The Battle Below : Preface

Dedication

Dedicated to the Officers and Men of No.3 Squadron Australian Flying Corps, who lost their lives during the War of 1914-1918.

Preface

This record of the activities of No.3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, inthe War of 1914-1918, is based on the official records of the Squadron, and, wherever the details in these have been supplemented by more detailed information from other sources, care has been taken to ensure that only such additional information has been used as can be verified from official sources.

In order to render the narrative intelligible and give a comprehensive picture of the squadrons work, it has been necessary to describe in general terms, but at some length, the operations of the military forces with which the squadron was associated. Indoing this the system usually observed in British publications in regard to the designations of Armies, Corps, Divisions etc has been adopted through. That is to say, they are written in full for Armies (Fourth Army), in Roman numerals for Corps, other than the Australian Corps the designation of which is written in full (IX. Corps), and in Arabic figures for the smaller formations (5th Australian Division or 12th Infantry Brigade). Unless otherwise stated, the locations of troops and places are given from right to left of the fron of the British forces.

Personnel who took part in the events described in the text are given the rank they held at the time.

For the spelling of place names, the spelling used in the British 1:100,00 maps of Belgium and France has been used.

The writer is indebted to Mr Gerald Muir for the watercolour sketches included among the illustrations, and to members of the Squadron who made available photographs, and other matter of value in the compilation of this work. In this respect, thanks are also due to Major J. Treloar, Mr T.H.E. Heyes, and Mr H.O. McAllan, of the Australian War Memorial, for unfailing courtesy and assistance in making available records, photographs, and information in their charge. Finally the writers thanks are due to Group Captain W.H. Anderson, CBE, DFC and Colonel D.V.J. Blake, for reading the manuscript and suggesting certain improvements in the text, to Mr F.J. Mulrooney for reading the proofs, and to Major W.H. Scrivinor and Major E.G. Knox MBE for their assistance in connection with the publication.

H.N.W
Malvern. April 1935.

Title image courtesy of the Harold Edwards photograph collection.