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To: Sgn Mess, 6 RNAS

Nov 25th 1916.

Hi Chaps, Just a little writ to let you blokes know I'll be heading back. The doctors say that I am fit to be back in the thick of it. On leave in Paris to see the sights until returning 1 Dec .

https://youtu.be/lRUBigCcVA8

Dudley Nightshade

Raine, it might be sad but it is the main reason why I love your stories. As a matter of fact, I think you have inspired me to try and do a better job of including that sort of information in my stories. I feel like I can speak for you when I say that the stories are my favorite part of these DID campaigns. Anyway, keep these fine stories coming.

Sgt. Cesar Turtellotte.
Verdun sector. Nov.24, 1916.
The unit is transferring from Lemmes to Vadelaincourt.



I think I'll just walk.

Sqn Mess
6 RNAS
Petit- Snythe
Flanders, France.


Arrived in Paris for my Med Leave, I took in futuristic Film at the EXPO here in the city

https://youtu.be/NMn1-_n4jw0

then off to a relaxing Theater Play

https://youtu.be/lK0gYi1YEZ8

Sgt Dudley Nightshade

Here is the latest status report. Last week was a rough week for the group, we lost a number of stellar pilots.

As always, thanks for the stats Banjoman.

Oh Lord, Cecil isn't long for this world!

Banjoman, thanks for the stats update!!! Here is the latest story from Blaise...

War Journal of 2/Lt Blaise St John-Cottingham
Savy, France

25 November 1916: A corporal rousted Sowrie and me out of bed before first light. We were due for the early patrol, but snow and sleet had fallen all night and it was obvious the show would be cancelled. We sat on our beds and sipped tea. Each flight shared a single batman. Ours was named Cporporal Maconochie. His tea was vile but he did our boots well.

Sowrie was painfully quiet. I prised it out that he’d been at King’s College School, Wimbledon. He had done some rowing, so we had that in common. He had two brothers in the RFC. One, Frederick, had even got the DFC for downing a Zeppelin. He was aeroplane mad. Once the topic turned mechanical he was a different chap altogether.

I had time to wash up properly and had just pulled my kit together for a walk to the village bath house when Maconochie arrived blue-faced to stutter out the news that B Flight was to take off in fifteen minutes. Breakfast was forgotten in the rush. Major Smith-Barry was to lead Sowrey, “Duke” Meintjes, and me up to St-Omer in response to a telephone call that Huns were spotted over the lines in that direction. Sleet and mist hid the far end of the field.

We took off in heavy gusts and the left lower wing snipped at the frozen tufts of grass before I lifted off. The flight north was miserable and wet. My feet were frozen in my leather boots, and I envied the chaps with the new sheepskin things from Harrods. The clouds were thick and disorienting so I followed the leader and ignored everything else. This far behind the lines that seemed a safe plan.

Suddenly Smith-Barry winged over and dropped. I followed, but several seconds behind. I passed blindly through several banks of clouds, emerging at last into a clear gap at around 6,000 feet. And there in front were three Halberstadt single-seaters heading east at full throttle. The three Huns were likely lost and scared, for they made little effort to engage us. One turned at us and fired a few rounds, then dived away. I followed and emptied a drum at him from 150 yards behind, all to no effect. Changing the drum on the Type 16 was a circus act, requiring one to unbuckle and stand, hold the stick between one’s knees, and loosen the old drum in the face of a wet, driving, 100 knot gale. Twice I nearly fell over the side of the cockpit. When I finally gave up and sat, the stick got caught under my coat and nearly caused me an injury. Fortunately for me the Hun disappeared into the clouds and let me recover in dignity.

I was lost so flew west for ten minutes. At length I spotted a town, and then the unmistakeable clutter of No 1 Aircraft Depot at St-Omer, where I put down and sorted out my ammunition before flying home at 500 feet. Over a late breakfast I got the happy news that the Halberstadt I downed yesterday had been seen to fall by own troops. That was my second official victory, which made me feel rather a success.

