The Shadow of War (45 page)

Britain on the Eve of War, 1914

Europe on the Eve of War, 1914

The Schlieffen Plan, August 1914

The Battle of Mons, August 1914

The Battle of Le Cateau, August 1914

The Battle of the Marne, September 1914

The Race to the Sea, September–November 1914

The Shadow of War
is a work of fiction. Although largely based on real events (and with many of the characters borrowed from history), all names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used entirely fictitiously.

Many of the characters speak in their local vernacular, especially the old Pennine dialect of North-East Lancashire. Largely gone now, it was still spoken into the 1960s and I remember well its unique colour and warmth. It was an unusual combination of Old English and the nineteenth-century ‘Mee-Maw' – the exaggerated, mouthed reinforcements of speech used to overcome the noise of the looms in the cotton mills – made famous by comic actors such as Hylda Baker and Les Dawson.

The meanings of various
East Lancashire dialect
expressions, as well as examples of Cockney rhyming slang and background facts about military terms, Victorian and Edwardian mores and various historical references are explained in the Glossary at the back of the book.

An Albert chain is a chain used to anchor a Victorian or Edwardian gentleman's timepiece on to his waistcoat. It was named in memory of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, who was fond of wearing watch chains with his morning coat and waistcoat. Watch chains worn by women during the period were known as ‘Albertina chains'. Both Albert chains and Albertina chains were made of gold or silver. If the watch had a protective cover for the face it was known as a ‘hunter'.

Wristwatches did not become widely popular until after the Great War. Prior to that, wristwatches, often sold as bracelets, were designed for women. However, cavalry officers, especially during the Boer War, began to use ‘armlet' pocket watches because of the obvious practical advantages. The Great War dramatically changed attitudes towards the man's wristwatch, and opened up a mass market in the post-war era. Service watches produced during the war were specially designed for the rigours of trench warfare, with luminous dials and unbreakable glass. Wristwatches were also found to be needed in the air as much as on the ground, military pilots finding them much more convenient than pocket watches. The British War Office began issuing wristwatches to combatants from 1917 onwards.

HMS
Audacious
was a King George V-class dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy. The vessel did not see any combat in the Great War, being sunk by a German naval mine off the northern coast of Donegal, Ireland, on 27 October 1914. It took almost twelve hours
to sink and there was no loss of life. Most of the crew were taken off by the White Star liner
Olympic
, the sister ship of
Titanic
. The Admiralty and the British Cabinet agreed that the loss be kept secret and so, for the rest of the war,
Audacious
's name remained on all public lists of ship movements and activities. However, many Americans on board
Olympic
were beyond British jurisdiction and openly discussed the sinking (many photographs, and even a short reel of film, had been taken). On 14 November 1918, shortly after the war ended, the war's worst kept secret was acknowledged by an official announcement in
The
Times
: ‘HMS
Audacious
. A Delayed Announcement. The Secretary of State of the Admiralty makes the following announcement: HMS
Audacious
sank off the North Irish Coast on October 27th 1914. This was kept secret at the urgent request of the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet and the Press loyally refrained from giving it any publicity.'

Following the death in June 1847 of a young man whose life was cut short by alcohol, the Band of Hope was first proposed by Reverend Jabez Tunnicliff, a Baptist Minister in Leeds. With the help of other temperance workers, the Band of Hope was founded in the autumn of 1847. Its objective was to teach children the importance and principles of sobriety and teetotalism. In 1855, a national organization was formed and meetings were held in churches throughout the UK. The Band of Hope and other temperance organizations fought to counteract the influence of pubs and brewers, with the specific intention of rescuing ‘unfortunates' whose lives had been blighted by drink. ‘Signing the pledge' was one of the innovative features of the Band of Hope, and millions of people signed up.

