The Shadow of War

by Stewart Binns

  British Army School of Musketry

  The Army School of Musketry was founded in 1853 at Hythe, Kent. In September 1855, a corps of instructors was added to the establishment, consisting of 100 first-class and 100 second-class instructors who, as soon as they were sufficiently experienced, were distributed to battalions and regiments as required. The use of the term ‘musketry’ was a misnomer as, by then, muskets (smooth-bore weapons) were being withdrawn from service to be replaced by weapons with rifled bores (rifles).

  British Expeditionary Force

  Britain’s army in 1914 was a volunteer, professional army of great tradition. Although there had been significant nineteenth-century reforms, it was still based on centuries-old practices and prejudices. Most officers needed a private income of at least £250 per year, or £400 for cavalry regiments (which required a man to keep a charger, two hunters and three polo ponies). Some men of the ranks came from long-standing military families, but most enlisted as unskilled labourers. They were largely from poor urban slums, uneducated and often undernourished.

  The army medical standard was 5ft 3ins in height, with 33ins chest and 33lbs in weight. Despite these minimal requirements, many applicants failed. Although hardly luxurious, soldiers got regular pay, clean living conditions, adequate food and a rudimentary education. Camaraderie was generally good and professionalism high, especially in basic combat skills and musketry. There was mutual respect between officers and men and non-commissioned officers were drawn from highly disciplined veterans and were of the highest calibre.

  In May 1914, British military prowess rested on its immense Royal Navy, the envy of the world. The regular army was small compared to its European counterparts and was 11,000 short of its establishment of 260,000. The number of men under arms on UK soil was 137,000, including recruits undergoing training. The rest were in numerous garrisons throughout the Empire. The BEF sent to France in August 1914 was designated at 48 infantry battalions and 16 cavalry regiments, plus heavy and light artillery and support services. This was many more than the army could muster, so over 70,000 reservists were called to the colours. Although these men had been regular soldiers, most had grown accustomed to civilian life, lacked training and had lost their battle-hardened readiness. Many battalions had to include several hundred reservists to bring them up to strength of around 1,000 men.

  Approximately 100,000 strong, the BEF’s mandate was challenging: help throw back a German force 1 million strong in cooperation with a French Army equally huge. Its commander, Sir John French, was required to support the French generals, but not take orders from them. However, he had to rely on their goodwill for railway transportation, accommodation and lines of supply. John French was a better fighting soldier than a strategic general. He was liked by his subordinates and had a good reputation within the army, but he was short-tempered and argumentative and suffered from violent mood swings, which veered from overt optimism to deep pessimism. His subordinates – Sir Douglas Haig, who commanded the I Corps, and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, who commanded II Corps – were also highly respected, experienced soldiers, but neither had a good relationship with French, especially Smith-Dorrien, who was appointed against his wishes. Haig was extremely efficient and hard-working, much liked by all around him, but was intensely shy and awkward. Smith-Dorrien was brave and aggressive, but prone to extreme outbursts of temper.

  The BEF was to take up position to the east of Cambrai, between Maubeuge and Hirson, on the left flank of General Lanrezac’s 5th French Army of 250,000 men. Here it would meet the thrust of the German advance through southern Belgium, led by General Alexander von Kluck’s 1st Army, 300,000 strong.

  Bulldog-toed shoes

  Bulldog-toe button boots (or American boots) and shoes were very fashionable for both men and women from about 1908 to 1920. With their distinctive rounded bulbous toes, they were first popular in North America and then in Europe. The distinctive shape of the toe was considered to be healthy because the toes could move inside the boot, thereby increasing circulation to the foot. Previously, the fashion was for highly restrictive ‘toothpick’ pointed shoes.

  Burnley Lads’ Club

  The Burnley Lads’ Club was formed in 1899 to cater for boys from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many of the original members of the club fell in the Great War, serving with the famous D Company, ‘Accrington Pals’, along with the club’s first leader, Captain Henry Davison Riley. It still flourishes. In 1968 the Lads’ Club merged with the Police Youth Club, to create Burnley Boys’ Club. The merger enabled the two groups to pool their resources and membership, which included girls, and the club is now called Burnley Boys’ and Girls’ Club. It is a youth and community centre for young people between the ages of six and twenty-one, irrespective of gender, race and ability. Young people with disabilities are welcome up to the age of twenty-five.

  Camouflage

  In 1914, British scientist John Graham Kerr persuaded First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill to adopt a form of disruptive camouflage for shipping, which he called ‘parti-colouring’ or ‘dazzle’ camouflage A general order to the British fleet issued on 10 November 1914 advocated the use of Kerr’s method, which used masses of strongly contrasted colour, consequently making it difficult for a submarine to decide on the exact course of the vessel to be attacked. Artists, known as ‘camoufleurs’ were employed to design the camouflage of individual ships, some of which were so eye-catching that people would come and gawp at them in dock. It was applied in various ways to British warships such as HMS Implacable, where officers noted that the pattern ‘increased difficulty of accurate range finding’. However, following Churchill’s departure from the Admiralty, the Royal Navy reverted to plain grey paint schemes.

