IMAGI-NATIONS. PART 47

 PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF CHINA.

Following the signing of the treaty between the UNION, Britain and India in Spring 1891 preparations commenced to prepare for the invasion of China by the UNION from northern India. In May a British ship arrived in Miami with a group of British government officials and a number of civil and railway engineers. They were met by the UNION India Survey Group. This comprised a number of UNION government officers together with UNION railway engineers and a large group of UNION army logistics officers, veterinary officers and a company of Field Police to provide security. All UNION army personnel were out of uniform. The group also included a number of vehicles and equipment provided by the UNION army to enable the survey group to travel extensively within India without recourse to local transport.

The joint survey team arrived in Bombay early in June and were immediately joined by a number of Indian government officials, army officers and local engineers. The combined group immediately started to survey the docks in Bombay to determine what construction would be needed to meet the UNION army's requirements  both in terms of dock facilities, railway marshaling yards and storage facilities. The group then traveled slowly north towards the Chinese frontier surveying the route of  the new railway lines.  On arrival at the border region the survey group determined the location and facilities needed to provide railhead facilities. At the same time, some of the UNION army personnel remained in Bombay to survey and determine what resources may be available in India to meet logistical requirements including food , fodder and local horses.

By August the surveys had been completed and the group returned to Bombay where discussions commenced on the construction needed and a programme was developed for implementation by the Indian government assisted by British engineers. Early in October the UNION members of the survey group returned to Miami.

The plan developed was quickly ratified by all the participating governments and construction commenced in mid October 1891. The plan provided for no additional docks in Bombay as the existing facilities were deemed adequate. However a very large area of land beside the docks was secured to provide a base for the UNION army. The storage, troop transit, medical and administrative facilities and railway marshalling areas commenced construction in late October. At the same time construction commenced on additional railway lines following the existing lines to the border with China. Land for three railheads on the border was secured and construction also commenced on those facilities.

All construction was scheduled to be completed by the end of 1892. In the meantime the UNION army began preparing plans and timetables for the deployment of 8 UNION armies to India together with vast quantities of munitions, food, fodder and other essential stores. Around this time it was also decided that a new army would be formed. The 11th Reserve army would be created to join 10th Reserve army to provide security for the UNION while the bulk of the regular army was deployed to India. Both reserve armies would be called up in good time to allow for intensive re-training before the regular army deployed.

Discussions also took place to ensure the British could provide sufficient shipping. To meet the anticipated requirements it was agreed that only ships of 10,000 tons or more and capable of at least 20 knots would be used. To ensure sufficient capacity the British laid down a number of new ships for delivery by the end of 1892. The deployment plans developed allowed for the accumulation in Bombay and at the railheads of a three month stock of all supplies before the main body of UNION troops began to arrive. To preserve as much secrecy as possible the UNION troops would be deployed to India in the shortest possible time. Also to avoid China becoming suspicious, the construction efforts were publicly announced as a major British investment to provide the infrastructure needed to develop northern India.

By October 1892 construction and associated planning by all parties was well advanced and proceeding to timetable.

BOOK REVIEW: WOUNDED.

 FROM BATTLEFIELD TO BLIGHTY 1914-1918.

Another book from my library, this one covers the treatment and transportation of wounded British soldiers during the First World War by means of personal accounts from both soldiers and medical staff.

Each chapter covers the story of either an individual or group of individuals from soldier to nurse, doctor, bearer, orderly or chaplain giving details of what they experienced. There are also  chapters devoted to the ambulance trains and the not well known London Ambulance Column which took wounded soldiers from main line stations to the many hospitals around the capital.

The various accounts are fascinating and absorbing, it is a hard book to put down. The hardship that both wounded soldiers and medical staff, especially those in France, experienced makes for difficult reading but the constant thread in the book is of selfless service and fortitude, traits that are frequently evidenced in many accounts of WW1 and I believe, reflect the attitudes and perspectives of that generation.

The book is very well written and highly recommended to those interested in this important but often neglected aspect of WW1.

UPDATE.

Well my 70th birthday is now almost a distant memory.....short term memory loss  being a symptom of advancing age I am told...except I can't recall who said that !!!!!!!

I had a great day anyway. We went to Llandudno on the north coast of Wales for the day. About the closest seaside to us and a round trip of 190 miles...that's the cost of living in the middle of the UK !!!!  That said my car delivered another amazing result of 51 mpg on "A" roads at an average speed of 50 mph.

