[emssss]

Does anyone know what the Very Lights were in the first world war if they were in the sky at night? what were they for?[

[Mrs Faithorn]

Vary (not very) lights were sent up at night over a battlefield in order to enable gunners to see where they were firing or to illuminate an area to enable soldiers to see where they were going.

[Mr. D. Bryant]

I am going to disagree slightly with Mrs. Faithorn, as all the spellings I have found for these illuminations say 'Very' Lights after their inventor, the American Edward Very.

Sometimes coloured flares used for signalling emergencies, but more often to provide illumination in trench warfare at night in the form of brilliant white flares. They were not used to help one's own side, but rather to see if the enemy were out in No Man's Land, either working (wiring, digging etc. ) or patrolling, on a raid etc. When the Germans or British had their own patrols or working parties out, they did not use Very lights anywhere near them. The lights did not burn for very long, unlike the German parachute flares. The best defence was to stand stock still until the flare went out, hoping it didn't fall at your feet. Movement while the flare burnt was easily spotted and immediately attracted enemy rifle or machine-gun fire.

This webpage has a song entitled 'When Very Lights are Shining' dating from the First World War. The tune was the one to 'When Irish Eyes are Smiling'.

[MrJohnDClare]

?Verey

Quote

It had really rather a fine effect the brilliant flashes of the bursting shells followed by the noise of the explosion, the almost deafening crackle of the rifles, interspersed with the tap-tap-tap-tap of the machine-guns and the bangs of the exploding bombs and grenades, and, as it grew darker, the brilliant illumination of the Verey lights... We sent up a Verey light which dropped in their wire and made quite a bonfire, which they tried to put out... So I told S , who was my observer, to fire a Verey light, and we started off... the sky is periodically lit up by Verey lights, and the occasional rattle of machine-guns and odd rifle shots can be faintly heard sometimes... etc.
A SUBALTERN'S SHARE IN THE WAR: HOME LETTERS OF THE LATE GEORGE WESTON DEVENISH LIEUT. R.A., ATTACHED R.F.C.

Google search
"A Verey light"

Wikipedia along with other sources accepts 'Very', and states that it was so-called because it was named after Edward Wilson Very.

However I use Verey because pupils find the phrase 'very light' confusing.

[Mr. D. Bryant]

So what you're saying is that the spelling varies?

[MrJohnDClare]

Mr. D. Bryant, on Nov 4 2009, 10:22 PM, said:

So what you're saying is that the spelling varies?

Suppose so!