After two days of fine weather, the clouds clamped down again today. Still, Greg and Lt Scarterfield managed a two hour counter-battery patrol, during which they loosed off 700 rounds of small arms fire between them – despite it being a dud and cloudy day.
Log Book
Date: 31.8.18
Time: 7.55
Rounds Lewis: 400
Rounds Vickers: 300
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 148 hrs 35 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Scarterfield
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 0 mins
Height: 2000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Dud. Cloudy.
Two days in a row when the weather was co-operative was something of a rarity on the Lys Sector in August 1918. But after yesterday’s counter-battery patrol, the weather today also allowed Greg to go up for a dusk patrol with Lt Ralph Scarterfield.
Log Book
Date: 30.8.18
Time: 19.00
Rounds Lewis: 300
Rounds Vickers: 300
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 146 hrs 35 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Scarterfield
War Flying Time: 1 hr 10 mins
Height: 2500
Course/Remarks: Dusk patrol. 2 N.F. [two positions observed to be now firing]
Lt Ralph Scarterfield RAF
This was Greg’s first outing with Lt Scarterfield an Observer with whom Greg flew on and off from today until the end of his time in France. Lt Scarterfield was over a decade older than Greg, having been born on 1 September 1888. So this flight took place two days before his 30th birthday. His page on the Imperial War Museum’s ‘Lives of the First World War’ site is here.
It’s likely that Ralph Scarterfield is in one of the group photographs of the B Flight officers in the post for 25 August 1918 (see link below). There are a few candidates with observers’ wings on their uniform and who look about 30 in the photos. But without any further means of triangulation, it isn’t possible to identify who he might be.
With the weather improved enough for a 2½ hour counter-battery patrol, Greg saw 30 fires – more than he had ever previously reported. He sent one report of a German battery now firing. Today was Greg’s last flight with Lt Sam Hodgson as observer.
Log Book
Date: 29.8.18
Time: 11.50
Rounds Lewis: 400
Rounds Vickers: 300
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 145 hrs 25 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Hodgson
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
Height: 7000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. 30 fires. 1 N.F. [now firing]
Lt Sam Hodgson
This was Lt Sam Hodgson’s 33rd and last flight as Greg’s observer. Perhaps he was posted elsewhere, or began flying training as a pilot in his own right, or possibly he was wounded (or worse) on a flight with someone else. Hodgson was a couple of years older than Greg, having been born on 15 December 1896.
Sam Hodgson’s page on the IWM’s Lives of the First World War website is here.
30 Fires
The 30 fires that Greg reported could have been an indication of increasing pressure from British artillery on enemy-held territory…or maybe it was a sign of an enemy in retreat, laying waste as he goes. As the days ticked past, the British line was advancing eastwards along the Lys towards Estaires.
Taking Off
An RE8 of B Flight, 42 Squadron RAF takes to the air. Getting the horizon level has always been tricky in an action shot!
An RE8 of B Flight, 42 Squadron RAF takes to the air. Click for larger image. Photo credit: Greg’s War Collection
On what looked like a hopeless day for flying, Greg and his observer Lt Hodgson went up for a weather test to see what it was like. And it was indeed hopeless. Or dud, as Greg said.
Log Book
Date: 28.8.18
Time: 14.30
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 142 hrs 55 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Hodgson
War Flying Time: 15 mins
Height: 1000
Course/Remarks: Weather test. Dud. Clouds 900 ft.
Weather Test
There really was no substitute for going up in an aeroplane to see if conditions were fit for flying. And from the 15 minute duration of the weather test, it can be seen that it didn’t take long to assess the situation. The resulting radio signal would have been:
UL UR UD C09
i.e. unfit for either counter-battery work, artillery registration or photography; clouds at 900 ft. In other words, a dud day.
The weather in north west Europe in the summer of 1918 was clearly a lot worse than 100 years later.
No flying for Greg today. As he wasn’t keeping up his diary any longer, we don’t know the reason. But we can take the opportunity of an off-day to look a little more at Bill Ledlie.
Captain William Ledlie RAF
Bill Ledlie was the Commanding Officer of B Flight, 42 Squadron RAF. In the post for 25 August 1918, a couple of days ago, he was to be seen sitting (in shorts!) front-and-centre of the group photographs of the B Flight officers.
Ledlie was an Ulsterman, born on 16 April 1894 according to the IWM’s Lives of the Great War, who attended Banbridge Academy. Banbridge is a town in County Down that grew wealthy on the linen industry. It is on the A1 between Lisburn and Belfast to the north, and Newry and Dublin to the south.
Ledlie was some five years older than Greg, and was his commanding officer. But the two became friendly, as evidenced by the several photographs of Ledlie in Greg’s collection.
Capt. Bill Ledlie, CO B Flight, 42 Sqn RAF, standing in front of an RE8 bearing (appropriately enough) the squadron marking B1 “somewhere in France”. Click for larger image. Photo credit: Greg’s War Collection.Capt. Bill Ledlie, “somewhere in France”. Click for larger image. Photo credit: Greg’s War Collection.Capt. Bill Ledlie, “somewhere in France”. Click for larger image. Photo credit: Greg’s War Collection.
