The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA

Compiled by Bob Butcher

November 2009

NERY: 1 September 1914

With the Retreat from Mons under way, elements of III Corps spent the night of 31 August in the Nery area. The 1^st Cavalry Brigade and L Battery Royal Horse Artillery were bivouacked between the widely separated 5^th and 4^th Divisions of III Corps. They had been ordered to move off at 0430 hours and were ready to do so, but with the mist reducing visibility to less than two hundred yards, this was impossible. The men therefore started to prepare their breakfasts and water the horses.

At 0530 a patrol rode in through the thick mist and reported that they had been chased back by German cavalry. Almost at once they came under heavy artillery and small arms fire which caused the horses of the Bays to take fright and gallop off. The RHA gunners managed to unlimber three of their guns and man handle them round to reply to the enemy batteries. One gun was immediately put out of action by a direct hit but the other two guns opened fire on the enemy. Hardly had they done so when the entire crew of a second gun became casualties. Despite being under intense fire the third gun with a scratch crew continued firing at the Germans' twelve until their last round was expended.

The British reacted quickly. Their cavalry took up defensive positions and inflicted losses on the German cavalrymen who advanced dismounted. (It seems that the German commander originally intended making a cavalry charge but, perhaps mindful of the painful lesson the Belgians had taught them at Haien, decided to attack dismounted.) Thus the 1^st Cavalry Brigade with the splendid assistance of L Battery held the German 4^th Cavalry Division,

Then the British 4^th Cavalry Brigade with I Battery RHA, arrived. The gunners opened fire on the enemy guns at about 0800 hours and soon silenced them. The enemy attempted to save his guns but were driven off managing to save only four out of his twelve guns, and those were later captured by the infantry.

That there was such a satisfactory outcome even though the 1^st Cavalry Brigade had been taken by surprise, was largely due to heroism of L Battery three of whose members were awarded the Victoria Cross. The brigade's losses were about 136 all ranks killed and wounded including five officers and forty-nine men of L Battery. It is reckoned that enemy losses must have been more numerous.

The 1^st Cavalry Brigade consisted of ₂nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays); ₅th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards; 11^th Prince Albert's Own) Hussars; and 1^st Signal Troop.

This account is a summary of that contained in the Official History.

Bob Butcher

 

TORPEDOED

During the First World War there was full employment and, as in the Second World War, leaving certificates were needed before war workers could change jobs. On Saturday 9 September 1916 the following case was heard at the Birmingham Munitions Tribunal, Professor Tilyard presiding.

A Danish employee of an unnamed Birmingham firm wanted a leaving certificate so that he could get work in a British torpedo factory; He explained that he had experience working in a Danish torpedo factory so thought that he would serve Britain better in such a job than in his present one.

Professor Tilyard said that he had 'grave doubts' as to whether any alien would be employed in a British torpedo factory. The representative of the firm where the Dane was working said that he could say with authority that only British subjects were employed in torpedo factories so it would be best for Britain if the Dane stayed in his present employment.

The tribunal refused the Dane a leaving certificate, However if the applicant could prove that a British torpedo factory would employ him the tribunal would reconsider its decision.

J.P.Lethbridge

ANOTHER CASE OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION YOUNG BIRMINGHAM SOLDIER'S SACRIFICE Gunner S Hughes, 8^th Tank Battalion, son of Mr and Mrs A Hughes of 65 Bristol Street, Birmingham, has by his self-sacrifice saved the life of a Colonial comrade. The Colonial had been desperately wounded in one of the battles of the British advance in July last, and he had lost so much blood that only a transfusion of blood from another living healthy man could save him. The medical staff called for a volunteer to yield enough of his vital fluid for this purpose, and young Hughes at once responded. He was at that time a patient in the hospital recovering from illness. He was judged to be a satisfactory subject, and about a pint and a half of blood was transferred from his veins to those of the wounded Colonial.   Hughes was greatly
prostrated by this sacrifice but he had the satisfaction of knowing that his sacrifice had not been unavailing. Both men recovered together sufficiently to be given leave for 'blighty' and they are now together in

Birmingham, fast friends. Gunner Hughes,
who was an assistant in his father's business, joined up at the age of eighteen after almost two years cadet service, and has seen much hard active service in France.

(Birmingham Weekly Post September 21 1918)

Alan Tucker

DID YOU KNOW?

In order to ensure that there would be sufficient motor vehicles available on the outbreak of war, the War Office introduced a subsidy scheme in 1908 for owners of vehicles meeting military requirements. For an initial subsidy per vehicle followed by an annual subsidy, the owners undertook to maintain them in good working order and to surrender them to the Army in an emergency. Many of the vehicles so acquired in August 1914 went to France with the BEF still bearing their civilian markings.

When, in February 1915, Britain ordered Hotchkiss light machine guns, the French manufacturers brought over plant from France and skilled men were released from the French army to set up a special factory in Coventry.. A total of 35,381 were produced in the years 1916-- 1918. The Hotchkiss was required for the cavalry and, except between November 1916 and May 1917, tanks. Many went to our Allies

IT'S A SERIOUS BUSINESS

The French Prime Minister, 'Tiger' Clemenceau, is reputed to have said that war was too serious a business to be left to the generals. Yes, but surgery is a serious business so if you required a life-saving operation, would you prefer it to be performed by an experienced surgeon or by a politician (French or otherwise)?

Of course by the beginning of the twentieth century, the waging of war involved considerations not only of the conduct of military operations, but also of economic,   financial, international relations and Industrial matters. These were mostly beyond the generals' grasp.