and his absolute disdain of danger. He downed seven enemy planes and made numerous voluntary reconnaissances of long durations. Severely wounded while attacking eight enemy planes alone, he recovered and returned to his unit. Médaille Militaire for feats of war. Six citations." Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur citation

    Hermann Becker Germany #1

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    Becker entered the Fliegertruppe in 1916. After serving as an observer on the Eastern Front, he was trained as a pilot and sent to the Western Front to fly two-seaters. In May 1917, he was assigned to Jasta 12 as a single-seat fighting pilot. Becker scored his first victory on 6 June 1917, shooting down a Sopwith Pup southwest of Sains. On 16 June 1917, he was hospitalized for wounds received in combat with 60 Squadron, returning to action the following September. In May 1918, Becker assumed command of Jasta 12, replacing Ewald Blumenbach. On the afternoon of 3 November 1918, he scored his final victory, shooting down a SPAD XIII east of Joncq. During this dogfight, he and his men were credited with the loss of five SPADs. Although Becker was recommended for the Blue Max, the Kaiser's abdication prevented him from receiving it.

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    Rudolf Francke Germany #2
    Fritz Krebs Germany #3
    Otto Rosenfeld Germany #4
    Werner Voss Germany #34

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    Flavio Baracchini Italy #5
    Luigi Olivari Italy #8

    Malcolm McGregor New Zealand #1

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    A farmer from Hunterville, Malcolm Charles McGregor received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 3584 on a Curtiss Flying Boat at New Zealand Flying School, Kohimarama on 9 September 1916. Post-war, he was a frequent competitor in long distance air races. He was killed in a crash at the Wellington airport whilst trying to land during a gale.

    Yevgraph Kruten Russia #7

    Other news on this day...

    Western Front

    In attack north of Scarpe river British carry positions on Greenland Hill.

    Unsuccessful German attacks on Chemin des Dames front.

    Southern Front

    Further heavy fighting on Carso; no material change of front.

    Austrians claim 10,000 prisoners in last three days.

    Political, etc.

    Arrival in Greece of M. Jonnart, High Commissioner of the Protecting Powers.

    Collapse of Kronstadt revolt after negotiations with Provisional Government.

    Lord Northcliffe to go to U.S.A.

    The War at Sea

    USS Advance (1917) was an Advance-class patrol boat acquired by the United States Navy for the task of patrolling American coastal waters during the First World War. The third vessel to be named Advance by the Navy—a motorboat constructed for the U.S. Coast Guard in 1917 at North Tonawanda, New York, by the Richardson Boat Co. She was taken over by the Navy and commissioned on 6 June 1917. Advance was assigned to the 9th Naval District section patrol; and, although few documents recording her service have survived, she probably spent the entire period of America's involvement in World War I cruising the Great Lakes. The Coast Guard assumed custody of Advance on 28 August 1919; and, presumably, she continued duty on the Great Lakes. Coast Guard records reveal that, by 1 January 1923, her permanent duty station and base of operations was Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. On 6 November of that year, Advance was renamed AB-1. On 27 May 1924, the motorboat suffered a gasoline explosion, burned, and sank at Sault Ste. Marie. Raised and repaired, she returned to active service by 20 August. Four days later, she departed Sault Ste. Marie and proceeded to Chicago, Illinois. AB-1 spent the next 38 months based at Chicago and finally headed back to Sault Ste. Marie on 15 October 1927. She apparently passed the remainder of her Coast Guard career there.

    Capt. Tunstill's Men:

    Just after midnight 5th/6th June the delayed move into the front line, relieving 11th Northumberland Fusiliers opposite the Caterpillar, began. At 3am, with the Battalion still taking taken up their positions in the front line, the alarm was raised that the Germans were themselves massing for an attack. The Battalion was ordered to stand-to, but in the event no attack materialised and the remainder of the night and the whole day passed relatively peacefully, although the continued German shelling and especially their use of gas shells meant that the relief was not confirmed as complete until 9pm. All four companies occupied the front line in Coffee Trench, Woolley Walk and Leek Street, supported also by two Stokes Mortars, with a further four Stokes Mortars in support and ready to fire thermite in support of the advance. Battalion HQ, along with an ammunition dump, was established in Grand Fleet Street (I.34.b.50.80).

    With their orders for the day firmly established and reinforced down to an individual level the Battalion waited in the front line trenches for the attack to begin. They were supported also by two Lewis Gun sections detached from 11th Northumberland Fusiliers.

    One man is officially recorded as having been killed in action, although the precise circumstances are unknown. Pte. Samuel Sharp (see 16th January) was buried at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, but the location of his grave was lost in subsequent fighting; he is one of a large number of men who are now commemorated on special memorials in the cemetery. Cpl. Thomas Arthur Sturdy (see 5th April) suffered severe wounds to his left leg. Pte. Harry Walsh (see 11th January) was also wounded, suffering severe injuries to his back; he would be treated in hospital in France, though the precise details are unknown. It seems likely that Walsh had been wounded whilst on patrol with 2Lt. Vincent Edwards (see 17th March) who, writing years later, described what had happened, “I was told to discover whether the barbed wire in front of the enemy trenches had been properly demolished by our artillery, ready for us infantry to make the attack when Hill 60 was blown up. Accompanied by a private soldier I got out of our front trench (in darkness of course) and crawled with him towards the enemy trenches, there, about 30 yards away. Arriving safely near enough to view the condition of the enemy barbed wire, we saw that the artillery had done its job well enough. Returning, my companion suddenly received a bullet wound in his back. Strangely enough, no more shots were fired at us. After lying still for a time, I decided to get the man on to my back and crawl back to our lines. Using shell holes as cover, we at last arrived “home” after one of the most apprehensive journeys I had ever made”.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  24. #2474

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    Welcome back Chris.
    Nice first edition.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  25. #2475

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    Chris, did you mean 27 years before?

  26. #2476

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rebel View Post
    Chris, did you mean 27 years before?
    I can't count

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  27. #2477

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    7th June 1917

    Right lets start today with a bang, a bloody big bang, in fact the biggest single bang of the whole war....

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    It has been argued that the Battle of Messines was the most successful local operation of the war, certainly of the Western Front. Carried out by General Herbert Plumer's Second Army, it was launched on 7 June 1917 with the detonation of 19 underground mines underneath the German mines. The target of the offensive was the Messines Ridge, a natural stronghold southeast of Ypres, and a small German salient since late 1914. The attack was also a precursor to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele, decided upon by the British Commander-in-Chief Sir Douglas Haig following the collapse of the French Nivelle Offensive earlier in May 1917.

    General Plumer had begun plans to take the Messines Ridge a year early in early-1916. Meticulous in manner, Plumer preferred to plan for limited successes rather than gamble all on a significant breakthrough.

    In preparing for the Messines battle he had authorised the laying of 22 mine shafts underneath German lines all along the ridge, his plan being to detonate all 22 at zero hour at 03:10 on 7 June 1917, to be followed by infantry attacks so as to secure the ridge from the presumably dazed German defenders, the infantry heavily supported by the use of artillery bombardments, tanks and the use of gas. Work on laying the mines began some 18 months before zero hour. One mine, at Petite Douve Farm, was discovered by German counter miners on 24 August 1916 and destroyed. A further two mines close to Ploegsteert Wood were not exploded as they were outside the planned attack area. In the face of active German counter-mining, 8,000 metres of tunnel were constructed under German lines. Occasionally the tunnellers would encounter German counterparts engaged in the same task: underground hand to hand fighting would ensure. Heavy preliminary artillery bombardment of the German lines was begun on 21 May, involving 2,300 guns and 300 heavy mortars, ceasing at 02:50 on the morning of 7 June. The German troops, sensing imminent attack, rushed to their defensive positions, machine guns ready, meanwhile sending up flares to detect British movement towards the ridge.

    Silence prevailed for the following twenty minutes until, at 03:10, the order was given across the line to detonate the mines, which totalled 600 tons of explosive. Of the 21 mines laid 19 were exploded.

    "Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."

    Remark by General Plumer to his staff the evening before the attack

    “Three minutes to go.” Woodward recalled the countdown. While he and his fellow miners waited to see if their wiring would function, more than 80,000 infantrymen prepared to attack and bombard the ridge. The explosion would be their signal to advance. “Two to go – one to go – 45 seconds to go – 20 seconds to go – and then 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, – FIRE!!”

    For the following 19 seconds, Flanders shook in what would remain the largest man-made explosion until the birth of the nuclear bomb. Only two mines failed to explode. The book Beneath Flanders Fields: The Tunnellers’ War recounts how Field Marshal Haig had invited journalists to watch from the safety of nearby Kemmel Hill.

    Meanwhile, according to press reports, Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, was among those who heard the explosions in London. Later that morning, scientists arriving at the labs at Lille University would mistake them for an earthquake.

    “Our trench rocked like a ship in a strong sea and it seemed as if the very earth had been rent asunder,” Private Albert Johnson, one of the infantrymen, recalled. “What the Germans thought of this is better described without words.” Witnesses reported seeing clods the size of houses hurtling through the debris. When the earth settled, the “diameter of complete obliteration” was, on average, twice that of the blast craters themselves, the largest of which measured 80m wide and 15m deep.

    One British lieutenant reported finding in one crater no human remains larger than a single foot encased in its boot. “I saw a man flung out from behind a huge block of debris silhouetted against the sheet of flame,” Lieutenant AG May of the Machine Gun Corps wrote. “Presumably some poor devil of a Boche. It was awful; a sort of inferno.”

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    The invariable loss of surprise in the use of a preliminary bombardment was entirely offset by the effect of the mines, which blew the crest off the Messines-Wytschaete ridge. Audible in Dublin and by Lloyd George in his Downing Street study, the combined sound of the simultaneous mine explosions comprised the loudest man-made explosion until that point. The lighting up of the sky as the detonations ran across the ridge was likened to a 'pillar of fire'. The effect of the mine explosions upon the German defenders was devastating. Some 10,000 men were killed during the explosion alone. In its wake nine divisions of infantry advanced under protection of a creeping artillery barrage, tanks and gas attacks from the new Livens projectors which were designed to throw gas canisters directly into the enemy trenches. All initial objectives were taken within three hours. Reserves from General Gough's Fifth Army and the French First Army under Anthoine reached their own final objectives by mid-afternoon. German troops counter-attacked on 8 June, without success, in fact losing further ground as the attacks were repelled. German counter-attacks continued in diminishing form until 14 June: by this stage the entire Messines salient was in Allied hands. The Messines battle, which greatly boosted morale among the Allies, signified the first time on the Western Front that defensive casualties actually exceeded attacking losses: 25,000 against 17,000.

    Of the two mines which remained undetonated on 7 June, the details of their precise location were mislaid by the British following the war, to the discomfort of local townspeople. One of the mines was detonated in a thunderstorm on 17 June 1955: the only casualty was a dead cow. The second mine remains undetected, although in recent years its location is believed to have been pinpointed. No-one has as yet attempted its recovery.

    The 19 detonated mines were sited as follows:

    Name of Mine Charge (lbs) Crater Diameter
    Hill 60 A 53 500 191 feet
    Hill 60 B 70 000 260 feet
    St Eloi 95 600 176 feet
    Hollandscheschour 1 34 200 183 feet
    Hollandscheschour 2 14 900 105 feet
    Hollandscheschour 3 17 500 141 feet
    Petit Bois 1 30 000 175 feet
    Petit Bois 2 30 000 217 feet
    Maedelstede Farm 94 000 217 feet
    Peckham 87 000 240 feet
    Spanbroekmolen 91 000 250 feet
    Kruisstraat 1 30 000 235 feet
    Kruisstraat 4 19 500 (1 &4 linked explosions)
    Kruisstraat 2 30 000 217 feet
    Kruisstraat 3 30 000 202 feet
    Ontario Farm 60 000 200 feet
    Trench 127 Left 36 000 182 feet
    Trench 127 Right 50 000 210 feet
    Trench 122 Left 20 000 195 feet
    Trench 122 Right 40 000 228 feet

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    There were 5 Victoria Crosses awarded on this day to British and Empire troops...

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    Private John Carroll VC (16 August 1891 – 4 October 1971) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Born in Brisbane, Queensland to Irish parents, Carroll moved to Western Australia while still a child. He worked as a labourer and railway guard before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force as a private in April 1916. Joining the Australian 3rd Division, Carroll was originally a reinforcement for the West Australian 44th Battalion before moving to the New South Wales 33rd Battalion in November 1916.

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    On 7–12 June 1917 at St. Yves, Belgium, during the Battle of Messines, Private Carroll rushed the enemy's trench and bayoneted four of the occupants. He then noticed a comrade in difficulty and went to his assistance, killing another of the enemy. Next, he single-handedly attacked a machine-gun team, killing three of them and capturing the gun. Later, two of his comrades were buried by a shell; in spite of heavy shelling and machine-gun fire, he managed to rescue them.

    Carroll was later severely wounded at Passchendaele in October 1917. His rehabilitation was successful but after briefly returning to his unit, the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes, then in England, arranged for furlough to Australia for Victoria Cross recipients to help recruiting in Australia. It has been claimed that Carroll failed on three occasions to appear at Buckingham Palace for his Victoria Cross award ceremony and when he did turn up on the fourth occasion he took advantage of one of the entitlements of VC recipients to call out the Palace Guard. These stories first appeared in the Perth Daily News on 2 November 1927 and the source of the story would seem to be Carroll himself. He was in hospital after an industrial accident in which one of his feet was amputated. Just out of surgery and still in pain he was interviewed by a reporter who does not seem to have checked the veracity of the stories.

    Carroll died on 4 October 1971, at the age of 80, and is buried in Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth, Western Australia. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Medals: Victoria Cross, British War Medal, Victory Medal. The John Carroll ward at the former Repatriation General Hospital, Hollywood is named in his honour.

    Captain Samuel Frickleton VC (1 April 1891 – 6 August 1971) was a soldier in the New Zealand Military Forces who served with the New Zealand Military Forces during the First World War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in the Battle of Messines.

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    Frickleton was born on 1 April 1891 in Slamannan in Scotland, one of 11 children born to a coal-miner and his wife. He immigrated to New Zealand in 1913 and lived on the West Coast. He worked alongside four of his brothers in a coal mine in Blackball. Following the outbreak of the First World War, Frickleton joined the New Zealand Military Forces in February 1915 and volunteered to serve overseas with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). His four brothers had also volunteered for the NZEF.

    Frickleton embarked for the Middle East with the 5th Reinforcements with the rank of corporal in the Canterbury Battalion. After arriving in Egypt in June, he became ill and was repatriated back to New Zealand and subsequently discharged as medically unfit for active service. After a period of convalescence, he re-enlisted for the NZEF in 1916. He was posted to France as a rifleman in the 3rd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade. By March 1917, he had been promoted to corporal. On 7 June 1917, Frickleton participated in the Battle of Messines. His battalion was attacking the edge of Messines village when it was slowed by two machine gun posts. He was awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) for his actions in dealing with these posts. The citation for his VC read as follows:

    For most conspicuous bravery and determination when with attacking troops, which came under heavy fire and were checked. Although slightly wounded, Lance Corporal Frickleton dashed forward at the head of his section, rushed through a barrage and personally destroyed with bombs an enemy machine gun and crew, which were causing heavy casualties. He then attacked the second gun, killing the whole of the crew of twelve. By the destruction of these two guns he undoubtedly saved his own and other units from very severe casualties and his magnificent courage and gallantry ensured the capture of the objective. During the consolidation of the position he suffered a second severe wound. He set, throughout, a great example of heroism.

    Frickleton was wounded in the arm and hip and was badly gassed, which would affect his health for the remainder of his life. Evacuated to England for medical treatment, he was presented with his VC by King George V on 17 September 1917, in a ceremony at Glasgow. By then he was an acting sergeant, which was confirmed later that year. After a period of further hospitalisation, he was selected for and underwent officer training. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in March 1918 and returned to the Rifle Brigade. However, his health problems persisted and he was repatriated to New Zealand in June 1918. He was accorded a hero's welcome and a reception was held at the Auckland Town Hall in his honour. He would spend the remainder of the year under medical care. He was discharged from the NZEF in December 1918.

    Captain Robert Cuthbert Grieve VC (19 June 1889 – 4 October 1957) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross.

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    Born in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, to John and Annie Deas Grieve (née Brown), Grieve was educated at Caulfield Grammar School and then Wesley College. He became an interstate commercial traveller in the soft goods trade. After nine months service in the Victorian Rangers, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as a private on 9 June 1915. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 37th Battalion in January 1916, was promoted to lieutenant in May 1916, and after training in England, was promoted to captain in France in February 1917. In France he served at Armentičres, Bois-Grenier, L'Epinette, Ploegsteert Wood, Messines, La Basse Ville, and Warneton.He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Messines. The announcement and accompanying citation for the award was published in a supplement to the London Gazette of 31 July 1917, reading:

    On 7 June 1917 at Messines, Belgium, during an attack on the enemy's position, and after his own company had suffered very heavy casualties, Captain Grieve located two hostile machine-guns which were holding up his advance. Under continuous heavy fire from the two guns, he succeeded in bombing and killing the two gun crews, then reorganized the remnants of his own company and gained his original objective. Captain Grieve set a splendid example and when he finally fell, wounded, the position had been secured.

    Severely wounded in the shoulder by a sniper's bullet, Grieve was evacuated to England, and on recovery returned to his unit in October. However, due to subsequently suffering acute trench nephritis and double pneumonia, he was invalided to Australia in May 1918. On 7 August, at Scots Church, Sydney, he married Sister May Isabel Bowman of the Australian Army Nursing Service who had nursed him during his illness. Post-war he held the rank of captain in the Militia. He established the business of Grieve, Gardner & Co., soft-goods warehousemen, in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, and was managing director until 4 October 1957 when he died of cardiac failure. He was buried with military honours in Springvale cemetery. Grieve's medal was presented by his family to Wesley College in 1959, and has been lent to the Shrine of Remembrance, where it is on permanent display. Grieve was an active supporter of Wesley College for many years and contributed towards an annual scholarship. A home room at Wesley College is named in his honour.

    Commodore Ronald Niel Stuart VC, DSO, RD, RNR (26 August 1886 – 8 February 1954) was a British Merchant Navy commodore and Royal Navy captain who was highly commended following extensive and distinguished service at sea over a period of more than thirty-five years. During World War I he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, the French Croix de Guerre avec Palmes and the United States' Navy Cross for a series of daring operations he conducted while serving in the Royal Navy during the War at Sea.

