|
| coloured by Steve Beeny |
This Colour highlight
denotes the issues released in the latest Hardback Titan books released 2004
This colour denotes the storyline covered by Book two (the hardback edition)
issued by Titan in 2005
1
9 7 9.
The Shah flees Iran, The Soviets invade
Afghanistan, Margaret Thatcher becomes British PM, The Sony Walkman is introduced Iranian students storm the US embassy
6th
January (June
2 1916)-First episode Charleys joins up after being sacked trains
and arrives in trenches all in the first episode. We also meet Old Bill.* BOOK ONE STARTS*
13th January (June 15th 1916)-Episode Two start of sniper story. We first meet Ginger
Jones and Kitchener the cat.
20th January-June (15th 1916)-Episode Three charley saves runner Len, but he dies, Charley
vows to avenge him.
17th January
(June 15th 1916)-Meet mad Mick. Lt.Thomas decides to raid the
German trenches to see if the Barrage has smashed the German lines
3rd February. (June 15th 1916) night raid-colour cover, the start of the raid on German trenches.
And the first ever colour cover Joe draws for CW (the first cover was drawn by another artist)
10th February.-(June 15th 1916) night raid charley first kills a man when he comes face
to face with the sniper in the German trench. Thomas notices the German dugouts are intact but keeps quiet about it.
17th February- (June 16th 1916)
meet lucky who Charley stops from shooting himself in the foot to escape the battle that morning we also meet Pop whose sons
have been killed at the first battle of Ypres and has joined up to avenge them.
24th February-(June 16th 1916) Colour Cover (not by Joe) Pop and Charley stop Lucky from wounding
himself and Charley mistakenly rings Gas alarm. All issues are four pages long at this early stage and packed with detail,
the letter narrative is at it's most ironic here.
3rd March--
(June 16th 1916) lucky's blighty. The dugout Lucky is in is hit
by a shell, and after digging him out he loses a leg and is sent home. Episode ends with Charley realising that War 'aint
a game' for the first time in the strip.
10th March-- (June 24th-July
1st 1916) Snell's hamper goes missing and Thomas turns a blind eye to the thief (charley) The night before the Battle
of the Somme.
17th March- (July 1st 1916) first day Somme. The platoon is told the attack has been postponed
and it will be 7.30am when they attack instead of dawn.
24th March
- (July 1st 1916) 'Over the top'-colour cover-great tragic
issue (see Pat Mills comments on the Joe Colquhoun page) Dense detail and sad scenes as the platoon get caught
on the wire and mown down by the machine gun fire.
31st March-
- (July 1st 1916) the platoon make it to the German trenches
and finds a German chained to his machine gun. Pop, who is traumatised by the advance tries to Bayonet him until Charley stops
him telling him that he is only a boy-the same as him.
7th April- - (July 1st 1916) Charley and Ginger talk to the German and decide that the two sides
are not much different at all. While doing so Snell shoots the boy dead. Mad Mick gets drunk and tells the platoon he wants
a Picklehaube. (German spiked helmet much sought as collectables by British Soldiers)
14th April-
(July 1st 1916) the platoon takes the village of flers. Mick
finds his Picklehaube but is wounded when it is boobytrapped.
21st April - (July 1st 1916) Mick is killed when he saves the wounded by holding up the roof
of a collapsing house until they escape-he is bayoneted as the Germans re-take the building and is killed. End of the first
day of the Somme *BOOK ONE ENDS*
28th April (July 14th 1916) we meet the Character lonely-the traumatised soldier of Snell's first
command. The start of the 'lost platoon' saga. We also meet warrior the horse.*BOOK TWO START*
5th may (July 14 1916) Charley Ginger and Lonely form a ration party and get lost in no-mans
land. We meet big-Rudi and Wolfe, the two Germans who capture Charley and co while they are trying to find British lines and
they stumble into the Germans trench.
12th may (July 14th 1916)
While prisoners in a German dugout lonely tells the story of the lost platoon concerning snell's treachery to Germans on Xmas
day and lonely's cowardice-Snell had ordered tinned food and beer to be sent over by trench catapult (early trench mortar),
then on the fifth or sixth ordered Lonely to fire a real mortar. Wolfe and Rudi overhear (Rudis brother Ernst having been
one of the Germans involved) Episode ends with the three about to be executed.
19th may-(July 14th 1916) Colour Cover by Joe Colquhoun. Escape from execution after
Charley wounds Wolfe with Wire picket...
26th may - (July 14th 1916) The three hide under duckboards until a British Gas attack.
2nd June - (July 14th 1916) to escape the gas attack they climb trees behind German lines.
16th June -(July 14th 1916) Charley gassed, lonely has a breakdown and sees the lost platoon (see
plots page) Unknowingly saves the British Cavalry from ambush by giving away their position.
23rd June -Colour
Cover by Cam Kennedy 'the horsemen of death'
30th June-(July 14th 1916) lonely dies, killed by Wolff who is hiding in ambush for the Cavalry
with Big Rudi and their company.
7th July-(July 14th 1916) last cavalry charge of the War... Warrior runs to Charley
wounded-he is about to shoot him, but warrior shakes the shrapnel free. Tragic episode that shows the rest of the Cavalry
shooting their own horses in tears. Very moving.
14th July (July 14th 1916) On the back of Warrior Ginger and Charley escape from German
lines and so ends the lost platoon story. Old Bill gives them an 'Old Bill special'-a punch on the jaw for going AWOL for
so long.
