大象传媒

When I left Fraser and Chalmers, having completed my engineering training, I had become a trainee estimator in the mining department. The work involved putting together quotations for complex coal and diamond plants for South Wales and South Africa. I left because, about a month earlier, I had been gazetted Lieutenant OME ( Ordnance Mechanical Engineer) 4th class, in the 44th (HC) Divisional RAOC in the Territorial Army. In addition I had been turned down by a red tabbed selection board at the War Office in my application for a short service commission. They told me that, although otherwise well qualified there was one bit missing - I had no recorded engineering experience of motor vehicles. If I liked to go away and get some, I could apply again.
Tilling and Stevens had a works in Maidstone with a War Office contract to build engines for searchlight lorries. Somehow I managed to get an interview with the works manager and told him of my predicament. He conceded that if I could build steam turbines perhaps he would let me loose in his engine assembly bay for a limited period. So next day I joined T and S as a fully blown fitter. This was almost over the dead body of the shop foreman who did not like the idea at all. I took 5 days to assemble my first engine - the old hands took a day and a half. Unfortunately it seized up on the test bed after about 15 minutes and the foreman did his nut as my time was counted against the shop鈥檚 piece-work bonus.
This was January 1939. In March I went on a 4 day OME鈥檚 course at Hilsea Barracks Portsmouth. I went with the Company鈥檚 senior subaltern, the two of us being 鈥榝armed out鈥� in digs. As a new boy I assumed that he knew the ropes. But no, we both turned up, complete with swords, about one minute late. On the parade ground the regimental sergeant major had already got the rest of the Company fallen in and standing to attention. What the CO said about the TA afterwards is not repeatable.
In April there followed a further 5 days of RAOC exercises at Colchester supposedly practicing the movement of Army Field Workshops. From what I remember either the bits we wanted weren鈥檛 there or they didn鈥檛 move.
By this time I was turning out engines at Tilling and Stevens a bit quicker that the old hands. This again upset the foreman because he said the works manager would want the same results from the others and that would not be popular. Getting a bit bored by now with engine assembly, I applied again in June for a regular commission but was told 鈥淣ot yet, come back later鈥�.
The political scene was now getting pretty tense with Chamberlain to-ing and fro-ing to Berlin and on 25 August 1939 the TA was mobilised. I was summoned to the Drill Hall at Chatham to be kitted out with revolver, compass, binoculars, water bottle, haversack, pack, gas mask - the lot. Of the next few days I remember little until, on 3 September, we heard on the drillhall radio that war had been declared and within half an hour all the Chatham air raid sirens went off. The following day together with 1 staff sergeant, 2 lance corporals and 8 ORs, I was posted as CO No.11 LAD (Light Aid Detachment) to the 98th Field Regiment RA. The regiment was mobilising and equipping itself on the Sussex County cricket ground at Worthing.
The 98th Field Regiment had been formed entirely from the Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry Regiments. Commanded by Lt.Col. Ledingham and cheerfully administered by his second in command the Hon. 鈥楻oyal鈥� Stewart-McKenzie, almost the whole complement down to the most junior gunner had a title of some kind. I never knew whether 鈥楻oyal鈥� was Stewart-McKenzie鈥檚 first or nick name. The batman allocated to me was an Honourable, his surname was Rolls, though no connection with the car as far as know. Lord Cowdray who unluckily later had an arm blown off at Dunkirk, was one of the two Battery commanders and knights were so numerous that they tripped over each other. The regiment consisted of the CO鈥檚 regimental headquarters with its specialist officers in A, Q and G matters, a doctor, pardre, quartermaster and me with my RAOC LAD attached. At the sharp end were the two batteries, Surrey and Sussex. They both, as far as I can recall, had four Troops each with four guns.. The overall firepower was therefore 32 field guns.
