THE KINGS HEAD and HEINS & CO., HEREFORD

For some period of time now, careful VBCW researchers have been logging "architectural losses" from Hereford's 1930s townscape - see, for example, THIS POST on the Imperial Cafe of St Peter Street, a gathering place for many HM Government loyalists during the VBCW.

Contemporary photographs of HM Queen Mary's 1937 drive through the City showed a view of the Kings Head Public House (and Hotel) on the corner of Broad Street and West Street, together with the shop premises of Heins & Co., a well known retailer. Some better views here:

The Kings Head (on the left, with interesting late Victorian corner tower),
nestled next to Heins & Co. (also on the left, with patriotic flags). A classic
Edwardian gentleman - in boater and three piece suit - stares down the
 cameraman - behind him, All Saint's Church.

Another view of the King's Head, looking down the West Street facade (on the left)

Sadly, the King's Head (and Heins) have now disappeared from Hereford's townscape, and - most would agree - not to the City's architectural advantage:

The same corner of Broad Street and West Street, January 2023.
Replacement of late Victorian elegance with ghastly 1960s pre fab concrete.
The premises of Heins & Co. (on right) have received the same treatment.

A reverse view from the corner of High Town and Broad Street. This is pretty much the same
angle (but from the ground rather than the first floor) captured by the 1937 photographer HERE
Gone are the King's Head and Heins & Co (Greggs now occupy their former retail space) -
Pleasance & Harper and the newsagents still occupy original buildings as per the 1937 townscape.

Clearly, it is unimaginable that a local planning authority would allow the destruction of a fine building like the King's Head and its replacement (or vandalisation) by pre-fab concrete. On this basis, the argument rages, it is much more likely that the King's Head (and Heins) were the victims of some awful passage of arms during the Hereford VBCW....

It is some architectural consolation that All Saints stills stands, unchanged
However, no three piece suits and boaters in this present day photograph!

Add edit: A charabanc with day trippers outside the Kings Head, 1925:

BRITISH ARMY WEAPONS - RECOILESS RIFLES

It appears that (at least in one time line) the British Army only adopted the Recoilless Rifle in 1953 - see this entertaining Pathe Newsreel HERE. In this respect, the Army was clearly slow to adopt the lessons of the Hereford VBCW, and the Presteigne Communists use of the same technology mounted on PMW 1.5 ton trucks. The Army finally mounted its own "Wombat" RCLs on stripped down Land Rovers ...

For further "new weapons" of the British Army in 1953, see this Pathe Newsreel HERE. This has a Very British commentary to enjoy, a Very British approach reinforced (in both newsreels) by the central importance of "the tie" to the ordinary infantryman.....

QUEEN MARY VISITS HEREFORD 1937

After THIS POST on the potential pivotal importance of Queen Mary in the VBCW, a short reflection on Queen Mary's (equally short) visit to Hereford on 29th July 1937, as filmed by British Pathe:

and Pathe's great newsreel rival, Gaumont:

The Pathe film demonstrates that Queen Mary had not quite developed the art of the "Royal Walkabout" - so far as can be seen (in both films), she didn't even leave the Royal car ! That said, the Pathe film has some very interesting shots of the Victoria Suspension Bridge, the first female Mayor of Hereford (Luisa Luard) and the full Local Government ceremonial (Sword Bearer, "Liveried Men", Remembrancer in wig, etc.). For more detail on the VBCW local government background, see the Bishop of Ludlow's post HERE.

Although the newsreels don't mention it, it appears that as well as visiting Bishops Meadow, Queen Mary's car procession passed through the centre of Hereford:

2 photographs labelled "Queen Mary's visit to Hereford 1937", taken from
the first floor of the building on the junction between High Town and Broad Street.
Top photo shows Heins & Co.'s premises (now demolished) next to the (also now demolished)
 King's Head pub, looking down towards the Green Dragon Hotel. The entrance to the City Arms
Hotel can just be seen on the left. Bottom photo shows High Town and Marks & Spencers
store (now Boots, M&S having relocated 'across the way').

Another two photos from the same series. A full view of the City Arms Hotel (now a bank,
completely unchanged in facade, but internally completely redeveloped); another view of
the (now lost) Heins & Co. and King's Head.

For those visiting Hereford (obviously on VBCW researches) the Bishops Meadow memorial stone unveiled by Queen Mary is still in exactly the same place today:

[Note: In contrast to her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II had clearly fully developed the "Royal Walkabout" by the time of her own visit to Hereford only twenty years later. See the newsreel footage of the 1957 visit HERE, and the entertaining amateur "cine film" of the same visit on the Bishop of Ludlow's blog HERE]

RED FRONT TECHNICALS !