21st July
(August 1st 1916) Charleys birthday and famous CW scene where
the platoon have a party in gasmasks. (17th) Pop, unhinged by the battle thinks Charley is his son Billy. They are
shelled by their own side and Pop is promptly killed.
28th July (August 1st 1916) 13th runner story Thomas sends successive runners to tell the British
guns to stop barrage. Charley offers and is the 13th.
4th august
(August 1st 1916) Snell, pinned down by a sniper in a sap uses
Charley as a human shield. Snell refuses to read 'doubting Thomas's' message until he finishes his tea-Charley returns to
the trench to find it filled with dead and under attack from the Germans.
12th August-(August 1st1916) Charley finds that his mates aren't dead and Thomas has disobeyed orders to hold the
trench at whatever cost and pulled back to save his men's lives. They are pulled out of the line to find Thomas is under arrest
to be Courts Martialed.
19th August (August 1st 1916) we meet Weeper Watkins for the first time. The platoon go to see the
wounded and run into the sadistic Sgt. Bacon MP.
26th August (August 1916)
Charley sees soldiers undergoing Field Punishment No.1 for the first time. The Company has a concert
party and Charley and Co. are chorus girls.
2nd September (August 1916)
After the Concert Party Charley, Ginger and Weeper are ambushed by Bacon and other Mps and beaten up. Charley gets the better
of them and they strap Bacon in a gun wheel himself. Bacon vows to get revenge.
8th September (August 1916)
Firing squad for Thomas. Charley and weeper refuse to shoot him and
walk away. Thomas is shot by the rest of the platoon. They are given 28 day field punishment Number One (see Plots page)
15th September (August 1916)
Field punishment begins. Weeper is broken down by Bacon. Charley is almost broken as well, but his mates help him get over
it.
22nd September (August 1916)
German air raid begins
29th September (August 1916)
German air raid starts while the two are on the wheel, Bacon leaves them to burn as the ammunition catches alight, they escape
and the now wounded Bacon dies.
6th Oct (August 1917) Weeper
wounded. Charley and Ginger see Tanks for the first time
13th October-(September
1916) Full Colour Joe Colquhoun Cover 'the tanks are coming!The platoon enters the line again. Gingers death by a
stray shell (see the subjects and plots page)
20th October-(September
1916) Charley has to bury Ginger. Shell shock sets in.
27th October-(September
1916) Ginger haunts Charley in nightmares. These issues are high art. (See subjects page)
10th November-Unexplained
missing CW in this issue (nothing mentioned in Captain Hurricanes page)
17th November
Here we meet Oliver-Charleys Brother-in-law who turns out to be a money obsessed coward. He sticks to Charley like a leach
and refuses to go over the top.The Strip is still running at four pages with unbelievable detail at this point.
24th November-Colour Cover (not by
Joe Colquhoun) Oily, with a sandbag strapped to his back crawls out into no-mans land and to what he thinks is safety
(its not) in his attempt to desert. Charley has to save him when he crawls straight into a German trench.
1st December
(September 1916). We meet 'wild eyes'-the neurotic and brilliantly funny tank commander and his tank Donner and Blitzen
which breaks down. Charley helps to get it started and becomes part of his crew along with the hapless Oiley as gunner, as
it attacks the village of Flers. Anyone
whose ever read the history of the Somme will recall the famous newspaper headline the next day-"British tank seen in the
main road in Flers" -The 'Donner and Blitzen' is this tank.
8th December
(September 1916) The Tank attacks the German artillery. Metal chips from the Machine gun fire wounds Charleys face.
15th December (September 1916)
Oliver accidentally machine guns British troops from the tank.
22nd December
(September 1916) wild eye's tank attacks the Village of Flers
29th December (September 1916)
the tank is damaged by a cluster grenade and is on fire as it slews out of control towards the church in flers.
1 9 8
0
John Lennon is assassinated by Mark David Chapman , Ronald Reagan
is elected, defeating Jimmy Carter, and takes credit for freeing the Iranian hostages in his innaugural speech. US suspends
grain sales to the Soviet Union in respond to their support of the war in Afghanistan
5th January 1980 (October
1916) Fight in church - tank explodes and Wildeyes dies.
12th
January 1980 (October 1916) Oiley's SIW - allows
tank to run over toes - invalided out. He offers Charley some money for saving his life and Charley makes him eat the notes,
Oilver plots Charleys downfall fom this point.
19th
January 1980 NO CHARLEY'S WAR Reson unknown possibly printer strikes
26th
January 1980 NO CHARLEY'S WAR Reson unknown possibly printer strikes
2nd
February 1980 NO CHARLEY'S WAR Reson unknown possibly printer strikes
9th
February 1980 NO CHARLEY'S WAR Reson unknown possibly printer strikes
16th
February 1980 Titch and delousing. Charley saves Titch from shellhole, but lose their mule still
at four pages this issue starts some of the most detailed CW art of the whole series.
23rd
February 1980 (Oct 1916)-Colonel Zeiss and the Judgement Troops, elite shock troops from the Eastern Front.
Prunes hit by shrapnel and Dr No who sends all wounded men back to the front with a no. 9 pill for `shirking'. Prunes dies.
1st
March 1980 (Oct 1916)-Zeiss sends raiding party to gather information on the British trenches. CB falls
asleep on guard duty after having been up for 48 hours. This lack of sleep is featured heavily in real life accounts of the
war.
