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Great War truck

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  • 3 weeks later...

These two little gems arrived last week, still working my way through them. I belong to a number of military forums covering the last 150 years or so. On some of these sites (I don't think it applies here) it is curious to see the snobbery that exists on any topic raised that is not during an actual war. Yet what happens prior to a war has a direct bearing on the conduct & success of that conflict.

 

So it is nice to have these two from 1937 & 1939. Although Ordnance Manual (War) 1939 is bit of a swizzle as it contains much that appeared in various volumes of Field Service Regulations 1935.

 

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Pete thank you for your interest. The view from the top doesn't do them justice, they are both quite beefy books. The number of pages in the index doesn't do justice to the number of appendices oozing out from particularly OM(W)

 

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There was some fierce competition from someone else who badly wanted these two books. Although they were separate auctions the total outlay of £126 was more than I hoped to pay. But some of us might spend that on fuel at weekend or getting that special part that you are unlikely to see again. :D

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I recently finished 'Sahara Challenge' by Richard St. Barbe Baker - an account of the well respected forester's exploration of the speed at which the desert is encroaching on fertile land. An interesting read for anyone interested in ecology but of most noted interest for us is that the trip was undertaken in a Humber FWD heavy utility.

 

Like any good book there was film! Here at at about 8:45

 

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  • 2 months later...

A nice little gem here full of intriguing detail, not to mention the chit for a shoe repair for 3/6 being used as a book mark.

 

Yes I know what you are all thinking it is a paradox that this WO publication does not itself have a WO Registry code, but it is there but on an inner page.

 

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Took a trip down to Bateman's (Rudyard Kiplings' house) World War 1 event on Sunday. They have just started a second hand bok shop. So with my intent to clear up and down size. :blush: Bought the full set of Hillaire Bellock's Land and Water. A WW1 magazine parodied as Belary Helloc in the Wipers Times. Seven volumes just dipping into it there are so many pices about all aspects of the war. In later copies there are advertisments and a Ladies Page, advertising the 1918 equivalent of Ann Summers. :cool2: Lots of Dunlop and Burberry ads. I'm currently trying to find articals on vehicles, but it's a deep hole to dig in.

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  • 1 month later...

Did the rounds in Hay on Wye. Couple of interesting finds.

 

Been looking for a sensibly priced one of these published in 1962. A lot of testimonies from people who have long since died. Amongst the violence of the 5 years leading up to the events, there were surprising examples of individual chivalry from both sides.

 

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Then this caught my eye:

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Particularly the first report.

 

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Looking at the daily allowances it is interesting that the legal profession were valued more than high ranking police officers.

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The other reports include:

Riots 1894

Probation of Offenders Act 1907

Bastardy Orders 1909

Law relating to Coroners & Coroner's Inquests 1909

Question of Deaths Resulting from the Administration of Anaesthetics 1910 (at the time local anaesthesia was regarded as far more dangerous than general anaesthesia)

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit of light reading here. The House of Commons Report into the Claim of the Baron de Bode 1834.

 

The report was regarding the Baron's claim to compensation given to the British Government from the French Government after the French Revolution.

 

British born Baron Charles de Bode, held property in Alsace at the time of the French Revolution. However he & his family fled France during the French Revolution. The revolutionary tribunals confiscated a large number of properties & funds during this period, including the Barons'.

 

Following the end of the revolution, the French Government agreed to give £5,500,000 in compensation to the British for their subjects whose properties had been confiscated. A Select Committee was appointed to arrange this by the House of Commons.

 

However, Baron de Bode did not receive a penny of this fund, which caused much outrage by the general public at the time. Many thought it was because King George IV had trousered the compensation himself!

 

An interesting read for just £2.19

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting little pamphlets with much sound advice still applicable today, including the warning about cyclists who are "liable suddenly to cut into your path".

 

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Vehicle tyre pressures in February 1923 (left) get quite amended in September (right).

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Enjoying teasing out nuggets of history from these Chronologies.

 

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I already have similar for 1858 to 1912, the new acquisitions are for 1925 to 1936. None of these should be dismissed because they do not cover a World War, as one travels forward through them one can sense a feeling that preparations for something that was brewing were being made & the War Office were not totally unprepared.

 

I have selected just one extract from each year to give a flavour of changes & have placed them in chronological order.

 

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Edited by fv1609
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Richard thank you. One could have illuminating posts just following one particular subject, I've just tried to give a spread.

 

But there are significant entries on Cyprus, Balkans, Trans-Jordon etc. These may have been the inter-war years but they were not years of peace. The entries on the disarmament conferences & Germany's approach after the withdrawal of BAOR (the first one) are all clues as to what was to come.

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Richard thank you. One could have illuminating posts just following one particular subject, I've just tried to give a spread.

 

But there are significant entries on Cyprus, Balkans, Trans-Jordon etc. These may have been the inter-war years but they were not years of peace. The entries on the disarmament conferences & Germany's approach after the withdrawal of BAOR (the first one) are all clues as to what was to come.

 

Yes you could see we were well aware of trouble brewing. Despite what some were saying we were developing MT through those times. One thing was the 6 wheeled lorry chassis mentioned. This would relate to the WD rear axle bogie design, from the late 20's, this was used on a number of makes, inc. Leyland, Karrier, Guy, AEC, Albion, Crossley, Thornycroft and later, Austin. Thornycroft were still using that design on the small Nubian crash tender built in the 60's.

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The tests carried out on vehicles in North Wales in the 1930's were held in the Llangollen area on what are still 'green lanes' which I know well and have driven many times. From the photo's taken at the time they have not changed a great deal in the last 80 years apart from the size of hedges and trees and they must have posed a considerable test for both vehicles and drivers. Thanks for posting the excerpts Clive, looking forward to seeing more please.

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It seems to have taken most of the day to get them scanned & uploaded (sometimes as slow as 10kps). Got in a mess trying to get them in sequence, so labelled them & uploaded again so I think now they are in the right order. Hope they are of interest, but at least this is first hand info not just someone's opinion from a book or a web page.

 

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Thanks for all your work in posting these documents Clive, fascinating to read how the army was being modernised at such a rapid rate.

 

Ditto, here. The actual trials dates of the wireless equipment is something of an eye-opener.

 

(e.g. The Wireless Set No.1 being issued for trials in 1931, and officially adopted in 1933 - I have the 1933 and 1938 versions of the manual.)

 

Chris.

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