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HOUGH 1914 WOULD SEE THE OUTBREAK OF A WORLDSHATTERING WAR, IN THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM AT THE START OF THE YEAR, LIFE WENT ON AS NORMAL ALL OVER EUROPE. SID BLAKE, PART OF A TWO-MAN TEAM IN CHARGE OF A BREWER’S DRAY, WAS LESS THAN PLEASED THAT HIS DRIVER WAS, AS USUAL, MAKING THE MOST OF THE BEER IN A PUB THEY HAD JUST SUPPLIED.
IT’S NO WONDER YOUR TEMPER IS ALWAYS BAD, REG SYKES SUPPING ALE DAY AND NIGHT.
STORY GEORGE LOW ART KEITH PAGE COVER IAN KENNEDY
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FOR SID THIS HAD BEEN THE ONLY JOB GOING, AND HE TOOK IT EVEN THOUGH HE WAS FAR FROM CONFIDENT ABOUT CONTROLLING THE HEAVY HORSES WHICH PULLED THE WAGON. A PAIR OF SCRAPPING MONGRELS AT THEIR FEET DID NOT HELP.
GET OUT OF IT, YOU CURS! SKEDADDLE!
SHOUTING AT THE DOGS DIDN’T HELP. ALL THAT HAPPENED WAS THAT THEY SPOOKED THE SHIRES INTO SHYING AND REARING AS SID DESPERATELY TRIED TO REIN THEM IN. WHOA, DRAT YOU!
YE GODS!
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THE HORSES BROKE THEIR TRACES WHEN THE CART BEGAN TO TOPPLE. THE HELPLESS PASSENGER AND SUNDRY BEER BARRELS WERE FLUNG CLEAR OF THE DOOMED DRAY.
AAGH!
LUCKILY SID WAS NOT BADLY INJURED, BUT SYKES, WHO HAD COME RUSHING FROM THE PUB AT THE SOUND OF THE CRASH, HAD NO SYMPATHY FOR THE YOUNG LAD. CAN’T LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR A MINUTE...THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! I AIN’T TAKING ANY BLAME FOR THIS!
YOU TELL HIM, REG. HE’S A WASTE O’ SPACE IF YOU ASK ME!
SID’S DRINKING MATE WAS JUST AS CUTTING.
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THE YOUNGSTER WAS SACKED EVEN BEFORE HIS WOUND WAS TREATED. BY THE NEXT DAY HE HAD DECIDED TO JOIN THE ARMY.
I’LL GET AWAY FROM THE LIKES OF SYKES AND BLOOMIN’ HORSES.
PASSED FIT AND SURVIVING BASIC TRAINING, HE AWAITED HIS FIRST POSTING. HE WAS SHAKEN TO THE CORE WHEN IT CAME THROUGH. A CAVALRY UNIT...SOMEONE’S HAVING A LAUGH! ME AND HORSES DON’T GET ALONG.
HIS PROTESTS FELL ON DEAF EARS AND TO THE CAVALRY HE WENT. IT WAS NOT EASY FOR HIM OR MANY OF THE OTHERS, BUT THE N.C.O.S WHO TRAINED THEM WERE A DECENT BUNCH WHO MIXED COMMON SENSE WITH KINDLY SARCASM IN EQUAL MEASURE. IT’S NOT A BICYCLE, BLAKE! JUST GRIP WITH YOUR KNEES AND DON’T TRY TO PEDAL THE POOR BEAST!
I’LL NEVER GET THE HANG OF THIS!
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HOWEVER SID PERSEVERED AND FOUND THREE GOOD FRIENDS WITHIN THE UNIT. JOHN TODD HAD BEEN A BUTCHER’S BOY IN DEVON, SIMON BOLTON A MILL WORKER IN LANCASHIRE AND FRED FORESTER A SOLICITOR’S CLERK IN LONDON. I FEEL I‘VE BEEN KICKED ALL OVER.
