BOOK REVIEW : THE WORKERS' WAR : BRITISH INDUSTRY AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR.

 

This book, published in 2014, is another from my library. It covers, by chapter, all the important industries in Britain and how they contributed to the war effort. Although much of the content is fairly well known, there are some interesting new bits of information. However the most valuable aspect of the book is that it brings together in one book a large part of the story of how the British economy supported the war effort.

Of course there is only a comparatively limited amount on each industry but other sources are available if you need greater detail on anything in particular. That said it does really focus the mind on the enormous volume of materials and goods produced during the war, in many cases from a zero baseline. Britain was still, at the time, the workshop of the world and out produced all other countries even the US in terms of military hardware.

Overall a good introduction into the impressive feats of British industry and workers during the war.

BOOK REVIEW : THE ROSES OF NO MAN'S LAND.

This book from my library is by the preeminent WW1 historian Lyn MacDonald.  I have all of Lyn's books which in my opinion are among the very best WW1 histories.  Generally all her books cover one particular year of the war. This one alone is subject based. I believe that reflects the huge amount of data Lyn collected from women who served in the medical system during the war.  As is well known Lyn spent several years interviewing survivors of the war and amassed a huge collection of voice recordings. All her books are based on those recordings.

The book details how women came to play a massive roll in the medical system despite great reluctance from that system, and the military medical department in particular, to accept the employment of women especially unqualified women, which although it eased as the war progressed, never quite went away.

This book is exceptionally well written, full of personal recollections and quite atmospheric in transporting the reader back in time. The enormous level of casualties is really brought home as are the day to day trials and sufferings of the vast number of both professional and amateur nurses employed on all fronts of the war as well as at home.

Like all of Lyn MacDonald's books, highly recommended.

IMAGI-NATIONS. PART 40.

 THE UNION COUNTERATTACKS.

The situation by the middle of October 1888 was that the UNION had halted both the German and Russian assaults. However on both fronts the UNION forces urgently needed reinforcement. The 10th Reserve army was therefore deployed with one infantry brigade to Mexico and another to the border with China. In addition the cavalry brigade was also sent to China to maintain patrols in the south of that country. The other two infantry brigades were to be held in strategic reserve. With this deployment 3rd and 5th armies were now available and it was decided to use them to counter attack. The question was where. As German forces were better equipped than the Russians and were already on UNION territory threatening Boston and Chicago while the Russians were still in Ukraine 1000 miles from the UNION it was decided to attack the Germans.

In order to ensure the Russians would find it difficult to assist their allies by increasing pressure on the UNION lines, the four UNION cavalry brigades already in Ukraine were formed into an ad hoc army and ordered to launch long range attacks on the Russian supply railway far behind the front lines. At this time the Russian and UNION armies were concentrated in the north of Ukraine leaving the central and southern regions totally unoccupied for hundreds of square miles. Having already been offered support by the Ukrainian government, it was decided the cavalry force would be based a few hundred miles north of Kiev and supplied by the Ukrainians direct with food and fodder. That would enable UNION Quartermaster transport companies to concentrate on shipping only ammunition and other military hardware  to support the Cavalry operations. The expectation was that if the Cavalry could exert sufficient pressure on the Russian supply lines, the Russians would have to use large numbers of troops to defend those lines thus making them unable to muster the strength to launch another assault on the main UNION lines.

On 3rd November 1888 the UNION cavalry army moved quickly south east towards Kiev. By 27th November they were at their new base camp and were ready to launch four separate raids on the Russian supply lines.  On 7th December the cavalry raids took place at various points on the railway. Trains were destroyed by horse artillery fire, tracks ripped up and several Russian patrols and working parties wiped out. The effect was immediate in that the Russians were both surprised that UNION forces could reach so far behind their lines and dismayed at the level of damage caused. By the time Russian relief trains could get to the most eastern and western raid sites the UNION troops had long disappeared. 

Over the following months the Russians were forced to deploy more and more troops from their reserves in Russia and even some from their front line to patrol the railway while constructing block houses at various points as patrol bases. However the UNION cavalry raids continued and by years end , despite having allocated over 50,000 troops to protect the railway, the Russian front line was suffering increasing shortages of food, ammunition and other essential supplies.

