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As the time passed we settled down to our environment and made the most of what Corsica had to offer. Although we were located far ahead of the fighting zone in Italy, we were but bystanders watching the daily progress of the 1st. and 8th. armies as they drove the enemy back towards Germany. We took every opportunity to avail ourselves of what recreational facilities we could contrive. Most off duty periods were spent in the sea or lazing on the beaches. One very popular spot was close to the nearby town of Ille Rouse, a favoured resort of the late Prince of Wales and Mrs. Simpson. We discovered a very remote stretch of beach well away from the town and within walking distance from the site, many hours were spent at this retreat. On our way to this spot we would pass one isolated house situated right at the edge of the beach. Three elderly ladies seemed to reside here and would exchange pleasantries as we passed. On one very hot sunny day, as we amused ourselves on the beach, we could see the three ladies sitting outside their home taking the air and shielding themselves from the rays of the sun with a huge black umbrella. Three of us had to leave the swimming party early for we were due on watch later that evening. As we passed the three ladies we realised that they had a huge telescope set up before them mounted on a tripod and pointing out to sea. We looked out but could see no sign of any shipping or any other thing that may have aroused their interest until later, looking back we could see that the telescope had been turned and was pointing to where the rest of the party were laying naked on the sands enjoying the sun! It being a very secluded area and the fact that we had no bathing attire, it was common practice to take our swimming in the raw. That the three ladies were no youngsters was obvious but it amused us to think that perhaps we had brought memories back to them! from then on, we made sure that we had towels at the ready.
Medical facilities on the unit were in the hands of a single medical Corporal who gallantly carried out his duties to the best of his abilities, any serious complaint was referred to the American hospital set up close by. Dental treatment was available from a civilian dentist in Calvi and whenever someone needed to visit him, the patient would be sent by special transport for the visit. The patient would have a strong team to support him as all spare seats would be taken for the opportunity to visit the town. It was not very often that there would be a request to actually visit the dentist until word got around that he had a new receptionist and that she was a young, very attractive young girl. Suddenly there was an epidemic of dental problems as prospective suitors vied for her attentions, to no avail! It was decided that it was a 'put-up' job cunningly conceived by the dentist to increase his business! In all probability, she may have been his wife!
The nearest village was a small settlement situated half way up the nearby mountain with one road in and another out. It was a steady walk to get there with but one bar available to offer refreshment. It was poorly stocked with little but cheap 'plonk' or, a local aperitif called 'Cap Corse', a very reasonable wine which had an acquired taste and was reasonably priced. We very soon acquired that taste, it was very similar to vermouth. The landlord was assisted by his daughter, quite an attractive girl but the father would never let her out of his sight! She was very aware of her good looks and would stand at one end of the bar and pose displaying her conceit for all to see, while some wag would taunt her in English with such remarks as: "You are a very conceited so and so aren't you" and similar disparaging compliments to which she would reply "Qui Monsieur". It was all she ever said, she had no English but her father had and was highly amused at the exchanges, after all she was his cabaret act and brought in the custom.
The villagers made us very welcome, most were past retiring age as all the youngsters had either gone to France or been taken by the invaders before our arrival. We took advantage of the offers to attend to our laundry in return for whatever we could offer in the way of food, or other items that could be purchased from the NAAFI and yet were in short supply to the villagers. They in turn would show us where we could avail ourselves of fresh fruit, grapes and tomatoes from fields that had been abandoned by the owners at the outbreak of war. This was indeed very welcome. Language was a difficulty as the local tongue was a mixture of French and Italian, spoken with great haste and very difficult to follow. With the aid of a pad of notepaper and a pencil, great strides could be made in communication. Henry, one of we three 'Works and Bricks' had been a teacher in a grammar school in Newcastle before the war and gave us lessons in French. He taught me a phrase that was to give me an exit from any un-manageable conversation that befell me and that was: 'Je ne pos pas reste ici, je suis presse" (I cannot stay, I am in a hurry) Well, I hope that is what it meant but it had favourable results.
One day it was announced that a portable gramophone together with ten records had been allocated to the unit for 'entertainment', nine were recordings of Bach Fugues and one of Gloria Jean singing 'If I had the wings of a swallow' on one side and 'The march of the penguins' on the reverse. BUT, there were no needles to play the thing! I wrote home with a request for some long playing needles and was sent a pack of ten specials, each supposedly would play 50 records. I passed these over to the Entertainment Officer who made out a rosta for the use of this item of amusement. A careful log was to be kept of the number of records played so that a fresh needle would be issued after 50 plays. As can be imagined, only one record seemed to be put out on loan and that became the butt of practical jokers who would book out the gramophone, creep to a tent where the occupants were asleep after a night watch and let Gloria Jean sing in the tent doorway!! Gloria Jean soon became a very unpopular singer! but somehow the record survived.
As there were very few facilities to spend money we were encouraged to send any surplus home for next of kin to bank. As we had been issued with pay-books on embarkation, all payments were recorded so it was not unusual for an airman to not claim pay for several weeks and then draw out the balance to send home. Came the day when the C.O. called a 'General Meeting' to appeal to the crew to be 'practical' about the amounts being sent home. He explained that he was likely to become embarrassed as it seemed that we, as a Unit were sustaining a balance of payment problem! We were sending home more money than we were receiving officially! There were those among us who were trading NAAFI goods to the local population at a small profit!. It was a strange situation to be in, we had difficulty to spend money! There were no shops within twenty miles and even in the towns, very little could be found in the shops for sale.
