As British ground forces closed in on Lille from the west, there was a need for up-to-date aerial photography of the approaches to the city, east of Armentières. Greg and Lt Thomas Whittles were despatched to take some.
Log Book
Date: 7.10.18
Time Out: 8.40
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 166 hrs 50 mins
RE8: 4889
Observer: Whittles
War Flying: 2 hrs 05 mins
Height: 9000
Course/Remarks: Photos. 30 plates exposed
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8. 4889
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Whittles
Duty: Photography
Hour of Start: 0840
Hour of Return: 1045
Remarks: 36 Plates exposed over P. & J. squares. Cable breaking, prevented further exposures.
A.A.active
Vis. Very misty. Height 9000 feet. Obs. by P.&.O.
Photography
The photography was over P and J squares: two 6,000 yard squares to the west of Lille, which amounted to just over 23 square miles (60 sq km)
Map showing P and J squares of Sheet 36. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
The fact that it was misty but photographs were nonetheless demanded underlines the urgent need for them. No doubt there would have been more taken if the camera cable hadn’t broken.
Lt Thomas Whittles
We know little of Lt Thomas Whittles, Greg’s observer on this day (and no other). He was born 1891 and was in the Manchester Regiment before he joined the RAF (or possibly the RFC before it).
We do what he looked like, though, from a photo of him and Lt Ives taken in June 1918 before Lt Ives was posted back to the UK:
Lts Ives and Whittles in front of an RE8 at Rely, June 1918. Click for larger image.
That photo was was first published in this post for 29 June:
Meanwhile, the front was continuing its eastwards push, and was now east of Armentières:
The British Front east of Armentières on the evening of 7 October 1918. Adapted from a map accompanying General Haig’s despatches on the final British offensive. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
In a sign of the changing fortunes of the war, Greg and Lt Scarterfield today had the task of locating battery positions. Nothing unusual about that, you may think, as locating hostile batteries in Counter Battery Patrols was a staple activity for corps squadrons such as 42 Squadron RAF. But the difference here was that the batteries being located were not hostile but friendly. The question being asked of the aircrew was: where have our artillery advanced to?
Log Book
Date: 6.10.18
Time Out: 8.50
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 164 hrs 45 mins
RE8: 4889
Observer: Scarterfield
War Flying: 1 hrs 35 mins
Height: 1000
Course/Remarks: Battery positions. Four found.
Although Greg’s log book doesn’t tell us where the batteries were, the Squadron Record Book does:
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.4889
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield
Duty: Reconnaissance
Hour of Start: 0850.
Hour of Return: 1025.
Remarks: Locating battery positions.
Ground strips at the following places.
S- H.17.d.4.4. )
P- H.28.d.5.6. )
F.J- H.3.c.5.5. ) Dropped at C.W.S
B.J. H.9.a.5.5. )
===
Returned owing to mist and rain.
Vis. fair. Height 1000 ft. Obs. by P.&.O.
The S, P, F.J and B.J would have been battery identification letters, marked out in ground strips, discussed in the background article on Shoots. “C.W.S.” is the Central Wireless Station, where the message containing the positions was dropped.
All the four battery locations were to the west and south of Armentières, as the following map shows:
Map showing battery positions on reconnaissance sortie. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
Not many weeks before, all these positions were behind the German front line, which was here known to the British as the Estaires-Lys Line. The position in square H.28 was even behind the German second line (the Fleurbaix-Houplines Line).
Today, the battery positions in squares H.9 and H.17 are more or less on the path of the high speed rail line from Calais to Lille. The Eurostar trains smoothly race over a lot of history.
Back to work proper today, after yesterday’s brief test flight. A reconnaissance flight with Lt Scarterfield, and it was raining. So the weather hadn’t improved while Greg was away on leave.
