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Remembered Today:

Who is This ? ? ?


Stoppage Drill

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Rosalie Selfridge, Highcliffe Castle

Yes. A Chicago socialite, the Mrs Gordon Selfridge Covalescent Camp for American Soldiers was apparently her husband's gift to her for Christmas 1917. She died in May 1918.

The camp was thus described in the Detroit Free Press -

“The former cricket pavilion with thatched roof that must be over a century in age has been transformed into an office for the commandant and into a kitchen and cheerful dining room, in which the convalescent “Sammies” take their meals. The huts in which they live number 12, with quarters for two men in each, and each of these huts whose open side is protected against the elements by a thick rubber curtain, which is mounted on an axis in such a way so that it may always face the sun. Then there is a recreation hut provided with a gramophone, games, books, maps, writing material and other things to make the men who use it comfortable. Lastly, there is another building known as the “Medical Ward,” which provides quarters for the permanent American non-commissioned officer who is responsible for the discipline of the camp and which also houses the linen room and the men's bathroom"

If anybody watched the recent drama series about the Selfridges (I didn't), was any reference made to this enterprise ?

Is the upper one Spanish?

Polish ?

Lower one a Major General ? McMahon ?

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If anybody watched the recent drama series about the Selfridges (I didn't), was any reference made to this enterprise ?

Polish ?

Lower one a Major General ? McMahon ?

I didn't see the series.

Not Polish. Western Front.

Not McMahon. 90th Infantry Division. St Mihiel. Meuse-Argonne.

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Gotta be Portuguese then ?

Any connection with General Henry T. Allen I am at a loss to even guess . . . .

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My Osprey Campaign series no 238 tells me that the 90th Div was commanded by Henry Allen.

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Gotta be Portuguese then ?

Any connection with General Henry T. Allen I am at a loss to even guess . . . .

My Osprey Campaign series no 238 tells me that the 90th Div was commanded by Henry Allen.

No, not Portuguese. Yes, General Allen. A clue follows.

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You will certainly swiftly identify one of these Generals, and probably the second. This photograph is a clue to the connection between General Allen and the unidentified officer, nationality so far unknown.

post-108430-0-59615800-1405863806_thumb.

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When I said "Spanish", I of course meant "Spanish Netherlands".

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nr 77 is a belgian general which i cannot further identifyCarl

Yes he is a Belgian general.

The photograph of the Generals in a car is captioned 'DRIVING THROUGH MAINZ WITH GENERAL MANGIN, COMMANDER OF ONE OF THE FRENCH ARMIES OF THE RHINE...'

When I said "Spanish", I of course meant "Spanish Netherlands".

Of course.

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i'll go for general Michel then , commander of Belgian forces in GermanyCarl

Yes, well done indeed. According to the book from where I took the photograph, 'Commander-in Chief of the Belgian Army of the Rhine'.

So: the connection with General Allen is, what?

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I'm surprised that it took so long to identify the first general as Belgian. The clue was in the header: 6 of 6, which of course leads us to "famous Belgians".

Ron

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Good lord, does that 'famous Belgians' joke still exist ?

Michel is an interesting caracter (already in action in 1914 at Namur)

Michel and Allen were both commanders of allied forces on the Rhine.

Carl

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Good lord, does that 'famous Belgians' joke still exist ?Michel is an interesting caracter (already in action in 1914 at Namur)Michel and Allen were both commanders of allied forces on the Rhine.Carl

Yes they were, as were Robertson and Mangin.

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Good detective work folk!

My July Crisis people don't seem to be catching the selector's eye so I'll tell you that the chap in #70 was the German Ambassador to Russia.

I had three more lined up so I'll bung them all up now and if no-one has a punt I'll reveal the names this evening and move on:

This first one misjudged events consistently which was unfortunate considering the job he had

post-66715-0-58715000-1405872585_thumb.p

Would you really trust your money to this chap?

post-66715-0-59621600-1405872602_thumb.j

And this chap reminds me of Vladimir Putin (explanation to follow)

post-66715-0-95178100-1405872629_thumb.j

David

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Count Pourtales indeed. According to Sazonov he (Pourtales) wept with frustration at Austria's behaviour in July (weeping seems to have been almost a requirement of German Ambassadors at the time)

The reason Poincare reminds me of Putin is that the force of his personality meant that when he was President it was the Head of State that represented the country and when he was Prime Minister it was that post that took the lead.

In July, despite being in reality a cipher, it was Poincare not Viviani whose view counted.

David

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I'm surprised that it took so long to identify the first general as Belgian. The clue was in the header: 6 of 6, which of course leads us to "famous Belgians".