    Stuart received his Victoria Cross following a ballot by the men under his command. This unusual method of selection was used after the Admiralty board was unable to choose which members of the crew deserved the honour after a desperate engagement between a Q-ship and a German submarine off the Irish coast. His later career included command of the liner RMS Empress of Britain and the management of the London office of a major transatlantic shipping company. Following his retirement in 1951, Stuart moved into his sister's cottage in Kent and died three years later. A sometimes irascible man, he was reportedly embarrassed by any fuss surrounding his celebrity and was known to exclaim "Mush!" at any demonstration of strong emotion

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    Ronald Niel Stuart was born in 1886 in Liverpool to Neil Stuart and Mary Harrison, both from experienced seafaring families. Neil Sr. had been born on Prince Edward Island in Canada and had met and married Mary in Montreal. She was the daughter of a master mariner from Australia. In the 1880s the family moved to Liverpool, where Stuart was born as the youngest of six children. Neil worked in the city as a dock superintendent and owner of a wholesale tea shop before dying suddenly while preparing for a return to the Merchant Navy. Stuart was by this time a stocky, blonde, blue-eyed man described as "powerful" but "very bleak and penetrating". He was initially educated at Shaw Street College, but following his father's death was forced to leave and take a job as a clerk in an office. Stuart's son commented that "He hated it [the job]. He hated Liverpool". In 1902, Stuart decided to leave the city and find work in a different environment. He took an apprenticeship with the shipping company Steele & Co and was sent to learn his trade on the sailing barque Kirkhill.In 1905 the Kirkhill was wrecked on a rock near the Falkland Islands. Stuart survived the sinking and returned to England to continue his training. He was posted to a new ship upon his return but she too was wrecked by a cyclone off the Florida coast. Eventually, after several years service he achieved his mariner's qualifications and gained a job with the Allan Line as a junior officer. He then served in a variety of sailing and steam ships traveling across most of the world. In 1910, the Allan Line was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Line and he continued working with the company's new owners as a junior ship's officer.

    At the outbreak of World War I Stuart was called up to service, as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve. He was originally posted as a junior officer on board the old and obsolete destroyer HMS Opossum in Plymouth. This ship was used for harbour patrols and intercepting neutral merchant ships and other work Stuart considered tedious. He became increasingly impatient with the life and repeatedly applied to his senior officers with requests for transfer; at one point he even requested that he be commissioned into the army. All of these were turned down, with increasing levels of hostility from his commanders, one of whom was reported to have told him to "Go to hell! And shut the door behind you!"

    In the spring of 1916 he was transferred as first lieutenant to a Q-ship under Gordon Campbell. A Q-ship was a merchant ship with hidden weaponry, commanded secretly by the navy and manned by a Royal Navy crew. When attacked by a submarine, the Q-ship would feign damage until the enemy was close enough to engage and then reveal its weapons to counter-attack. Campbell, a major proponent of Q-ship strategy, was impressed with Stuart's stubborn refusal to accept the two years of rejection and brought him in to replace an officer whose nerves had cracked under the strain of Q-ship operations.

    Stuart's experience in merchant shipping proved invaluable to his work and he soon had the crew of Q5 (also known as HMS Farnborough) disciplined and the ship well maintained and run. Campbell himself was very pleased with his executive officer, declaring him "on the top line".[4] Stuart and Campbell would later fall out over Stuart's belief that Campbell was exaggerating the danger of Q-ship service, Stuart comparing his own life favourably with service in the trenches.

    His first year of Q-ship service was frustrating for Stuart and the crew. Although, prior to his attachment to the ship, Farnborough had succeeded in sinking an enemy submarine (the U-68 in March 1916), there had been no successes since. In February 1917, Campbell decided that in order to properly invite an attack, the Farnborough would have to actually be torpedoed before combat and then engage the submarine as she closed to finish the job with shellfire. On 17 February this theory was proven correct off Southern Ireland when the lone Farnborough was struck by a torpedo fired at extreme range. Campbell intentionally failed to evade the missile and the ship took the blow in the hold, causing some minor injuries to the crew but serious damage to the ship. The crew were well rehearsed and the "panic party" took to their boats with a great show of alarm and disorder while the gun crews manned positions on their hidden weapons. When four lifeboats had been released and the ship had settled in the water and was clearly sinking, the submarine U-83 pulled up just ten yards (9m) from the wreck. A hail of shot was then unleashed by the Farnborough's remaining crew from their six-pounder gun and several machine guns into the stationary submarine. The very first shot decapitated the German captain Bruno Hoppe and the U-boat was rapidly reduced to a battered wreck. Eight German sailors escaped the submarine before it sank but only two could be pulled from the water, one of whom subsequently died from his wounds.

    The Farnborough too was sinking from her torpedo damage. Realising this, Campbell left the men in the boats, destroyed all confidential papers and radioed for help. His unorthodox message read: "Q5 slowly sinking respectfully wishes you goodbye". This message reached nearby naval shipping, and within an hour the destroyers HMS Narwhal and HMS Buttercup arrived and began to tow the stricken ship back to land. During the night a depth charge accidentally exploded on board Farnborough and the tow was dropped. Campbell ordered the twelve men remaining aboard into a lifeboat and attempted to take a final survey of his vessel, only to be driven back by another exploding depth charge. On returning to the rail he discovered that Stuart had disobeyed his order and remained on board, to make sure his captain disembarked safely. The tow was later reattached and the battered Farnborough beached at Mill Cove, in no fit state to return to sea. Campbell was awarded the Victoria Cross in recognition of his service in the action and Ł1,000 of prize money was shared among the crew. Stuart and Engineer-Lieutenant Len Loveless were both presented with the Distinguished Service Order.

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    Following the action Stuart remained with Campbell and Loveless as Inspectors of Shipping, choosing those vessels they believed to be best suited to Q-ship work for naval service. After some time ashore all three returned to sea in a vessel they had personally chosen, an old, battered tramp steamer named SS Vittoria. Renaming it HMS Pargust, they armed their vessel with a 4-inch (102 mm) gun, two twelve pounders, two machine guns, torpedo tubes and depth charges. Thus armed the Pargust departed on her first patrol to the same grounds where U-83 had been sunk, in the waters south of Ireland. For the first few days her duties consisted only of rescuing survivors from sunken cargo ships but with increasing German activity, an attack was expected at any moment. On 7 June 1917, Pargust was suddenly struck by a torpedo fired at very close range from an unseen German submarine.[14] Unlike the Farnborough action, the damage done to the Pargust was immense. The ship was holed close to the waterline, and its cover was almost blown when one of the twelve pounder gun ports was blasted free from its mounting; it was only the quick thinking of sailor William Williams, who took the full weight of the gun port on himself, that prevented the gun being exposed. One petty officer was killed and a number wounded.[15]

    By this stage in the war, the German submarine authorities had become aware of the existence of Q-ships and Captain Ernst Rosenow of UC-29 was taking no risks with his target, remaining at 400 yards (370 m) distance watching the staged panicked evacuation of the ship. While the hidden gun crews watched the enemy approach the lifeboats, the officer in charge of the boats, Lieutenant Francis Hereford, realised that the submarine would follow his movements, as its commander assumed him to be the captain. Hereford therefore ordered his men to row back towards the ship, thus luring the enemy into range. This made the submarine commander believe that the ship’s crew were planning to regain their vessel and he immediately closed to just 50 yards (46 m), surfaced and began angrily semaphoring to the "survivors" in the boats. This was exactly what the gun crews had been waiting for and a volley of fire was directed at the U-boat. Numerous holes were blown in the conning tower and the submarine desperately attempted to flee on the surface before slowing down and heeling over, trailing oil. The gun crews then stopped firing only for the submarine to suddenly restart its engines and attempt to escape. In a final barrage of fire the submarine was hit fatally, a large explosion blowing the vessel in two. Rosenow and 22 of his crew were killed, while two survivors were rescued by the panic party.

    The wrecked Pargust was taken in tow by HMS Crocus, USS Cushing and HMS Zinnia and reached Queenstown barely afloat nearly two days later. The port's admiral congratulated the crew personally on their arrival. As before, the crew were awarded Ł1,000 prize money and several awards were promised. Unusually, the Admiralty were unable to decide who among the ship's crew should receive the Victoria Cross as all were deemed to have participated in the action with equal valour. It was thus decided for the first time, under article 13 of the Victoria Cross's royal warrant,[14] that one officer and one enlisted man would be granted the award following a ballot by the ship's company. After the vote, from which Campbell abstained, the Victoria Crosses were awarded to Stuart and William Williams. Fourteen other crew members were awarded medals, including DSOs for Campbell and Hereford. In addition, every sailor had his participation in the action and subsequent ballot noted on his service records.

    Due to the official secrecy surrounding the activities of the Q-ships, Stuart's and Williams's Victoria Crosses were announced without fanfare or explanation of their actions; even the Pargust's name was omitted from the citation. The full account of the action was not published until after the armistice in November 1918.Stuart was noted as the first Anglo-Canadian to receive the Victoria Cross and his obituary later stated that in the action, "his gallantry stood out". The medal was presented to him in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace by King George V on 23 July 1917.

    Seaman William Williams VC, DSM & Bar (5 October 1890 – 22 October 1965), was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross. He was from Amlwch on Anglesey and at age 26 was serving as a seaman in the Royal Naval Reserve during the First World War when the following deed took place:

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    HMS Pargust (a Q ship) was out in the Atlantic Ocean when her engine room was damaged by a torpedo fired from the U-boat SM UC-29. The explosion loosened the gun covers and Seaman Williams, with great presence of mind, took the whole weight on himself and physically prevented the covers from falling and betraying the ship to the enemy.The Pargust's 'panic party', the decoy crew carried on every Q ship for the purpose of leaving it apparently abandoned when attacked, took to the lifeboats and the U-boat then surfaced, believing the Pargust to be a crewless and defenceless merchant vessel. When the U-boat was about 50 yards (46 m) away, the captain of HMS Pargust gave the order to fire and the submarine was blown up and sank. (see above)

    In the case of a gallant and daring act in which all men are deemed equally brave and deserving of the Victoria Cross a secret ballot is drawn. The crew of HMS Pargust selected William Williams to be the recipient of the award due to a rating in the action.

    The War in the Air

    22 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON THURSDAY JUNE 7TH 1917

    2nd Lt. Alger, G.C. (George Crosbie) 39 Training Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Cumming, A.L. (Alfred Lionel) 15 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Davies, G.A.H. (Gwynonfryn Albert Haydn) 45 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Dobson, A.E.J. (Arthur Edward John) 43 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Ferriman, F.S. (Frederick Samuel) 25 Squadron RFC
    Sergeant Gray, L. (Louis) 6 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Halliday, M.F.J. (Morrice Fredrick John) 6 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Harris, R.M. (Roland Milton) 60 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Hoey, F.C. (Frederick Cyril) RFC
    Capt. Jackson, H. (Harold) 41 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Jackson, J.B. (John Bell) 43 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Marshall, B.S. (Bernard Sanderson) 20 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Milliship, W.G. (William Griffin) 1 Squadron RFC
    Air Mech. 3rd Class Moore, H.B. (Herbert B.) RNAS
    2nd Lt. Ogden, P. (Percy) RFC
    Lt. Phillippo, A.J.C.E. (Arthur James Cecil Eyre) 6 Squadron RFC
    Flight Officer (prob.) Pitt, W.W. (Weston Ward) RNAS
    2nd Lt. Pollard, G.H. (George Herbert) 25 Squadron RFC
    Capt. Prior, L.P. (Leslie Percy) RFC
    Capt. Rutter, D.C. (Donald Campbell) 43 Squadron RFC

    The German ace Leutnant Ernst Wiessner of Jasta 18 was also killed on this day

    The following aerial victories were claimed on this day...

    Clive Brewster-Joske Australia #3
    Patrick Gordon Taylor Australia #2
    Raymond Collishaw Canada #18
    Albert Earl Godfrey Canada #6

    Capt. Conrad Tolendal Lally Canada #1 #2

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    Descended from French nobility, Conrad Tolendal Lally was the only child of Conrad Colthurst Whitley and Lucy Phedora (Wells) Lally. Educated at private schools and Upper Canada College, he opened and managed the first branch of the Imperial Bank of Canada at Banff in 1906. In 1908, he left banking and moved to Wainwright where he opened a general store with a partner. Active in civil affairs, he was mayor of Wainwright, Alberta when he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1915. He completed pilot training on 24 June 1916 and served as an instructor with 24 Squadron at Gosport. On 7 April 1917, he was promoted to Captain and posted to 25 Squadron. With this unit he scored five victories flying F.E.2d and D.H.4 two-seater aircraft before being wounded in action. Returning to England, he spent ten months in hospital. He was granted a short service commission to Flight Lieutenant on 12 December 1919 (cancelled 8 June 1920) and was transferred to the unemployed list on 10 January 1920. Post-war he returned home to Wainwright and, in 1923, became the town's first postmaster, a position he held until his death in 1941.

    In 2008, Conrad T. Lally's daughter, Joyce Lally, donated his personal military items and medals to the Air Force Museum of Alberta in Calgary where a number of his artifacts and medals are on display.

    Ellis Reid Canada #6
    John Andrews England #11
    Edric Broadberry England #6 #7
    James Martin Child England #3
    Thomas Gerrard England #9
    Harold Bolton Redler England #2
    Arthur Percival Foley Rhys Davids England #8
    Frederick Thayre England #20
    Paul Aue Germany #5 u/c
    Max von Müller Germany #15 #16
    Hans Oberlander Germany #2
    Gotthard Sachsenberg Germany #4 #5
    Ernst Wiessner Germany #5
    William Jameson Cairnes Ireland #3

    To close this somewhat lengthy edition we have Capt. Tunstill's Men who saw action in the BAttle of Messines on this day.

    The Battalion was formed up in their assault positions by 2.15am. Although there was bright moonlight this move was achieved without alerting the Germans and with no casualties. All of the men had been positioned as close to the front line as possible as it had been observed over the previous days that German artillery fire tended to fall in rear of the front line and this again proved to be the case. Ahead of the assault, as ordered, all the attacking troops crept out of their trenches and formed up, lying down in front of their trenches. At 3.09am the Battalion fixed bayonets and one minute later, at 3.10am, the explosion of nineteen mines heralded the start of the British attack and the Battalion, in common with other units all along the line began their assault on the German positions under the cover of a ferocious British artillery barrage.

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    In the first wave 2Lt. Bob Perks DSO (see 2nd June), in the absence of Capt. **** Bolton (see 4th June), led ‘A’ Company forward with Capt. James Christopher Bull (see 1st June) in command of ‘D’. In a letter home written a few days later Perks described the way in which the day unfolded.

    “We went over from the same trenches we had previously held. As the papers tell you, we went over at 3.10 am. It was a most marvellous business. After great work and trouble we had got ourselves into position in lines in the order we were to go over. My Company was first over the top. It was about 2.30 a.m. then and a beautiful moonlit night , and except for a few of our guns trying to keep up an ordinary fire that would persuade the Bosche nothing extraordinary was on the cards, all was quiet. We had to lie down on the ground to avoid being blown over by the shock of our own expected mines, and it was a most curious business waiting for you hardly knew what. At five past three, I gave the order to fix bayonets, and the air was tense with excitement. At ten minutes past exactly the earth shook twice and seemed to roll under us, and on our left there was a sudden shooting cloud of smoke and flame, and then two huge saucers brimming over with liquid flame. Almost at the same moment there was one long streak of lightning behind us and as far as you could see - our guns starting altogether. Then we were off into the noise and smoke in front of us with the devilish crackle of our machine guns behind and above us. There followed a groping towards the Bosche in front of us in the dust. Though it was almost impossible, and at any rate lacking, as we pushed on through the din and darkness until, suddenly it seemed, we found ourselves in daylight at our objective beyond the Bosche third line. We had followed our shelling, which had gone steadily on. They were still firing at a standstill now in front of us, but the infernal racket of the machine guns which had seemed to dominate it all, had ceased.

    Many of us had gone too quickly forward into our own shelling and some, I suppose, had met Bosche. But it was a triumphant party gathered there. I found that my experience was pretty general. I had only seen about two Bosche, who were not dead or running away well ahead of us. However, we had no time to talk. I had to report my position to the Commanding Officer and, more important, had to send out patrols to keep an eye on the Bosche and prepare a position to hold against any returning to the attack, for we were to be at least three hours before anyone else came up and went beyond us to form a protection between us and old Fritz. It was hard work for us, too. The excitement and hard work of the days of preparation and, most of all, the reaction after the excitement, din and work of the last hour told on us”.

    As indicated by Perks’ account, the early stages of the Battle of Messines had gone almost exactly according to the British plan. All along the front troops achieved their first phase objectives on time and with relatively light casualties. This was true for 10DWR in their assault against the Caterpillar as reflected in the report written by Maj. Charles Bathurst (see 3rd June): “Our barrage was perfect, and gave the infantry a great feeling of security. Men were heard to observe afterwards that they could have gone any distance behind that barrage. Our men advanced over "No-Man's-Land" and into the enemy's front line with very few casualties.”

    As planned the first wave had moved on through the first objective, ‘the red line’ and on to their second objective, ‘the blue line’, leaving isolated pockets of resistance to be dealt with by the second wave. The most notable resistance came from a German machine gun team located just beyond the Caterpillar, but this was “dealt with by rifle grenadiers and a few bold riflemen”. By 5.30am the ‘blue line’ was reported securely held.

    Although the initial assault had faced rather limited resistance from the Germans when it came to consolidating the gains the men were faced with an intensive German bombardment and it was reported that, “we suffered several casualties at this period”. However, patrols were being pushed out beyond the blue line to establish strongpoints in preparation for the second phase of the attack. At least one of these strongpoints had subsequently to be abandoned as it came under fire from the British barrage which was not timed to lift beyond the black line until 6.50am. It was not possible to call for an alteration in the barrage because, according to Maj. Bathurst, "The Artillery Liaison Officer was with me, but he was unable to assist in any way. It seemed to me that throughout this officer was wasted. He had no means of communication with the Artillery, and we had no means of communicating with Brigade except by runner.”