26 November 1916: We escorted a BE12 to Péronne, seeing nothing but getting very cold once again.

27 November 1916: The rain and sleet let up this morning long enough to get off at eight. Captain Gilchrist had a 48 hour leave pass, so Lieut Cole led me, Phillips, Fry, and Hill on a distant offensive patrol down to Bapaume and then thirty miles into darkest Hunland. We saw nothing until shortly after we turned home. Then one flight of Halberstadts approached from the south. We turned to meet them and had barely begun to scrap when a second group of Huns joined in. I cursed the tendency of my older model Nieuport to stall when fighting in high winds. A pair of Huns singled me out. For at least five minutes I flew absolutely defensively, firing only once in all that time. Suddenly the Huns broke off and I was alone, down to 3,500 feet and far from home. I climbed westward searching the sky. After nearly fifteen minutes a lone Nieuport approached and took station on my wing. It was Phillips.

Back at Savy we were delighted to discover that Fry had already landed and Hill and Cole had called in by telephone from other fields. Cole claimed one EA down and Fry another. All in all a good day.

C Flight has moved into Nissen huts by the field and has set up its own mess. Perhaps we will join them soon, but I am in no hurry to leave our comfortable billet in the village. Since I missed the chance yesterday, I will make my way to the baths this afternoon.

French villages are odd places. They seem so low and drab compared to our lovely little English communities. Oddest of all are the piles of manure that each landowner accumulates in front of his house, as if to proclaim his importance and wealth by strength of odour. But the inside of the homes are meticulously kept and the smells from the kitchens more than compensate for the stinking middens outside. Each room is adorned with religious imagery, whether a crucifix, a shrine to the Virgin, or a languorous Christ with his exposed heart entangled in thorns. Give me a good old British hunt breakfast scene any day!

A heavy fog is creeping over the fields about us. We may get some time off at last.


"I followed and emptied a drum at him from 150 yards behind, all to no effect."

Dudley Nightshade
Sgt, 6 RNAS


Dec 1, 1916.

Posted to the mornings flight only to be Cancelled out by the weather SNOW. looks like no flights till 3 Dec.

Intrepid Fliers - News of the World for July:

July 1
The Battle of the Somme began on the Western Front. The opening day of the battle was the worst single day's fighting in British military history with casualties of nearly 60,000 British troops.
July 2
The Battle of Erzincan began between Russian and Turkish troops.
July 3
The Russian and Japanese Governments concluded a treaty regarding future policy in the Far East.
July 4
Heavy thunderstorms impeded progress at the Somme as British troops continued their advance in La Boiselle.
July 5
British and Indian troops entered Tanga on the Indian Ocean in German East Africa.
July 7
David Lloyd George succeeded the late Lord Kitchener as British Secretary of State for War.
July 9
The British liberal politician Edwin Samuel Montagu was appointed Minister of Munitions in Great Britain.
July 10
The Italian destroyer Impetuoso was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the Adriatic Sea.
July 11
A German submarine shelled Seaham harbor in County Durham.
July 12
British forces succeeded in clearing Mametz Wood, four and a half kilometers past the German lines on the Somme.
July 13
British troops temporarily pierced the German line at Bezantin Ridge on the Somme.
July 14
The Battle of Bazentin Ridge began, launching the second phase of the Somme Offensive.
British troops occupied the German port of Mwanza in German East Africa.
July 15
A subsidiary attack of the Somme Offensive, the Battle of Delville Wood began when South African troops attempted to clear the woods of German forces.
July 17
The Battle of Bazentin Ridge ended in a tactical British victory.
July 18
The British Government ratified a treaty with Ibn Saud, the Emir of Nejd.
July 19
The Battle of Fromelles was a combined operation by British and Australian troops to divert attention from the Battle of the Somme.
July 20
The Battle of Fromelles ended with a decisive German victory.
July 22
Sergei Sazonov resigned as Russian Foreign Minister and was succeeded by Boris Sturmer.
July 23
The two week struggle for the French village of Pozieres and the surrounding ridge, the Battle of Pozieres Ridge
began.
July 25
Russian forces captured Erzingian in Armenia which was then evacuated without further fighting.
July 27
British naval Captain Charles Fryatt was executed by the Germans after he was court-martialled following his
unsuccessful attempt to ram and sink a German U-Boat.
July 28
British troops captured Delville Wood and Longueval village and progressed towards Pozieres.
July 29
The German Government rejected Britain's offer to permit sea passage of humanitarian foodstuffs going to Poland from the United States.
July 30
The first combined Franco-British aerial operations took place on the Western Front.
The Black Tom Island munitions plant in New Jersey was destroyed by an explosion. It was suspected to be the work
of German saboteurs.
July 31
The British Prime Minister denounced the execution of Captain Fryatt in the House of Commons.