8th
March 1980 (Oct 1916)-Officer catches CB and is about to shoot him when he is taken prisoner by the raiding
Germans and tortured by Zeiss into drawing detailed plan of the British lines an attack on the class ethic of having a stiff
upper lip this one, dialougue between Charley and the sarge- CB 'what if he talks?' Tozer 'he wont talk lad hes an officer
and a Gentleman hell die before they make him talk'
15th
March 1980 (Oct 1916)-Zeiss `volunteers' second-line troops to lead assault, so as to preserve his men.
They are cut down in no-mans-land.
22nd
March 1980 (Oct 1916)-Operation Wotan begins. First wave cut down, but the JTs put up their hands, only
to be passed weapons by hiding comrades by the British wire. This event actually happened in many places, and has been proved
not to have just been propaganda.
29th
March 1980 (Oct 1916)-Fierce battle in 1st line (Wormwood Scrubs) - attack of the donkey men (mobile machine
gunners) issue includes a specially drawn map of the trench system to refer to in future episodes.
5th
April 1980 (Oct 1916)-Breakout of Wormwood Scrubs to 2nd line (Old Kent Road)
leaving wounded behind
12th
April 1980 (Oct 1916)-Captured wounded tied to stakes on parapet to make British attack and to lead them
on to flamethrowers. Shellfire called down on 1st line but CB is badly wounded and left for dead. The wounded are killed.
19th
April 1980(Oct 1916)- Battle rages over unconscious Charley.
Crawls into German trench but is placed in barracade of corpses. Pulls lanyard on grenade sticking out of Maxim gunner's boot
and blows up nest. The British then Retake trench.
26th
April 1980(Oct 1916)- CB has a Blighty but Dr No patches him up and sends wounded men back to battle.
Need for men is important and thers a nice part where a red tabbed officer gives a peach to the wounded.
3nd
May 1980 (Oct 1916)- Colour Cover- One off issue this, Joe actually did the cover, one colour page
inside and then three ink pages for this one, only time it was done. Five whole pages of incredible detail. Zeiss
takes 2nd line. Promptly kills all the prisoners .CB and comrades in 3rd line in deep dug out (No 10 Downing Street), but
they are trapped by JTs at the top of the stairs.
10th
May 1980 (Oct 1916)-Men called up one by one to be executed. CB must crawl up ventilation shaft to save
mates. (see welcome page)
17th
May 1980 NO CHARLEY'S WAR Unknown reason again
24th
May 1980 NO CHARLEY'S WAR
31st
May 1980 NO CHARLEY'S WAR
7th
June 1980 NO CHARLEY'S WAR
14th
June 1980 (Oct 1916)-Charley crawls up shaft and guns down Germans. CB and co escape behind 3rd line into
line of shellholes and start to dig in for final attack. The platoon give him a cardboard medal because they say he desearves
a VC but there was no Officer around to witness the event.
21st
June 1980 (Oct 1916)-Digging in 4th line. L/Cpl Angel is shot by sniper whilst reaching for a flower to
send to his little girl. Men await final attack
28th
June 1980 (Oct 1916)-Zeiss brings up the deadly Green Cross Gas (phosgene) and Blue Cross Gas (mustard
gas) - German attack The Sarge is gassed.
5th
July 1980 (Oct 1916)-Vicious and macabre silent battle in gas masks, CB becomes gunner's mate to
Smith 70, when Young Albert is wounded (Colour cover)
12th
July 1980 (Oct 1916)-Air attack by Fokker dropping fletchettes, Smithy downs plane, but the Machine Gun
packs up and JTs advance with saw bayonets drawn. CB and Smithy and taken prisoner, but due to being machine gunners
are about to be executed. Smithy begs for Charley's life and says he was a stretcher bearer dressing his wound.
19th
July 1980 (Oct 1916) Smithy and Charley make a break for it and Smithy releases vicious pet rats, they
fight off Germans and escape to rear area, where Battle Police are waiting to send men back at gun point. Charley and company
have a set-to with them and one of the lads is killed when an MP shoots him, they turn back to the front bitterley.
26th
July 1980 (Oct 1916)-Colour cover -Zeiss has broken through and is waiting for reinforcements to exploit
breach, but the battle has been called off. CB and co wait for final assault, doesn't come but a lone shrapnel shell cuts
Charley down.
2nd
August 1980 (Oct 1916)-Zeiss rages at HQ, and heads off to Berlin.
CB loses dog-tags, and Mr and Mrs Bourne get telegram to say that he is missing presumed killed. *This is the first ever
episode to feature a small credit panel listing the Artist, Writer and Letterer Mike Peters*
9th
August 1980 (Oct 1916)-CB in Base Hospital,
doesn't know who he is. Shell-shocked. Sgt Tozer appears, and Charley rediscovers his
identity.(Colour Centre pages-great issue)
16th
August 1980 (Oct 1916)-Bourne's family in Bethnal Green receive a telegram saying Charley is alive. CB
and Old Bill are going back to Blighty. The end of the Somme.(includes very fine anti-war full page marker to the end of the
battle)
23rd August 1980 (Feb 18th 1917)-Hospital ship torpedoed. Old Bill and CB arrive in London
and go for a drink or two. Meet Crimean veteran, Blind Bob. Zeppelin raid imminent (Colour cover)
30th August 1980 (Feb
1917)-Blind Bob and CB tour site of Silvertown munitions factory disaster (Mrs Bourne works in another shell factory).
Oiley has been looting corpses. Zeppelin's leave Nordholz on their way to attack Silvertowns other factorys.
6th September 1980 (Feb
1917)-Zeppelin attacked by French aircraft over channel. Blind Bob is evicted from home and tries to drown
himself. Goes to stay with CB.
13th September 1980 (Feb
1917)-Blind Bob at the listening station. He helps track Zeppelins through a listening device, passing the info onto
anti-aircraft batteries etc.