    This difficulty in altering the timing and location of the supporting barrage now created frustration for the men on the ground. The plan for the second phase of the attack called for a pause of more than three hours though Maj. Bathurst (like many others) reflected that, “In my opinion had we not had to pause in the blue line we could have secured the black line comparatively easily. The enemy was observed to be running away fast and was now putting up no opposition at all. Rifle fire and Lewis Gun fire were opened on him as he retired, and it was thought many casualties were inflicted on him.”

    The planned pause was, however, duly observed and it was 6.50am before men of 9th Yorkshires passed through the blue line to begin their assault. The delay had allowed time for the Germans to reorganise their defences and the resistance was much more stiff than that faced by the initial assault. However, in most places along the line the black line was successfully gained by the renewed British advance. One of the exceptions to this was at the southern edge of Battle Wood. Here 9th Yorkshires found their advance blocked by strongly-established German positions which had been excavated deep into a mound of spoil thrown up by the excavation of the Ypres-Comines Canal. The dugouts and machine gun posts within the spoil bank provided the Germans with a strong defensive position and further progress proved impossible. One platoon and a Stokes mortar from 10DWR were despatched to assist 9th Yorkshires but were unable to improve the situation to any degree, not least because the platoon lost their way and the Stokes mortar team had only limited ammunition available.

    By the evening of the 7th June 9th Yorkshires had been unable to advance any further and 10DWR was now ordered to dig in along the blue line which was to be held at all costs in the event that 9th Yorkshires should be driven back. They were to be assisted by men from the Royal Engineers and the Pioneer Battalions who had been brought forward to begin their work as early 10am. Maj. Bathurst duly positioned his men, along with all available Lewis guns and his remaining Stokes mortar in position so as to command all the low ground up to and beyond the black line. In spite of severe shelling by the Germans and a number of attempts by the Germans to counter-attack, the Battalion continued to hold these same positions through the rest of the day, which turned out to be extremely hot, overnight on 7th/8th, and into the following day. 2Lt. Perks recalled that, “It was getting hot, too, and we had then had no food since the night before, but we did carry on and also after the others had gone through us. It was a very weary Company that held that line amidst the shelling that afternoon, but still cheerful and very pleased with ourselves, and the prospect of a triumphant return after relief that night. But for some reason that was not to come, and we saw it get dark and light and dark again while we were still looking for signs of relief”.

    Overall, the Messines attack had been a remarkable success and had secured the vast majority of its objectives at a lower cost in casualties than had been anticipated. However, casualties among 10DWR were still considerable. In total one officer and 22 other ranks were confirmed killed in action and a further 16 other ranks were reported as missing in action.

    Among those killed was only one of Tunstill’s original recruits. Pte. Tom Greenwood (see 10th July 1916) had served with the Battalion since its formation and in July 1916 had written to the family of Pte. Tommy Cartman to relay news of his death. Tom Greenwood, according to one of his fellow Earby recruits, was “struck on the head by a piece of shrapnel and died instantly”. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.
    Last edited by Hedeby; 06-07-2017 at 14:54.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  28. #2478

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    Opened Chris. Apologies for delay.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  29. #2479

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    Great stuff, Chris - but only the first picture is visible; the rest are just "Attachments"
    I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!

  30. #2480

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    Phew - there was a lot of copy there for it to be FUBAR'd thankfully all tickety boo now. Thanks Neil

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  31. #2481

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Helmut View Post
    Great stuff, Chris - but only the first picture is visible; the rest are just "Attachments"
    you caught me mid edit Tim - should all be ok now

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  32. #2482

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hedeby View Post
    I can't count
    But I thought you were a banker; of course that now makes perfect sense!

  33. #2483

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rebel View Post
    But I thought you were a banker;
    Steady on!
    I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!

  34. #2484

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    Friday 8th June 1917

    Today we lost: 1,305

    Air Operations:


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 9


    A Mech 1 Brush, L.G. (Leonard George), 9 Squadron, RFC. Died of wounds aged 20. NFDK.

    A Mech 2 Cladish, S.L. (Stephen Leonard), Recruits Depot, RFC. Died of pneumonia aged 39.

    Flt Lt Culling, T.G. (Thomas Grey), 1 (N) Squadron, RNAS. Killed in Action aged 21. Took off in Sopwith Triplane N5491 on special mission 8 June 1917, shot down over Moorslede by Ltn. Mettlich of Jasta 8.

    Lt Game, H.J. (Hubert John), 53 Training Squadron, RFC. Killed whilst flying aged 26. NFDK.

    2Lt MacGregor, T.C.S. (Thomas Charles Stuart), 53 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 20. NFDK.

    2Lt Robertson, A.G. (Archibald Garden), 66 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action when aeroplane collided with that of fellow member of 66 Squadron, 2nd Lt A V Shirley, aged 19.

    2Lt Shirley, A.V. (Archibald Vincent), 66 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action when aeroplane collided with that of fellow member of 66 Squadron, 2Lt Robertson, A.G., aged 30.

    2Lt Spooner, R.W. (Raymond Wilberforce), 53 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 25. NFDK.

    Flt S-Lt Swinburne, T.R. (Thomas Reid), 1 (N) Squadron, RNAS, aged 19. NFDK.

    Claims: 13 confirmed (Entente 9 : Central Powers 4)

    Pavel Argeyev #5th confirmed victory. (Russia)
    William Bishop #26th ‘confirmed victory’.
    Reginald Hodge #9th confirmed victory.
    Phillip Fletcher Fullard #5th confirmed victory.
    Tom Hazell #8th confirmed victory.
    Aleksandr Kozakov #15th confirmed victory. (Russia)
    William Kennedy-Cochrane-Patrick #13th confirmed victory.

    Lt Sydney Leo George "Poppy" Pope claims his 1st confirmed victory with 60 Squadron, RFC. Flying a Nieuport he shot down an Albatros C type near Vitry. Sydney Leo George Pope was an officer cadet at Inns of Court; 2/Lt. Royal Flying Corps May, 1916; with 60 Squadron April, 1917 to Nov., 1917. Flying Nieuport Scouts and the SE5a, Pope scored 6 victories before he was wounded in action and forced down near St. Julien on 18 November 1917.

    Harold Stackard #3rd confirmed victory.


    Hermann Goring #8th confirmed victory.

    OLt zur See Konrad Mettlich claims his 1st & 2nd confirmed victories with Jasta 8, shooting down 2 Sopwith Pups near Moorslede. Mettlich assumed command of Jasta 8 on 29 July 1917. He was killed in action when his Albatros DV was shot down over Remaucourt by Percy Hobson.

    Max von Muller #17th confirmed victory.

    Western Front


    Brigadier General Charles Henry Jeffries Brown DSO General Officer Commanding 1st New Zealand Brigade, New Zealand Division (New Zealand Staff Corps) is killed in action at Messines. He is killed by a shell while talking to the Divisional Commander Major General Russell near the Moulin de l’Hospice.

    General Pershing and staff arrive in England.


    Repulse of German counter-attacks east of Messines ridge.


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    On 7 June 1917 the British Commander-in-Chief, General Haig, launched the first phase of an offensive which had the objective to break out of the Ypres Salient and also to relieve the pressure on the weakened French Army after the Nivelle Offensive. This was the Battle of Messines (7 - 14 June 1917). The launch of the infantry assault was preceded by the explosion of 19 huge mines under the German Front Line along the ridge of high ground, the Wyteschaete Ridge, south of Ypres. Preparations for an attack on the ridge had been carried out since early in 1916. German senior commanders did not heed warnings by some commanders in the field that the British might be carrying out significant mining operations, and, fortunately for the British, the German Front Line was not withdrawn to the eastern part of the ridge. The attack was successful in pushing the German Front Line off the Wyteschaete Ridge.

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    British soldier wearing German helmet moves shells on 8th June

    Operations to re-take the Oosttaverne line in the II Anzac Corps area started at 3:00 a.m. on 8 June.
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    At 3:00 a.m. on 8 June, the British attack to regain the Oosttaverne line from the river Douve to the Warneton road found few German garrisons as it was occupied. German artillery south of the Lys, heavily bombarded the southern slopes of the ridge and caused considerable losses among Anzac troops pinned there. Ignorance of the situation north of the Warneton road continued; a reserve battalion was sent to reinforce the 49th Australian Battalion near the Blauwepoortbeek for the 3:00 a.m. attack, which did not take place. The 4th Australian Division commander, Major-General William Holmes, went forward at 4:00 a.m. and finally clarified the situation. New orders instructed the 33rd Brigade (11th Division) to side-step to the right and relieve the 52nd Australian Battalion, which at dusk would move to the south and join the 49th Australian Battalion for the attack into the gap at the Blauwepoortbeek. All went well until observers on the ridge saw the 52nd Australian Battalion withdrawing, mistook it for a German counter-attack and called for an SOS bombardment. German observers in the valley saw troops from the 33rd Brigade moving into the area to relieve the Australian Battalion, mistook them for an attacking force and also called for an SOS bombardment. The area was deluged with artillery fire from both sides for two hours, causing many casualties and the attack was postponed until 9 June.

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    Smiling German prisoner of war captured on the 8th June.

    Confusion had been caused by the original attacking divisions on the ridge, having control over the artillery which covered the area occupied by the reserve divisions down the eastern slope. The arrangement had been intended to protect the ridge from large German counter-attacks, which might force the reserve divisions back up the slope. The mistaken bombardments of friendly troops ended late on 9 June, when the New Zealand, 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) divisions were withdrawn into reserve and the normal corps organisation was restored; anticipated large German counter-attacks had not occurred.

    Big British raids near Lens.


    Tunstills Men Friday 8th June 1917:


    Support trenches (“Blue Line”) in Battle Wood I.35.c.6.7. to I.35.d.8.7.


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    The weather remained fine and hot and the Battalion maintained the positions which had been established the previous day. German shelling continued. 2Lt. Bob Perks DSO (see 7th June) described conditions in a letter written just a few days later. He considered the days in the front line here as, “the worst I ever spent. Already exhausted, they had to keep us there all the time with scanty food and very little water. The nights were too cold to sleep and the days so hot that out in the open as we were, the sun almost made you ill. The Bosche discovered us, woke up, and shelled us intermittently and at times very heavily. Our numbers got less, while the awful strain of the whole thing, particularly the uncertainty as to the next moment, got worse”.

    The young Battalion Signalling Officer, 2Lt. Harold Watthews (see 1st April), was killed in action having established an advanced signals post where most of his party of 35 men also became casualties. His body was originally buried, but the location of his grave was lost in subsequent fighting and he is now commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.

    Sgt. Charles Smith (11791) (see 17th June 1916) died of wounds while in the care of 69th Field Ambulance; he was buried at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, but his grave, along with several others, was destroyed by artillery fire and he is now commemorated on one of the special memorials in the cemetery. Pte. Henry Downs (see 16th January) also died at 69th Field Ambulance but he would be buried at Hop Store Cemetery near Brandhoek, west of Ypres. Ptes. Charlie Long (see 17th March) and Maurice Stead Hodgson (see 19th December 1916) were also killed in action; both have no known grave and are commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.

    Cpl. James Edward Kaye was severely wounded and evacuated to 17th Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Sidings. He was 22 years old and from Huddersfield, where he had worked in the textile mills; it is unclear when he had joined the Battalion. Pte. Ernest William Evans (see 14th May) suffered wounds to his left hip and abdomen; he was evacuated to one of the Casualty Clearing Stations at Remy Sidings. Pte. Henry Charles Lindsay (see 11th January) was also wounded; the details of his injuries are unknown, but he would be evacuated to England for further treatment. Pte. Harold Pape (see 16th January) suffered severe head wounds and was evacuated, via 4th London Ambulance, to no.17 Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Sidings. Pte. Victor Race (see 7th June) suffered a minor wound, but remained at duty. Pte. Samuel Woodhead (see 5th June) suffered severe head wounds and was evacuated to one of the Casualty Clearing Stations at Remy Sidings.

    A number of men who had apparently been wounded the previous day and evacuated to the various Casualty Clearing Stations at Remy Sidings died of their wounds and would be buried at the adjacent Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. CSM James Davis MM (see 7th June), was regarded by his Company Commander, Capt. **** Bolton (see 7th June), as ‘one of the best’. Pte. George Berthelemy died at 17th Casualty Clearing Station; he was an original member of the Battalion. He was 30 years old, from London, and had worked as a kitchen porter before the war. Pte. Arnold Crossley (see 7th June) had suffered severe chest wounds; he died at 17th Casualty Clearing Station. Pte. George Holmes died at 10th Casualty Clearing Station. Like Berthelemy he was also an original member of the Battalion; he was 33 years old and from Rochdale. Pte. Herbert Smith (200022) died at 2nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station; he was a 31 year-old married man from Southowram, Halifax; it is not clear when he had joined 10DWR. Pte. Harry Read (see 20th February) who had been severely wounded the previous day and evacuated to 69th Field Ambulance, died and would be buried at Hop Store Cemetery near Brandoek, west of Ypres.

    Following the casualties suffered on the previous day, there were a series of promotions. Sgt. Bob Harrison (see 4th October 1916) was promoted Company Sergeant Major, ‘A’ Company, in place of CSM James Davis MM (see above). LSgt. Thomas Walsh (see 6th October) was promoted Acting Sergeant. L.Cpl. Harry Raistrick (see 29th April) was promoted Corporal. LCpls. Clarence Best (see 5th May); Horace Dunn (see 16th May) and Arthur Lund (see 29th May), began to be paid according to their rank, having previously held the rank unpaid.

    Pte. Patrick Sweeney (see 24th May) was reported absent from tattoo. His absence was reported by CSM Cook (I am currently unable to make a positive identification of this man), Sgt. Harry Holmes (see 5th May) and Cpl. George Wallace Fricker (see 16th May).

    Pte. Ernest Needham (see 19th May) reported sick, suffering from a high temperature (‘NYD pyrexia’); he was admitted to 71st Field Ambulance.

    Capt. James Christopher Bull (see 7th June) and Lt. Philip Howard Morris (see 7th June), both of whom had been wounded the previous day, were evacuated to England from 10th Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Sidings. They would travel from Boulogne to Dover onboard the hospital ship St. Andrew, and on arrival in England both would be admitted to 4th London General Hospital, Denmark Hill.

    Sgt. John William Wardman (see 24th January) re-joined the Battalion; he had been away from active service for the previous six months, having spent some time in hospital and then having remained at 34th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples since 24th January.

    Pte. Harold Dale (see 28th May), who had been away from the Battalion for the previous six weeks, now reported for duty from no.34 Infantry Base Depot at Etaples.

    With a little time to reflect on events Brig. Genl. Lambert (see 4th June) wrote home to his wife;

    “Just a line to tell you that we have had another big success all along the line of which you will see in the papers a full account in due course. The sight of our mines was wonderful and some day I may be able to tell you more about it all. The Brigade as usual was splendid, particularly the 8th, 10th and 11th, who formed the first line and went over the top like lions. We have taken some hundreds of prisoners, a number of machine guns, trench mortars etc and the famous salient is now one no longer. I took the precaution to get some sleep beforehand but we all had a busy day. We are still living in a deep, dank, moist tunnel and my knee is very rheumatic but not painful. One lives in perspiration and slush but the place is an excellent one. Of course we have had casualties … but happily the wounded are far more numerous than the killed and there is no doubt we did in a grand number of Huns. … Everyone is in good spirits over it all … A prisoner told us they had just discovered our coming attack and his pal was telephoning to Battalion HQ about it five minutes before the mines went off!!”

    Cpl. Christopher John Kelly (see 2nd December 1916), who had been serving with 83rd Training Reserve Battalion in Gateshead, was transferred to the Army Reserve Class W and released to return to his pre-war employment as a limestone quarryman at the Swinden Lime Works near Skipton. He was then living at Bridge End, Settle.

    2Lt. Frederick Millward MC (see 12th January), who had been severely injured during the trench raid carried out in November 1916 and had had his right leg amputated above the knee, appeared before an Army Medical Board assembled in London. The Board found that his wounds were now all healed and that his stump was now sufficiently healed for him to be provided with an artificial leg. His case was ordered to be reviewed again in six months’ time.

    The weekly edition of the Craven Herald carried a number of reports relating to men connected with 10DWR.

    BRADLEY - Memorial Service

    On Sunday afternoon, at the Primitive Methodist Chapel, a memorial service was held in memory of Sergeant John (Jack) Hudson (see 1st June) , whose death was reported in last week's issue. The service was conducted by Mr. W.J. Mitchell and Mr. John Gill. Two solos - 'Jesu Lover' and 'Rock of Ages' - were sung by Misses Hilda Benny and Maggie Chapman.

    A SKIPTONIAN’S PROMOTION

    Mr. Norman Roberts (see 28th May), eldest son of Mr. Edwin Roberts, Newtown, Skipton, has successfully passed his examination for a commission in the army and will be gazetted in due course. He has been in the thick of some of the most strenuous fighting on the Western Front, and thoroughly deserves his promotion.

    GREEN - May 29th 1917, in the 3rd Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne, from wounds received in action on the Western Front, Private Jacob Carradice Green (see 31st May), West Riding Regiment, one of the six soldier sons of Mrs. Green, 10, Greenfield Street, Skipton, aged 23 years.

    SKIPTON'S ROLL OF HONOUR - PRIVATE JACOB CARRADICE GREEN: A Strange Presentiment

    We regret to say that Private Jacob Carradice Green, West Riding Regiment, one of the six soldier sons of Mrs. Green, 10, Greenfield Street, Broughton Road, Skipton, died on May 29th in the 3rd Canadian General Hospital, Boulogne, from gunshot wounds in the left thigh. In a letter to Mrs. Green, Major A.L. Burch, a chaplain, states:- "I exceedingly regret to have to write that your son died here today (May 29th) at 6 o'clock. He will be buried with military honours on the 31st in the military cemetery at Boulogne." After an operation on May 23rd, Pte. Green wrote home to the effect that he was going on as well as could be expected. "I got wounded on Sunday night," he added, "with a machine gun bullet and arrived at the hospital on Tuesday morning. I went under X-rays and the operation on Wednesday. They managed to get the bullet, which had entered the left thigh and gone into the hipbone. It seems strange, but I told my mates two months ago that there was a 'Blighty' waiting for me sometime in May."

