BURBERRY AND BULLET PROOF

During the First World War (still known as "The Great War" to inhabitants of Hereford 1938), troopers and NCOs were issued with uniforms, but officers - in a Very British way - were instead granted a 'uniform allowance' to spend at their personal tailors. This practice continued, at least in the Regular Army, during the VBCW - and lead to considerable innovation and advertisement:

The Burberry Trench Coat (or "Trench Warm")
A standard to this day.

The Wilkinson Sword "Bullet Proof Jacket".
Back to making razor blades, gents....

Officer's Service Kit completed in 3 days if necessary
at Chas.Baker & Co. of High Holborn.

VBCW researchers have been disappointed to learn that Chas. Baker & Co.'s elegant Victorian premises at 271 - 274 High Holborn have now been swept away and redeveloped in the usual steel and glass and intimate scale :

271 - 274 High Holborn today. Officers (or VBCW Re-Enactors)
in need of uniforms now have to look elsewhere. Possibly
Camden Market ?

TYPES OF THE VBCW (5) - THE RURAL SHOOTIST

An occasional series of painted 28mm VBCW archetypes 

A country chap well known in the Hereford VBCW - plus fours, flat cap, bristling moustache and double barrelled shotgun - it's the "Rural Shootist":

Rural Shootist - Copplestone figure, unknown painter

Reverse view

But for one small matter, our "Rural Shootist" might stand in for a certain well known Prime Minister on vacation in the County:

Ramsay McDonald strides out, swapping a walking stick for shotgun.
Otherwise, well dressed for the Hereford VBCW.
And yes, that's Charlie Chaplin with him (c.1931)

The 'small matter' is not that Ramsay McDonald was pretty much a pacifist, but that he died on 9th November 1937, having been notably "ga-ga" for a number of years before that (including when in No.10 Downing Street). See his WIKI entry HERE. While the Hereford VBCW, as an alt-history, occasionally bends the arc of time (and a few other 'scientific laws' when it suits), we'd better leave poor Ramsay McDonald at peace...

BETTING ON THE VBCW - HARRY ISAACS

Pete Barfield ("Panzerkaput") VBCW Frontispiece

If the VBCW could be said to be "Just like Cricket but with Guns", then such might explain why "the bookies" - or betting shops - did so well out of it. A vast amount of money was taken in on such long running gambles as "Where will Captain Arrowsmith appear next ?" or promotions such as "The Great Comrade Colonel Professor Winter's Liquidation Sweepstake - Bet Early! Bet Often!". In short, the sheer uncertainty of the VBCW proved "a boon to bookies" such as Harry Isaacs (Hereford) Ltd (Turf Accountants), founded in 1924 and trading from 56 Commercial Street: 

The cover of a 1950's Hereford business guide - Harry Isaacs

So far as Comrade Colonel Professor Winter is concerned, following the "Disaster at Dinmore", the odds at present are said to be "very short indeed" upon his imminent liquidation.....

Notes :

(1). "Harry Isaacs" is now long gone from 56 Commercial Street, replaced in a more recent incarnation by a specialist shoe shop ("Hotter Comfort Concepts"). Still, a VBCW researcher can always pop in to "Gilbies" next door for a glass of wine:

56 Commercial Street

(2). For cricket in the VBCW, see HERE

BRIDGE STREET FALLSCHIRMJAGER

A nice modern shot - supplied by one of our legion of Herefordshire VBCW researchers - of Bridge Street, taken from the Wye Bridge. The Black Lion, "Battle Headquarters" for Reichsmarschall Goering's elite Fallschirmjager detachment, can be seen on the left (black and white timber frontage):

Bridge Street from the Wye Bridge. King Street at the top.

Recent excavations have confirmed that the Fallschirmjager maintained two sandbagged MG34 positions either side of Bridge Street, in the approximate position of the modern day traffic lights, stopping and searching any suspicious types seeking entry to the City.

Bridge Street itself has changed little since the VBCW, save only that the Left Bank complex (on the right, pale sandstone frontage) has replaced Sully's Garage, the Headquarters for Lord de Braose's notorious River Wye Dredging Programme.

