September 2018 - Page 2 of 2

3 September 201831 August 2018

Tuesday 3 September 1918 – Contact Patrol

Just after Greg landed at the end of his counter-battery patrol as covered in this morning’s post, the next aircraft of 42 Squadron to take to the air from Rely aerodrome was on contact patrol. Greg wasn’t the pilot, but there’s a nice reason to take a look at what the crew reported. The information in the Squadron Record Book (SRB) for this patrol gives the precise positions of troops on the ground in the Lys Sector as they approach Laventie. We get a good sense of their rate of progress, as we know where the British line was yesterday morning.

So here, 100 years to the hour after their patrol, is the report that Lts Newson (Pilot) and Griffiths (Observer) filed.

Squadron Record Book

Type and Number: RE8 2300
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Newson. O. Lt Griffiths
Duty: Contact Pat’l
Hour of Start: 12.45
Hour of Return: 2.15
Remarks: 13.03 Called for flares.  White panels observed at M 3b 5.5, M 9a 7.5, G 32a 7.5, M 15d 6.4, M 15b 6.3
Troops observed along main ESTAIRES ROAD from G 26.c 2.0 – M 21a 5.0
Troops observed walking along from M 14b 7.7 to M 9c 20.35
14.45 Fi[r]es in WOODS at M 10c 5.2 and M 16d 6.8
      Fire in HOUSE at M 4c 70.35
2 EKB’s in direction of AUBERS.
Vis good. Height 500’.  Obs by P & O.

Troops advance on Laventie

The troop locations and fires mentioned in the report are shown on this map:

Map of 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.

It looks like Estaires is now in British hands, and that units are positioning to take Laventie. The eastward advance continues.

Contact Patrol

Two earlier posts have dealt (briefly) with contact patrols. They were essentially low altitude (e.g. 500 ft, as here) patrols gathering troop location information to feed back to HQ:

Sunday 12 May 1918 – Observers School

Thursday 27 June 1918 – CBP, Archie…and Sheet Tin

3 September 201831 August 2018

Tuesday 3 September 1918 – Fires & Explosions

On his last sortie for over a week, a counter-battery patrol takes Greg well to the east of Estaires. He sees fires and explosions around Laventie and along the River Lys in Sailly-sur-Lys, Erquinghem Lys and Pont de Nieppe, near Armentières.

Log Book

Date: 3.9.18 
Time Out: 9.45 
Rounds Lewis: 300 
Rounds Vickers: 200 
Bombs: - 
Time on RE8s: 153 hrs 55 mins 
RE8: E27 
Observer: Lt Scarterfield 
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 35 mins 
Height: 5000 
Course/Remarks: C.B.P.  Few fires.  Two explosions.

Squadron Record Book

Type and Number: RE8 27
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield
Duty: Art Patrol [The "2.9.18" in this column looks like a typo for 3.9.18, which is the date given at the top of the sheet – and which agrees with Greg’s log book]
Hour of Start: 9.45
Hour of Return: 12.20
Remarks: 10.20 Explosion followed by fire and column of smoke at M 3c 5.2.
10.25 Similar observation at G 18d 1.2
Fires in HOUSES at G 27d 5.7, and 2.5, G33d 3.5 and small BUILDING on Railway at M 3b 0.5 and in G 17 a
Fires in SAILLY, PONT DE NIEPPE and ERQUINGHEM [ERQUINGHEM LYS].
10.30 UL FR UD [Weather unfit for counter-battery work and photography, but fit for artillery registration]
AA active east of LAVENTIE, none W. of LAVENTIE
Vis good.  Height 4000'. 4-25lb bombs on LAVENTIE.  Bursts obs.
200 V.G. 300 L.G. into LAVENTIE and M4 from 2000'.

All this observed action is to the east of Estaires, around Laventie and along the River Lys towards Armentières, as this annotated map shows:

Map of Estaires, Laventie and Armentières, also showing Sailly-sur-Lys, Erquinghem Lys and Pont de Nieppe. 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.

It is just to the west of Erquinghem Lys that, today, the high speed rail line from Calais crosses the Lys on its way to Lille, Paris and Brussels.

Next Up…

Greg’s next log book entry is on 12 September 1918. But watch out for news of a contact patrol and troop movements later today.

2 September 201822 October 2018

Monday 2 September 1918 – Bumpy & Windy CBP

The generally unfavourable weather continues, with a bumpy and windy counter-battery patrol with Lt Scarterfield as Observer. On the ground, the British front line is at Estaires.

Log Book

Date: 2.9.18 
Time Out: 12.15 
Rounds Lewis: 400 
Rounds Vickers: 300 
Bombs: - 
Time on RE8s: 151 hrs 20 mins 
RE8: E27 
Observer: Lt Scarterfield 
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 45 mins 
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P.  Very bumpy & windy

Bumpy & Windy

The poor weather conditions did not stop flying so much as they did in the earlier years of the war. But they did make it both more difficult and less useful. As an American climatologist noted in a contemporary article:

In aviation, it is increasingly evident that weather conditions which earlier in the war were regarded as prohibitive for flying, are now interfering less and less, at least so far as bombing is concerned. High winds, low clouds and fog, and heavy rain, decidedly lessen aerial activity, and spells of fine weather always greatly increase it, yet month by month, as the reports come in, it is evident that in the intensity of this modern warfare, flying must be done in practically all weather. Nevertheless, aerial reconnaissance and photography, and direction of artillery firing from airplanes, can not be effectively carried out unless there is a reasonably clear view of the ground. The advantage which the prevailing westerly winds give to the enemy aviators on the Western Front is readily recognized. [Robert DeC. Ward, “Weather Controls over the Fighting during the Summer of 1918” The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Oct., 1918), pp. 289-298]

Professor Robert DeCourcy Ward was at Harvard University and was the first professor of climatology in the United States.

The British Front Line

On the ground, British troops of General Birdwood‘s Fifth Army continued to make progress eastwards. By this morning, they were knocking on the doors of Estaires, as the map shows: