by Neal Bascomb
HPA—Colquohoun Family, Archives and Special Collections, Hamilton Public Library, Canada
ICRC—Prisoners of the First World War, ICRC Historical Archives, Switzerland
IWM—Imperial War Museums, UK
IWM-B—Papers of C. Blain, Imperial War Museums, UK
JDM—Family Papers of John D. Morrogh
JKT—Family Papers of John K. Tullis
LIDD—Liddle Collection, University of Leeds Special Collections, UK
LJB—Family Papers of Leonard. J. Bennett
PM—Family Papers of Patrick Mallahan
RAF—Archival Collection, Royal Air Force Museums, Hendon, UK
SCHA—Private Papers of William Hugh Chance, Sandwell Community History and Archives, UK
TNA—National Archives, Kew, UK
PROLOGUE
For all his wife: Author interview with Laurie Vaughan.
Its headlines read: Daily Express, July 14, 1941; Daily Herald, July 14, 1941; Times (London), July 14, 1941; Daily Mirror, July 14, 1941.
Three months before: Bryan, p. 36.
Bennett boarded: Application for P/W Lectures, July 14, 1941, LJB.
Earlier that morning: Author interview with Laurie Vaughan.
While running: Foot, pp. 22–26; Historical Record of I.S.9, TNA: WO 208/3242; History of Intelligence School No. 9, TNA: WO 208/3246.
Crockatt did not: Foot, pp. 2–3.
“duty to escape”: Notes, Bennett MI9 lecture, LJB.
CHAPTER ONE
The sky lightened: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Papers of W. Chance, IWM; Tullis Flight Log, 8/7/16, JKT.
“Contact!”: Winter, pp. 91–92.
Over a woolen: Ibid., p. 87.
After his squadron: Winchester, pp. 1–2; Bott, p. 239.
For a limited: C. Lewis, pp. 47–48.
“It looks from”: Grider, p. 270.
“Open for us”: Lee, pp. 5–6.
On July 1: Keegan, pp. 292–94.
For the No. 70: Bott, p. 161; Liddle, p. 28; Money, p. 21.
On the port: Winchester, p. 1.
“plunging into a”: Winter, p. 99.
One aggressive move: Winchester, pp. 2–3.
The ancient city: Afferbach and Strachan, p. 294.
The Sopwiths broke: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Statement Regarding Circumstances of Capture, David Griffiths, TNA: AIR 1/1207/204/5/2619; Winchester, pp. 4–5; 70th Squadron Report, TNA: AIR 1/2395/258/1.
“the introduction into”: Pamphlet: “The Diamond Jubilee,” SCHA, FP-CH 15/7/10.
“naval requirement”: R. Barker, p. 9.
“I hope none”: Winter, p. 11.
“skill, energy and perseverance”: Pamphlet: “The Diamond Jubilee,” SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/10.
“Do you ride?”: R. Barker, p. 21.
“High spirits and resilience”: Ibid., pp. 213–14.
Born in 1896: Baptism Papers, CWB; Author interview with Hugh Lowe.
The outbreak of: Blain Service Records, TNA: AIR 76/41.
To start his: Blain Service Records, TNA: AIR 76/41; Unpublished memoir, Papers of G. Gilbert, RAF; Lecture notes, SCHA: FP-CH 15/6/4.
“The whole contraption”: C. Lewis, p. 12.
For his maiden: Unpublished memoir, Papers of C. Roberts, LIDD: AIR-264; Unpublished memoir, Papers of C. Illingworth, LIDD: AIR-170; Unpublished memoir, Papers of P. Playfair, RAF; Unpublished memoir, Papers of G. Gilbert, RAF; Liddle, pp. 70–72; R. Barker, pp. 210–13; Winter, pp. 27–33; Money, pp. 11–15; Lee, pp. 14–22. In his own memoir, Blain gave scarce details of his RFC training. Nonetheless, the sources listed here provide a consistent view of what pilot cadets faced, and offer a great window into this period of the pilot’s life.
At Northolt: Exact figures on training deaths within the RFC remain difficult to determine. In Denis Winter’s book, The First of the Few, he accounted that half of the “14,166 dead pilots” were killed in training (p. 36). Other analyses, including some fine work by World War I air enthusiasts (www.theaerodrome.com), state that this number is far exaggerated. Drawing on statistics from Chris Hobson’s Airman Died in the Great War 1914–1918: The Roll of Honour of the British and Commonwealth Air Services (DVD-ROM), they settle on fewer overall deaths—and fewer still from accidents (one-sixth from training). The author has erred on the side of the more limited number, though this is surely worthy of a more precise scholarly investigation.
On a typical: Michael Skeet, “RFC Pilot Training,” Aerodrome, Forum, December 1998, www.theaerodrome.com.
