While Canada did not have a flying corps until after the Great War, it contributed many flying officers to the cause. The descriptions of training, aerodrome capers and flying sorties are all based on historical records.
Characters
Robert (Bob) Pitman existed and was the author’s maternal grandfather. His characterization is based on historical record and personal knowledge. Surviving being buried alive under bombardment with subsequent shell shock is fact. The contraction of disease is fact.
Most of the soldiers mentioned – Percy Sutton, Malcolm Isbester, Heber Logan, John Forbes, Henry Egar, Eric Pitman, Frank Wells, Frederick Chainey, VE Schweitzer, Francis Johnson and others – fought in the Great War. Where physical description of each character is lacking, or personality uncertain, characterizations were invented.
Sam Hardy and Cissy Ann Taylor are purely fictional, but essential to the flow of the story. Their characters are based on similar personages who Bob Pitman likely encountered based on known preferences for people he associated with.
Places
Places where the various events occurred – the marches through towns in the Picardy Département and Albert in the Somme Département – are accurate. The Somme battlefield along the Albert-Bapaume Road is exact.
There existed Casualty Clearing Stations at the Somme and at the Albert School House. The hospitals existed in the places mentioned, including the Maudsley in London. The aerodrome locations are accurate as recorded in various histories of 100 Squadron. Each bombing target on each night described is historic.
The Brunner Mond Munitions Factory at Silvertown (now part of Greater London) produced arms and did experience a disastrous explosion on 19 January, 1917 while Cissy was in hospital. The National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell produced munitions from early 1916, employing up to 10,000. The 1 July 1918 explosion involving eight tons of TNT is accurate. Of the 134 that perished, only 32 could be positively identified; while in the story Cissy is described among them, she truly wasn’t based on her fictional nature.
Situations
The description of shell shock and its treatment is true to historic accuracy. The Maudsley Hospital, under Dr. Frederick Walker Mott, did practice an ‘atmosphere of cure’ as described. The hospital stands today as one of London’s leading psychiatric hospitals. The contracting of venereal disease was controversial in the Great War. While military brass initially held its existence with disdain, they accepted that millions of young men – facing a high chance of death or maiming – desired to have an encounter when away from the trenches or airfields. That Commonwealth soldiers contracted diseases in greater proportion is understandable since they had more disposable income (paid more than their English compatriots) and when given leave were not within reach of home.
Additionally, French brothels were quite legal and openly enticed soldiers in the advancement of their business.
Munitionettes were engaged in arms production throughout the Great War as so many men were involved in the war effort. These were extremely dangerous jobs as described in the story, and oft times presented life-long chemical side effects. Social effects are also notable: as the restrictions of Victorian England were being cast off women realized they were equally adept at performing manual labor, placing them in a position to earn significant wages (outside of the paltry earnings from service/servant jobs).
The suffragette movement, on a slow burn from Victorian Britain times, finally succeeded in 1918 when women over 30, with property, were allowed to vote. Sadly, Cissy would have just missed the success in women’s rights she was so passionate about. Canada was slightly more progressive by granting voting rights to women during 1916-17.
Aircraft
The FE2b was the night bomber employed by 100 Squadron from its inception in February, 1917 through August, 1918, when the Handley page O/400 replaced it as a long range night bomber.
The ‘Fee’ was a lumbering 2-seater aircraft of the pusher type with propeller located rear of the engine (versus the tractor, front propeller pull type). The advantage was that the observer/gunner, who sat in the nacelle forward of the pilot, had a very wide, unobstructed arc of fire. Its bomb load was typically a center loaded 112-pounder with four 25-pound Coopers bombs under each wing. Beginning in 1917 with 100 Squadron the Fee night bombed German held industrial targets such as aerodromes, factories and steel plants, as well as rail track and stations, although it did not have enough endurance to fly sorties very far into Germany.
The Handley Page Type O/400 came into 100 Squadron service in August 1918 when the Fees were retired. It was the largest bomber that Britain operated in the Great War. The targets remained approximately the same, except that Britain could then reach farther into Germany itself as described in the story.
While the O/400s could carry a new 1,650-pound bomb, 100 Squadron mainly carried multiple 112 and 230-pounders. Armament consisted of five Lewis-type machine gun systems mounted at various defensive positions about the fuselage; two up front for the observer and three for the rear gunner.
Summary
The story of Seeking Courage will be judged by the reader on its merits as an entertaining romance as well as an instructive history. The goal was to demonstrate a bravery that so many young men and women practiced over one hundred years ago in order to make our lives safer today. It is through each character’s experiences and passions – woven from historical fact – that reaching this goal will be decided.
Please visit www.seekingcourage.com
for detailed historical notes.
