Weapons & The First World War - Military Motor Bus

Hello and welcome back to our weapons & the first world war series where today is all about the military motor bus. It started way back in 1908, when the British government put everyday busses through their paces in order to see if they could be used to transport soldiers in the event of war. The outcome was that they were deemed acceptable and it was decided if the event of war ever arose, they would be called upon. 

When the first world war broke in 1914, Winston Churchill asked the London General Omnibus Company to provide busses to transport Britain's soldiers to France. Volunteers were also needed from their crews, with 75 members coming forward. These men found themselves part of the Royal Marines. 

By September 1914, 75 crews, along with their Daimler busses had been shipped to France to help with the war effort. Although some were captured by the German's, the majority were still in use by the British at the end of the first world war. 

Winston Churchill & The First World War

Winston Churchill will always be a huge part of British history, so much so that he is now on our new £5 notes. For many he is remembered for how he led us to victory during the second world war however, he had achieved many things in the years beforehand.

Born at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock on the 30th November 1874, he joined the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in September 1893. After extensive training, Winston joined the 4th Hussars in 1895 where he saw action on the Indian north west frontier and in the Sudan. In 1898, Winston was just one of many that took part in the Battle of Omdurman. However, it was also during these years that he started to right reports for the Daily Telegraph as well as beginning to write books on war.

Winston left the army in 1899 to pursue a career as a war correspondent for the Morning Post. Whilst reporting on the Boer War, he was captured and taken as a prisoner of war. He made headlines himself when he managed to escape back to Britain. 

Winston's political career took off when he was elected as conservative mp for Oldham in 1900. It was during this period that he became a supporter of social reform. By 1904, Winston had changed political parties, now being a member of the Liberal Democrats. 1906 saw Winston becoming Under-Secretary Of State for the Colonies and just two years later, he was promoted to President of the Board of Trade. His rise continued in 1910 when he became Home Secretary and just one year later he was made the First Lord of the Admiralty. It was here that he began to modernise the navy, with many of his changes still in place in our Royal Navy today. 

In 1912, Winston set up something that would not only help us to win the first world war, but would also help us to win the second world war as well as many of the wars that would follow. He set up the Royal Naval Air Service and established an Air Department at the Admiralty. Without this, I believe that not only would we be playing catch up with the German's, but we would also have been fighting a very different war. 

With the outbreak of the first world war, Winston joined the War Council but he was blamed for the failure of the Dardanelles campaign and was subsequently moved to the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Here he would have no influence of the countries war policy. Not happy with this, Winston soon decided to rejoin the army and ended up commanding a battalion of the Royal Scotts Fusiliers. 

When David Lloyd George replaced Herbert Asquith as British Prime Minister, he brought Winston back into the government. In 1917, he was made Minister of Munitions, a role which I believe was made for him. Here he was responsible for the production of guns, shells, tanks & aeroplanes - basically all of the things we needed to fight the enemy. Winston was to hold this position until the end of the war and in post-war Britain was made Minister of War & Air, but of course this is only a small part of the story of Winston Churchill.