(From The Great War - Unseen Archives by Robert Hamilton)

Warbirds Rising - News of the World for November:

November 1
French forces recaptured Fort Vaux near Verdun.
November 4
The Ninth Battle of the Isonzo ended with a limited Italian advance. 1916 had seen five Isonzo operations on top of four undertaken the previous year.
November 5
Germany and Austria declared an "Independent State of Poland".
Although the Battle of Le Transloy officially ended on 18 November, a final attack was made without success. The battle ended with no significant gain along the Transloy Ridge.
November 6
In the Sudan operations against the ex-Sultan of Darfur resulted in his defeat and death near the frontier of Wadai at the Affair of Gyuba.
November 7
Woodrow Wilson was re-elected as President of the United States of America.
November 8
The American Steamer Columbian was sunk by German submarine U-49 near Cape Finisterre.
November 9
An aerial battle took place between British and German aeroplanes near Bapaume in northern France.
November 11
The Battle of the Ancre Heights ended with a British victory over German forces.
November 12
British forces occupied Shiraz in Persia.
November 13
In the final significant phase of the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of the Ancre saw a renewal of the Allied offensive; British troops finally captured Beaumont Hamel.
November 15
An Inter-Allied conference was held in Paris to discuss ways to counter German mobilisation of Belgians and Poles.
November 16
The Battle of Targu-Jiu began in Romania.
November 17
Germans broke through the Romanian front at the Battle of Targu-Jiu in the Jiu Valley.
November 18
After four-and-a-half months of fighting the Battle of the Somme ended with enormous losses on both sides. Allied forces had pushed back the German line but the offensive cost more than 1 million casualties.
November 19
French and Serbian forces captured Monastir in Serbia.
The Entente Governments presented another ultimatum to King Konstantinos of Greece demanding that all representatives of the Central Powers be expelled.
November 20
German diplomat Gottlieb von Jagow resigned as German Foreign Minister.
November 21
German forces occupied Craiova in Romania on the Eastern Front.
The British Hospital Ship HMHS Britannic sank after hitting a German mine in the Aegean Sea.
Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria died and was succeeded by his great-nephew Charles I.
November 22
German and Austrian forces captured Orsova in Hungary.
November 23
The British hospital ship Braemar Castle was damaged after hitting a mine in the Aegean Sea.
The Provisional Greek Government at Salonika declared war on Bulgaria and Germany.
November 24
Boris Sturmer resigned as Russian Premier and Foreign Minister was succeeded by Alexander Trepov as Premier.
November 26
A German naval raid took place on Lowestoft on the east coast of England during which the naval trawler HMT Narval was sunk.
November 27
Two Zeppelins were shot down during a German airship raid on Hartlepool and Great Yarmouth on the east coast of England.
November 28
The first German daylight aeroplane raid on London took place. The Germans hoped that by making raids on London and the South East, the British Air Force would be forced into protecting the home front rather than attacking the German Air Force.
November 29
David Beatty was appointed to replace Admiral Sir John Jellicoe as Commander of the Grand Fleet.
November 30
Allied forces began disembarking at Piraeus in Greece.

(From The Great War - Unseen Archives by Robert Hamilton)

This war has become deadly for the Eindecker Fliegers.



Bruce Wayne made sure one of them will not be bothering him anymore.

Great screenshot Bud! Thanks for the events calendar. Always very informative.

MFair, my pleasure. I always learn something new when preparing them.
The picture kinda makes you feel sorry for the unfortunate pilots in front of your gun. C'est la guerre!

Here is the latest status report and the latest Roll of Honor. You guys be careful the Roll of Honor is starting to get rather large.

Dudley Nightshade
6 RNAS




4 Dec 1916.

Its still snowing outside so No flights. I was put in charge of a detail to pack the Runway. We use a horse to pull a door with 2 men riding on it over the snow thereby packing it down.

Today Bruce Wayne & Co. went on a trip all the way up north sightseeing the English Channel. They had to start early as it was a long trip.



Once there they were greeted by beautiful views, great weather...

...and some Huns.

Needless to say the Hun got more than just the sun tan.

Here is the latest status report.