Sully's Garage - Dredging HQ

Quite how Sully's Garage came to be destroyed can only be a matter of further research, but its replacement by the modern Left Bank building certainly renders "Sully's" one of the great (and mostly unexplained) "architectural losses" from 1930's Hereford....

THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE VERY BRITISH.....

With apologies to No.617 Squadron RAF:

JIM'S WARGAMES WORKBENCH AK47 CAMPAIGN

For those who enjoyed the previous post about the classic Ztum-Setum AK47 campaign, or those looking for more inspiration for the Modelling Challenge 2023 - all those VBCW 'Technicals' - a nod in the direction of Jim Jackaman's "Jim's Wargames Workbench" and his long running AK47 campaign (it's been going, off and on, since January 2010) - see HERE.

Always enjoyable, Jim's recent account of the contestants for the "Afro Vision 72 Final" (see HERE) and the resulting "Mbote Pop Band Tragedy" (see HERE) has reached new levels of faux historicity ludicrousness AK47 humour - goodness knows what Terry Wogan would have made of it...

The site of the Mbote Pop Band Tragedy. Photo "liberated" from Jim's blog.

Modelling Challenge 2023 Note: this year's campaign Challenge is now underway, and remember that "if you make it you can play it" at the Autumn Big Game 2023. Having painfully learned via the "Disaster at Dinmore" that the converse is also true - "if you don't make it, it's going to be played against you" - it looks at the moment as if the Presteigne Soviets have taken an early lead...

AK47 Campaign Note: Long Live President Dudu!

ITALIAN TANKETTE COLOURISED

Following the startling news that the Ledbury BUF (the Kensington & Chelsea Armoured Infantry, aka "The Sloane Rangers") is equipped with new 2 man tankettes, their "coachwork" specially adapted courtesy of the deep pockets of Bendor, Duke of Westminster, an opportunity for a colourised photograph:

Not a "Sloane Ranger", but a tankette, a snazzy three colour camouflage scheme
 and a Death's Head logo....

...brought to life in a startling colourisation. An Italian made Fiat Ansaldo  L3 spotted
"somewhere in Herefordshire". Or perhaps Hungary - there's so much
static on these Fleet Street phone lines.....

For more information on the L3 series of Italian tracked vehicles, see WIKI here

AIRCRAFT CARRIER - BIG SCALE

It is rare for anyone to suggest that John Ruddle's 54mm Fleets were constructed on "too small a scale". The United States Navy (inevitably) may be one such, however:

The caption of this 1972 UPI press photo reads:

"St. Louis, MO - The "Enterprise Jr.", a 53 foot miniature 'aircraft carrier' used by the US Navy Recruiting Service, cruises the Mississippi River at St. Louis recently (April 18th). The miniature 'Flat top" - manned by five Navy recruiters - was seen berthed on Pusey Sound at Seattle, Washington, for the last five years. It is en route to Omaha, Nes., for use in Midwest Recruiting efforts. The craft left New Orleans May 5th and is due in Omaha about May 31st. Slowed by high water and a strong current, the 225 horsepower craft has been making about six miles per hour as it arrived in the St. Louis area."

In the "BIG Carrier Competition", the USN's "Enterprise Jr.", at 53 foot, seems about the same scale as the 1/15 model aircraft carriers used in Hollywood's 1970 epic "Tora, Tora, Tora":

For some info on the 1/15 USS Nevada from "Tora, Tora, Tora" (and the teeny-tiny VBCW aircraft carrier built by LAF Akula), see HERE

JOHN RUDDLE'S GARDEN SHIPS AGAIN

Buried in the "Naval" thread (see the label to the right) is this blogpost on John Ruddle's large scale wargames ships, part of the various VBCW musing and mutterings re. "28mm aircraft carrier design" that preceded the (postponed) "Assault on Newquay" Big Game.

For those who can't get enough of "BIG Ships", Bob Cordery of the long-running "Wargames Miscellany" blog (and "Portable Wargame" fame) has now published some more photographs of John Ruddle's garden set up - see HERE (PART ONE) and especially HERE (PART TWO). Lovely stuff!

A scratchbuilt battleship passes a port on a newly mown lawn in calm conditions.

