The war experiences of 2nd Lt. C. E. Gregory RFC/RAF in 1918
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.
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:
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.
LEAVE. 18 SEPT - 2 OCT.
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:
On the first leg of the journey, the Aire to Boulogne route via St Omer would have been like this:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
For more details on the codes sent, see here.
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:
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”.
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.
More on the 60-pounder, from Wikipedia, here.
The next entry in Greg’s Log Book is for Wednesday 18 September 1918.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
More about shoots here:
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:
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.
Thanks to airhistory.org.uk for the casualty information.
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‘!
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.
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.
After an absence from the field of operations of eight days, Greg is back in the air today, with (for the first time) 2/Lt Arthur Mulholland as observer. But the poor weather hasn’t improved. Greg rated today’s counter-battery patrol – yet again – as a dud as a result of it being very windy.
Date: 12.9.18 Time Out: 16.05 Rounds Lewis: - Rounds Vickers: - Bombs: - Time on RE8s: 155 hrs 0 mins RE8: E27 Observer: Lt Mulholland War Flying Time: 1 hrs 05 mins Height: 2000 Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Dud. V windy.
Not a round fired, and not a bomb dropped. Pilot and Observer were probably glad to get back home after a little over an hour of being bounced around in the very windy conditions.
This was Greg’s first outing with 2nd Lt Arthur Mulholland as his observer. In fact it was one of only two, the other being at the end of October.
Arthur Mulholland was born on 4 November 1894 in Sheffield. He had been with the army in France since 1914. But he had only been commissioned within the last few weeks, on 24 August 1918.
Although he was to have a narrow escape a few days after this patrol with Greg, he survived to the end of the war, and after demobilisation became “an Auxiliary” – a member of The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC). He survived that experience, too, despite being on a tram in Dublin held up by the IRA in May 1921.
After the disbandment of the ADRIC, Mulholland became a policemen in Palestine, as did many of his colleagues. But he then emigrated to Canada in 1926. He spent the rest of his life there and died in Vancouver in 1976, aged 82.
Grateful acknowledgement to David Grant of theauxiliaries.com website, which is the source of this information about Arthur Mulholland and much more about the ADRIC. Arthur Mulholland’s page is here.
Greg’s next log book entry is on 14 September 1918.
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.
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.
The troop locations and fires mentioned in the report are shown on this map:
It looks like Estaires is now in British hands, and that units are positioning to take Laventie. The eastward advance continues.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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:
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.
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.
…next post Monday 2 September 1918.