Sunday Feb 24th, 1918
No work today. Slept all day. Needed it very much. On duty NUP4? – 6:30pm to 7am – rotten.
Very Lights
Frank doesn’t mention the church service today – just that he slept all day. This is despite a continued barrage of shells into Deep Cut and Patty Ravines, and B2. Luckily this is towards Lake Dojran and away from Silbury – though the noise must have been audible. He also mentions being on duty tonight but we haven’t been able to decipher NUP4? Any ideas?
The artillery action is enabled today by good visibility, even at night as the moon is bright. This means that there is little need for ‘Very lights’.
Flares were used by the army, navy and air force on both sides of the conflict. They each used flare guns for signalling during daylight using a variety of coloured flares and white flares at night for illumination. Sometimes they would attach them to trip wires to catch out advancing troops.
The British soldiers seemed to call all flare guns (both enemy and allied) Very Lights, after the inventor Edward Wilson Very, an American Naval Officer. In actual fact, during the war, the British were using mainly flare guns manufactured by Webley & Scott. The photograph shows a soldier firing a ‘Very light’ pistol from a front line trench near Bairakli Jum’s in the Balkans in May 1917.#
The Central Powers were probably using the 1894 Hebel Flare Pistol which remained in service during WWII. Both sides reported problems with the paper cartridges which used to swell when damp.¹
A WWI song from the trenches ‘When Very Lights are Shining” (sung to the tune of ‘When Irish Eyes are Smiling) ends, ‘Sure when Very Lights are shining, ‘Tis rum or lead for you.’²
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 24th February 1918 – No 1 Sector, Minden Camp
Our batteries shows little activity during the day. Enemy fired about 70 shells in vicinity of Deep Cut Ravine. Enemy fired about 20 trench mortar bombs into B2 and Patty Ravine in the night, our trench mortars retaliated. Enemy put up very few ‘very lights’ owing to brightness of the moon. A patrol brought in a complete set of Webb equipment and 3 shovels, all British from Patty Ravine. Rifle grenades were fired at this patrol from O1. Much work is still going on in the regions mentioned on 23-2-18, also on Black Hill. Enemy appears to be mending and thickening his main belt of wire in front of O2. Church services as usual. 2 OR having rejoined are taken on from 23-2-18. A reinforcement of 2 OR is taken on from 23-2-18. 1 OR is compulsorily transferred from AOC with effect from 21-2-18 under AD 204 of 1916.
References & Further Reading
¹ ‘Webley Very flare guns‘ on Great War Forum
² “When Very Lights are Shining”
# Very light pistol, Imperial War Museums