In the rubric of military decorations, a ‘bar' to an award for gallantry is given if the recipient receives the same award more than
once. They do not receive a second medal, but a bar to be attached to the ribbon of their original medal. The bar can be decorated with a crown (as in a Military Cross), or a laurel wreath (as in a Victoria Cross). A clasp is awarded as an addition to a campaign medal and marks the recipient's participation in a specified battle within a campaign. The name of the battle is inscribed on the clasp, which is attached to the ribbon of the medal. Confusingly, ‘clasps' are often also called ‘bars', but the important difference between the two is that bars only have a design, whereas clasps have the name of the battle inscribed.

The Army School of Musketry was founded in 1853 at Hythe, Kent. In September 1855, a corps of instructors was added to the establishment, consisting of 100 first-class and 100 second-class instructors who, as soon as they were sufficiently experienced, were distributed to battalions and regiments as required. The use of the term ‘musketry' was a misnomer as, by then, muskets (smooth-bore weapons) were being withdrawn from service to be replaced by weapons with rifled bores (rifles).

Britain's army in 1914 was a volunteer, professional army of great tradition. Although there had been significant nineteenth-century reforms, it was still based on centuries-old practices and prejudices. Most officers needed a private income of at least £250 per year, or £400 for cavalry regiments (which required a man to keep a charger, two hunters and three polo ponies). Some men of the ranks came from long-standing military families, but most enlisted as unskilled labourers. They were largely from poor urban slums, uneducated and often undernourished.

The army medical standard was 5ft 3ins in height, with 33ins chest and 33lbs in weight. Despite these minimal requirements,
many applicants failed. Although hardly luxurious, soldiers got regular pay, clean living conditions, adequate food and a rudimentary education. Camaraderie was generally good and professionalism high, especially in basic combat skills and musketry. There was mutual respect between officers and men and non-commissioned officers were drawn from highly disciplined veterans and were of the highest calibre.

In May 1914, British military prowess rested on its immense Royal Navy, the envy of the world. The regular army was small compared to its European counterparts and was 11,000 short of its establishment of 260,000. The number of men under arms on UK soil was 137,000, including recruits undergoing training. The rest were in numerous garrisons throughout the Empire. The BEF sent to France in August 1914 was designated at 48 infantry battalions and 16 cavalry regiments, plus heavy and light artillery and support services. This was many more than the army could muster, so over 70,000 reservists were called to the colours. Although these men had been regular soldiers, most had grown accustomed to civilian life, lacked training and had lost their battle-hardened readiness. Many battalions had to include several hundred reservists to bring them up to strength of around 1,000 men.

Approximately 100,000 strong, the BEF's mandate was challenging: help throw back a German force 1 million strong in cooperation with a French Army equally huge. Its commander, Sir John French, was required to support the French generals, but not take orders from them. However, he had to rely on their goodwill for railway transportation, accommodation and lines of supply. John French was a better fighting soldier than a strategic general. He was liked by his subordinates and had a good reputation within the army, but he was short-tempered and argumentative and suffered from violent mood swings, which veered from overt optimism to deep pessimism. His subordinates – Sir Douglas Haig, who commanded the I Corps, and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, who commanded II Corps – were also highly respected, experienced soldiers, but neither had a good relationship with French, especially
Smith-Dorrien, who was appointed against his wishes. Haig was extremely efficient and hard-working, much liked by all around him, but was intensely shy and awkward. Smith-Dorrien was brave and aggressive, but prone to extreme outbursts of temper.

The BEF was to take up position to the east of Cambrai, between Maubeuge and Hirson, on the left flank of General Lanrezac's 5th French Army of 250,000 men. Here it would meet the thrust of the German advance through southern Belgium, led by General Alexander von Kluck's 1st Army, 300,000 strong.

Bulldog-toe button boots (or American boots) and shoes were very fashionable for both men and women from about 1908 to 1920. With their distinctive rounded bulbous toes, they were first popular in North America and then in Europe. The distinctive shape of the toe was considered to be healthy because the toes could move inside the boot, thereby increasing circulation to the foot. Previously, the fashion was for highly restrictive ‘toothpick' pointed shoes.

