Allied casualties were over 263,000, of whom over 81,000 died. German losses were at least 220,000 dead or missing.
Marquis of Queensberry rules
The code of traditional rules in the sport of boxing is named after John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquis of Queensberry, who publicly endorsed the code. The Queensberry rules were the first to require the use of gloves in boxing. In popular culture the term is sometimes used to refer to a sense of sportsmanship and fair play. The rules were written by John Graham Chambers, a Welshman, and drafted in London in 1865, before being published. The Marquis of Queensberry’s third son was Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, the close friend and lover of Oscar Wilde.
Maschinengewehr 08, or MG 08
A hybrid of Hiram S. Maxim’s 1884 Maxim gun, the MG 08 was the German Army’s service machine gun in the Great War. With a lethal firing rate of up to 400 rounds per minute, it devastated British infantrymen throughout the war.
Massey’s Brewery
The Massey family dabbled in the cotton trade but were better known for being the owners of the Bridge End Brewery, founded around 1750. The company once owned over 150 pubs and off-licences in Burnley, and its owner, Edward Stocks Massey, was generous with his wealth. Its beers included Massey’s Special Mild Ale, Prize Stout, King’s Ale, Golden Bitter Beer and Pale Ale. In 1996 Massey’s was taken over by Charrington United Breweries, which ultimately became Bass Charrington. The Bridge End Brewery ceased brewing in 1974 and the building was demolished shortly afterwards.
Mauser C96
The Mauser C96 is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser. Winston Churchill used one at the 1898 Battle of Omdurman and during the Second Boer War, as did Lawrence of Arabia during his time in the Middle East.
Maxim machine gun
The Maxim machine gun was adopted by the British Army in 1889. In 1912 the army turned to the Vickers Gun and the lighter Lewis Gun.
Melton blue
Melton blue is a blue-dyed version of Melton cloth, a heavy, smooth woollen fabric with a short nap, particularly used for army uniforms and overcoats. Its name comes from Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire, the traditional centre for its production.
Mee-maw
Mee-maw was a form of speech with exaggerated movements of the mouth to allow lip reading. It was used by weavers in the mills in Lancashire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries because the noise in the weaving shed rendered normal hearing impossible. Each mill had its own dialect.
Mills grenade
The ‘Mills bomb’ became the British Army’s service grenade in 1915. Designed by William Mills, they were developed at the Mills Munition Factory in Birmingham. It was a grooved, cast-iron weapon which resembled a pineapple, with a central striker held by a closed hand lever secured by a pin. A man with a good arm could hurl it more than 50 feet.
Minenwerfer
Minenwerfer are a class of short-range mortars used extensively during the Great War by the German Army. They were used to clear obstacles like barbed wire, and the British soldiers called them ‘Moaning Minnies’ because of the distinctive sound they made.
Mons, Battle of
The Battle of Mons began on the morning of 23 August 1914 with a heavy German artillery barrage. The men of the British Expeditionary Force, many of whom had only just arrived at the battlefield, were exhausted. They were carrying 80lb packs; many had new boots and were walking on cobbled roads. Nevertheless, they formed up along the Canal du Centre, west and north of Mons, in defensive position nine miles long, and nine and a half British battalions (10,000 men) held four German divisions (70,000 men) for most of the day.
The Germans attacked in large numbers, but in close formation, suffering significant casualties from extremely accurate British infantry marksmen. However, by midday large numbers of Germans had crossed the canal and some British units began to fall back. The tactical withdrawal lasted until dusk, but the Germans did not follow in hot pursuit; they had suffered unexpectedly high casualty figures and called a ceasefire to lick their wounds.
British losses on the day were 1,642 killed, wounded and missing. They included 400 from 4th Battalion Middlesex Regiment and 300 from 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment. German losses were at least 6,000, but could have been as many as 10,000.
Morse Code & SOS
In Morse code, SOS is the internationally recognized distress signal (· · · – – – · · ·). It was first introduced by the German government in radio regulations in 1905 and later became recognized worldwide by the 2nd International Radiotelegraphic Convention, in 1906. SOS has become associated with such phrases as ‘Save Our Ship’ or ‘Save Our Souls’ or ‘Send Out Succour’, but SOS does not actually stand for anything and is not an abbreviation.
North British Rubber Company
The production of wellington boots was dramatically increased at the outbreak of the Great War, when the North British Rubber Company was asked by the War Office to make a boot suitable for the conditions in flooded trenches. Over a million pairs were made. The company is now known as Hunter Boots Ltd.
Novita
Novita was a piece of oxygen resuscitation equipment used by both sides during the Great War. They were manufactured in Italy for use in the Italian mining industry.
