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Secret Warriors

Page 49

by Taylor Downing


  cinema and, 292

  convalescence and, 225

  early aviators and, 43, 44, 45, 46–7

  mental disorders and, 245, 248

  nervous conditions and, 22–3

  officers and ‘other ranks’, 36–7

  ruling class as biased against science, 32–3, 34–5, 36

  shortage of servants, 171

  socialism, 319, 327

  Somervell, Howard, 229

  Somerville College, Oxford, 225

  Sopwith, Thomas, 46, 55

  Sopwith Aviation Company, 46, 55, 70, 72–3, 91, 95, 348

  ‘sound ranging’, 151–3, 206

  HMS Southampton, 120

  Spain, 77, 133–4

  Spandau machine guns, 95

  spectroscopy, X-ray, 150

  Spencer, Stanley, 235, 313

  spies, 134–5

  German, 110, 116

  St Andréw’s University, 219, 349

  St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, 218, 234, 242, 255–6

  St John Ambulance Brigade, 216, 217

  St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, 226

  The Star, 305, 307

  Starling, Professor, 184

  steel helmets, 157–8

  steel industry, 157

  Stein, General von, 333

  Stern, Albert Gerald, 197, 198, 200, 201

  Stevens Institute of Technology, USA, 34

  Stevenson, Frances, 306

  Stokes, Wilfred, 161–3, 385–6

  Stonehenge, 347

  Strachan, Hew, 164, 395–6

  Strand Magazine, 195

  Strange, Louis, 173

  street lighting, 16, 356

  Strutt, John William see Rayleigh, Lord

  submarines, 37

  Germany’s unrestricted warfare, 122, 138–40, 142, 146

  sound location of, 155

  weaponry against, 353

  see also U-boats, German

  Sudan, 218, 269, 273

  suffragettes, 14, 274

  sugar, 20

  sulphuric acid, 19

  Sunday Express, 322

  supersonic airliners, 10

  Sweden, 140, 141

  Swettenham, Sir Frank, 287–8

  Swinton, Colonel Ernest Dunlop, 194–5, 200, 202, 203, 204, 210, 280–1, 386

  The Defence of Duffer’s Drift (novel), 194

  Switzerland, 297

  Sykes, Major Frederick, 69, 70

  syphilis, treatments for, 21

  Syria, 98

  Tank Corps, 205, 210

  tanks: agricultural machinery and, 196, 197–8

  Allied counter-offensive (July 1918), 208

  armour plating, 196, 197, 201, 205

  British army’s obstructiveness, 198, 199, 204, 210

  at Cambrai, 205–7, 208, 209, 210

  caterpillar tracks, 196, 197, 198

  Churchill and, 196–7, 198–200, 210

  development of, 193–4, 195–201, 209

  first use of (the Somme, 1916), 203–4

  German anti-tank tactics, 206

  guns on, 198–9, 201, 202, 205

  Holt tractors, 196, 197–8

  during last months of war, 208–9

  manufacture and supply of, 201–2

  ‘Mother’ prototype, 200–1

  origin of name ‘tank’, 201

  at Passchendaele, 205

  second generation of, 205

  in Second World War, 209

  training of commanders and crew, 202, 205

  H.G. Wells forsees, 195–6, 199

  Tawney, R.H., 214

  Telefunken, 18

  telegraph wires, 1–2, 8, 17, 101, 104, 138

  telephony, 7, 17–18, 163, 357

  television, 357

  tetanus, 220

  HMS Theseus, 107–8

  Thetford, Norfolk, 202

  Thomas, Lowell, 324–5

  Thompson, Sylvanus, 34

  Thomson, Sir Basil, 130, 133, 134–5

  Thomson, Sir J.J., 154, 155, 156

  Thorpe, Professor, 179–80

  The Times, 24, 25, 66, 117, 154, 156, 179, 217, 272–3, 287, 288, 306, 307, 326, 351