On watch we slowly became busier each day as air attacks on targets in Northern Italy and Southern France increased. One afternoon, whilst swimming in a bay near to the site we became aware of a terrible smell drifting in from the sea. On investigation, the body of a German sub-mariner was discovered drifting in towards the shore. It must have been in the water for many weeks as it was almost a skeleton. An American medical team came to our aid and disposed of the body after recovering the identification tags. He was given a military burial over at Bastia.
On Monday 5th June we learned that Rome had fallen to the Allies which gave reason for great rejoicing. A great ceremony was held marking our wall map in the operations room to show that the Germans were no longer in occupation, another step nearer to the end. The following day, June 6th. even greater news was received, the Allies had invaded Normandy. This news certainly put yesterday's news of the fall of Rome into the shade, another step nearer. Some of us went into the village and were greeted with more scenes of great rejoicing. It was truly amazing to see the joy in the faces of these people, at last they could see the beginning of the end.
As time passed, things began to escalate. The Allies reached the North of Italy. The island of Elba, which lay between Corsica and the mainland of Italy was captured and our Senior Controller arranged a flight in the Air/Sea rescue 'Walrus' to visit this island where Napoleon had been imprisoned. He returned with a cask of local 'Elba' wine with which we had a party. The operational watches became busier with increased naval activity around the coast as ships began to arrive in readiness for the next step into Europe, Operation 'Dragoon'. As the numbers of these ships increased so did German aerial activity and we received orders that every effort should be made to ensure that any enemy reconnaissance aircraft encroaching the areas where this invasion fleet was congregating should be intercepted and not allowed to return to its base. This created quite an interesting duel as for several nights, just after midnight, a German aircraft took up a patrol some twenty miles out to sea and criss-crossed the dividing line between our operational area and that of our neighbouring radar unit based close to Ajjacio. Every time that we instructed a night fighter to get on to the tail of the hostile so he would cross over into the neighbouring area and control would then have to be passed to the other site. Once the exchange had been established, so the hostile would take a 180 degree turn port and re-cross the line! with the consequential handover of control to us. It was obvious that this enemy aircraft was listening to our R.T. and was playing cat and mouse. Fortunately he didn't come in close enough to see the armada congregating along the coast, but we lost a nightfighter in this 'game', shot down by the hostile. We were to learn that this aircraft had a rear looking radar in its tail. This performance was to take place nightly for several nights and cunning plans were made to catch this hostile using two night fighters and devious methods to entrap him. Bods off duty were coming up to the ops room to watch this fascinating duel, such was the interest until the final night when he was caught by an ingenious trap of using three aircraft. Two would respond to instructions preceded by the appropriate call sign, whilst the third would answer to any instruction that was given without a call sign. This worked and the hostile was shot down. We were later to learn the full details of this enemy aircraft and that it was piloted by a Count Von some-thing-or-other. The duel was almost like playing a game of chess and aroused the interest of us all to the extent that the trophy for this game, 'death' was overlooked. Such is war.
Just a few days later we were advised that things were likely to become very busy and very strict security was to be kept regarding operational activities. Nothing was to be discussed outside the ops room of anything we were to see or hear within. So on the morning of August 15th. we were not surprised to be awakened at first light by the continuous roar of aircraft flying overhead. The sky seemed full of aircraft, many towing gliders, so 'Dragoon' had started. My watch was due on duty at 08.00 hrs., and we rushed through our breakfast in order to get on watch early to see what was afoot. The off-going watch were reluctant to hand over as this was the action that we had been training and waiting for, for so long. This was history in the making. That was one of the fascinating advantages of being involved with radar, one could see what was going to take place before it actually happened! On the coastal chain around the British Isles the operators could see what action was about to take place, whether it would be an enemy operation against us or an allied attack on the enemy. Our cathode ray tubes were more reliable than any crystal ball of the fortune tellers! They would know what was to happen before it happened, to a certain degree.
For several days and nights the activity was intense but we were to learn that the expected casualties were far less than expected. The American MASH Unit had been prepared for heavy casualty figures from the Southern France theatre, but they were exceptionally light. The first intake of casualties, comprised of one broken leg and two or three slight injuries received whilst disembarking from landing craft, so we were told by the American Officers who worked beside us.
We got on very well with the American team and I remember on one occasion I was sitting next to an American Officer as I was manning the 'Ops B' position (the assistant to the Duty Controller.) when I asked if he had a rubber? as I had made a mistake in entering an item in the log. He quickly replied by saying: "Sure thing, why have you got a date this evening?" After I had explained my request he corrected me by telling me that what I needed was an 'Eraser'! Differences between American English and English English can sometimes become quite embarrassing but, I must admit that on our unit there was a very good relationship between the two nationalities and we got on very well together, as was apparent by the signal received from MACAF congratulating the unit on the part it played in the successful invasion of Southern France.

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