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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

WW1 Military Motors - 1916 set x 50 cards


Lancashire Fusilier

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Every one had a problem of getting water from the large wheel water supply tanks, this is a photo from the Chronicle Of War, you put the water in any type of container, so the old smelly petrol can with screw top must be a choice at hand.

Crimson Rambler.

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Have just found a group of Kent Historians , The Queen's Own Royal West Kent living history group in the process of completing the restoration work on 108 gallon horse drawn water tank.from WW1.

Crimson Rambler.

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The attached photograph of a ' Siddeley-Deasy ' Military Ambulance shows the stowed water can marked ' W ', and the oil can marked ' O ', both are painted, alongside them is the unmarked and unpainted petrol can, all as per the ASC memo.

The Ambulance was photographed in Proven, a small Belgian village in West Flanders just N.W. of Poperinge, on 30th July, 1917.

LF

IWM. This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Have just found a group of Kent Historians , The Queen's Own Royal West Kent living history group in the process of completing the restoration work on 108 gallon horse drawn water tank.from WW1.

Crimson Rambler.

Nice to know that it is being restored, and hopefully we can see the finished restoration, attached is a photograph of another excellently restored WW1 horse-drawn water tank.

Regards,

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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It seems strange that water tins are referred to as petrol tins. I suppose it is used as a way of describing the shape and size of the tin.

Not really - as mentioned previously, all that was done was that standard petrol tins ended up being used to carry water, including that intended for human consumption. Period accounts frequently refer to the taste of petrol tainted water, with jokes as to the identity of the brand.

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Nice to know that it is being restored, and hopefully we can see the finished restoration, attached is a photograph of another excellently restored WW1 horse-drawn water tank.

Regards,

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

Both the same water tank - nice before and after shots to compare!

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Both the same water tank - nice before and after shots to compare!

As you say, nice to see the before and after photos.

Regards,

LF

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A Water Tank lorry ( a Type 75 Garford ) delivering water to a roadside watering point located in a forward area, on the back of the lorry is the unit mark ' H20 ' for the 4th Water Tank Company, Motor Transport.

LF

IWM0430 This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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You sure H20 does not just mean water!

Could be, however that is the text of the IWM photo caption, and we all know of the potential problems with photo captions.

I would have thought that had the Army wanted to have specified the contents of the tank to the average ' Tommy ', they would have just simply painted the tank ' WATER ', so perhaps that particular 4th Water Tank Company adopted ' H20 ' as their catchy Unit Mark.

Regards,

LF

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Battle of the Somme -


Mobile Field Kitchens, and supplies of drinking water stored in cans ( re-cycled petrol cans ? ) waiting to be taken up to the front line trenches in ' Chimpanzee Valley ' near to Hardecourt, East of Albert and South of Guillemont in the Picardy region of Northern France, September 1916.


Note the soldier on the right using two angled wooden beams as a brace for supporting the water canteens, and holding them upright while they are filled with water.



LF



Two other points of interest, there appears to be substantial shelling on the horizon, and down in the bottom right of the photo is a bicycle on which appears to be hung a white or light coloured painted Brodie helmet ?



This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.


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In this desert location, soldiers from a Machine Gun Company are seen resting alongside their water supply cart.

Presumably, due to the extreme desert heat, the drinking water is not stored in metal cans which would literally heat the water, but rather the water is stored in canvas bags seen hanging on the water cart, and the men would draw their drinking water from that water supply cart.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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A good water supply was critical to the Army, and resourceful methods were used to secure that water supply.

The photograph shows an AEC Y Type Water Tank Lorry of the 3rd Water Tank Company, M.T. using the old town fire engine found in Cambrai to pump water from the Canal de l'Escaut at Faubourg Cantimpre into the Water Tank Lorry. Faubourg Cantimpre is a suburb of Cambrai.

LF

IWM1043 This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Water, as well as other necessary supplies, were also brought up to the Front by rail.

The British Army's rail system was operated by the Railway Operating Division ( R.O.D. ) of the Royal Engineers, and in may cases men who had previously worked on the railways in civilian life served with the R.O.D., the British Army's locomotives were R.O.D. marked.

The photos show an R.O.D. water tank rolling stock, and also a shelled and derailed locomotive in Northern France.

LF

IWM1005 This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Two coloured photographs of a beautifully restored Great Western Railways ' Mogul ' engine No.5322 shown in WW1 British Army's Railway Operating Division ( R.O.D. ) livery.

LF

These images are reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Excellent!

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A Napier lorry and trailer transporting a Napier plane.

An excellent photograph, which looks like one of the 150 RE7 aircraft Napier built under contract for the Government at their Acton factory during WW1, being transported on a Napier Model B72 truck possibly the 2 ton type.

Napier eventually did start building their own aircraft, but that was not until the mid-1930s.

LF

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With reference to posts # 1246 and 1251
The large armament factories such as Woolwich, were unable to keep up with the demand for the filling of the shells with explosives, so in July 1915, the Government opened the first National Filling Factories which were to be responsible for the actual filling of the shells with their explosives.
This extremely dangerous work was mainly undertaken by local unskilled female workers, and apart from the obvious danger of working with very large amounts of high explosives, the NFF workers were also exposed to very serious health risks from the various toxic powders used at the factories. One of the conditions from which many of the NFF workers suffered was a yellow jaundice condition caused by TNT poisoning, which could be fatal, and also gave the women's faces a bright yellow colouring, which lead to the women at the NFF factories being known as the ' Canary Girls '.
On 1st July, 1918 at the Chilwell, Long Eaton, National Filling Factory No.6, an explosion in the Amatol mixing house detonated 8 tons of explosives causing a massive explosion which killed 134 workers, and destroyed large parts of the factory. Only 32 of the victims were able to be identified and most of the unidentified victims were buried in mass graves at St. Mary's Church, Attenborough, where a plaque marks their graves.
Earlier, in December 1916, at NFF No.1 - Leeds, Barnbow ( Marston ) another smaller explosion killed 34 workers.
Following the deadly explosion at Chilwell, the factory was rebuilt and was soon running again. In 1919, Chilwell became one of the Royal Ordnance Factories ( R.O.F. ).
During WW1, NFF Chilwell, Factory No.6 filled over 19 million shells ( 19,359,000 ) and used 121,360 tons of explosives.
The attached photos show the damage caused to the Chilwell NFF No.6 by the massive explosion.
LF
IWM96415/28 These images are reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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This photograph of just part of the factory floor, gives some idea of the enormous shell handling capacity at NFF Chilwell.

LF

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The mass graves of the 100 plus unidentified victims of the 1st July, 1918 explosion at Chilwell, who were buried in the churchyard at St. Mary's Church, Attenborough.

Also shown, is the commemorative plaque at Chilwell.

LF

These images are reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Security at the National Filling Factories was primarily concerned with preventing acts of sabotage, and this photo shows a model at the Imperial War Museum of female Police Officers searching workers at a National Filling Factory.
LF
IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Having grown up not so far from Chilwell, I can still remember stopping in the mid 1970's on a number of occasions to take a look into the site at all of the lined up military vehicles and so have always been quite fascinated in this thread, once Chilwell was mentioned. These latest photos are remarkable and I have certainly never seen them before - many thanks LF for posting.

David

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