    Twenty-three years of age, Pte. Green enlisted in January 1916, and had been in France since last July. In civil life he was a carter in the employ of Mr. T. Duckett, contractor, Skipton, and at one time was a playing member of the Niffany Rovers Football Club.

    Five other sons of Mrs. Green are serving in the Forces - Private John Thos. Green, Sergeant Albert Edward Green (both with the West Ridings), Pte. James Green (Tyneside Scottish), Driver William Henry Green (R.F.A.), all of whom are in France, and Lance-Corporal Fred Green (Training Reserve Battalion), at present in England. Pte. James Green was wounded in the early part of the year in the back, thigh, and leg, but he is now back in the trenches

    The weekly edition of the Clitheroe Times reported on the death the younger brother of the late Ptes. Edwin and Walter Isherwood (see 2nd June);

    The hand of death has again been laid on the family of Mrs. Isherwood, Foulscales Farm, Newton, who last week lost another son, her youngest, Albert, at the age of 17 years. The interment took place at Slaidburn Church, on Saturday. Much sympathy is felt for the mother and family, of which the war has claimed two sons as victims.

    Southern Front:

    Italians occupy Jannina (Greek Epirus).

    10th Battle of the Isonzo ends
    :
    The Italians allocated 28 divisions, of the Third Army and the Gorizia Command to the fighting, supported by 1,058 heavy guns and 1,320 field guns. The Austrian Fifth Army contained only 11 divisions, supported by 1,400 guns.

    At the end of the battle the Italians had suffered 157,000 casualties (including 27,000 men taken prisoner), while the Austrians had suffered 75,700 casualties (including 23,400 prisoners). The eleventh battle would come close to breaking the Austrian army, forcing them to call in German aid. In turn the Germans would come close to breaking the Italian armies during the battle of Caporetto.

    Naval Operations:

    Shipping Losses: 18 (All to U-Boat action)


    Anniversary Events:

    452 Attila the Hun invades Italy.
    632 Muhammed, the founder of Islam and unifier of Arabia, dies.
    793 The Vikings raid the Northumbrian coast of England.
    1861 Tennessee votes to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.
    1862 The Army of the Potomac defeats Confederate forces at Battle of Cross Keys, Virginia.
    1863 Residents of Vicksburg flee into caves as General Ulysses S. Grant ‘s army begins shelling the town.
    1866 Prussia annexes the region of Holstein.
    1904 U.S. Marines land in Tangiers, Morocco, to protect U.S. citizens.
    1908 King Edward VII of England visits Czar Nicholas II of Russia in an effort to improve relations between the two countries.
    1915 William Jennings Bryan quits as Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson.


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    DOCTOR: "Your throat is in a very bad state. Have you ever tried gargling with salt water?"

    SKIPPER: "Yus, I've been torpedoed six times."
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 06-07-2017 at 23:44.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  35. #2485

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    Chris will be back tomorrow.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  36. #2486

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    Indeed I will (or am)

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  37. #2487

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    June 9th 1917

    Lets start today with the loss of a a pair of British Air Aces...

    Captain Frederick James Harry Thayre MC and Bar (20 October 1894 – 9 June 1917) was a British two-seater flying ace in World War I who, in conjunction with his observer-gunners, was credited with twenty aerial victories.

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    Thayre was born in London on 20 October 1894. He lived in Littlehampton, Sussex, before the war. Thayre learned to fly as a civilian, being granted Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 1478 on 29 July 1915, after soloing a Maurice Farman biplane at the Military School at Brooklands, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Flying Corps the same day. On completion of his military flight training he was appointed a flying officer on 29 December 1915,[and was confirmed in his rank on 12 January 1916.

    Thayre first flew operationally with No. 16 Squadron RFC in France, in B.E.2 two-seater aircraft, gaining his first victory on 18 March 1916 when his observer, Lieutenant C. R. Davidson, shot down an attacking German Fokker E.III fighter aircraft. On 30 April he received a mention in despatches for his "gallant and distinguished conduct in the field" from General Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in France. On 10 July, Thayre was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain, and on 1 September, he was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant. Thayre was later posted to No. 20 Squadron, flying F.E.2d aircraft. He teamed up with Francis Cubbon, with whom he claimed two victories on 29 April 1917. On 1 May, the duo shot down an Albatros two-seater of FA 6, killing its crew of two, while on 3 May 1917 Thayre and Cubbon engaged twenty-six Albatros D.III scouts, claiming two enemy aircraft shot down. At last, having exhausted their machine gun ammunition in that fight, Thayre and Cubbon used their automatic pistols as weapons of last resort.

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    They would score fifteen victories together during the course of May 1917. When Britain's leading ace, Albert Ball crashed to his death on 7 May, Thayre found himself lagging only his own gunner, Cubbon, and Billy Bishop in the ace race of the Royal Flying Corps.
    On 7 June, Thayre and Cubbon shot down and killed the five-victory ace Leutnant Weissner of Jasta 18. On 9 June 1917, their F.E.2d aircraft, No. A6430, received a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire from K Flak Battery 60 near Warneton and both men were killed. The nineteen victories they shared included five D.IIIs shot down in flames, eleven destroyed, an Albatros C reconnaissance two-seater set afire, and another destroyed. Another D.III was driven down out of control. To that, Thayre added his victory with Davidson—a Fokker E.III fighter destroyed. Along with his gunner Cubbon, Thayre was posthumously awarded the Military Cross, and a Bar in lieu of a second award, on 18 July 1917.

    Captain Francis Richard Cubbon MC and Bar was an aerial observer and flying ace in the First World War. In conjunction with his pilots, he was credited with 21 aerial victories.

    Francis Richard Cubbon was the only surviving son of his parents' marriage. His father was Captain Richard Cubbon, a supply and transport officer of the Indian Army. Cubbon was born in London, but spent most of his youth in Poona, India. The young Cubbon was educated at Alleyn's School and Dulwich College before attending and graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.He was posted to the Indian Army as a second lieutenant on 6 September 1911.His first assignment was to the York and Lancaster Regiment in Karachi. He subsequently was appointed to the 72nd Punjabis on the North-western Frontier of India, on 1 December 1912.He was promoted to lieutenant on 6 December 1913, and to captain on 6 September 1915. In November 1915, he was invalided home.

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    Like so many invalided and convalescent land soldiers of the First World War, Cubbon volunteered for flight duty and was accepted as an observer on 25 March 1917. By Bloody April, 1917, he was assigned to 20 Squadron as an observer in Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2s.Frederick Libby, the United States of America's first ace, gave a vivid description of an observer's duties aboard the aircraft that was an incremental development of the pre-1914 Farman Experimental:

    When you stood up to shoot, all of you from the knees up was exposed to the elements. There was no belt to hold you. Only your grip on the gun and the sides of the nacelle stood between you and eternity. Toward the front of the nacelle was a hollow steel rod with a swivel mount to which the gun was anchored. This gun covered a huge field of fire forward. Between the observer and the pilot a second gun was mounted, for firing over the F.E.2d's upper wing to protect the aircraft from rear attack ... Adjusting and shooting this gun required that you stand right up out of the nacelle with your feet on the nacelle coaming. You had nothing to worry about except being blown out of the aircraft by the blast of air or tossed out bodily if the pilot made a wrong move. There were no parachutes and no belts. No wonder they needed observers.

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    And Libby did not even mention the hazards of spilling overboard with a propeller chopping along behind the crew. Cubbon scored two victories on 24 April 1917 with Lieutenant R. E. Johnson in F.E.2 number A6392. He then flew with Captain Frederick Thayre for the next six weeks and claimed some nineteen victories. Seventeen of these were over German Albatros D.III single-seated fighters. Upon Captain Albert Ball's death on 7 May, Cubbon became the second ranking ace of the Royal Flying Corps. On 9 June, two days after scoring their final victory together, Cubbon and Thayre attacked an Albatros two-seater and sent it down in a smoking nose dive. They were then killed in action by a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire from K Flak Battery 60 near Warneton. A German message drop confirmed their deaths to the British authorities, but their graves remain undiscovered.

    The nineteen victories shared included five Albatros D.IIIs shot down in flames and eleven destroyed, an Albatros reconnaissance two-seater in flames and another destroyed. Another D.III was claimed driven down 'out of control'. Cubbon also added his two victories with Johnson—a D.III destroyed and one 'out of control'. Cubbon received both the Military Cross on 11 May and a Bar in lieu of a second award on the 16th,[13] both being gazetted posthumously on 18 July 1918

    Other airmen to fall on this day were...

    Flt. Sub Lt. Chuter, J.W. (John William "Jack") 'D' Squadron, 2 (N) Wing RNAS
    2nd Lt. Green, C.L. (Charles Layton) 53 Squadron RFC
    Sub Lt. Henton, A.W. (Aubrey Warner) H.M.S. 'Ark Royal' and 'D' Squadron, 2 (N) Wing, Stavros
    2nd Lt. Higgs, L.H. (Lucien Herbert) 5 Training Squadron RFC


    There were a few aerial victories claimed on this day...

    Richard Trevethan England #2
    Kurt-Bertram von Döring Germany #3
    Rudolf Francke Germany #3
    Tom Hazell Ireland #9

    William Charles Campbell DSO, MC & Bar Scotland #6 #7 #8

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    William Charles Campbell joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant (on probation) on 10 August 1916 and received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 3806 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Ruislip on 1 November 1916. Posted to 1 Squadron in May 1917, he scored twenty-three victories flying Nieuport scouts, all in just three months. Campbell was the first Royal Flying Corps pilot to shoot down five enemy observation balloons. Wounded in action on 31 July 1917, he returned to England and became an instructor. On this day his triple victory earned him a bar to his Military Cross...

    2nd Lt. William Charles Campbell, M.C., R.F.C., Spec. Res.
    For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He has repeatedly shown great fearlessness and skill in attacking and destroying enemy aircraft, on one occasion destroying three within one hour. He has also attacked and dispersed enemy troops from a low altitude, at all times showing the utmost disregard of personal safety.

    On this day 925 British lives were lost

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain and pilot Frederick James Harry Thayre MC (Royal Flying Corps) is killed in action at age 22. He is a 20-victory ace while his gunner Captain Francis Richard Cubbon MC a 19-victory ace is killed at age 24. (see above)
    Captain Clive Alan Whittingham (Royal Army Medical Corps) dies of shell wounds received at Messines at Battalion Headquarters at age 24. He is the brother of Air Marshal ‘Sir’ Harold Whittingham and son of Engineer Rear Admiral William Whittington.
    Lieutenant Victor Richardson (Sussex Regiment attached King’s Royal Rifle Corps) dies of wounds in London received in the attack on “The Harp” east of Arras on 9 April. The 22-year old is a friend of Vera Brittain, who will become a famous writer.
    Second Lieutenant Robert Anthony Barton (Australian Infantry) is killed attacking a German pillbox at Messines Ridge at age 32. His brother was killed last August.
    Company Sergeant Major J B Cross (Canadian Machine Gun Corps) is killed at Arras. His brother was killed in April 1915.
    Lance Corporal William Tomlinson (York and Lancaster Regiment) is killed at age 32. His two brothers were killed late last year.
    Private Thomas Flynn (York and Lancaster Regiment) is killed at age 22. His twin brother will be killed in October.
    Private Herbert Alexander Bice (Australian Infantry) is killed in action two weeks after his brother died in England.
    Private Andrew Mochrie (Cameronians) is killed at age 28. His three younger brothers were all killed serving in different Regiments on 25 September 1915.

    The War at Sea

    S S Harbury (Master William Craig age 56) is torpedoed and sunk 170 miles west of Ushanti. The crew of 12 including her Master is lost. SS Harbury, built by Sunderland Shipbuilding. Co. Ltd., Sunderland in 1913 and owned at the time of her loss by J. & C. Harrison Ltd., London, was a British steamer of 4572 tons. On June 9th, 1917, Harbury, on a voyage from Buenos Aires to Brest with a cargo of oats & maize, was sunk by the German submarine U-70 (Otto Wünsche), 170 miles W1/2N of Ushant (Ouessant). 12 persons were lost.

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    Political, etc.


    Spanish Cabinet resigns.

    Russian Soviet rejects German wireless proposal for unlimited armistice.

    Captain Tunstill's Men: The weather was again fine and hot and the Battalion continued to hold the new front and support lines which had been established on 7th June. In the evening two Companies were moved forward to relieve 9th Yorkshires from the new front line, occupying, “a series of strong points small posts well dug in”; the new front line was roughly on the line from I.35.d.3.0. to I.35.d.9.5. The remaining two Companies continued to hold the blue line defences. This move was accomplished successfully in the face of great difficulty and Maj. Charles Bathurst (see 7th June) would subsequently be awarded the Military Cross in recognition of his, “coolness and exceptional judgement in action … he was able, in spite of heavy casualties and severe fighting, to take over the frontage of another battalion at a time of difficulty and anxiety. His skilful leadership and power of control were most marked throughout the operation”.

    Pte. Herbert Hodgkins (see 13th April) was killed in action; he was originally buried but the site of his grave was lost in subsequent fighting and he is now commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.

    Three men who had been wounded the previous day died of their wounds at 17th Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Sidings; all three would be buried in the adjacent Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. Cpl. James Edward Kaye (see 8th June) and Ptes. Harold Pape (see 8th June) and Samuel Woodhead (see 8th June) had all suffered severe head wounds. One of the staff from the CCS wrote to Woodhead’s wife, “Dear Madam, – I am very sorry to have to tell you that your husband was brought to hospital yesterday dangerously wounded in the head. Everything possible was done to relieve him, but he died at 4p.m. this afternoon, never being conscious since admission. Tomorrow at 2 o’clock he will be buried in the military cemetery at Remy. There will be a cross placed on his grave with his name and regiment. I am very sorry I have so little to tell you about him, but he was quite unconscious all the time. All your husband’s personal effects will be forwarded to you by the proper authorities in due course”.

    and finally...

    MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT BROMSGROVE – Soldier’s and Woman’s Clothing Found Near Pond – The Bromsgrove Police are engaged in the investigation of a mysterious affair. On Thursday night a girl found a wounded soldier’s uniform and a woman’s clothing on the bank of the old Cotton Mill Pool. The Police on Friday dragged the pond, but no bodies have been found, nor any traces of a struggle or of footmarks been discovered. Enquiries have been made, but so far no information has been received of a wounded soldier being missing from any of the local war hospitals.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  38. #2488

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    June 10th 1917

    Well its all gone a little bit quiet, not sure what the weather was doing 100 years ago but there doesn't seem to be that much happening - however the ladies from the typing pool are grateful for the rest.

    Reports indicate that the Central Powers are holding 874,271 prisoners of war. Of whom more than 2 million are Russian.

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    HMS Grafton was a first class cruiser of the Edgar class, launched in 1892. She served in colonial service and in the First World War. Grafton survived the war and was broken up in the 1920s. Grafton was laid down at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company's London shipyard on 1 January 1890, and launched on 30 January 1892. She undertook sea trials in June 1893, maintaining a speed of 19 1⁄2 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph) with her engines under natural draught, where they produced 10,957 indicated horsepower (8,171 kW), and 20 1⁄5 knots (37.4 km/h; 23.2 mph) with engines under forced draught, when they were measured at 13,484 indicated horsepower (10,055 kW).

    Commissioned at Portsmouth on 10 September 1895, she served in the China sea on the China station from 22 April 1896 until 10 September 1899. In December 1901 she was ordered to relieve Warspite as flagship on the Pacific Station. She was commissioned at Chatham by Captain John Locke Marx on 14 January 1902, with a complement of 571 officers and men. Leaving Plymouth on 31 January 1902, she stopped at Madeira, Săo Vicente, Montevideo and Sandy Point before arriving at the garrison of the Pacific station in Valparaíso in mid-March. Rear-Admiral Andrew Bickford hoisted his flag as Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station, on Grafton a couple of days later. Captain Colin Richard Keppel transferred as flag captain from Warspite to Grafton on the same day, changing places with Marx.

    Shortly thereafter, on 18 April 1902, Grafton landed two parties of fully armed sailors at San José, Guatemala, to suppress the revolutionary disturbance caused by the United Kingdom´s efforts to obtain re-payment of a loan from the Guatemalan government. The show of force sufficed, and the government paid. On 31 January 1903 Grafton was on passage from Callao, Peru to Coquimbo, Chile, when she struck and killed a large (estimated at 60 feet (18 m) long) whale. On the outbreak of the First World War, Grafton was part of the 10th Cruiser Squadron, which was employed in enforcing the naval blockade of Germany. In December 1914, with the Edgar class having proved unsuitable for blockade work in the North Sea, Grafton was withdrawn from active service, with her two 9.2 inch guns removed to arm the M15-class monitors M23 and M28. It was decided to refit four ships of the Edgar class, including Grafton, for shore bombardment work for the planned operations in the Dardanelles. Two 6 inch guns replaced the 9.2 inch weapons that had been removed to arm the M15-class ships, while anti-torpedo bulges were fitted. These reduced the ship's speed by 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph).

    Grafton, along with her sisters Endymion, Edgar and Theseus, served in the Gallipoli Campaign from July 1915. Grafton carried out shore bombardment during the landing at Suvla Bay and the Battle of Sari Bair in August 1915. She was struck by Turkish shells off Suvla on 12 August, killing nine of her crew. Grafton helped to cover the evacuations from Anzac Cove on 20 December 1915 and from Cape Helles in January 1916. Grafton was later awarded the battle honour "DARDANELLES, Feb 1915- Jan 1916" for her service off Gallipoli. On 10 June 1917, Grafton was torpedoed by the German U-boat UB-43 150 nautical miles (280 km) east of Malta. Grafton's anti-torpedo bulges proved effective and damage was limited, allowing her to be safely brought into port at Malta under her own power with no casualties.She later took part in the Battle of Jaffa. Grafton was sold for breaking up at Plymouth on 1 July 1920.

    Anti Torpedo Bulge

    The anti-torpedo bulge (also known as an anti-torpedo blister) is a form of passive defence against naval torpedoes occasionally employed in warship construction in the period between the First and Second World Wars. It involved fitting (or retrofitting) partially water-filled compartmentalized sponsons on either side of a ship's hull, intended to detonate torpedoes, absorb their explosions, and contain flooding to damaged areas within the bulges. Essentially, the bulge is a compartmentalized, below the waterline sponson isolated from the ship's internal volume. It is part air-filled, and part free-flooding. In theory, a torpedo strike will rupture and flood the bulge's outer air-filled component while the inner water-filled part dissipates the shock and absorbs explosive fragments, leaving the ship's main hull structurally intact. Transverse bulkheads within the bulge limit flooding to the damaged area of the structure.