Meantime back in the west, two infantry brigades of the UNION 3rd army together with that armies heavy artillery and heavy weapons battalions had been placed under command of 4th army covering Chicago and the other two brigades had been given to 9th army covering Seattle. The  5th army had joined up with 8th army in the centre of the front and both armies were now prepared to attack the weakly held German centre. The command battalion of 3rd army was allocated control of all five cavalry brigades on the front and this force was massed behind 5th and 8th armies.

On 7th December the German army came under heavy artillery bombardment all along the front while the UNION army launched a massive attack on the centre of the German positions.

UPDATE.

Further to my last update I have some important news to share. That post mentioned that I was undertaking the treatment of some new zinc plated screws with vinegar to remove the zinc to enable painting.

As I have done for some years I soaked two batches of screws in vinegar. However even after 7 hours soaking including a change of vinegar midway through, the results were not acceptable. I found only 75% of the zinc plating had gone.

Seeking an answer I referred to the interweb.  It seems that the thickness of zinc plating and therefore the time it takes to dissolve can vary considerably. However although during my original research some 7 or 8 years ago the method of choice was vinegar for removing zinc plating I now found that opinion has moved to the use of citric acid granules. These are available in small quantities from Wilkinson specifically to remove limescale from kettles, or in larger quantities from Amazon for use in baking. The data on the various references on YouTube etc suggested these crystals had less smell than vinegar, were quicker to use and were more effective because the acidity level is higher.

Therefore I purchased a small box of crystals from Wilkinson to experiment with. The results are spectacular. The original batch was completely cleaned of zinc in less than 20 minutes. The smell, although still not good, was much less cough inducing than with vinegar. I have since used the rest of the crystals to clean another five boxes of fresh screws, one of which is shown below.

My "recipe" is to half fill an ice cream plastic box with warm water, mix in two heaped table spoons of the crystals,  add three boxes (600) screws and leave for a good hour, just stirring every fifteen minutes or so. Then I wash the screws in a sieve under the garden hose and dry with a hot air gun. The results are great and so much better than using vinegar.

The photo below illustrates this clearly. The box on the left contains zinc plated screws. The centre box is after treatment with citric acid and the box on the right contains "self coloured" screws.  

Following treatment the screws are an exact match to "self coloured" but on drying take on a yellowish hue due to flash rusting. This is perfectly acceptable to me as it helps provide a key for the paint.  This will be my go to method of treatment from now on. As mentioned before, woodworkers use this method to age modern fittings. If the dark gray look of self colour is required, after rinsing, just spray the screws or whatever, with WD40. This drives off the water and stops the items going yellow with rust. 

UPDATE.

 I thought it about time I gave an update on progress with my armies rather than yet more information about my head long decent into a gun obsessed  second boyhood !!!!!!!

I have just completed the 15th of the original 46 upgrades, a batch of Cavalry corporals.

As mentioned some time ago, I identified an opportunity to increase the foot soldier elements in my Cavalry and Horse Artillery regiments. I have now quantified those changes in the sum of 270 new soldiers. That has added another 2 upgrades so there are now 48 upgrades.  The changes involve additional medical, signals and staff troops together with an increase in the Horse Artillery gun teams to bring them into line with the Field and Heavy Artillery battalion compliment of six men per gun. Overall this will bring the strength of each army to 20,128. 

Readers may recall I mentioned some time ago that I had bought a fresh supply of screws after a long search for the out of production items I use. For the past few years I have been working through a box of about 25,000 loose, old and slightly rusty screws that a contact in the trade had secured for me just before he retired. That box is now empty and it is time to start using the new stock.

These came from a business specialising in the supply of old imperial sized woodworking hardware like screws, bolts and suchlike.  (Yes there is a market for such things !!!! )  I am pretty sure I have got most of the UK's remaining stock of these screws having bought 36,000. Although I had to pay double what I used to pay it was worthwhile to ensure my hobby can continue for the foreseeable future. 

