大象传媒

Larkhill 鈥� Army School of Survey 鈥� details and functions of a Survey Regiment 鈥� its employment in the battle plan

Larkhill is situated on Salisbury Plain, nearest villages being Darrington and Amesbury, with Stonehenge just down the road. Much of the area is taken over by the War Department, with artillery firing ranges, rifle and machine-gun ranges and military airfields. The R.A.F also has a part for bombing. Another part is allocated to tanks. Larkhill itself is a complex of buildings occupied by training regiments, mostly Royal Artillery. The Survey School was found to be a collection of wooden huts, some used as billets, others as classrooms, set-off the military road and on the plain itself.

I arrived in time to join a new intake, to commence a course of Army Survey, in particular appertaining to a fighting regiment, a mixture of geographical concentrated to take only a third of the usual standard time, and we were promised 鈥� no regimentation鈥� or 鈥榓rmy bull鈥� while it lasted. The intake was split into squads. I joined 26A squad, in which there was a number of teachers from Civvy Street, local government staff and even an assistant organist from Manchester Cathedral.

To save future explanation I generally describe a Survey Regiment and its functions, as follows:-

Rear HQ Commanding Officer (CO)
Deployment of Supplies, stores
Communication with Divisional H.Q. 鈥� receiving and passing on orders.
General decision on bases and locations.

Survey Battery (Fighting) Linking up of Divisional grids, checking and bringing up-to-date survey maps 鈥� three observer pairs. Also two troops, X and Y including further observer pairs to provide suitable surveyed reference points for use by the artillery for gun location, the latter taping and observing from the reference point (RO) with a simple short range theodolite called a Director.

Note All guns from the 25 pounder field guns up to the mediums and heavies have to be positioned on the Divisional grid within a accuracy of one metre.

Flash Spotting Battery (fighting)
Location of hostile guns by means of observing muzzle flashes and with less degree of accuracy smoke and reflections. Two troops, A and B, each with HQ and observer pairs for setting up and manning two observer posts. Locations fixed by cross angles. Other activities along the front also to be fixed and reported. Flash spotting can also be used to range own guns onto target. As Flash Spotting depends on sight, distance is a limiting factor.

Sound Ranging Batter. (Fighting) (described in more detail)

BHQ Officer Commanding (OC)
Office, Technical Stores, repairs of transport and Equipment Line and Wireless

Two Troops 鈥� 鈥楥鈥� (Charlie) and 鈥楧鈥� (Don)
Each with Section for control, computing, data collecting and plotting. All surveyors.
Section for two advance posts. Controlled by surveyors
Surveyors in above sections also used for laying out bases in initial stages, by triangulation.
Section for line laying and digging in microphones, these called 鈥榃irers鈥�. Not Surveyors.
R.A.F. Section to provide met. Reports (a corporal and a 鈥榖od鈥�.

Supporting Personnel for each troop consisted a cook, a driver mechanic, storemen, office clerk, 2 drivers, a despatch rider, a driver for the water tanker.
Armoury for each troop comprised revolvers, rifles, machine-guns, an anti-aircraft gun and an anti-tank gun.
Transport for each troop comprised heavy lorries for food and stores, and personal effects, jeeps, 1 ton vans for general use, an armoured recci car, and motor-cycle for the despatch rider. When on the move other members of the troop act as drivers.

Roughly a total of 75 men in each troop, and in the Battery as a whole 176.

Each Troop 鈥� self contained, capable of individual movement and functioning well-away for B.H.Q.

The use of Army Survey in the Battle Plan

The ideal position for a base, either sound or flash, is facing as many hostile guns as possible or facing a sector where eventually a push will be made to break through the enemy line. In most cases these ideals are combined, the difficult sector being the most heavily defended. For example, natural obstructions such as a predominate mountain range stretching across the country with only narrow passes through and short flat coastal strips which can be easily defended. To turn the line an advance through toward the centre is necessary.

Survey Regiments are employed when the front becomes static, holding the Army up for weeks and even months on end. Guns are defence and the eventual onslaught have to be surveyed in and recorded on to the Divisional grid, the flash spotting of enemy guns has to be carried out, and surveyed form observation posts. The Sound Ranging Batteries lay out their bases and the process of locating enemy guns, from near to many miles distant, commences. Data collected is sent back to Divisional H.G. Information needed in organising the next advance, to ensure accurate and concerted artillery fire on to the enemy.

The time for the attack arrives and say at 23 hours the barrage begins, all guns in concerted action, some on enemy infantry positions, others on known enemy gun locations and some on random pattern in depth.

As down is breaking the barrage changes to a creeping one and the infantry go into the assault behind, hoping to find the enemy 鈥榥oise crazy鈥� as well as having suffered physical damage. If successful in reaching the enemy positions the infantry over-run and finish the job.