Log Book
Date: 5.10.18
Time Out: 14.10
Rounds Fired – Lewis: 200
Rounds Fired – Vickers: 200
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 163 hrs 10 mins
RE8: 6740
Observer: Scarterfield
War Flying: 2 hrs 10 mins
Height: 2000
Course/Remarks: Reconnaissance. Raining.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8. 6740
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield
Duty: Reconnaissance
Hour of Start: 1410
Hour of Return: 1620
Remarks:
FIRES & EXPLOSIONS
1430. Large fire at LILLE at approx. Q.8.a.5.5 (Yellow smoke)
1430. Two fires at P.14.c.3.5 (Buildings)
1435. Large fire S.E. of LILLE. Q.11. (Unable to pin-point owing to poor visibility.)
1535. Fire in LAMBERSART.
FLASHES.
1450. K.K. on flash in J.22.a. (Unable to pin-point.) [K.K. is a signal of a flash, possibly denoting an enemy gun firing]
1535. K.K. on flash in J.3.a. (Medium sized white flash)
Shell seen to fall in ARMENTIERES after about 35 seconds.
MOVEMENT
No movement seen in Sq. I.6. to 36.
Bridge at P.21.a.0.8. intact.
Rain prevented much observation. Returned with carburettors full of water.
E.K.B. [Enemy kite balloons] Nil.
E.A. [Enemy aircraft] Nil
A.A. [Anti-aircraft fire] Normal.
200.L.G. 200.V.G. [200 rounds from each of the Lewis gun and the Vickers gun] fired into FORT d’ENGLOS (P.1.a) and PERENCHIES from 1200’.
Vis. Poor. Height 1500’. Obs.by P.&.O.
The following map shows the locations mentioned:
Map showing observations on reconnaissance sortie. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
Reconnaissance
Even though the weather hadn’t got any better while Greg was away, the position of the British front line had improved. The action has moved eastwards, and was now getting towards Lille. The fact that a German shell was seen to land in Armentières shows that the town was by then in British hands.
Fort d’Englos
One of the target for small arms fire was the Fort d’Englos, in sub-square P.1.a. This was one of the “forts Séré de Rivières” that formed a belt around Lille and other cities. They were built from 1874 under the aegis of General Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières, who gave his name to them. In the First World War, Fort d’Englos was used by the Germans as a garrison site and ammunition depot – which made it a good target for two reasons.
Back to Rely in the Rain
“Rain prevented much observation. Returned with carburettors full of water” says the entry in the Squadron Record Book. And so a wet pilot and observer made their way back to the aerodrome at Rely. It was quite a distance back. When the aircrews had been operating around Merville, they had to fly about 13½ miles (22 km) to get back home. From Lille, it was more than double that. Soon the squadron’s base would have to move further east, or a disproportionate amount of their sortie times – not to mention fuel – would be taken up with travelling.
Back to work at Rely and back in the air, but only for a 10 minute evening machine test flight.
Log Book
Date: 4.10.18
Time Out: 18.00
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 161 hrs 00 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: 2/A.M. Nixon
War Flying: 0 hrs 10 mins
Height: 2000
Course/Remarks: Machine test – O.K.
Machine Test on RE8 2517
Although 2517 was deemed ‘OK’ in the machine test with Air Mechanic (2nd Class) Nixon, Greg didn’t actually fly it again until 22 October, at which point it became his regular ‘bus’.
This first flight after Greg’s leave was much less eventful than his flight exactly four months ago when he had just arrived at Rely and joined 42 Squadron:
It was probably today that Greg started off on his journey back at Holyhead station. He would have travelled from North Wales, through England to France.
An LNWR train stands at Holyhead station prior to departure. Click for larger image. Credit: oldukphotos.com. The LNWR Society identifies (here) the train formation in this photograph as Jubilee class No 1915 ‘Implacable’ heading the royal train in March 1900, on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s last visit to Ireland. So the photo is over 18 years earlier than Greg’s journey, but it gives the general idea – especially as the buildings of Holyhead station looked essentially the same as late as the 1960s!