From 4 September when I reported to Worthing cricket ground until the 21st when we left, was a period of round the clock furious activity equipping everyone and everything. The gunners got their tractors and limbers but could not get their 18 pounders. When they did arrive they were relics of the first World War. Luckily they were replaced later by 25 pounders. I got my workshop, recovery and store vehicles but could not get the tools, equipment and spares to put in them. And so it went on until someone up top said - 鈥淲hether you have got it or not - move鈥�. So, on 21 September, the Regiment moved out of the Surrey County Cricket Ground in convoy bound for Southampton. The LAD always travels at the end of the column, so as Tail-end Charlie we arrived a bit late. Loading men and equipment aboard took longer than planned and it was not until late in the day on the 24 September that we set sail for France.
We arrived in Brest early the next day, got the troops ashore and bivouacked. We then tried, without much success, to encourage the French stevedores to unload our gear from the ship with a modicum of respect. They did not seem to have much 鈥榮avvy鈥� how to do it as I believe that we were one of the first, if not the first, Gunner Regiments of the British Expeditionary Force to come ashore at Brest.
That evening is one that I shall not forget! Recognising the great pressure imposed upon everyone during the last 3 weeks, the Colonel, retaining only a caretaker party, gave us all 鈥榮hore leave鈥� until midnight. He believed that we about to move up to the German line on the Belgium border almost immediately.
A group of 鈥榶oung gentlemen鈥� of the Regimental Headquarters Mess of which I was now a member, invited me to join them for champagne cocktails in a local estaminet. Never having savoured champagne cocktails or been in an estaminet, I accepted with pleasure. On arrival there I was surprised to find a very large glass tank of water on stilts in the middle of the room. Swimming around were 15 or 20 trout. Someone decided that the plan of action would be to have champagne cocktails followed by oysters while sitting on stools at the bar. This was to be followed by trout, pomme frite and straight champagne sitting down at table. This seemed to be a good idea at the time. It was not until about half an hour before curfew that I knew that it was not!
Not only was I exceedingly ill but I was quite unable to walk without assistance. With one arm over the shoulders of two of my companions I was transferred back to the lines past the unseeing eyes of the sentries. I believe that was the only time that I have been really and truly properly sloshed.
We spent the next few days in Brest sorting ourselves out. A couple of 鈥榬ecce鈥� parties and some specialist groups were sent off to pave the way for our move up into northern France. I was last to leave with the LAD and after a number of 鈥榩atching up鈥� jobs on both 98th鈥檚 vehicles and some from other regiments we caught up with the main party on 3 October at Courgains. Two days later we all moved off again in torrential rain for St. Maxime and, via Rouen, to Abbeville for a day of 鈥渞est鈥� with much 鈥榤aking and mending鈥�. It was in Abbeville that I learned that our final destination was to be Le Forest where we arrived late on Sunday night 8 October. Next morning, Le Forest with all its coal mine slag heaps was reminiscent of parts of South Wales. It was here that we spent the next seven months of the 鈥減hony war鈥�.
Although the 98th Field was very much an integrated Regiment, the individual Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry pride, competitiveness and good-natured 鈥榦ne-upmanship鈥� prevailed. Each Battery had their own Mess in a chateau, while our Regimental Headquarter Mess was only in the Marie! For all that, both Batteries had brought out their Mess silver and in the early days someone in Regimental HQ seemed to have arranged for Fortnam and Mason to send out an enormous hamper full of delicacies on a regular basis.
Everyone was in billets of some kind, although most of the elite were shacked down in their chateaux. Although all three of us were members of the Regimental HQ Mess, the padre, the quartermaster and the LAD officer attached (me) were not quite the same thing! So we had billets elsewhere. The quartermaster, Capt. Charles Fox and I 鈥榙rew鈥� the Le Forest hairdresser. She was charming and sexy. Her husband was a railway engine driver on night shift. Fox being a captain had the largest room and mine was the attic.