    The bulge was developed by the British Director of Naval Construction, Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt, who had four old Edgar-class protected cruisers so fitted in 1914. These ships were used for shore bombardment duties, and so were exposed to inshore submarine and torpedo boat attack. Grafton was torpedoed in 1917, and apart from a few minor splinter holes, the damage was confined to the bulge and the ship safely made port. Edgar was hit in 1918; this time damage to the elderly hull was confined to dented plating. The Royal Navy had all new construction fitted with bulges from 1914, beginning with the Revenge-class battleships and Renown-class battlecruisers. It also had its large monitors fitted with enormous bulges. This was fortunate for Terror, which survived three torpedoes striking the hull forward, and for her sister Erebus, which survived a direct hit from a remotely-controlled explosive motor boat that ripped off 50 feet (15.25 m) of her bulge.

    Older ships also had bulges incorporated during refit, such as the U.S. Navy's Pennsylvania class, laid down during World War I and retrofitted 1929-31. Japan's Yamashiro had them added in 1930. Later designs of bulges incorporated various combinations of air and water filled compartments and packing of wood and sealed tubes. As bulges increased a ship's beam, they caused a reduction in speed, which is a function of the length-to-beam ratio. Therefore, various combinations of narrow and internal bulges appeared throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s. The bulge had disappeared from construction in the 1930s, being replaced by internal arrangements of compartments with a similar function. An additional reason for the bulges' obsolescence was advances in torpedo design. In particular, the proximity fuze allowed torpedoes to run beneath a target's hull and explode there, beyond the bulges, rather than needing to strike the side of the ship directly.

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    Western Front

    British gain ground in Messines region.

    Southern Front


    Italians carry pass of Agnello and advance on Mt. Ortigara (Trentino).

    Naval and Overseas Operations

    Opening of operations which drive Germans from estuary of Lukuledi river (German East Africa).

    Second Lieutenant George Wallace Bollinger (Wellington Regiment, NZEF) dies of wounds received two days prior at age 27. His brother was killed in March 1915 making only the second Bollinger to die in the service of the King in the Great War. They have eight cousins who will be killed in the German army in the War.

    George Bollinger was born in New Plymouth on 10 April 1890. His father, Max, had migrated to New Zealand from Bavaria, southern Germany, in the 1880s and farmed near New Plymouth. Bollinger volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 14 August 1914, nine days after the declaration of war. Within a month of his enlistment, the Defence Department received a complaint about his supposed German sympathies. A subsequent investigation found Bollinger to be of ‘very good’ character.

    After leaving the country with the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in October 1914, Bollinger kept a detailed diary while on active service. His accounts, particularly of Gallipoli, document superbly the experiences and shifting attitudes of a New Zealand soldier during the campaign. Following the withdrawal from Gallipoli, Bollinger returned to New Zealand for officer training. Promoted to second lieutenant in April 1916, he took up a post as an instructor at Trentham Camp, near Wellington. Publicity surrounding his promotion led to further insinuations by anti-German campaigners, but the army held firm. The Minister of Defence, James Allen, explained that Bollinger had been commissioned because of his ‘exceptional gallantry and faithful conduct … in the face of the enemy’. To put the rumours to rest, Bollinger volunteered to return to active service – this time, to face the Germans on the Western Front. Wounded in action on 8 June 1917 during the Messines offensive, he died two days later and was buried in the Bailleul military cemetery. His brother Herman died of wounds in March 1918 while fighting with the New Zealand Division in the same sector. Eight of Bollinger’s cousins also died on the Western Front – fighting for Germany.

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    Captain Tunstill's Men: The day began misty but soon became fine and hot once again.

    As the Battalion continued to hold the new front and support lines three men were killed in action. Cpl. Dennis Bradbury had been an original member of the Battalion and had been promoted Corporal at some point whilst the Battalion was in France. He was 33 years old, from Guiseley, and before the war had worked as a bookkeeper, whilst living with his two sisters, Edith and Emily; both of their parents having died. Pte. Charles Arthur Stott (see 16th January) was killed whilst acting as a stretcher bearer; news of his death would be passed to his family by his fellow stretcher bearer and Skipton resident Pte. John William Atkinson MM (see 26th May) and also by 2Lt. John Robert ****inson (see 19th December 1916). ****inson wrote to Stott’s widow, telling her, “I am very sorry to have to inform you of the death of your husband, who was killed in action on June 10th after having done three days’ magnificent work as a stretcher-bearer. He was killed instantaneously while carrying a stretcher away. I am very sorry to have lost him, as I have never had a more willing and conscientious worker, and although he was not over strong he did not let it stand in his way, but worked untiringly. Please accept the deepest sympathy from the N.C.O.s and men of his platoon, and also from his fellow stretcher-bearers”. (It should be noted that in all official records, Stott is recorded as having been killed on 7th June, however, ****inson’s letter clearly indicates that he had actually survived the first day of the assault and had been killed three days later). The third man killed was Pte. Joe William Woodhouse (see 23rd February). Although they may originally have been buried by their colleagues, all three men now have no known grave and are commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.

    3 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON SUNDAY JUNE 10TH 1917


    Default icon for roll of honour entries
    Captain Moore, B.J.W.M. (Beaufoi John Warwick Montressor) RFC

    Captain Beaufoi John Warwick Montressor Moore, M.C., R.F.C., who was killed in a flying accident on June 10th, joined the R.F.C. in 1914. He was an electrical engineer, having served his time in the works of Messrs. J. C. Fuller and Son, electrical and telegraph engineers, of Woodland Works, Chadwell Heath. He was a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers. About the time of the outbreak of War he returned from Canada, where he had been engaged on important electrical undertakings, and at once offered himself for service. He was refused a commission on medical grounds, but joined the R.F.C. as a first-class air mechanic. Within a few months he received his commission and pilot's certificate, and shortly afterwards went to the Front. There he remained for about 12 months, during which time he was recommended for the Military Cross, which he eventually received at the hands of the King at Buckingham Palace on February 14th last. Early this year he was recalled, having been selected to give instruction in the manoeuvring of the latest types of aircraft, and it was while carrying out these duties that he was killed. The Times June 16, 1917

    Air Mech 1 Taylor, J.H.S. (Joseph Henry Samuel) RFC
    Air Mech 1 Thomas, J.W. (John William) No.1 Aircraft Depot RFC


    There were just the two aces claiming victories on this day

    Josef Kiss Austro-Hungarian Empire #4

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    Kiss was killed in action when he was shot down by Canadian ace Gerald Birks. Posthumously promoted to Leutnant in der Reserve, he was the only non-commissioned pilot in the Austro-Hungarian Army Air Service to become an officer. Three days after he was killed in action near Lamon, funeral services for Kiss were underway at Pergine airfield in northern Italy when numerous Allied planes flew over the mourners and dropped a wreath with ribbons and a note. The note read "Our last salute to our courageous foe."
    He claimed most of his kills flying a Hansa -Brandenburg D.1

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    Julius Kowalczik Austro-Hungarian Empire #4

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  39. #2489

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    Quote "Reports indicate that the Central Powers are holding 874,271 prisoners of war. Of whom more than 2 million are Russian".Quote:
    Is this akin to getting a quart into a pint pot?

  40. #2490

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    I enjoyed that one as well Reg - gotta love some of the sources out there..

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  41. #2491

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    June 11th 1917

    Another relatively quiet day, good news for the typists not so good for the researchers...

    The Cunard liner Ausonia is torpedoed off the southern coast of Ireland while traveling from Montreal to Avonmouth, but is able to reach port. One is killed.

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    The ship was named the "Tortona" when she was launched on 18 Aug 1909 by Swan, Hunter &amp; Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne (engines by Palmers Co., Ltd, Jarrow). She was originally owned by the Thomson Line, and had a length 450.6ft x beam 54.2ft, one funnel, four masts, twin screw, speed 12 knots,plus accommodation for 37 1st class and 1,000 3rd class passengers. She sailed on 22 Oct 1909 from Middlesbrough for Quebec and Montreal. On 20 Nov 1909 she left Montreal for Quebec, Naples, Genoa and Leghorn and in March 1910 made her first Naples - Portland voyage. She later sailed between Naples, Quebec and Montreal and between London, Quebec and Montreal. In 1911 she was sold to the Cunard SS Co and renamed "Ausonia";.Used on their new London - Southampton - Quebec - Montreal service until August 1914 when she was chartered to Anchor Line and made four Glasgow - Moville - New York voyages after which she returned to Cunard's Canada service. The Ausonia took the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers from UK to Lemnos in April 1915. Ironically she was used by 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers in their evacuation from Gallipoli in Jan 1916

    After surviving this encounter the Ausonia was torpedoed without warning and sunk by gunfire by U 55, 620 miles W by S (true) from Fastnet on 30 May 1918 with 44 lives lost.

    583 british lives were lost on this day

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain Edward William Lanchester Foxell (East Kent Regiment) is killed in action at age 33. He is the son of Reverend William James Foxell of St Swithin’s Rectory and a fellow of the Chemical Society.
    Lieutenant John Edward Raphael (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) ADC General Commanding 41st Division dies of wounds received on 7th June at Messines at age 35. He is an England International Rugby football player winning nine caps for England and a double blue at Oxford.
    Second Lieutenant Edwin Francis Medcalf (Leicestershire Regiment) is killed at age 24. He is a Scout Master of the 1st Forest Hill Troop.
    Private John Charles Wrench (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 34 as the first of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.
    Private George Verrall (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 30. His brother will be killed on the last day of next month.
    Private Frederick William Fowler (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 26. His son will be killed in the Second World War.

    Western Front

    British progress on mile front south-east of Messines; La Potterie system captured.

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    Confusion had been caused by the original attacking divisions on the ridge, having control over the artillery which covered the area occupied by the reserve divisions down the eastern slope. The arrangement had been intended to protect the ridge from large German counter-attacks, which might force the reserve divisions back up the slope. The mistaken bombardments of friendly troops ended late on 9 June, when the New Zealand, 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) divisions were withdrawn into reserve and the normal corps organisation was restored; anticipated large German counter-attacks had not occurred. On 10 June, the attack down the Blauwepoortbeek began but met strong resistance from the fresh German 11th Division, brought in from Group Ypres. The 3rd Australian Division advanced 600 yards (550 m) either side the river Douve, consolidating their hold on a rise around Thatched Cottage, which secured the right flank of the new Messines position; early on 11 June, the Germans evacuated the Blauwepoortbeek sector. British observation from the Oosttaverne line proved to be poor, which led Plumer to order a further advance down the slope. On 14 June, the II Anzac Corps was to push forward on the right from Plugstreet Wood to Trois Tilleuls Farm and Hill 20 and another 1,000 yards (910 m) to the Gapaard spur and Ferme de la Croix. IX Corps was to take Joye Farm, the Wambeke hamlet and come level with the Australians at Delporte Farm; X Corps was to capture the Spoil Bank and the areas adjacent. The attack was forestalled by a German retirement on the night of 10/11 June and by 14 June, British advanced posts had been established without resistance.

    Meticulously planned and well executed, the assault secured its objectives in fewer than twelve hours. The combination of tactics devised on the Somme and at Arras, the use of mines, artillery survey, creeping barrages, tanks, aircraft and small-unit fire-and-movement tactics, created a measure of surprise and allowed the attacking infantry to advance by infiltration when confronted by intact defences. Well-organised mopping-up parties prevented by-passed German troops from firing on advanced troops from behind. The British took 7,354 prisoners, 48 guns, 218 machine-guns and 60 trench mortars. The offensive secured the southern end of the Ypres salient in preparation for the British "Northern Operation". Laffert, commander of Gruppe Wijtschate, was sacked two days after the battle. Haig had discussed the possibility of rapid exploitation of a victory at Messines with Plumer before the attack, arranging for II and VIII Corps to advance either side of Bellewaarde Lake, using some of the artillery from the Messines front, which Plumer considered would take three days to transfer. On 8 June, patrols on the II and VIII Corps fronts reported strong resistance, Haig urged Plumer to attack immediately and Plumer replied that it would still take three days to arrange. Haig transferred the two corps to the Fifth Army and that evening, gave instructions to Gough to plan the preliminary operation to capture the area around Stirling Castle. On 14 June, Gough announced that the operation would put his troops into a salient and that he wanted to take the area as part of the main offensive. On 13 June, German aircraft began daylight attacks on London and the south-east of England, leading to the diversion of British aircraft from the concentration of air forces for the "Northern Operation

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    Machine gunners of the 36th (Ulster) Division near Dranouter, 11 June 1917.

    Southern Front

    French troops land at Corinth, and Franco-British force enters Thessaly.

    Political, etc.


    Senor Dato forms Cabinet.

    Publication of message from President Wilson to Russian Government.

    Sailors and Firemen's Union refuse to let Mr. R. Macdonald, etc., sail for Russia.

    Abdication of King Constantine of Greece in favour of his second son, Alexander.


    The War in the Air


    There were only three aerial victory claims today

    John Andrews England #12

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    2nd Lieutenant John Oliver Andrews received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 1924 on a Maurice Farman biplane at the British Flying School in Le Crotoy, France on 19 October 1915. On 22 November 1916, he and Kelvin Crawford downed an Albatros D.II flown by Stefan Kirmaier, commander of Jasta 2. Andrews was granted a permanent commission to Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force on 1 August 1919.
    Charles Booker England #15
    Geoffrey Pidcock England #5

    5 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON MONDAY JUNE 11TH 1917

    Flt Sub-Lt Bibby, J.R.D. (John Richard D.) Torpedo School, Malta Royal Naval Air Service
    Air Nech 2 Crocker, P. (Percy) 30 Squadron RFC
    Air Mech 3 Hargreaves, H. (Harry) 62 Squadron RFC
    Air Mech 3 Pepper, R.J. (Reuben John) 44th Wing, Canada RFC
    PO Mech Tunnard, J.H. (John Howard) Royal Naval Air Station, Dunkerque Royal Naval Air Service

    Capt. Tunstill's Men: Zillebeke Bund was still close enough to come under fire from German artillery and there was considerable shelling during the twenty-four hours that the Battalion remained there. Pte. Reuben Smith (see 10th June), who had been wounded the previous day, died at 2nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Sidings; he would be buried at the adjacent Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.

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    Cpl. William Henry Scott (see 7th April 1915), who had been one of Tunstill’ original recruits, died of wounds at 46th Casualty Clearing Station at Mendinghem; he would be buried in the adjacent Military Cemetery. The date on which he had been wounded is unclear, but the circumstances were explained in a letter home to his wife written by his platoon officer, 2Lt. William George Wade (see 19th December 1916), “It is with the deepest sympathy and regret that I write to inform you of the sad death of your husband who died from the shock of his wound. Corporal H. Smith (unidentified) – a great friend of his – and myself were standing talking when a shell burst behind us. A part of the shell case struck your husband on the left cheekbone. He was unconscious, but we did not think the wound would be fatal when I wrote to your niece. It was after two or three days when we heard about his death, and owing to our frequent moving from place to place I had not the opportunity to write before. Believe me, the men of our transport deeply regret his death, and be assured that their sympathy is with you in your hour of trial, for your husband was one of the most cheerful companions and popular with his fellows. It is difficult yet to obtain news of his burial place, but I will endeavour to find out his last resting place, and should we be at any time in that district, you may be comforted to know that we will pay our deepest and fullest respects to his grave. You will be proud to know that he was always ready to volunteer to do his share of the great work.”

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  42. #2492

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    June 12th 1917

    Well its another quiet(ish) day back in 1917 - there seems to be a bit of a lull at the moment following the Messines assault, I guess things will gradually start to build as we move into July and the start of the battle of Passchendaele (Passendale or Paschendale - I have found three ways of spelling this already)

    Today saw the loss of a British air ace... 2nd Lieutenant John Arthur Vessey. 45 Squadron RFC.

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    The son of Frederick Arthur and Betsy (Bamford) Vessey, John Arthur Vessey was an observer with 45 Squadron in 1917. He and his pilot, Captain Gordon Mountford, were killed when their Sopwith 1˝ Strutter (A8299) collided with another (A8244) on 12 June 1917. The pilots and observers on both aircraft were killed. Of the 15 airmen lost on this day (see below) four were lost in this one accident.

    Talking of Sopwith Strutter's found this interesting cutaway showing the dual cockpit and the location of the two machine guns (B/B in our terminology)

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    15 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON TUESDAY JUNE 12TH 1917

    2Lt (Flt Lt) Anderson, R.W.L. (Richard William Laurence) 1 SQuadron RFC
    Lt. Birkin, T.R.C. (Thomas Renard Chetwynd) 25 Squadron RFC
    A Mech 2/Pte Brown, C.J.F. (Charles J.F.) 6 Squadron attached 154th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
    Air Mech 1 King, A.E. (Albert Edward) Royal Navy Air Station, Dardanelles
    Lt. Lockhart, W.E. (William Eric) 10 Squadron RFC
    Capt. Mountford, G. (Gordon) 45 Squadron RFC
    Flt Off (Prob) Parry, W.G. (William George) Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President'
    2nd Lt. Paton, M.D.R. (Malcolm David Rutter) 53 Squadron RFC
    Air Mech. 2 Pocock, W. (Walter) 45 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Protheroe, W.B. (William Bertram) 53 Squadron RFC
    Flt. Lt. Smith, L.F.W. (Langley Frank Willard) 4 (N) Squadron, 4th (N) Wing RNAS
    2nd Lt. Stephens, L. (Llewellyn) RFC
    2nd Lt. Turnbull, W. (William) 53 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Vessey, J.A. (John Arthur) 45 Squadron RFC (see above)

    There were the following aerial victory claims on this day...

