Meanwhile, the other business of the Squadron continued. Capt. Archer, who was in combat action only two days ago (here), was the pilot, who flew to the (unsuccessful) defence of a balloon – probably a kite balloon – near Steenbecque:
Air combat report. Click for larger image
Time: 4.50 p.m.
Locality: STEENBECQUE
Pilot: Capt. R. A. Archer, M.C.
Observer: Lieut. F. B. Sagar
Saw a hostile Scout flying towards Balloon. Decided to attack if I got a chance. E.A. was steering a roundabout course which enabled us to reach Balloon almost as soon as E.A. Dived on E.A. firing Vickers at him until a No 3 stoppage occurred. Turned to give Observer a shot and he put in about 50 rounds. In the meantime the balloon was lit and the E.A. turned home. Closest range Vickers about 150 yards. Lewis about 200 yards. E.A. did not appear to try to fire on us.
No 3 Stoppage
According to the Great War Forum’s user Andrew Upton in a post of 20 November 2016, the most common reason for a No 3 (3rd position) stoppage on the Vickers machine gun is a feed fault, but there are other possibilities, including
Insufficient headspace,
Friction in the lock,
Bent or damaged long spacers (every three rounds),
Thick-rimmed cartridge,
Stuck or “frozen” gib, overly stiff gib spring, or roughness or burrs on extractor face, and
Not enough tension on the recoil spring.
Steenbecque
Steenbecque is just north of the Nieppe Forest, 4½ miles (7 km) northwest of Aire-sur-la-Lys:
Map extract of Steenbecque and Aire, from 1:40,000 series. Each numbered square is 1,000 yds. Click for larger image. Credit: IWM/GreatWarDigital
This was Greg’s first day on the Western Front, and it nearly ended in disaster, as his log book (laconically) and diary (rather more more fully) explain:
Log book
Date: 4.6.18
Hour: 10 am
Machine type and No.: RE8
No.: E102
Passenger: Lt. Marsh
Time: 1 hr
Height: 2500
Course: Inspection of line.
Remarks: Engine conked. Crashed at Triezennes (102 written off)
Diary
Tuesday June 4th 1918. RE8. E102.
Went up at 10am with Lt Marsh as observer.
At 11pm [sic, sc. 11am] engine cut out east of St Flories, just over our line, due to inlet valve stuck open.
Managed to make disused aerodrome at Triezennes but found Infantry Battalion on parade.
Turned off into an adjoining field, – standing crops 6 feet high.
Crashed very badly, machine turned complete somersault.
Observer thrown clear, – self buried under debris, succeeded in getting out safely, – sprained shoulder & split lip.
Had lunch with C.O. of the Battalion & returned to Squadron by tender.
The day’s events are shown on this map:
Greg’s first visit to the front, shown on 1:40,000 map (each numbered square is 1,000 yds). Rely to St Floris is ~10 miles (16 km). Click for larger image. Credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
The Front Line at St Floris
St Floris, a settlement on the River Lys just to the east of St Venant, was where the British Amusories-Havaskerque-La Motte Line – a line just behind the most forward positions – crossed the canalised river:
St Floris and St Venant from a 1:10,000 scale trench map, revised to 22 June 1918. Each numbered square is 1,000 yds. Click for larger image. Credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
At this point, Greg was 10 miles (16 km) from the squadron’s airfield at Rely, and needed somewhere nearer to land. He had 2,500ft of altitude to play with.
Trézennes
Trézennes, also variously spelt as Treizennes and Tresennes, was an airfield just south east of Aire-sur-la-Lys. The admirable Anciens Aerodromes website gives the location of Trézennes aerodrome as 50°37’24″N, 2°25’25″E (here on Google maps).
The airfield was known to 42 Squadron, as the squadron had moved there from Chocques on 9 April 1918 when Operation Michael of the Spring Offensives began:
The squadron’s subsequent move from Trézennes to Rely was on 25 April 1918.
Although from Greg’s description Trézennes airfield had clearly been colonised by the army on 4 June 1918 (even if, as he was later to say, “they had no bloody business being there”) the Imperial War Museum has a couple of aerial photos of Trézennes that pose a bit of a puzzle. They are described as showing the airfield in use by 14 Squadron RNAS (Hadley Page bombers) on 1 June 1918. Here is one of the photos:
It is rather hard to reconcile this description with Greg’s experience three days later. And it is odd that the IWM description should refer to the RNAS when it had ceased to exist on 1 April 1918. Possibly the IWM photographs are mis-dated.
“Standing Crops 6 feet High”
Although 6 ft (1.8 m) may seem implausible for a crop height to modern readers, it is easy to forget that today’s crops of cereals such as wheat and barley are ultra-dwarf varieties. Their forebears of the decades and centuries before the “Green Revolution” of the 1960s were much taller. For example, an ancient Italian variety of wheat (Mirabella) could reportedly grow 84 inches (7 ft, 2.1 m) tall, as reported here. Or, of course, the crop might not have been a cereal but may have been something like sunflowers! So, even allowing for a less than perfectly accurate assessment of its height by Greg, something growing to 6 ft in the field was perfectly feasible.
The Official Casualty Report
The official casualty report bears out Greg’s account of the day. This image is courtesy of Andrew Pentland of the hugely informative www.airhistory.org.uk website:
Casualty report – click for larger image. Credit: Andrew Pentland.
