Tag: British army

On an Imposter

Tom sat in the British trench with his friends and fellow soldiers, and he read a newspaper. It was 1917, on the Western Front, and the Great War raged across Europe and other places around the globe, making it the first truly world war. Tom had joined the British Expeditionary Force in the early days of the war. He was a Canadian, Tom was, and he was proud to serve King and Country.

An article in the paper caught his eye. It seems that a fellow Canadian, a celebrity, long-distance runner named Longboat, had enlisted in the war effort as well. Now, this was the period when track and field was a much more publicly popular sport than it is today. Crowds paid top dollar to watch races of all distances in much the way people today pay to witness boxing matches live. Anyway, this Longboat fellow had enlisted, the story said.

But Tom knew something wasn’t right about this story. First of all, the story said that this Longboat guy had enlisted not in Canada, but he had gone to the United States and had enlisted into the American armed forces (who were only then joining the war on the side of the Allies). Tom didn’t know that Canadians enlisting in the US Army was possible. Also, Tom knew first-hand what this Longboat fellow looked like, and the man who was depicted in the publicity photo in the newspaper was definitely not him.

You see, Tom himself had been known to run a race or two back in the time before the war. In fact, he was a “runner” for the British Army, dispatching messages from the front lines to the rear. It was job that required speed, certainly, but also incredible bravery because the runners were often exposed to gun and shellfire as they ran the messages back and forth.

So, when Tom saw the photo of this imposter Longboat guy, he was a little miffed. I mean, it was obvious that he was trying to get some cheap publicity by pretending to be the famous runner. Maybe, also, he thought he could get a cushy assignment in the military because of his fame. Who knows for sure why people assume others’ identities?

Tom told his friends in the trenches that he would try to get word through channels about this imposter. Being a runner who went back to Headquarters regularly, he had some connections there who might could get word to the Americans about this guy. Tom’s buddies in the trenches were skeptical. Why would the Americans believe the word of some guy in the British Army over the word of a man who said he was a world famous runner?

Tom smiled.

“Well, after all, I’m the real Tom Longboat.”

On Attacking Orleans

The town of Orleans was named, of course, for the French family of royalty.  The Valois-Orléans family provided several kings for France. But this post is about attacks on the town during two different world wars.

The first “world war” was, arguably, the Napoleonic wars of the early 1800s. Orleans was attacked by the British from the sea during this war, causing its inhabitants to develop a strong dislike for all things English. These British attacks destroyed property, livelihoods, and caused enough damage that it took several years for the area around Orleans to recover economically.  In fact, in a war some 25 years earlier, the British had even captured the town—twice. So, hostility towards the British spanned several generations in and around Orleans. 

Ironically, in one of the next world wars, the Great War, also known as World War I, these residents of Orleans found that the British were their allies in facing the Germans on the Western front of France. The Germans , like the English attackers before them, attacked Orleans by sea. The intent of the attack, apparently, was to destroy some supplies that have been stored in the town.

However, the shelling by the German guns didn’t do the damage the British had done almost 130 years before.  The attack occurred on July 21, 1918. A German submarine shot its deck guns at the town and also destroyed a tow boat and some barges. Luckily, no fatalities were incurred.

Now, it’s possible that some of you may have spotted something curious in the paragraphs above that describe the attacks on Orleans. “Wait,” you might be saying. “Orleans France isn’t a coastal town. How could the British and then the Germans attack Orleans by sea?”

The answer is, of course, this post is not about the city of Orleans in France. And it’s not about New Orleans in Louisiana, either. No, it is about the Orleans (population +/- 6000) that is located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

Yes, the British captured the town twice during the American Revolution and caused damage during the War of 1812.  These attacks are why the citizens chose the name Orleans; they wanted no English-sounding name associated with their town.

However, it was the attack by the German U-boat in 1918 that really put Orleans on the map. You see, it is this attack that is remembered in history as the only time Germany attacked the land of the United States during WW1. 

True, it’s likely that the U-boat captain was only trying to damage the barges and tow boats in the harbor, causing some of his shells to miss their mark and land in and around the town. But, at no other time during World War I did Germany attack the soil of the United States—except at Orleans.