20th September 1980 (Feb
1917)-Colour Cover Blind Bob tracks Zeppelin - they plot the course as taking it to Silvertown-where Charley's Mum
works in the munitions factory, we flash back and forth between Charley and co. and the German aircrew high above the East-end
of London. Charley finds out where it's headed and borrows a bike to warn his
mum at the muitions factory.
27th September 1980 (Feb
1917)-CB cycles to Silvertown, saves Russian immigrants from angry mob, Zeppelin fitters fall to their death whilst
repairing tailplane.
4th October 1980 (Feb
1917)-Colour Cover Charley tells Tells munitions workers to evacuate, race to find mum in massive shell stores, fire
bomb hits factory
11th October 1980(Feb
1917)- Leads mum out of flames. Zeppelin struck by lightning and bursts into flames
18th October 1980 (Feb
1917)-Zeppelin crashes. Blind Bob is offered £1,000 by newspaperman for story, but gets run over by tram (Colour
cover)
25th October 1980 (March
1917)-Underage, Wilf Bourne tries to join up. CB foils his plan. (Colour centre pages)
1st November 1980(March
1917)- Blue, the Drag Man (Cpt Willis of the RMP), sheltering in the
Underground, and Blue is discovered in the Bournes's house. (Colour cover)
8th November 1980(March
1917)- Blue tells CB of Oiley's Escape Line for deserters (for profit, of course). CB fights Oiley's henchman, Snips
Parsons Full two page Colour spread.
15th November 1980 (March
1917)-Blue's story, as British member of the French Foreign Legion and the battle of Verdun.
Run the gauntlet and pass the `Trench of Bayonets' (Colour cover)
22nd November 1980 (March
1917)-CO, Monkey Face takes dislike to Blue. Blue's patrol in No Man's Land comes to aid of captured comrades who
are being executed by the Germans (colour centre pages)
29th November 1980 (March
1917)-They attack the Germans and free the prisoners.(Colour Cover)
6th December 1980 (March
1917)-Defence of Fort Vaux (the
French Alamo). Meet the unlikeable American, Wes Lacey. Wes and Blue fight.
13th December 1980 (March
1917)-Fight in the pitch-black tunnel against repeated German attacks. Flamethrower attack.
20th December 1980 (March
1917)-Sgt `Grandpere' Duval badly burnt, Lacey steals Krotowski's last water bottle as men run out of water. Blue
fights off another attack in the tunnel, but is accused by comrades of stealing.
27th December 1980 (March
1917)-Blue punished by the Bayonets - a bayonet through the palm of each hand. Ex-policeman, the Ratcatcher deduces
that it was Lacey who stole the water, and he is sentenced to death.
1 9
8 1
The 1st launch of a space shuttle (Columbia)Prince Charles and Diana Spencer
marry on July 29 Pac-Man is introduced in the US and sparks a huge craze.
3rd January 1981(March
1917)- Lacey's sentence passed by Blue, who makes him run out of fort to throw back water bottles to men inside.
Lacey cut down, and Blue takes water to wounded.
10th January 1981 (March
1917)-The men in the fort are half-crazed with thirst, despite the heavens opening above ground. Germans taunt Krotowski
through observation cupola slit. Colour Cover
17th January 1981(March
1917)- A lieutenant, half-mad with thirst, tries to blow up the grenade store. The legionnaires are given permission
to breakout as they will get no mercy from the Germans, Fort Vaux
surrenders.
24th January 1981 (March
1917)-The French go to the relief of Fort Vaux,
without realising it has been captuered. One soldier survives from an entire regiment. Colour Cover.
31st January 1981 (March
1917)-Drag Man corners Blue and CB at the house. CB and Blue escape in fog after fighting MPs, but are caught between
the Drag Man and Charley's father who is a Special.
7th February 1981(March
1917)- CB and Blue avoid the Drag Man, head to Alf Shiner's Pie and Mash - Blue's childhood of crime - cornered in
pie shop by Drag Man
14th February 1981 (March
1917)-The Line of Panic, Ratcatcher is killed
21st February 1981 (March
1917)-Attack driven off, but Blue is badly gased
28th February 1981 (March
1917)-In hopsital, Blue tries to escape to avoid getting the Croix de Guerre (usually given to the dead or dying).
Monkey Face angry at being made to look a fool.
7th March 1981 (March 1917)-Bleating
soldiers go to the front. Arrival of the feared Senegalese
14th March 1981(March
1917)- Senegalese sent into attack for first time on Western Front, but they risk annihilation as they
have never come across machine guns before. Legionnaires leave trenches against orders to go to their aid.
21st March 1981(March
1917)- Blue and Senegalese hold off Germans in trench with coupe-coupe machetes. Monkey Face has Blue arrested and
sent to a penal unit. Drag Man has coughing fit (he was badly gassed) and they escape
28th March 1981 (March
1917)-CB runs out in front of tram, but is caught by cage underneath and is unharmed. Get Blue's false papers off
Oiley and go to music hall. Oiley shops them to MPs.
4th April 1981 (March
1917)-Cornered in music hall, CB and Blue run to the Thames. Pursuing Drag Man collapses and
dies. Blue decides to reinlist under new name and escapes back to France.
End of Blue sub-plot
11th April 1981 (March
1917)-CB goes in pursuit of Oiley after he and Snips cheat Ginger's mother out of money, using a fake clairvoyant
to talk to Ginger's spirit.
