A small package in the post

Amongst the post that was waiting for me to be opened when I returned home from North America was small package. I had not been expecting anything and I had not idea what it contained ... until I turned it over and saw that it had been sent to me by Conrad Kinch and was described on the Import Duty Declaration as containing 'toy soldiers'.

I opened it and found ...

... two Corgi die cast models of T-34/76 tanks!

Conrad Kinch did not have a use for them, and thought that I might ... and he was absolutely correct!

These two will join my other T-34/76s ... and with a bit of luck they will feature in a forthcoming battle that I hope to fight using Richard Borg's MEMOIR '44 rules.

It is taking longer than expected

You go away for a few weeks ... and when you get back there is so much to do!

I am finding it very difficult to get back into the swing of things now that I am back home because there are so many tasks and chores that need doing.

First there is the unpacking, washing the dirty clothes (or taking them to the dry cleaners ... which is the sort of task I get allocated!), putting the suitcases and bags back into storage (definitely my job!), restocking the fridge and larder (for which I am the taxi service and general 'fetcher and carrier'), and putting everything away.

Secondly there is the snail-mail post to go through (over 100 letters, not all of which were junk mail) ... of which more later.

Thirdly there are the emails that I have been sent that need to be read. There were nearly 2,000 of them ... and they were not all from the IMF, UN, FBI, Nigerian Oil Ministry etc., by a long chalk.

Finally there were the blogs that I follow to look at ... and Google Reader had nearly 300 new blog entries listed!

On top of all this I had a meeting in Central London yesterday that meant I was out of the house from 2.30pm until just after 11.00pm. (I could tell you all about it, but I would have to kill you all afterwards! [This is a joke, by the way; my membership of a 'secret' organisation is mentioned quite a few times elsewhere in my blog!]).

With a bit of luck ... and a following wind ... I SHOULD be back on track over the weekend, and hopefully I will then have time to complete the very long blog entry about my trip to North America I have already drafted.

And it's home boys home ...

For those regular blog readers that have been wondering why I have not been replying to comments over recent weeks, the answer is ... I have been sailing to North America and back!

I will be writing a long (a very long!) blog entry about my recent cruise sometime soon, and I have managed to visit lots of places that I will be writing special blog entries about.

Before then I will, however, share one of the highlights of the whole experience ... and that was meeting Ross Macfarlane in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He very kindly showed my wife and I around the waterfront area of the city and the massive Citadel that overlooks it, and he made a good day into a great one! I hope that I will be able to reciprocate someday, and to show Ross and his wife around parts of London.

And now it is back to the unpacking ...

Paper Soldiers ... of the Spanish Civil War: Some images

To give regular blog readers some idea how useful and detailed José María Bueno's EL EJERCITO ESPANOL EN PARADA series of paper soldiers were to me, I have photographed the sheets in pairs. To assist readers to identify which unit is which, I have listed the contents of each set first.

Set 1

• Infanteria
• Tiradores de Ifni-Sahara
• Mehal-la Jalifiana
• Bandera de F.E.T. y de las J.O.N.S.
• Infanteria de Marina
• Escolta mora de S.E. el Generalissimo
• Policia Montada de Sevilla
• Caballeria de las Milicias del Requete

Set 3

• Artilleria de Montana
• Artilleria de Montana, Escalon de Municionamiento
• Primer Tercio del Requete Navarro
• Grupo de Regulares de Melilla Numero 2
• Tabor de Caballeria de la Mehal-la
• Marina
• Servicio de Trabajo de F.E.T. y de las J.O.N.S.
• Bandera de Camisas Negras del la Division 'XXIII de Marzo'

Set 4

• Guardia Civil de Infanteria
• Guardia Civil de Caballeria
• Infanteria
• X Bandera de la Legion
• Mehal-la Jalifiana Infanteria
• Bandera de Falange Espanola
• Compania de 'Bersaglieri' Motorizados
• Compania de Carros Ligeros del C.T.V.

Paper Soldiers ... of the Spanish Civil War

Until relatively recently (the last fifteen years or so) information about the Spanish Civil War was limited. Therefore when I was doing the research that culminated in my book, LA ULTIMA CRUZADA, I used whatever resources I could lay my hands on ... including a set of paper soldiers produced in Spain in 1979.

