OTT Daring Young Men - Mission 12 “Ending with a Bang”
Based on the Actions of St Eloi Craters - the Ypres Salient of Flanders 27th March to 16th April 1916
(In memory of my grandfather who served throughout WW1 with the 4th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps)
All was still as the grave with never a flicker, even from the remains of clothing hanging from barbed wire. Not a whisper of a heartbeat disturbed the uncanny calm. Nature made not a sound, the anticipation sitting nervously upon it and the red in the dawn sky gave warning, to those who could not heed it. For they were oblivious to the storm about to tear them apart.
Then, WOOOOOMPF and their lives were over in a tearing maelstrom of metal, dirt and searing white hot heat. Tossed lifeless and unknowing through the air, hundreds of feet towards the sky, the ground beneath them carrying them upwards in a deathly shower, as tons and tons of high explosives, shortly before planted beneath them, gave vent to their savagery. Six great craters, the like of which had rarely been seen before, were torn in the surface of mother earth to whom the corpses now belonged. "There was an earth shake but no roar of explosion" . The shiver of pain was hers not theirs, for they were already dead. Their bodies, what was left of them, would be sprayed upon the surrounding ground, already scarred by shell holes and trenches and line upon line of vicious barbed wire ripped in her face; there the remains would sink into oblivion, names known only to those who would never see them again. Then the disturbed mud and rubble descended once again, burying hundreds more men, leaving them to suffocate.
Such was the unleashing of the mines, dug so carefully beneath the German lines, on 27th March 1916. South of the skeletal remains of the Belgian city of Ypres and beneath the soil of St Eloi on the western front, the miners had completed their shafts with great stealth.
Those lucky enough to escape death at their hands, to survive to tell the tales had they wished to, remained silent and dazed, their lips shut tight, their minds wishing to forget.
Now it was the turn of the rest of the poor bloody infantry. Men from Regular Army units that until recently had been serving as garrison troops in various parts of the British Empire. Men from all over the world. The 27th Division of the British Second Army, commanded by Major-General W R Marshall hurled themselves at the craters and in a desperate struggle, captured all but two of them. Designated craters 4 and 5, these were held by the counter attacking soldiers of the 46th Reserve Division of the Imperial German Army; men from all walks of life, many of them students, from Schleswig-Holstein, the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Lübeck, Hanover and Hamburg. Men, just like their enemies!
It is at this point, as the screaming and shouting and chattering of small arms fire, mixed with the curses and pleas and whistles and squelching of mud; the explosions of grenades and the cries of anguish and anger, that the men of the air were called upon to perform their part in the drama.
“We need photographs, Harold” Uncle said, before replacing his pipe in his mouth and continuing to puff away nervously.
“Right.” Harold Isore replied. “Should make for some interesting shots after those bloody great bangs.”
“Mmmm. Three of you, ok? You’ll need the other two as escorts. I’ll lay a penny to a pound that the hun will be doing just the same. And make sure one of those escorts, at least, has a spare camera. I believe the fighting around those craters is insane and everyone is shooting at anything and everything. There will be a lot of raw nerves down there amongst those craters”.
“Not sure we have the cameras available, Uncle, but I’ll see what I can rustle up!”
“Right, off you go then. Brief your crews then get going. Those photographs are needed urgently.”
Not long after that, the crews of three Sopwith 1 ½ Strutters, the latest designs, newly arrived on loan from the RNAS, in preparation for things to come, found themselves flyng towards a line of enormous craters. Their targets for the day. Lt Harold Isore and his observer, AM1 William Conker led the flight and headed for the end of the line, to starboard. His escorts obediently followed, with orders to stay in touch unless enemy intruders were identified, and not to drop below their current altitude unless absolutely necessary.
The enemy, as anticipated, was also approaching, the exact same area, both flights as yet unobserved by one another, being well camouflaged by the terrain. But the Germans, three Albatros CIIIs, would reach their objective first, and it wasn’t until they were almost on top of them that William Conker spotted them and tapped Isore furiously on the shoulder to warn him. In the meantime, Isore had taken them down to get a good photograph of the nearest crater and the small arms fire was a good reminder of how low they were.
It was obvious that the hun were up to the same game as they had turned down the line of craters and one of them had dropped, to a similar altitude as themselves, leaving their escorts and the two British escort Sopwiths, above them.
It was decision time. Isore had been warned that he should do his utmost to prevent any photographic evidence of the explosions from reaching enemy intelligence. A quick glance showed that William had successfully taken his first photograph, so he put the Strutter into a climb, away from the ground fire that had already put a number of holes throught the fabric of the aircraft, and temporarily affected his right rudder controls. He headed for the enemy two seater which obviously contained an observer, busily taking similar pictures.
Isore’s Strutter also picked up an “A” damage “0” from ground fire but I missed the photo – oops.
Opening fire as soon as he was in range, he had the satisfaction of seeing a spark of flame immediately come from the engine of the Albatros. But he also got a shock when bullets whined past his ears coming from his right and looking across, saw one of the enemy escorts approaching rapidly. Glaring back at his observer he shouted,
“Why the bloody hell didn’t you see him and fire?”
“I did see him, sir, but he’s out of my arc. Sorry, sir!”
Fortunately, the enemy’s gun appeared to have jammed, so they got away with that mistake.
Isore looked forward again to find the pale blue Albatros had slowed in preparation for taking more photographs. He gave it another burst, at close range, but was surprised when flying in from his left, almost on a collission course, came one of his own escorts. It was 2nd Lt Eric Gilliam and his observer AM2 Walter Lewis. Eric let the Albatros have it at close range too, the enemy observer doing his best to return the compliment. But what with the groundfire adding to the woes of their opponent and one of Gilliam’s bullets hitting something vital and causing an explosion, it was with some relief, that the British pilots saw the unfortunate Albatros spiral towards the earth. Whatever photographs the observer had managed to take, they wouldn’t reach the enemy – the aircraft crashed on the British side of the line of craters.