GLOSSARY
Achtung: German for “attention” or “regard”
Adjutant: a military officer who acts as an administrative assistant to a senior officer
Aerial Bomb: 112and 230-pound heavy explosives dropped from WW1 aircraft; provided good penetration and fragmentation when dropped on buildings, railways, roads and bridges
Aerodrome: equivalent to airport or airstrip; a military air base; aka ‘drome
Aeroplane: British term for airplane
AM: air mechanic
Archie: anti-aircraft fire
Armagnac: oldest distilled brandy in France, produced in the Armagnac, Gascony region
Army: typically, four or five infantry divisions; changes throughout wartime
Artillery Gun: longer barrel than howitzer and mortar; smaller shells, higher velocities, flatter trajectories
Baby Incendiary Bomb: weapons packed with thermite designed to start fires; 6.5 oz. appliances packed in containers of 272 bombs
Barrage: barrier of excessive, continuous artillery or machine gun fire in “lines” on a specific area designed to destroy the enemy or make them keep their heads down
Battalion: four infantry companies, plus other units; roughly 1,000 troops
Beardmore 160 HP: British six-cylinder, water-cooled aero engine built by Arrol-Johnston and Crossley Motors for William Beardmore & Co (licensed from German Austro-Daimler)
Bessonneau Hangar: portable timber and canvas aircraft hangar used by the RNAS and the RFC during WW1
Blighty: Britain: ‘Blighty wound’ required a trip home for treatment and convalescence
Bonne chance: French for good luck
Brigade: four infantry battalions plus other units; roughly 4,000 troops
Brilliantine: hair-grooming product by French perfumer Edouard Pinaud, consisting of a perfumed and colored oily liquid
Bully beef: tinned meat common in British armies
CAMC: Canadian Army Medical Corps
Captain: commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to the command of a company of soldiers; a senior flying officer beginning in WW1
Casualty Clearing Station: British Army term for military medical facility behind the front lines that is used to treat wounded soldiers
CEF: Canadian E
xpeditionary Force; field force created by Canada for service overseas in WW1
C’est la guerre: French for ‘It’s the war.’
Chat: lice; to chat is to talk in a group while extracting lice from uniform
CMR: Canadian Mounted Rifles, infantry unit of the CEF
CO: Commanding Officer
Company: four infantry platoons plus other units; roughly 230 troops; labelled A,B,C and D
Coopers bomb: fragmentation bomb, designed to throw showers of fragments like those of the high-explosive artillery shell; 20-lb
Cordite: odorous explosive used as propellant for shells and bullets
Corporal: the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO)
Corps: two or more divisions; roughly 50,000 troops
Crossley tender: light truck (British: lorry) assigned to RFC/RAF squadrons
Danke: German for ‘thank-you’
Deutschland ist Mutig: German for Germany is brave
Division: three infantry brigades, plus other units (engineers, medics, signallers, etc.); roughly 18,000 troops
EA: enemy aircraft
Esprit de corps: a feeling of pride, fellowship, and common loyalty shared by the members of a particular group; common in military
Estaminet: French for tavern
FE2b: Farman Experimental biplane operated originally as a fighter then a day and night bomber by the RFC/RAF during WW1
Flamethrower: mechanical incendiary device that projects a long, controllable stream of fire
Flare path: a lamp or flare lit runway, necessary for aircraft to take off or land after dark
Floppin; fok: swear word of the day, a euphemism for ‘fuck’
Flucht: German for escape
Geordie: relating to Tyneside (NE of England), its people, or their accent or dialect
Gone (go) west: die, or be killed
Gotha: a heavy night, long range bomber used by the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Service) during WW1
Gott Mit Uns: German for ‘God with us’
Greatcoat: large overcoat typically made of wool designed for warmth and protection against the weather; issued to officers in WW1
Handley Page O/400: heavy biplane bomber used by Britain during the WW1, at the time the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world
HE: high explosive
Howitzer: short barrel artillery gun; propels shells at high trajectories
Howzit: common South African English greeting
Hun: slang for the German soldier; technically Asiatic nomadic warriors; Attila the Hun
Hundreds, I’m: Afrikaans for good, fine
Ja: both German and Afrikaans for yes
Jack Johnson: first African American boxer to become heavyweight champion, one of the greatest heavyweights of all time
Jeune fille: French for young lady
Jolie fille: French for pretty girl
Kaiser: Wilhelm II (1859-1941), the German Kaiser (emperor) and king of Prussia from 1888 to 1918 with a reputation as a militarist
Kampfen: German for fight
Khaki tunic: khaki: from the Hindi for dust-colored; tunic: the full officer dress jacket
Kommandant: German for commander
Lee-Enfield: bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle used by the British Empire and Commonwealth during WW1
Lewis gun: American designed lightweight machine gun used in British infantry/flying corps
Lieutenant: most junior commissioned officer in the armed forces
Lieutenant-colonel: commissioned officer above a major and below a colonel, typically in charge of a battalion in the army
Lorry: a large, heavy motor vehicle for transporting goods or troops; a truck
Maschinengewehr: German for machine gun
Madame: boss of a brothel
Maxim one-pounder: the pom-pom due to the sound of its discharge, was a 37 mm British autocannon; an enlarged version of the Maxim machine gun
MG: machine gun
Minenwerfer: ‘mine thrower’German short-range mortar on wheels; nicknamed ‘Minnie’
Mon pilote: French for my pilot
Morse Code: an alphabet or code in which letters are represented by combinations of long and short signals of light or sound, much used by armed forces
Mortar: artillery gun with higher angles of ascent and descent than howitzers
MP: military police
Munitionette: female worker in a British munition’s factory during WW1
Nacelle: a housing for the aeroplane’s cockpits; located at front for the pusher-type FE2b
NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer, ex. a corporal or sergeant
Neurasthenia: aka ‘shell shock’; psychological disorder resulting from explosion of shells or bombs at close quarters; characterized by chronic fatigue and weakness, memory loss, hallucinations, flashbacks, insomnia, nightmares and depression.