Old Contemptibles
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany reportedly issued an order on 19 August 1914 to ‘exterminate … the treacherous English and walk over General French’s contemptible little army’. Thus, the regular soldiers of Britain’s standing army of 1914, who went to France as the British Expeditionary Force, became known as ‘The Old Contemptibles’. However, no concrete evidence has ever been found to suggest that such an order was ever issued by the Kaiser. It was likely to have been a British propaganda invention, one that has since become accepted as fact and made legend.
Omdurman, Battle of
Taking place four miles outside Omdurman, just north of Khartoum in the Sudan, the Battle of Omdurman was fought on 2 September 1898. It was a decisive military engagement in which Anglo-Egyptian forces, under Major General Sir Herbert Kitchener (later Lord Kitchener), defeated the forces of the Mahdist leader Abdullah al-Taashi and thereby won Sudanese territory that the Mahdists had dominated since 1881.
The most famous incident in the battle was the charge of the 21st Lancers, one of the last full-scale cavalry charges of the British Army. The 350 men of the 21st Lancers attacked what they believed to be a body of about 700 dervishes. However, as one participant in the charge, the young Lieutenant Winston Churchill, later wrote, the situation soon changed: ‘A deep crease in the ground appeared where all had seemed smooth, level plain; and from it there sprang, with the suddenness of a pantomime effect and a high-pitched yell, a dense white mass of men nearly as long as our front and about twelve deep. A score of horsemen and a dozen bright flags rose as if by magic from the earth.’ In fact, 2,000 tribesmen who had remained concealed in a deep gulley engaged the lancers in desperate hand-to-hand combat. Although the 21st Lancers had not seen battle before, they managed to cut their way out of the ambush. The regiment suffered 70 men killed or wounded and the loss of 119 horses, the highest casualty figures of any British regiment engaged at Omdurman. Three Victoria Crosses were later awarded to members of the 21st Lancers who had helped to rescue wounded comrades during the action.
PH gas helmet
The PH gas helmet was an early type of gas mask issued by the British Army in the Great War, to protect troops from gas attacks. It first appeared in July 1915 and around 9 million were made.
Packet steamers
Packet steamers were steam ships that carried mail and packages across the globe. They also carried passengers in the days before passenger liners.
Petrograd
During the Great War the Imperial government renamed St Petersburg Petrograd, meaning ‘Peter’s City’, to remove the German words Sankt and Burg. (In 1924, after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the city wa
s renamed Leningrad; the city became St Petersburg again in 1991 following the end of communist rule.)
Pickelhaube
From the German Pickel, ‘point’ or ‘pickaxe’, and Haube, ‘bonnet’, Pickelhaube is a generic word for ‘headgear’. Strictly speaking, the German Army headgear in the Great War was called a Pickelhelm, a spiked helmet also worn by firemen and police. Although typically associated with the Prussian Army, the helmet was widely imitated by other armies during this period.
Pips
Badged insignia for officers in the British Army were introduced in 1810. They consisted of (and still do) crowns, swords and stars. The stars became known as ‘pips’: three for a captain, two for a lieutenant, one for a second lieutenant.
Poilu
‘Poilu’ is a term for a French Great War infantryman, meaning, literally, ‘hairy one’, and reflects the typically rustic background of the French infantryman.
Pol Roger
The favourite champagne of Winston Churchill, Pol Roger is still owned and run by the descendants of Pol Roger, who produced his first vintage in 1853. Pol Roger is located in Épernay in France’s Champagne region.
Pom-poms
Pom-poms were small auto-cannon artillery pieces firing 1lb or 2lb shells. The first gun to be called a pom-pom was the 3mm Nordenfelt-Maxim, or QF 1-pounder, introduced during the 2nd Boer War, the smallest artillery piece of that war. Their name came from the distinctive sound of the rapid-fire mechanism.
Poteen
Poteen is a traditional Irish drink distilled in a small still. The term is a diminutive of the Irish word pota, meaning ‘pot’. It is traditionally distilled from malted barley, grain, treacle, sugar beet, potatoes or whey.
Puttees
A puttee (or ‘puttie’) is the name, adapted from the Hindi patti, for a bandage covering the lower part of the leg from the ankle to the knee. Consisting of a long, narrow piece of cloth wound tightly and spirally round the leg, it served to provide both support and protection. It was worn by both mounted and dismounted soldiers, generally taking the place of the leather or cloth gaiter. The puttee was first adopted as part of the service uniform of foot and mounted soldiers serving in British India during the second half of the nineteenth century. The puttee originally comprised long strips of cloth worn as a tribal legging in the Himalayas. Puttees were in general use by the British Army as part of the khaki service uniform worn during the Great War.
Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service
In March 1902 Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) was established by Royal Warrant, and named after Queen Alexandra, who became its president. It replaced the Army Nursing Service, which had been established in 1881.
Quim
The noun ‘quim’ in Victorian times was used specifically to refer to the fluids produced by the vagina, specifically during orgasm. In modern usage it is primarily heard in British slang and is a derogatory or vulgar term for the vagina itself. The word is rarely used today in English but is still heard in Wales. The word may be related to Welsh cwm, meaning ‘hollow’ or ‘valley’.
Race to the Sea
The race began in late September 1914, after the end of the Battle of the Aisne, the unsuccessful Allied counter-offensive against the German forces halted during the preceding 1st Battle of the Marne. The route of the race was largely governed by the north–south railways available to each side: the French through Amiens and the Germans through Lille.
In a series of attempts to outflank one another, the race involved a number of battles, from the 1st Battle of the Aisne (13–28 September) to the end of November.
Rhadamanthus
In Greek mythology, Rhadamanthus, Minos and Aiakos were the three judges of the dead in the Underworld. They were originally mortal men, sons of the god Zeus, who were granted their position after death as a reward for the establishment of law on earth.
Raspberry cranachan
Raspberry cranachan is a dessert made from whipped cream, whisky, honey and fresh raspberries. It is topped with toasted oatmeal which has been soaked overnight in whisky. Not unlike Eton Mess, it is Scottish in origin and ‘cranachan’ is a Scots Gaelic word.
Rittmeister
Rittmeister is German for ‘riding master’ or ‘cavalry master’, the military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Scandinavia, among others. The equivalent of a captain, he was typically in charge of a squadron or troop.
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace. Because it is not a fighting arm (non-combatant), under the Geneva Convention members of the RAMC may only use their weapons in self-defence. For this reason, there are two traditions that the RAMC perform when on parade: officers do not draw their swords (instead, they hold their scabbard with their left hand while saluting with their right); other ranks do not fix bayonets. During the Great War, the RAMC lost 743 officers and 6,130 soldiers were killed.
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army during the Great War. In 1918 it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force. Its main role was photographic reconnaissance. This led its pilots into aerial battles with their German counterparts. Later in the war its role expanded to include the strafing of enemy infantry and artillery, the bombing of German airfields and later the bombing of German industrial and transportation facilities.
Royal Navy
In 1914 the Royal Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and had been central to the establishment of the British Empire and its security. At the outbreak of war, the navy had 18 modern dreadnoughts (6 more under construction), 10 battlecruisers, 35 cruisers, 200 destroyers, 29 battleships (pre-dreadnought design) and 150 cruisers. Its total manpower was over 250,000 men.
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service was formed in July 1914. It was the flying wing of the Royal Navy and administered by the Admiralty, but in 1918 it merged with the British Army’s Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, the world’s first military air force.
Royal Red Cross
The Royal Red Cross was created by Queen Victoria in 1883. It is a decoration awarded for services in military nursing, either to reflect exceptional devotion and competence over time, or for a specific act of bravery.
Royal Small Arms Factory
The Royal Small Arms Factory was a weapons factory in the Lea Valley, Enfield. It began production in 1816 and produced swords, muskets and rifles, including the Martini-Enfield and the Lee-Enfield rifles. The RSAF closed in 1988 and the site is now a major housing development.
Sandhurst
Known simply as ‘Sandhurst’, The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, is the British Army officer training centre, close to the village of Sandhurst, in Berkshire.
Saps
Saps were short trenches dug out into no-man’s-land at 90 degrees to forward trench, and served two purposes: they were often joined together to form a more forward trench, by digging rather than fighting; and they were also used as listening posts, to eavesdrop on German conversations and planning.
Serjeant
‘Serjeant’ with a ‘j’ was the official spelling of ‘sergeant’ before and during the Great War and appeared in King’s Regulations and the Pay Warrant, which defined the various ranks. Even today, Serjeant-at-Arms is a title still held by members of the security staff in the Houses of Parliament. Also, in the newly amalgamated infantry regiment the Rifles (as successor to the Light Infantry, which also used it), the ‘j’ in the spelling of ‘serjeant’ is retained.
Scharfschütze
Scharfschütze is the German term for a sniper.
Shell Crisis
A significant shortage of artillery shells was a problem that had hindered th
e British Army on the Western Front from the earliest days of the war. The situation became acute in May 1915 and led to a political crisis in Britain. The crisis weakened the power of the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, and led to the formation of a coalition government with Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions.
Shell shock
See ‘Executions’ above.
The Darkness and the Thunder Page 46