The Ironclad Prophecy
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FANY: First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. The only service in which women could enlist and wear khaki, they drove ambulances, ran soup kitchens, mobile baths, etc. in forward areas.
Fire Bay: Part of a manned fire trench facing the enemy. Bays were usually separated by traverses.
Firestep: The floor of the trench was usually deep enough for soldiers to move about without being seen by the enemy. A firestep was a raised step that ran along the forward face of the fire trench from which soldiers could fire or keep watch.
Fire Trench: Forward trench facing the enemy that formed part of the Front Line.
Flechettes: From the French, meaning ‘little arrow.’ Used early on in the war, they were large pointed darts that were dropped from an aeroplane over trenches and were capable of piercing helmets.
Fritz: Slang term for a German.
Funk: State of nerves or depression, more harshly a slang word for cowardice.
Funk Hole: Generally, any dugout or shelter, but often referred to niches or holes big enough to shelter one or two men scraped into the front wall of a trench.
Gazetted: All military promotions and gallantry awards were officially announced The London Gazette. To be the subject of such an announcement was to be gazetted.
Gone Dis: Short for‘gone disconnected.’ Originally used by Signallers to mean a telephone line was down, usually from shelling, and that they were out of communication.
Hush Hush Crowd: Nickname for the Machine Gun Corp Heavy Section, or Tank Section, owing to the secrecy that surrounded their development.
Iddy Umpty: Slang for Morse Code and, by extension, the Signallers who used it.
Jildi: From the Hindi – get a move on, quick, hurry.
Kite Balloon: An observation balloon, carrying a basket for an observer but attached to the ground by a winch.
Land Ship: A tank.
Lewis Machine Gun: Air cooled, using a circular magazine cartridge holding 48 rounds each. Lighter and more portable than the Vickers.
Linseed Lancer: Slang for a stretcher bearer of the RAMC.
Look Stick: Slang for a trench periscope.
Maconachie: Brand of tinned vegetable stew. Made a change from endless Bully Beef, though not by much.
Mills Bomb: Pineapple-shaped British hand grenade, armed by pulling a pin and releasing the trigger lever.
Minniewerfer: German trench mortar shell.
MO: Medical Officer.
Mongey Wallahs: Cooks or chefs, from the French manger, to eat.
NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer; used for Sergeants Major, Sergeants or Corporals.
Neurasthenia: Contemporary medical term to describe emotional shell-shock, less charitably seen as a ‘weakness of the nerves.’
No Man’s Land: Area of land between the two opposing Front Lines.
OP: Observation Post.
Parados: Raised defensive wall of earth or sandbags along the rear of the trench to help disperse explosions behind the line.
Parapet: Raised defence of earth or sandbags at the front of a trench to provide cover for those on the firestep.
Part-worn: Clothing previously worn by another soldier, either deceased, ill or otherwise having no further use for it.
PH Helmet: Phenate-Hexamine Helmet. Early type of full gas mask. Not so much a helmet as a flannel hood soaked in neutralising chemicals, and a mouth tube and distinctive red rubber valve for exhalation.
Platoon: A quarter of an infantry company, commanded by a Subaltern. Consisting of 48 men divide into four sections.
Plum Pudding: Nickname for a type of British trench mortar round.
Port: The left side of a vessel or ship.
Puttee: Khaki cloth band wound round the calf from the knee to the ankle.
RAMC: Royal Army Medical Corp, often summoned with the well-worn cry, “stretcher bearer!” Uncharitably also said to stand for Rob All My Comrades.
Reading Your Shirt: The act of Chatting.
Red Tabs: Slang for Staff Officers, after the red tabs worn on the collars of their tunics.
Revetment: Any material used to strengthen a trench wall against collapse; wooden planking, brushwood wattling, corrugated iron, etc.
RFC: Royal Flying Corps of the British Army.
Sally Port: Small, hidden passage out under the parapet of a fire trench used for sorties into No Man’s Land.
Section: A quarter of a platoon, usually consisting of 12 men in the charge of an NCO.
SRD: Supply Reserve Depot. Theinitials were stamped on official army issue stone rum jars issued to platoons, although the initials soon came to stand for other things like Service Rum Diluted, Soon Runs Dry or Seldom Reaches Destination.
Starboard: The right side of a vessel or ship.
Subaltern: Or Sub; a commissioned officer under the rank of captain; first or second lieutenant.
Tankodrome: A tank park and workshops behind the lines where maintenance and repairs can be carried out.
Traverse: Thick sandbag partition built in trenches to prevent enfilading enemy fire and to limit the effect of any explosions. In fire trenches they were used to create fire bays. Also; purposely-built changes in angle of direction in any trench to achieve the same effect.
Sap: A communications trench that runs out from an already existing trench to an emplacement, kitchen, latrine or stores.
Sappers: Generally, a private in the Royal Engineers. But in this case, a small dedicated unit formed by Everson from those men with a trade – bricklaying, carpentry, etc. – to perform a similar function.
Scran: A general term for food.
Sponson: The side-mounted gun turret of a tank, taken from the naval term. The Mark I ‘male’ tank had no central-mounted roof turret, like later tanks, but two side mounted sponsons, one on either side. Each sponson was armed with a six pounder gun and a Hotchkiss machine gun.
Stand To: Stand to Arms. Highest state of alert when all men should be ready for immediate action, weapons at the ready. Occurred regularly in the trenches at dawn and dusk to repel any attempted attacks.
Star Shell: An artillery shell consisting of a large magnesium flare and a parachute. Used for illuminating battlefields at night.
VAD: Voluntary Aid Detachment, women volunteers providing auxiliary nursing assistance to the Red Cross and registered nurses.
Vickers Machine gun: Water-cooled, belt-fed, machine gun. Heavy and bulky, but more accurate than the Lewis.
Whizz-Bang: A German 77mm high velocity shell.
Windy: Or to have the wind-up; apprehensive or anxious about a situation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pat Kelleher is a freelance writer. He has written for magazines, animation and radio. He served his time writing for a wide variety of TV licensed characters, translating them into audio books, novels and comics. Yes, he’s written for that. And that. And even, you know, them. He has several non-fiction books to his credit and his educational strips and stories for the RSPB currently form the mainstays of their Youth publications. Somehow he has steadfastly managed to avoid all those careers and part-time jobs that look so good on a dust jacket.
BLOODY BUG-EYED BOSCHE!
On November 1st, 1916, nine-hundred men of the 13th Battalion of The Pennine Fusiliers vanished without trace from the battlefield, only to find themselves stranded on an alien planet. There they must learn to survive in a frightening and hostile environment, forced to rely on dwindling supplies of ammo and rations as the natives of this strange new world begin to take an interest. However, the aliens amongst them are only the first of their worries, as a sinister and arcane threat begins to take hold from within their own ranks!
ISBN (ePUB): 978-1-84997-212-3
ISBN (MOBI): 978-1-84997-213-0
www.abaddonbooks.com
Title
Indicia and Dedication
Acknowledgements
The Penine Fusiliers: Personnel
Preface
Prologue
Interlude One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Interlude Two
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Interlude Three
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Interlude Four
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Interlude Five
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Interlude Six
Chapter Twenty-One
Glossary
About the Author
'Black Hand Gang' by Pat Kelleher