Secret Warriors
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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