Of Ratsch-Bum and Whizz Bangs

Last week was the anniversary of the start of Loos Offensive of  World War I. Notable for the death of Rudyard Kipling’s only son - one of the many casualties on that field of battle, and the extensive use of shrapnel across the Loos valley, particularly on crossroads and communications trenches to prevent enemy movement.  On a lighter note, Kaiser Bill was also captured. Unfortunately, this was not Queen Victoria's malignant, moustachioed, grandson Willy, but rather a forlorn German army mule.

Hearing about the anniversary of Loos, renewed an old interest in artillery.

A gun of B Btry, 65th AAA Bn,1958

When I was young, my fathers' first command after OCS was a battery of 120mm anti-aircraft guns.  The battery was just outside a Marine base, near Naha, on Okinawa.  The 120's were the penultimate development in anti-aircraft artillery, soon to be made obsolete by missiles. The gun tube was about 24 feet long and capable of firing a shell at 3100 ft/sec to an altitude of 60,000 feet.

On firing, the guns report was a deafening CRACK!!! that hurt the ears and sounded like a monstrous high velocity rifle. The firing of the battery frequently shattered windows on the Marine base.  On one occasion when Dad took me out to watch his battery fire, he gave me the opportunity to fire a Quad-50 machine gun, two of which were part of the battery.

Back to the shrapnel shell - The Germans can rightfully claim invention and first use of the shrapnel shell.  In the 17th century, they developed a projectile called the Hagelkugel, or "hail shell".  It was a lead cylinder with a fuse and bursting charge at one end, the other end was sealed.  Behind the bursting charge was the "hail" - metal fragments, bullets, or pebbles. When loaded into the cannon, the fused end of the projectile faced the cannons charge.  On firing, the bursting charge of the Hagelkugel released the "hail" at about 100 yards from the gun.

The Hagelkugel was used during the 1641 siege of Gennep, in the Netherlands.  Unfortunately for German bragging rights, artillery was an art and early artllerists were extremely secretive.  This caused the Hagelkugel to sink into obscurity, allowing an Englishman to claim invention and have his name forever linked to the Shrapnel Shell.

Henry Shrapnel developed his version of the Hagelkugel around 1784.  Originally known as “spherical iron cased shot,” it used a primitive wooden fuse - a wood plug through which a gunpowder fuse ran.  The interior of the iron case was filled with black powder and lead balls.  On bursting, the shrapnel was projected across an area of about 150 yards. The advantage of the shrapnel shell over grape or canister is that instead of being a short-range antipersonnel projectile, it could be fired at longer distances as determined by the fuse and bursting charge. 

It was first employed in 1804 against settlers in Dutch Guiana, now Suriname. Officially adopted by the English in 1808, the Duke of Wellesley wrote that he considered it an important invention and that it should be kept secret.  Despite being widely available to British gunners during the Napoleonic Wars, correct use of the shrapnel shell was poorly understood and it was thought generally unreliable, largely due to its quirky fuse and the risk of premature explosion.

While modern writers seem fond of stating the Iron Duke thought it decisive at Waterloo, I find no credible evidence of that and believe it apocryphal or politically  motivated since the government officially adopted the round.  Accounts at the time describe it bursting short amongst friendly troops, others described it as being indifferent or ineffective.  A Lt. Col. Frith of the Madras Artillery wrote in 1818 that he had seen it fired into "large bodies of horse, among whom they were seen to burst, but cannot call to mind a single man killed by them." While there were battles, like the battle of Vimiero where the English claimed shrapnel shells contributed to the victory, reports from the receiving side were mixed ranging from their effect being terrible to no worse than that of round shot.  Others said the effect varied from round to round.  The truth probably lies in some middle ground.

Despite slow acceptance (according to books of the early-mid 1800's,) Henry Shrapnel received a stipend for his invention when it was officially adopted and the British government made Shrapnel Shell the official name of the "spherical cased shot" projectile in 1854 after his family petitioned for the name change to honor the inventor.

Improvements in the fuse, particularly by Col. E.M. Boxer, and case design continued.

According to Bormann in "The Shrapnel Shell in England and in Belgium," 1862, the most notable use of the shrapnel shell to date was during the Crimean War on the last day of the siege of Sebastopol, 8 September 1855.  Officers in a gun position manned by men of the Royal Naval Brigade, decided to utilize shrapnel shells found in the battery stores.   Eyewitness accounts reported these 8-inch shells "mowed down...whole lines of Russian troops as they sprang to the breast works."

A mere 60 years passed from the siege of Sebastopol to the start of the Loos offensive.  During this period much effort was put forth to improve the shrapnel shell. Fuses were vastly improved.  The cases for shrapnel projectiles were designed, refined, redesigned and further refined making the shrapnel delivery pattern increasingly effective.

While originally an anti-personnel weapon, usage changed during the Great War. The shrapnel shell was found useful in barrages for cutting barbed wire prior to assaults, and as an early anti-aircraft shell. Shrapnel shells spurred the development and use of modern helmets and aircraft armor.

