´óÏó´«Ã½

The following extracts are taken from a memoir written by Douglas Moyle for his family in spring 2005.

Douglas trained as a wireless operator and by 1929, was employed by Marconi’s as a sea-going wireless operator in the merchant service. Initially, he served with the ‘foreign service’, sailing all over the world. However, by about 1933…

…it happened that in succession, I was on two ships whose base port was Hamburg and trade was to the Iberian peninsula. The ship might call at the small port for San Sebastian and then another port on the north coast of Spain before entering the Mediterranean and starting with Malaga, would call at other Spanish ports and then on to Sete, in the South of France to load about 200 tons of real asphalt, before beginning the return journey. Then the ship might go up to Seville to load lead ingots before loading wine at Cadiz. Then to the south coat of Portugal for boxes of sardines and to Oporto before returning to Hamburg via London…

…I could not help but notice a good deal of unrest in Spain, also the poverty and religion. Naturally I noticed the very sudden movement of our navy from Gibralter to Alexandria and the closing of the Suez Canal to Italian shipping. A severe blow to Mussolini because it disrupted Italian communications with its empire in Abyssinia.

Then just before what may have been my last visit to Hamburg, Hitler caused the murder of his party leaders in the Ruhr (Do you remember ‘The Night of the Long Knives’?) The following Saturday evening I was having a beer in a Hamburg beer garden, a respectable place, where families were having an evening out, when some Brown Shirts burst in and severely beat up a man who appeared to be there with his family, I saw how everyone appeared not to have noticed what had taken place. Poor souls! Perhaps they knew that it was too late to do anything. There was terrible poverty in Germany. Hitler had promised to find them jobs, which he did at first.

In 1935, Douglas left Marconi’s to return to shore and work for Standard Telephones & Cables in North Woolwich.

[In the late 1930s], I moved to Coventry and found work with the General Electric Company, producing wireless receivers. But I soon moved to Coventry Airport and higher wages with Armstrong Siddeley, who were building Whitley bombers.

Coventry in those days was a boom city, for while it did have its traditional trades such as bicycle making, it was now heavily involved with many aspects of aircraft production.

As you know, World War II began in September 1939 and after the ‘Battle of Britain’ and the severe air raids on London, the Germans began to pay attention to the bombing of provincial cities. At first, I don’t think it was severe on Coventry but it was clear it was increasing and so causing disruption.

The culmination was during the night of Thursday, November 14th 1940 when the central area of the city was destroyed. During the previous evening the police had tried to get all those in the city centre (such as resident publicans) out of it before leaving the area to its fate.

The place where I worked at that time was near to the town centre and was severely damaged. But I had already obtained another job with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in Birmingham in the engineering department and I reported to them on the following Monday morning at 282 Broad Street. I was to have been sent to a local low powered transmitter situated at Adderley Park, under the control of the Regional Commissioner but it had received a direct hit and the three staff there that night were killed. So I was seconded to the control room at 282 Broad Street to join the engineering staff that maintained it and the studios.

I stayed with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for the rest of my working life.

Douglas' story was entered onto the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People's War website by Jenni Waugh, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Outreach Officer. Mr Moyle accepts the site's terms & conditions.

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