SCALE.

WHAT SCALE IS MY ARMY?

I thought it useful to outline the size scale of my army, its soldiers and vehicles.

The basic starting point is the screw soldier. I use ½ inch number 6 screws which are 12½mm long. Assuming a living soldier is around 6 feet or 1.8m  tall that gives a scale of 2mm to the foot or 300mm. That makes a scale of 1/150th by my calculation, give or take a bit, which is the equivalent of N gauge.

I have to admit here that some of the actual sizes of vehicles/horses I use are not quite right but I also take the view that it is just as important that things  look right and are practical as well as being as close as possible to the right scale size.

With that in mind my horses are about 16-17mm high at the top of the head but only 10-11mm at the withers which gives a height of 5½ feet which is 16 hands which is a good size for Cavalry and generous for draught horses. They are  19-20mm long which gives a scale size of 10 feet long. According to the British Army Field Manual of 1914 a horse is 9 feet long so clearly I feed my horses too much !!!!!! However the point is that my horses are close enough to scale.

 As for vehicles, my  GS wagons ( and all other four wheeled vehicles ) are 15mm wide and 30mm long. That gives 15 feet in length and  and 7½ feet in width. According to the book Horse Drawn Transport of the British Army a  mark X GS wagon was 13½ feet long and 6¼ feet wide so I am a little oversized.  My various utility trailers are 15mm square which is 7½ feet each way. The British limbered wagon , on which my trailers are loosely based , was  6¼ feet by 5¼ feet so again I am a bit oversized. The drawing pins I use for wheels are 10mm across which is 5 feet and a British mark X GS wagon had wheels of 4 feet 8 inches in diameter so close there.

I guess the overall message is that some of my models are not precisely to scale but are close enough for me. Finally I apologise for the jumping around in respect of using imperial and metric sizes, it's the product of a certain age which makes me use imperial measures for large sizes and metric for small , which I also do in my woodworking hobby.

BOOK REVIEW: SPITHEAD.

THE NAVY'S ANVIL

 I picked this book up recently in a local antiques centre for just £1. 

The book, published in 1977, covers in great detail the defenses of Spithead and the surrounding area from Henry 8th until the Second world War showing drawings and photos of the ever growing rings of fortifications built up over those long years.  In addition there are chapters covering such matters as ammunition types, numbers of guns at different times and even some photos of  late 19th century warships.

While not a subject of fascination to me, the book is very interesting and would be even more so to a student of the history of the Royal Navy and Portsmouth in particular. It would certainly provide a good tour guide of the area around Portsmouth for those interested in the various defensive structures that still remain today.

CONSTRUCTION OF ARTILLERY.

HOW I BUILD ARTILLERY.

The basic principles of construction for all artillery are the same regardless of being heavy, field or horse artillery. I start with an object that can be used to create a platform, that is an item that can be used as a chassis and gun shield. To that platform I add an axle, wheels,  barrel and trail.

In the case of field artillery the platform is a cut down plastic shelf support stud. I cut off the actual stud and the reinforcing web leaving an L shaped piece that makes a perfect shield and chassis.  The photo below shows the stud before and after being cut down.

For heavy guns the platform is a paint tin clip. Again it forms a perfect shield and chassis as shown below.

For horse artillery it's a little more complex. I use the trail spade from an Airfix 5.5 inch gun kit as shown below. I had a number of these in my spares box from years ago when I made up several of the Matador trucks but not the guns. Clearly I did not have not enough for all my needs so I have made more by means of silicon casting. I made a mould using three of the originals and cast from that. I find the success rate on such a small item is only about 50% but when it works it works well.

All axles are made of square matchstick modelling wood. These are glued to the chassis and the ends drilled very carefully to accept the pins on the drawing pin wheels. A trail is made from a flat toothpick sourced from Home Bargains and cut down and drilled at the widest end to provide a towing eye for the limber. The barrels are made from round modelling wood cut to length.

All assembly is carried out using super glue and activator. I make guns in batches so assembly can be time consuming but the results are good enough for me. The use of the various platform items is just the result of having a need and searching for a day to day object that meets that need. The items I use are all relevant to the differing sizes of the guns.

The three completed guns are shown above . From left to right, heavy, field and horse. The basic historic references for my artillery are British WW1 equipment. That is to say the 13 and 18 pound horse and field guns and the 60 pound heavy gun.

BOOK REVIEW: TEENAGE TOMMY.

MEMOIRS OF A CAVALRYMAN IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR.

This Pen and Sword book, edited by the great Richard Van Emden, is based on personal interviews by the editor with Benjamin Clouting who enlisted in the 4th Dragoon Guards in 1913 at the age of 16 although , as was often the case, his army age was recorded as 18.

By the outbreak of war Ben was a fully trained soldier. However, knowing him to be underage, his officer tried to stop him going to France in August 1914. Ben flatly refused to be left behind. Over the following four years he served on the Western Front in every major engagement except Loos and was wounded twice eventually joining the Army of Occupation in Cologne before leaving the army in 1921.