About half the new stock, all of which are boxed and in brand new perfect condition, are "self coloured" that is raw steel. The rest are zinc plated. As related in old posts, (see posts under "screws" label )  zinc plated screws cannot be painted without removing the zinc plating. This I do by soaking the screws in pickling vinegar for a couple of hours. I have decided to use the zinc plated screws first so today bought a couple of bottles of vinegar to start the process.

Those who follow my Imagi-Nations posts may realise that when I started to publish these articles I said the current year in TIAN was 1891 eg 130 years ago. That being so the latest posting related  events in 1888 so it is clear that the "present" day will soon be reached. At this time I think I will be revisiting previous posts to add extra detail to battles etc rather than just stopping the posts altogether when I run out of history to relate. This idea came from Archduke Piccolo, thanks Ion.

Well that's my update for now.......time to go shoot some targets !!!!!!!!

UPDATE.

Back in March I published an update about my then recent purchase of a new air rifle in the form of a replica Winchester 73. The last line of that update questioned whether I also needed a new air pistol in the form of the legendary Colt 45 to complete the set. 

YES I DID  !!!!!!!

After much consideration I decided my regression to boyhood would not be complete without a "cowboy" pistol to go with my new rifle.  So, having raided the piggy bank again, off I went to my gunshop of choice to look at the various versions available. The new gun is a perfect replica of the famous Peacemaker. I chose the "blued" version. Again it is powered by a Co2 gas capsule fitted in the grip.

The "shells" are loaded in the same way as the original but each is charged with a .177 pellet. Cocking the hammer prepares a charge of gas and rotates the cylinder and once the six "shells" are fired they can be reloaded with pellets.

Once again the gun is a joy to fire. Obviously neither as powerful or accurate as the rifle it is nevertheless great fun and very addictive. Once again there are plenty of videos on YouTube if you want to see the gun in action.

Now, do I need a quick-draw holster rig ???????????

BOOK REVIEW. SAFARI : A CHRONICLE OF ADVENTURE.

Although I have many other hunting books in my library, this is the last one I am going to review before getting back to more usual subjects. This book is from 1988 and is basically a history of African hunting from the first organised hunting safari in 1837 until the authors last hunt ( with a camera ) in 1987.

The book details how the early hunters rampaged through southern Africa shooting literally everything that moved on to the elephant hunters who, prior to the First World War, provided the world with vast quantities of ivory  on through the "golden age " of the hunting safari from the 1920's to the 1960's and the move towards the photographic safari that started in the 1980's.

This is a fascinating and well researched book describing a world and way of life now long gone.  That said it also regularly refers to the "magic" of Africa that captured the hearts of those fortunate enough to visit that continent. It is clear that the huge open spaces, vast quantities of game and a vigorous outdoor life attracted a certain type of person who often then used hunting more as a means of remaining in Africa rather than trying to make their fortune.

Overall an excellent reference book on the history of the big game hunting African safari.

BOOK REVIEW... DEATH IN THE LONG GRASS.

I bought this book in 1977 just after publication. Prior to that I had only read a few American hunting magazines. This book was a revelation in that it excitingly described the various adventures of an American professional hunter in Africa. The author was a hard driving, heavy drinking ,chain smoking larger than life character. No real surprise to me to find out some years later he had died of heart failure at the age of 56.

That said the book is very interesting if you wish to have an insight in big game hunting in Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At that time big game hunting with paying clients was still a big industry. It started to collapse later in the 1970s when various countries stopped hunting altogether. No doubt many readers will think that a long over due move however the simple fact is that when regulated hunting stopped, poaching went out of control and huge amounts of cash from hunting fees were lost for conservation.

Professional hunters provided a substantial deterrent to poaching because they rented hunting blocks and patrolled them regularly. It was always in their interests to maintain the game populations and the huge license fees mostly also went into conservation. The big declines in animal populations can all be traced to the late 1970s when hunting safaris largely stopped.

All that said the reality is that big game hunting in Africa is a relic of another time now long gone. As an introduction to this "sport" this book is valuable although the writer is rather too "macho" in his stories, indeed some are just a bit far fetched, killing a man eating lion with a spear while it chewed on his gun bearers arm is a bit much to swallow !!!!!! Nevertheless, a well written book if you are interested in African big game hunting.

