Secret Warriors

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Secret Warriors Page 45

by Taylor Downing


  support staff for aerial observers, 91–2

  trench warfare and, 83–1, 87–8, 93

  Aero Club, English, 42, 49, 57, 66

  aeronautics: Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, 11, 59–60, 61–2, 63, 71, 73, 74, 342, 349

  Aeronautical Research Committee, 349, 355, 397; ‘I Department’ at Farnborough (‘Chudleigh Mess’), 342–3, 350

  internal combustion engine and, 31–2, 42

  lasting achievements in, 10, 355–6

  Lindemann and, 342–4

  principles of aerodynamics, 31, 61

  research scholarships in, 61

  universities and, 33; see also aviation

  HMS Africa, 68

  agriculture, 20, 196, 338

  Air Ministry, 348, 351, 355

  Director of Scientific Research at, 354–5

  openness to scientific ideas, 355–6

  aircraft: Albatros DI, 94–5

  Antoinette, 50

  Avro, 48, 70, 73

  BE (Blériot Experimental) series, 3, 4, 65, 71, 73, 90–1, 301, 344

  Blériots, 3, 4, 50–1, 65, 66, 70, 80

  ‘Bristols’, 56, 66, 70, 95

  cockpit instruments, 79

  criticisms of British design, 73, 90–1

  DH2s, 91

  Farmans, 4, 42–3, 66, 70, 80, 91

  FE1 (Farman Experimental 1), 64

  FE2b (Farman Experimental 2b), 64, 91

  Fokkers, 90, 91, 94, 95

  Gotha bombers, 348

  Handley Page bombers, 335, 336

  Hurricane fighter, 46

  Lancaster bomber, 48

  machine guns and, 90, 95

  national markings on, 82

  Nieuports, 91, 95

  ‘pusher’ and ‘tractor’ planes, 64–5, 70, 90

  RE series, 73

  RFC competition at Larkhill (1912), 70–1

  Short Brothers, 45

  Sopwiths, 46, 91, 95, 348

  Tizard and, 347–8

  Vickers, 90, 95, 335–6

  Wright Flyers, 52, 57, 62

  aircraft engines, 3, 4, 8, 31–2, 41, 42, 50

  Antoinette, 47–8, 57

  Anzani, 51

  Renault, 64, 73

  Rolls-Royce, 46

  airfields, 79

  airships, 56, 61, 68, 73

  Aitken, Max, Lord Beaverbrook, 281–2, 310–11, 313, 360, 412

  dispute with Balfour, 325

  Ministry of Information and, 322–4, 325–6, 330

  Alcock, John, 335–6

  Aldershot, Cambridge Military Hospital, 233, 234–7

  All Souls, Oxford, 127

  Allenby, General, 97, 230, 311, 324

  aluminium, 61, 159, 167

  Amery, Leo, 288

  Amiens, 4–5, 78

  ammonia, 20, 166–7, 174

  amputation, 213, 220, 223, 229, 231

  prosthetics and, 232–3

  Anderson, John, 219

  Andrade, Edward, 153

  Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later BP), 68, 124

  Anti-Aircraft Experimental Station, 352

  antiseptics, 21, 157, 213–14, 219, 226–7, 337, 338–9

  Antoinette aircraft, 50

  Antwerp, 197

  appeasement policy, 1930s, 353

  Appleton, Edward Victor, 150

  argon, discovery of, 6

  armaments and gunnery see munitions

  Armentières, bombardment of, 188

  armoured cars, 197

  army, British: 1912

  summer manoeuvres, 71–2, 73

  Air Battalion, 67, 69

  aviation and, 53, 56, 57–8, 59, 60, 65–7

  Balloon Factory, Farnborough, 52–3, 56, 57, 58–9, 63, 64, 71

  ballooning and, 52–3

  communications at front, 163–1

  as conservative-minded, 35, 36, 164

  de Havilland as aircraft designer, 64–5, 71

  ‘declinist’ view of inter-war Britain, 353–1

  development and use of poison gas, 179–80, 181–3, 184, 185, 187–8, 203, 219, 288, 337