The padre, whose name escapes me, Fox and I got on very well together. Fox had been commissioned from warrant officer rank and was a first class chap, as was the padre. However I do so remember the vibratorary noises disturbing so much of my sleep in the attic that, after a time, I had to find other billets and leave Fox to his hairdresser. I was so sad later to hear that Fox had been killed on the way out to Dunkirk.
Most of October was spent with the Batteries digging in their gun positions in alternative locations in the forward area around Coqueries. All were very heavily camouflaged. I had a lot of liaison to do locating support units for stores and other backup workshop facilities. Corps HQ was at Douai and it was during one of my visits there on 16 October that I bumped (actually) into Lord Gort, the C in C BEF.
From November onwards it became more and more difficult to keep people on their toes as we were expecting the 鈥榖alloon to go up鈥� any minute. German reconnaissance aircraft were always turning up when least expected with very little to chase them off. The weather became intensely cold and around about Christmas we were knee deep in snow with the temperature very many degrees below zero. Living outside under these extreme conditions was difficult to say the least, particularly as we were not really equipped for this extreme cold.
Antifreeze either had not been invented or was not an issue to the Army! For about two or three weeks the radiator of every vehicle had to be drained at the end of each journey to avoid damage to engines. It became a court martial offence not to do so after we had lost many vehicles with burst radiators and cracked cylinder blocks. These were things we could not repair and there were insufficient spare parts to replace them. At one stage we had guns with no tractors to tow them. During the worst of this very cold weather it was necessary to start the engine before refilling the radiator as otherwise, before the radiator was full, it had started to freeze at the bottom and would not thaw out.
On 25 January 1940 I was given some home leave, sailing from Calais to Dover. I returned back to the Regiment, still at Le Forest, on 10 February. Beyond the fact that Ulcombe was covered in more snow than I had ever remembered, I do not remember too much about that leave. Everyone was very pleased to see me resulting in a number of wild parties. Just before the end of my leave, one thing I do remember with sadness was the end of my car. I was driving down Windmill Hill in the snow at speed in my rebuilt Austin Seven (with its limited edition 鈥楪ordon England鈥� fabric body!!!). Trying to turn left into the home straight along to the Cottage at the top of Knole Hill, I turned the damned thing over.
The significance of the exclamation marks is than Gordon England designed this super little fixed head coupe with a real leather seat for three and very wide doors opening forwards. The body was covered in 鈥渇abric鈥� reminiscent of the old 鈥楢merican cloth鈥�. However it turned out that the manufacturing costs were too high and only 500 were made. It would be worth a fortune now. Not only did I turn it over, but wrecked it by rolling it down the steep slope into Grandpa鈥檚 cherry orchard below. Robert was not amused, particularly when I asked him to be good enough to dispose of it when the snow had all gone.
Up until now we had spent some five months in France living with superior optimism that the war would be over in a matter of a month or so with no bother at all. That sounds a bit blas茅, but is not too far from the truth. After the novelty of being on active service had worn off, time hung heavily for the gunners although they were not allowed to be idle. For my part and our small band of 12, we seemed to have very little time to relax as there were always vehicles, guns or instruments that required attention with almost no spare parts available.
However by March 1940 it was becoming evident that this was not the scenario that was very likely to materialise. Thinking about my own situation I suddenly woke up to the fact that if I did survive the war, I would not be a fully qualified mechanical engineer, from an academic point of view. Just before I was mobilised in August 1939 I was making last minute preparations to take the final examination for membership of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to end my studies.
With tongue in cheek and with not a great deal of optimism I wrote to the Institution, explained the situation and asked if somehow I could take the final in the Field. While I did not receive a reply direct I was somewhat surprised shortly afterwards on 10 April 1940 to be summoned to Corps HQ in Douai to sit the exam together with one other guy. Unbeknown to me, he had made a similar request. The Corps Commander鈥檚 Adjutant was our adjudicator in the POME鈥檚 office. Exactly one month later on 10 May 1940 Germany invaded Holland and Belgium. A very long time later I heard that we had both passed and were fully blown engineers.

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