Short report: Pilot and Observer uninjured. Machine left aerodrome 10.0am. R.P.M. dropped to 750 and engine backfiring badly, tried to land on TREIZENNES Aerodrome, found ground covered with troops drilling, turned to the right and had to land in standing crops, turning upside down at 11.0am.
Damage:- All main planes damaged. Fin and rudder damaged. 2 rear upper cross members of fuselage broken. 2 centre section struts broken and all fittings damaged. L.H. joint plate L & M damaged. Fuselage fitting R.H. at top of No 3 strut damaged. Undercarriage damaged. Scarff gun mounting wrecked. L.H. and R.H. magnetos damaged. Magneto platform broken. Camshaft doubtful. Exhaust pipes damaged. Recommended to be struck off charge of No 42 Squadron and transferred to No 1 A.D. for repair.
Recommended to be struck off charge of 1st (Corps) Wing and No 42 Squadron and transferred to No 1 A.D. for repair.
So, a mere three days after E102 had been accepted by 42 Squadron, it was struck off its charge. Not quite a write-off, but certainly a major repair job.
“Pilot and Observer uninjured”
Both Greg and 2nd Lt. Marsh were evidently very lucky on this occasion. It was probably truer to say that Greg was only slightly injured (hurt shoulder, split lip) rather than uninjured. And all his life he had a slightly weepy left eye, as his tear duct became permanently blocked when the bridge of his nose banged on the combing above the dashboard. On that subject, Rob Parsons (Greg’s son-in-law and my stepfather) remembers him saying that when he recovered he tried to get in the same position on another aircraft, but found it impossible to get the whole of his body below the level of the cockpit combing, where he had been trapped.
2nd Lt. Marsh’s luck, however, was to desert him before the month was out.
There was another air combat today at Neuf Berquin near Merville:
Air combat report. Click for larger image
Time: 6.30 a.m.
Locality: MERVILLE
Pilot: Capt. R. A. Archer, M.C.
Observer: 2/Lieut. H.C. Grimes
5 Albatros Scouts of whom only 3 persisted.
While over NEUF BERQUIN saw 5 aeroplanes patrolling about same height over ESTAIRES. Went on South. the 5 aeroplanes who proved to be hostile got into the sun over us. We turned towards our own lines. When about over L'EPINETTE, L.7.c, 3 dived on us firing. Seeing none of our own machines about we side-slipped home, recrossing the line at about 1500' at LE SART. During the whole of the fight, the Observer fired his gun at the E.A. but Pilot made no effort to get the Vickers on. 3 of the E.A. persisted in the attack until our lines were reached.
Map extract of Neuf Berquin, Estaires and Le Sart, from 1:40,000 series. Estaires is 15 miles (24 km) west of Lille and 4 miles (6 km) east of Merville. Each numbered square is 1,000 yds. Click for larger image. Credit: IWM/GreatWarDigital
Looks a bit like a late realisation that the aircraft were hostile. And then the pilot was fully preoccupied in getting them back to safety.
Having started his journey from Berck Plage to Aire-sur-la-Lys yesterday at 8pm, and having got as far as Étaples, Greg continues – slowly – today:
Diary
Sunday June 2nd 1918. Got up in time to catch the 6.30am train, which did not appear till 10.30am. Train left Etaples at 12.30pm – fearfully slow travelling. When tired, we got off and walked alongside.
Long Stop at St Pol[-sur-Ternoise].
About 10pm arrived within sight of the gun flashes.
When passing through Chocques about 2½ miles from the front line there was a strafe on.
Arrived at Aire about 1.30am (about 80 miles in over 13 hours!).
Couldn’t get rooms in Aire, populace having fled; after wandering round about an hour, we slept in a railway truck.
So Greg had his first encounter – if not a particularly close encounter – with the Western Front. This is the somewhat circuitous route that he followed:
Greg’s route from Berck Plage to Aire-sur-la-Lys , shown on a modern map (courtesy Google). Click for a larger, zoomable image (opens in new tab).
An Earlier Battlefield
Two thirds of the way from Étaples to St Pol, Greg passed a few miles south of Azincourt, the scene of the major battle between Henry V’s English and Welsh army and the French forces of Charles VI in 1415. 500 years later, the British (including the English and Welsh) and the French were on the same side…and this time there were now longbowmen.
It was Quicker Before the War…
Greg says that it took him 13 hours to travel the (indirect) 80 miles (130 km) from Étaples. From Berck Plage – only a few miles further – it took a total of 29½ hours! And the irony is that before the war there was a twice-daily direct (albeit cross-country) service from Berck Plage to Aire that took under 7 hours:
Bradshaw’s 1913 timetable for the direct Berck-Aire servicePre-war route from Berck Plage to Aire-sur-la-Lys , shown on a modern map (courtesy Google). Click for a larger, zoomable image (opens in new tab)
A Night in a Railway Truck
The railway station at Aire-sur-la-Lys has now closed, and the tracks have mostly been ripped up. But here is the site of the station and yard in June 2018, showing where Greg probably spent the night in his unorthodox – and probably uncomfortable – accommodation.
Site of Aire-sur-la-Lys railway station and yard, seen in June 2018. Click for larger image. Photo: Andrew Sheard
