1916 Angels over the Somme

by Griff Hosker

  Gordy sniffed, “I still think a clip round the ear would have done him more good.”

  “That works for the likes of us Gordy but these lads from privileged backgrounds who went to public school are different. They have been brought up in a strange way. Besides we need every pilot we can get.”

  “You are telling me, Bill. The Major and I were knocked about a bit this morning and the three lads we have with us aren’t a patch on your two. That’s why we scored a duck this morning and your lads shot down five.” He gestured with his thumb at my medals. “No wonder King George gave you that lot.” He poised with the fork half way to his mouth. “Here do you get money for having a medal?”

  “I doubt it, Ted. If you do I haven’t seen any yet.”

  “A pity that. And you are entitled to a wound stripe too. A couple of them I should think.”

  “It was just a scratch.”

  Gordy laughed, “Mary told me the truth. The doctors and nurses were worried for some days before you recovered.” He suddenly nodded, as though he had remembered something. “That is right, Mary said that you and the pretty nurse appeared close.” I am afraid I could not hide my blushes and he and Ted almost fell to the floor laughing at my acute embarrassment. “At last the man of iron shows a softer side!”

  I looked at my plate, wishing that the ground would swallow me up. Ted said, “That is a good thing, Bill. We are happy.”

  Gordy nodded. “Mary liked her.” He spread his arms. “What more can I say?”

  “Thanks chaps. It has changed my perspective on life.”

  “Well I hope he doesn’t take away that which makes you a killer, Bill. We all need that.”

  I shook my head, “I think today showed I can still kill.”

  Gordy nudged Ted in the ribs, “You should have seen us today. We went across the front of the Germans. They had no chance because they weren’t expecting it. We had every gun on them! As we flew across the pilots could all fire and when we turned our gunners could carry on. With so many bullets you have to hit something. And of course their fixed gun means that have to be facing you to hit you.”

  “They will be expecting that tomorrow, Gordy. We will have to come up with something new.”

  “You’ll manage it I am sure.”

  During the morning we checked and double checked our guns and our buses. Even Carstairs seemed a little more interested in the aeroplane which might save his life. Captain Marshall came over to speak with me. He looked serious. “A chum of mine from H.Q. was just on the telephone to me. The casualties yesterday were bad. Twenty one thousand officers and men were killed yesterday. One Newfoundland Regiment lost seven hundred and ten men out of the eight hundred who went over the top. The Warwicks, my cousin is in that regiment, had five hundred and twenty men killed and over three hundred wounded out of eight hundred and thirty six who attacked. It is a bloodbath.”

  I was appalled. “Can we carry on sustaining so many casualties?”

  He gave me a cynical look, “Do you think the generals actually go with their men, Bill? They will keep on keeping on, as they say. There is still an endless supply of volunteers. We have to do our bit but, my God, I feel sorry for the poor buggers down there.”

  “We’ll do all that we can Randolph and I hope your cousin is safe.”

  As he walked away he said, “I will live with him being alive at the end of the month.”

  I decided not to tell the others. It had upset me and most of them were younger that I was. I wanted them confident when in the air. I just determined to do the best I could. My problems and worries were as nothing compared with the men in the trenches and crater holes.

  It was with some relief that I counted five aeroplanes landing safely. I knew that Archie and Ted had taken on board my comments and flown differently. Their cheery smiles told me that all had gone well.

  We took off and headed east. The new front line looked to be holding but Lumpy and I were still appalled by the men we saw being carried back on stretchers. “The poor sods are still suffering!”

  “They are that.”

  The skies over the German lines were, amazingly, empty. We patrolled our sector and there was nothing. Sergeant Hutton had sharp eyes and he spied something. “Sir, there on the Bapaume road. German infantry and they are enfilading some Tommies!”

  I saw what he meant in an instant. The grey uniformed Germans were behind the hedgerow and firing at the infantry who were advancing east. The Tommies would be massacred. Although we had been told not to venture behind the German lines this, technically, was the front line. “Let’s get rid of them!” I waved my right arm down so that Freddie knew what I intended. Gordy would realise what I was doing as soon as I dived.

  I cocked my Lewis while I banked. We would use both machine guns at the same time. This was not an aeroplane which was moving all over the place. We would be firing at static German infantry who would not be watching for us. I took us down to tree top height and we zoomed along the road. Hutton and I both opened fire at the same time and the first Germans were slaughtered. They were knocked down like nine pins in the village pub. Those further up the road dived for cover but Hutton followed them with the Lewis. He tracked them and kept firing until he ran out of bullets. There was no place to hide and the trees and hedges provided scant cover. We kept flying and firing until my ammunition ran out.

  I began to climb as Hutton reloaded. I turned and saw the others beginning their climb after their strafing run. As I began to descend I took out my Luger. I would not have time to reload but I could send nine German bullets back to their home. At less than fifty feet we screamed along the death ridden lane. I held the gun over the side and fired every two seconds. I had no idea if I hit anything but the bullets were going in the right direction. I saw two metal eggs dropped over the side and knew that Lumpy had dropped grenades. I hoped the ones behind had realised otherwise they could be badly buffeted by the blast.