IMAGI-NATIONS. PART 39.

THE OPENING BATTLES WITH GERMANY AND RUSSIA.

During July and August 1888 the UNION army was fully mobilised. The 1st, 6th and 7th armies were moved towards the border with Ukraine to support 2nd army which had already crossed the border to protect the railway as it advanced towards Russia. The 4th and 8th armies were moved towards Germany to join with 9th army which had already deployed. The 3rd and 5th armies were also brought to battle readiness. Due to the severity of the threat to the UNION it was also decided to mobilise, for the first time, the 10th reserve army. Personnel of this army were ordered to assemble at Fort Reno and the vehicles, guns and other equipment held in store at Rock Island Arsenal was dispatched by train to that location. Initial thinking was that the Reserve army would be deployed on the border with China with one brigade in Mexico thereby releasing both 3rd and 5th armies for use against Germany and/or Russia as needed. In addition the first tranche of reservists for all armies were ordered to report at their respective Forts for refresher training.

With the decision having been made not to launch a pre-emptive strike against Germany, the UNION army group facing Germany was ordered to take up  flexible defensive positions while maintaining the ability to launch a  strong counter attack.  The 9th army took up positions in an arc southwest of of Seattle about 50 miles from the border while 4th army deployed, again in an arc, northwest of Chicago and 8th army stood roughly equidistant but further to the east of the other armies so as to be able to support the other armies or launch a counter attack as needed.

In Ukraine the army group was instructed to follow the 2nd army advancing towards Russia being ready to deploy into combat formation as soon as the main Russian forces were encountered. On 14th September the advance guards of both armies engaged in an encounter battle in central Ukraine. To the surprise of UNION commanders the Russians did not deploy for battle but instead sought out high ground and other strong defensive positions and started to entrench themselves very deeply. Over the next few weeks  both armies sought to outflank the other with the result that a battle line of almost 70 miles soon developed. This surprised the Russians who had thought their strength of 500,000 with 250,000 reserves still in Russia, would be sufficient to stretch the UNION very thinly. The intensity of UNION artillery fire all along the battle line soon caused the Russians to understand they must be facing the best part of 300,000 UNION troops. The Russian and German strategy had been for the Russians to stand on the defensive, inflict as many casualties on the UNION as possible and draw in as many UNION troops as possible so that the Germans could launch their hopefully surprise attack against limited opposition. At this time neither Germany or Russia realised the full strength of the UNION army and were certainly not aware of the existence of the 10th reserve army. By the end of September both sides in Ukraine were deeply entrenched.

On 2nd October German forces swept across the frontier into the old Federation territory. A force of about 100,000 moved northeast towards Seattle while the main body of 200,000 headed southeast towards Chicago. About 25,000 moved in a thin skirmish line due east to cover the gap between the two forces. An additional 150,000 troops were held in eastern Rhineland as reserves. Meeting no resistance in the first few days the Germans believed they had achieved strategic surprise. This idea was unpleasantly destroyed on 5th October when both German advances came up against powerful UNION resistance. The Germans deployed for battle only to come under very heavy UNION artillery fire. Clearly the UNION had not been surprised and in fact UNION forces were on the battlefield in substantial numbers. German assaults were thrown back with heavy casualties in both the north and south. The Germans made several more attacks over the next few days with nothing to show from them but more casualties. The great gamble had failed so German forces adopted the same strategy as their Russian allies and sought out strong defensive positions along the two fronts each of almost 50 miles and started to dig in.

The UNION had successfully stopped the attacks of both their enemies for the time being at least. Although UNION artillery endlessly bombarded the Russian and German positions, it seemed that both armies had invested in substantial supplies of entrenching materials which was enabling  their positions to remain viable. In addition it seemed both armies had learned that to preserve their artillery, batteries should not remain in the same location for any length of time. Although this reduced effectiveness, at least they remained more or less intact. It was also clear that both armies, especially the Russians, were feeding more and more troops into their defenses perhaps with an eye to renewal of their attack. UNION commanders were faced with  a difficult choice; counter attack with potentially high losses or wait for the renewal of the Russian-German attack. In either case the UNION armies needed immediate and substantial reinforcement.