From British General Staff to all Commanders in the Field:
Army Order 204, dated 6 July 1916:
The following distinctions in dress will be worn on the service dress jacket by all officers and soldiers who have been wounded in any of the campaigns since 4th August, 1914:
Strips of gold Russia braid, No.1, two inches in length, sewn perpendicularly on the left sleeve of the jacket to mark each occasion on which wounded. In the case of officers, the lower end of the first strip of gold braid will be immediately above the upper point of the flap on cuff. Warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men will wear the gold braid on the left sleeve, the lower edge of the braid to be three inches from the bottom of the sleeve. The additional strips of gold braid, marking each subsequent occasion on which wounded, will be placed on either side of the original one at half-inch interval. Gold braid and sewings will be obtained free on indent from the Army Ordnance Department; the sewing on will be carried out regimentally without expense to the public.
Pursuant to above order the following individual is hereby presented the Wounded Stripe:
Your King and Country thank you for your sacrifice and faithful service.
Dud weather today at Vert Galant, so Captains Swanson and Collins are catching up on what each has been up to since last they painted the town together. Much more enjoyable than getting bounced by those nasty Albatri.
22 March: Patrol Behind Friendly Front Lines. Linz-Saint-Amant to Masny/Douai to Couroir to Linz-Saint-Amant to Masny/Douai Uneventful flight.
23 March: Close Air Support (3 DFW CV from Kasta 6) – Vaux-en-Vermandois. Good flying weather. Flight uneventful until we reached area of Vaux-en-Vermandois where we were subjected to enemy ground fire which was ineffective. We have subsequently been told by HQ that the bombing caused some damage to a large warehouse complex in the area.
24 Mach: Patrol Friendly Front Lines – Flesquieres to Gouzeaucourt Overcast. Uneventful flight.
25 March: Patrol Enemy Front Lines – St Quentin Uneventful flight
Epower, you need only post your end-of-month stats and share your campaign reports and stories and adventures here with us, and the CoC's Office and HQ, (and the Gong Fairy), take care of the rest. Easy peasy.
Raine, you know we try to keep the results of those studies on the down low. If everyone knew about them the whole system would become nothing more than a bidding war for the best gongs and --- err, umm --- hmmm. Yes, quite right, five pound notes work better, ten pound notes better still.
Beanie, congrats on the bling. Well deserved. You should also get one for doing a month’s worth of missions within a week. Lou, what’s that medal called? Something something Cross?
3 April, 1917 Auchel, Flanders Sector RNAS-8 SC Tobias Chester Mulberry VC, DSC&Bar, DSO&Bar, L d’H 88 confirmed kills
Forced down Albatros has been confirmed. Bad weather for the next 2 days.
"Take the cylinder out of my kidneys, The connecting rod out of my brain, my brain, From out of my arse take the camshaft, And assemble the engine again."
An Airman’s Odyssey – by Capt James Arthur Collins, VC, DSO, MC
Part One Hundred and Thirteen: In which I prepare a gift
Swany and I stood at the side of the road and chatted enthusiastically for twenty minutes. He began by asking me about my experiences with the Spad. I told him honestly that I liked its speed and ruggedness but thought it was under-gunned and handled like a pig. He went on rapturously about his squadron’s Pups. “They dance in the sky,” he said. “You just think and she goes where you want.”
“Not the Spad,” I said. “You just think and she keeps on going where she was already off to.” We agreed that both machines would benefit from a second gun and better synchronisation. I told him I had requested permission to mount a Lewis on my top wing but that it had been denied. He asked me if I had seen or heard of Alex Anderson since we left her in Salisbury, and I told him about meeting Alex in Paris. And then I told him about Thérèse and suggested that the road was clear if he wanted to pursue Alex. “Ja, really? Dat road was always clear, Jim,” he said with a laugh. Swine, thought I.
I asked about the rest of his time in England and he told me about getting lost over the North Sea in bad weather and ending up in Holland. He was very serious about how frightening the experience had been and I laughed till I cried. He told me how he had promised the Dutch that he would quit the RFC and become a neutral American again.
“There might be no such thing as a neutral American soon,” I said. The papers were full of the possibility that the United States would join the war. “What will you do if the US comes looking for you?” I asked. Swany just smiled and shrugged. He explained that he wasn’t worried and that he might have a bigger problem if he was shot down over Hunland. He was sure the Germans knew about his promise to the Dutch.
Swany wanted me to go back and have a drink in the 66 Squadron mess. Out of the corner of my eye I had already noticed Major Harvey-Kelly staring at us from the east airfield. I explained we had bags of work to do but that I would try to get over to see him tomorrow evening. He made me promise to come for dinner.