Nicht offnen: German for do not open
No-mans-land: dangerous land between two opposing trench lines
OC: Officer Commanding
Office (of aeroplane): pilot’s cabin or cockpit on an aircraft; also, observer’s cockpit
Pacifist: person who believes that violence, even in self-defence, is unjustifiable under any conditions and that negotiation is preferable to war (viewed as traitorous in WW1)
Parachute flare: flare fired from aeroplane like a rocket, but with small parachute attachment to slow landing
Phosphorous shell: chemical element phosphorus that is used in smoke, tracer, illumination, and incendiary munitions; 40 lb
Pill: RFC/RAF WWI slang for bomb
Platoon: four infantry sections; roughly fifty troops; smallest unit led by a commissioned officer; labelled 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th
Polizei: German for police
Pom-pom: 1 pound bomb, known as the pom-pom due to the sound of its discharge
Port side: left-hand side of aeroplane, facing forward
POW: prisoner of war
Princess Pats: Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry regiment of the CEF, named for Princess Patricia of Connaught, then daughter of the Governor General of Canada
Private: soldier of the lowest military rank
RAF: Royal Air Force; formed in April 1918 when the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service joined together
RAMC: Royal Army Medical Corps
RFC: Royal Flying Corps; British air corps from inception to April 1, 1918 when integrated with RNAS to form Royal Air Force (RAF)
RCR: Royal Canadian Regiment infantry regiment of the Canadian Army (Canadian Expeditionary Force, WW1)
Regiment: a popular name for an infantry battalion; more technically, a permanent unit of an army of several battalions
RNAS: the naval wing of Britain’s Royal Flying Corps established 23 June 1914
Section: each platoon had four sections of twelve troops led by an NCO; labelled A,B,C, and D
Sergeant: the highest rank of non-commissioned officer (NCO)
Shell shock: medical condition caused by prolonged exposure to trench warfare. See ‘neurasthenia’
Show: action or attack on the enemy
Shrapnel: small metal balls exploded from a shell in flight (not pieces of the shell itself, which are called fragments)
Sidcot suit: RFC/RAF one-piece flying suit developed late by Sidney Cotton (thus Sidcot) for protection the piercing cold of the high altitudes
Sideslip: where an aircraft is moving somewhat sideways as well as forward; used as an evasive move during wartime
S’il vous plait: French for please
Sky Pilot: slang term for military chaplain
Snaaks: Afrikaans for jocular, humorous, playful
Sortie: deployment of a military unit such as an aircraft from a strongpoint; French for exit; a mission
Stand-to: highest state of military alert where troops stand for immediate action with weapons at the ready, usually at dawn and dusk when attacks were most likely
Starboard side: right-hand side of aeroplane, facing forward
Strafe: fired upon by shells or machine guns
Suffragette: a woman seeking the right to vote through organized protest
Tin hat: British facetiousness for a steel helmet
TNT: Trinitrotoluene is an explosive material used as a filling for artillery shells
Triple Alliance: partnership between Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy signed in 1882
Triple Entente: partnership between France, Britain and Russia signed in 1907
Very light/Very flare: flare gun typically used for signalling, from the ground to aircraft and vice versa, and between in-flight locations
Victorian: a person who lived during the Victorian period; by WW1, was beginning to refer to prudish or outdated attitudes
Vin rouge: French for red wine
V.R.I.: ‘Victoria Regina Imperatrix’, Latin for ‘Victoria, Queen, Empress’
Vrou: Afrikaans for wife
Webley: a British arms manufactured revolver often carried by junior officers in WW1
Zeppelin: large, hydrogen-filled, airships named after Count Alfred von Zeppelin; used for strategic bombing by the German army and navy