In yet another bid to restore the battered reputation of the Communists in Herefordshire, Commissar Moody of the Presteigne "Bureau Desinformatziya" has opened the "Presteigne Motor Show and International Sales Exhibition", a trade gathering devoted to the technical superiority of all Communist made products, including the famous PMW 1.5 ton truck. 

New models of the "PMW" entering service with the Communist 2nd and 3rd Shock Armies have been armed in a variety of interesting ways:

PMW 1.5 ton trucks with "20mm Oerlikon Cannon"

These PMW "Technicals" did useful service with Comrade Colonel Knokisblokov's 2nd Shock Army
at the Autumn Big Game 2021. Guns and drivers converted (and ancient) Tudor Rose plastics.
Gunners converted from the OOP PSC 28mm Soviet Infantry

These PMW "Technicals" are fresh from the factory floor. Drivers ancient "Tudor Rose" plastics;

Heavy Machine Gun and Gunner from a modern plastic USMC playset.

Another view. The USMC gunners were so "indistinctly modelled"
that there is no problem passing them off as 1938 Soviets!

The "heavy boys" - PMWs with Recoiless Rifles (of the 3rd Shock Army)
Drivers Tudor Rose again; guns converted from a cheap plastic Hong Kong WW2 joblot.
There is some speculation as to the calibre of these "Red RCLs", ranging from "75mm to 175mm".
However, as the entirety of the Hereford VBCW deals only in Imperial Measures (obviously)
this is completely meaningless to most.

The gathering of Soviet "Technicals" from the 2nd and 3rd Shock Armies respectively
at the Presteigne Motor Show and International Sales Exhibition.
Death to Fascism! On to Hereford!
All power to Comrade Colonel Professor Winters and the Presteigne Soviet !

RED FRONT TANK POWER !

In an effort to restore the Communist position in Herefordshire after the "Disaster at Dinmore", Comrade Moody of the Presteigne "Bureau Desinformatziya" has released these images of a "new Soviet Tank design" recently delivered in some numbers to Comrade Colonel Professor Winter's Second and Third Shock Armies:

The new design - a Mk.3A produced by Presteigne's
"Popular Revolutionary Organisation Light Engineering Yard No.1"

hence propularly known as a "Proley Tank" Mk.3A

The comrades have been working overtime to produce as many tanks as possible..

..and succeeding. This Tank "Brigade" will be of significant help to
Comrade Colonel Professor Winters as he attempts to "stablise the lines"
following the Disaster at Dinmore..

Comrade Moody has assured his contacts in Fleet Street that all Soviet tank designs have been thoroughly tested for battle:

[Notes] For the background and origin of the "Proley Tank", see this POST....

"COBBER" KAIN & THE CORONATION AIR PAGEANT 1937

 After the last "colourised photo" blogpost, an overdue riposte to restore the Very British balance:

A colourised photograph of F/O Newell "Fanny" Orton and F/O Edgar "Cobber" Kain DFC
relaxing between sorties, France 1940. The RAF uniforms are perhaps a little too blue, rather
than grey/blue, but a noble effort at colourisation all the same. The photograph must post-date
March 1940, as "Cobber" wears his DFC ribbon, awarded in that month. Orton is 'ribbonless"
in this photo, but was to receive his DFC in May 1940, and a bar in July 1940.

The original photograph. In true 1930s Very British style, Orton was raised in
Warwickshire, and Kain in New Zealand. By the end of their campaigns in France,
the two were the highest scoring "aces" of No.73 Squadron, companion to No.1 Squadron
in 67 Wing, Advanced Air Striking Force ("AASF").

Another colourisation - Kain leans against his Hurricane ("Paddy III") in France,  late 1939.
Here, his colourised RAF uniform is "just right".

A popular hero. This edition of "Modern World" dates to 27th April 1940,
with Kain being promoted as "Britain's Air Ace No.1".

Unfortunately, both Kain and Orton would be dead within 18 months of the "colourised photograph" being taken. Kain (aged 21) was killed in a aerobatic accident on 7th June 1940, just as he prepared to leave France for the UK. Orton, wounded on 15th May 1940 when his Hurricane was shot down and thereafter repatriated to the UK before the end of the Battle of France, was subsequently appointed as Squadron Leader of No.54 Squadron and lost (aged 26) in an offensive "sweep" across France by the Hornchurch Wing on 17th September 1941.