Typically delivered by high velocity guns like the British 18 pounder, the French 75mm, and the German 10cm, the shells would give little notice of their arrival. There would be a quick "whizzzz" followed by a sharp "bang!" The German slang for these rounds was "Ratsch-bum," the Brits called them "Whizz-bangs."

Fortunately, for my blog, someone around the time of the War to End All Wars was kind enough to invent a cocktail named for that high velocity shrapnel shell---the "Whizz Bang." Sadly, since the winners write the histories, there is no Hagelkugel or Ratsch-bum to savor, though the Germans paid homage indirectly to old Henry by creating a "Schrapnel-Aufschlag" or "Shrapnel Charge." As the Hagelkugel predated the Shrapnel Shell, the Schrapnel-Aufschlag predates the Whizz Bang by several years. 

Unfortunately, the Schrapnel-Aufschlag is not nearly as good a drink as the Whizz Bang and, like the Hagelkugel, condemned to oblivion.

What’s In A Name – The Florodora

I have missed two blogs since my last due to familial obligations and found myself today casting about for a theme to get me back on track.  Since I have an interest in the origin of drinks, and their names, I thought I would borrow from a previous effort and use the title “What’s In A Name” with the related drink(s) appended.  If this works, I may do more in the future.

In the early 1900's, preceded by the operettas of the 1880's, the American public became enamored with musical comedy.  The play Floradora receives much of the credit for this craze.  A popular play in England in 1899, Florodora opened in the Casino Theater of New York in 1900.  

The play involves the imaginary island of Florodora on which a perfume of the same name is made.  Said island was stolen from its rightful owner whose daughter still works in a factory on the island.  The rest of the plot is convoluted to the extreme but the cast, chorus line, and music seem to have compensated successfully.  A feature of the theater was a manikin in the lobby spraying “La Flor de Florodora” on the theatergoers.

After a slow initial start, publicists started promoting the play in a manner seen repeated by the movie studios in their heyday.  TV news coverage of the Kardashians pales to that given the Florodora troupe.  Newspapers featured daily stories about the cast members, their personal lives, how well they regarded one another and worked together, their romances and marriage prospects, and of the huge sums of money that the chorus girls were making by speculating on Wall Street.  To the latter, one has to wonder if their fiduciary success was due more to the stage door sugar daddies than Wall Street, but maybe I have seen too many old movies.  Ultimately, Florodora exceeded 500 performances.

Florodora was the first  musical comedy to use the device of “stunning” fashionable evening gowns, worn by attractive women, to create a memorable high point in a performance, a trend continued in the Follies of the 1920’s and 30’s.  Women would go to see the latest fashions, men to see attractively dressed women. 

At the time, the music was considered “bewitching,” and people were often heard humming or whistling the tunes.  Leslie Stuart, the composer, said his formula for writing the music of Florodora was to:

“…take one memory of Christy Minstrels, let it simmer in the brain for twenty years.  Add slowly for the music an organist’s practice in arranging Gregorian chants for the Roman Catholic Church.  Mix well and serve with a half dozen pretty girls and an equal number of well-dressed men.”

The original “Florodora sextette” or the “big six,” none over 5’4”, was so popular with the American public that chorus girls for years afterwards, claimed to have been part of the original sextette. Francis Belmont, an original “sextetter,” in true movie showgirl fashion, managed to marry an English duke.

Florodora, its music, and its stars were immensely popular in the early 1900's.  Like movie related marketing today, the musical comedy became linked to a variety of products.  A soft drink in Cuba, race horses and pedigreed dogs, assorted food products, china, dolls, cigars (“three for 10 cents”) and a hybrid long staple cotton named Florodora were but a few.  Having a fondness for ice cream, one of my favorites is the “Florodora Sundae” – 1 banana, strawberry ice cream, strawberry fruit, nuts, and whipped cream.

In 1920, there was a revival of Florodora, with more chorus girls, and more lavish costumes and staging.  It was so popular that Fannie Brice was inspired to do a parody in the Follies.

Riding its second wave of popularity, it once again gave advertisers a useful marketing hook.  Florodora actresses modeled veils in Cosmopolitan magazine.  A massage vibrator was advertised to help women achieve “Florodora” beauty and sponsored a Florodora beauty contest.  Use of “Florodora” in marketing persisted into the 1930’s, as both a product name, and as a derogatory expression for something passé from a previous era.  There was also a movie entitled “The Florodora Girl.”

In my books, there are at least three "Florodora" related recipes.  The first two, the Florodora cocktail and the Florodora Fizz, from a 1913 text, are the earliest recipes I have found.  The Florodora Fizz definitely predates the book. 

A 1902 advertising magazine, The Advisor, states “The Florodora Fizz has replaced the Ping Pong Punch as the fashionable drink of the season.”  

The Florodora Cooler, easiest for the home bar, is from a publication of the 1930’s.  It is probably a Prohibition era drink being gin based, its other ingredients doing well to make the “bathtub” gins of the Roaring Twenties more palatable.