  Tisdall, Claire, 253

  Titanic, sinking of (1912), 19

  Tizard, Sir Henry, 346–9, 350, 351, 353, 354, 355, 356, 386–7

  TNT (trinitrotoluene), 166–7, 170, 171

  Tong, Edward ‘Teddy’, 293–4, 300

  Tonks, Henry, 235, 387–8

  Topical Company, 291–2, 311

  torpedoes, 72, 296, 354

  Tower of London, 331

  Toynbee, Arnold, 283, 323, 388

  trade unions, 14, 274, 319–20

  trams, electric, 56

  Trenchard, Colonel Hugh, 85–6, 89

  Trevelyan, G.M., 280

  Trinity College, Cambridge, 33, 45, 149, 150, 352

  Trinity College, Dublin, 252

  Trippe, Juan, 338

  Tritton, William Ashbee, 200, 210

  tuberculosis, 22

  Tullibardine, Marquess of, 62

  tungsten, 157

  typhoid, 21–2, 214, 216

  U-boats, German, 118, 132, 133, 143, 322, 328

  Battle of Dogger Bank and, 114, 115, 116

  unrestricted submarine warfare and, 122, 138–40, 142, 146

  Ulster Volunteer Force, 129, 320

  HMS Undaunted, 108

  underground railway, electric, London, 35, 269

  United States of America (USA): Max Aitken and, 282

  American Expeditionary Force, 146

  ‘armed neutrality’ policy, 142

  army actions in war, 208

  The Battle of the Somme shown in, 309

  Britain Prepared shown in, 297–8

  broadcasting industry, 338

  cinema industry, 291, 312, 357

  civil aviation industry, 338

  Civil War, 37, 191, 214, 215

  Department of Information and, 318

  development of poison gases, 189

  development of the tank in, 196, 197

  electricity industry in, 16

  entry into war (6 April 1917), 97, 145, 207, 322, 328

  exports of explosives, 172

  German propaganda in, 278

  Germans’ diplomatic mission in, 125, 129, 131–2, 138, 139–42

  Irish Americans, 129, 141, 298

  motor industry, 30

  post-War private enterprise, 338

  scientists in, 15

  shell shock and, 261

  university-industry links, 34

  use of cinema, 312

  Wright brothers, 32, 42, 45, 51–2, 53, 62, 64

  Zimmermann telegram and, 139–42, 143–6

  universities: exclusive nature of, 33

  inter-war work with military, 355

  links with government and industry, 10, 11, 33, 219

  medical research, 22

  Officer Training Corps at, 216

  provision of drugs to army, 219

  pure versus applied science debate, 10–11

  scientific studies in, 33

  University Grants Committee, 157

  in USA, 34

  University College Hospital, London, 229

  University College, London, 10

  Urban, Charles, 294–8, 309, 312, 388–9

  urban growth, 35

  Vergemere (luxery yacht), 133–4

  HMS Vernon, 354

  Vickers-Maxim, 55–6, 64, 70, 90, 95, 154, 192, 196, 202, 205, 296, 335–6

  Victor bomber, 48

  Vienna, 14, 23, 76, 191

  Vincent, Dr Clovis, 262

  vocational training, 33–4

  Voisin, Gabriel, 42–3

  Vorticist movement, 313

  Wales, Prince of, 239

  Walpole, Hugh, 324

  Walton, Sergeant, 264

  War Office, 6, 7, 11, 35, 64, 86, 117, 155, 168, 180, 315, 316

  allows reporting from the front, 288

  cinema and, 292, 293–4, 295, 298, 3
00–1, 303, 304, 307, 310, 332

  code breakers at, 126

  Commercial and Scientific Advisory Committee, 156

  development of the tank and, 197–8, 199, 200

  MI7, 318, 320

  Military Intelligence Division, 103

  press regulation and, 271, 280–1

  shell shock and, 241–2, 250, 255, 265

  treatment of the wounded and, 216, 218, 221

  Trench Warfare Department, 155–6, 162, 200