The return journey would have been essentially retracing the outbound trip on 18 September 1918 – something like:
Train from Holyhead to London Euston
Euston Square to Victoria via London Underground (Circle Line)
Train from London Victoria to Folkestone
Ferry from Folkestone to Boulogne
Train from Boulogne to Aire
Either via Desvres, Lumbres and St Omer,
Or (less likely) along the circuitous route by which he arrived on 2 June 1918 from Berck Plage, via Étaples, Montreuil, Hesdin, St Pol and Chocques, and
Before he could depart on leave two days ago, Greg had to have permission to do so and to travel to the UK. Today the bureaucracy caught up, and the grant of his leave was published in the station’s daily orders.
Daily Orders
Click for larger image
2. Leave:- Tempy. 2nd. Lt C. E. Gregory, R.A.F., 2nd. Lt., Flying (A), is granted leave to the United Kingdom, via Boulogne from 18th. Sept. to 2nd October 1918, and id entitled to 14 days Ration Allowance only.
The day’s full daily orders are shown here:
42 Sqn RAF daily orders for 20 September 1918. Click for larger image.
Today is the first day of a two week stretch of leave for Greg. He had been granted leave in the UK via Boulogne. Meanwhile, the British front continues eastwards.
Log Book
LEAVE. 18 SEPT - 2 OCT.
Leave in the UK
Greg would almost certainly have gone home to the family in Holyhead, North Wales. The journey would probably have taken him a couple of days, and is likely to have gone something like this:
Tender from Rely to Aire-sur-la-Lys
Train from Aire to Boulogne
Either via St Omer, Lumbres and Desvres (see below)
Or(less likely) back along the circuitous route by which he arrived on 2 June 1918 from Berck Plage, via Chocques, St Pol, Hesdin, Montreuil and Étaples
Ferry from Boulogne to Folkestone
Train from Folkestone to London Victoria
Victoria to Euston Square via London Underground (Circle Line)
Train from London Euston to Holyhead
On the first leg of the journey, the Aire to Boulogne route via St Omer would have been like this:
Greg’s probable route from Aire-sur-la-Lys to Boulogne, shown on a modern map (courtesy Google). Click for a larger image.
And the last leg – London Euston to Holyhead – would have been the easiest, even though the longest. There was a good, fast service from Euston to Holyhead, because it was the route that carried the post to and from Ireland.
From end to end Greg’s route to Holyhead may have been like this. It is remarkable for how little of it is in France. Although the Western Front must have seemed a world away, the line in Lys sector was in reality not far from the French coast…although by September 1918 it was getting further day by day.
A possible route taken by Greg from Aire-sur-la-Lys to Holyhead, on a modern map (courtesy Google). The route between Folkestone and London assumes running via Ashford and Maidstone. Click for larger image.
Back On the Front
In the meantime, looking east from Aire, the British front line had by this morning got well to the east of Laventie and was almost at Armentières:
The British Front on the morning of 18 September 1918. Adapted from a map accompanying General Haig’s despatches on the final British offensive. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
Next up…
Although Greg isn’t back from leave until 2 October, there will be occasional posts in the interim.
Another disappointing shoot today. After yesterday’s perplexing lack of success with 346 SB because the shell bursts could not be observed, today’s shoot with 1/1 West Riding Heavy Battery (two 60 pounders) was thwarted for another reason: enemy aircraft.
Log Book
Date: 16.9.18
Time Out: 10.35
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 160 hrs 50 mins
RE8: 2500
Observer: Lt Bett
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 55 mins
Height: 5000
Course/Remarks: Shoot with 1/1 West Riding. Unsucc. E.A.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2500
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Bett
Duty: Art Reg on Cross roads.
Hour of Start: 10.35
Hour of Return: 13.30
Remarks: U. with 1/1 W.Riding H.B. (2-60 pdr) on crossroads N.23.c.0.9. [at FROMELLES] (P).
Called 11.15. K. 11.17. [signals being received] L.11.19. [battery ready to fire] G. 11.20. [fire]
37 ranging rounds:- M.C.9. 1 A. 1 B. 8 C. 2 D. 25 W.