  We climbed and I looked to the right. The British infantry had taken advantage of the diversion and were racing for their objective. We had eliminated the threat. I heard the two crumps as the grenades went off and I climbed. We circled until all the others were in line. I could not see any smoke or major damage from my flight and we headed back to the west. We had not shot down any German aeroplanes but we had helped the infantry. I would take that trade off any day of the week.

  When we landed Archie met me. “Did you see any German aeroplanes?”

  “Not a one.”

  “Neither did we. Perhaps we frightened them yesterday.”

  “Perhaps or they could be regrouping. We shot up some German infantry.”

  “Good.” He put his arm around my shoulder. “I think you are right about the Germans. They are methodical and they do plan well. I think they will try to jump us tomorrow.”

  I nodded, “I agree.”

  “Have your flight take off fifteen minutes after mine. We might be able to surprise them. If I get my flights to go into the circle when they attack, then you could launch an attack from height.”

  “You mean number three from my list.”

  “Exactly.” He pointed to the mess, “Now the new boys have arrived. We have four more pilots and aeroplanes but I intend to leave them here. They will be a back up for the day after tomorrow. I don’t want to risk the news boys if the Germans are planning something.”

  We had reached the office and we went into Randolph’s den. “Any news on the attack today?”

  His face clouded over, “It did not go well and we made no more progress.”

  Archie shrugged, “We keep on doing what we do. We are doing our bit. I know that a handful of biplanes is not much in comparison with the casualties on the ground but I am afraid, laddies, it is not a level playing field. By denying the enemy the airspace we stop him targeting his guns. We are saving lives.”

  “I’m sorry sir but I saw those stretchers coming back. We are not saving enough lives. We need to do more.”

 
Archie shook his head sadly, ”If you can see a way then I am all in favour. Until then we keep on plodding away.”

  I left the office feeling a little depressed. I had been happy to have successfully returned from the operation with no losses but now I wondered what we were doing here. After I had washed, shaved and changed I went to the mess. I needed a drink. Ted and Gordy were already in there. They had left one of the more comfortable seats for me.

  Ted held a glass out to me. “I thought I would treat you.” I cocked my head questioningly. “Gordy told me about the raid on the German foot sloggers. Well done. We just tootled up and down wasting fuel.”

  “I am not certain what good it does. The infantry had a bad day today and made little or no progress. Yesterday we shot down a handful of aeroplanes.”

  Ted smacked me on the knee. “And you call me a pessimist! And today you stopped a British battalion from being massacred.” He shook his head, “You are a daft bugger! Do you want to win the war all by yourself?”

  I took a swallow of the whisky. It was not a great one. This was no malt but it warmed as it slipped down. “I want to make a difference. Don’t forget I have been on the ground and know what it is like. How those blokes do what they do is beyond me! I was on a horse and I could get out as quickly as I got in. They have to march slowly against machine guns and if they fail in their attack, suffer the same machine guns on the way back.”

  The three young pilots who had flown with us came in and asked the mess orderly for a beer each. Gordy raised his glass to them, “Well done today, lads! A good day’s work and no losses.”

  Johnny shook his head, “I didn’t enjoy today, sir. It didn’t seem sporting.”

  I felt myself reddening. Perhaps it was the whisky. “Sporting?”

  “Yes sir, we just machine gunned them and they had no chance to defend themselves.”

  “This is not a bloody game at Eton or Harrow or wherever the hell that you went! This is war and the Huns down there were slaughtering our boys. Was that sporting? The sooner you get those silly public school ideas out of your head the better. Our job is to shoot down as many German aeroplanes as we can, destroy as much war material and kill as many Germans as we can. The sooner we do that the sooner we win this war and get back to Blighty!”

  Johnny looked close to tears, “Sorry sir. You are right.”

  I realised that I had ranted a little and so I smiled, “You are a good pilot, Johnny, and you will do well in this war but you need to be more ruthless and stop treating all this as some sort of game. This is not a cricket match against the Headmaster’s eleven!”

  He nodded and the three of them scurried off to a corner of the mess well away from our gaze. Ted shook his head, “I heard that most of those foot sloggers going over the top are led by blokes just like those three.”

  “And they are the ones to die first.”

  “You are missing the point, Bill. The men follow them because they think they are Toffs and know more that they do because they had a better education. That just isn’t true.” He lowered his voice, “Look at us three. We are all working lads and we were sergeants. Compare that with some of the chinless wonders they had leading us. Would we still be here if Major St.John Hamilton-Grant was still in command? We would all be dead.”

  “Archie and the Colonel are all right.”

  Ted nodded, “You are right, Gordy, but are either of them as good a leader as Bill here? No! Who came up with the rules about combat flying? Bill. Who has more kills than anyone else? Bill. And who would any pilot follow if they were given the choice? Bill.” He downed his whisky; others were coming into the mess. “Bill was right to have a pop at Holt. They all need to wake up and realise this is no game.”

  There was a subdued atmosphere in the mess that night. Captain Marshall asked me why the men appeared so down. “The lads who flew with us today were unhappy about machine gunning those Huns.” I shrugged, “I sent them away with a flea in their ear.”