These were not any old paper soldiers; they were drawn by José María Bueno, who was (as far as I know) the greatest authority on Spanish Military uniforms. They paper soldiers (they were printed in full colour on thick card) were sold in sets of eight sheets, and as far as I known there were six sets. The whole series was entitled EL EJERCITO ESPANOL EN PARADA and showed troops as they would have appeared during the Victory Parade in 1939.

I own three of the six sets, Numbers 1, 3, and 4.

Set 1

• Infanteria
• Tiradores de Ifni-Sahara
• Mehal-la Jalifiana
• Bandera de F.E.T. y de las J.O.N.S.
• Infanteria de Marina
• Escolta mora de S.E. el Generalissimo
• Policia Montada de Sevilla
• Caballeria de las Milicias del Requete

Set 3

• Artilleria de Montana
• Artilleria de Montana, Escalon de Municionamiento
• Primer Tercio del Requete Navarro
• Grupo de Regulares de Melilla Numero 2
• Tabor de Caballeria de la Mehal-la
• Marina
• Servicio de Trabajo de F.E.T. y de las J.O.N.S.
• Bandera de Camisas Negras del la Division 'XXIII de Marzo'

Set 4

• Guardia Civil de Infanteria
• Guardia Civil de Caballeria
• Infanteria
• X Bandera de la Legion
• Mehal-la Jalifiana Infanteria
• Bandera de Falange Espanola
• Compania de 'Bersaglieri' Motorizados
• Compania de Carros Ligeros del C.T.V.

I found these paper soldiers to be invaluable when I was doing my research, and they have pride of place in my collection of books and documents relating to the Spanish Civil War.

The 'Ever-Victorious Army'

Living where I do (near to the old Royal Military Academy, Woolwich) I have a historical interest in the 'old boys' of the Academy, and especially Charles George Gordon, who was born less than half a mile away from my home.

Although Gordon saw action in the Crimean War as an officer of the Royal Engineers, he made his name as a military leader in China when he was placed in command of what was known as the 'Ever-Victorious Army'. This was a force of Chinese soldiers that had been raised by the Imperial Chinese Government to help put down the Taiping Rebellion, and who were trained and led by European and American officers. The 'Army' regularly defeated forces of rebels that were much larger than it, and played a major part in bringing the rebellion to an end. After his service with the 'Ever-Victorious Army', Gordon was always known by the sobriquet of 'Chinese' Gordon.

I was given my copy of THE 'EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY' (written by Andrew Wilson and first published by William Blackwood and Sons in 1868; republished in 1991 by Greenhill Books [ISBN 1 85367 089 8]) by Trebian in exchange for some books about the Spanish Civil War.

The author, Andrew Wilson, was an authority on Chinese matters, and besides having written ENGLAND'S POLICY IN CHINA he had served as editor of the 'China Mail' newspaper. As is typical of the period when it was written, this book is extremely detailed, and I doubt if many modern authors would give such an in-depth explanation of the culture of China and its effect upon the ways in which the Chinese interacted with foreigners.

This is not a book for someone who just wants to wargame the battles of the Taiping Rebellion; it is far too detailed for that. If, however, a reader wants to understand how and why the rebellion broke out and how it was finally defeated, this book will certainly meet their needs.

The Drums of the Fore and Aft

I have recently been re-reading some of Rudyard Kipling’s short stories and one that particularly struck a note with me was THE DRUMS OF THE FORE AND AFT.

The story is about a British infantry battalion (the wonderfully named ‘The Fore and Fit Princess Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen-Anspach's Merther-Tydfilshire Own Royal Loyal Light Infantry’) that has served for many years in India, but which has not seen active service during that time. During a period of unrest on the North West Frontier, the battalion is sent to form part of a brigade – along with battalions from a Highland Regiment and a Gurkha Regiment – to mount a punitive raid into Afghanistan. Although the battalion is physically fit and keen to get into battle, it lacks experience from the top down.

