Windmill used to direct German artillery

[Kaniere]

It seems a little unlikely but has anyone heard of a windmill supposedly being used to direct indirect artillery fire? An alert soldier reportedly noticed the sails moving despite the lack of wind. Place and date unknown but on the western front. 

[rolt968]

I have certainly heard of this. I can't remember in what context. However it may have been in a work of fiction.

RM

[Black Maria]

I have heard it mentioned in memoirs , mainly those dealing with the early months of trench warfare . Also other forms of signalling , such as plouged fields .

 

[James A Pratt III]

I have read about this old wives tale as well. Spy mania was a problem on all fronts during WW I and it was at its worse in the early war period.

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

On 07/09/2022 at 12:36, Black Maria said:

Also other forms of signalling , such as plouged fields

 

On 08/09/2022 at 18:17, James A Pratt III said:

Spy mania was a problem on all fronts during WW I and it was at its worse in the early war period.

The entry for 26 November 1914 in the WD of the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots WO-95-1423-1 includes the following, on a day when the unit was in trenches at Wulverghem:

Fairly quiet day with only a little shelling. Sent a suspected spy to Brigade HdQs. Clock hands on  Wulverghem church were seen to move systematically backwards and forwards. Search party failed to find the operator.

My grandfather also mentions "spy fever" as being rife on his arrival at the front in 1915, and clearly, from his tone, thought that he and his fellow officers were being somewhat over-zealous in their suspicions. However, again looking at the WD of the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots, to give just one example of why it is understandable that suspicions were rife, the entry for 2 November 1914 reads:

Germans evidently thoroughly understand our method of signalling as they signal back "misses" with a long pole to each shot fired by our snipers.

Having said that, one would have thought that signalling using the hands of a church clock, visible from miles around (necessarily if it was to achieve the objective of signalling to those some distance away) could not have been expected to provide the best chance of escaping down the stairs of the church tower without being arrested - though on 26 November 1914 the operator, whether friend or foe, did apparently manage to elude apprehension (the spy they sent to Brigade Headquarters that same day was clearly not a person whom they suspected of operating the clock hands).

Edited 10 September , 2022 by A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy

[bierast]

Not surprisingly a very similar spy mania existed on the German side, not only behind the front but even within Germany - there were already wild rumours about Entente spies on the loose during mobilisation.

Our friend and featured diarist Generalmajor Richard Kaden describes a striking example of the phenomenon in his private diary entry for 19th December 1914 (quoted on p.207 of our book Fighting the Kaiser's War). At the time Kaden was commander of 48. Infanterie-Brigade within 24. Infanterie-Division, which held the southern portion of the Saxon XIX. Armeekorps front west of Lille. However Kaden's regiments had been committed late to the battle there as reinforcements on 23rd October 1914, and were deployed in widely separated sectors (IR 106 at Ploegsteert Wood and IR 107 at Wez-Macquart, where both would take part in the Christmas Truce. But I digress...

Quote

While I was at divisional HQ I witnessed something remarkable. An unteroffizier of Sanitäts-Kompanie [XIX.1] had accused a 62 year old farmer from Lomme [near Lille, in the divisional rear area] of signalling with a light to the enemy. The farmer had denied it, but was condemned to death on the basis of the sworn statement of the unteroffizier. Tomorrow morning he was to be shot. When his protestations of innocence failed, the old farmer asked only to be buried in the local cemetery. Then today the unteroffizier suddenly confessed that he had made it all up. What could the motive have been for this disgraceful act? Krug [General der Kavallerie Hans Krug von Nidda, the divisional commander] was thoroughly incensed. He made a present of two bottles of wine to the farmer, whose freedom was immediately restored, and personally assured him that he would be informed of the judgement against the perjurer, who was immediately taken into custody and will get at least three years in jail.

A Sanitäts-Kompanie was a medical / bearer company of which the division possessed one, hence the unit can be identified with confidence. Unfortunately this is not the case with the individual miscreant, so the motive can only be guessed at.

Edited 9 September , 2022 by bierast

[AOK4]

12 minutes ago, bierast said:

A Sanitäts-Kompanie was a medical / bearer company of which the division possessed one, hence the unit can be identified with confidence. Unfortunately this is not the case with the individual miscreant, so the motive can only be guessed at.

Without checking everything, Sanitäts-Kompagnien in 1914 in active army corps were still dependent from the corps level and there were 3 Sanitäts-Kompagnien per Armeekorps (divisions etc raised in wartime had one Sanitäts-Kompagnie per division). (I'm just splitting hairs here as that is not really relevant for the story.) Sanitäts-Kompagnien in active divisions/corps were division-based in 1916 IIRC (one per division) when they were renamed. The extra companies were then used for new units or kept as reserve on army level to be used as extra bearer companies in active sectors.

Jan

[bierast]

17 minutes ago, AOK4 said:

Without checking everything, Sanitäts-Kompagnien in 1914 in active army corps were still dependent from the corps level and there were 3 Sanitäts-Kompagnien per Armeekorps (divisions etc raised in wartime had one Sanitäts-Kompagnie per division). (I'm just splitting hairs here as that is not really relevant for the story.) Sanitäts-Kompagnien in active divisions/corps were division-based in 1916 IIRC (one per division) when they were renamed. The extra companies were then used for new units or kept as reserve on army level to be used as extra bearer companies in active sectors.

I was going by Feldpost, which indicates the consistent attachment of San. Komp. XIX.1 to 24. Infanterie-Division and San. Komp. XIX.2 to 40. Infanterie-Division during 1915-16 (unfortunately I don't have any relevant Feldpost from 1914).

Now upon renewed investigation I see that there was indeed also a San. Komp. XIX.3 in 1914, which left the corps in spring 1915 to be redesignated as San. Komp. 123 of the new 123. Infanterie-Division... so Kaden's story does not relate with 100% certainty to San. Komp. XIX.1 after all! We'll have to add that to the book's errata page... 

[stevenbecker]

Mates,

I remember a story told when moving into an area by the departing Brits, that we should keep an eye on a local farmers wife, as she was seen putting out the washing differantly, by mixing the colours.

The Brits thought she was signaling the Germans by this?

How true that is I don't know but one of the many stories during the Spy scares.

S.B

[Kaniere]

Thanks, guys.

I have been told the whole of the Continent was inhabited by foreigner's very few of whom spoke English. Suspicious, don't you think?