chris basey Posted 2 May , 2003 Share Posted 2 May , 2003 Does anyone have access to an image of the Fifth Army's flash - the Red Fox - that they could send me please? Chris Basey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 2 May , 2003 Share Posted 2 May , 2003 just a cig card i'm afraid but here ya go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 2 May , 2003 Share Posted 2 May , 2003 Ian - you may know this - veterans called this the 'mud-balled fox'; author Henry Williamson who served with 2nd Beds, 30th Division, Fifth Army in March 1918 was always proud of his association with this battle flash and inlcuded it on the dust wrapper of his novel A Test To Destruction which was about this period of the war. There is a good example of it in Gough's Fifth Army but difficult to copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris basey Posted 2 May , 2003 Author Share Posted 2 May , 2003 Arm Many thanks - it's just the job. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 2 May , 2003 Share Posted 2 May , 2003 Chris do you know why it is this emblem used the back of the card gives no reason saying it has no significances but surley there must be a reason it was chosen,its hardly a pluck it out of the air job.? Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 3 May , 2003 Share Posted 3 May , 2003 Chris - sorry for calling you Ian! This is what comes of browsing with more than one window open at a time; I had just been reading a posting by Ian Bowbrick! Am not sure of the significance of the mud-balled fox, but given how many senior officers were hunt masters before WW1, it could have something to do with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris basey Posted 4 May , 2003 Author Share Posted 4 May , 2003 I’m afraid I am still searching for the origin of the Red Fox sign for Gough’s Fifth Army. According to Swinton (“Twenty years after”) when General Birdwood took over they reverted to the their sign of the Army brassard with a five-pointed red star in the black stripe. However, the Red Fox and the Red Star survived for many years after the war. It was incorporated into the badge of the Fifth Army Old Comrades Association which, remarkably, was not formed until 1932! Their magazine was also called the Red Fox and continued until the 50’s. I believe the Fifth was the only WW1 Army to have had an Old Comrades Assn. The emblem also features in the splendid Fifth Army memorial window at St Peter’s Cornhill in London. I am fortunate to have been given, by an old friend and Fifth Army man, his souvenirs of the Association’s Seventh Annual Reunion Dinner and Parade held on Saturday and Sunday 19th/20th March 1938. What memories they must have had after twenty years. The Menu card I have is signed by Gough and Maxse. The photograph of their river trip on the Thames shows about forty of them (plus some wives) together with Gough. Chris Basey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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