The Warren James Centuria.
Based in the area surrounding Hawkesmoor mine near Mitcheldean, the Warren James Centuria (WJC) is a new left-wing force that has developed in the Forest of Dean.
Due to the chaotic situation in the Forest, the mine manager left with his family for a safer location. Charlie Masson, a locally born miner, returned to the mine and has organised the miners to run it for themselves. His influence has extended beyond the mine itself and a small portion of the local land has been 'collectivised' to provide food and a small income for some of the poorer families in the area.
Masson has begun trading coal for food and other supplies. He considers this as being a form of the maxim 'from each according to his ability to each according to his need'. The people he trades with need coal & the miners need food.
Masson has brought a half dozen 'furreners' (although to Forest folk anyone not born 'twixt the Severn & Wye' are 'furren') with him. These men are refugees from the Communist Party / Republican Government purges against the militias like POUM in Spain. The skills and bravery of these men have won them some degree of acceptance locally.
They have a couple of women soldiers but mostly women are given support jobs such as cooking & nursing.
Men from the WJC went to support the Longhope Jam Factory Militia in the Battle of Longhope and they have a loose alliance. (It must be admitted that half of the WJC got no further than the Red Lion pub on that day).
Equipment:
The WJC has a mixture of shotguns, pistols & some SMLE rifles, also a few SMGs acquired via ILP contacts but they have limited ammunition for these.
The WJC has a mixture of shotguns, pistols & some SMLE rifles, also a few SMGs acquired via ILP contacts but they have limited ammunition for these.
They have been given the Vickers HMG captured by the Longhope Jam Factory Militia from the Fascists at the Battle of Longhope. The father of one of their members was in the Machine Gun Corps in the Great War and has been training a team to use it. This has also been hampered by a lack of ammunition.
Recently, the Centuria have acquired a small muzzle loading cannon from a local 'big house' and have made a few batches of gunpowder. They have some gelignite from local quarries.
The WJC has several lorries but suffers from a shortage of petrol. They are looking for steam lorries which they can run on coal from their mine.
Key Personalities:
Charlie Masson.
Charlie had worked at the mine but had been sacked six years earlier, along with two of his friends, when the manager heard they were reading books by Lenin. He is a member of the Independent Labour Party & joined their contingent in the Spanish Civil War. He hates Stalinist Communists more than the Fascists after his experiences in Spain.
Charlie had worked at the mine but had been sacked six years earlier, along with two of his friends, when the manager heard they were reading books by Lenin. He is a member of the Independent Labour Party & joined their contingent in the Spanish Civil War. He hates Stalinist Communists more than the Fascists after his experiences in Spain.
Gonzalo Perelló.
Perelló is a Poumista refugee who has escaped with his wife and son and joined his friend, Masson. He brought a few other men with him from Spain. As several of them were miners from Cercs in Catalonia and have proved themselves hard fighters , they have settled in reasonably well with the Mitcheldean locals.
Gonzalo was thought to have been killed whilst trying to petrol bomb an enemy armoured car in a skirmish near Bullo Wharf. News has recently reached his family that he is still alive and a prisoner in a government labour camp in the Cotswolds.
Who was Warren James?
The Centuria is named after Warren James who was the spokesman for a revolt by the Foresters against a Royal Decree enforcing enclosures in the early 19th century. He ended up being tried and sentenced to hang. Instead transported to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania). A campaign to get him pardoned succeeded but he died in Tasmania before he could return home.
The Centuria is named after Warren James who was the spokesman for a revolt by the Foresters against a Royal Decree enforcing enclosures in the early 19th century. He ended up being tried and sentenced to hang. Instead transported to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania). A campaign to get him pardoned succeeded but he died in Tasmania before he could return home.
Masson considers Warren James as a local People's Hero for standing up for the Common Man against Royalist Oppression and so James was his obvious choice when naming the Centuria.
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