And what does all this have to do with the Hereford VBCW, 1938?

Well, before No.73 Squadron flew Hurricanes, the squadron was equipped with Gloster Gladiators (re-equipment seems to have taken place in May 1938, making No.73 one of the earliest RAF squadrons to fly Hurricanes). Flying Gladiators, "Cobber" Kain and 73 Squadron took part in the 1937 Coronation Air Pageant at Hendon. Thankfully (for all VBCW fans) the news cameras were there :  see this stirring Pathe News 1937 Film of the 1937 Coronation Air Pageant, and cross- reference with this alternative version of the same event - another Pathe News 1937 Film. For followers of Edward VIII (then Prince of Wales), you can see him landing and getting out of his plane at the earlier (1934) Hendon Air Display HERE.

We have a very good idea of the "colours and markings" of Cobber Kain's pre-war Gladiator from the Shuttleworth Collection's own Gladiator - still flying above Bedfordshire - repainted in Kain's 1937 Coronation Air Pageant markings (K7985):

Cobber Kain's 1937/1938 Gladiator - Shuttleworth Collection

The same Gladiator was subsequently re-issued by Airfix in "Cobber" Kain's pre-war markings (now OOP, but still available on the 2nd hand market):

The Airfix 1/72 Kit of the Shuttleworth Collection - and therefore Cobber Kain's - pre war Gladiator.

So we know what aircraft "Cobber" would have been flying in 1938 (obviously before re-equipment of his squadron, no doubt delayed by the outbreak of the VBCW), but we have no idea which side, if any, No.73 Squadron would have taken upon the outbreak of "our" Civil War. Still, it is not hard to imagine a young "colonial" like Cain continuing to support "his King" and stunting above Herefordshire, perhaps crossing swords (or machine guns) across the tabletop with Herefordshire's premier aviator, Randolph Trafford, in a 1/72 battle for air supremacy....

Notes:

[1]. "Cobber" Kain's WIKI page is HERE. His body is buried at the Choloy Military Cemetary, near Nancy. "Fanny" Orton's WIKI page is HERE. He has no known grave.

[2]. For the Shuttleworth Collection's WIKI page, see HERE, For the history of the Shuttleworth Collection's Gladiators, see HERE.

[3]. The second Pathe News Film of 1937 contains rare footage [at 3.36 on] of two very new "RAF types" - the Supermarine Spitfire and its "fighter interceptor" competitor, the Vickers Venom.

[4]. For those who insist on the "latest kit" for the VBCW, or wish to meddle in France 1940 wargames, Corgi also issued a (diecast) 1/72 version of "Cobber" Kain's 1940 Hurricane, Paddy III, within their "Aviation Archive" series:

[5]. Add edit - Matchbox's long OOP version of the Gladiator was also issued in No.73 markings, but with number K7984 rather than Cobber's K7985. Still, an ideal companion piece for the 1937 1/72 Coronation Air Pageant!

IMPERIAL FASCIST LEAGUE

Somewhere around Charing Cross in London, sometime around 1930 or so, a rather disturbing sight for passing pedestrians going about their everyday business:

Swastika superimposed upon the Union Jack, c. 1930.

An even more disturbing image when colourised:

It appears that the lady Standard Bearer was none other than Mrs Leese, wife of "the Leader" of the Imperial Fascist League, Arnold Leese, camel vet and vicious anti-Semite. Arnold Leese was no admirer of Mosley and the BUF, labelling them as "kosher fascists". Full wiki bio HERE

[Hereford VBCW Note : Anglicans will remember how the Company of St. Michael, featured HERE, had to withdraw from Malvern at the beginning of the Hereford VBCW, by reason of the presence (amongst others) of the "British Fascisti" in the town. Leese was a member of the British Fascisti until 1928, when he left to found the Imperial Fascist League. See the wiki entry HERE. As the British Fascisti (or British Fascists) ceased to exist on a national basis in or about 1934, it is presently unclear whether the Malvern Fascists were a last remnant of the organisation, or Imperial Fascists, or an as yet undiscovered "fascist groupuscule". In any event, they were certainly independent of Mosley's BUF.] 

SHINY STUFF - PLASTIC 28mm REVIEWS

Well, not exactly "shiny stuff" - none of the figures are recently released, and all of them are plastic. However, Anton's Wargames Blog, one of the blogs on our Blog List (to the right of these posts) has compiled an extensive (and lavishly illustrated) list of reviews of a lot of the 28mm figure releases over the last few years from the Perries, Wargames Factory, Wargames Atlantic, Victrix etc. - see HERE. Definitely the most useful (and best illustrated) list of reviews available on the web, even if a lot of the sets are not specifically relevant to the VBCW. Those that are, however:

(1). German Sentries

Most obviously useful, with appropriate "side cap heads", as BUF or, in original helmets, as "German Auxiliaries". See HERE and Anton's photographs and review HERE.

