100 Years Ago - 'M.Lenin'

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/tremendous-struggle-for-air-mastery-9v6rhmwxj

may 2, 1917

Tremendous struggle for air mastery

The total figures of aeroplane losses in April reveal the unprecedented intensity of the struggle for mastery in the air which was waged on the Western front during that month between Allied, and particularly British, airmen and German airmen; 717 aeroplanes were brought down. There has not been a month of such fighting since the war began, and the losses have never reached such a tremendous figure. Great as they were thought to be at the time, the largest casualties in the Air Services of the belligerents during any one month of the Battle of the Somme seem small by comparison. In July of last year, when the Allied offensive on the Somme began, there were 165 British, French, and German machines brought down. The figure was 189 in August, and in September, when the losses reached the highest mark, it rose to 322. But this figure was more than doubled last month. This is equal to about two-thirds of the losses (1,067) recorded during the six months from June to November last year. This total, which is compiled from the daily communiques issued by British, French, and German Headquarters, is made up as follows: German machines, 369; British, 147; French and Belgian (with the necessary qualification that the German claims are trustworthy), 201. Of the 369 German aeroplanes brought down, 269 fell to the British, 98 to the French, and two to the Belgians. British airmen accounted for 203 of the 269 German machines, anti-aircraft gunners for the other six, one of these being brought down in our lines. The official classification of the 263 was as follows: Crashed or destroyed, 43; brought down, 55; driven down damaged (and a large, percentage probably crashed), 73; driven down out of control, 84; fell in our lines, 4; forced down, 4. Two German machines were accounted for by French gunners. The other 96 were classified as follows: Brought down, 62; driven down damaged, 4; driven down seriously damaged, 18; fell or forced to land, 12. The German claims are not on every occasion strictly allocated between airmen and gunners, but of the 348 Allied machines reported to have been accounted for, at least 270 were placed to the credit of pilots. Three of them belonged to the squadron which carried out the “reprisal” raid on Freiburg.



https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/preparing-for-bread-rations-7qhjbghcf

may 1, 1917

Preparing for bread rations

In spite of the fact that the Food Control Department is now setting up machinery for compulsory rationing of bread the voluntary campaign is being continued with intensified vigour, in the hope that even at the eleventh hour the remedy of compulsion may be made unnecessary. Some time ago the Food Controller put the public on its honour, and while it would be unfair not to recognize that his appeal has met with a loyal response from many people, it is a humiliating fact that on the average the result has been disappointing. Nevertheless, those who have hitherto flouted and ignored the calls which have been made to patriotic self-denial at the table are to be given another chance of doing the right thing because the country needs it rather than because the country compels it. It will, however, be the last chance. No further notice will be given before compulsory rationing, if it proves to be necessary, is enforced.
The campaign is now in the hands of the National War Savings Committee and its widespread local organizations. Weekly reports are sent to headquarters, which in turn are in direct communication with the Food Control Department, and in this way a careful watch is kept on food consumption everywhere.
Generally throughout the country the Controller’s rations are not being observed. This applies particularly to the colliery districts. The most noticeable waste is that by school children. All over the country they are taking more bread to school than they can eat, and throwing it away. The fault lies with the mothers. There is also a good deal of waste at the Army canteens, owing to the fact that they are selling food all through the day, and as the men also receive their rations they are throwing away part either of the rations or of the bought food. In one camp, where there are nearly 10,000 New Zealanders, the sale of food before 6 in the evening has been forbidden.
The need for economy in breadstuffs, was neatly stated by Captain Bathurst recently when he said: “While slices of French territory are every day being wrested from the enemy by the stubborn efforts of our heroic soldiers, their work is being surely and steadily undermined by the consumption of unnecessary slices of bread and cake by unheroic guzzlers at home.”


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/picture-theatre-panic-h0n70g53x

April 29, 1917

Picture theatre panic

A panic, which occurred at the Electric Picture Palace, High-street, Deptford, on Saturday afternoon, resulted in the death of four children and injury to 15 others. About 1,000 people, mostly children, were in the theatre, and shortly after 4 o’clock, when the performance was about to close, a number of the children, for some unexplained reason, rushed out of the theatre. Their example. was immediately followed by other children, and, as they all crowded out into the busy street, passers-by jumped to the conclusion that something unusual had taken place. People from the outside rushed into the entrance and blocked the way. Two or three of the children had fallen and began to shriek, and a panic arose. Someone made matters worse by calling out “Fire”.
The manager and the attendants did all they could to calm the audience, for there was nothing at all inside the theatre to warrant the stampede, but close by the theatre between 300 and 400 women were waiting in a queue to buy potatoes. Many of them who were mothers of children who were in the theatre made wild efforts to get into the building. The consequence was that a number of the children were knocked down and trampled upon. A telephone message was promptly sent to the police office, and a body of constables quickly attended, but before they could clear the entrance four children had been trampled to death. An alarm had been given to the fire station by some unknown person, and firemen speedily arrived, bringing ambulances with them. The names of the dead children are: Mildred Elizabeth Ryan, three years, of 10, Junction Road, Deptford. Sarah Elizabeth Johnson, eight, of 108 Watergate Street, Deptford. Edward Turrell, seven, of 9 Berthon Street, Deptford: Leonard Webster, seven, of 7 Dorking Street, Deptford.
Of the 15 injured, the only one who has been kept in the Miller Hospital, where they were all taken at first, is a boy of five, Arthur Ansell, of Causton Street, Deptford.
Among the other injured are: Lizzie Johnson, seven, of 3 Water Street, Deptford: Harriet Johnson, five, same address: William Bird, nine, of 12 Watergate Street, Deptford: Joseph Bird, three, same address: Ethel Horne, three, Crossfield Street, Deptford.
The inquest will be held today.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rain-of-shells-on-ramsgate-6z2x8h3vv

