In a vivid indication – if further indication were needed – of how fast the war was moving (and moving eastwards), 42 Squadron RAF was itself on the move again. After a mere nine days in Chocques, the squadron today travelled the 25 miles (40.5 km) ENE to Ascq, just east of Lille.
Log Book
Date: 22.10.18
Time Out: 7.00
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 176 hrs 20 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Scarterfield
War Flying: 0 hrs 25 mins
Height: 1500
Course/Remarks: Travelling flight to Ascq.
Squadron Record Book
Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.27
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield
Duty: Travelling Flight.
Hour of Start: 0705
Hour of Return: 0735
Remarks: Travelling to new Aerodrome
This all looks fairly straightforward, until you consider which aeroplane Greg and Lt Scarterfield actually flew in. Was it 2517, as in Greg’s log book, or E27, as in the Squadron Record Book? Well, who knows. But if the reconnaissance flight on Friday 18 October 1918 (link below) wasn’t Greg’s last flight in E27, then today’s travelling flight certainly was.
Since 42 Squadron was deployed (as 42 Squadron RFC) to the Lys sector in March 1918, it has always operated out of aerodromes in the Pas-de-Calais département. These were (with dates of arrival, which are linked to the relevant posts):
The flag of Artois. Credit Wikipedia User:Patricia.fidi
Chocques, Trèzennes and Rely aerodromes were in the sizeable central portion of the Pas-de-Calais that was the ancient County of Artois (Dutch Artesië, whence the English adjective artesian, as in well), of which the capital was Arras.
Today was the day that 42 Squadron moved from Artois to Flanders – French Flanders, that is.
42 Squadron’s move ENE from Chocques to Ascq shown on a modern map (courtesy Google). Click for a larger, zoomable map (opens in new tab)
Flanders
Flag of Flanders. Credit: Tom Lemmens (Wikipedia User:Tom-L)
Flanders was also an ancient (medieval) county whose territory is today in France and Belgium. Lille (Dutch Reisel) is one of its major cities, and its principal domestic railway station is Lille Flandres. Today, French Flanders is part of the Nord département.
The old course of the River Lys, as it flowed from west to east near Merville, marked the boundary between the counties of Artois and Flanders. It does the same job now, demarking the Pas-de-Calais and Nord départements. In acknowledgement of the ancient boundary, the dykes forming the north and south banks of the canalised River Lys are today known as the Digue de Flandres and the the Digue d’Artois.
Farewell to Chocques
Only having been in Chocques for just over a week, 42 Squadron barely had time to get their feet under the table. It can’t have felt much like home in so short a time. But Greg may have felt leaving Chocques to be significant for another reason. It was here that he first saw and probably heard the effect of the artillery of the Western Front, as he travelled through on his way to Rely in early June 1918. Chocques had been just 2½ miles from the front line:
Ascq, where 42 Squadron was moving to, was a small settlement a couple of miles out into the countryside east of Lille, with a station on the railway line to Tournai. Today, it still has the station, but it has grown into Villeneuve-d’Ascq, which is practically a city in its own right. Villeneuve-d’Ascq is home to the Université de Lille, Campus Cité Scientifique, and to the headquarters of the well known French supermarket Auchan.
The site of the former aerodrome was south of the Rue des Fusilés (today the D941) and now accommodates a housing development. It is shown here with a red flag in the bottom right quadrant of square R.15 (i.e.R.15.d) of a First World War 1:40,000 scale map, and correspondingly on a modern map:
Ascq, east of Lille, in the First World War. The airfield is in square R.15, marked with a red flag in the bottom right sub-square (d). Click for larger image. Map credit: TNA/IWM/Great War Digital.Ascq, east of Lille, today. A red flag again marks the airfield. Click for larger image. Map credit: IGN France/Great War Digital.
Zone Calls
The following zone calls are recorded in the Squadron Record Book today, together in each case with the word ‘Unobserved’. Presumably other squadrons put out these calls, calling for artillery fire on what appeared to be urgent and high value targets. The zones in question were all to the east of Tournai. But 42 Squadron was unable to observe the response to any of them as they were busy relocating to their new home, which was about 13 miles (21 km) miles to the west.
Click for larger image.
Zone Calls.
P.C. G.F. TRAIN P.24.b.1.3 Unobserved
J.C. N.F. A.A. J.25.a.85.75 "
J.C. W.P. N.F. A.A. J.25.a "
J.C. G.F. TRAIN J.31.d.2.6 W "
J.C. G.F. TRAIN J.32.c.8.4 E "
J.A. N.F. J.13.d.95.05 "
Translation Key:
P.C., J.C. and J.A. are all map zones northeast (J.A. and J.C.) and east (P.C.) of Tournai.