  War Trade Intelligence Department, 135–6

  Warner, Pelham, 318

  Wassmuss, Wilhelm, 124–5

  Watson-Watt, Robert, 349–52, 353, 389–90

  weather conditions, 80, 96, 113

  Weizmann, Chaim, 169–70, 390–1

  Wells, H.G., 36, 51, 154, 195–6, 199, 280, 327–8

  Welsh, T, 294

  Westminster, Duke of, 62

  White, George, 56

  Whitehead, A.N., 14

  Whittle, Frank, 355

  Wickham-Legg, L.G., 127

  Wickham-Steed, Henry, 326

  Wilhelm II, Kaiser, 25, 139, 292–3, 341

  Wilhelmshaven, 112, 116, 118, 119, 121, 123

  Wilkinson, Joseph Brooke, 293, 294, 300

  Willoughby, L.A., 127

  Wilson, Admiral Sir Arthur, 112, 113–14, 115, 116, 121–2

  Wilson, President Woodrow, 139, 141, 142, 144–5, 146, 319

  Wilson, Sir Henry, 216–17

  Wilson, Walter, 200, 210

  Wiltshire, Harold, 249

  Wimperis, Henry, 354–5

  wind tunnels, 61

  Wolseley motor car company, 55, 63–4

  women, 12, 27, 76, 171–2, 217, 245, 270, 332

  Admiralty recruitment of, 127–8

  chemists at Woolwich Arsenal, 168

  in munitions factories, 170–1, 296, 311, 357

  the ‘new’ woman, 14

  newspapers and journals for, 24, 25

  as nurses at base camp Hospitals, 224–5

  nurses at CCSs, 223

  suffrage debate, 13, 14, 274

  war work, 170–2, 296, 311, 332, 357

  Woods optics company, Derby, 86

  Woolwich, 155, 168, 354

  Royal Laboratory, 159

  Royal Military Academy, 53

  Wormwood Scrubs, 197

  wounded, treatment of see military medicine

  Wren, Christopher, 6

  Wright, Sir Almroth, 226–7

  Wright, Wilbur and Orville, 32, 42, 45, 51–2, 53, 62, 64

  X-rays, 21, 149–50

  Yealland, Lewis, 259–60

  Young, George, 126–7

  Ypres, Flanders, 175, 176–9, 186–7, 193

  Yugoslav National Council, 327

  Zeiss, 86

  Zeppelins, 56

  bases in occupied

  Belgium, 197

  bombing raids

  along the English coast, 156, 180–1

  Zimmermann, Arthur: telegram and, 139–2, 143–6

  Zionism, 170

  the Zoetrope, 26

  Zyklon B, 403

  About the Author

  Taylor Downing is a television producer and writer. He was educated at Cambridge University and went on to become managing director and head of history at Flashback Television, an independent production company. His most recent books include Spies in the Sky, Churchill’s War Lab, Cold War (with Sir Jeremy Isaacs) and Night Raid.

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  The aircraft in which John Moore-Brabazon made the first powered flight by a Briton in Britain on 30 April 1909; it looks like a giant box kite.

  Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty (1911–15); he was so keen to encourage naval flying that he even tried to learn to fly himself.

  Charles Rolls at the wheel of one of his luxury vehicles; but he was also a pioneer aviator who tried to get the army interested in powered flight.

  An A-type glass plate camera being handed to an observer in a Vickers FB5; despite the primitive look, photo intelligence developed as a sophisticated science during the war.

  Alliott Verdon Roe beside one of his early flying machines; his company, Avro, went on to make iconic aircraft in the First and Second World Wars.

  William Lawrence Bragg, a scientist who went into uniform and developed sound ranging for the army; the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Prize, at twenty-five.

