April 2006

 

LUNACY AT SEA

by J.P_Lethbridge

 

In Autumn 1916 newly promoted Captain Thomas James Stayman, aged forty-nine, from South Shields, took command of a merchant navy vessel for the first time in his career. It was bound from Rangoon, Burma, to London. All went well until the ship passed through the Suez Canal, left Port Said and entered the Mediterranean. Two days into the Mediterranean Stayman got drunk and ordered Chief Gunner Gifford to fire fifty rounds at nothing. Gifford humoured his captain and fired four rounds knowing that this could be passed off as a test. Later that day a British hospital ship appeared. Captain Stayman steered his ship towards it and ordered Gifford to fire at it. Thankfully he ignored this order.

 

As his ship passed Gibraltar Stayman refused Admiralty orders to stop and refuel there. By Boxing Day 1916 the ship was off the Brittany coast, near Ushant Island. He offered Gifford whisky and a ten shilling note in return for failing to report the above incidents. When Gifford refused Stayman carried him to the ship's rail and nearly pushed him overboard. Fortunately the ship lurched and both men were thrown back onto the deck. A fight started and Gifford broke free. For several hours he hid while Stayman roamed the ship threatening to kill his disobedient gunner. Eventually the Chief Officer and some sailors managed to handcuff the mad captain and kept him confined to his cabin until the ship docked at Plymouth. There Stayman was handed over to the police.

 

Captain Stayman was brought to trial at the Exeter Devon Assizes on Friday 2 February 1917. Evidence was given as to his behaviour but he denied the charges against him claiming it was a plot against him. Nevertheless he was convicted of attempted murder and disobedience to Admiralty orders. The charge against Captain Stayman of ordering Gifford to fire on a hospital ship was dropped. The judge said that Stayman must have known that no British sailor would obey an order to fire on one of our own hospital ships. A charge of assault for Stayman having resisted arrest was also dropped.

 

What sentence did the court impose. Did it: (a) Send him to prison and if so for how long? (b) Send him to a lunatic asylum? (c) Fine him and if so by how much? Answer overleaf

 

THE DAY CANADA BECAME A NATION by Bob Butcher

Early in 1917 it was decided that the capture of Vimy Ridge was essential to secure the flank of the Battle of Arras which was to be launched by Allenby's Third Army to help the French 'Nivelle offensive' farther south. A naturally strong defensive feature, it had been heavily fortified by the Germans who had been there since the early months of the war.

 

The Ridge lay within the area of the First Army whose commander, General Horne, had oversight of the attack He allocated the whole of his army's artillery to it and ensured that it received the fullest logistical support, but the detailed planning and conduct of the battle he left to Lieutenant General Byng, the British commander of the Canadian Corps which was to make the attack. The Corps comprised four Canadian divisions but with in corps reserve, the 5th (British) Division whose13th Brigade was attached to a Canadian division for the assault.

 

The attack went in on Easter Monday 9 April 1917 in driving sleet. It was almost completely successful on the first day and was completely so the next day. The losses were officially regarded as low:6,017 killed, wounded and missing including 659 in the British 13th Brigade. The success was not only important tactically but it proved that under Byng, the Canadians, previously known more for their courage and drive than for any great military efficiency, had become a formidable fighting machine equal to the best in the BEF. Moreover it gave Canada a sense of nationhood and its citizens henceforth regarded themselves as Canadians and not Britons living abroad. (In fact a not inconsiderable number of Canadian soldiers were British born.) So why did hey succeed when the French had failed in 1915 at the cost of 150,000 casualties?

 

Canadian courage and determination there was in plenty but that alone would not have sufficed without the detailed planning and preparation that had taken place. One important factor was the mass of artillery and machine gun support deployed. The density of artillery per mile was double that on the Somme the previous summer, there were more heavy and medium guns to deal with the deep dug outs, tunnels and caves which were a feature of the German defences, ammunition was plentiful and reliable and the new 108 fuse greatly enhanced the wire-cutting ability of the artillery. The various types of guns were allocated tasks best suited to their characteristics and fire was directed on danger points rather than being spread more or less evenly along the front under attack. Gaps cut in the wire by artillery were kept under machine gun fire day and night to deter the enemy from repairing them Particular attention was paid to counter battery work for it was appreciated that enemy guns accounted for many of the casualties suffered on 1 July. It was also recognised that it was not enough to attempt to destroy the enemy trenches, a creeping barrage was necessary to keep their heads down until the attacking infantry were upon them. In a nut shell, the British artillery was well on the road to achieving the quantitative and technical superiority that played such an important part in The Last Hundred Days.

 

A number of tunnels were dug terminating in the front line so that the attacking troops could reach their forming up points in safety. Two could be opened up in craters

in no man's land, and emphasis was placed on getting across that killing ground as soon as possible. Each platoon was allotted a specific objective and if one was held up neighbouring units had to throw out a defensive flank but on no account to wait. In the meantime the Lewis Gun and Rifle Grenade section of the held up platoon would provide covering fire while the other three sections executed a flanking attack with hand grenades and bayonet.

 

A number of tanks had been allocated to the Corps but Byng believed, correctly as it turned out, that they would get bogged down in the mud. He therefore insisted that the infantry and tank plans should be kept separate. Had the tanks been able to get into action, that would have been a bonus. There was, of course, much more to it but space prohibits any further

detail except for just a few statistics: Total guns and howitzers covering attack=1,000; Total offensive and defensive= 1,462; Total tonnage of ammunition in front of railheads on day of attack= 40,300 tons; Greatest

expenditure 24 hours from noon to noon on day of attack= 7,200 tons; Machine guns (excluding Lewis guns)= 358 requiring 15,000 rounds, 4 gallons cooling water and ¹/z pint lubricating oil per gun per day; Drinking water= 600,000 gallons per day.

 

ANSWER: (a) Captain Stayman was sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour on each charge to run consecutively.

 

BOOK OF THE MONTH: No 234 THE KAISER'S BATTLE by Martin Middlebrook. An excellent account of the German Spring 1918 Offensive by the author of a number of very well received military history books. Recommended: Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA

Compiled by Bob Butcher