18th April 1981 (March
1917)-Oiley and crooked pilot crash plane to siphon off petrol. CB takes money and repays Ginger's mum. Farewell
to family and back to France Colour Cover
25th April 1981 (April
1917)- Return to France. Old buses used to transport
soldiers are a death trap, Old Bill blows them up with grenades after a fellow sergeant is killed.
2nd May 1981 (April
1917)- Old Bill blows up buses under cover of bombardment. Arrival of conscripts, much to bullying veteran Grogan's
annoyance. Return of Captain Snell. Colour Cover
9th May 1981 (April
1917)- CB escorts POWs. Irate Snell orders CB and POWs over the top so that he can walk down the trench. Most
of the POWs die by their own machine gun fire.
16th May 1981 (April
1917)- Return of Weeper as officer's batman. Charley enraged by Snell's patronising attitude to OR mail as he
censors letters home
23rd May 1981 (April
1917)- Grogan picks on the Scholar, a bookish conscript. Grogan knifes a downed German pilot. Colour centre
pages
30th May 1981 (April
1917)- Down the Menin Road towards Hellfire Corner. CB saves
Warrior from one of Snell's bullets.
6th June 1981 (April
1917)- Grogan throws Scholar's poetry books into No Man's Land and Scholar goes over the top. CB rescues the
Scholar.
13th June 1981 (April
1917)- Snell sends batman, Trotters to fetch bath water from rusty pump above parapet. Trotters is wounded,
Curly is killed and Snell sends CB out to use the pump
20th June 1981 (April
1917)- CB pumps water, under cover of shellfire and becomes Snell's batman
27th June 1981 (April
1917)- Officers shoot at German stretcher parties in No Man's Land for sport. Brings inevitable retaliation
from German side. Company punishments for Smith 70 and Grogan.
4th July 1981 (April
1917)- Snell's cricket match comes under fire and he reluctantly calls it off, when the padre intervenes after
a man is killed. Snell is more concerned about losing to the other ranks.
11th July 1981 (April
1917)- Smokey cons two soldies into sharing his bunk to catch measles, for a fee. A mortar bomb hits the dugout
and the pair shield Smokey from the blast. Smokey never had the measles.
18th July 1981 (April
1917)- Grogan turns on gas oojahs to put wind up Scholar as he is on guard duty. CB turns them off, but is accused
of sabotage by Snell.
25th July 1981 (April
1917)- Lt Cooper vouches for Charley. Grogan's green brass buttons give him away. Grogan and he have a vicious
fight in the old front line. Grogan ups the ante when he picks up some unexploded munitions.
1st August 1981 (April
1917)- Grogan chucks unexploded munitions at Charley, but is killed when a `plum pudding' fizzes back into
life and goes off. CB becomes a runner for Snell
8th August 1981 (April
1917)- Charley survives his run, but is castigated by Snell for not being turned out correctly.
15th August 1981 (May-June
1917)-March out of the line in the summer's heat. The men cannot drink from a well because a corpse poisons the water.
22nd August 1981 (May-June
1917)-Old Bill drops out of the march, and Snell busts him to private. Charley serves Snell cooked rat for dinner
29th August 1981 (May-June
1917)-Trip to town with Weeper. Warrior is painted brown and Charley `accidentally' spills dye on Snell's saddle.
5th September 1981 (May-June
1917)-Snell's breeches are covered in brown dye as is made to look a fool in the officer's mess. Vents his fury on
Charley
12th September 1981 (May-June
1917)-Cooper saves Charley from a thrashing. The stables are bombed
19th September 1981 (May-June
1917)-Charley saves Warrior and takes the horse to the Blue Cross. He is stolen.
26th September 1981 (May-June
1917)-Harry `Happy' Day, and his holes - shell-shocked, he digs holes to try and find his wounded mate buried alive
on the Somme
3rd October 1981 (May-June
1917)-Messines Ridge - CB and Old Bill play Crown and Anchor. Charley realises that Scholar is a twerp
10th October 1981(May-June
1917)- Move back up to the line, Old Bill sozzled. Smokey killed by a minenwerfer canister. Colour cover based on
the photograph used for the 2004 release.
17th October 1981 (May-June
1917)-CB and co join the Claykickers - the navvies and coalminers digging huge mines under the Messines Ridge for
the last 18 months. Meet Ganger Green.
24th October 1981 (May-June
1917)-Scholar sucks up to Snell - Snell refuses to let soldiers shelter in his mine, during a bombardment and they
are killed. Colour twin centre pages
31st October 1981 (May-June
1917)-German observation balloon spots deposits of blue clay above ground, so they know there are British mines.
A German sap blows up collapsing the mine head. Colour Cover
7th November 1981 (May-June
1917)-CB, Earwig, Scholar and Budgie trapped by fall.
14th November 1981 (May-June
1917)-Earwig cracks as waters rise. They tell stories to take minds off plight. Budgie tells how he was a conscientious
objector, but his will not to fight was broken after months of harsh punishments by MPs.(Colour cover)
21st November 1981 (May-June
1917)-Digging is heard - they are rescued just in time, but the Germans break through simultaneously.
28th November 1981 (May-June
1917)-Fight with German miners. Ganger Green blows up the sap and himself. CB about to be clobbered by German with
pickaxe.
5th December 1981(May-June
1917)- Budgie kills German, saves CB but is racked with guilt. The perils of being an amanol (explosive) carrier.
Colour cover
12th December 1981 (May-June
1917)-Zero hour and all the mines go up - except Snell's. Snell shoots Budgie, believing he is a saboteur. Goes down
the mine to set it off, even though the delay means blowing up the advancing British troops.