When Blain took: Unpublished memoir, Papers of L. Nixon, IWM.
“Rudder—Elevator—Ailerons”: C. Lewis, p. 14.
Blain survived his: Blain Service Record, CWB.
“maternity jacket”: Unpublished memoir, Papers of W. Chance, IWM.
In June: Ibid.; Blain Service Records, TNA: AIR 76/41.
He left for: Letter from Winchester to Miss Blain, March 3, 1969, CWB.
Eight weeks later: Bott, p. 215.
“No use! Got”: Winchester, p. 5; Statement Regarding Circumstances of Capture, David Griffiths, TNA: AIR 1/1207/204/5/2619.
As Griffiths tossed: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Winchester, pp. 4–6; 70th Squadron Report, TNA: AIR 1/2395/258/1; Bott, p. 254.
On the road: Knight, pp. 25–29; Unpublished memoir, Anonymous War Diary, IWM: 73/181/1.
Blain and Griffiths: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Winchester, pp. 17–22.
CHAPTER TWO
Early on August: Percy Douglas, “Life in the Ypres Salient,” Papers of P. Douglas, LIDD: AIR-107; Ellis, pp. 9–15.
Those on sentry: Barnes, pp. 42–43.
“I never saw”: Harvey, pp. 64–65.
Only the day: 2/5 Gloucestershire Regiment Diary, TNA: WO 95/3006/1/1; Barnes, p. 37; Fussell, p. 11.
Harvey tried: Harvey, p. 3; Report on the Capture of F. W. Harvey, TNA: WO 374/316910.
Later that morning: Thornton, p. 97.
“intolerable grief”: Bridges, p. 7.
In the early afternoon: Harvey, pp. 1–7; Ellis, pp. 72–74; News Clipping, no date, Papers of F. W. Harvey, GA; Report on the Capture of F. W. Harvey, TNA: WO 374/31691.
“Be damned if”: Harvey, p. 6.
Reaching the next: Report on the Capture of F. W. Harvey, TNA: WO 374/31691.
“When earth was”: “Round Pool,” GA.
Constructed by: Boden, pp. 3–29.
“real me”: Boden, p. 30.
The same rumbling: Hattersley, pp. 1–3, 126, 175, 243, 266, 291, 362–367.
Despite these reverberations: Repshire, pp. 9–11.
Although the death: Keegan, pp. 16–87.
“world power or downfall”: Tuchman, p. 14.
“forced into our”: Keegan, p. 73.
Mustering in the: Ibid.
“honor” and “glory”: Tuchman, p. 113.
“To turn, as swimmers”: Brooke, “1914,” as excerpted in Tuchman, p. 341.
Many believed the: Horrocks, p. 15.
Swept into this: Boden, pp. 43–46.
Under the Schlieffen: Keegan, pp. 28–29.
On March 29: Wyrall, pp. 128–29; Boden, pp. 64–76.
“I must say”: Shephard, p. 33.
“wastage”: Fussell, p. 44.
Affectionately nicknamed: Repshire, p. 11.
On August 3, 1915: News clipping, undated, Papers of F. W. Harvey, GA.
“This route march”: Harvey, “This Route March,” GA.
“Joy diadems thy”: Harvey, “To Rupert Brooke,” GA.
“I’m homesick for”: Harvey, “In Flanders,” GA.
The first of its: Boden, p. 59.
“His desire for”: Thornton, p. 97.
“Local Poet Missing”: Boden, p. 122.
“How did you”: Harvey, p. 9. In his memoirs, Harvey recounted this brief interrogation in the first person. For sake of clarity, the author made slight amendments to account for who was addressing the questions to whom.
“Oh,
we have”: Ibid, p. 11.
“By God”: Ibid, p. 12.
“No mortal comes”: Harvey, “Solitary Confinement,” GA.
“Shakespeare for the”: Harvey, p. 15.
“Nein! Engländer!”: Lewis-Stempel, p. 59; Harvey, p. 12.
“Krieg. Nix gut”: Harvey, p. 17.
From the station: Unpublished memoir, Papers of J. Dykes, IWM; Phillimore, pp. 9–10.
“Bad sportsmen”: Harvey, p. 18.
“Front-line troops”: Horrocks, p. 19.
CHAPTER THREE
“There is to”: Unpublished memoir, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/8; Bott, pp. 32–33. The speech presented here is an amalgamation of these two versions, though primarily leaning on Bott’s.
“Attack everything!”: Hart, p. 74.
At Le Hameau: History of No. 11 Squadron, TNA: AIR 1/688/21/20/11.
“solid grey wool”: Hart, p. 169.
Aided by tanks: Ibid., p. 172.
“The next moment”: Unpublished memoir, Private papers of Colonel F. O. Cave, IWM.
Since the war: R. Barker, pp. 142–48.