    Richard Minifie Australia #5
    Andre de Meulemeester Belgium #2
    Charles Booker England #16
    Robert Compston England #9
    Frederick Kydd England #4

    Capt. Reginald Rhys Soar DFC England #4 #5

    "Flt. Lieut. Reginald Rhys Soar, R.N.A.S.
    For courage and skill as a scout pilot. On 23rd May, 1917, he attacked a two-seater artillery machine, and as the result of a well thought out attack brought the machine down out of control.
    On 12th June, 1917, he brought down two enemy machines out of control.
    On 29th June, 1917, in company with Flt. Lieut. Little, he attacked and brought down an Albatross scout.
    On 3rd July, 1917, whilst leading an offensive patrol, a formation of seven Albatross Scouts was engaged, and he brought down one, out of control.
    On 13th July, 1917, in company with Flt. Lieut. Little, he attacked and drove down out of control one two-seater machine, following it down to within 1,000 feet of the ground."

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    Any excuse to show pictures of a gaggle of 'Tripehounds' - great wing spacing on those planes...

    Raoul Lufbery USA #10

    535 British lives were lost on this day

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain Robert Dunlop Smith (Punjabis) is killed south of Kilwa Kiwinji East Africa at age 24. He is the son of the Very Reverend ‘Sir’ George Adam Smith (Principal of the University of Aberdeen) and Lady Smith JP. His brother was killed in September 1915.
    Lieutenant Thomas Richard Chetwynd Birkin (Dragoon Guards attached Royal Flying Corps) is accidentally killed in France at age 22. He is the eldest son of the 2nd Baronet ‘Sir’ Thomas Stanley Birkin and nephew of Viscount Chetwynd. His two brothers will turn to racing after the war, one being killed on a motor cycle in 1927.
    Second Lieutenant Hugo Cholmondeley Arnold (East Kent Regiment) dies of wounds at age 19. He is the son of the Reverend Henry Abel Arnold Rector of Wolsingham.
    Flight Sub Lieutenant Langley Frank Willard Smith (Royal Naval Air Service) is accidentally killed when his Camel loses a wing and breaks up while attempting to intercept 16 Gotha bombers.
    Second Lieutenant John James Erskine Brown Stewart (Royal Scots) dies of wounds at age 31. He is the son of the late Reverend Robert Stewart DD Minister of New Greyfriars Parish Church Edinburgh.
    Sergeant Arthur William Joseph Searle (Royal Garrison Artillery) dies of abdominal wounds received 5 days earlier on his 22nd He was the first boy from Hemel Hempstead to be awarded a silver watch for 8 years perfect attendance at school and never being late during that period.

    Western Front

    British advance on two-mile front east and north-east of Messines.

    Southern Front

    Allied forces occupy Larissa (Thessaly) and Corinth.

    Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres


    Fort of Salif (Red Sea) destroyed by British naval forces.

    Political, etc.

    Publication of British reply to Russian Note on war aims, and of French message regarding Russian proclamation of 9 April 1917

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    Constantine I (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Αʹ, Konstantínos Αʹ; 2 August [O.S. 21 July] 1868 – 11 January 1923) was King of Greece from 1913 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, in which Greece expanded to include Thessaloniki, doubling in area and population. He succeeded to the throne of Greece on 18 March 1913, following his father's assassination.

    His disagreement with Eleftherios Venizelos over whether Greece should enter World War I led to the National Schism. Constantine forced Venizelos to resign twice, but in 1917 he left Greece, after threats of the Entente forces to bombard Athens; his second son, Alexander, became king. After Alexander's death, Venizelos' defeat in the 1920 legislative elections, and a plebiscite in favor of his return, Constantine was reinstated. He abdicated the throne for the second and last time in 1922, when Greece lost the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George II. Constantine died in exile four months later, in Sicily.

    Captain Tunstill's Men:
    The Battalion moved off and marched five miles further back to Halifax Camp (between Vlamertinghe and Ouderdom).

    2Lt. Bob Perks DSO (see 10th June) wrote home to his mother, explaining the significance of recent events for him personally, “We moved this morning further back to a camp which used to be shelled but is not now, owing to the advance. To-morrow we expect to move right back, receive drafts, and start getting ship-shape again. I am now definitely put in command of another Company (C Company) so if I stick 30 days I shall get an acting captaincy, whether I get a proper one or not (a horse also!). I have a job on with this Company as it has lost all its officers except one who, being senior to me, has been transferred to another Company to make way for me to command. I have had two other subs sent to me, but none of us know the Company, the men, their possibilities, and who amongst the non-commissioned officers to promote to the many vacancies. Many of the old senior N.C.Os too are gone, and up to date, I have not even obtained a roll of the Company, so that I do not know where they all are yet. Another busy time I see coming … My leg now I honestly forget. I have walked and ridden my horse as usual to-day, and it only reminds me at times of a certain stiffness in itself like many a knock at football used to. We have got my gramophone going very strong again now. One of the best trophies we took from the Bosche was a sound box made by the same Company as my gramophone and it is now very successfully in use on mine. It is a much better one than mine was even before it got a little spoilt.”

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  43. #2493

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    June 13th 1917

    Lets start with an air raid - always a good kick off point... The first daylight bombing attack on London by a fixed-wing aircraft took place on 13 June, 1917. Fourteen Gothas led flew over Essex and began dropping their bombs. It was a clear day and the bombs were dropped just before noon. Numerous bombs fell in rapid succession in various districts in the East End. In the East End alone; 162 people were killed, 154 seriously injured and 269 slightly injured.

    This third attempt on London by Kagohl 3 finally met with success. Although 20 Gothas took off from the Ghent airfields, two quickly turned back with engine problems. As they approached south-east England one Gotha left the formation and headed towards Margate on the Kent coast. At 10.43am the AA gun at St.Peter’s opened fire at the lone Gotha estimated to be flying at 14,000 feet, soon joined by the Hengrove AA gun. As the Gotha approached Margate, it dropped the first of five 50kg HE bombs. The first landed to the west of the railway station and the second, which failed to explode, fell to the east of the station damaging some telegraph wires. The next also failed to explode when it landed in the garden at 12 Poet’s Corner. Of the last two bombs, one exploded in an allotment near Dane Park and the other on Park Crescent Road at the junction with Addiscombe Road where it damaged a water main. The bombs caused no major damage, but the police reported broken windows in 120 houses and shops and at a mineral water factory and a few at a laundry. In addition one man (a special constable), a woman and two children suffered minor injuries. There is a suggestion that one more bomb fell and this may have fallen near Devonshire Gardens as the Gotha headed back out to sea.

    As the main formation approached Foulness on the Essex coast at about 10.50am, three more Gothas detached. One crossed the Thames estuary to the Kent side and headed towards Greenwich on what appears to have been a photo-reconnaissance mission. The other two headed for Shoeburyness. A bomb dropped on the village of Barling but failed to detonate while four fell in the vicinity of Shoeburyness causing minor injuries to a man and a child, breaking windows and damaging ceilings in a number of houses. A final bomb dropped harmlessly in the sea. The remaining 14 Gothas continued across Essex towards London.

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    From Romford at 11.24am the first of the AA guns defending London opened fire. A few minutes later a few bombs fell on East Ham where two that landed in Alexandra Road damaged 42 houses, killed four people and injured another 11. Just to the south, a single bomb that landed at the Royal Albert Docks damaged some buildings, vans and a railway truck, killing 8 men working there and injuring nine others. Closer to central London a bomb exploded in Islington, outside 35 Woodville Road where it killed five and injured the same number. As the formation reached Regent’s Park it turned back and headed towards the City of London, the heart of the capital.

    In the middle of a bright and sunny working day the 14 Gothas of Kagohl 3 began unloading their bombs, 72 of which dropped within a one mile radius of Liverpool Street Station while Londoners stared disbelieving into the sky. Three bombs fell on the station where one blew apart a passenger carriage on a train that was just about to leave and another struck carriages being used by army doctors. Casualties reached 16 killed and 15 injured. In Central Street, off Old Street, bombs that fell on the road killed 12 and injured 11 others. The total could have been higher. Workers in a factory in Central Street tried to run out when they heard approaching bombs but a policeman, PC Alfred Smith, forced them back inside and closed the door. Moments later the bombs exploded in the street claiming PC Smith amongst its victims.

    At the brass foundry of R. Barrett & Sons in Beech Court off Beech Street, a bomb killed 8 men working on the roof and injured 10 others. Of two bombs that fell in Fenchurch Street, one at No. 65, a mix of offices, shops and dwellings, killed 19 people while injuring 13. In Aldgate High Street by the junction with Minories, a bomb struck premises occupied by the Albion House Clothing Co. Ltd. killing 13 and injuring 21. In Paternoster Square a bomb exploded in the roadway gouging a crater five feet deep, killing a boy and injuring 22. While at the Royal Mint on Tower Hill, close to the Tower of London, a bomb struck a building housing repair shops where four men died and another 30 people suffered injuries. On the south side of the Thames a bomb caused serious damage at 118 Southwark Street, killing three and injuring 24 at premises occupied by tea merchants British and Bennington’s Ltd. The response by the London Fire Brigade was hindered when two of their fire stations, one in Commercial Road and the other in Tabernacle Street, were also bombed.

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    Numerous dramatic and tragic stories emerged from the few minutes of horror that descended on London that summer’s morning, inevitable when you consider the extent of the casualties with 162 killed and 426 injured, the highest total for any air raid on Britain in the First World War. Shocking as this level of casualties was, there was one incident above all others that left an indelible on London.

    After bombing the City, the Gothas headed east. Those still carrying bombs dropped them on East London. One 50kg bomb struck the Upper North Street School in Poplar. The three storeys of the building were packed with children at their lessons. Two children were killed as the bomb split in two and made its way down through the building before it exploded on the ground floor amongst two classes of 64 infants aged five and six. When desperate rescuers had finished their work 16 of the infants were dead and 30 other children and four teachers bore injuries.

    Although 94 aircraft of the RFC and RNAS flew defence sorties, only 11 of these aircraft managed to get within firing range but they were unable to successfully engage any of the raiding Gothas.

    The gravest of incidents that day, was the damage done to a Council school in Poplar. In the Upper North Street School at the time were a girl’s class on the top floor, a boy’s class on the middle floor and an infant class of about 50 students on the ground floor. The bomb fell through the roof into the girl’s class; it then proceeded to fall through the boy’s classroom before finally exploding in the infant class. Eighteen students were killed overall. Sixteen of these were aged from 4 to 6 years old. The two teachers of the infant class acted like heroines as they got everyone out of the building before helping others who were rescuing bodies from the rubble. Panicked mothers searched for their children, desperately hoping they were not one of those caught in the blast. As quickly as possible, the bodies of the children who were killed were removed to the mortuary, and the injured were cared for by nurses and surgeons and taken to the hospitals. About a week later, one of the biggest funerals in London was held for these infants. Fifteen children were buried in a mass grave at the East London Cemetery, while the other three children had private graves. Brothers and sisters of the children looked on with mournful faces, some having also been in the school at the time of the bombing. A memorial in Poplar Recreation Ground, unveiled in June 1919, bears the names of the 18 Upper North Street School pupils that were killed on the first daylight air-raid on London.

    The War at Sea

    The merchant man SS Kelvinbank (Herbert John Colley age 41) is sunk by a torpedo fired by U-69 100 miles north of Cape Wrath killing 16 including her master.

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    S.S. Kelvinbank was built at Sunderland in 1905 as the S.S. Drumcliffe by Robert Thompson & Sons Ltd for Joseph Chadwick & Sons of Liverpool. On the 6th August 1914 she was one of three steamships stopped by the German light cruiser Dresden off NE Brazil. She had been sailing from Buenos Aires for New York. As she was unladen and the Captain's wife and child were on board, the wireless installation was destroyed and the officers and crew agreed to sign parole they would not serve during the war. The ship was released within two hours. She was later re-named Kelvinbank. At the time of her loss she was being operated by the Glasgow Steam Shipping Company. On the 13th June 1917 she was on a voyage from Liverpool to Archangel, Russia, via Glasgow, carrying general cargo when she was sunk by German submarine U-69 100 miles off Cape Wrath, Scotland. All sixteen members of the crew were lost

    The War in the Air

    Another British Ace was lost on this day... and we saw the operational debut of one of the most iconic fighter planes of all time...the Sopwith F.1 Camel
    Some reports have Langley Smith falling yesterday but that does not tie in with the date of the Gotha raid.

    Flight Sub Lieutenant Langley Frank Willard Smith

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    Langley Frank Willard Smith attended St. Andrew's College from 1910 to 1912. In the summer of 1916, he learned to fly at the Curtiss Flying School in Newport News, Virginia. Returning to Canada, he joined the Royal Naval Air Service in September 1916 and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Smith received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 3998 on 11 December 1916. Posted to 4 Naval Squadron on 25 April 1917, he scored eight victories flying the Sopwith Pup. In June 1917, his squadron was the first to receive the new Sopwith Camel. A few days later, while attempting to intercept a flight of 16 Gotha bombers, Smith was killed when his Camel lost a wing and broke up in mid-air.

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    We will do a full feature on the Camel when it claims its first victory on July 4th

    A further 5 airmen lost their lives on this day

    2nd Lt. Grant, R. (Robert) 29 Squadron RFC
    Air Mech 3 Harris, R. (Richard) No.2 Stores Distribution Park, Newcastle
    Capt. Keevil, C.H.C. (Cecil Horace Case) 32 Training Squadron RFC
    Flt Sub Lt. Shearer, T.R. (Thomas Ralph) Unit 9 (N) Squadron Royal Naval Air Service
    Fg Off (Prob) Stuart, K. (Kenneth) Royal Naval Air Service

    There were 5 pilots making aerial victory claims today...

    Andreas Dombrowski Austro-Hungarian Empire #3
    Anthony Rex Arnold England #5
    Geoffrey Pidcock England #6
    Friedrich Gille Germany #4
    William Kennedy-Cochran-Patrick Scotland #14

    Southern Front

    Austrian attack on Mt. Ortigara repulsed.

    Trikala and Volo (Thessaly) occupied by Allies.

    Naval and Overseas Operations

    H.M.S. "Avenger", merchant cruiser, sunk by submarine.

    Political, etc.

    Serious explosion in munitions factory at Ashton-under-Lyne.

    and finally some respite for Captain Tunstill's Men: The Battalion moved again, marching eight miles south-west to Le Coq de Pailie, close to Berthen.

    Capt. Leo Frederick Reincke (see 13th December 1916) and 2Lt. Eric Dixon (see 12th November 1916) left the Battalion; both were to be transferred to the Royal Flying Corps to be trained as observers.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  44. #2494

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    Thanks for all the kind words of encouragement - and especially thanks to those who would like to see this turned into a book at the end ofthe war... now there is a challenge (although might be a copyright nightmare)

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  45. #2495

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    June 14th 1917

    Yesterday we had all sorts of stories, today looks a little more sparse but we will see what we can dig up for your education and entertainment.

    Lets start with a snippet of poetry... seems to be the case that if you wrote a poem it was bound to result in tragedy soon after, so many of the 'War Poets' not living to see their work go into print. What follows is a case in point...

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    Private WILLIAM BANWELL 8/2530 1st Bn, Otago Regiment, NZEF who died on Thursday 14 June 1917. Age 35. Son of Charles and Mary Banwell, or Richardson St., Dunedin.; husband of Frances Mary Banwell, or 28 Helena St, South Dunedin. MESSINES RIDGE (NZ) MEMORIAL William or Bill Banwell was born in Dunedin in New Zealand Ontago on October 4, 1882. His father was shortly before immigrant from England, his mother from Ireland. Bill was the youngest of nine children. He went to school at the Union Street School and then worked as a laborer in coal trading and J. MacFie ° C in Dunedin. In 1906 he married Frances Mary Payne. The couple had four children. Bill was a corporal in the Dunedin City Guards, a local army division and played rugby. Bill Banwell left New Zealand and went to the front after a military training on August 14, 1915. Bill Banwell was part of the 1st Battalion, Otago Infantry Regiment of the New Zealand Division. His unit fought first in Egypt and then in the Greek Gallipoli (1915). He was on the Western Front with the Battle of the Somme. On September 27, 1916 he was wounded. On October 3, 1916 he was able to leave hospital in Rouen and join his unit again. In June 1917 he was employed at the mine battle of Messines. On June 14, a week after the beginning of the battle, he was shot in the nighttime capture of a German observation post at Sunken Farm (Waasten). Bill Banwell was killed near the Sunken Farm homestead in Warneton, but his body was never recovered. His name appears on the New Zealand memorial to the missing at Messines Ridge Cemetery in Messines. A few days before his death he sent a poem to his wife at home with the title "A Soldier's Dream». It ends with these verses: "There was just another vision. Dear wife, If I Should which, Remember That I loved you; do not grieve, sweetheart or cry, For When our lads are grown, dear, your voice will thrill with pride When telling them how father for his country Gladly died "

    Translated from the Dutch so apologies if not perfect English.

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    William Ratcliffe VC MM (18 January 1884 – 26 March 1963) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross. William Ratcliffe was born on 18 January 1884 at 38 Newhall Street, Liverpool, Lancashire. His parents were William Ratcliffe and Mary Ann Kelly. He was educated at St. Vincent de Paul's Roman Catholic School in Norfolk Street, Liverpool. Ratcliffe worked in the Liverpool docks briefly after leaving school, then joined the British Army at the age of 17 and served in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Ratcliffe was 33 years old, and a private in the 2nd Battalion, the South Lancashire Regiment, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place during the Battle of Messines for which he was awarded the VC.

    On 14 June 1917 at Messines, Belgium, after an enemy trench had been captured, Private Ratcliffe located an enemy machine-gun which was firing on his comrades from the rear, and single-handed, on his own initiative, immediately rushed the machine-gun position and bayoneted the crew. He then brought the gun back into action in the front line. Private Ratcliffe had displayed similar gallantry and resource on previous occasions.

    After the war he worked on the Liverpool Docks but had to retire after an industrial accident. 1956 saw the Centennial of the institution of the Victoria Cross in London's Hyde Park, where the living holders were reviewed by Queen Elizabeth II. William Ratcliffe was reluctant to attend the Centennial because his circumstances were such that he could not afford to buy a suit for the occasion. This was remedied however by a local gents outfitters, who made a new suit for him. His VC is on loan to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth Road, London.

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    William Ratcliffe receives the VC from King George V


    The War in the Air


    Flight Commander John Edward Sharman (Royal Naval Air Service) while on an offensive patrol with three other scouts observes 5 Albatross Scouts. He dives on one of these, firing from his machine gun at about 50-feet range. The Scout then goes down in a spin. Commander Sharman will be dead in 5 week. Sharman was born in Oak Lake, Manitoba, to Thomas Higgins Sharman and Frances A. Sharman. He was the oldest child in his family, followed by his younger sister Beverly and his younger brother Thomas. He attended university in Toronto, where he studied to become a mining engineer. His father had served in the 90th Winnipeg Rifles during the North-West Rebellion of 1885 and then as a member of the militia with the 12th Manitoba Dragoons.