After the War
Ledlie and Greg had apparently made some tentative plans for after the war. They would go into business together, drawing on their aviation skills, but nothing ever came of it.
Although Ledlie survived the Great War, he died during the Second World War on 23 October 1940 when co-piloting the sole example of a de Havilland DH.95 Hertfordshire, no. R2510. The Hertfordshire was the military transport variant of the de Havilland DH.95 Flamingo. The IWM has a photograph of this aircraft here.
The aircraft took off on a sortie to Belfast and was carrying a crew of five and six passengers. Shortly after taking off the aircraft crashed into some houses at Woodlands Way [sic, should be ‘Woodland Way’], Mill Hill, London and all those on board were killed. The aircraft was the sole Hertfordshire in use with the RAF and it was a military version of the Flamingo aircraft. No Accident card was found for this aircraft nor could any reference to the outcome of the Board of Enquiry be located. AVM Blount was AOC 22 Group at the time of his death and was on a scheduled flight to Belfast to discuss joint training exercises with the GOC Northern Ireland.
Wikipedia records that the cause of the crash was jamming of the elevator.
Woodland Way is a short residential road just over a mile (about 2 km) north of what was then RAF Hendon (now the site of the RAF Museum) by Mill Hill Broadway Railway Station and backing on to the M1 motorway:
A cloudy and windy day made for a dud counter-battery patrol. But on the ground the British line had made further progress eastwards, and was now less than two miles (3.2 km) from Estaires. Merville was starting to recover from the occupation and shelling, which had damaged Merville Church beyond repair.
Log Book
Date: 26.8.18
Time: 11.5
Rounds Lewis: 300
Rounds Vickers: 300
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 142 hrs 40 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Hodgson
War Flying Time: 55 mins
Height: 1800
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Dud. Cloudy & windy.
The British Front Nears Estaires
The British Front on the morning of 26 August 1918. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map dated December 1917 with information from a map accompanying General Haig’s despatches on the final British offensive. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
As the British front approached Estaires, several of Greg’s landmarks were now out of the enemy’s hands and back under allied control. These included:
The village of Neuf Berquin, which has been mentioned in several posts;
The site of the hostile battery at KD90, on the outskirts of Merville, which was the target of Greg’s first shoot, with 145 Siege Battery, on 1 July 1918:
And the site of the hostile battery and dump at Crinquette Lotte, east of Merville, which was the target of the shoot which Greg had been proud of on 8 August 1918, just over two weeks previously:
Meanwhile, if the (enemy) shells had stopped falling on Merville, it was about now that the official photographer took photographs of what remained of the town. One picture he took was of Merville Church:
Merville Church by the official photographer after Merville had been liberated by the British in August 1918; Click for larger image. Credit: NLS.
The remains of the church were demolished after the war, and the Hôtel de Ville was built on the site.
Merville Hôtel de Ville, built on the site of the original church, seen in 2018. Click for larger image.
A new church now stands across the main north-south road running through the town, the rue Thiers/D946). It is to the north and west of the original site, as this Google maps view shows:
No flying for Greg today, for unrecorded reasons. So we take a look at some photos of the officers of B Flight, 42 Squadron RAF.
42 Squadron, B Flight Photographs
It would have been sometime around now when the following photographs of some of Greg’s fellow officers were taken. The location is almost certainly in front of the flight’s hut on the aerodrome at Rely. Greg isn’t in either of them, so he may have been the photographer.
Officers of 42 Squadron RAF, probably B flight, almost certainly taken in front of the flight’s hut at Rely aerodrome, Summer 1918. Click for larger image. Photo credit: Greg’s War CollectionAnother group photo of officers of 42 Squadron RAF, probably B flight, almost certainly taken in front of the flight’s hut at Rely aerodrome, Summer 1918. Click for larger image. Photo credit: Greg’s War Collection
In both of the above photos, the person in shorts in the middle of the front row is Captain William (‘Bill’) Ledlie, who was the commanding officer of the flight. More on him another time. And sitting on the sandbags at the end of the second row on the right, in both photos, is Lt Edward Ives – thanks to his grandsons Julian and Les for the identification. More about Lt Ives here:
As the eastwards momentum continues to build, Greg has a successful shoot with 99 Siege Battery on a hostile battery in square L28, just to the west of Estaires and some 3 miles (5 km) east of Merville. The battery is located near an elaborate defensive system of trenches and wire.
Log Book
Date: 24.8.18
Time: 15.35
Rounds Lewis: 400
Rounds Vickers: 300
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 141 hrs 45 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Pring
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 15 mins
Height: 4000
Course/Remarks: Shoot with 99 SB on L28. Successful.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.27
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Pring
Duty: Art. Obs. on H.B. Destructive.
Hour of Start: 15.35
Hour of Return: 17.50
Remarks: S. with 99-S.B. (2-6” How) on H.B. at L 28 b 68.96. (P).