At the start of: Whitehouse, p. 112.
“absolute master”: Unpublished memoir, Papers of V. Coombs, LIDD: POW-016.
Air crews were: R. Barker, p. 171.
The RFC now: Winter, p. 156.
“bloody murder”: R. Barker, p. 171.
What the British: Werner, pp. 1–7, 148–52, 199–201, 230–34.
Back at their aerodromes: Unpublished memoirs, Papers of F. Morris, RAF; Hart, pp. 152–53.
Even so, at: History of 11th Squadron, TNA: AIR 1/688/21/20/11; Unpublished memoir, Papers of C. Roberts, LIDD: AIR-264; Keegan, p. 360.
Gray reviewed his: Report from Captain Gray, August 21, 1918, TNA: AIR 1/501/15/333/1.
David Gray spent: Family Records, DBG; Weatherstone, pp. 60–83; Antrobus, pp. 145–53; Sharma, pp. 1–43.
In addition to: Family Records, DBG; Antrobus, pp. 145–53.
He settled early: Family Records, DBG; Guggisberg, pp. 103–81.
Upon graduation: Service Record of D. B. Gray, British Indian Army Records, BA.
“A capable and efficient”: Ibid.
Despite his quick: Interview with Jane Gray. For reference, munshi is a Persian word for secretary or writer, but in India it was used to identify language teachers who taught the British.
Soon after the outbreak: Service Record of D. B. Gray, British Indian Army Records, BA; TNA: WO 95/5118/2; A. J. Barker, pp. 11–40.
In spring 1915: Lambert, pp. 45–60.
“There were no”: Whitehouse, p. 97.
Later that year: Author interview with Jane Gray; Kieran, pp. 60–91.
After earning his: Family Records, DBG; Service Record of D. B. Gray, British Indian Army Records, BA; TNA: AIR 76/192.
After a dismal: Unpublished memoir, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/8; Money, pp. 100–104; Winchester, pp. 6–11.
Before crossing the: Destonian, June 1918.
Suddenly the sky: Letter from David Gray to Mrs. Morris, November 25, 1916, Papers of F. Morris, RAF; Report from Captain Gray, August 21, 1918, TNA: AIR 1/501/15/333/1; Werner, pp. 240–242; Von Richthofen, pp. 74–78; Report on Capture of Leonard Helder, TNA: WO 339/11209.
“You are my”: Winchester, p. 11.
Once reassured: Letter from David Gray to Mrs. Morris, November 25, 1916, Papers of F. Morris, RAF.
Gray remained: Winchester, p. 28.
“Fix bayonets and die”: Lewis-Stempel, pp. xv, 3.
“The war is over”: Unpublished memoir, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/8; Money, p. 106.
The next day: Money, pp. 105–10; Tullis, unpublished memoir, JKT; Letter from David Gray to Mrs. Morris, November 25, 1916, Papers of F. Morris, RAF.
“Why do so many”: Money, p. 111; Herwig, p. 226.
on September 29: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B.
The train clanked: Winchester, pp. 34–35; Knight, pp. 41–43.
Several hours later: Unpublished memoir, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/8; Tullis, unpublished memoir, JKT; Money, p. 113; Account of Edward Leggatt, TNA: WO 161/96.
On September 3: Money, p. 113; Bills, pp. 50–65. The story of Germany’s plans to retaliate for the Zeppelin downing is difficult to corroborate, as some at Osnabrück attributed the proposed retaliation to British use of tracer fire.
CHAPTER FOUR
October 9, 1916: Letter from Caspar Kennard to Chris Kennard, October 13, 1916, CK; Letter from C. Kennard to his Parents, October 12, 1916, Papers of C. Kennard, IWM; “Shot Down Behind Enemy Lines,” News Clipping, undated, Papers of C. Kennard, IWM.
flying solo: Pilot Logbook, Papers of C. Kennard, IWM.
Seven months before: Author interview with Diana Gillyatt; Kennard Family Papers, CK.
After earning his: Kennard Service Records, TNA: AIR 76/271.
“Somewhere behind the”: Letter from C. Kennard to his Parents, October 12, 1916, Papers of C. Kennard, IWM.
Days later, their: Winchester, p. 36.
“Those vanquished in”: Krammer, p. 3.
During the Middle: Garrett, pp. 17–25.
“sticked with daggers”: Ibid., p. 25; Krammer, p. 5.
“None shall kill”: Krammer, pp. 17–18.
“merely men, whose”: Speed, p. 3.
With the rise: Ibid., p. 2.
“like your own”: Garrett, p. 28.
“sinkholes of filth”: Krammer, p. 19.
“humanely treated”: Report on Certain Violations of the Hague and Geneva Conventions, TNA: HO 45/10763/270829.
“a spoilt darling”: Speed, p. 5.