  development of gas masks, 178–9

  Director of Scientific Research at, 354

  executions for cowardice or desertion, 264–6

  film cameramen with, 11, 293–4, 296, 297, 298–309, 311, 314

  first day of the Somme, 202–3, 228–9, 250–1, 301–2, 306

  GHQ at St Omer, 151

  grenades and, 158–60

  Haig’s Field Service Regulations, 54–5

  Haldane’s reforms, 54–5, 77, 215, 216

  July 1918

  counterattack, 96–7, 208, 231–2

  khaki uniforms, 78

  Kitchener’s new army, 202–3

  light mortars and, 161–3

  ‘Lions led by donkeys’ phrase, 164

  machine guns and, 154, 172, 192

  mustard gas casualties, 187

  new tactics at Cambrai, 206

  obstructiveness to tank development, 198, 199, 204, 210

  officers and Other ranks’, 36–7

  ‘Pals’ Battalions’, 203, 250–1, 314

  poison gas and, 177, 178–9

  recruitment at start of war, 269–71, 273

  Territorial Force, 54, 215, 216, 218, 221

  as under-gunned in 1914, 153; see also British Expeditionary Force

  artillery: accuracy of, 37, 78

  aerial spotting for, 88, 98

  Battle of Cambrai (1917) and, 206–7, 208

  Battle of the Somme (1916) and, 202, 302

  the ‘Big Bertha’, 161, 207–8

  creeping barrage, 206, 207, 208

  explosions caused by, 165–6

  fifteen-inch guns on dreadnoughts, 38

  German, 153, 161, 207–8

  heavy howitzers, 153

  heavy mortars, 37, 161

  light mortars, 161–3

  mobile field guns, 153–1

  at Passchendaele, 205

  shell shortages, 117, 156, 287

  shells, 9, 155, 165–7, 170, 172, 189

  ‘sound ranging’ and, 151–3, 206

  static war and, 193, 194

  against tanks, 206

  artists, 11, 235, 272, 312–13, 318, 332, 333

  Gassed (Sargent), 313

  The Menin Road (Nash), 313

  The Western Front (Bone anthology), 313

  The Ypres Salient at Night (Nash), 313

  Asdic, underwater sonar, 354

  aspirin, invention of, 20

  Asquith, Herbert, 54, 59, 67, 198, 271, 273, 275, 278

  collapse of Liberal Government, 117, 156, 287

  ousted as Prime Minister, 315, 322

  atom bombs, 175, 346, 357

  Austin, Herbert, 30, 44

  Australia, 17, 106–7, 149, 311

  Austro-Hungarian empire, 75, 76–7, 161

  disintegration of, 327

  ethnic groups within, 326–7

  aviation: 1912

  summer manoeuvres, 71–2, 73

  Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, 11, 59–60, 61–2, 63, 71, 73, 74, 342, 349