april 28, 1917

Rain of shells on Ramsgate

German destroyers made another Channel raid early yesterday morning. Ramsgate was heavily bombarded, about 100 shells being fired. One man and one woman were killed, and 21 houses damaged. At the inquest last night the jury added to their verdict a rider asking whether “in view of the recurrence of bombardment additional protection could be afforded to this part of the Kentish coast.”
A perfect hurricane of shells from enemy vessels rained on the town for a little over five minutes. The bombardment was the heaviest to which this part of the coast has been subjected. While it lasted shells whizzed overhead without cessation. As a result one elderly man and one woman, aged 22, were killed, and three people were injured. In both cases where death was caused the victims were in the upper part of their houses. The attack, favoured by the darkness, began with a brilliant display of star shells, which was followed by a succession of projectiles fired with intense rapidity. The radius covered by the dropping shells extended over an area of at least five miles. It was remarkable that no more casualties were caused.
Many of the occupants of the damaged houses had wonderful escapes. In one house the bed of a baby girl was plentifully sprinkled with splinters of shell, yet the child was unhurt. A public house occupied by an old man and his wife presented the most ruined appearance. The bar was completely wrecked, together with some of the bedrooms yet the old couple, who were coming downstairs, were merely covered with dust. In the house where an old man was injured there were two other women and two children, none of whom were touched. From a hole in the roadway an unexploded shell was traced to a churchyard. It made a hole in the road, bounded upward over a wall 6ft high and cracked a tombstone, and still failed to explode. It is a curious coincidence that two houses were hit at the end of a row where two houses were struck in the previous bombardment in March. On this occasion there were over 20 people, mostly children, in the houses affected. Great assistance was rendered to the injured by Canadian motor ambulances. They were ready for the emergency and promptly assisted all who were in need.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/value-of-british-success-6r3js5prg

April 27, 1917

Value of British success

The last 24 hours have been comparatively quiet, except for artillery and aerial activity. There has been no infantry operation of importance. Except for heavy shelling, the enemy seems to have exhausted himself and we are busy consolidating ground recently won.
It seems a pity that it is necessary to speak of these operations in terms of geography, because, as often on the Somme, the smallness of the theatre, and the comparatively narrow depth of our advance, gives a misleading impression. It is much more valuable in the present phase of the war to put out of action 50,000 Germans and gain half a mile than to gain five miles and only inflict a loss of 10,000. Germany can better afford to give us ground than men, but what our Army wants is fighting. During the last few days the Germans have undoubtedly fought, and in some cases with great determination. It was necessary to delay us, and they were willing to pay an enormous price in order to move back their guns.
The absurdity of the German claims that the last operation was an attempt to break through is shown by the fact that at the nearest points we are still some 6,000 yards from the Quéant line. Precisely how any commander could be expected to attempt an attack on such a line when his men had 6,000 yards to go before reaching it is not easy to understand. The recent operation was purely local for the purpose of gaining certain objectives necessary to a methodical progress towards the Quéant line. The chief of those were the villages of Guémappe and Gavrelle, which we hold. We would have gladly gone farther but the defences here are so prickly that it would be too costly to rush them. There are other less expensive ways of getting such positions.
That the enemy attached supreme importance to the places captured is shown by their desperate efforts to recover them, by which he suffered infinitely greater loss than we declined to face in order to capture Roeux. On the map the operation is small, but interpreted in terms of damage done to German power, its importance is immense.
The weather continues fair, but cold and cloudy, being in the latter respect so much to the advantage of enemy aeroplanes, which like clouds and thick weather to shelter them.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-mysterious-captain-tzw78xvlf

april 26, 1917

A mysterious “captain”

A curious incident took place on one part of the line, when parties of two different battalions fell back before a counter-attack, both stating that they had been ordered to do so by a captain whom each supposed belonged to the other battalion. That captain was never identified, and there is a strong presumption that he was a German, in khaki, who had hidden in a dug-out while our line swept over him, then emerged, unsuspected in his stolen uniform, to give the order referred to. In any case he did little good, because when the troops understood what had happened, they went in again so mad that the Germans have rarely been charged with so little mercy.
Another tragic incident, such as must occur in these battles, has to do with a carrying party taking water up to the troops in the front line, but when they got there they found the Germans in the line and the carrying party did not return. Presumably the Germans got the water. Nothing could exceed the gallantry with which supplies, whether by carrying parties or transport, are taken up to our fighting men. When we push forward, supplies of food, water and ammunition must go up across the ground which the enemy has just been driven from, knows well, and is barraging. I have more than once marvelled at the nonchalance with which the transport moves through a shelled area, contemptuous alike of shrapnel overhead or of high explosive. Of course, there are losses, but it makes no difference, and the whole Army is loud in its praise of the behaviour of the transport.
An incident is reported of certain Worcesters who were cut off in a little wood to which they had penetrated, I am informed, as long ago as the 14th, where they held on until we got final possession of the wood on the 23rd. Another incident has a comic side. Four of our officers, including two high Staff officers, were walking through a wood on the edge of an open part of the front to which we had just pushed forward, anxious to see the enemy’s position themselves. In the wood they met a large German patrol face to face, and simply had to run for it. Fortunately, they ran faster than the Germans, and the latter were shocking bad shots, so no one was hurt, but the German patrol probably has no idea what big game it missed bagging.