Unsuccessful owing to E.A. 11.55. sent M.Q. E.A. [wait: enemy aircraft] 12.15. send A. and G. [stand by; fire] Battery did not fire and in answer to R.U.F. [are you firing?] put out E.A. 12.35. battery put out L. 1 burst observed and 6 W. 12.42. another E.A. appeared W. of FLEURBAIX and battery again ceased fire. Several bursts missed owing to A.A. [anti-aircraft fire]
C.I. [returning to aerodrome] sent 12.45.
11.15. fire burning in wood at J.18.d. & 24.b. (N. of LILLE). [same location as yesterday's reported fire]
12.05. 2 R.E.A. [reconnaissance enemy aircraft] R.12. sent.
12.15. explosion at H.6.d.8.9.
12.40. 1 F.E.A. [fighter enemy aircraft] about 5000’ over G.24.
1 E.K.B. [enemy kite balloon] at approx. J.6.d. A.A. active.
11.10. 4-25lb bombs dropped at H.34.b. 4 bursts observed.
Vis. good. Height 4/6000’. Obs by P. & O.
So three enemy aircraft – two reconnaissance and one fighter – spoilt the party. This meant that the shoot on the crossroads at Fromelles was unsuccessful. We don’t know precisely where the battery was located. But we do know that two reconnaissance enemy aircraft over R.12 sufficiently disturbed them to stop firing. So we can reasonably conclude that the battery was probably somewhere to the south of Estaires. The following map shows the locations of more precisely known features and events:
Map of Fromelles, Estaires and Armentières. Adapted from a combination of 1:40,000 scale maps. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
1/1 West Riding Heavy Battery
The 1/1 West Riding Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery was a unit of the part-time Territorial Force (TF). The TF was a forerunner to the Territorial Army (TA). Wikipedia reports:
1/1st West Riding Bty was detached to 49th Bde RGA (normally composed of 8-inch howitzers) with Fourth Army from 21 August to 16 September, during the Second Battle of the Somme returning to 28th Bde thereafter. It was with 28th Bde during Fifth Army’s pursuit of the defeated German army towards the Scheldt in October 1918, when the ‘heavies’ were principally employed on harassing fire on the roads and tracks the Germans were using, and on concentrations of fire on headquarters and exits from villages, while trying to avoid civilian casualties. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Riding_Heavy_Battery,_Royal_Garrison_Artillery, References omitted]
We know from Greg’s and 42 Sqn RAF’s records that on 16 September 1918 at least two 60-pdrs were already in the Lys sector with the Fifth Army – prior to the push to the Scheldt, east of Lille (although they couldn’t know yet that that would happen). And with their target being the crossroads at Fromelles, it looks as though they were indeed “employed on harassing fire on the roads and tracks the Germans were using”.
BL 60-Pounder
The 1/1 West Riding HB’s weapons were breech-loading 60-pounder (often abbreviated to 60-pdr) guns. Although nominally ‘heavy’ guns, they were not as heavy as those operated by the siege batteries of the RGA. (Even the ‘small’ 6-inch Howitzers fires 100 lb shells.) But they were true, 5-inch calibre guns, with a relatively long barrel (14 ft for the Mk Is).
The following photo, from the Imperial War Museum’s collection, shows a column towing a 60-pdr. The barrel is shifted backwards, i.e. towards the direction of travel of the column. This is to even up the weight distribution between the wheels of the gun carriage and those of the limber.
The IWM’s caption refers to the location being St Venant. More precisely, it is the bridge over the weir on the River Lys, next to St Venant lock, just north of the village. The direction of travel of the artillery train is south. The railings on the bridge have since been replaced. But railings of the same pattern are still in position by the adjoining wharf, on the left in the following Google Maps street view image Today they are painted a cheerful bright green.
Google Maps street view, looking north from St Venant towards the lock and weir on the River Lys, with the wharf on the left.
An unsuccessful – and probably frustrating – shoot with a new battery (346 Siege Battery, RGA). It was unsuccessful because Greg couldn’t see the bursts of the shells, and he didn’t know why he couldn’t. Greg’s observer today was Lt Bett, but in another sortie Lt Mulholland has a lucky escape.