In the first six: Doegen, pp. 21–29; Jackson, p. 54.
In the act: Lewis-Stempel, p. xix.
The moans of: Gilliland, p. 9.
Those who reached: Lewis-Stempel, pp. 1–20. For a full account of the vagaries suffered by British POWs in World War I, John Lewis-Stempel’s The War Behind the Wire is a finely detailed study.
Wood-slatted huts: Report of the Conditions of the Camp for Prisoners of War at Friedrichsfeld, TNA: HO 45/10763/270829. The British archives contain numerous inspection accounts verifying the same.
“The patients were”: Report on the Typhus Epidemic at Wittenberg, TNA: HO 45/10763/270829.
Roughly 80 percent: Lewis-Stempel, pp. 68–111; Spoerer, pp. 121–36.
According to one: Heather Jones, p. 21.
“take no prisoners”: Herwig, p. 79.
“screw up the most”: Ibid., p. 256.
“in case of overwhelming”: Morgan, p. 97.
Other nations: Panayi, Prisoners of Britain, p. 90; Speed, pp. 102–5.
In mid-October: Winchester, pp. 35–36; Unpublished memoir, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/8; Tullis, unpublished memoir, JKT; Account of Edward Leggatt, TNA: WO 161/96.
When Kennard emerged: Report by Gerald Knight, TNA: FO 383/272; Money, pp. 114–15; Winchester, p. 36.
A guard brought: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Report on Prisoners Camp at Osnabrück, TNA: FO 383/267.
The British Red: Hanson, pp. 106, 113–18.
Throughout his first: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B.
His fellow prisoners: Ibid.; Winchester, pp. 37–38.
“My deaarest Mother”: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B.
“Will they twig”: Ibid.
While they waited: Letters from Hugh Chance to his Family, October–November 1916, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/3; Money, pp. 116–19; Diary, October 5–November 30, 1916, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/8.
“stout heart and steady”: Letter from David Gray to Mrs. Morris, November 25, 1916, Papers of F. Morris, RAF.
Every day: Winchester, pp. 38–41.
“Dear old Mum”: Ibid.
In early December: Tullis, unpublished memoir, JKT.
Then, on December: David Gray, ICRC.
CHAPTER FIVE
G ü tersloh was a: Harvey, pp. 91–95; Gilliland, p. 55.
“pine-shadowed cage”: Harvey, p. 19.
Crushed by this: Phillimore, pp. 24–26.
“bad German wine”: Harvey, p. 70.
A few days later: Report by Captain C. V. Fox, TNA: FO 383/271; Continental Times, December 18, 1916; David, p. 279; Keegan, pp. 306–9.
When Harvey first: Harvey, pp. 19–25; Lewis-Stempel, p. xxi.
“Walking round our cages”: Harvey, “Gütersloh,” GA.
“less important”: Harvey, p. 39.
“the Poet”: Ibid., p. 26.
It was not the: Phillimore, pp. 26–29.
Harvey missed: Boden, p. 140.
“He cannot help”: Harvey, pp. 27–28.
His bunkmates: Ibid., pp. 30–35; Boden, pp. 154–57.
A former coal-mine: Phillimore, pp. 37–44.
a camp in Crefeld: Reflects pre-1929 spelling; it is spelled “Krefeld” today.
“foolish”: Ibid., p. 29.
Cecil Blain and: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Tullis, unpublished memoir, JKT; Chance, unpublished memoir, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/8.
“evil swine”: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B.
“Ready?”: Winchester, p. 44.
“covered with blood!”: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Knight, p. 49.
admitted they had: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B.
Blankenstein decided to: Knight, pp. 50–54.
“Raus!”: Ibid., p. 51; Letters from Hugh Chance to his Family, March–April, 1917, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/5.
After a couple: Lewis-Stempel, p. 122; Letters from Hugh Chance to his Family, March–April, 1917, SCHA: FP-CH 15/7/5; Tullis, unpublished memoir, JKT.
Surrounding the retreat: Evans, pp. 19–21.
Blain, Kennard, and: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Knight, pp. 70–77.
“cunning attack”: “Begalubigte Abschrift,” April 7, 1917, Papers of C. Kennard, RAF.
They spent it: Blain, unpublished memoir, IWM-B; Tullis, unpublished memoir, JKT.
Captain David Gray: Winchester, p. 103. In his book, Beyond the Tumult, Winchester references the escape described in this passage to have taken place during June 1917. At that time, Gray would have been at Schwarmstadt camp, having been moved from Crefeld. That said, it is clear this escape was attempted from Crefeld, and given the weather and window of opportunity, spring was the most likely time.
With its warm: Report on Crefeld, Bundesarchiv 901/84359; Letter from Burlow to his mother, April 14, 1917, Papers of R. Burrows, LIDD: POW-010.