  ‘Aerial Navigation’ sub-committee, 58–9

  Alcock and Brown cross the Atlantic, 335–6

  Allied total air supremacy (1918), 96–7

  arms manufacturers and, 55–6

  ‘Aviators’ Neurasthenia’, 257–8

  Balloon Factory, Farnborough, 52–3, 56, 57, 58–9, 63, 64, 71

  bomb-sights on bombers, 344, 347

  British army and, 53, 56, 57–8, 59, 60, 65–7

  British pioneers, 34, 41–2, 43–8, 49–50, 57–8, 357

  Capper and, 53, 56

  Churchill and, 68, 69, 72

  civil aviation industry, 336, 338

  de Havilland and, 64–5, 71

  ‘declinist’ view of inter-war Britain, 353–4

  fatal accidents, 62–3

  first Channel crossing (1909), 3, 50–1

  first powered flight by Wright brothers, 32, 42

  flying fro
m ships at sea, 68, 72

  France as centre of in Europe, 42–3, 45, 49

  French annual manoeuvres (1910), 66

  Germany and, 56, 58

  Haldane and, 57–8, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63

  Handley Page and, 48, 335, 336

  industry, 10, 55, 63, 73, 336, 338

  inter-war science and investment, 355

  Lindemann’s work on fatal spins, 343–4

  meteorology and, 350

  military market, 51–2

  Moore-Brabazon’s historic flight (1909), 41–2, 43, 59, 73–4, 336

  moustaches and, 70

  naval, 62, 67, 68, 69, 72–3

  as. new science, 38, 44

  Northcliffe and, 32, 49–50, 58, 62

  rapid advances in, 8–9, 10, 55, 62, 74, 335–6

  RFC established (April 1912), 69–70

  seaplanes, 69, 72–3

  Short brothers and, 62, 67, 72

  Wright brothers and, 52, 53; see also aeronautics

  Avro, 48, 70, 73

  Babinski, Joseph, 23, 262

  bacteriology, 14–15, 21, 214

  shrapnel wounds and, 219–20, 221

  Baker, Professor, 179–80

  Baker-Wilbrahim, Philip, 127

  Baldwin, Stanley, 325–6

  Balfour, Arthur, 32, 53, 142, 143, 144, 317, 326, 328

  Balfour Declaration (1917), 170

  Beaverbrook and, 325

  as First Lord of the Admiralty, 118, 201, 294, 296–7

  Ball, Albert, 93–4

  Balliol College, Oxford, 283

  ballooning, 30–1, 44, 47, 52–3, 56, 57

  drachen or ‘sausage balloons’, 89

  barbed wire, 37, 83, 93, 193, 195, 198

  Barclays Bank, 324

  Baring, Maurice, 80

  Barker, Pat, Regeneration trilogy, 257

  Life Class and Toby’s Room, 405

  Barrie, J.M., 280

  Barrow-in-Furness shipyards, 55

  BASF (Badische Anilin-und Soda-Fabrik), 20, 167

  Battenberg, Prince Louis of, 276

  battleships: armour plating, 38, 115, 120, 196

  dreadnoughts, 38, 114, 119

  inadequacy of British armour, 115, 120

  Queen Elizabeth class, 68

  Bauer, Colonel Max, 174, 175, 176

  Bawdsey Manor, Suffolk, 351

  Bayer, 20, 167, 175, 185

  Beatty, Vice Admiral, 112–13, 114, 115, 116, 119, 120, 122

  Beaverbrook, Lord see Aitken, Max

  Beilby, George, 180

  Belgium, 77, 161, 192–3, 197, 273, 274, 275, 300

  Bell, Alexander Graham, 17

  Bell, Ed, 143–4

  Belloc, Hilaire, 286

  Bennett, Arnold, 280, 324

  Benz, Karl, 27

  Bergson, Henri, 277

  Berlin University, 14, 341–2, 346

  Bernstorff, Count, 131, 142

  Bethlem Royal Hospital, 256, 332–3

  Beveridge, William, 338

  bicycles, 26–7, 29, 45

  The Bioscope, 304

  Birch, Frank, 127

  Blackburne company, 63

  Blackett, Patrick, 352–3, 361

  Blackpool Pleasure Beach, 192

  Blériot, Louis, 3, 50–1

  Blériot company, 3, 4, 50–1, 65, 66, 70, 80

  Bletchley Park, 123, 128, 339

  Blùcher (German warship), 114, 115

  Board of Trade, 7, 338

  Boelcke, Lieutenant Oswald, 90, 94

  Boer War, 25, 53, 57, 69, 194, 214, 215, 218, 269, 273, 285

  Bone, Muirhead, 313

  Boots the chemists, Nottingham, 186

  Bosch, Carl, 20

  Bottomley, Horatio, 276

  Boulogne Base Hospital, 224, 226, 244, 252–3, 338

  Bovington, Dorset, 205

  Bowlby, Sir Anthony, 218–19, 223, 227, 228, 229–30, 234, 362

  Boyle, Robert, 6

  Brabazon, John Moore-, see Moore-Brabazon, John

  Brade, Sir Reginald, 310

  Bragg, William Lawrence, 149–51, 362–3

  ‘sound ranging’ and, 151–3

  Bragg, William (senior), 149–50, 154–5

  Brasenose College, Oxford, 285

  ‘Bristol’ aircraft (British & Colonial), 56, 66, 70, 95

  Britain: anti-German hysteria, 274–7, 278, 282, 333, 342

  Belgian neutrality and, 77, 273

  Belgian refugees, 274

  cinema industry, 26, 291

  ‘declinist’ view of inter-war period, 353–4

  development of the tank in, 196

  developments in mass communications, 24

  Edwardian era, 13–15, 16–17, 18–26, 28–30, 32–8, 150–1, 281, 284

  fading industrial supremacy, 33–4

  internment of Germans, 276

  official war aims, 319–20

  propaganda discredited in post-war era, 333, 334

  public schools as anti-technology, 32–3, 34–5, 36

  role of state. post-War, 35, 338, 354

  royal family changes name to Windsor, 277

  spread of motoring, 28, 29–30, 35

  Victorian era, 6, 13, 15–16, 17, 21–2, 24–8, 37, 167, 174, 215, 232

  British & Colonial Aeroplane Company, 56, 66, 70

  British and Colonial Film Company, 301

  British Association for the Advancement of Science, 102

  British Board of Film Censors, 293

  British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 336–7

  British Dyes, 170, 337, 338

  British Empire, 17, 53, 55, 58, 75–6, 217, 269

  British Expeditionary Force, 4, 5, 54, 72, 78–9, 192, 271

  ambulance provision for, 216–17

  Battle of Le Cateau (1914), 217

  Battle of Mons and, 81–2, 217, 272–3

  crosses channel, 77–8

  shell shock and, 241–2

  British government: coalition formed (1915), 117–18, 277, 287

  collapse of Asquith government, 117, 156, 287

  Department of Information, 317–19, 320, 321

  Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 157, 349, 350, 354

  Foreign Office, 125, 142, 143, 279–80, 316, 317–18, 323, 325, 339

  Home Office, 67, 125, 135–6

  Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister (1916), 315–16

  Ministry of Information, 322–4, 325–32

  tradition of secrecy, 279–80

  War Cabinet, 315–16, 317, 320, 324, 327, 331; see also Admiralty; Air Ministry; Ministry of Munitions; War Office

