Pat Kelleher - The Alleyman

Tarak, however, would not be denied. He accompanied them, a look of grim determination on his face. He had a clan to avenge, and if he failed in that, he would join them in the Village of the Dead.

Close up, the size of the cavern entrance staggered Atkins; it was larger than he had thought. Staring into the vast starless space within, he felt gripped by a sudden wave of vertigo, but he carried on, one foot in front of the other. If in doubt, walk forwards was always the advice, and he clung to that now; that and the thought of Flora.

The Padre clutched his Bible to his chest and spoke the words of the twenty-third psalm under his breath, “Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil…”

Everson took a deep breath as they stepped beyond the threshold into the Stygian blackness beyond.

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,’ he muttered.

THE OTHERS WATCHED the cavern entrance until the figures of the Fusiliers were lost from sight, swallowed by the obsidian blackness beyond. As they began their vigil, Nellie wondered if they would ever return…

Albatros:A single-seater German fighter biplane.

Alleyman:Mangled by the Tommies from the French, Allemand , meaning a German.

Archie:Slang term for anti-aircraft fire and for its aerial shell-bursts.

Battalion:Infantry Battalionsat full strength might be around a thousand men. Generally consisting of four companies.

Black Hand Gang:Slang for a party put together for a dangerous and hazardous mission, like a raiding party. Such was the nature of the tasks that they were chosen from volunteers, where possible.

Blighty:England, home. From the Hindustani Bilaiti meaning foreign land .

Blighty One:A wound bad enough to have you sent back to England.

Boojums:Nickname for tanks, also a Wibble Wobble, a Land Creeper, a Willie.

Bosche:Slang for German, generally used by officers.

Bus:RFC pilot’s slang term for their aeroplane.

Carpet Slipper Bastard:A heavy artillery shell passing high overhead, and thus with little noise.

Chatt:Parasitic lice that infested the clothing and were almost impossible to avoid while living in the trenches. Living in the warm moist clothing and laying eggs along the seams, they induced itching and skin complaints.

Chatting:De-lousing, either by running a fingernail along the seams and cracking the lice and eggs or else running a lighted candle along them to much the same effect.

Communication Trench:Trench that ran perpendicularly to the fire trench , enabling movement of troops, supplies and messages to and from the Front Line, from the parallel support and reserve lines to the rear.

Company:One quarter of an infantry battalion , 227 men at full strength, divided into four platoons .

CQS:Company Quartermaster Sergeant.

CSM:Company Sergeant Major.

Enfilade:Flanking fire along the length of a trench, as opposed to across it.

Estaminet:a French place of entertainment in villages and small towns frequented by soldiers; part bar, part cafe, part restaurant, generally run by women.

FANY:First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. The only service in which women could enlist and wear khaki, they drove ambulances, ran soup kitchens, mobile baths, etc. in forward areas.

Fire Bay:Part of a manned fire trench facing the enemy. Bays were usually separated by traverses .

Firestep:The floor of the trench was usually deep enough for soldiers to move about without being seen by the enemy. A firestep was a raised step that ran along the forward face of the fire trench , from which soldiers could fire or keep watch.

Fire Trench:Forward trench facing the enemy that formed part of the Front Line.

Five Nines:A type of German high-explosive shell.

Flammenwerfer:German fire projector or flame thrower.

Fritz:Slang term for a German.

Funk:State of nerves or depression, more harshly a slang word for cowardice.

Funk Hole:Generally, any dugout or shelter, but often referring to niches or holes big enough to shelter one or two men scraped into the front wall of a trench.

Greyback:A soldier’s regulation grey flannel shirt, with no collars and tin buttons.

Guncotton:A service explosive commonly used for demolition.

Hom Forty:A French railway goods wagon, used for moving troops up to the front line. Very slow. Named after the sign on the side, Hommes 40, Chevaux 8 .

Hush Hush Crowd:Nickname for the Machine Gun Corps Heavy Section, or Tank Section, owing to the secrecy that surrounded their training.

Iddy Umpty:Slang for Morse Code and, by extension, the signallers who used it.

Jildi:From the Hindi – get a move on, quick, hurry

Kite Balloon:A blimp-shaped observation balloon, carrying a basket for an observer but attached to the ground by a winch.

Land Ship:A tank.

Lewis Machine Gun:air cooled, using a circular magazine cartridge holding 48 rounds each. Lighter and more portable than the Vickers.

Linseed Lancer:Slang for a stretcher bearer of the RAMC.

Look Stick:Slang for a trench periscope.

Luftstreitkräfte:The German Airforce formed in October 1916, previously known as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches – the Imperial German Flying Corps.

Mills Bomb:Pineapple-shaped British hand grenade, armed by pulling a pin and releasing the trigger lever.

Minniewerfer:German trench mortar shell.

MO:Medical Officer.

NCO:Non Commissioned Officer; a sergeant major, sergeant or corporal.

Neurasthenia:Contemporary medical term to describe emotional shell shock, less charitably seen as a ‘weakness of the nerves.’

No Man’s Land:Area of land between the two opposing Front Lines.

OP:Observation Post.

QM:Quartermaster.

Parados:Raised defensive wall of earth or sandbags along the rear of the trench to help disperse explosions behind the line.

Parapet:Raised defence of earth or sandbags at the front of a trench to provide cover for those on the firestep .

PH Helmet:Phenate-Hexamine Helmet. Early type of full-head gas mask. Not so much a helmet as a flannel hood soaked in neutralising chemicals, and a mouth tube and distinctive non-return red rubber valve for exhalation.

Picklehaub:German full-dress helmet and ornamented with a spike on top. A very desirable souvenir.

Platoon:A quarter of an infantry company , commanded by a Subaltern . Consisting of 48 men divide into four sections .

Plum Pudding:Nickname for a type of British trench mortar round.

Port:The left side of a vessel or ship.

Puttee:Khaki cloth band wound round the calf from the knee to the ankle.