19th December 1981 (May-June
1917)-Charley goes after Snell to kill him. Snell hit in the head by ricochet. Lt Cooper and Sapper Reeves had gone
down the mine with the same intentions. Snell discovered to be still alive but invalided out. Colour Centre pages
26th December 1981 - (May-June 1917)-the results
of the mines explosions, with a colour cover of tanks attacking at
Messines. Charley and co go over the top after
the assault waves, Earwig spots a badly wounded German and crushes
his
skull with the butt of his rifle, because `He looks like my old
schoolteacher. I never liked him anyway',
much to Charley's disgust. The
descend into a crater where they examine a mammoth bones, surrounded by
flint
axe heads much to Cooper's delight. CB comments on how far war
progressed in a typical piece of Mills irony.
1 9 8
2
Argentina invades the Falklands Argentina loses the following war and has to
withdraw its troops after two months., Leonid Breznjev dies, Yuri Andropov takes over ,The first artificial heart
transplant takes place, the receipent lives 112 days.
2nd January 1982 (August 1917)-Wilf trained by Oiley to take
place of one of his deserters. Old Bill gets his stripes back. Strip is a more managable length now, three full pages when
black and white, two and a half when there is colour cover, or colour centre pages, still takes Joe Colquhoun five full working
days to complete.
9th January 1982 (August
1917)-CB dreams he is caught on the wire. SIWs to be in first wave. Charley stops man from waving legs above parapet
in order to be wounded in the feet. He blows his brains out. (colour cover)
16th January 1982 (August
1917)-Over the top, 3rd Ypres. Charley caught on wire, but rescued by Sadders, blow up dugouts.
Real defences in second line (blockhouses and mantraps) platoon Captain killed.
23rd January 1982 (August
1917)-Blockhouses attacked and surrender, only for Germans to change their minds and open fire. No quarter
given. Colour Cover Terrible use of mantraps is graphically shown.
30th January 1982 (August
1917)-4 days of rain turns battlefield into quagmire. Sadders, Little Ernie & CB seek out `better hole' only
to be beaten to one by Earwig. Earwig's shellhole is soaked in mustard gas, and he gets a Blighty wound. (colour centre pages)
6th February 1982 (August
1917)- German counterattacks beaten off by aid of counterbarrage. Charley finds Wilf face down in mud beside his
battered lewis gun. Colour Cover.
13th February 1982 (August
1917)-Takes Wilf to first aid post. Falls in shellhole whilst avoiding Battle Police and becomes stuck fast in liquid
mud. Colour Cover
20th February 1982 (August
1917)-Shellhole with Black Angus, sinking slowly. Rescued by passing Scots Angus realises that CB has kept him alive
through anger. Colour Cover Charley is given field punishment for having a speck of mud on his rifle sight is the epilogue
27th February 1982 (August
1917)-Arrive at Etaples training camp and meet the Ferret, an Army Instructor (Canary) in the Bullring
6th March 1982 (August
1917)-Harsh training - the Ferret picks on Charley and Sadders during bayonet practice on the beach.
13th March 1982
(August 1917)-Charley becomes first marksman - goes to see Wilf at hospital but he has been discharged and
joined the RFC
20th March 1982(August
1917)- Flame-thrower and gas training, boy soldier shoots a Canary, after being bullied by the Canary in charge.
Ferret accuses platoon of attempted mutiny when he hears the news and pulls his revolver on them.
27th March 1982(August
1917)- Captain Mackenzie (blue in disguise) diffuses the situation, CB escapes into town, but a train bears down
on him as he crosses the tracks. (colour cover)
3rd April 1982 (August
1917)-CB meets the sandbaggers (army deserters), led by the bowler-hatted Gunboat. Fights Gunboat and bumps into
Weeper who is living in disguise with a Frenchwoman. Sandbangers incidently are named after their chice of weapon- Rocks wrapped
up by sandbags used as a cosh.
10th April 1982 (August
1917)-Heads back to camp, volunteered for `special duties' by the Ferret
17th April 1982 (August
1917)-`Special duties' are the firing squad. - 1st Americans killed in the war during an air raid (colour cover)
24th April 1982 (August
1917)-Young soldier executed. CB chopping frozen meat. Gunboat and co arrive to pilfer supplies. Gunboat threatens
CB with a cleaver, but Mackenzie intercedes again. It is Blue in disguise.
1st May 1982 (August 1917)-Weeper
is caught. Charley goes for a swim. A popular, Scottish corporal, Wood, is shot by an MP and mortally wounded, and the real
life events of the mutiny at Etaples is told with Charley inserted into the events.
8th May 1982 (September
1917)-The Mutiny begins. The Ferret catches CB swimming, but a mob of Scots, Australians and New Zealanders
give him a hiding. The senior officers are thrown into the river.
15th May 1982 (September
1917)-CB and platoon of loyal soldiers are sent to guard a bridge into town. The mob want to pass so that they can
pursue the MP, Reeve, into town and lynch him. An ugly stand-off ensues. see the the scripts section
22nd May 1982 (September
1917)-The platoon lieutenant avoids a blood bath and lets the soldiers pass. Reeve is found under a bed. Next day,
the troops refuse to take part in drill in the Bull Ring and a sit-down strike takes place.
29th May 1982 (September
1917)-Old Bill berates the men, but they will not fall in, so he joins them. The men's grievances are heard. Charley
and Blue storm the stockade and Weeper and other prisoners are freed. great colour cover.
5th June 1982 (September
1917)-Mutiny continues. Cavalry refuse to come to officers' help and the mutineers' demands are met.