ADD EDIT : John Ruddle sadly passed away at the age of 91 in February 2023. There are some nice recollections of John and his wargames garden on the Collecting Toy Soldiers webpage HERE

THE BLACK LION

Following THIS MENTION of Reichsmarschall Goering's Fallschirmjager troops and their "Battle Headquarters" at the Black Lion, Bridge Street, Hereford, some useful photographs for VBCW researchers and re-enactors:

The Black Lion, Hereford

The Black Lion's position at 31 Bridge Street made
it an ideal HQ location for the Fallschirmjager picquet guard at
Hereford's Old Bridge. It was also within easy walking distance
of the Castle Hotel - Reichsmarschall Goering's "digs" during the VBCW.

The bar of the Black Lion. In 1938, this bar would have been full of Fallschirmjager.
However, it is definitely best not to mention this to modern patrons, who themselves
maintain a discreet "veil of silence" over "the German connection" and "the Fatboy" (who he?)

A VBCW researcher/re-enactor's collection of VBCW Fallschirmjager memorabilia,
some collected from the battlefields around Herefordshire and some, reputedly,
purchased (or should that be 'liberated'?) from the basement of the Black Lion
 at the end of the VBCW.

TYPES OF THE VBCW (4) - THE PUZZLED INTELLECTUAL

 An occasional series of painted 28mm VBCW archetypes

Another VBCW type from the Cluedo "Super Sleuth" boardgame (see HERE) - "the Puzzled Intellectual". Glasses, hair greying and slightly too long, bow tie, notebook, handkerchief - you just know that there is a pipe hidden somewhere - experiencing the confusion of the convinced rationalist in an age of civil strife and unreason:

28mm Cluedo figure aka "Professor Plum"
Copplestone sculpted, unknown painter.

Curiously, this figure is an almost dead ringer for Harold Nicolson, probably the best diarist of the interwar years (vying, of course, with 'Chips' Channon), and certainly a "confused intellectual" of the period:

When Mosley founded the New Party in 1931, Nicolson edited the Party's newspaper, Action, and stood as a New Party candidate for the Combined English Universities in the General Election of that year. However, Nicolson opposed Mosley's formation of the British Union of Fascists in 1932, and was elected in the 1935 General Election as the National Labour MP (i.e. a supporter of Ramsay McDonald and the National Government) for Leicester West. He was married to Vita Sackville-West, and one day we'll find a 28mm figure for her - and (of course) Virginia Woolf.

Add Edit:

(1). In fact, it didn't take that long to find a "Vita Sackville-West" figure in 28mm - 

Askari Miniatures "Marion the Librarian". Unknown painter.

TYPES OF THE VBCW (3) - THE VICAR

 An occasional series of painted 28mm VBCW archetypes.

Every VBCW game needs an Anglican Vicar - good natured, somewhat bumbling, intimately concerned with his local community - and not necessarily a strong believer in the Almighty. In the course of the VBCW, many of the Church of England's "muscular Christians" served with the Anglican Field Armies, but this still left a substantial number looking after their 'flocks' in local parishes. Here is a lovely 28mm example:

"Revd Green" 
Copplestone sculpted, unknown painter.\

Although sculpted by Mark Copplestone back in the early 1990s, "Revd. Green" is not sold by Copplestone Castings. Originally, he was a "playing piece" for the Waddington's Cluedo "Super Sleuth" game (1996 edition), and then at some point (but no longer) became available via EM-4 miniatures. Still, good examples can still be found via Ebay, whether by buying the game itself (which comes with a number of very useful VBCW type figures) or by looking for individual "replacement pieces".

KING EDWARD VIII INSPECTS "THE KING'S COLONIALS" - AND MORE

Two contemporaneous Press photographs demonstrate quite how long and hard a struggle was the Very British Civil War:

The King's Colonials marching off to war - with bayonets fixed.
Obviously an early VBCW photograph, with Edward VIII looking relaxed and confident
and Commandant Stokkies Joubert (leading in salute) remarkably athletic
  (even when in his riding breeches - and vertical).

Later in the VBCW - a careworn Edward VIII inspecting a section of the notorious
 "Goering Leibwachter", the Reichsmarschall's hand-picked and
black uniformed bodyguard, Herefordshire 1938.