Log Book
Date: 15.9.18
Time Out: 14.10
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 157 hrs 55 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Lt Bett
War Flying Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
Height: 4000
Course/Remarks: Shoot with 346 SB, 6” How. Unsucc.
RE8 2517
Greg’s usual ‘bus’, RE8 E27, was presumably with the mechanics. He had described the engine as ‘rotten’ yesterday. Greg flew 2517 on one earlier occasion (21 July 1918), and would fly it more often as the war progressed.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book – click for larger image
Type and Number: R.E.8.2517
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Bett
Duty: Art Obs on H.B. Destructive.
Hour of Start: 16.20
Hour of Return: 17.45
Remarks: U. [unsuccessful] with 346 S.B. (4-6” Hows) on H.B. [Hostile battery] at N.17.c.15.52. (P).
Called 16.40. K. 16.42. L. 16.45. G. 16.47.
10 ranging rounds:- 1 C. 9 W. Salvos unobserved.
Battery firing, but unable to see any bursts. Vis. good and unable to account for inability to see bursts.
C.I. sent 17.15.
16.50. fire in wood in J.18.d and 24.b. (Nth of LILLE).
17.00. sent N.F. [Now firing] N.12.a.5.0. (A). Result unobserved.
17.05. sent K.K. on flash in I.2.a.
A.A. active. E.A. and E.K.B. nil.
Vis. good. Height 4000’. Obs. by P. & O.
The locations in the above Squadron Record Book are shown on this map extract:
Map of Fromelles, Armentières and Lille. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. 213 Siege Battery’s target was in square N.17. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
The hostile battery that was 213 SB’s target was near Fromelles (bottom left of map) not far from Aubers. This is where Greg saw a lighthouse in a pre-dawn patrol on 14 July 1918.
Greg’s observer three days ago, on 12 September 1918, was 2/Lt Arthur Mulholland. Today, Lt Mulholland was up with pilot 2/Lt R.M. Marshall on a counter-battery patrol in RE8 2649 (which Greg had earlier flown on 13 July, 7 August and 8 August 1918). According to a casualty report in file AIR 1/859 at The National Archives:
[C2649 RE8] Shot down by EA at Sh36G7 on artly patrol. 2Lt RM Marshall slightly wounded/2Lt A Mulholland Ok
‘EA’ is enemy aircraft. ‘Sh36G7’ is 1:40,000 map sheet 36, square G7, which is just north of Estaires:
Map of Estaires. 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.
Fortunately, where they were shot down was more or less over the British front line at the time. They made it back to safety. Greg was next to fly with Lt Mulholland at the end of October.
A midday counter-battery patrol for an hour and a half with Lt Stuart Francis Bett. Not a great time by the sound of it, with the weather and E27’s engine both being ‘rotten’. Still, makes a change from ‘dud‘!
Log Book
Date: 14.9.18
Time Out: 12.00
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 156 hrs 30 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Bett
War Flying Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Weather & engine rotten.
2/Lt Stuart Francis Bett
This was Greg’s first patrol with 2/Lt Stuart Francis Bett, with whom he would fly several times in the next couple of months.
Stuart Bett was born on 11 November 1899 to Mary Bett, and so was some nine months younger than Greg. He survived the war, and was no doubt delighted that Armistice Day was on his 19th birthday. He was injured a few weeks later, on 17 December 1918 – playing rugby! – and wasn’t present at the B Flight Officers’ Christmas Dinner. Injury may have been the cause of his absence. Maybe he went home.
After the war, he graduated with a B.Sc. degree and on 1 October 1923 joined the Indian Service of Engineers an an assistant executive engineer in the United Provinces (of Agra and Oudh) – roughly present day Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Promotion to executive engineer followed in October 1932. Later, he transferred to the central public works department in August 1933 as a divisional officer. Stuart Bett died aged only 37, on 6 June 1937, in Dehra Dun. His widow was Ethel Margaret Fisher Bett.
Thanks to Margaret Sheard for sourcing information on Stuart Francis Bett.