    Sharman joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 3 February 1916 and served with 3 Wing until its disbandment in April 1917. Flying Sopwith 1˝ Strutter aircraft, he participated in at least twenty-nine raids and claimed one enemy aircraft destroyed. Sharman was cited by the French General Castelnau for services in eleven of these raids, notably two raids on the same day on Freiburg and was awarded the Croix de guerre.

    From 1 May 1917, Sharman was posted to form part of the nucleus of 10(N) Squadron, flying Sopwith Triplanes; his flight commander was the notable Canadian ace Raymond Collishaw. In June and July 1917, Sharman claimed seven victories and became a flight commander on 9 July 1917. On 22 July 1917, Sharman and the rest of C Flight set off for a morning patrol at around 0725 hrs.[2] His flight was patrolling the area between Ypres ad Messines when they encountered scouts from JG1. As he engaged the first aircraft, his Triplane suffered a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire, probably from Flak Batterie 503. John Sharman is commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the Missing.During the same dogfight, FLt J. Page was shot down and killed by Ltn Otto Brauneck.[4] They were both shot down in the same area around Comines-Warneton, Belgium. Sharman and Page are buried side by side at Pont-Du-Hem Military Cemetery, La Gorgue, France. Sharman had no offspring.

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    Raymond Collishaw's Black Flight

    There were the following aerial victory claims on this day

    Fred Holliday Australia #13 #14

    Lieutenant Cecil Richards 20 Squadron RFC Australia #1

    After seeing action in Gallipoli and France, Cecil Roy Richards transferred to the Royal Flying Corps at the end of 1916. Assigned to 20 Squadron during the summer of 1917, he flew the F.E.2d until 19 August when he was shot down at Quesnoy and captured by Ernst Hess of Jasta 28.

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    Josef Kiss Austro-Hungarian Empire #5

    Jan Olieslagers Belgium #3

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    The "Antwerp Devil" was the first man to achieve a speed of 100 km/h on a motorcycle. Olieslagers fascination with racing motorcycles led to a world championship in 1902. As his interest shifted to aircraft, he purchased a plane in 1909 and within four years, he'd set seven world records. When the Germans invaded Belgium, he and his two brothers joined the army and donated their three Blériot XI monoplanes to the war effort. In his first aerial combat, Olieslagers attacked an enemy aircraft armed only with a pistol. Throughout the war, he seldom bothered to claim the enemy aircraft he destroyed. Despite a modest score of six confirmed victories, Olieslagers flew 491 sorties and engaged in 97 dogfights. Returning to Antwerp at the end of the war, Olieslagers was responsible for the development of the Antwerp Airport in 1923.

    Edmond Thieffry Belgium #4
    Charles Booker England #17
    Geoffrey Bowman England #5 #6
    Philip Fletcher Fullard England #6
    Anthony Wall England #13 #14
    Paul Tarascon France #11
    Fritz Krebs Germany #4
    Kurt Kuppers Germany #3
    Marziale Cerutti Italy u/c
    Guido Nardini Italy u/c #2
    Giovanni Nicelli Italy u/c
    Keith Caldwell New Zealand #3
    Forster Maynard New Zealand #2

    7 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON THURSDAY JUNE 14TH 1917

    Findlay, L. (Lorimer) 18 Training Squadron RFC
    Air Mech 2 Harper, G.R. (George Russell) No.1 (Southern) Aircraft Repair Depot
    2nd Lt. McLean, F.W. (Frederick William) 29 Squadron RFC
    Capt and QM Murphy, A.G. RFC
    Flt. Sub. Lt. Parker, L.H. (Leslie Hunter) 10 (N) Squadron RNAS
    Air Mech 2 Shorrock, M. (Milton) 31 SQuadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Stringer, W.C. (William Charles) RFC

    Western Front

    German withdrawal between St. Yves and the Lys.

    Successful British attacks near Messines, and on Infantry Hill (east of Monchy-le-Preux).

    End of Battle of Messines.

    Naval and Overseas Operations

    Zeppelin L43 destroyed by naval forces in North Sea. 65 years after the event this commemorative stamp was issued...

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    On 14 June 1917 L43, under the command of Käpitanleutnant Hermann Kraushaar, was shot down off the Dutch coast by the crew of Curtiss H12 flying boat 8677: Flt Lt Basil Deacon Hobbs and Flt Sub-Lt Robert Frederick Lea ****ey, with wireless operator H M Davies and engineer A W Goody. The Curtiss was on a patrol from Felixstowe when L43 was sighted at 0840 - the airship was patrolling the North Sea - and attacked. The midship gunner (Davies or Goody) fired tracer ammunition and FSL ****ie fired at the airship with Brock and Pomeroy ammunition as the flying boat passed over the Zeppelin, which burst into flames and fell into the sea.

    Political, etc.

    Arrival in Petrograd of Senator Root and U.S. Mission.


    We will end this edition with Capt. Tunstill's Men who are enjoying a more peaceful time of late... A bright and sunny day and a little cooler than of late. Brig. Genl. Lambert (see 8th June) made arrangements for the following day for a photographer to take a series of photographs of the senior Brigade officers.The next two weeks would later be described as “a deservedly pleasant time”; there was training to be done but there was also time for relaxation which would include Brigade and Divisional horse shows.
    Last edited by Hedeby; 06-14-2017 at 14:19.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  46. #2496

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    Its a late posting tonight (23:20 GMT or is it BST I never seem to know) anyway its late.. so hopefully it will be a concise one as my alarm is due to go off at 05:30...

    15th June 1917


    Lets start with the war in the air and another good day for Raymond Collishaw and his 'Black Flight'

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    During the First World War, the all Canadian "B" Flight of No. 10 Naval Squadron, led by Flight Cmdr. Raymond Collishaw, consisted of 5 black nosed Sopwith Triplanes. These Triplanes were Collishaw's Black Maria, Ellis Vair Reid's Black Roger, John E. Sharman's Black Death, W. Melville Alexander's Black Prince and Gerald Ewart Nash's Black Sheep. This was the redoubtable "Black Flight". In the summer of 1917 the "Black Flight" quickly earned such a reputation that the German high command gave Jasta 11 orders to destroy them. On June 26th, 1917, Leutnant Karl Allmenroder, a 30 victory ace and Manfred von Richthofen's deputy commander of Jasta 11, scored the only air victory against the Black Flight, shooting down and capturing Nash. On June 28th the "Black Flight" again met the Red Baron's "Flying Circus" where Allmenroder was shot down and killed by Collishaw in the ensuing battle. For a month the "Black Flight" thrashed the Jastas which had dominated the skies for so long. On July 6, Richtofen was wounded and shot down by an observer in a FE2d being escorted by Collishaw and his Flight. In addition to Nash's capture the Black Flight suffered 2 more losses, Sharman on July 22nd and Reid on July 28th. - both were killed by anti-aircraft fire. In late July, No. 10 Naval Squadron started re-equipping with Sopwith Camels, bringing to an end the exploits of the "Black Flight". Between June 1st and July 28th 1917, the formidable "Black Flight" shot down 87 enemy aircraft and was one of the most successful units of the war.

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    On this day Lt. Colonel Raymond 'Collie' Collishaw shot down 4 enemy aircraft bringing his total to 22 and helping to earn him his DSO. Flight Lieutenant Raymond Collishaw (Royal Naval Air Service) while on an offensive patrol during the morning forces down a hostile scout in a nose dive. Later he drives down a hostile two seater machine completely out of control. Flight Sub Lieutenant Ellis Vair Reid (Royal Naval Air Service) is leading a patrol of three scouts when he encounters a formation of enemy machines. During the combat which ensues he forces one machine down completely out of control. Next he attacks at a range of about thirty yards another hostile scout. The pilot of this machine is killed, and it goes down completely out of control.

    Flt. Lieut. Raymond Collishaw, D.S.C., R.N.A.S.
    For conspicuous bravery and skill in successfully leading attacks against hostile aircraft. Since the 10th June, 1917, Flt. Lieut. Collishaw has himself brought down four machines completely out of control and driven down two others with their planes shot away.
    Whilst on an offensive patrol on the morning of the 15th June, 1917, he forced down a hostile scout in a nose dive. Later, on the same day, he drove down one hostile two-seater machine completely out of control, one hostile scout in a spin, and a third machine
    with two of its planes shot away. On the 24th June, 1917, he engaged four enemy scouts, driving one down in a spin and another with two of its planes shot away; the latter machine was seen to crash.

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    In addition to Collishaw there were the following aerial victory claims...

    Fred Holliday Australia #15
    Patrick Gordon Taylor Australia #3
    Jan Olieslagers Belgium #4
    Raymond Collishaw Canada #19 #20 #21 #22 (see above)
    Ellis Reid Canada #7 #8

    Brian Edmund Baker England #1

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    After serving with the 15th Rifle Brigade, Brian Edmund Baker transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in August 1915. 2nd Lieutenant Baker received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 1938 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Montrose on 25 October 1915. With only 12 hours of flight time in his log book, he was posted to 13 Squadron in France. In 1917, Baker was posted to 48 Squadron as a flight commander. That year, he downed a Gotha bomber and was credited with 12 victories flying the Bristol Fighter

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    Philip Fletcher Fullard England #7
    Roger Bolton Hay England #4
    Arthur Willan Keen England #4
    Valentine Reed England #2 #3
    Anthony Wall England #15
    Hans Bowski Germany #2
    Günther Schuster Germany #2

    Gerold Tschentschel Germany #1

    Tschentschel scored his first victory on the Eastern Front and became an ace whilst serving with Jasta 72. He was wounded in action on 29 September 1918.

    Kurt Wüsthoff Germany #1

    After scoring 27 victories, Wüsthoff was captured on 17 June 1918. Overwhelmed by three S.E.5As and a Sopwith Dolphin, his Fokker D.VII was forced down near Cachy by members of 23 and 24 Squadrons. Sharing credit for the victory were Canadian ace George Johnson, English ace Ian McDonald, South African ace Horace Barton and C.E. Walton.

    Maurice Benjamin South Africa #8
    William Charles Campbell Scotland #9
    Gerald Maxwell Scotland #5
    Phillip Prothero Scotland #6

    5 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON FRIDAY JUNE 15TH 1917

    Lt. De conway, J. (John) 15 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Geeson, L.F. (Leslie Frederic) 69 Squadron RFC
    Rfmn Hammond, P.C. (Percy Clarence) 45 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Kitson, H.S. (Harold Strachan) 2 Squadron, 'C' Flight Australian Flying Corps
    2nd Lt. Powell, C.H. (Cecil Henry) 15 Squadron RFC

    Western Front

    German counter-attack south-east of Ypres repulsed.

    Small British advance near Bullecourt.

    Southern Front


    Italians carry position on Corno Cavento (west Trentino) and repulse attack on Mt. Ortigara.

    British withdraw on wide front from advanced positions in Struma Valley.

    Political, etc.


    Lord Rhondda's appointment as Food Controller announced.

    Release of Irish rebels announced.

    Haiti breaks off relations with Germany.


    On this day in 1917, some two months after America’s formal entrance into World War I against Germany, the United States Congress passes the Espionage Act.

    Enforced largely by A. Mitchell Palmer, the United States attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson, the Espionage Act essentially made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces prosecution of the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies. Anyone found guilty of such acts would be subject to a fine of $10,000 and a prison sentence of 20 years.

    The Espionage Act was reinforced by the Sedition Act of the following year, which imposed similarly harsh penalties on anyone found guilty of making false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war; insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution or the military; agitating against the production of necessary war materials; or advocating, teaching or defending any of these acts. Both pieces of legislation were aimed at socialists, pacifists and other anti-war activists during World War I and were used to punishing effect in the years immediately following the war, during a period characterized by the fear of communist influence and communist infiltration into American society that became known as the first Red Scare (a second would occur later, during the 1940s and 1950s, associated largely with Senator Joseph McCarthy). Palmer–a former pacifist whose views on civil rights radically changed once he assumed the attorney general’s office during the Red Scare–and his right-hand man, J. Edgar Hoover, liberally employed the Espionage and Sedition Acts to persecute left-wing political figures.

    One of the most famous activists arrested during this period, labor leader Eugene V. Debs, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a speech he made in 1918 in Canton, Ohio, criticizing the Espionage Act. Debs appealed the decision, and the case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the court upheld his conviction. Though Debs’ sentence was commuted in 1921 when the Sedition Act was repealed by Congress, major portions of the Espionage Act remain part of United States law to the present day.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  47. #2497

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    June 16th 1917

    Lets open up today with an article from the German side of things...

    On this day Jasta 81 is formed

    Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 81, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 81, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The squadron would score six or more aerial victories during July/August 1917, while serving on the Eastern Front. After switching to the Western Front, Jasta 81 would score another 35 victories from May 1918 to war's end. The unit's victories came at the expense of five killed in action, three killed in flying accidents, one injured in a flying accident, three wounded in action, and three taken prisoner of war.

    Jasta 81 originated in Jagdflieger Ober-Ost, which was founded at Brest-Litovsk on 16 June 1917. It was intended for service on the Eastern Front. In August 1917, it was assigned to 8 Armee. In early May 1918, it was incorporated into Jagdgruppe 5. On 30 May 1918, it was revamped as Jasta 81. At this time, the squadron was posted to 7 Armee on the Western Front in France. On 27 June 1918, it was switched over to Jagdgruppe 4; in late July, it would return to JG 5. In late September 1918, the Jasta would be assigned to 3 Armee.

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    Dietrich "Derk" Averes an "Ace" of Jasta 81 beside his Fokker D VII

    In late 1917, Jasta 81 was supplied with LFG Roland D.II fighters

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    The LFG Roland D.II was a German single-seat fighter of World War I. The type was manufactured by Luftfahrzeug Gesellschaft, and also by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke under license. The D.II used a plywood monocoque fuselage . Two layers of plywood strips were spirally wrapped in opposing directions over a mold to form one half of a fuselage shell. The fuselage halves were then glued together, covered with a layer of fabric, and doped. This design was known as the Wickelrumpf and allowed to create a smooth, strong and light structure.The upper wing was attached to the fuselage by means of a large central pylon, greatly impairing the pilot's forward vision. Armament consisted of twin "Spandau" LMG 08/15 machine guns buried in the fuselage decking.

    The D.II was initially powered by a 160 hp Mercedes D.III engine, giving a top speed of 105 mph at sea level. Later aircraft, designated D.IIa, were powered by a 180 hp Argus As.III. The As.III offered poor performance above 3,000 m and the D.IIa was mostly relegated to operations on the Eastern Front. Nicknamed Haifisch (shark) for its sleek appearance, the D.II and D.IIa proved generally unpopular in service due to poor fields of view and heavy controls. It was quite fast and strong, but had mediocre manoeuvrability and handling. However, it is also reported that the aircraft had particularly sensitive controls, particularly in the yawing plane. The type is known to have been used by Jasta 25 at their Canatlarzi base in Macedonia in 1917.

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    The following aerial victories were claimed on this day...

    Robert Little Australia #21

    George Dixon Canada #1

    After serving with the Highland Light Infantry, George Clapham Dixon transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1917. Before becoming a pilot, he scored two victories as an observer with 43 Squadron. In July 1918, he joined 85 Squadron as an S.E.5a pilot and scored two more victories. A month later, he was a flight commander with 40 Squadron, scoring five more victories before he was wounded in action on 16 September 1918.

    Laurence Allen England #10
    Robert Compston England #10
    Cyril Marconi Crowe England #9

    Ralph Curtis England #1

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    2nd Lieutenant Ralph Luxmore Curtis received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 4289 on the L. & P. biplane at London & Provincial School, Hendon on 17 February 1917. He and his observer, Desmond Uniacke, scored 13 victories flying the Bristol F.2b. Uniacke was captured and Curtis died from wounds when they were shot down over Roulers by Hermann Göring, commander of Jasta 27.

    William Fry England #5
    Kenneth Lloyd Gopsill England #4
    John Murison England #5

    Francois de Rochechouart de Mortemart France #1

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    The Prince de Tonnay-Charente transferred to the French Air Service in 1917. Assigned to Escadrille Spa23, he scored 5 victories in 1917 and 2 victories in 1918. Killed in action on 16 March 1918, he was shot down over Consenvoye.

    Eduard von Dostler Germany #9 #10
    Hans Klein Germany #10
    Keith Caldwell New Zealand #4
    William Charles Campbell Scotland #10 #11 #12
    William Kennedy-Cochran-Patrick Scotland #15

    14 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON SATURDAY JUNE 16TH 1917

    2nd Lt. Bartle, T.W. (Thomas William) 69 Squadron Australian Flying Corps
    2nd Lt. Caulfield, T.St.G. (Toby St. George) 45 Squadron RFC
    Air Mech Curran, D. (David) attached 30 Squadron (Kut Garrison), Royal Flying Corps
    Rfmn Edwards, G.A.E. (George Alfred Edward) 45 Squadron RFC
    Air Mech 2 Frampton, J.C. (Joseph Christopher) 12 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Herd, R.H. (Rupert Holton) Central Flying School, Upavon, Wiltshire
    Lt. Lloyd, D.R.C. (David Rhys Cadwgan) 60 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Lucas, T.F. (Thomas Farquhar) 20th Balloon Company RFC
    2nd Lt. Margetson, E.A. (Emil Alexander) RFC
    Lt. Pycroft, A.P. (Arthur Percival) RFC
    2nd Lt. Savage, W.L. (William Leslie) RFC
    Lt. Stevens, E.H. (Edward Henry) 25 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Tew, P. (Percy) RFC
    Capt. Wickson, E.A. (Edward Arthur) 20th Balloon Company RFC


    Political, etc.


    Peace terms of German Socialist delegates to Stockholm published.

    Opening in Petrograd of All-Russian Congress of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates.

    Capt. Tunstill's Men: The whole of 69th Brigade was inspected by the Divisional Commander, Major General Sir J. M. Babington KCMG.