  Baron Rayleigh, one of the top scientists of the day, who worked with government committees on explosives and aviation, and for the Royal Society War Committee.

  Colonel Ernest Swinton who reported from the front in 1914–15 and realised the need to break the stalemate of entrenched defences and barbed wire.

  Captain Philip Joubert de la Ferte who carried out the first aerial observation flight of the war in August 1914 but twice had to land and ask where he was.

  Brigadier-General Sir David Henderson, the first commander of the Royal Flying Corps; he and his moustache inspired a generation of early flyers.

  A group of early aviators study a map in front of a BE2 biplane on the Western Front; they directed the artillery at the enemy’s guns.

  An aerial photo of German lines, February 1918; ten million aerial photos were distributed during 1918.

  Admiral Reginald ‘Blinker’Hall [ (centre), the key [ figure behind the code-breaking and intelligence gathering at Room 40 of the Admiralty; taken while still captain of HMS Queen Mary.

  Naval actors; two naval officers disguised as the skipper and the owner of the Sayonara, the ship Hall sent to spy along the Irish coast.

  Vickers machine gun team on the Somme, July 1916; they wear Hypo helmets to protect them from gas attack.

  Wilfred Stokes, engineer, shows off the mortar he invented and some of the projectiles it could fire.

  Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt, naval engineer; to his surprise Churchill put him in charge of developing the tank.

  One of the early tanks prepares for action at Cambrai, November 1917; the tank was a completely new machine that emerged out of existing technologies during the war.

  Scottish soldiers using improvised cotton-pad respirators, May 1915; when the Germans first used gas it took some time to develop an effective mask.

  Soldiers demonstrating the use of a Hypo helmet, 1916; it provided more efficient protection from a gas attack.

  Wounded men on stretchers laid out around a Regimental Aid Post, the first tier of medical care on the Western Front, not far from the front trench, 1916.

  Victims of mustard gas that caused horrible yellow blisters and blindness, being led away, 1918.

  Charles Masterman, politician and literary figure who started Britain’s official propaganda campaign.

  John Buchan, one of the most successful novelists of the era who wrote profusely to promote the British cause and ran the propaganda department in 1917.

  Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe, before the war, the press baron who turned official government propagandist in 1918.

  Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, the Canadian magnate and newspaper owner who became Minister of Information in 1918.

  Recruiting Posters, 1914; left, the famous Alfred Leete poster of Kitchener. Right, women are encouraged to send men off to their deaths.

  Anti-German hysteria, 1914; Punch cartoon shows Kaiser Wilhelm standing over dead Belgian women and children.

  Harold Gillies, plastic surgeon, who did remarkable work reconstructing the faces of some of the most horribly mutilated victims of the war.

  Drawings of one of Gillies’ patients, before and after surgery, made by Henry Tonks, the celebrated artist.

  Women workers in a munitions factory; filling shells with explosives was a dangerous job but nearly one million women came forward for this work.

  J.B. McDowell, official cameraman, with his hand-cranked film camera; cumbersome and heavy, this type of camera was used to film the Battle of the Somme.

  Frames from the famous Over the top’ scene in the Battle of the Somme
film; staged at a trench mortar school behind the lines, these images appeared to show men falling as they went forward and shocked cinema audiences around the world.

  Staff and patients at Craiglockhart War Hospital, Edinburgh, a Victorian Hydro-spa converted to treat officers suffering from shell shock; Captain William Rivers (front row: sixth from the left) treated Siegfried Sassoon here and Arthur Brock treated Wilfred Owen who then began to write some of the most famous poetry of the war.

  SECRET WARRIORS

  Pegasus Books LLC

  80 Broad Street, 5th Floor

  New York, NY 10004

  Copyright © 2014 by Taylor Downing

  First hardcover edition April 2015

  ISBN: 978-1-60598-694-4

  ISBN: 978-1-60598-750-7 (e-book)

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.

  Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 

 

 


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