God-damn Cattle Rustlers! A Range War in Herefordshire?

God-damn Cattle Rustlers!

A Range War in Herefordshire?

  "Duw boy, stop moaning about the rain!”

The windscreen wipers had definitely lost the battle. Ianto peered into the gloom.

“That was Llangarren, so anything from yere on is ours for the taking!"

Welsh Nationalists have been raiding the west of Herefordshire and stealing a lot livestock. They have been sending them further into Wales for fattening on the hill pastures to provide food for the forthcoming Winter.

Recently the Welsh have begun sending rustlers further afield and have attacked the South of the county. Emboldened by their recent seizure of Hay-on-Wye, they have dispatched more men to steal anything worth having in the area just North of Monmouth.

Down near Goodrich, the local Marston LDV have regularly patrolling their patch guarding their sheep (and cattle), from the deprivations of the Welsh.

 

The two sides:

 The Raiders.

Huw Jenkins leading this raid.

Section One: 10 experienced well-armed men, who are there to deal with any opposition.

Section Two: The Rustlers. 12 less experienced men and lads whose job is mainly to round up the beasts.

 The Defenders.

Local LDV patrol from Marstow: 10 militia armed with shotguns and rifles

Legion of Frontiersmen: 9 militia and and NCO armed with rifles

Royal Canadian Mounted Police: 5 veterans armed with rifles (who took no part in the fighting as they turned up after it was all over!)

 

The Location.

 

Marstow is approx. 3 miles West of Goodrich and approx. 8 miles South-West of Ross-on-Wye.

The Engagement.

 

The area around the Russell’s farm near Marstow.

  The Welsh arrive and disembark.

It was already dark when the first of the Welsh Nationalist men approached the quiet village of Marstow in Herefordshire. In the dim glimmer put out by the headlights of the lead vehicle, Huw Jenkins ordered his men out of the truck and they quickly moved to the hedge line. 

Fearing large numbers of Welsh attackers, the LDV prepared to defend their fields and sent a runner to the nearest house with a telephone and asked for reinforcements from their Albertine allies at Goodrich.

 

 

More Welsh arrive.

Meanwhile a couple of miles away, the Legion of Frontiersmen rushed rather slowly out of the smoky warmth of the guardroom at Goodrich Court and piled into their waiting truck.

 

The Marstow LDV fell back under pressure

Malcolm Harris, leader of the Marstow LDV was hit but his men continued to fight hard to save their precious livestock.

 

 Marstow LDV's very effective final volley

With what would be their last volley, the Marstow LDV caused significant casualties to the Welsh. Huw Jenkins was shot and wounded!

 

The last of the LDV finally flee

Just after this happened, the village LDV took a few more casualties and their morale broke, the survivors fled through the darkness for hard cover in a nearby ruined cottage.The Welsh main section also began to fall back, heading towards to their transport. Thomas Thomas risked his life to retrieve Huw’s precious Tommy gun.

 

 

The Welsh trucks head towards the cattle

 With the LDV scattered, the Welsh trucks made a dash for the fields full of livestock.

 

 

Finally the Legion of Frontiersmen reach the village

 

 

The Legion of Frontiersmen attack

As most of the Legion of Frontiersmen disembark to the side and rear of their truck, two of them leap into the back of one of the Welsh trucks causing the driver and his mate to bail out and try to run for it!

 

The raiders only real prize!

In the end, the Welsh had three dead and eight wounded and one lost truck, but they managed to make off one live cow and one that had been shot in the fighting. Three Welsh raiders were captured and faced a Tribunal before their likely fate on the end of a noose. A very poor return for the Raiders although Huw Jenkins did escape muttering "We would have done it if it wasn't for those meddling LDV!" and vowing to wreak his revenge another day!

 AAR Notes: When the Marstow LDV put up very, much stiffer resistance than was expected, the Welsh plan began to break down rapidly. Their hopes of quickly routing the opposition and stealing the whole herd evapourated. The arrival of the Frontiersmen was the last straw and the raid ended abruptly.

This was the last wargame I played & took place a month or so before the Pandemic.

Auntie Betty’s Scrapbook 3 - Local news items - Autumn & Winter 1938

 

Local news items - Autumn & Winter 1938

A collection of various articles, many showing the effects of the harsh winter of 1938/9 which made the civil war grind to a stop before and after the Christmas Truce.

 

 

Articles from the Wye & Severn Sentinel, early August 1938.

 

Article from the Wye & Severn Sentinel, 24th December 1938

 

Snowplough clearing a road near Ross

 

 

 

Despite the snow, spirits are high in the queue for rationed food in Ross just before Christmas.

 

 The above articles & photos are from the Wye & Severn Sentinel, 28th December 1938

Article from the Wye & Severn Sentinel, 1st January 1939

Editor’s notes: The weather information given in the newspaper cuttings is from the Meteorlogical Office's national monthly report for December 1938 which mentions Ross-on-Wye temperatures and the very rare sighting of the Aurora Borealis there.

