Archives for WW1 - Page 2
L/Cpl William Kemp – Killed in Action
Lance Corporal William Kemp of the 2nd Scottish Rifles was killed in action one hundred years ago. I grew up seeing his name on the local war memorial, as did my father who was also named William Kemp. My dad was keen on family history, he could tell me all the living relatives and knew their exact relationship to us. He believed that all the Kemps in the Old Kilpatrick are were interrelated. So I've always seen L/Cpl William Kemp as part of my family, even though I cannot directly connect him from further research. William was almost certainly a regular soldier before WW1, either that or a recalled reservist. The Scottish Rifles were a regular battalion and started the war in Malta. However they were recalled and sent to France arriving in November 1914. William's Medal Index Card shows that he…
Book Review – Fatal Choices by Seth Owen
Fatal Choices: Wargames, Decisions and Destiny in the 1914 Battles of Coronel and Falklands by Seth Owen My rating: 5 of 5 stars I backed the Kickstarter campaign and got both the ebook and the paperback version of this as well as some pre-cut counters for playing the scenarios. The book is a fascinating tour of the what if as well as the real history. It takes us through the technical and political backgrounds of both sides, the vessels and the commanders. Owen explains why the situation was what it was, why the protagonist navies had chosen their strategy and how they had got their ships on station when the first world war started. Map showing British and German ships and movements at the Battle of Coronel, 1 November 1914. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Each of the battles is presented as…
Remembrance Challenge
We took our cubs to the local war memorial in the Church near the Scout Hall as part of our own remembrance challenge. Before we went the cubs each made a wreath of poppies and wrote a message on it. Each boy did his own personal wreath. We then walked to the Church where we spoke about why we remember, and how different things were in 1914. South Merstham wasn't as big then as it is now, the new houses were mostly built in the 1950s. In the 1911 census there were around 600 men in the locality. About 150 of whom signed up in August 1914. (I'm guessing some would be unfit, others in jobs that couldn't just go off to war and some others not that keen). @N04/15767315095/ Remembrance Challenge The remembrance challenge was to find out as much as…
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Megagame: Iron Dice – Turn 10
Third week of October 1914 Iron Dice umpire map at 15:57 (Turn 10) BEF Report to the War Office The Belgians on our left were attacked and driven out of their trench line, and retreated towards Calais. The BEF left flank is, although entrenched, hanging in the air again. BEF reserve troops are at St. Omer. A request to the navy is made to bombard Dunkirk. A combined counter-attack will be made by the BEF's left flank and the cavalry (reserve), supported by heavy artillery and naval bombardement. Team Control Gloss The BEF were using the fact that the enemy in front of them appeared to have gone static to rotate and rest their Corps. They also absorbed nine of the 12 available TF Battalions to bring all the Corps back up to full strength after the casualties from their…
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Megagame: Iron Dice – Turn 9
Second week of October 1914. Iron Dice umpire map about 15:44 (Turn 9) BEF Report to the War Office BEF's part of the front aint as big as we thought it would be, we cover it to Bapaume. Team Control Gloss Well this was where I stopped following the team very closely and handed over to Paul, one of the map umpires, for about 45 minutes. The reason for this was that I was a combined Team Control and High Command Control, and there was a set of private peace talks sponsored by the US President Wilson in the US Embassy in Switzerland. Present for the UK was the Foreign Minister, with a remit to ensure that Belgium was reinstated as per the status quo ante bellum. The other delegates were the German CINC, the Austrian Foreign Minister, a representative…