1914 (British Ace) (35 page)

This is my first foray into what might be called modern history.  The advantage of the Dark Ages is that there are few written records and the writer’s imagination can run riot- and usually does! If I have introduced a technology slightly early or moved an action it is in the interest of the story and the character.  I have tried to make this story more character based as I have used the template of some real people and characters who lived at the time.

As with all my books I have used fictitious regiments and actions. The organisation of the Lancashire Yeomanry and the Cumbrian Hussars is compatible with actual regiments.  Their role is exactly that of the real Yeomanry.  Compared with the regular regiments and especially compared with the foot soldiers, the Yeomanry casualties were very light. The total cavalry losses for the whole war were 5,674 dead and 14,630 wounded.  Compare that to the Northumberland Fusiliers who had 16000 casualties alone. The Yeomanry losses were even fewer.

The Short Magazine Lee Enfield had a ten shot magazine and enabled a rifleman to get off 20-30 shots in a minute. It was accurate at 300 yards. Both cavalry and infantry were issued with the weapon.

The First Battle of the Marne: over two million men fought in the First Battle of the Marne and
approximately 500,000 were killed or wounded. French casualties totalled 250,000 men, 80,000 killed. British casualties were 13,000 men, 1,700 killed. The Germans suffered 250,000 casualties. No future battle on the Western Front would average so many casualties per day.

The Cavalry Division (1
st
Brigade) was made up of:

2
nd
Dragoon Guards

3
rd
Dragoon Guards

4
th
Dragoon Guards

5
th
Dragoon Guards

9
th
Lancers

11
th
Hussars

18
th
Hussars

1
st
Signal Troop

2
nd
Signal Troop

The hospitals mentioned both existed.  Lord Derby’s was specifically for Lancashire regiments and soldiers. It had space for 3300 patients.  After 1916 1000 of those beds were for mental cases.
http://www.1914-1918.net/hospitals_uk.htm
is a good web site and
well worth visiting. When you see how many hospitals were hospitals specifically for venereal disease it makes you wonder about life out of the trenches.

The cavalry battle where Doddy was killed was the Battle of the Yser
(October 1914). It ended the race to the sea

For those readers who do not come from England I have tried to write the way that people in that part of Lancashire speak. As with many northerners they say
‘owt’
for anything and
‘eeh’
is just a way of expressing surprise.  As far as I know there is no Lord Burscough but I know that Lord Derby had a huge house not far away in Standish and I have based the fictitious Lord Burscough on him. The area around Burscough and Ormskirk is just north of the heavily industrialised belt which runs from Leeds, through Manchester, to Liverpool.  It is a very rural area with many market gardens.  It afforded me the chance to have rural and industrial England, cheek by jowl. The food they eat is also typical of that part of Lancashire. Harsker is a name from the area apparently resulting from a party of Vikings who settled in the area some centuries earlier.  Bearing in mind my Saxon and Viking books I could not resist the link albeit tenuous with my earlier books.

The flying lesson is as accurate as I can make it.  I received a flying lesson for my 40
th
birthday and flew a little Piper.  I had a superb teacher, Eric and everything that happened in the lesson, including almost stalling the aircraft, happened to me.  I did not actually land it but we were just 30ft from the ground when I found out I was not to land it. My research has shown me that many of the aces in WW1 began their careers this way including Major McCudden who, at the time of his death was the most decorated pilot in the RFC, RNAS and RAF. He was even awarded an MM as an observer. I apologise for any inaccuracies concerning the actual aircraft. I have researched as much as I could but I will have made mistakes.

The rear firing Lewis gun was not standard issue and was an improvised affair.  Here is a photograph of one in action.

The photograph demonstrates the observer's firing positions in the
Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2d
. T
he observer's cockpit was fitted with three guns, one fixed forward-firing for the pilot to aim, one moveable forward-firing and one moveable rear-firing mounted on a pole over the upper wing. The observer had to stand on his seat in order to use the rear-firing gun.

This artistic work
created by the United Kingdom Government
is in the
public domain
.
This is because it is one of the following
:

1. It is a photograph created by the United Kingdom Government and taken prior to 1 June 1957; or
   
2. It was commercially published prior to 1964; or
   

It is an artistic work other than a photograph or engraving (e.g. a painting) which was created by the United Kingdom Government prior to 1964.
HMSO has declared that the expiry of Crown Copyrights applies worldwide.

An F.E.2
This image (or other media file) is in the
public domain
because its copyright has
expired.

This applies to Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of
life of the author plus 70 years
.

The battle of Neuve Chapelle occurred much as I described.  The RFC did photograph extensively and the photographs were so detailed that they enabled the commanders on the ground to know precisely what to expect.  The German air defences were destroyed first and then the RFC bombed the roads, railways and canals.  There was a breakthrough but as the artillery ran out of shells and the Germans counterattacked the advantage of the first day was lost. The bombs were thrown from the aeroplanes although the use of the racks is not documented.  I just can’t imagine them flying with bombs rolling around beneath their feet.

The shelling of the East Coast took place in December 1914. As I write this the last survivor of the bombing died aged 106. It was a dramatic event and was the first time civilians in England had been embroiled in war.  It hardened the populace against the Germans and, as with the Blitz half a century later, made everyone more determined than ever to defeat the Germans.

Chlorine gas was first used by the Germans at the Second Battle of Ypres. It was used against the French, British and Canadians in the area around Ypres. It was not only allied troops who suffered casualties. Many Germans who released the gas also died.  It was not a particularly scientific attack.  Many French troops and French colonial troops fled; unfortunately the gas followed them.

There will be more books in this series.  The next one will look at the dark days of 1915 when the Fokker Scourge descended upon the Western Front.

I used the following books to verify information:

World War 1- Peter Simkins

The Times Atlas of World History

The British Army in World War 1 (1
)- Mike Chappell

The British Army in World War 1 (2
)- Mike Chappell

The British Army 1914-18- Fosten and Marrion

British Air Forces 1914-1918- Cormack

British and Empire Aces of World War 1- Shores

A History of Aerial Warfare- John Taylor

Thanks to the following website for the slang definitions

• www.ict.griffith.edu.au/~davidt/z_ww1_
  slang
  /index_bak.htm
  ‎
  

Griff Hosker
April 2014

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1914

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