 Any content of any other part is all my fault. The usual AVBCW disclaimer applies, see the disclaimer page for details.

The Goodrich Albertines – Part One - An Introduction.

The Goodrich Albertines – Part One - An Introduction.

Article from the Wye & Severn Sentinel, October 1938. 

Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, mid-October 1938.

Worried by incursions by Welsh Nationalists to the west and the failure of the Anglican League forces at Ross to fully secure the south of Herefordshire, Sir Valance Morris called an urgent meeting with Goodrich and Welsh Bicknor LDV leaders. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he addressed them:

“To the east of us is a pocket of insufferable Reds and just beyond them, the forces of our fool of a King and his bullyboy, Moseley. Up in Ross are the Anglican League, who seem to have forgotten this end of the county and are giving all their attention to the fighting in north Herefordshire.

Now the damned Welsh Nationalist traitors have begun raiding us from the west and south. Our sheep, and other livestock, are not safe from their depredations.

We have been left to provide own own defence and we have done that splendidly but our resources are too limited I propose a solution to this.”
After several hours of sometimes heated discussion, Sir Valance Morris introduced an emissary from the Albertine faction.

Inspector McMurdo of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, looked most impressive in his colourful dress uniform as he took his place next to Sir Valance and spoke with a clear voice:

“Gentleman, and Lady Persephone,

I have travelled across the Atlantic from the Dominion of Canada to offer my help to England and her people in these dark times .

The British Parliament at Winchester has appointed Prince Albert as Lord Protector of this land with a remit to reunite the Empire and remove the taint of both the Fascists and the Reds from the Mother Country.”.

He took a piece of thick paper, bearing a wax seal and ribbon, from the leather folder on the table in front of him and passed it to the local representatives.

“This is an official copy of the instrument of this act, duly signed and passed by the members of the remaining democratically elected Parliament in this country. It calls upon the people of this great nation to support the Prince in returning this land to the status quo of freedom, legality and peace that held firm before this sad outcome began.

Returning Britons and loyal men, and women, of the dominions and colonies are coming to assist you.

The Empire stands with you!  You are NOT alone!”

At the end of his short speech, he made the locals an offer of support which they could hardly refuse. He would bring a unit to the area which would significantly increase their defence forces and provide heavy weapons and experienced men.

Another period of intense, and at times heated, debate took place. Not all those present were happy with Morris’s plan. The main leader of the opposition to the proposal, Councillor Rivers, commented that whilst the extra men are needed, there are simply not enough of them to make any real difference to the village’s overall military situation . Also he pointed out that they would need even stronger defences as the presence of the Albertines in Goodrich makes the village a target for other factions in the Civil War and it would be better to say no and keep allow profile to avoid trouble. Eventually, a vote was held and the majority of the representatives voted in favour of Sir Valance and the Albertines.

The strategic position of Goodrich.

Very near to Goodrich, Kerne Bridge and Welsh Bicknor have two railway bridges and a road toll-bridge and Huntsham has a small road bridge which cross the River Wye. These are the only crossing points between Ross and Monmouth. With their hopes of marching their Pembrokeshire contingent to meet with their north-western forces at Tewkesbury, controlling bridges on the Wye means an easier and safer route eastwards out of Wales for the Albertines.

Also, Goodrich forms a good base of operations for the Albertine’s “Special Reconnaissance Section”. From here, their agents can infiltrate central Wales, the Midlands and the Bristol area.

The political boundaries of the area at the end of 1938.

The introduction of another faction into the south Herefordshire / west Gloucestershire / north Monmouthshire area may cause an escalation in the low level fighting locally.

To the north of Goodrich, is Ross-on-Wye which is the base of an Anglican League force that is in a stand off with Royalist/Government and British Union of Fascists units trying to advance west to cut off and surround the Bishop of Ludlow’s men in the north of the county. It is possible that the League’s Ross enclave may be weakened by defections to the Albertine cause.

The strong anti-left wing nature of some of the Albertines (in particular, the Legion of Frontiersmen) will create friction with the communist-led National Agricultural Labourers Union at Hope Mansel and the Independent Labour Party’s Warren James Centuria at Mitcheldean, both a few miles east of Goodrich.

The Gloucestershire Government and BUF commanders are waiting to see if the Albertines fracture the local Anglican League and allow them an opportunity to capture Ross. If not, they may consider a quick strike through to Goodrich to nip this new force in the bud.

The Welsh Nationalists have been raiding the area west of Goodrich and probably will still cause problems for the new faction’s leaders.

To the south at Monmouth and Chepstow are the Royalist Earl of Glamorgan and his men. Rumours abound that some of his men may switch their support from one Royal to another.

We wait with bated breath to see the outcome!