  British Museum, 102

  Brittain, Vera, 187, 225

  broadcasting industry, 336–7, 338, 357

  Broadway cinema, Hammersmith, 307

  Brock, Arthur, 258

  Bromhead, Captain, 309

  Brooke, Rupert, 76

  Brooke-Popham, Major Robert Henry, 79

  Brooklands, Surrey, 46, 47

  Brown, Arthur Whitten, 335–6

  Brown, Des, 266

  Brown, Dr William, 252, 258

  Bryce Report, 407

  Buchan, John, 284–7, 288–9, 303, 316, 324, 363

  director of Department of Information, 317–19, 320, 321, 330–1

  Greenmantle, 331

  The Thirty Nine Steps, 286, 408

  Bulgaria, 297, 329

  Burlington House, 5–8

  Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, 59

  Cambridge University, 5–6, 14, 35, 43, 44, 59, 97, 127, 154, 234, 279, 347

  Cavendish Laboratory, 345, 352–3

  department of

  psychology, 23, 242, 256

  engineering at, 33, 102, 187

  Trinity College, 33, 45, 149, 150, 352

  Cammells, 196

  Campbell, Charles, 84–5

  Campbell-Bannerman, Henry, 53–1

  Canadian troops, 173, 176, 177, 281, 282, 323

  Canadian War Records Service, 282, 323

  Capper
, Lieutenant-Colonel John, 53, 56, 57, 58–9, 63

  Carnarvon, Lord, 64

  RMS Carpathia, 19

  Carranza, President of Mexico, 140, 142, 143

  Carrell, Dr Alexander, 227

  Carson, Sir Edward, 129, 320, 321, 322

  Casement, Sir Roger, 129–30, 131–2

  trial and execution of, 132–3

  Castner-Kellner, Wallsend, 180

  cathode ray oscilloscope, 350, 351

  cavalry, 5, 54, 78, 81, 84, 151, 206, 218, 272

  Cavell, Edith, 275

  Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, 345, 352–3

  Cayley, Sir George, 31

  celluloid, 26, 88, 178

  cellulose, 19

  cellulose nitrate (gun cotton), 78

  censorship, 11, 12, 271–2

  of overseas mail, 135–6

  Chaplin, Charlie, 291, 312

  Charles II, King, 6

  Charteris, Brigadier John, 87, 179, 298

  chemical industries, 15, 19, 20, 169

  chemical warfare and, 174, 185

  development of in Britain, 168, 169–72

  foundations during War, 337–8

  German domination of, 20, 21, 167–8, 172

  Haber-Bosch process, 20, 167, 174

  synthetic colours and materials, 19–20, 26, 168, 338

  US ascendancy postwar, 172, 338

  chemical warfare: history of, 173–4, 403

  research station at Porton Down, 354; see also poison gas

  chemists, 6, 7–8

  committee of industrial chemists, 168

  development of gas masks, 178–9

  French, 185

  German, 20, 21

  poison gas and, 175–6, 179–80, 184

  running of munitions factories by, 170

  shortage of in Britain, 168

  tear gas and, 174–5, 188

  Cherwell, Lord see Lindemann, Frederick

  Chesterton, G.K., 280

  Childers, Erskine, The Riddle of the Sands, 105, 286

  chlorine, 173, 175–8, 180, 181, 184, 189, 354

  chloroform, 235

  chloropicrin, 189

  cholera, 21–2

  Christian Socialist movement, 279

  Christ’s College, Cambridge, 279

  Churchill, Winston: creates Chemical Warfare Committee, 188

  development of the tank and, 196–7, 198–200, 210

  as First Lord of the Admiralty, 67–9, 72, 104, 117–18, 169, 196–7, 271–2

  as Home Secretary, 67, 125

  learns to fly, 68, 79

  Lindemann and, 341, 345–6

  on naval battles, 114

  naval intelligence and, 108, 110–11, 112–14, 115, 118, 122

  on Northcliffe’s war reporting, 273

  Press Bureau and, 271, 273

  on radio communications, 104

  sacking of from Admiralty, 117–18, 200, 277

  Second World War and, 123

  cinema: The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks, 310

  The Battle of the Somme, 301–10, 314, 410

  Bei unseren Helden an der Somme (With Our Heroes on the Somme), 310

  Britain Prepared, 294–8, 309

 

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