12th June 1982 (September
1917)-Blue tells Charley about the French Mutiny after the disastrous Nivelle Offensive, and its bloody suppression.
Weeper is rumbled as an ex-prisoner, and takes a blow to the head from an entrenching tool.
19th June 1982 (September
1917)-Charley takes Weeper to Sanctuary (the deserters' hideout). Gunboat has been captured and is leading the Special
Branch man and MPs to the cave. Charley is accused of leading the police on to them.
26th June 1982 (September
1917)-Weeper is fatally stabbed by Gunboat. Blue spots the mark of the irons on Gunboat's wrists and knifes him.
The deserters escape and the Bullring is closed down. CB returns to the front.
3rd July 1982 (October
1917)-Passchendaele - Jonesy, a member of the firing squad is bothered by his conscience and kills himself by standing
on the parapet during a barrage. CB becomes a Strecher Bearer to salve his conscience.
10th July 1982 (October
1917)-Meet L/Cpl `Dad' Coles, Ecky (who has a habit of looting from the dead) and Jack (the son of an arms baron,
who wants to repair some of the damage done by his father's shells).
17th July 1982 (October
1917)-First carry, through the quagmire. The casualty dies.
24th July 1982
Joe Colquhoun has a heart attack and recovers in hospital - Rerun of 1st episode
31st July 1982
Rerun of episode 2 Joe Colquhoun ill.
7th August 1982
Rerun of episode 3 Joe Colquhoun ill.
14th August 1982
NO CHARLEY'S WAR Joe Colquhoun ill.
21st August 1982
NO CHARLEY'S WAR Joe Colquhoun ill.
28th August 1982
NO CHARLEY'S WAR Joe Colquhoun ill.
4th September 1982
NO CHARLEY'S WAR Joe Colquhoun ill.
11th September 1982
NO CHARLEY'S WAR Joe Colquhoun ill.
18th September 1982
NO CHARLEY'S WAR Joe Colquhoun ill.
25th September 1982
NO CHARLEY'S WAR Joe Colquhoun ill.
2nd October 1983 (October
1917)- CB and co run out of morphine. Charley catches Ecky swapping tablets for souvenirs and beats him up.
9th October 1982 (October
1917)- Into battle, CB has his work cut out. Meet Dr No again. Charley saves colonel's life through giving blood.
16th October 1982 (October
1917)-CB rescues East Lancashire soldier on the wire and is given FF5,000. Smith 70's machine
gun gives off steam and he is hit by fire shell.
23rd October 1982(October
1917)- CB pushes Smith Seventy into water-filled shell hole to avoid fire shells. Young Albert finally gets to fire
the Vickers. Great amusing scene where Albert pulls the triggers and laugh manically creaming 'at last' Accused of stealing
from the dead.
30th October 1982 (October
1917)-A German prisoner, Kat, vouches for Charley. Kat and CB's `wheelbarrow' technique of carrying the wounded.
Gas attack and Kat has no mask, and they fight for Charley's gas helmet.
6th November 1982 (October
1917)-Kat takes shelter from gas in a pillbox and is unharmed, but the Germans take the trench, shooting the British
out of hand. Charley can survive but only if he licks Kat's boots first.
13th November 1982 (October
1917)- Kat humiliates Charley, and stuffs a grenade down his battle tunic. It is a dud, and an enraged Charley picks
up a rifle and bayonets Kat.
20th November 1982
(October 1917)- Charley gives one of the first blood transfusions and two shell shock cases help Charley understand
Dr No..
27th November 1982 (October
1917)-Douglas Haig appears in this issue and inspects the wounded- not the bad cases though in case they might upset
4th December 1982(October
1917)- CB meets American surgeon. Fails test and is thrown out of SBs. Old Bill and Smith Seventy in hospital.
11th December 1982 (October
1917)-Plane is downed in No Man's Land and CB goes to rescue of the observer.
18th December 1982 (October
1917)-The final carry: Charley and Jack go in aid of the observer, Fred Green. Jack, Dad Coles and Ecky killed by
shell and Charley has to carry Fred by himself.
25th December 1982, Charley's last carry - he tries to get
three Germans to
help him, they scarper when they hear they will have to go to Hellfire
Corner. CB finds a wheelbarrow
to wheel Fred. They then get hit by a shell.
| cloured by Steve Beeney |
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1 9
8 3
USSR shoots and destroys South Korean flight 007, Compact discs are first released, Thatcher's
second term as PM begins
1st january 1983 (October 1917)-Fred fast-forwarded to early eighties, revisiting
Menin Gate.
8th January 1983(October
1917)- Flash-forward to 80s, Fred's mind goes back to 1917 and he suddenly remembers Charley's name. His mate met
him in 1918, so he knows that he survived the explosion. Mills tantalisingly fails to tell us if he survived the War! Great
idea, great couple of issues taking in some of the lasting damage to mental state of veterans even 70-80 years later.
15th January 1983 (October
1917)-The tank battle of Cambrai and the jubilation at home.
22nd January 1983 (October
1917)-The tank men press on, but the generals do not exploit the breach - the attack falters.
29th January 1983 (November
1917)-The Bantams fight the Prussian Guards at Bourlon Wood - Cambrai fails.
5th February 1983 (November
1917)-The return of Scholar as the platoon commander. Charley becomes No 2 to Len Southgate, ex-poacher and sniper.
We meet the wily Corporal Hitler.
12th February 1983 (November
1917)-Cpl Hitler and mates in dugout complain about the British sniper who is taking a heavy toll in their company.
Hitler fights a defeatist soldier.