The rest of the day and most of the next was spent getting ourselves sorted out. The big push was imminent and we had to be operational on the morrow. The officers worked on the mass and the setup of the squadron office much of the afternoon. Late in the day, I joined the Major for a tour of the workshops and the men’s accommodation, and then we went with Xavier and to pay a visit on the Bossu family, who owned the farm at the corner. We brought them a bottle of cognac and the Major invited them to come and see him at any time if they had any questions or concerns.
My Armstrong hut was initially reserved for the three flight commanders, but the huts easily slept six or even more so Bertie Davison, my business partner and our equipment officer, moved in and we reserved space for any visitor. There was much debate whether to install partitions so that each of us had a separate room. I was for separate rooms but most of the others wanted to keep the space open. I vowed that if any of them was a heavy snorer or night screamer, the walls would go up!
The French farmers in these parts often wear sabots – heavy wooden clogs. I asked M Bossu where I might acquire a pair and he gave me a Gallic shrug in response. I walked over to the hamlet of Le Rosel, no more than a few houses gathered about a farm on the west side of the field. With some difficulty I made my mission understood and managed to pay a farm hand more than I should have for a dirty pair of sabots, one of which had a crack. Cerillo in B flight fancies himself as a bit of an artist and I borrowed his oil paints for an hour in the afternoon. I cleaned up the wooden shoes and painted on the instep of each a lovely Dutch windmill and Dutch flag. I returned the paints to Cerillo’s hut (before he realised I had borrowed them) and put the shoes on the step of my hut to dry. I asked our carpenter to slap together a container for them and he did a tremendous job in less than two hours – a beautifully joined box with a hinged top. He sanded it smooth as glass but could not paint or lacquer it in time.
That night turned into a bigger show than I had anticipated. Major Boyd, the OC of 66 Squadron, had invited all our officers to dine with them and had set up a marquee tent for the dinner. They put on a good feed of pork, potatoes, and green beans. Being as the dinner was in a tent, there was nothing to smash up so we substituted a tremendous bun fight. Major Harvey-Kelly made a wonderful drunken speech and called me up with my little box. He explained that it was only fitting to call on one VC to make a presentation to another. And then he said with a wink that he’d seen my shooting since joining 19 Squadron and was convinced that my VC had been the result of careless smoking by zeppelin crews!
I began by explaining how Swany and I had met so long ago in Toronto and how we had served together when first in France, explaining how Swany’s observer had shot down many Fokkers while Swany held his Morane nice and steady, thus making a name for the Yank as a Hun-getter. I then drifted into the story of how his navigation skills, acquired in the woods of Minnesota, depended largely on reading which side of a tree moss was growing on. Not being able to discern that fact from ten thousand feet in the dark, Swany had contrived to land in Holland thinking he was going to nip into the Kings Arms for a pint and phone his squadron to say he’d be home after breakfast. I then suggested he obviously needed help in telling Dutchmen from Englishmen (probably because both of them spoke so much better English than a Minnesota woodsman). “This,” I said, “will help you to remember what side of the North Sea is not part of England.”
Swany opened the box and, seeing the painted clogs, began to laugh. Not to be outdone, he immediately pulled off his shoes and put the clogs on. I did not have the heart to describe to him the condition of the feet on the farmhand from whom I had bought the things.
Weather coming in maybe 2 days down time. We had a novelty in the mess " A moving Picture show " . I say, what a marvelous age that we live in. Smashing good Double Feature show but I don't thing that it will catch on. Bit Awkward setting up all that machinery and lugging it around.
Fullofit - Thank you. During the current crisis - like many others I have been forced to stay at home as my work place is running with minimum staffing levels. It is flying WOFF that's keeping me sane.
Raine - Nice story I look forward to more.
Unteroffizier Karl Roth
Jasta 6 Wassigny 28 – 31 March 1917
28 March: Patrol Behind Friendly Lines Emerchicourt to Cauroir Rain for most of the patrol. Uneventful flight
29 March: Close Air Support (DFW CV from FA(A)264s – Vaux-en-Vermandois Overcast. Only two of the two-seaters were at the rendezvous. The flight was subjected to heavy enemy ground fire. HQ reported that there had been no serious damage caused.
30 March: Patrol Behind Friendly Front Lines – Guise to Escaufort Rain. Uneventful flight other than arriving at Wassigny like a drowned rat!
31 March: Close Air Support (DFW CV from FA(A) 240 – Vaux-en-Vermandois When the Kette was over the area of the rail deport situated near Fontaine-Uterte a British BE2c was heading North West at 3, 500 feet flying across the path of the Kette. Karl signalled to the Kette leader that they should attack the aircraft. The Kette leader Josef Wulf signalled back that they were to remain with their escorts – Karl wave in acknowledgement, disappointed that he would not get the charge to add to his tally. The flight was subjected to heavy enemy ground fire which had been expected. HQ reported that there had been no serious damage caused – again!
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