WHAT ABOUT THE POOR HORSE, THOUGH?
AYE, HE HAS A LOT TO PUT UP WITH WHEN YOU’RE ABOARD.
THEIR LIEUTENANT, HERBERT RHODES, CAME FROM AN ARMY FAMILY, SCHOOLED IN THE CULTURE OF THE CAVALRY. DESPITE THAT, HE THOUGHT THAT IN THE ALMOST INEVITABLE WAR TO COME MOUNTED TROOPS WOULD BE OF LIMITED USE AGAINST MACHINE GUNS AND MASSED ARTILLERY.
MODERN WEAPONS AND TACTICS WILL MAKE CAVALRY A THING OF THE PAST. NOBODY IN THE REGIMENT CAN SEE IT, BUT I FEAR WE’LL FIND OUT ALL TOO SOON.
VERY TRUE!
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AS HE FEARED, EVERYTHING BEGAN TO CHANGE ON JUNE 28, 1914, WHEN A SERBIAN GUNMAN FIRING AN F.N. MODEL 1910 PISTOL ASSASSINATED THE HEIR TO THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE. GERMANY, RULED BY KAISER WILHELM THE SECOND, TOOK THE SIDE OF NEIGHBOURING AUSTRIA AGAINST THE LINKED FORCES OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE AND RUSSIA.
WAR WAS FORMALLY DECLARED A MONTH LATER ON JULY 28. THE SLAUGHTER WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN. AS PART OF WHAT WAS CALLED THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, SID’S REGIMENT WAS BOUND FOR FRANCE. THE UNIT WAS REORGANISED TO ACCOMMODATE FORMER SOLDIERS CALLED BACK TO THE COLOURS. THAT MEANT MANY CHANGES. I HEARD THAT OUR SERGEANT AND SOME OTHER N.C.O.S ARE STAYING BEHIND TO TRAIN NEW RECRUITS.
I WONDER WHO WE’LL GET IN THE SARGE’S PLACE THEN?
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THEY FOUND OUT SOON ENOUGH. THEIR HUT DOOR CRASHED OPEN AND SERGEANT JACK DREIVER ENTERED, VOICE HARSH AND GLARE BELLIGERENT. YOU’VE GOT ME, YOU LUCKY LADS! NO MORE MOLLYCODDLING AND PLAYING SOLDIERS! IT’S THE REAL THING NOW AND I KNOW ALL ABOUT THAT!
AND I KNOW HE LIKES THE SOUND OF HIS OWN VOICE.
THE N.C.O.’S EYES INSPECTED THEM ALL, BUT HIS EYES WIDENED WHEN THEY ALIGHTED ON SID. I KNOW YOU, YOU GUTTER RAT! YOU COST MY MATE REG SYKES HIS JOB!
WHAT IS HE RABBITING ON ABOUT?
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REALISATION DAWNED LIKE A MAGAZINE CLICKING INTO A RIFLE. THIS WAS THE MAN REG SYKES HAD BEEN SUPPING ALE WITH ON THE DAY THE DRAY HAD BEEN WRECKED.
OH,YES, I KNOW YOU! OLD REG COPPED A PACKET AS WELL. THE BOSSES SAID HE HAD BECOME TOO FOND OF A JAR, BUT IT WAS YOU AND YOUR IDIOCY THAT DONE FOR HIM!
SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT LIFE IS ABOUT TO GET A LOT TOUGHER IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE.
SOON ALL THE MEN WERE SUFFERING UNDER THE NEW N.C.O.’S BRUTAL REGIME, BUT SID BORE THE BRUNT OF IT. YOU’RE AS SLOW AS TREACLE DRIPPING OFF A SPOON! SPEED IT UP THERE, BLAKE!
DREIVER IS HARD ON THE LADS, BUT HE KNOWS WHAT LIES AHEAD SO I’D BEST NOT INTERFERE.