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Remembered Today:

Lt-Col D S Lewis


bobpike

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A friend sent me this and wondered if the story can be verified, hence I submit to the learned of the GWF –

She came across this interesting newspaper report below. It tells of a body retrieval via tunnelling beneath No Man’s land to the site of an aeroplane crash.

''Five days before we went into the trenches, the Germans brought down a British aeroplane in front of the lines we were about to occupy. The machine was hit by a shell and crippled while patrolling behind the German lines. It was a sight never to be forgotten to see the aviator volplaning homewards. Unfortunately, the strain on the damaged machine was too great, and, while still at a great height, it parted in the middle. The tail part fell in the German lines, and the body came down in 'No Man's Land.' Here the Allied and enemy lines were only 40 yards apart. I was selected as one of the two men sent out to try to recover the bodies of the two officers and obtain the papers they had on them. Owing to the constant machine-gun fire, it was impossible to rush out, so we had to tunnel to a spot- as near as could be judged by the bodies. Like myself, my comrade was a miner, and we went to work. We worked almost night and day, and on the fourth day we saw daylight. We found, however, that we had not tunnelled enough for our purpose, and that the tunnel was too near the surface to hold up the ground above it. Timbering was out of the question, as the noise would have brought the Germans upon us.

"We worked on as carefully as we could, and, narrowing our trench, arched it as much as possible on the top. We had to work while lying down at full length, and pass the dirt in bag along to our trenches. For two additional days we worked on, going night arid day, each taking two hours on and two hours off. Finally we got so close to the aeroplane that I could reach out my hand and touch one of the wings. "That same evening a German aeroplane flew over our sap three times at a very low altitude, and finally dropped a signal right over it. That meant danger for us, and so we worked for 21 hours straight on end until the job was finished. By daybreak we had discovered the first body. It took several hours to bring it in through the narrow sap to the trench. He proved to be Captain Gale, of the 2nd Life Guards. The second body was that of Lieut-Colonel Lewis, squadron commander in the Royal Flying Corps, and the inventor of the Lewis machine-gun. No wonder they were anxious to recover the bodies.

"After our job was done we were very jumpy. You must realise that the aeroplane was almost as near to the enemy's lines as to our own. At night we could hear the German sentries talking plainly. Every now and again they beard the noises we were making, as they threw star shells from time to time and lit up the whole scene. We were seven days on the job, and were constantly troubled by the rats. Some of these jumped on my head while I was working, and my pal got a fright several times. He thought that the enemy was on us."

She adds this other information

On 14 September 1914 Major Geoffrey Salmond, CO of No.3 Sqdn and Captain Donald Swain Lewis carried out a successful experiment with a Royal Artillery battery using a radio transmitter to communicate the fall of artillery shells. Lewis is also credited with creating the "grid square" map system which revolutionized British wartime cartography.

On 15 September the British Third Corps assigned its RFC squadrons to support the divisional heavy & howitzer batteries. The radio-equipped aeroplanes successfully supported the artillery in taking out German positions during the offensive on the Aisne.

Lewis was shot down on the 10 April 1916 by the very guns of the battery with which he had been co-operating.

Lieutenant Colonel Donald Swain Lewis DSO was killed in action when shot down by anti-aircraft fire east of Wytschaete while flying Morane LA 5132, with Capt A W G Gale as observer, on 9 or 10 April 1916. Capt Gale was wounded.

.

Donald Swain Lewis and Arthur Witherby Gale buried, LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY, 5 A. 25/26

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A friend sent me this and wondered if the story can be verified, hence I submit to the learned of the GWF

... The second body was that of Lieut-Colonel Lewis, squadron commander in the Royal Flying Corps, and the inventor of the Lewis machine-gun. No wonder they were anxious to recover the bodies....Lieutenant Colonel Donald Swain Lewis DSO was killed in action when shot down by anti-aircraft fire east of Wytschaete while flying Morane LA 5132, with Capt A W G Gale as observer, on 9 or 10 April 1916. Capt Gale was wounded.

.

Donald Swain Lewis and Arthur Witherby Gale buried, LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY, 5 A. 25/26

There is at least some confusion in this account - the inventor of the Lewis Gun was Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis who had served in the US Army before the war, and never in the RFC, and also lived until 1931:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton_Lewis

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... well, apparently No Mans Land was about 40 yards wide, the aircraft about halfway and it took 7 days of tunnelling to reach it, working almost non stop.....

Didn't occur to the Germans to do the same? No heavy artillery to destroy the maps etc? After all, in 7 days they must have been aware that the crew were beyond mortal help.

Gale is reported as wounded, but by the time they reached the aircraft, he was dead. He must have been riddled as no doubt the entire area was under scrutiny by snipers etc of both sides..

Nonetheless, a heroic rescue attempt and credit to them for sticking to the task.