G.F.: Gun fire (or Fleeting target)
N.F.: Guns Now Firing in position at…
N.F.A.A.: Anti-aircraft ditto
W.P.N.F.: Many batteries in square active (followed by location of square)
W travelling west
E travelling east
A Confusion of Zones
There’s something wrong with the first zone call (P.C. G.F. TRAIN P.24.b.1.3). Map position P.24.b.1.3 isn’t in zone P.C.; rather, it is is zone P.D. Which is wrong, the zone or the map reference? Well, a railway passes through P.24.b.1.3, so perhaps P.D. G.F. TRAIN P.24.b.1.3 was intended. But the same railway also passes through P.20.b.1.3, which is 4,000 yards to the west, in zone P.C. So maybe P.C. G.F. TRAIN P.20.b.1.3 was intended.
No doubt this ambiguous error caused some cursing on the part of the battery artillery commanders, as well as a few wasted shells.
A Bit of Light Exercise…
Armed with the above zone calls, the key, and knowledge of the above error, all that is needed to locate the targets on a map is, well, a map. So here it is, and I’ve marked the relevant zones on it. But the location of the targets is left as an exercise for the reader. (I’ve always wanted to write a sentence like that.) Help is at hand – see the link below the map.
Zones near Tournai. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
Further information on map references and zone calls generally is available here:
So this was it. The last day of training in a (relatively) safe environment, with no-one wishing you harm, and no one shooting at you from the ground or the air.
The last day at Hursley Park/Worthy Down was evidently something of a recap, with a shoot (complete with ground strips) and zone calls being rehearsed. Not a bad thing, either.
Last log book entry during training
Date: 27.5.18
Hour: –
Machine type and No.: RE 6650
Passenger: –
Time: 1 hr 15 m
Height: 3000
Course: Shoot. Gr. Str. & Zonecalls
Remarks: Successful
In an important training exercise, Greg begins today to practice ‘zone calls’.
Log book entry
Date: 29.4.18
Hour: 2.35
Machine type and No.: DH 5155
Passenger: –
Time: 55 m
Height: 3000
Course: Aerodrome
Remarks: Practice.
Date: 29.4.18
Hour: 5.55
Machine type and No.: DH 5155
Passenger: –
Time: 1 h 20 m
Height: 3000
Course: –
Remarks: Zone calls
Date: 29.4.18
Hour: 8.0
Machine type and No.: RE 5146
Passenger: –
Time: 30 m
Height: 2500
Course: Aerodrome
Remarks: Practice 1 landing.
Zone Calls
Zone calls are one way wireless messages by Morse code from aircraft to artillery batteries giving information about targets, such as enemy batteries firing, enemy transport and troop movements.
A zone call might be something like:
NF L 26 c 2 0
Example of a zone call, with map reference – somewhere in France. All will be revealed on 8 August (although there is enough information in this post to identify where…). Adapted from 1:10,000 scale trench map (credit: Great War Digital).
This would mean: Guns Now Firing from a position at map reference L 26 c 2 0. Maps of the Western Front (and presumably maps used by Greg’s Training Squadron at Yatesbury) used a reference system that was a combination of squares and a grid.
Each 1:40,000 map sheet was divided into twenty-four 6,000 yd squares, arranged in a 6 x 4 array and lettered A to X – in our case, L.
Each 6,000 yd square was in turn subdivided into thirty-six 1,000 yd squares, numbered 1 to 36 – in our case, 26.
Each 1,000 yd square was then subdivided into four quadrants (a, b, c, d) – in our case, c.
Finally, a decimal grid reference (eastings and then northings) was used to specify the intended position with the required degree of precision. This could be to one significant figure as in our example (2 0), which identified a 50 yd square. Or it could be to two significant figures if greater precision was desired and achievable (22 01, for example), which would identify a 5 yd square within the 50 yd square denoted by 2 0.
Fine levels of detail are not visualisable on a 1:40,000 map. The artillery and infantry tended to use 1:20,000 and 1:10,000 scale maps, depending on the purpose in hand, which were revised periodically as trenches and other ground features changed. These revisions, incidentally, would rely heavily on the aerial photography of work of the corps squadrons. The complete map reference would include the number of the 1:40,000 sheet (eg Sheet 36A, to give 36A L 26 c 2 0), but the sheet number was typically understood in context and therefore omitted in zone calls.
If this combination of squares and grid references sounds complicated, it is not actually different in principle from an Ordnance Survey grid reference, which in one of its incarnations uses a combination of an identified square and a decimal grid reference within the square. For example, the OS reference SU 053711 is based on a 100 km square designated SU and then, within that square, a three significant figure decimal grid reference 053 711. This in turn identifies a 100 m square – which, as it happens, is on the former Yatesbury airfield (1:50,000 Landranger sheet 173 in today’s OS maps).
A zone call was a one way wireless message from the aircraft to an artillery battery on the ground. Ground to air communication was done by ‘ground strips’, as explained in this earlier post:
Ascq, where 42 Squadron was moving to, was a small settlement a couple of miles out into the countryside east of Lille, with a station on the railway line to Tournai. Today, it still has the station, but it has grown into Villeneuve-d’Ascq, which is practically a city in its own right. Villeneuve-d’Ascq is home to the Université de Lille, Campus Cité Scientifique, and to the headquarters of the well known French supermarket Auchan. 