(2). French Resistance

Drop the Sten Guns and Schmeissers, replace the Bren Guns with Lewis Guns (if you're fastidious), avoid the French style berets and stick with the plentiful "bowlers, caps and trilbies" heads - and there's lots of scope for various types of VBCW militia in 1930s civilian clothing. See HERE and Anton's photographs and review HERE.

(3). WW2 Italians

Mussolini's "Ice Cream Intervention" in the Hereford VBCW is, of course, well known - this set is perfect for assembling an "Italian Intervention Force". See Anton's photographs and review HERE.

(4). French Infantry 1916 - 1940

VBCW Anglicans tend to be "French uniformed and equipped", so this set is especially useful for the Anglican League. See Anton's photographs and review HERE.

Otherwise, browsing amongst the sets that are not obviously useful for the VBCW can always throw up ideas or information. Anton's "Plastic Horse Size Comparison" PHOTO is useful, and for those building a "VBCW "Non Aligned Farmer's Force", the Great Escape Games' "Gunfighters Set" (with dynamite sticks, shotguns, long coats, waistcoats etc.) looks eminently convertible, possibly with some replacement heads, for "Leaders, Characters and Specialists".........

Gunfighters Sprue. Photo from Anton's Wargames Blog

HEREFORD 1938

A variety of Hereford sights c. 1938, helpfully arranged on the one postcard:

Save for the demolition of Sully's Garage and subsequent redevelopment of that area (centre photo, see HERE), all of these sights are pretty much the same to this day. This may (or may not) be due to Major General Everard's successful defence of the City from hordes of raw Communist levies...

[Notes]

(1). Visitors may now take in "live views" of the River Wye from a camera situated on the Sully's Garage redevelopment by heading over HERE.

RESPONSES TO THE DINMORE DISASTER - PRESTEIGNE COMMUNIST POSTERS (2)

After the entire destruction of a Communist Field Army at Hope under Dinmore, the narrow escape from captivity of Comrade Winter and the evaporation of all immediate hopes of a Communist takeover of Hereford itself, the Presteigne "Bureau Desinformatizya" (Comrade Moody, prop.) has been busy putting out "reassuring messages concentrating on core values":

Meanwhile, save for uncontrollable gusts of giggling at Winter's discomfiture, the reaction of every other faction in the Hereford VBCW to the massacre of the Communists is perhaps best summed up by this RSM of His Majesty's Forces:

SPRING BIG GAME 2023 - DISASTER AT DINMORE (2)

It was now the height of the battle:

Hope under Dinmore, looking north (towards Marlbrook).
Government forces have destroyed Communist resistance
within the village and are advancing rapidly...

The Royalists are now well past the churchyard, BUF Cavalry screening ahead
and an AT Gun being brought up in support...

BUF Infantry race forward on the left flank, following the railway line.

On the right flank, the OFSTED tank races forward.
This is no longer a battle, but an armoured steeplechase...

The BUF in full cry on the left flank.
The Communist 'second line' is easily breached...

Run, Bill, run! A BUF tankette attempts to run down Comrade Winter and his HQ,
who take cover behind a small hedge.

The infamous "Times" photo of Comrade Winter's predicament.
His last forces, behind another hedge, encourage him to "make a break for it"

Go on Bill! The last of the Communist armour sacrifices itself
to ease Winter's predicament. The Communist AT gun has
now been destroyed by infantry fire, and its tows retreat,
hoping to pick up "the Chief" on their way.

                       Winter will make the van pick up and narrowly avoid the ignominy of capture.

                                                      Lets go! Put your foot down, comrade!

The end. Government armour is everywhere, and Winter exiting by van.
The Communist forces have been destroyed, and soon the Government
will be advancing on to Marlbrook, saving the Chocolate Factory
from the joint forces of the Anglicans and Bromyard Republicans.

A smashing Government victory and a disaster for the cause of Herefordshire Communism - upon the news reaching Moscow, it is said that a certain personage made his feelings clear:

Winter? That loser! Pah ! The dustbin of history!