    2Lt. Bob Perks DSO (see 15th June), now in command of ‘C’ Company, referred to the inspection in a further letter home to his mother, before going on to request some items from home,

    “The Divisional General inspected us to-day and was very nice. He talked to all the officers beginning “What did you do?” in each case except mine. He put his hand on my shoulder and said “I know what you did”.

    We are to have a decent Church Parade to-morrow. Will you please send out a pair of puttees Dad bought me, as I had one pair torn to ribbons on barbed wire during the push. Also, do you think Dad could buy me a pair of spurs? My horse is very lazy and used to spurs, so I must have them as soon as possible, but everyone beseeches me not to get the French things. I know as little as anyone about spurs, but any average military effort offered would do I should think. Please ask Dad not to make them any silver-plated nonsense or anything else expensive, not long-necked things. Ordinary metal would do, though of course they have to be polished by my servant. Fancy my walking down the church in spurs next leave. I have discovered I have now only to be O.C. Company 15 days to be Captain, so it won’t be long now”.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  48. #2498

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    17th June 1917

    Well 'Phew, what a scorcher' sums up today - blimey it was warm.....

    Zeppelin Raid and the loss of L-48

    Rather surprisingly, this raid aimed at London took place on one of the shortest nights of the year with only about four hours of true darkness. Although six Zeppelins were earmarked for the raid, strong winds and engine problems meant only two crossed the English coast, L.42 and L.48.

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    Commanding L.42, Kapitänleutnant Martin Dietrich, cruised off the Kent coast before finally coming inland over the North Foreland lighthouse at 2.05am. Five minutes later a searchlight briefly found L.42 then lost her again. Dietrich headed south, keeping out to sea; he believed he was approaching Deal and Dover where he thought his bombs fell. In fact it was Ramsgate. Passing the town’s Marina Pier, L.42’s first bomb landed in the sea about 400 yards south-west of the pier, followed by another 150 yards further on which also fell in the sea, off the Royal Victoria Pavilion. The third bomb, however, made its mark. A 300kg HE bomb exploded on a building about 20 yards from the Clock Tower in Ramsgate Harbour, used at the time by the Royal Navy as an ammunition store. ‘A sheet of blood-red flame shot upwards and for hours ammunition of all kinds continued to explode with a tornado of fury.’ Such was the intensity of the explosions that some residents believed the Germans were attempting a landing.

    The next bomb dropped in Albert Street, a narrow road a short distance from the harbour, where it demolished or seriously damaged a number of houses with other damage extending over a wide area. At No. 45 the explosion killed 67-year-old Benjamin Thouless and injured his wife. Next door, at No. 47, Jonathan Hamlin and his wife also died, but his brother escaped with injuries. Two houses suffered when the next bomb detonated in a front garden in Crescent Road, amongst those injured was Lt. Warden of the Royal Flying Corps, home on leave. The following morning ‘it was impossible to walk in any of the main streets without feeling the crunch of glass under one’s feet’. The Borough Surveyor reported damage to 660 houses shops or other buildings.

    Having passed over the town, Dietrich headed away to the north-west, dropping four more bombs. One detonated about 100 yards from Southwood House, one in a field about 70 yards from where the railway crossed the Manston Road and two close together in a field about 50 yards from a railway cutting north-west of Nether Court Lodge. Continuing on the same heading L.42 neared the RNAS airfield at Manston but the five bombs dropped all fell in Poleash Fields near Manston village, about half a mile short of the airfield, breaking windows in seven houses. The final two bombs, both incendiaries, fell as L.42 turned to the north-east, landing harmlessly in fields at Lydden and at Nash Court as she approached Garlinge. L.42 only remained overland for 14 minutes. On her homeward journey L.42 evaded attacks by three RNAS aircraft from Yarmouth.

    The other Zeppelin to reach England, L.48 commanded by Kapitänleutnant der Reserve Franz Georg Eichler, had the commander of the Naval Airship Division, Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze, on board. L.48 spent over well over two hours off the Suffolk coast before coming inland at about 2.00am south of Orfordness, having struggled with engine problems and a frozen compass. Too late to attack London, Eichler selected Harwich as a secondary target. After following an erratic path L.48 finally seemed on course but at 2.45am seven guns of the Harwich defences opened fire on her, eventually firing off over 500 rounds. In response L.48 dropped about nine bombs near Falkenham, which fell between Falkenham Wood and Lower Farm. Turning west, Eichler dropped another 13 bombs near Kirton, falling in fields roughly between Corporation Farm and St. Mary’s Church. Heading back northwards, L.48 dropped three bombs between Waldringfield and Martlesham, on farmland between Cross Farm Cottages and Cross Farm.

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    Still experiencing engine problems as he headed north, flying between 14,000 and 15,000 feet, Eichler received a radio message advising him of a helpful tail wind at 11,000 feet. Alerted to news of a Zeppelin approaching the Suffolk coast, two aircraft took off from the RFC’s Orfordness Experimental Station shortly before 2.00am. Both pilots pursued L.48 and Lt. E.W. Clarke in a BE2c fired four drums at long range as he was unable to get above 11,000 feet. Lt. F.D. Holder flying a FE2b with Sgt. S. Ashby as his observer/gunner made a number of attacks, but Holder’s front gun jammed and so did Ashby’s while firing his fifth drum. No.37 Squadron had also sent pilots up and shortly before 3.00am another aircraft went up from Orfordness, a DH2 flown by Capt. R. Saundby. With the sky beginning to lighten and L.48 still struggling overland, Saundby closed in and fired off three drums of ammunition at gradually shortening distances and Lt. L.P. Watkins flying a 37 Squadron BE12 from Goldhanger was also on his third drum when L.48 caught fire and began to burn. She crashed on fields at Holly Tree Farm at Theberton, Suffolk. Incredibly, three of the crew survived the crash and burning wreckage, but neither Eichler nor Schütze was among them.

    Although Holder/Ashby, Saundby and Watkins all believed they had been responsible for the fatal shots and a shared victory seemed the obvious decision, the War Office awarded the honour of shooting down L.48 to Watkins.

    Zeppelin L-48


    The L48 was a new ‘Height Climber’ Zeppelin; stripped of excess weight, and containing 55,800 square metres of flammable hydrogen gas with a length of 196.5 m. It could travel at 60 mph and fly as high as 20,000 feet, much further than British anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes could reach. Tactically the Zeppelin would fly at lower levels, using faster winds to approach its target, and then ascend to safer heights before dropping its 6,000 pound bomb load. The Zeppelin had 19 crew, based mainly in two gondolas attached to the bottom of the airship. Some crew could also be sited on machine gun platforms on the top of the airship, and others in passages inside the structure of the airship itself. The very first fatal Zeppelin air raid on Britain had taken place over Norfolk in January 1915 causing damage to Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn and resulting in four dead. Since then, British defences had improved, with the introduction of search lights and anti aircraft artillery. The invention of the incendiary bullet in 1916 meant that Zeppelins were now much easier to shoot down, if they came within range of fighter aircraft.

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    Several aircraft took off to attack the airship, but although firing at the Zeppelin, the planes could not gain the altitude to inflict any damage. In an effort to escape British airspace before dawn, the Zeppelin captain gave orders to descend to reach more favourable winds. Captain RHMS Saundby in his aircraft, noticed the descent beginning, and attacked again. His bullets hit the Zeppelin this time and the tail of the airship ignited and the huge airship began to fall to earth, lighting up the sky as it did so. The vast structure crashed into the ground at Holly Tree Farm in Therberton, near Leiston, Suffolk. Three of the German crew managed to jump out of their gondola as it hit the ground and then watched in horror as the flames consumed the entire Zeppelin, as well as their 16 fellow crew members.

    In the next days crowds of locals came to view the wrecked Zeppelin, and a local photographer arrived to take pictures of the airship (see below). The entire structure was dismantled by the army and removed for military study. The piece of aluminium frame on display in the Ancient House is one of only two surviving significant parts of the Zeppelin now known to exist, the other being in Theberton Church.

    The full story of that night can be found in the following book....

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    The War at Sea

    At about 04:00 (H M trawler Fraser, Skipper Alexander Geddes, with another skipper Francis John Williams also on board) is mined while in company with another minesweeping trawler Ben Gulvain, commanded by Skipper Alexander McLeod. The two vessels having already swept the entrances at Boulogne, the main route for all troop movements from England, and are on their way to sweep what is known as the Ridge when a mine is sighted. The Fraser, however, is destroyed by another mine which had been lurking unseen below the surface. Four of her crew are saved by the Ben Gulvain, but 13 officers and ratings are killed by the explosion.

    7 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON SUNDAY JUNE 17TH 1917

    2nd Lt. Armitage, G.J. (George Jones) 4 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Bailey, L.J. (Louis John) 41 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Bond, H.S.E. (Hubert Samuel Emery) 42 Training Squadron RFC
    Capt (Chaplain 4th Class) Cleaver, F.C. (Frederick Canning, Rev.) RFC
    Air Mech 2nd Class Hutchison, C.J. (Charles J.) 25 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Sayer, C.M. (Charles Melville) 4 Squadron RFC
    Air Mech 3rd Class Waddington, F. School of Aerial Gunnery, Farnborough

    The Following aerial victories were claimed on this day...

    Clive Brewster-Joske Australia #4
    Cecil Richards Australia #2
    William Bishop Canada #33 #34 #35
    Raymond Collishaw Canada #23
    James Glen Canada #3
    Reginald Hoidge Canada #10
    Ellis Reid Canada #9
    Geoffrey Bowman England #7

    John Leacroft England #1

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    The son of John W. and Agnes A. Leacroft, John Leacroft first flew as an observer with 14 Squadron in Egypt. After flight training, he was assigned to 19 Squadron and sent to France. During 1917, he scored fourteen victories flying the SPAD XIII. In 1918, Leacroft scored another eight victories when his squadron was the first to receive the new Sopwith Dolphin. Although he was shot down twice, he survived the war and retired from the Royal Air Force in 1937 as a Group Captain.

    Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby England #5
    Frederick Sowrey England #2

    Wilfred Young England #1

    Wilfred Ernest Young was a Second Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment before he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Capt. Wilfred Ernest Young.
    A gallant, skilful, and determined patrol leader. During the last few months he has destroyed five enemy machines, and previous to joining his present squadron he accounted for three more. (DFC citation)

    Eugene Camplan France #2
    Robert Delannoy France #2
    Eduard von Dostler Germany #11
    Fritz Krebs Germany #5
    Eduard von Schleich Germany #2
    Julius Schmidt Germany u/c

    Cesare Magistrini Italy #1

    After serving briefly with 2a Squadriglia Parasol, Cesare Magistrini was posted to 78a Squadriglia in August 1916. During 1917, he was promoted to sargente and was awarded his first Silver Medal after he was badly wounded in a dogfight over the Podgora. In November he was reassigned to 91a Squadriglia and in December he received a second Silver Medal for 20 combats in the air and downing 4 enemy aircraft. When the war ended, Magistrini worked as a commercial pilot for Transadriatica, SAM, and Ala Littoria airlines. He received a knighthood in the Order of the Italian Crown and during World War II, Magistrini served with the Servizi Aerei Speciali. After World War II, he was pilot to the King of Yemen before being employed by SAIDE Egyptian Airlines. During his life he completed 22,000 hours of flying, having flown more than two million kilometers.

    Luigi Olivi Italy #6
    Vladimir Strizhesky Russia #6


    Western Front

    Germans capture French trenches near Hurtebise.

    Portuguese in action for first time.

    Southern Front

    Austrian attacks on Asiago Plateau (Trentino) and Vodice repulsed.

    Italian advance near Jamiano (Carso).

    Political, etc.


    Paris Economic Conference concludes agreements as to future economic policy.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  49. #2499

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    Another scorchingly hot day in the editor's office, had to break out the iced Pimms even earlier than usual, was a beautiful day to go flying, wonder what it was like 100 years ago?

    18th June 1917

    He is back.....

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    After a period away from the front, Manfred von Richthofen is back in business with his 53rd victory.

    RE8 No. A4290
    9 Squadron RFC.
    Engine number 887 WD 4754, Guns 07045 and A3903

    13:15 hrs Hof Struywe, Square v.42, this side of the lines (RE2 burnt). Accompanied by my Staffel, I attacked at 2,500 metres North of Ypres, on this side of the line, an English artillery RE. I fired from shortest distance some 200 shots, whereafter I zoomed over the enemy plane. In this moment I noticed that both pilot and observer were lying dead in their machine. the plane continued without falling, in uncontrolled curves to the ground. Driven by the wind, it fell into Struywe's farm where it began to burn after hitting the ground.

    The crew were: Lt. Ralph Walter Elly Ellis and Lt. Harold Carver Barlow of 9 Squadron RFC.

    The follow aerial victories were claimed on this day...

    Howard Redmayne Harker England #2
    Thomas Middleton England #7

    48 Squadron RFC (any excuse to include a Bristol in the edition)
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    Harry Gosford Reeves England #1

    Reeves joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. Assigned to 1 Squadron in June of that year, he flew Nieuport scouts until the end of November and was promoted to flight commander after scoring his twelfth victory. Early the next year, he was killed in a crash while performing an engine test on a Nieuport 27.

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    Walter Bertram Wood England #3
    Karl Allmenröder Germany #27
    Ludwig Hanstein Germany #4
    Manfred von Richthofen Germany #53 (see above)
    Flavio Baracchini Italy #6
    Vladimir Strizhesky Russia #7
    Alexander Merchant Scotland #4
    Edgar McCloughry Australia #3

    9 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON MONDAY JUNE 18TH 1917 (5 of them from ( Squadron RFC)
    (including the 2 listed above)

    Lt. Barlow, H.C. (Harold Carver) 9 Squadron RFC (see above)
    Lt. Bean, B.H. (Bevis Heppel) 9 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Ellis, R.W. (Reginald Walter) 9 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Ellis, R.W.E. (Ralph Walter Elly) 9 Squadron RFC (see above)
    Sgt. Holmes, A.S. RFC
    Lt. Jackson, H.M. (Herbert Meynell) 53 Squadron RFC
    2nd Lt. Lloyd, R.S. (Richard Serjeantson) 1 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Newton, M.E. (Murray Edell) 53 Squadron RFC
    Lt. Philip, E.T. (Edgar Thomas) 9 Squadron RFC

    The hired trawler Borneo is sunk by a mine off Beachy Head. Her captain Skipper William Allan Royal Naval Reserve is killed at age 30.

    539 British lives were lost on this day

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain John Eustace Fiennes (Gordon Highlanders) is killed at age 21. He is the son of Lieutenant Colonel the Honorable ‘Sir’ Eustace Fiennes 1st Baronet JP the Governor of the Leeward Islands. His brother will die of wounds in Italy in November 1943.
    Lieutenant Murray Eden Newton (London Regiment attached Royal Flying Corps) is killed at age 22. He is the only son of the Reverend George Herbert Newton Vicar of Wisborough.
    Lieutenant Bevis Heppel Bean (Welsh Fusiliers attached Royal Flying Corps) is killed at age 27. He is the son of the Reverend Benjamin Bean.
    Lieutenant David Ethelston Davies (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 23. He is the son of the Reverend John Davies Rector of Llangybi.
    Lieutenants Ralph Walter Elly Ellis (Royal Garrison Artillery attached Royal Flying Corps) and Harold Carver Barlow (Lancashire Fusiliers attached Royal Flying Corps) are both killed in action when Manfred von Richthofen shoots down their RE8. The observer is the son of Frank Barlow JP and he is killed at age 27.
    Sergeant Percival William Lewis Carey (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 28. His brother will be killed on 21 March 1918.

    June Offensive, also called July Offensive (New Style), Summer Offensive, Kerensky Offensive, or Galician Offensive, (June [July, New Style], 1917), unsuccessful military operation of World War I, planned by the Russian minister of war Aleksandr Kerensky. The operation not only demonstrated the degree to which the Russian army had disintegrated but also the extent of the Provisional Government’s failure to interpret and respond adequately to popular revolutionary sentiment. Temporarily, it also had the effect of strengthening moderate and conservative elements in the country. Kerensky’s timing was particularly inauspicious. After the February (March) Revolution, popular demands for peace had grown more intense, particularly within the army. Soldiers’ committees debated military issues and frequently vetoed officers’ orders. Discipline degenerated, and many soldiers made their private peace with the Germans and went home. The first coalition Provisional Government (formed in May 1917) continued to honour the alliances made by the deposed imperial government and hesitated to make a separate peace; it did agree, however, to wage only a defensive war. Nevertheless, Kerensky planned an offensive. He speculated that a victory would rally the Russian people behind the Provisional Government and also force the belligerents to make peace. On July 1 (June 18, Old Style), 1917, the Russian army, commanded by General Aleksey A. Brusilov, attacked the Austro-German forces along a broad front in Galicia and pushed toward Lvov.

    Although the Russian effort was initially successful, the soldiers soon refused to leave their trenches and fight. By July 3–4, the offensive had collapsed. On July 6 the Austrians and Germans launched a counteroffensive. They met little resistance and advanced through Galicia and into Ukraine, halting at the Zbruch River. The military disaster was immediately overshadowed by the July Days uprising and by the government’s fear of a Bolshevik coup d’état. But the June Offensive had serious political consequences. As a result of the army’s failure, Kerensky appointed as commander in chief Gen. Lavr G. Kornilov—who strongly demanded that army discipline be restored—and thereby laid the groundwork for the development of a conservative, military political force and for Kornilov’s alleged attempted coup d’etat, known as “Kornilov’s Rebellion.”

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    Aleksandr Kerensky

    Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ˈkʲerʲɪnskʲɪj]; 4 May 1881 – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and key political figure in the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the February Revolution of 1917 he joined the newly formed Russian Provisional Government, first as Minister of Justice, then as Minister of War, and after July 1917 as the government's second Minister-Chairman. A leader of the moderate-socialist Trudoviks faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, he was also vice-chairman of the powerful Petrograd Soviet. On 7 November, his government was overthrown by the Lenin-led Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. He spent the remainder of his life in exile, in Paris and New York City, and worked for the Hoover Institution.

    Western Front

    British lose ground on Infantry Hill.

    French advance between Mont Cornillet and Mont Blond (Champagne).

    Political, etc.

    General Smuts to attend War Cabinet meetings.

    Herr Hoffmann, Swiss Foreign Minister, resigns over German peace-terms incident.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  50. #2500

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    Just realised the next post after this will be number 2500 !!!

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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