19th February 1983 (November
1917)-CB and Len in snipers' position. They hand over to another sniper team who ignore their advice to lie low for
a while, and are both killed by an elephant gun.
26th February 1983 (November
1917)-Charmed life of Cpl Hitler. Hitler takes place of shirking colleague and volunteers to deliver a message. He
is about to wander into CB's sights as he lies in No Man's Land.
5th March 1983 (November
1917)-German officer sends Hitler back and the original runner takes his place only to be hit by Charley. The Germans'
Alsatian gives Charley's position away.
12th March 1983 (November
1917)-Charley underfire in No Man's Land from grenade crossbow. Len helps him escape. The Germans swear revenge.
19th March 1983 (November
1917)-German sniper kills Sadders and numerous soldiers. No one can spot his hiding position.
26th March 1983 (November
1917)-Sniper continues to menace the British. CB and Len pilfer fire wood, Charley twigs where the German is hiding.
2nd April 1983 (November
1917)-The sniper is using a hollowed out tree in No Man's Land. It is conspicious because it has not been cut down
for firewood. German sniper is blown up.
9th April 1983 (November
1917)-Hitler and co in café behind the lines, are hit by long-range shooting by Smith 70. Vow to take revenge in
trench raid.
16th April 1983 (November
1917)-CB and Len take on raiding party in No Man's Land, they attack British trench and take Ernie Stubbs prisoner.
This scene is based on a description in Stuart Cloette's book of seeing the Bantams in trenches opposite the six foot Prussian
Gaurds and talks of a big prussian gaurd tucking a bantam under his arm and running away with him on a trench raid. CB and
Hitler fight.
23rd April 1983 (December
1917)-Germans fought off, but AH throws grenade which kills Ernie. Local Xmas truces break out.
30th April 1983 (December
1917)-Len cannot bring himself to shoot the German messenger Alsatian on Xmas Eve.
7th May 1983(December
1917)- Bruening's wife is expecting a baby and he wants to start a truce. He wanders into No Man's Land and Charley
does the same. Both sets of soldiers meet in No Man's Land to swap booze and food.
14th May 1983 (December
1917)-Feldwebel Kropp and Sgt Old Bill Tozer fall out over the retreat from Mons
and have a punch-up - the truce ends.This is a great issue that makes a point of the similarity between the two men,
who in other times would be friends.
21st May 1983 (January
1918)-Wilf Bourne is a trainee observer in the RFC and is observer to the dangerous Captain Morgan who has lost three
observers already.
28th May 1983 (January
1918)-Wilf is attacked by the triplanes of Richthofen's Flying Circus, but his gun jams.
4th June 1983 (January
1918)-Wilf and Morgan down a Fokker Triplane. Morgan lands so they can take the dead pilot's riding boots as a trophy.
11th June 1983 (January
1918)-WB trying to qualify as an observer. Mechanic and layabout, Janker, tricks him into reassembling an engine
for him. Morgan loses his fourth observer.
18th June 1983 (January
1918)-Shooting down observation balloons, the Brisfit is hit, Morgan uncoscious and the plane goes into a death dive.
25th June 1983(January
1918)- Wilf pulls the aeroplane out of the dive. Morgan has new respect for Wilf and puts him forward for artillery
spotter training.
2nd July 1983 (January
1918)-As Morgan recovers from his wound, Wilf flies with Lt. Costello. Costello gets windy and returns before Wilf
can finish calling artillery fire down on the correct positions. Wilf is blamed for bad work.
9th July 1983(January
1918)- Dogfight and Costello runs for home. A furious Morgan goes in pursuit in order to shoot Costello down.
16th July 1983 (January
1918)-Morgan calms down, but they confront Costello on their return and Wilf is made to sew a yellow cloth on Costello's
tunic.
23rd July 1983 (January
1918)-China tells WB how he got his face plate in
a plane crash. China goes up in a repaired Brisfit which comes
apart in midair.
30th July 1983 (January
1918)-Janker has botched the repair on the wingspar. Wilf does photographic reconnaissance and is recommended for
Observer's wing.
6th August 1983
NO CHARLEY'S WAR Joe is possibly on Holiday.
13th August 1983 (January
1918)-Wilf gets his corporal stripes and observer's wing. Initiation ceremony. Mechanics try to kill Janker.
20th August 1983 (January
1918)-Morgan overhears Wilf and Janker and tells them that they are both for the high-jump after they return from
the mission. Janker is thrown into a revolving propellor by a vengeful mechanic.
27th August 1983 (January
1918)-Morgan follows a stricken German plane down towards the ground, and is hit by ground fire. Wilf uses emergency
controls to land the plane, but Morgan is dead.
3rd September 1983 (Febuary
1918)-CB makes a remark about wounding himself in order to get to go home. CB opens Scholar's package by mistake
which contains foolish-looking body armour. Humiliated, the Scholar vows to get even.
10th September 1983 (Febuary 1918)-CB saves a soldier doing Field
Punishment under fire, but fails to retrieve a dead German from No Man's Land using grappling hooks. Scholar tries to charge
him, but a senior officer comes to CB's aid.
17th September 1983 (Febuary
1918)-S, CB & Lt Dowd go to `the Wart' an OP, against CB's advice as it is under watch by an enemy balloon. CB
walks so as not to draw attention to himself but S runs. CB accidentally shoots himself in the foot.
24th September 1983 (Febuary
1918)-CB accused of having a SIW. In hospital awaiting a court martial. Lt Dowd, badly wounded, will testify on his
behalf. Meets Nurse Kate
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