But the fight wasn’t one sided by any stretch of the imagination. The remaining two escorts, one from each side, decided on a duel. Both were carrying the only spare cameras that either side had managed to muster. However, the observers of both were hardly thinking about photographs at that moment. Only on the dreadful art of killing! And this time, it was the German who won. Gunfire was exchanged at close range and how AM3 Graham Jones, the British observer, managed to escape it unscathed was a matter of sheer luck or simply fate, take your pick. Not so poor 2nd Lt John Palin though. Two bullets tore into his body, immediately knocking him unconscious. There was nobody left to control the aircraft, so screaming in horror, the not so lucky, after all, Jones found himself helpless to prevent the inevitable. The Strutter, too, plunged earthwards, the only consolation being the fire that had broken out on the aircraft of their destroyer. Jones had, at least, inflicted serious damage to his foe.
Following that, the fight broke up somewhat with the third Albatros exchanging desultory and rather inefective fire with the machines flown by Isore and Gilliam. Isore and Conker picked up their second photograph, but nobody did much damage at that point and they were out of range from small arms bullets coming from the ground once the photoghraphy was completed.
(NB The pic of the second photo take is missing, but a check with the pic with the butcher’s bill will show that Isore collected another “0 + 1 + rrj” from that trip below altitude 4.)
At the same time the other victim of the aforementioned duel continued to burn, causing its’ occupants not inconsiderable stress. But despite this and with a great deal of courage, they decided to attempt to obtain the photographs so desperately required by their intelligence officers.
Sadly for them however, they had little chance of success. The fire on board continued unabated and fiercely, pretty much ensuring their demise, which ultimately was finally ensured by the coup de gras inflicted upon them by Eric Gilliam. His second victim of the fight.
After that Isore believed it was safe enough to get more photographs, so he dropped down to a lower altidude again whilst William Conker did his picture gathering bit and took number three. However, the troops on the ground were now undoubtedly enjoying the chance to take their woes out on an obvious target above them. Regardless of who was up there or why, they took their pot shots, much to the annoyance of Isore and Conker who came very close to joining them down there in the trenches.
Not at all to his liking, Isore cut his losses and decided to head for home, before it was too late. He climbed out of groundfire range, waggled his wings to signal his intentions to Gilliam and Lewis, who responded by following.
And the pilot of the remaining Albatros seemed only too willing to call it a day too. He headed off without offering further resistance or showing any signs of a willingness to go after more photographs – most likely he couldn’t anyway.
So, the job was half done, but it would have to do. Uncle at least would be glad they managed to get any photographs at all. Isore was pretty certain the man hadn’t expected to see any of them ever again! And the hun hadn’t managed to get anything at all from this reconnaissance outing – next time perhaps.
The end
Butcher’s Bill
Entente
2nd Lt John Palin MID (pilot Strutter with tail plane markings ) / SD FT / 2xWIA / 0 kills
Roll 2D6 = 6 – 1SD – 2WIA = 3 Injured – skip 1D6 = 6
Result – Skip 6 scenarios
AM3 Graham Jones (observer) / SD FT / 0 kills
Roll 2D6 = 11 – 1SD = 10 = All well
Result – All well
Lt Harold Isore (pilot Strutter No 7) / RTB / 0 kills
Result – All good
AM1 William Conker (observer) / RTB / 0 kills Three different crater photographs taken.
Result – All good
2nd Lt Eric Gilliam (pilot Strutter light blue/grey) / RTB / 2 kills
Result – All good
AM2 Walter Lewis MM, MID (observer) / RTB / 0 kills
Result - All good
Central Powers
Ltn Karl Niederhoff (pilot Albatros CIII light blue) / EXP ET / 0 kills
Roll 2D6 = 9 – 3 EXP = 6 Injured – skip 1D3 = 3 skip 2 scenario.
E & E
Roll 2D6 = 11 -1 EXP – 1 WIC – 1BEL = 8 Injured – skip 1D2 = 6 = skip 2 scenarios
Result – skip 2 scenarios
Ltn Alfred Osterroht (observer Albatros CIII light blue) / EXP ET / 0 kills (one photo destroyed by fire)
Roll 2D6 = 3 – 3 EXP = 0 – KIA
Result – Killed in action
Fwbl Franz Theiler (pilot Albatros CIII Turkish markings) / FLM ET / 0 kills
Roll 2D6 = 11 – 2 FLM = 9 All well
E&E
Roll 2D6 = 7 – 1 FLM – 1 BEL = 5 In hiding – skip 1D2 = 6 – skip 2 scenarios
Result – skip 2 scenarios
Ltn Wilhelm Kummetz (observer Albatros CIII Turkish markings) FLM ET / 0 kills
Roll 2D6 = 7 – 2 FLM = 5 – injured skip 1D3 = 3 skip 2 scenarios
E&E
Roll 2D6 = 7 – 1 FLM – 1 WIC – 1 BEL = 4 Captured and escaped – skip 1D3 = 6 Skip 3 scenarios.
Result – skip 3 scenarios
Fwbl Robert Janzen (pilot Albatros CIII Brown with German markings) / RTB / 0 kills
Result – All good
Ltn Johannes Mesch (observer Albatros CIII Brown with German markings) / RTB / 0 kills
Result – All good
Victory Points
Entente: Three photos – 3 points
Central Powers: Nil points
Result – Entente Victory
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