We parked on the sea front to the right of the photo and walked all the way down to the pier which can be seen as a pale line at the foot of the hill which is called The Great Orme. Walked to the end of the pier, watched some fishermen for a while then back and on into town which is on the left of the photo. As can be seen, the day was perfect, blue sky, flat sea, warm and sunny which for this time of year was unusual. 

Although not quite as dramatic as Johnathon Freitag's adventures with moose, we too had a wildlife encounter. We bought ice creams in a parlour, I finished mine inside but my wife was still eating hers when we left the shop. Just outside a seagull landed on her head and tried to seize the ice cream cone from her hand. She screamed and I turned in time to see it launch back into the air. Fortunately neither my wife or the ice cream were injured in any way. My wife was more stunned by the sheer weight of the gull on her head than anything else. That it should try to grab the cone was no surprise as that sort of thing happens all the time but to land on her head was a bit extreme but has provided an interesting dinner conversation anecdote !!!!  On the way home we stopped at a favourite local gastro pub for dinner.

As it was a special birthday the "celebrations" continued on Friday. We drove to our local National Trust property for a walk around the 1,000 acre estate. We first visited the estate on my birthday in 1998 so it seemed appropriate to go on Friday. In those early days the estate attracted 20,000 visitors a year, now it has over 400,000 a year. We now tend to visit only in autumn and winter when it is not quite so busy.

This is the house, Attingham, built around 1760. The park has a large deer herd and the rut is on at present. The often means bucks are holed up in the woods but none were seen on this trip. In fact all we saw was a large group grazing far away in the distance.

Another view of the house from the deer park on the way to the woods. Although we have some fine autumn colours in our local trees the park trees are still mostly green however the leaves are falling and carpeted the path in the woods as seen below.

As we neared the river bridge a squirrel ran across the path in front of us, another wildlife encounter !!!!!

Again we had lunch in a nearby pub before heading home. Today we met friends for an "eat all you can" breakfast at a pub outside Dudley where we all used to work together. An early start but a great way to spend the morning.  Tomorrow, Sunday, we are having lunch with my daughter at yet another local pub which will be four days on the trot eating out, almost a record !!!!!  No doubt the bathroom scales will have something to say about that when next visited.

Overall a good and extended birthday which kind of makes up for being so old......well maybe not !!!!!!

UPDATE.

 As  Autumn has now arrived I am hoping for some more modelling time. As mentioned before I have done very little this Summer, there always seems to have been something else to do. That said I have this week just managed to complete the battalion of Heavy Artillery that has been on the bench for at least three or more months. The Cavalry regiment still has some way to go but I have finally started the priming of the horses. Once that's done the top coat can be applied and they will be completed too. I have also managed to draft the next article in my Imagi-Nations series which I hope to publish next week.

Finally for this brief update, I am, at this point in time, less than two days away from Three Score Years and Ten......I really cannot quite grasp that I have become so old.....the inner me is at most only 15 or so....some would say more like 7   !!!!!!  Of course the body says otherwise as does the mirror  and with children in their forties the evidence is overwhelming that I really am old !!!!!!   With the number of meals booked with friends and family over the rest of the week, I think the bathroom scales may well also be sending a message soon !!!!!

No doubt like everyone else reaching this milestone, I wonder where the time has gone. The years seem to be rolling by with greater speed than ever and I still have well over 20,000 screws to paint !!!!!

BOOK REVIEW: MEETING THE ENEMY.

 THE HUMAN FACE OF THE GREAT WAR.

Yet another book from my library, this one is written by the great WW1 historian Richard Van Emden.

This is an unusual book in that it discusses the human face of the war. It is well known that prior to the war the cultural and social ties between Britain and Germany were very strong. Thousands of Germans lived and worked in Britain and had done for many years. Inter marriage between the two nations was high and there were many "mixed" couples living in both countries in 1914.

The book addresses what happened to those people of both nations who found themselves either in the wrong country on the outbreak of war or , as a result of military operations, found themselves prisoners of war.

There are several astonishing issues discussed in the book including the level of contact on "human" matters that continued throughout the war between the two governments and the harsh treatment of British women who were married to Germans but living in Britain and who were considered as German by the British government.

This is an excellent book covering an poorly known subject but one that is both complex and fascinating and demonstrates beyond doubt that war is far more complex in its impacts that just soldiers fighting one another especially among nations with a close pre war relationship.

A great book and highly recommended.