Notwithstanding Comrade Stalin's evident disapproval, Winter has been in worse predicaments and is a proven survivor. This is, after all, the man who escaped from the equally disastrous First Battle of Ledbury by "hiding under a bridge". He still has at least two Shock Armies in the field, screening the Anglican front, a solid industrial base in the Presteigne Motor Works and, according to Government informers, will have very shortly "a vast amount of Red Cavalry". There will come another day, and still there are things to look forward to:

At the conclusion of play, the 1/1 scale Comrade Colonel Professor Winter (Rob) receives
 the Umpires' award (a genuine 1937 "Coronation Cup")  for "Player playing most
in the spirit of the VBCW". We are not downhearted! Meanwhile, back in Presteigne...

The 1/55 Commissar Moody, Chief of Winter's "Bureau Desinformatziya" desperately 
spins the Battle of Dinmore as simply "a retrograde victory" for the cause of Communism.
He will have much work to do in the next few months..

[Note] With many thanks to all who contributed photographs for these Spring Big Game 2023 Battle Reports. On to the Autumn Big Game 2023, VBCW Chaps !

SPRING BIG GAME 2023 - DISASTER AT DINMORE (1)

Comrade Colonel Professor Winter's hasty advance from Leominster to the (ironically named, as it turned out) village of Hope under Dinmore, disdaining the "debauched capitalist distraction" of the Cadbury's Chocolate Factory at Marlbrook in the hope of breaking through the "Dinmore Hill Line" and capturing Hereford, has entered VBCW legend as the "Disaster at Dinmore". 

Quite why the "Disaster at Dinmore" took place is still a matter of debate. Contemporaneous military commentators in Fleet Street (Messrs. Featherstone and Scruby, etc.) pointed to Winter's lack of heavy weaponry and, critically, lack of training of his raw Communist levies. Others claimed that Winter's adoption of a "high line" - including the village of Hope under Dinmore itself - was the key tactical factor. The consensus of opinion, however, identifies the preparations of Major (as he then was) Everard, C-in-C Government Forces, as critical. In a manoeuvre reminiscent of the Great Duke's tactics of the "reverse slope", Everard had concealed a decisive build up of HMG military might behind the Dinmore Hill Line : his own well trained Royalists, a second Royalist Platoon heavy in armour, and an additional well - trained BUF Platoon including cavalry. All were led by highly experienced and, as it turned out, extremely aggressive commanders. With Winter's Communists surprised, outnumbered and outgunned, the result was a gift to Government war photographers:

The outskirts of Hope - under - Dinmore, hastily garrisoned by the Communists.
Royalist infantry and armour move forward from the woods.

On the left flank, a powerful advance guard of BUF Cavalry (the "Ironhooves") support a tankette

On the right flank, Senior Cadet Macken-Chees's "OFSTED" tank leads off the
Hereford Auxiliary Reserve Division ("H.A.R.D.") and the (Literally) Blue Division

Communist troops in Hope under Dinmore, supported by a mortar.

More Communists in Hope under Dinmore, preparing to fortify a house.
Great store is placed by Winters in a "surprise weapon" fashioned
out of a captured Cadbury's tanker convoy, foreground.

The captured Cadbury's tanker convoy, Winters and his HQ in the foreground left.
What can he be planning?

Perhaps a "holding action" in Hope under Dinmore, followed by
a tactical retirement to a 'second line' centred on a concealed AT gun (with tows)?

Another view of the AT gun and tows.

Left flank of the Communist "second defence line". A light tank lies in wait.

Right flank of the Communist 'second defence line' - another light tank, riflemen and mortar.

Royalists right flank Hope under Dinmore, OFSTED tank in the lead.

Major (as he then was) Everard (khaki helmet, red bandana, waving pistol)
organises his troops. A second Government tank moves forward.

Boomps a daisy! Yet another Government tank crashes over the church fence into 
Hope under Dinmore. Royalist sailors and infantry in support.

Comrade Colonel Professor Winter's HQ is being outflanked. His Platoon takes cover...

Time to use the 'wonder weapon' ? BUF infantry advance towards the stolen Cadbury's tanker...

...as the BUF "Iron Hooves" canter forward in support....

Winter's stolen Cadbury's Tanker explodes, splattering molten "chocolate crumb"
across the roadway. But disaster! The BUF Infantry are past, and the Ironhooves evade without loss.

Royalist armour sweeps through Hope under Dinmore, crushing
all Communist resistance.....

With his forces crushed in the centre and flanked both left and right, it was time for Comrade Winter to formulate a new, and infinitely cunning, battleplan:

Beep, beep! Winter's inspiration for his next moves...