HEREFORD VBCW CAMPAIGN - TOPOGRAPHY AND STATE OF PLAY

Some jolly useful maps to help make cartographic sense of the present state of the Hereford 1938 VBCW campaign. First up, a useful general map showing the rivers and elevations of the entire County:

Map 1 - Topography

North is "up". Having broken the Siege Lines around Kington, Comrade Colonel Professor Winters' Communist troops have surged confidently westward, roughly alone the course of the River Arrow, only to be checked at Leominster. Leominster itself has fallen to the forces of the newly declared Social Democratic Republic of Bromyard, advancing west to east. The Anglicans, advancing southward from Ludlow (not shown above) had been expecting to take Leominster themselves. However, at the critical moment, their forces were drawn off into Shropshire, in defence of Evesham, with only light Anglican "screening forces" being left to the north of Leominster. Government forces have retreated southward to the hastily created "Dinmore Hill Line" between Leominster and Hereford itself.

Next up, a handy computer graphic of the same area:

Map 2 - Computer Generated

Ludlow, the home of Herefordshire Anglicanism "in exile" following the defeat and imprisonment of the Bishop of Hereford by Government forces early in the Hereford VBCW campaign, is shown on this map. Note can also be taken of Ross on Wye, the home of another Anglican army in the south of the County under the command of Captain "Teddy" Jermingham. The south has been relatively quiet of late, Jermingham having been held up by the construction of the "De Braose Line" at the order of Edward VIII's "Lord Warden of the Marches".

Comparison of the two maps allows battlefield reconstruction of both the "Dinmore Hill Line" and the "De Braose Line".

The "Dinmore Hill Line" lies to the north of Hereford, running east - west from Dinmore Hill to Burton Hill (Map 1) with Credenhill to its rear (Map 2).

The "De Braose Line" lies to the south of Hereford, running east - west along the line of natural elevations (Map 2) - Orcop, Aconbury and Woolhope - (Map 1)

Lord de Braose, Lord Warden of the Marches and Edward VIII's Governor of Hereford, is therefore in danger of being literally "boxed in" by Opposition forces. His lifeline, however, is that the BUF are in the process of significantly re-inforcing Ledbury, ensuring that supplies can be got through east-west from Gloucestershire to embattled Hereford via the A438.

Time for a road map of the present "theatre of war":

Map 3 - the "Theatre of War"

The A438/A417 running east-west from Ledbury to Hereford is shown here. At present, this road forms the "backbone" of Government controlled Herefordshire.

The newly founded Bromyard Republic has unexpectedly (but dramatically) expanded its sovereign territory by capturing Leominster, thus taking control of the east-west "A44 axis".

The Anglicans "A49 thrust" south from Ludlow towards Hereford has been checked on the northern outskirts of Leominster.

The Communists advance west - east along the approximate lines of the A4112 and B4362 has stalled on the western outskirts of Leominster.

So what to make of it all? Recent opinion pieces by certain senior Fleet Street war correspondents (Messrs. Featherstone and Scruby) have sketched out the strategic possibilities:

(1). although apparently impressive on paper, the "Dinmore Hill Line" has been only hastily constructed. While it supposedly contains "strongpoints" atop Dinmore Hill and Burton Hill (Map 1) the lower lying land between the two hills (Map 2 - instantly christened "the Dinmore Gap") is undoubtedly a weak point. Government propagandists have pointed out that "the Dinmore Gap" may instead be a perfect place for a strong Government counter attack along the A4410 (Map 3) against Communist forces;

(2). there is a possibility that the forces of the newly founded Social Democratic Republic of Bromyard could use their geographical position (Map 1) to outflank the "Dinmore Hill Line" entirely, sweeping down upon Hereford from the higher ground around Bromyard (Map 2) along the A465 (Map 3). However...

(3). the same Government propagandists have pointed out that the strong and increasing presence of the BUF in Ledbury will hold the Bromyardistas in "strategic check" (Map 1). It is unlikely, they insist, that even "the Bogeyman of Bromyard" (aka Councillor Dribblesnot, the "flame haired founding father of the Republic") will expose his left flank to the BUF in a drive on Hereford, or so weaken his own defensive lines around Bromyard to risk the fall of the Republic itself to BUF forces. These matters, together with the fact that the shadowy "Malvern Hill Conservators" have yet to declare their hand in relation to their neighbouring Bromyardistas must, so goes the argument, prohibit any advance by Dribblesnot towards Hereford;

(4). in any event, point out the Government, the fall of Leominster to the Bromyard Republic "must throw the Opposition Factions into chaos". For the first time, Communist troops are directly "facing off" against Anglicans and Social Democrats around and to the north of Leominster. There is (at least at present) no alliance between any of these factions, and the prospects of "internecine conflict" must therefore be very real.....

Note: for those wishing to study the County's cartography in greater detail, click on the "Maps" label.