Commandant Stokkies Joubert led the "Kings Colonials" aggressively and successfully during the early stage of the Hereford VBCW, particularly featuring in the Battles of Second Ledbury and Marcle Ridge. Nevertheless, he was captured by the Bishop of Ludlow at the Battle of Winforton Pontoons, with the much-reduced (by casualties and desertion) and otherwise entirely ungovernable "Kings Colonials" thereafter becoming dispersed, awaiting Joubert's release or escape. For more on Stokkies Joubert, see HERE.

Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, accompanied by two full Sections of elite Fallschirmjager, surprised everyone (including the Fuhrer) by "dropping in" to the Hereford VBCW at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross. After that battle, from which the Fallschirmjager emerged victorious but heavily depleted in numbers, the Reichsmarschall established his "Command Headquarters" at the Castle Hotel, Hereford and his Fallschirmjager's "Battle Headquarters" at The Black Lion, Bridge Street. Contemporaneous gossip noted that the two were conveniently situated within easy walking distance. Later in the VBCW, the Reichsmarschall's forces were supplemented by enthusiastic "European tourists", "lost airmen" and other such volunteers. The best (and most physically imposing) of these were mustered into the "Goering Leibwachter", which never exceeded section strength. For more on Goering, see HERE.

Notes : 

(1). "Real world" historians have expressly noted that the caption on the reverse of the top photograph states "The New King. 21.1.36. The Prince of Wales taking the salute of Australian troops outside Australia House, during the Peace Day Procession in 1919". While it is the case that George V died on 20th January 1936, and there was a Peace Day Procession on 19th July 1919, the photograph is clearly of The Strand in London (the church in the background, St Mary-le-Strand, is unmistakable), while Australia House (officially opened 3rd August 1918) was (and remains to this day) in Trafalgar Square. As the King's purpose built dias is demonstrably outside Somerset House in the Strand (conveniently close to The Savoy Grill), VBCW historians have been emboldened to denounce the first caption as "a crude fake" and claim both photographs (the second uncaptioned) for their own time/dimension.

(2). Goering's "volunteers" were brigaded together under various other titles, including a tactful resurrection of the "King's German Legion" (disbanded at the end of the Napoleonic Wars) and lesser known "Hanoverian Legion", both uniformed in WW1 German grey green and Stahlhelm, but armed with a mixture of Mausers, Lee Enfields, Bergmans and Lewis Guns. At least one artillery piece seems to have been crewed by recruits from the little known SA Artillerie-Ausbildungsschule.

(3). For the history and uniforms of both the "King's Colonials" and Reichsmarschall Goering's volunteer units, see "Foreign Volunteers in the Very British Civil War (3) - Specialist Infantry and Artillery" (Osprey, 2011), both generally in the text and particularly uniform Plates C and E. Note that these illustrations are now seen as somewhat outdated, particularly in relation to key details such as bayonet frogs and the omission of "five button fly battle trousers" - a significant technical advance at the time (see "Logistical Relief in the VBCW - The Five Button Fly", unpublished PHD, "Oxford Brookes University", 2021). A flavour of the Germanic volunteers' VBCW experience can be gained from Jabo's "Gott im Himmel ! Hereford !" (1967 - published in paperback in the USA as "Krauts in the Kingdom"), albeit the author's extensive medal claims (some alleged, somewhat curiously, to be posthumous) are heavily disputed.

THE LATEST NEWS - MODERN WORLD

The latest edition of "Modern World"

Hereford newsagents have nearly sold out of the latest edition of "Modern World", chronicling the stout defence of the Cadbury's Marlbrook Chocolate Factory by elements of the Combined Corporate Guard (prop. Sir Charles Tite-Wadde, Bt.) against a combined force of Anglicans and Bromyardistas. Full descriptions of the Corporate Guards HERE, and of the Marlbrook battle HERE.