Ron

Eddy Merckx

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If anyone else is interested; two more online books 'The Lafayette Flying Corps Volume 1

https://archive.org/details/TheLafayetteFlyingCorpsvolume1

'The Lafayette Flying Corps' Charles Nordhoff

https://archive.org/details/lafayetteflying00nordgoog

Printed books:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lafayette-Escadrille-Men-Series/dp/0831757124

http://www.amazon.com/Lafayette-Escadrille-Biographies-Dennis-Gordon/dp/0942258010

http://www.amazon.com/Lafayette-Escadrille-Herbert-Molloy-Mason/dp/B0006BM6D2

Recommendations for the best Lafayette Escadrille book on the Aerodrome forum

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/books-magazines/44693-best-lafayette-escadrille-book.html

The Dennis Gordon book, which is the rarest and most expensive one of the printed books listed on Amazon.com, seems to be the one most highly recommended.

(I'll shurrup now)

I'm both interested and grateful Caryl; thanks for all the links. I've been meaning to look into them for years; I think that Horne in Price of Glory was where I came upon them first (but the memory could be playing tricks on me).

Pete.

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Good lord, does that 'famous Belgians' joke still exist ?

Carl

Yes indeed. Remember that Chit Chat is Great War related, so it was a very modern joke in 1914!

But Eddy Merckx wouldn't have been one of them.

Ron

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Today I was emailed and then called by a journalist at BBC Wales today asking about how the identity of the unknown Officer in the portrait (posted by Ridgus on 16th April) was solved. Subsequently a journalist from WalesNews called and is interested in running the story. He spoke English properly so I gave him the rundown and stressed it was the collaborative effort of the GWF members, particularly those who are inmates at WIT. Hopefully some good press for GWF and WIT, with appropriate credits for the prime suspects.

Just FYI.

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I'm both interested and grateful Caryl; thanks for all the links. I've been meaning to look into them for years; I think that Horne in Price of Glory was where I came upon them first (but the memory could be playing tricks on me).

Pete.

I'm sure it was 'neverforget' posting one of the Lafayette pilots up in WIT(1) that made me want to read more about them. In a letter to his father, Victor Chapman tried to reassure him about his safety:

. 'Halloween 1915. I get the idea that you and Alec especially are wearing yourselves out worrying about the danger I'm in, or were rather when I was at the front and will again when I return. It's all very parental and I appreciate it, but I wish you would not because it rather takes the edge off and principally because it does not benefit me or anyone, This is the first thing that I have done that is worthwhile, or may ever do...' '...it's easier to pilot an aeroplane than drive an auto and far less dangerous than the driving I used to do daily at Cambridge...' His father was right to worry and sadly his worst fears came true.

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Today I was emailed and then called by a journalist at BBC Wales today asking about how the identity of the unknown Officer in the portrait (posted by Ridgus on 16th April) was solved. Subsequently a journalist from WalesNews called and is interested in running the story. He spoke English properly so I gave him the rundown and stressed it was the collaborative effort of the GWF members, particularly those who are inmates at WIT. Hopefully some good press for GWF and WIT, with appropriate credits for the prime suspects.

Just FYI.

Excellent news Martin! Well it was a good 'un!

By the way, with this new thread and t'other being in Chit-Chat (the old thread used to be in 'Other') I noticed the other day before I logged in that this thread, and in fact the whole of Chit Chat is only visible to forum members, which is a shame .

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Excellent news Martin! Well it was a good 'un!

By the way, with this new thread and t'other being in Chit-Chat (the old thread used to be in 'Other') I noticed the other day before I logged in that this thread, and in fact the whole of Chit Chat is only visible to forum members, which is a shame .

I thought the same thing Caryl. Still after our brief sojourn in Skindles, I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies!

Incidentally I have started the statistical analysis of WIT. It means I'm rereading the whole thread which is a long business although I'm enjoying it (especially skipman's almost limitless capacity for punning. Much missed Mike!). I've catalogued the first 150 characters (which only takes me to page 64) and I hadn't realised quite our dominant you, Mr Drill and I were in the early days. Of those 150 the three of us account for well over half and, into the bargain, we solved around a third of all the postings. It didn't seem to feel like that at the time. However I am now just starting to hit the period when khaki, Siege Gunner and Steve Marsdin seemed to answer all of them in seconds. I was also surprised at how early the 'Great Identification Scandal' was. It was only 15 pages in. I thought we had been going much longer.

Oh and first use of the term 'the Extensive Library'? Steven Broomfield post number 199.

Sorry in advance but I think I'm going to be even more statistically nerdy than ever over the next few weeks

David

Today I was emailed and then called by a journalist at BBC Wales today asking about how the identity of the unknown Officer in the portrait (posted by Ridgus on 16th April) was solved. Subsequently a journalist from WalesNews called and is interested in running the story. He spoke English properly so I gave him the rundown and stressed it was the collaborative effort of the GWF members, particularly those who are inmates at WIT. Hopefully some good press for GWF and WIT, with appropriate credits for the prime suspects.

Just FYI.

Great news Martin. You deserve all the praise going for such a feat of memory and investigation

David

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