大象传媒

[Continued from "The Slow Beginning"]

Early in September 1940 my call up papers arrived, with instructions to report to the 63rd Searchlight Regt. RA at Fernhurst, near Haslemere in Surrey. There, after having the usual innoculations and being pronounced A1 fit for active service, commenced six weeks basic training to be followed by three weeks training as searchlight crews.

During this time we were allowed one brief period of leave. Early in November six of us left the camp at midday on Saturday, with instructions to return by 11pm the following day. As no rail warrants were issued we decided to to see if we could make it to Southampton by bus. By the time we got to Bishop's Waltham it was already dusk. On hearing there would be no more buses that evening we approached a unit of the Royal Engineers stationed in the town, asking for a bed for the night. The officer on duty was not very keen on the idea as they were a small unit with limited resources. He said he was prepared to let the duty driver take us in their lorry to Southampton if he volunteered. Air raid warnings had just been sounded but the driver agreed. We had a "whip round" for him.

On nearing the outskirts of Southampton, we were stopped by police who directed the driver to follow the northern route round the city. Explosions could be heard in the direction of the city centre. Three of our group were dropped off; they could walk home. The rest of us were hoping the driver could take us to Totton. However explosions were becoming more frequent and as we were going slowly along Western Aveue we hit a bomb crater. We thanked the driver for getting us this far, helped him turn his truck around and wished him well. I don't know if he got back to camp safely, but I sincerely hope so.

We walked to Totton station but there were no trains, so we continued along the main A35 road. After about a mile we had a stroke of luck. An empty Hants & Dorset bus was returning to its garage at Lyndhurst, so they gave us a lift. At Lyndhurst all was quiet around midnight, so we set off walking again. Afer a couple of miles we had another stroke of luck. A fire service truck was returning to Christchurch and picked us up. This was a real god-send as I was beginning to think we would have to spend the night under a hedge in the New Forest freezing cold. Dropping us off in Christchurch, I arrived home at 3am.

After just 12 hours at home, half of which I slept, it was time to start the return journey. Trains were running again to Southampton, although after Redbridge we travelled at walking pace due to the previous nights bombing damage. At the bus station I learnt that only women, children and the homeless were being allowed on the buses. I met one of the other soldiers from my unit and after two hours waiting, were allowed onto a bus going to Winchester. It was absolutely packed and air raid sirens were sounding as we approached Winchester. We realised it would be impossible to travel further that evening so made our way to the Rifle Brigade barracks where we were authorised to stay overnight.

We arrived back at our unit at about 1pm the following day. As we had been caught up in the Southampton air raids, we were excused for returning late.

On completion of our training we were dispatched to various searchlight sites, which covered much of West Sussex and South Hampshire. Battery HQ was at Kings Worthy, just north of Winchester. Our task was not to co-operate with the RA anti-aircraft gunners, but rather with RAF night fighters operating from Tangmere.

At that time, November 1940, each
searchlight site was manned by a crew of nine men. My first site was near the village of Compton, between Chichester and Petersfield. A utility truck from HQ brought us our rations and other supplies each morning. Food could be re-heated on the coke-burning stove in our hut, whilst we could boil potatoes or heat soup in the field kitchen outside.

Our searchlight and sound locator had been designed for 1914-18 conditions, when enemy planes flew at heights of a few hundred feet and at 70-100mph. The sound locator consisted of two pairs of cone-shaped horns; one pair mounted horizontally and the other vertically. Connected by copper tubes to brass earpieces, the two listeners pointed the locator in the direction the sound was coming from, balancing the sound until it was equal in both earpieces. The third man directed the searchlight crew to the same spot in the sky the sound locator was aiming at. Once the general direction of the plane was established, an allowance was made that the plane would have moved on a bit, but this was largely guesswork.

Life on site in the winter of 1940-41 wasn't very pleasant, but we counted our blessings. The worst hardship was lack of sleep. Apart from the searchlight, we had to guard the site and attend to the generator. The diesel generator was mounted on a trailer with a metal roof and roll-down sides. It was very noisy so it was positioned as far as possible from the locator and searchlight. It was run for 20 minutes every hour to keep it in a constant state of readiness. It was difficult to start on occasions; the starting handle had a nasty "kick-back" if you hadn't positioned your thumbs correctly.

Early in 1941 we heard the battery was receiving new up-to-date equipment. To make maximum use of this, there would be fewer but larger sites. We moved to a spot high on the downs just north of Horndean. With 20 men on site, at least duties would come around less frequently, though it was no joke sleeping in bell tents in the winter wind and snow. We had a more powerful searchlight and much larger sound locator. This had electronic microphones mounted in parabolic dishes on a trailer. There was a much improved device to determine the aircraft's actual position too.

With news of the Nazis invading more and more of Europe, it was often difficult to be cheerful. Mugs of hot tea or cocoa when you came off duty were really appreciated. I often wonder how the country managed to keep importing it through the war years.

Spring 1941 saw our searchlight cluster move near to the village of Crawley, between Winchester and Stockbridge. We were accommodated in a row of requisitioned garden sheds, positioned under a row of large trees. Two nissen huts provided facilities for cooking and other activities.
Best of all was that ladies in the village, all members of the Womens' Voluntary Service, provided us with hot baths and tea when we had afternoons "off site".

Early in July I was instructed to report to battery HQ. I was told to draw 24 hours rations, given a railway warrant to Glasgow with instructions to report to Maryhill Barracks. I was completely mystified as I made my way up to London to catch a night train to Scotland.

[Continued in "Technical Training for a New Occupation"]

(PK)

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