  Randolph nodded. He took a message from his pocket. “I was going to pin this up on the notice board tomorrow but I think it might help them realise that what we do is important if I read it to them.”

  He stood and tapped his glass with his knife he looked at the colonel who nodded.

  Captain Marshall held up the piece of paper. “I have here a note sent to me by Colonel McCartney of the 17th Liverpool Battalion. They are one of the Pals Battalions. I will pin it on the board tomorrow but it might be useful if you hear what the Colonel has to say.” He began to read,

  ‘I understand that your squadron flies the FE 2 Gunbus which patrols our sector. I would like to applaud the courage and the zeal of the five aeroplanes which, today, saved the lives of many of my boys. We were being attacked in the flank and it would have gone ill for us had those five aeroplanes not destroyed the attacking Germans. We took our objective and only lost a hundred and fifty men in the process. That low figure was due, in no small measure, to the heroism of your pilots. When we come off the line I will call in to thank them personally.

  Colonel Patrick McCartney, Officer Commanding.’

  There was silence as he finished. I was taking in the fact that a hundred and fifty men had been lost out of a thousand strong battalion and these were considered light losses! As Randolph sat down the colonel stood. “Well done, to those pilots who flew under Captain Harsker today. The adjutant is right. Our war is not just against the German aeroplanes but the German infantry too.”

  There was a buzz of noise. “They aren’t far from your neck of the woods Bill.”

  I nodded. “A good stretch of the legs. That makes me feel better knowing that they were neighbours.”

  “Aye and as they are a Pals Battalion they would be lads like us.”

  We ate for a while in us each of thinking of home and men we knew who might have already died in the bloody fields of the Somme.

  “We are following the Major tomorrow, Gordy. We will be leaving a short time after they do. We think the Germans might be planning some retaliation. We have knocked them about a little over the last couple of days. We will be going in high to watch for the enemy fighters and we need the advantage of height. If we attack then we will do it in two columns. You take Carstairs to the port of me. It will give us a fine cone of bullets. I think making the first kill in any combat makes the difference.”

  He nodded, “I have noticed they mark their aeroplanes differently from ours. I think you got their leader first, you know the one with the red propeller, the other day?”

  “You are right. It might be worth noting who we are fighting; keep a sort of record. I know that they have some good pilots. When I was in the hospital the newspapers were full of the names of their better pilots. It seems the German newspapers like their heroes.”

  Before I turned in I went to find Sergeant Hutton. “Better warn the other gunners, sergeant, that we are flying earlier tomorrow. We will be supporting the Major.”

  “Righto, sir. I’ll make sure they are up bright and early then to check the buses and the ammunition. Did I hear that the foot sloggers we saved today were the Pals?”

  I shook my head, the news had got to the Sergeant’s Mess almost instantly. Was there some kind of ESP going on? They seemed to know what we all said as soon as we said it. It was uncanny. I smiled at Sergeant Hutton who was rarely this serious. “Yes why?”

  “The wife’s cousin is in one of them.” He shrugged, “It makes what we do more personal like. They are ordinary blokes like me. See you in the morning, sir.” He strode off to his quarters. And I wondered how many other people I knew were in the trenches of the Somme.

  Chapter 4

  We sat on the grass by our buses as Major Leach led his five aeroplanes east. The next fifteen minutes seemed to drag. It seemed to me that I ought to address the men. I remembered Lord Burscough doing so before we went into action when I was in the Yeomanry. I stood, “Remember chaps, today you will have to think on your feet. We have no idea what might be waitin
g for us. Unless you get a signal from me or Lieutenant Hewitt, it is still ‘follow my leader’.” They all nodded their understanding. “Let’s get aboard and remember what we do in the air will save lives down below.”

  It took some time to reach our cruising altitude. At the height we flew all sound from below was drowned out by the mighty engine throbbing behind us. We could see far below the strike of shells and the flash of muzzles. What we were watching for was the rest of the squadron.

  “There sir! A mile away to the south east.”

  I saw that Major Leach had formed a circle and there looked to be more than fourteen aeroplanes swooping down on them. The Germans, although they had ambushed the Major, were in for a shock. I turned so that we would approach them from the north east. The bright sun would be behind us and we would have the advantage of height. I watched as Gordy slowly drew level with me. Flying fifty feet from my wing he gave me thumbs up. We both knew what we were doing.

  I saw that they were biplanes, mainly Fokkers, but there were a couple of different ones too. I noticed that all of them were flying faster than the FE 2s which were circling still. That was ominous. The Eindecker had never been able to out run us; it looked like these could.

  “Ready Sergeant? I will fire my gun at the aeroplane ahead of us.”

  “Right sir. I’ll see if there is a better target.”

  I took that as a compliment. The sergeant was assuming that I would hit the aeroplane I aimed at. We were going as fast as the Gunbus could fly when we swooped down on the Huns. I saw one aeroplane with a yellow tail plane. It made as good a target as any. The Germans were diving on the squadron’s aeroplanes and then trying to swoop underneath. The gunners were all defending each other but I could see damage on many of the wings and Lieutenant Green’s bus had a little trail of smoke coming from the engine.