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Thank you both. May I ask kevin for your source, please, it would be useful to pass it on to my friend,

kind regards,

Bob

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bobpike - errr....my source is your initial post! blush.gifblink.gif

Here the Allied and enemy lines were only 40 yards apart.................the aeroplane was almost as near to the enemy's lines as to our own.......... We were seven days on the job .................. Lieutenant Colonel Donald Swain Lewis DSO was killed in action when shot down by anti-aircraft fire east of Wytschaete while flying Morane LA 5132, with Capt A W G Gale as observer, on 9 or 10 April 1916. Capt Gale was wounded.
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Sorry, Kevin, eager for confirmation from another source, I missed the point. Blame it on old age!

Bob

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post-8059-026295300 1295020595.jpg

post-8059-041592900 1295020627.jpg

lewis.jpg

lewis photo.jpg

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  • 5 years later...

Hi

I am helping our local Boys Brigade research some of the names on our war memorial at ' Stoke next Guildford'. One of those listed is Donald Swain Lewis. In fact he is down as Wing Commander on the memorial, but it appears he was in fact a Lieut Colonel. We have also been practising finding places on maps using the WW1 grid reference system (they got the hang of this faster than when we taught them the current system!).

I was therefore intrigued to see in the original post of this thread, that DS Lewis actually invented the map referencing used during WW1. Is there any independent verification of this? The boys are keen to know more.

Many thanks

Cilla

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This story doesn't bear up.

Why wait 5 days to start tunnelling?

why only 2 men on a 7 day project?

Would you really drag a pair of 12 day old bodies down a very narrow tunnel ?

Why bother?

Why didn't someone crawl out on the first night to retrieve the bodies?

Did the nearby Germans not spend the 12 days they had in hand reaching the wreck themselves?

Our tunnellers here would've got a medal for this "feat" so would be identifiable.

Were the crew killed by AA fire or by the battery they were spotting for?

 

Its poppycock isn't it?

 

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On ‎07‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 16:06, cbritton said:

Hi

I am helping our local Boys Brigade research some of the names on our war memorial at ' Stoke next Guildford'. One of those listed is Donald Swain Lewis. In fact he is down as Wing Commander on the memorial, but it appears he was in fact a Lieut Colonel. We have also been practising finding places on maps using the WW1 grid reference system (they got the hang of this faster than when we taught them the current system!).

I was therefore intrigued to see in the original post of this thread, that DS Lewis actually invented the map referencing used during WW1. Is there any independent verification of this? The boys are keen to know more.

Many thanks

Cilla

Hi

His rank was Lieut. Col. he commanded a 'Wing' at the time, hence I presume the later confusion.

Lewis was pre-war RFC and a proponent of wireless use, he come up fairly often in Volumes 1 and 2 of the Official History 'War in the Air' (these volumes are available on-line as a free download).  Page 85 of Volume 2 mentions about the map 'grids'.  It is also mentioned on page 49 of 'From Biplane to Spitfire - The life of Air Chief Marshal Sir Geoffrey Salmond' by Anne Baker.  The 'Grid' was useful for using with wireless when spotting for the guns.

As for his death it was reported as his machine receiving "...a direct hit by anti-aircraft gun fire at 8,000 feet and fell near the trench lines at Wytschaete." in 'Royal Flying Corps Communiques 1915-1916', page 136 for April 10th 1916, edited by Christopher Cole.

The 'Grid' system of Lewis may have some relationship to a French grid system that was in use in the French army for spotting for artillery.

 

Mike

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Many thanks. I have found 'The War in the Air' which mentions him a lot  - he obviously had an inventive problem solving mind. Good to know more about him, will let the boys know when we meet this week.

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Thanks, that's a lovely memorial. He is on the main Guildford War Memorial and also the one at Stoke next Guildford as his father, Captain Ernest Lewis (founder of Army & Navy stores) lived here from at least 1911 to 1926. It looks like the family moved around a lot, so he might be on others.

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  • 1 year later...

Hello and apologies for the necro post. 

 

I'm annotating the diary of Sir Andrew Macphail, and it includes an entry that matches bobpike's newspaper account at the start of this thread. Some details are different, but it is undoubtedly the same incident. Bobpike, I don't suppose you can tell me what newspaper your account comes from? 

 

On July 21st 1916 Sir Andrew wrote:

 

"Jim [Sir Andrew's brother James Alexander Macphail, then with 1st Bde Canadian Engineers] came in the afternoon. We lay on the grass and read a letter which had just come from Mr [Rudyard] Kipling. He promised to make a walking stick for me from the blade of the propeller of one of our machines which was brought down between our own and the German lines. The pilot and observer were killed, the latter being a Major who was making a voluntary flight, in other words a joy-ride. The machine was of a new type, so we did not wish it to fall into the enemy's hands. For the same reason the Germans wanted it, and both sides watched for 20 days whilst the two bodies lay unburied. The Engineers ran out a tunnel, then broke upwards. Two sappers took away the essential parts of the machine and recovered the bodies. On the major's person was fifty pounds which was returned to his widow with the other effects. She sent back the money to the sappers who had recovered the body. The wheat is tinged with yellow."

 

I'm going to start sifting through War Diaries in the hope of some mention of the incident and will post an update here if I come across anything. 

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