Called at 15.55. K 15.58. G 16.03.
34 ranging rounds:- 1 OK, 3Y, 1Z, 8A, 8B, 5C, 7W. Salvos MC7 & MB7.
V 16.46. G to V 43 mins.
Ranging pit hit during ranging. House at L 28 b 9.9 hit and partially demolished during ranging.
CI sent 17.35. Total rds fired 200.
15.50 2 EKB [Enemy Kite Balloons] E. and N.E. of ESTAIRES.
16.30 2 " near LAVENTIE.
16.15 Fire at L 23 d 6.9 (HOUSE)
16.35 KK [signal for seeing flash of artillery fire] on flash seen in G 28.
Vis: good. Height 3500’. Obs by P & O.
400 L.G.[400 rounds from Lewis Gun] and 300 V.G.[Vickers Gun] into ESTAIRES & along ROADS from 2000’.
4-25lb bombs on L 33 d 7.7. Bursts obs.
Shoot with 99 Siege Battery near Estaires
Here are the locations mentioned in the report:
Merville, Estaires and Laventie. Adapted from a composite of 1:40,000 scale maps. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
For more detail of what went on in a shoot, how to read a squadron record book entry of a shoot, and what the codes mean, see:
Square L28, west of Estaires, contained not only the hostile battery at which Greg’s shoot was directed, but also several presumably important positions that were well defended by trenches and wire, as this extract from 1:10,000 scale trench map shows:
Estaires and square L28, from a 1:10,000 scale trench map dated 16 August 1918. Trenches are shown as castellations, and wire by Xs. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
Trenches showed up starkly in vertical aerial photographs in oblique sunlight, as the following two (unlocated) examples show:
First vertical aerial view of unlocated trenches. Click for larger view. Photo credit: Greg’s War Collection.Second vertical aerial view of unlocated trenches. Click for larger view. Photo credit: Greg’s War Collection.
A midday counter-battery patrol in cloudy conditions revealed Merville being shelled. Nothing unusual there, you might think. But now the town was in British hands and was being shelled by German artillery. Another sign of the turning tide.
Log Book
Date: 23.8.18
Time: 11.20
Rounds Lewis: 200
Rounds Vickers: 300
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 139 hrs 30 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Hodgson
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
Height: 5000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Fairly dud. Cloudy.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book entry. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: RE8 27
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Hodgson
Duty: Artillery Patrol
Start: 11.20
Return: 13.50
Results and Remarks:
11.55. UL UR UD. [Weather unfit for counter-battery work, artillery registration or photography]
12.00. MERVILLE being shelled by enemy artillery. Called up C.W.S. [central wireless station] with TP, L30 [Estaires]. L30 kept under observation, but no flashes seen. Visibility poor.
12.55. C.W.S sent GC [3,000 yd square east of Estaires]. No flashes seen.
Two barges in CANAL at L 35 b 2.9 & L 27 d 8.5.
13.45. Large fire in BUILDINGS at R 27 c 1.7
AA nil. EKB nil. Vis: poor to fair. Height 1/4000’. Obs by P&O
300 V.G.[200 rounds from Vickers gun] & 200 L.G.[200 rounds from Lewis gun] into BUILDINGS L 34 [la Gorgue] from 1800’.
Merville Shelled
The various locations in the Squadron Record Book entry are marked on the following map. They show that enemy activity observed by 42 Squadron was now decisively moving eastwards. But the shells still fell on Merville.
Merville, Estaires and Laventie. Adapted from a composite of 1:40,000 scale maps. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
TodayGreg spent the day on a shoot. He was directing the fire of 99 Siege Battery onto a target in square R3, near Lestrem. His mind probably occasionally wandered to his sister Alice Gregory, whose birthday it was today
Log Book
Date: 22.8.18
Time: 17.20
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 137 hrs 00 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Hodgson
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 05 mins
Height: 5000
Course/Remarks: Shoot with 99 SB. Successful. R3.
Shoot with 99 Siege Battery on R3, near Lestrem
This was the first shoot that Greg did with 99 Siege Battery RGA. He does not record their equipment, but it was probably howitzers with a bore of at least 6″. [Update at 15:00: An entry in the Squadron Record Book for 24 August 1918 says that 99 SB was equipped with two 6″ howitzers.]
The target is not noted in any more detail than the 1,000 yard map square. But square R3 encompassed what looked like a small field marshalling yard where a field railway met the Lys valley main line from Armentières to Merville. The yard is hatched on the map to denote it as an ‘area of interest’ and could well have been the target.
Square R3, near Lestrem, from a Log Map dated 20 July 1918. German positions and workings in red. Areas of interest are hatched in blue. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
Alice’s 27th Birthday
Back home, Alice Gregory – Greg’s sister – celebrated her 27th birthday today.
Alice Gregory, Greg’s sister, picking apples, probably in the orchard at the family home in Holyhead, North Wales. Click for larger image. Photo: Greg’s War Collection