The ‘drums’ mentioned in the title of the story are two drummer boys, Jakin and Lew (an interesting choice of names!). They are renown throughout the regiment for their bad behaviour (swearing, smoking, and fighting) and are generally disliked by the other drummers in the Regimental Band. They are only allowed to accompany the battalion on campaign after they manage to persuade the colonel to permit them to do so.

Once on campaign the battalion discovers that fighting the Afghans is much more difficult than expected. The terrain is dry and harsh, and the constant sniping begins to take its toll on the men and the morale of the battalion. When the battalion finally gets to grips with the enemy in a set-piece battle, it is allocated the central position in the brigade.

During its advance the inexperience of the officers and men leads them to make mistakes, and the battalion ends up in close combat with the Afghans. The fighting is terrible … and the battalion’s morale cracks and the men begin to fall back. Several officers try to stem the flight, but are either killed by the Afghans or retreat with their men.

Amongst those left behind by the retreat are Jakin and Lew, who can best be described as ‘having taken drink’. Not knowing what else to do, the drummers begin marching up and down in full sight of both the Afghans and the battalion playing ‘The British Grenadiers’. The sight of this apparent disregard for the enemy and sheer bravery on the part of the two drummer boys helps the battalion to regain its morale, and it returns to the attack with such vigour that the Afghans flee. Unfortunately the two ‘heroes’ are killed by Afghan rife fire before the rest of the battalion reach them, and their bodies are buried at the head of the battalion’s mass grave for the fallen of the battle.

The events of the story are not true … but at the same time they do reflect the sort of actions (and reactions) British infantry regiments experienced on the North West Frontier. The full text of the story is available online at Project Gutenberg as part of Rudyard Kipling's SOLDIER STORIES, and I thoroughly recommend reading it.

Storing my Memoir '44 stuff

Over recent months I have acquired quite a lot of MEMOIR '44 stuff, and I realised that it was becoming difficult to store. I therefore decided to store everything in some storage boxes from REALLY USEFUL BOXES and S B WESTON that I already owned, as a result of which all my MEMOIR '44 stuff takes up far less room. It is also far more portable than it used to be should I wish to take it to an 'away' wargame.

The terrain boards (two complete 'normal' sets and a 'Breakthrough' set) fit neatly into a REALLY USEFUL 14 litre box.

The playing pieces and the terrain tiles are stored in small WESTONBOXES inside a REALLY USEFUL 9 litre box.

The Command Cards, Dice, and the Card Holders are also stored in small WESTONBOXES inside a REALLY USEFUL 4 litre box.

The rules and scenario booklets fit into a plastic display folder.

The whole lot, when stacked together, looks neat and tidy ... and can be easily carried.

The guns of HMS Gannet: 5-inch BLR Gun

When her 64-pounder MLR guns were removed, HMS Gannet was rearmed with two Ordnance Breech Loading 5" Mk.III Guns. The latter was used as the main armament of many of the Royal Navy's smaller 'cruising' ships (i.e. sloops, corvettes, gunboats, and third-class cruisers) during the latter part of the nineteenth century and it remained in service (albeit obsolete) until 1918.

The gun was introduced into service during the 1880s to replace the muzzle loading guns that were then in use, and it was originally designed to use gunpowder charges. During its service it went through a number of Marks (I to V) but all of them had similar characteristics. The gun fired a 50-pound shell and had a range of 8,700 yards.

The gun was also used to arm some coastal defence positions, and during the Boer War a number of guns were mounted on obsolete 40-pounder RML gun carriages to form part of the British Army's siege artillery train in South Africa.

The gun was replaced in general service by the 4.7-inch QF Gun.

The guns of HMS Gannet: 7-inch MLR Gun

The main armament of HMS Gannet was the 7-inch MLR (Muzzle Loading Rifled) gun. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, this gun was used aboard a large number of the Royal Navy's ships as well as being a mainstay of the coastal defence artillery.

This weapon was designed by the Royal Gun Factory, Woolwich, and first entered service in 1865. The original design (the Mark I) proved to be very reliable, and over the years improved version of the weapon were introduced. The ones shown above are Mark IIIs.

The 7-inch MLR fired a shell that weighed between 112 pounds and 160 pounds (depending upon the type of shell) and had a maximum range of 5,000 yards.