Land Ship: A tank.
Lewis Machine Gun: air cooled, using a circular magazine cartridge holding 48 rounds each. Lighter and more portable than the Vickers.
Linseed Lancer: Slang for a stretcher bearer of the RAMC.
Look Stick: Slang for a trench periscope.
Luftstreitkräfte: The German Airforce formed in October 1916, previously known as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches – the Imperial German Flying Corps.
Mills Bomb: Pineapple-shaped British hand grenade, armed by pulling a pin and releasing the trigger lever.
Minniewerfer: German trench mortar shell.
MO: Medical Officer.
NCO: Non Commissioned Officer; a sergeant major, sergeant or corporal.
Neurasthenia: Contemporary medical term to describe emotional shell shock, less charitably seen as a ‘weakness of the nerves.’
No Man’s Land: Area of land between the two opposing Front Lines.
OP: Observation Post.
QM: Quartermaster.
Parados: Raised defensive wall of earth or sandbags along the rear of the trench to help disperse explosions behind the line.
Parapet: Raised defence of earth or sandbags at the front of a trench to provide cover for those on the firestep.
PH Helmet: Phenate-Hexamine Helmet. Early type of full-head gas mask. Not so much a helmet as a flannel hood soaked in neutralising chemicals, and a mouth tube and distinctive non-return red rubber valve for exhalation.
Picklehaub: German full-dress helmet and ornamented with a spike on top. A very desirable souvenir.
Platoon: A quarter of an infantry company, commanded by a Subaltern. Consisting of 48 men divide into four sections.
Plum Pudding: Nickname for a type of British trench mortar round.
Port: The left side of a vessel or ship.
Puttee: Khaki cloth band wound round the calf from the knee to the ankle.
RAMC: Royal Army Medical Corps, often summoned with the well-worn yell, “stretcher bearer!” Uncharitably also said to stand for Rob All My Comrades.
Red Tabs: Slang for staff officers, after the red tabs worn on the collars of their tunics.
Revetment: Any material used to strengthen a trench wall against collapse; wooden planking, brushwood wattling, corrugated iron, etc.
RFC: Royal Flying Corps of the British Army.
Sap: A communications trench that runs out from an already existing trench to an emplacement, kitchen, latrine or stores.
Section: A quarter of a platoon, usually consisting of 12 men in the charge of an NCO.
SMLE: Short Magazine Lee Enfield. Standard issue British rifle, with a 10-round magazine.
Sponson: The side-mounted gun turret of a tank, taken from the naval term. The Mark I ‘male’ tank had no central-mounted roof turret, like later tanks, but two side-mounted sponsons, one on either side. Each sponson was armed with a six-pounder gun and a Hotchkiss machine gun.
Stand To: Stand to Arms. Highest state of alert when all men should be ready for immediate action, weapons at the ready. Occurred regularly in the trenches at dawn and dusk to repel any attempted attacks.
Starboard: The right side of a vessel or ship.
Subaltern: Or Sub; a commissioned officer under the rank of captain; first or second lieutenant.
Tankodrome: A tank park and workshops behind the lines where maintenance and repairs can be carried out.
Toffee Apple: nickname for a type of British trench mortar bomb.
Traverse: Thick sandbag partition built in trenches to prevent enfilading enemy fire and to limit the effect of any explosions. In fire trenches they were used to create fire bays. Also; purpose-built changes in angle of direction in any trench to achieve the same effect.
VAD: Voluntary Aid Detachment, women volunteers providing auxiliary nursing assistance to the Red Cross and registered nurses.
Very Light: A white or coloured flare fired from a Very Pistol. Used for signalling or illumination at night.
Vickers Machine gun: Water-cooled, belt-fed machine gun. Heavy and bulky, but more accurate than the Lewis.
Whizz-Bang: A German 77mm high velocity shell.
Windy: Or to have the wind-up; apprehensive or anxious about a situation.
Wipers: Tommies’ name for the town of Ypres, in Belgium.
Woolly Bear: The distinctive smoke burst of a German high explosive shrapnel shell.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank all those people who have helped bring the true story of ‘The Broughtonthwaite Mates’ to light. As ever, I am indebted to the members of the Broughtonthwaite Historical Society for their tireless efforts in collating the new information that has come to light since the publication of the first book. I would also like to thank Robert Scotton of the Media Museum North, for an insight into the work and career of the kinematographer Oliver Hepton, including his early pre-World War One erotica. I am grateful to Elizabeth Thompson of the National Archives for helping to trace the RFC service record of Lieutenant James Tulliver. I must also thank Jon, Jenni, David, Ben, Simon and Michael at Abaddon Books. Without their enthusiasm and unstinting support for this project, it wouldn’t have happened. Once again, I must thank my wife, Penny, for her continuing love and support. Finally, I would like to thank all those descendents of the men of the 13th Battalion of the Pennine Fusiliers who spoke to me, still hoping that the truth about the fate of their loved ones will come to light.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pat Kelleher is a freelance writer. He has written for magazines, animation and radio. He served his time writing for a wide variety of TV licensed characters, translating them into audio books, novels and comics. Yes, he’s written for that. And that. And even, you know, them. He has several non-fiction books to his credit and his educational strips and stories for the RSPB currently form the mainstays of their Youth publications. Somehow he has steadfastly managed to avoid all those careers and part-time jobs that look so good on a dust jacket.
‘Black Hand Gang’ by Pat Kelleher
On November 1st, 1916, nine-hundred men of the 13th Battalion of The Pennine Fusiliers vanished without trace from the battlefield, only to find themselves stranded on an alien planet. There they must learn to survive in a frightening and hostile environment, forced to rely on dwindling supplies of ammo and rations as the natives of this strange new world begin to take an interest. However, the aliens amongst them are only the first of their worries, as a sinister and arcane threat begins to take hold from within their own ranks!