大象传媒

With the German forces having seized the initiative by invading Norway before we did, then commencing their positive 'stride' to force 'our' WAR declaration to a tangible conclusion - to reverse 'the phoney war' stalemate of inactivity resulting from our merely moving troops to France to dig trenches - and failing Polish expectations in the process -then the successive events during my 13th birthday month of May 1940 were above my level of reasoning. The German 'push' into Holland and Belgium after 'doing' Norway and the stepping stone Denmark, was a logical move to outflank our stubborn French ally who, like we British, were too slow to even catch a cold. If we were daft enough to declare WAR in September then not follow up OUR mouth with fist and foot, then 8 months after we deserved to get punched and kicked where it hurts.
All talk and no do was no way to shout WAR in 1939/40. We and the Germans had modern aeroplanes and, 'fast tanks'; tools that overstepped any attrition instincts of trench warfare; those days were of the past, and to prove it, Generals Rommel and Guderian jumped into action to teach the lesson. And so there they were - on the cliffs and hills around Calais - looking and laughing at the white cliffs of Dover dotted with the motley LDV men with pick and pike.

Even as they stood laughing, our unfortunate cut-off army was already 'ditching'tanks and tools in favour of scratching holes in Dunkirk sand and swamping the little ships and boats. - What a washout!!. On a beach of no pleasure....

There was supposed to be some LDV (Local Defence Volunteer) in Chaldon, but apart from a mixed practise ARP gathering at the Rook Lane junction with Chaldon Common Road (200 yards from our house) just prior to the outbreak of WAR, I can honestly say I never saw another! There was supposed to be an ARP hut position at Hilltop to cover the crossroads, and another at Birchwood Lane of six members manning their hut from 6pm till 5am. But in all the weeks and months that my sister and I watched the B of B and nightly 'blitz' at the bus stop shelter by the Common Road did we see or hear a single person, nor see a passing car. While hundreds of bombers flew overhead to be greeted by the outer London 'ring' of anti-aircraft gun fire that on rare occasions sent small shrapnel clipping the road around us, nobody - ARP or LDV - was to be seen.

Once we overcame our worst fears of the 'invasion' scare weeks of July and August and half of September, then we became 'comfortable' with the danger from above. We had become used to the WAR 'drug' and the smoky candle air of our 'shanty' Anderson garden shelter.

With no known LDV force in Chaldon, then the twice ringing of 'invasion' scare church bells during August must have been an ARP task? With Canadian soldiers billeted about the vilage tasked with watch duties, LDV were perhaps rearded as superfluous?

During the main scare period following the 'swift' Dunkirk we naturally took real notice of the expected intent of German invasion troops; we boys were merely responding to our elders better understandings; they should know; their fears rubbed off on their children. And the radio also churned out facts and lies to suit propaganda, while Haw Haw also took advantage of the scares to encourage our misery or panic.
We of course were not supposed to listen to the German radio mouthpiece 'Lord Haw Haw' for he could undermine our government's plans to tell us only what they wanted us to know. Haw Haw could contadict 'our' lies designed to bolster our morale. Truth and lies came from both sides as did exagerations and denials; the ploys of propaganda were many, and none more so than the claiming of casualties and losses of 'Battle' planes. Here lies knew no bounds. But who was telling the truth? We had to of course, be they lies or not. Hence if we claimed thirty German planes shot down, Haw Haw would declare only ten. And he'd say we lost 40 spitfires, while our radio news would admit to losing 12 or 14.
We were encouraged to ridicule this traitor of England and, switch off; after all, sometimes he was telling the truth, which we shouldn't hear about. The places bombed were very often mentioned by Haw Haw by name, but not so on our News; we wanted it 'hushed up'. The less we knew the better was often our wartime policy. And that was understandable for losses meant 'pains' for many mothers and wives.
And of course Haw Haw was tasked with keeping up the taunting pace of German invasion forces gathering for their operation 'Sealow' expected when the last of our diminishing Spitfires bit the dust.

So listening to Haw Haw could be both good or bad. Believe with caution, was best, while knowing your enemy was a must in war! Seeing his point of view was important too - that way you could read his likely intentions and know his aims and ambitions.
While Winston Churchill wanted us to believe the 'invasion' was definately Hitler's intention, Hitler was calling for Britain '...to see reason, and call a halt to the war.' But Chuchill didn't want the WAR to end so easily - he loved war, and the WAR would finally prove his making. 'Hitler would enslave the world!' he claimed, 'so therefore, we must fight the tyrant'; and of course we wanted to believe Churchill for many people were wound-up for the big 'SHOW'.

And so we watched for the parachutists and gliders that might any day or night start landing in our local fields. These in my book were very suitable for I'd flown my catapult gliders in many of them and knew the requirements of airborne troops. Here they would have a 'soft' landing in almost unguarded fields and denes. Such undulating ground was good defence land too - ideal for the German specialists of enfilade.
The Hurricanes that belly-landed at Willey Farm was proof enough for the plane's only damage were the tips of its splintered propeller. After a hundred yard slide on cushy grass, the pilot had merely to climb out and hand over his craft to a sharp arriving policeman for guarding. He allowed me to browse the B o B fighter but not to touch anything, just ten minutes after it grounded.
Now here was a field that could have absorbed twenty such landings by glider and transport planes and there wasn't a single soldier to be seen in any direction during my half hour stay! And this solitude was also true of our more local fields behind Chaldon Mead. It was here that my brother came unstuck:

Bob came home one evening looking as if a spiteful Heinkel had worked him over. His hair was matted with blood and his eyes were puffy and red. He had tried to climb over the strands of a wire fence while his arms were encumbered with an old shotgun that I didn't even know he possessed. At the crucial moment the wires became totally un-cooperative and strung him up feet towards the sky like a chicken about to have it's throat cut. His feet were as neatly tied as a package in the post. With his head clear of the ground, he was actually just able to stand on his hands. But handstands were of no use to him for he soon needed them to ward off the blood streaming from his nose; it was getting in his eyes. Because of the spy para infiltration scares many people avoided the open country and quiet footpaths so no-one chose to walk the church way - justwhen he needed someone for help. After two hours of blood and tears, during which time he loosed-off three cartridges to draw attention, he somehow or other managed his own release. No wonder his eyes looked 'shot'

How it was that my 14 year old brother could own an antiquated shotgun in the late autumn of 1940 is beyond me, while blasting off shots across nearby fields within earshot of Canadian soldiers and without investigation when the threat of invasion still hadn't officially fully receded, seems incredible! But it was just this sort of mini-valley 'lost' no-man's land that conjured up its feasiblity/suitability for German airborne troops to pull off another 'startling' victory. Lord knows, they too had been surprised by their many easy successes coming one upon the other once war for real got started.
One could wonder just how much unaccountable gunfire could take place before ears would prick-up sufficiently to send out a section of investigating soldiers. What's more, we had still to be alert to the possibility of lost or hiding enemy shot-down bomber crews, for which the soldiers did apparently send out search parties. The Nation of Shopkeepers was after all, ripe for picking in the autumn of 1940.

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