The Combined Corporate Guard defend the Cadbury Factory at Marlbrook.
In the advance are the purple uniformed Cadburys Commandos; in support (L to R)
are the red clad Oxo Brand Guardians and the yellow clad Fyffes Motor Guard.
In the rear (naturally) the white suited and enthroned Sir Charles with his standard bearer.
(photo courtesy JP)

The Cadbury's spotter plane did good service during the battle. Here it "runs interference"
for the advance of the "(Corporate) Guards Armoured Division" - consisting of one tank
each from the Cadbury, Oxo and Fyffes companies. Sir Charles and his standard bearer
peruse the battle from a specially selected sandbag emplacement.
(photo courtesy JP)

HAWKER SUPER FURY

Having flirted dangerously with considerations of modernity in the latest stream of Coronation posts, it's time to hitch a lift back to the kinder, gentler and infinitely more explosive times of Hereford 1938 - and what better ride, at more than 200mph, than a Hawker Fury:

The RAF's front line fighter of the 1930s, the Hawker Fury Interceptor

An aerobatic celebration of freedom - and valuable "underside" shot of the Fury.

The Hawker Fury 1 entered RAF service in 1931. An improved but only slight modified version, with an uprated Kestrel engine, the Fury 2 (or "Super Fury"), entered RAF service in 1937.

K3586, the most photographed of the Super Furies.

A colourised illustration of K3586 - the inevitable cigarette card.

K3586 - a contemporary colour photograph on a cigarette card
(Ardath's "Fighting & Civil Aircraft")

The reverse of the Ardath card explains:

"The standard Hawker Fury biplane has been used by the Royal Air Force for a number of years, but during 1933 the Hawker Company built, to the order of the Air Ministry, an improved version with less wing area than the earlier type. It is fitted with a special Rolls Royce engine of about 650hp, and there are other detail refinements such as 'spats' over the wheels. During official trials it reached a speed of 250mph with its full military equipment on board, establishing at that time that it was the fastest military aeroplane in the world. Since 1933 it has been further developed. The armament is the same as the standard Fury, i.e. two Vickers machine guns synchronised to fire between the blades of the airscrew."

And........throttle back.......flare.......touchdown at Hereford Racecourse..........

Notes: more posts on the Fury HERE and HERE. On the Hawker "family" of 1930s aircraft, see HERE

BUT WHO'S CORONATION ?

As we bring the present stream of "Coronation Posts" to a (perhaps merciful) end - in time for the forthcoming Bank Holiday - an extremely important question remains: just who was, in fact, crowned on Wednesday, 12th May 1937 ?

Edward VIII, King and Emperor, in his Coronation robes.

VBCW researchers and historians are now advised, for the sake of their mental health, to read no further. The remainder of our worldwide readership can then sympathise with the 1937 Editor of the "Illustrated London News", Mr Bruce Ingram. Having commissioned the above - extremely expensive, full colour - portrait of Edward VIII in his Coronation Robes well in advance, he must have been aghast at news of the Abdication on 11th December 1936, and the prospect of yet further enormous expenditure on royal portraiture. Thankfully, however, some old fashioned and Very British ingenuity saved the day:

 

George VI, King and Emperor, in his Coronation Robes

Just goes to demonstrate that "head swapping" is not unique to 28mm figure modellers......

CORONATION POST (10) - 1937 CORONATION IN COLOUR !

British Movietone (colour) film of the 1937 Coronation - and some atmospheric shots of 1937 Britain, too. Well worth watching !

CORONATION POST (9) - FLUNKIES AND FLUMMERY

The Very British do enjoy some pomp and circumstance, and the 1937 Coronation was clearly the only excuse needed for a collective deep dive into the Royal and Imperial "dressing up box":

Every English County has a Lord Lieutenant, and every
Lord Lieutenant (usually a civilian, although Head of the County
 Territorial Association) has a smart scarlet and blue uniform
(with cocked hat and ostrich feathers, naturally).
Lord de Braose, the VBCW Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire
 (and Governor of the Marches) no doubt turned up
 to the 1937 Coronation in just this type of outfit.

 

Court dress for foreign Ambassadors -
frock coat with lots of gilt, cocked hat
and white knee breeches.

Who knew that even Cabinet Ministers could dress up? This is Cabinet
"Levee Dress", as clearly modelled by, of all people, Sir Samuel Hoare, aka
"Slippery Sam", unfortunately one of the most untrustworthy and unpopular
Members of the inter war House of Commons.