The Burnley Lads' Club was formed in 1899 to cater for boys from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many of the original members of the club fell in the Great War, serving with the famous D Company, ‘Accrington Pals', along with the club's first leader, Captain Henry Davison Riley. It still flourishes. In 1968 the Lads' Club merged with the Police Youth Club, to create Burnley Boys' Club. The merger enabled the two groups to pool their resources and membership, which included girls, and the club is now called Burnley Boys' and Girls' Club. It is a youth and community centre for young people between the ages of six and twenty-one, irrespective of gender, race and ability. Young people with disabilities are welcome up to the age of twenty-five.

In 1914, British scientist John Graham Kerr persuaded First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill to adopt a form of disruptive camouflage for shipping, which he called ‘parti-colouring' or ‘dazzle' camouflage A general order to the British fleet issued on 10 November 1914 advocated the use of Kerr's method, which used masses of strongly contrasted colour, consequently making it difficult for a submarine to decide on the exact course of the vessel to be attacked. Artists, known as ‘camoufleurs' were employed to design the camouflage of individual ships, some of which were so eye-catching that people would come and gawp at them in dock. It was applied in various ways to British warships such as HMS
Implacable
, where officers noted that the pattern ‘increased difficulty of accurate range finding'. However, following Churchill's departure from the Admiralty, the Royal Navy reverted to plain grey paint schemes.

The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in the Great War, composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and Bulgaria, also known as the Quadruple Alliance. This alignment originated in the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and fought against the Allied Powers that had formed around the Triple Entente. The members of the Triple Entente were the French Republic, the British Empire and the Russian Empire. Italy ended its alliance with the Central Powers and entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915. Japan, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and the Czechoslovak legions (a volunteer army) were secondary members of the Entente.

This was a term used by Lord Cardigan for his regiment, the 11th Prince Albert's Own Hussars, which he notoriously led in the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854, during the Crimean War. The men wore bright-red cavalry trousers in honour of the livery of Prince Albert's House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The term came to be used by infantrymen in sections of the army as a derogatory expression for the cavalrymen in general.

There are two explanations of the development of the English-style clog. They may have evolved from foot pattens (soles) which were slats of wood held in place by thongs or similar strapping. They were usually worn under leather or fabric shoes to raise the wearer's foot above the mud of the unmade road (not to mention commonly dumped human effluent and animal dung). Those too poor to afford shoes wore wood directly against the skin or hosiery, and thus the clog was developed, made of part leather and part wood. Alternatively, they have been described as far back as Roman times, and possibly earlier. The wearing of clogs in Britain became more visible with the Industrial Revolution, when industrial workers needed strong, cheap footwear. The heyday of the clog in Britain was between the 1840s and 1920s and, although traditionally associated with Lancashire, they were worn all over the country (for example, in the London docklands and fruit markets, and in the mines of Kent).

Barney Moke
– poke (sexual intercourse).

Birch and broom
– room.

Butcher's (hook)
– look.

Cocoa / I should cocoa
– I should say so.

Feather-plucker
– fucker.

Goose and duck
– fuck.

Granny Grunt
– cunt.

His Majesty's pleasure
– treasure.

Fourpenny one (fourpenny bit)
– hit. (A fourpenny bit was an old British silver coin, also called a ‘groat', worth four old pennies; it ceased to be minted in 1856.)

Iron hoof
– poof / homosexual.

Little Red Riding Hoods
– goods.

Mazawattee (potty)
– crazy. (Mazawattee was one of the most popular brands of tea from mid-Victorian times onwards. Owned by the Densham family, using tea from the newly established tea plantations of Ceylon, its name is Sinhalese in origin and means ‘pleasure garden'. Its growth was helped by the Temperance Movement and the company's clever slogan: ‘The cup that cheers but does not inebriate.' The brand was distributed from its warehouse on Tower Hill in London and became a Cockney favourite. The brand declined after the Great War and its Tower Hill warehouse was destroyed during the Blitz in the Second World War. By the 1960s, Mazawattee Tea had disappeared.)

Miss Fitch
– bitch.

Pig's ear
– beer.

Pony (and trap)
– crap (useless/poor quality).

Safe and sound
– ground.

Tiddly (wink)
– drink.