A Squabble near Blaisdon
Early September 1938
Cutting from the Wye & Severn Sentinel
The Government front line garrison on the eastern side of the Forest of Dean is a reinforced platoon at Newnham on Severn. This small unit is supported by members of the village defence force who are quite well equipped as they are supplied with arms and training by the government . Their primary mission is to check on traffic heading towards Gloucester and to keep an eye out for any potential attacks from the west.
The army platoon is commanded from the garrison at Huntley to the north. Their commander had recently received a large amount of supplies to last over the next few months. He decided to send ammunition, food, fuel and a limited amount of medical supplies by road to his troops at Newnham.
The Convoy:
The vehicles in the convoy consisted of a petrol tanker, a truck load of ammunition and two trucks containing food and medical supplies.
It was defended by two 8-man squads from the RAF Rifles, each in its own vehicle, and was supported by a two-pounder portee gun.
The location of the engagement.
The Ambush Plan:
The two attacking groups, the Warren James Centuria (Forest of Dean Independent Labour Party militia) and the National Agricultural Labourers Union militia (Communist-led) from Hope Mansell decided to work together despite their political differences. The WJC had two squads of 8 men armed largely with rifles, a few shotguns and a tommy gun. The NALU had a section of 12 men armed with mainly shotguns and a couple of rifles and an assault section of 4 men equipped with pistols, a rifle and Molotovs.
The plan was simple, the NALU men were to lay low and let the supply convoy pass. The WJC would then stop the convoy as it slowed at the hump-backed bridge and the NALU militia would attack from the rear. As they say “No plan survives contact with the enemy!”
The Engagement:
As the convoy approached, they spotted some suspicious movement along the hedgerow ahead. The vehicles pulled up Some of the RAF Rifles dismounted from their transport to investigate. As they did so, they were hit by a volley from the hedge line and discovered that they had inconveniently stopped next to the NALU assault squad who were hiding in the garden of the house next to the government vehicles.
Suddenly the portee gun truck burst into flames as it was hit by a skillfully thrown Molotov! The gun crew immediately abandoned the truck.
An aerial shot of this stage of the action - there must have been a lot of turbulence.
Seeing what was happening down the road, and realising their initial plan was scuppered, the WJC ran along the road towards the convoy.
The Warren James Centuria break cover and run towards the action
(from the far end of the table) as another Molotov hits the front vehicle.
The RAF Rifles advance to engage the enemy.
With the WJC coming down the road, the NALU assault squad advancing towards the
vehicles on the left and continued NALU volley fire from the hedge line to their
right front, the RAF Rifles start to retreat.
The RAF Riles continue to fall back in good order to the rear of the convoy.
The blurry bloke at the front of the picture is one of the RAF gun crew who had
legged it from their burning vehicle right at the start of the action.
With several dead and wounded, the RAF troops pulled back and crammed into the rear vehicle of the convoy. They then drove away, abandoning the supplies and their civilian drivers.
The Squabble:
Once they had seen off the government troops, the leaders of the two socialist groups met. Andrew Wilson, leader of the NALU militia wanted all the vehicles in the convoy as his unit had done almost all of the fighting.. They would share some of the supplies but keep the bulk of them. Charlie Masson, leader of the WJC, said that the government troops had fled because his men had reinforced Wilson’s and insisted on the original 50/50 split that had been agreed with the initial plan. As the leaders argued, the men of each side pushed out the convoy’s drivers and took over the vehicles. The NALU took the rear trucks and the WJC grabbed the front ones. As tempers rose over who got what, fist fights began between the two sides and actually, it was Andrew Wilson, the communist leader of the NALU militia, who opened fire with his pistol on the “Thieving Trots” of the WJC (You can’t trust the press, you know.) The final casualties from this brief contra-temps was: WJC 3 men wounded and NALU 1 man dead and 3 wounded..
Each group then took the vehicles nearest to them. So the NALU got a food truck and the petrol tanker and the WJC got the ammunition truck and the medical supplies.
The Conclusion:
The NALU men were happy to get plenty of tinned foodstuffs for their winter supplies and were really pleased to get all the petrol. The WJC could really have done with getting a share of the petrol but were disappointed, however, they have plenty of .303 ammunition which means that the Vickers HMG that was captured at the Battle of Longhope, can finally be used. They also found several crates of grenades and a dozen 2-pounder shells in their haul. Charlie Masson also made sure that half of the medical supplies were donated to the local hospital (winning hearts & minds, comrades!).
The opinions of Government Commanders about the loss of the supplies and the future missions to be allotted to the RAF Rifles are not known at this time.
Notes:
Apologies for the terrible pictures, I only have a few dodgy photos of this one (and they are the best of them) as my camera was not focusing correctly (I later found out it was on its panoramic setting - Doh! :(
Despite being better quality troops than their attackers, the RAF Rifles suffered their usual poor dice rolls and were overwhelmed and seen off fairly quickly.