Back to scarlet and blue with a cocked hat - a Military Knight of Windsor
(part of the Order of the Garter).

Comparisons with the 2023 Coronation can be made after Saturday (replies on the back of a postcard rather than back of a cigarette card, obviously.....)

CORONATION POST (8) - CLOSE SUPPORT UNITS

If any VBCW Royalist player is seeking a historical basis for fielding rather colourful infantry sections armed solely with halberds or longbows, read on:

The Yeomen of the Guard (colloquially known as 'Beefeaters') - the reverse of this 1937 cigarette card states:

"This ancient Corps was formed as a band of fifty archers, under a Captain to attend His Majesty. Soon after the accession of Henry VIII the number was increased to two hundred. The same held good in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I, but under Charles II the number was reduced to one hundred, at which figure the Corps now stands. For the Coronation Ceremony, detachments of the Bodyguard will be on duty at Buckingham Palace and the Abbey, a third forming part of the King's Procession to Westminster Abbey."

So much for halberds. As for bows -

The Royal Company of Archers. The reverse of this 1937 cigarette card states:

"Although of even earlier origin, the Royal Company of Archers, as at present constituted, came into being in 1676, when it was formed for the encouragement of archery, "the noble and useful recreation being for many years much neglected." It received a new charter from Queen Anne at the beginning of the 18th century and, under George IV, the Company was given the additional title of "The King's Bodyguard for Scotland"; it has acted in that capacity on visits of the Sovereign to Edinburgh. The Captain - General is the Gold Stick for Scotland and takes his place at Coronations and other Ceremonies. We show a Gentleman of the Body Guard in field dress."

The Yeoman of the Guard on ceremonial duties.
Or possibly VBCW re-enactors waiting for "long range archery support".

On receiving news that "the Royal Company of Archers hasn't been converted yet",
the Yeomen march off towards the sound of gunfire in any event.
Long live King Edward VIII...

CORONATION POST (7) - THE ROYAL DUKES

Straight to the top of the Coronation list of precedence, the Royal Dukes:

The reverse of this John Players cigarette card states:

"It is usual for the Sovereign to confer Peerages on his sons, thereby giving them the right to sit in the House of Lords. The Peerage conferred is usually a Dukedom, with subsidiary titles of an Earldom and a Barony, generally chosen from places in England, Scotland and Ireland respectively. A Royal Dukedom is granted by Letters Patent passed under the Great Seal. Royal Dukes take precedence of other Dukes, but rank (among themselves) according to their precedence as Princes. All Peers receive a Royal Command to attend the Coronation, and at the Ceremony they assume their coronets when the King is crowned."

The sons of George V and Queen Mary. The Royal Dukes  - LtoR the Duke of Kent,
 the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester.
Order of seniority - POW, York, Gloucester, Kent, in an imperial
mixture of uniforms : RN, Highland Brigade, RAF, Hussars.

It is an open VBCW question, even at this level of seniority, as to what each of the Royal Dukes would have done had Edward VIII refused to abdicate and instead opted to "fight it out" against his Government and the Church of England. The VBCW canon suggests that the Duke of York raised his own standard against Edward VIII, although the circumstances in which he chose to do so remain shrouded in some mystery. The loyalty of the remaining two brothers would have been of paramount importance to each faction, much as would the sympathies of their mother, Queen Mary.

While there is usually no geographical link between a Royal Dukedom and the holder of the title, in the Hereford VBCW timestream, the Duke of Gloucester (an army man through and through) has been sent north to defend Gloucester itself. Possibly this was to ensure the safety of Madresfield, Edward and Wallis' "Summer Palace" situated nearby, rather than specifically to defend the town: although the fact that Gloucester was a noted Parliamentary stronghold during the English Civil War will not have been lost on "the armchair strategists of Fleet Street".

And then there three : but who will the youngest son,
the Duke of Kent, support?

To date, the Duke of Kent has found it impossible to throw his support behind either of the senior brothers, and has "retired to his estates" (not, of course, in Kent). Both factions continue to make overtures to him.....