The breach is made and troops waiting behind pour through, fan-out and go 鈥榟ell for leather鈥� chasing the retreating enemy. Tanks, guns and, in fact, the whole of the army follows on the move.

Eventually the attack comes to a standstill, in front of another enemy prepared line. The process repeats itself until the enemy runs out of lines. This is the theory.

The Survey Course 鈥� General and Semi-Technical Land Survey

A great deal of classroom work was involved on the course, dealing with 5 figure logarithms, trigonometry and algebra, in explaining and working out complex formulae relevant to survey.

To the concern of the instructors, three particular individuals showed no interest whatsoever, and they were becoming a problem. One morning they turned up with R.A.F wings on their uniforms. It came out that they been commissioned in the R.A.F as officer fighter pilots, having gained their wings on trainers, put on advanced aircraft their reactions w3ere found suspect. Demobbed from the R.A.F and immediate call-up in the army followed. The wearing of wings was queried but they were found to be within their rights, R.A.F wings being an award. A little later they were missing and it transpired they had gone to call on the CO of the Army Gliding Training School a few miles down the road. He took pity on them and after negotiation they were transferred. We met some time later, they had gained their glider wings and had been made up to sergeants, and were quite happy. The army used large troop and artillery carrying engineless planes in the invasion of Europe, towed by conventional aircraft. Over the dropping area they were released with very little control. There was only one way to go 鈥� down to crash land on skids. A dangerous business, I wonder how our friends made out.

Field work took place on Salisbury Plain, learning how to tape correctly and to use a Director, a simple form of theodolite, taping-out form a 鈥楻O鈥� (reference point) and a measuring angles to arrive at a given spot, often hidden behind a clump of trees. In action this type of work would be carried out by an Artillery battery surveyor, to position guns on a grid.

Grander schemes followed, involving bearing, distance and height, using the theodolite, assimilating work carried out by a Survey Regiment, in map making, establish RO鈥檚 for the Artillery and laying out bases for sound and flash.

The theodolite in use was the T63, the telescope having a magnification of 25 times with an optical scale of 31/2鈥� and with a read-off down to minutes and seconds of a degree. The distance possible to observe was considerable, one leg we observed was a distance of 4644.9 metres.

Semi-Technical 鈥� Various survey processes and computations involved the following:-

路 Observing rounds of angles from RO, say to a distant church spire, chimney, trig point, corner of barn and possibly including a survey beacon set-up.

路 Traversing 鈥� finding the position of a hidden point from the RO, say with a wooded hill-top in the way.

路 Reduction to Level 鈥� observing a high or depressed point and amending by angle of sight and computation to obtain level distance from RO.

路 Triangulation 鈥� observing a series of connecting triangles using natural points or set-up beacons to obtain the position of a number of points within the triangulation for use a flash or sound ranging base. As angles can be checked one triangle to another a high degree of accuracy is obtained. Distances are computed from the data.

路 Re-section 鈥� finding the co-ord of an inaccessible point form bearings and surveyed co-ords of several surrounding points. At the Front the particular point would be in the possession of the enemy, at the time.

路 Reduction to centre 鈥� using a temporary point for observation and then transferring relative data by computation to the desired permanent point, 鈥榠nconvenient鈥� to observe from for the time being.

We were allowed to use a slide-rule, but only for checking. The Army type was about 30鈥� long, the divisions being spaced out allowed a fine read-off.

For a change we did some map reading. Carted off in a covered truck and dumped in some unknown place, usually in the middle of a wood or rough country we were armed with a map and compass. The task was to identify the position from surrounding features and then by the use of given bearings and features to arrive at the meeting spot 鈥� our transport and a 鈥榖rew-up鈥�.

During the course a general privilege leave was granted, 10th. To the 16th. August, 43. it was also fairly easy to obtain weekend passes, getting away after tea-time on Friday and getting back before midnight on Sunday.

Doris and I phoned each other a number of times each week. I would walk down to Durrington village, the phone box being outside the pub.

There was cinema on the site, also a well appointed theatre with live shows put on by E.N.S.A. There was free transport to Salisbury every Saturday and Sunday.

Trade tests took place in October and I somehow managed to obtain a 90% pass, recorded in my Service book 鈥� Certified qualified for appointment T/Surveyor 鈥� RA 鈥� Group 111 鈥� 14.10.4鈥�.

A parting of the ways followed, a finish for some and a posting to Artillery Regiments as Battery Surveyors, others to Survey Regiments as Surveyors, and others to a Flash Spotting course.

Those with the highest marks were retained for the next part of the main course 鈥� 鈥楽ound Ranging鈥�.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.