Although he did see considerable action early in the war, being in a cavalry regiment meant Ben was not in the trenches much after 1915. In addition Ben was fortunate, although perhaps he did not appreciate it at the time, to spend much of his time as an officers groom. 

The book obviously discusses in great detail Ben's experiences in action however it also gives much information about his day to day activities both before, during and after the war. These experiences make the book a great read and preserve for us what ordinary military life was like for a soldier during the war which I think is of as much value as the descriptions of combat. A very good book and recommended.

IMAGI-NATIONS. PART 45

 THE SECOND SINO-UNION WAR.

At dawn on 11th June 1889 the opening salvos from UNION artillery started to fall on advancing Chinese troops.  Over the course of the following months the UNION and Chinese armies fought 7 substantial battles. Losses on both sides were severe but the UNION army just emerged victorious from each conflict. Eventually, in August, after a very closely fought battle which Chinese forces came very close to winning, the UNION 10th Reserve Army emerged very battered but victorious and the Chinese armies began the long retreat north. The UNION army was too seriously damaged to initiate a pursuit and was only able to send a small cavalry force to monitor the Chinese retreat.  

For a comprehensive account of these battles and the whole campaign, please refer to the ARCHDUKE PICCOLO blog under the Woodscrew Army Campaign label which gives a superb series of articles which are highly recommended.

Shortly after the cessation of hostilities the UNION 5th army crossed the border  into China to re-establish UNION control of the disputed territories and 10th Reserve army was withdrawn to base. Some two months later 10th Reserve Army was deactivated with the soldiers discharged and vehicles and equipment returned to strategic stores at Rock Island Arsenal. During that two month period, on instruction from the UNION high command,  General Sherman, commander of 1st Union army, with his senior staff, carried out a full review into what had been a fairly disastrous campaign for the UNION and presented a report.

Sherman's report focused on three major points. First; why did 10th army's cavalry perform so poorly, second; why did UNION artillery prove comparatively ineffective given it's vast superiority to the Chinese artillery and third; how effective was the leadership of Jackson, the general commanding 10th army. 

The conclusions were that Jackson, who had been recalled from retirement, had a strong belief that attack was the best form of defense. This, despite his instructions to conserve his forces while delaying the Chinese advance pending reinforcements, caused him to launch some assaults on the Chinese when circumstances were not favorable resulting in unnecessary UNION casualties. It was noted however, that Jackson was popular among his troops and he had been surrounded by a group of very talented brigade commanders who had been instrumental in securing his victories against the far more numerous Chinese forces.

As to the failures of 10th army's cavalry and artillery, the report concluded that both arms suffered from a loss of skills as a result of the manpower being reservists. 10th army was comprised of reservists in their 3rd to 5th years of being on the reserve and had only been expected to undertake garrison type duties. Those in the 1st and 2nd years of reserve service were used as replacements for the regular armies. Consequently the men in 10th army were often unfit and seriously out of practice. While this had some effect on the infantry and other arms resulting in a degree of poor performance, in the cavalry and artillery arms,  this loss of skill had a severe impact on combat effectiveness.

The recommendations in the report, which were fully accepted by the UNION army high command, were; one; that command of 10th reserve army would in future only be entrusted to a serving officer, two; that no action be taken against Jackson for reasons of UNION moral, and he had of course been successful eventually, 3; that the reserve army be formed in future from soldiers from the first and second years of reserve service and 4; that soldiers in the 3rd to 5th years of reserve service be used to reinforce the regular armies but in all cases only after a period of retraining. In order to provide time for that retraining, all reserves would need to be activated immediately on outbreak of hostilities rather than after casualties had been incurred which had been the practice to date.

The report also noted that the Chinese army had performed far more effectively and been better armed to some extent than had been expected and indicated that any historic complacency by the UNION regarding the combat power of the Chinese had been a grave error. The report finally recommended that the UNION high command urgently consider how to combat the threat to the UNION that the Chinese army now posed. In response to that particular issue, a study group was formed by Sherman to determine how the UNION could launch a campaign against China to destroy, for the foreseeable future, China's ability to threaten the UNION.

Sherman's study group noted that, apart from defeating the Chinese army, to effectively destroy China's ability to make war on the UNION, the Chinese centres of arms manufacturing in Peking and Shanghai would need to be destroyed. As these cities were about 6000 miles from the border with the UNION it was considered impractical for the UNION to invade China. Even if the Chinese railway network could be captured with only moderate damage, to guard a supply line of 6000 miles would consume more troops than the UNION army possessed leaving no troops to actually fight the Chinese army. In addition it was considered impractical to actually subdue and occupy a country the size of China.

After lengthy and tortuous debate, finally in early spring of 1890 a radical proposition was put forward. Using the port of Miami as a base, it was proposed to ship the UNION army to Bombay in India and launch an invasion into China from there, it being only 1000 miles from the Indian border to Peking and even less to Shanghai.