  Central Powers/Allied Powers

  The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in the Great War, composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and Bulgaria, also known as the Quadruple Alliance. This alignment originated in the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and fought against the Allied Powers that had formed around the Triple Entente. The members of the Triple Entente were the French Republic, the British Empire and the Russian Empire. Italy ended its alliance with the Central Powers and entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915. Japan, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and the Czechoslovak legions (a volunteer army) were secondary members of the Entente.

  Cherry Bums

  This was a term used by Lord Cardigan for his regiment, the 11th Prince Albert’s Own Hussars, which he notoriously led in the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854, during the Crimean War. The men wore bright-red cavalry trousers in honour of the livery of Prince Albert’s House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The term came to be used by infantrymen in sections of the army as a derogatory expression for the cavalrymen in general.

  Clogs

  There are two explanations of the development of the English-style clog. They may have evolved from foot pattens (soles) which were slats of wood held in place by thongs or similar strapping. They were usually worn under leather or fabric shoes to raise the wearer’s foot above the mud of the unmade road (not to mention commonly dumped human effluent and animal dung). Those too poor to afford shoes wore wood directly against the skin or hosiery, and thus the clog was developed, made of part leather and part wood. Alternatively, they have been described as far back as Roman times, and possibly earlier. The wearing of clogs in Britain became more visible with the Industrial Revolution, when industrial workers needed strong, cheap footwear. The heyday of the clog in Britain was between the 1840s and 1920s and, although traditionally associated with Lancashire, they were worn all over the country (for example, in the London docklands and fruit markets, and in the mines of Kent).

  Cockney rhyming and other London slang

  Barney Moke – poke (sexual intercourse).

  Birch and broom – room.

  Butcher’s (hook) – look.

  Cocoa / I should cocoa – I should say s
o.

  Feather-plucker – fucker.

  Goose and duck – fuck.

  Granny Grunt – cunt.

  His Majesty’s pleasure – treasure.

  Fourpenny one (fourpenny bit) – hit. (A fourpenny bit was an old British silver coin, also called a ‘groat’, worth four old pennies; it ceased to be minted in 1856.)

  Iron hoof – poof / homosexual.

  Little Red Riding Hoods – goods.

  Mazawattee (potty) – crazy. (Mazawattee was one of the most popular brands of tea from mid-Victorian times onwards. Owned by the Densham family, using tea from the newly established tea plantations of Ceylon, its name is Sinhalese in origin and means ‘pleasure garden’. Its growth was helped by the Temperance Movement and the company’s clever slogan: ‘The cup that cheers but does not inebriate.’ The brand was distributed from its warehouse on Tower Hill in London and became a Cockney favourite. The brand declined after the Great War and its Tower Hill warehouse was destroyed during the Blitz in the Second World War. By the 1960s, Mazawattee Tea had disappeared.)

  Miss Fitch – bitch.

  Pig’s ear – beer.

  Pony (and trap) – crap (useless/poor quality).

  Safe and sound – ground.

  Tiddly (wink) – drink.

  Tommy Rollocks – bollocks / testicles.

  Two and eight – state (as in a state of agitation).

  Desoutter Brothers

  Marcel Desoutter was one of six children of Louis Albert Desoutter, an immigrant French watchmaker, and Philomène Duret. Learning to fly with the Blériot Company at their Hendon works, he passed the flying tests at the age of seventeen. At the London Aviation Meeting, held at Hendon Aerodrome at Easter 1913, the control stick slipped from his hand while flying his 50hp Blériot Gnome, and the craft dived into the ground at the edge of the aerodrome. Desoutter’s leg was badly broken and later had to be amputated above the knee.

  He was fitted with the standard wooden leg, but his younger brother Charles used his knowledge of aircraft materials to design a new jointed duralumin alloy leg of half the weight, with which he was able to return to flying. In 1914 the pair formed Desoutter Brothers Limited to manufacture artificial limbs. The firm expanded during and after the Great War, and moved to The Hyde, Hendon, in 1924.

  ‘Die Wacht am Rhein’

  This is a German patriotic anthem (‘The Watch/Guard on the Rhine’). The song’s origins are rooted in the historical French–German enmity, and it was particularly popular in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and the Great War.

  Distinguished Conduct Medal

  The Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) was, until 1993, a very high award for bravery (second only to a Victoria Cross). The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean War, to recognize gallantry within the ranks, for which it was the equivalent of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) awarded for bravery to commissioned officers. In the aftermath of the 1993 review of the honours system, as part of the drive to remove distinctions of rank in awards for bravery, the DCM was discontinued (along with the award of the DSO and of the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal). These three decorations were replaced by the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, which now serves as the second-level award for gallantry for all ranks across the whole armed forces.

  Doolally tap

  Deolali, India, was the site of a British Army transit camp notorious for its unpleasant environment, and the boredom and psychological problems of soldiers who passed through it. Its name is the origin of the phrase ‘gone doolally’ or ‘doolally tap’, a phrase meaning to ‘lose one’s mind’. ‘Tap’ may refer to the Urdu word for a malarial fever.

  Dunnage

  Dunnage is a term with a variety of related meanings but, typically, refers to inexpensive or waste material used to protect, load and secure cargo during transportation. Dunnage also refers to material used to support loads and hold tools and materials up off the ground (such as jacks, pipes) and supports for air conditioning and other equipment above the roof of a building.

  East Lancashire, Pennine dialect

  Agate – say/said (‘be agate’ – to say).

  Alreet – all right (‘reet’ – right).

  Barm cake – ‘barm’ is the foam, or scum, formed on the top of the liquor when beverages such as beer or wine (or feedstock for hard liquor) ferment. It was used to leaven bread, or set up fermentation in a new batch of liquor. In parts of the north-west of England, and throughout Yorkshire, a ‘barm’ or ‘barm cake’ is a common term for a soft, floury bread roll (on menus in chip shops there is often an option of a ‘chip barm’). The term ‘barmy’ may derive from a sense of frothy excitement.

  Best slack – ‘slack’ is very small pieces of coal, almost coal dust; ‘best slack’ would be less dust, more small pieces; ‘nutty slack’ would be bigger, more expensive pieces.

  Brass – money.

  Childer – children.

  Dacent – decent.

  Daft apeth – silly person (derived from ‘ha’p’orth’ – halfpennyworth).

  Feight – fight.

  Fettle – sort out.

  Laik – play.

  Lanky – Lancastrian.

  Like talkin’ to a wood stoop – talking to someone who doesn’t listen or can’t hear (a stoop is a raised, flat area in front of a door, usually with one or more steps leading up to it).

  Lummox – big lump.

  Mebbe – maybe.

  Mesen – myself (‘sen’ – self).

  Moither – worry.

  Neet – night.

  Nowt – nothing.

  Ollus – always.

  Once every Preston Guild – rarely (Preston Guilds take place every twenty years).

  Once every Sheffield Flood – very rarely; even more rarely than Preston Guilds. (On the night of 11 March 1864, 238 people were killed, 130 buildings destroyed and 15 bridges swept away in a devastating flood caused by the collapse of the Dale Dyke dam.)

  Owt – anything.

  Sken – look.

  Tha’sen – yourself (‘tha’ – thou).

  Th’eed – the head.

  Th’sels – themselves.

  T’morn – tomorrow (or tomorrow morning).

  Tyke – Yorkshire person.

  Yonder – over there or beyond.

  Enchantress, HMS

  The fourth Royal Navy ship to carry the name, the Enchantress was a twin-screw Admiralty yacht, launched at Belfast in 1903. Capable of 18 knots, her length, beam and draught were 320ft, 40ft, and 16ft. This ship was the special service vessel, or official yacht, of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

  Enfilade

  Enfilade is a concept in military tactics used to describe a formation’s exposure to enemy fire. A formation, or position, is ‘in enfilade’ if weapons’ fire can be directed along its longest axis.

  Executions

  A total of 346 British and Commonwealth soldiers were executed during the Great War. Such executions, for crimes like desertion and cowardice, remain a source of controversy, with some believing that many of those executed were suffering from what is now called ‘shell shock’. Between 1914 and 1918, the British Army identified 80,000 men with what would now be defined as the symptoms of shell shock. However, senior commanders believed that if such behaviour was not harshly punished, others might be encouraged to do the same and the whole discipline of the British Army would collapse.

  Some men faced a court martial for other offences but the majority stood trial for desertion from their post, ‘fleeing in the face of the enemy’. A court martial was usually carried out with some speed and the execution followed shortly afterwards. In his testimony to the post-war Royal Commission examining shell shock, Lord Gort said that it was a weakness and was not found in ‘good’ units. The continued pressure to avoid the medicalization of shell shock meant that it was not, in itself, an admissible defence.

  Executions of soldiers in the British Army were not commonplace. While there were 240,000 cou
rts martial and 3,080 death sentences handed down, of the 346 cases where the sentence was carried out, 266 British were executed for ‘Desertion’, 18 for ‘Cowardice’, 7 for ‘Quitting a post without authority’, 5 for ‘Disobedience to a lawful command’ and 2 for ‘Casting away arms’. In some cases (for instance, that of Private Harry Farr), men were executed who had previously suffered from shell shock and who would very likely today have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or another psychiatric syndrome, and would not be executed.

  Immediately after the Great War, there were claims that the execution of soldiers was determined by social class. During the war, fifteen officers were sentenced to death, but all received a royal pardon. In August 2006, the British Defence Secretary Des Browne announced that, with Parliament’s support, there would be a general pardon for all 306 men executed during the Great War. A new law passed on 28 November 2006, and included as part of the Armed Forces Act, pardoned men in the British and Commonwealth armies who were executed in the Great War. The law removes the stain of dishonour but it does not cancel out sentences.