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In the early 1980s when he was in his late 60s and enjoying retirement, my father Alan Laver attended a WEA class on modern history, held in Brentwood, Essex. As the requirement to submit an essay was a bit daunting to my Dad, the tutor suggested that he write about his wartime experiences. Proud of his efforts, DAd kept the handwritten script amongst his papers. Dad died in 2002 but he would have been thrilled to think that his memories were to be shared in this way.

My Phoney War

I shall always remember September 3rd 1938 - firstly because it was the day I was married and secondly for the Munich Crisis. My wife and I heard Chamberlain’s ‘Peace in our Time’ broadcast in the lounge of a small West Country hotel on the Sunday morning of September 4th; I believe, looking back now, with mixed feelings of relief and apprehension for the future. We had both been ‘anti-war’ like the majority of our generation, it was the Munich Crisis which altered our thinking but we certainly did not become war-minded overnight, but became aware that we should eventually and reluctantly be forced into a war.

Early in 1939 Chamberlain announced his plans for conscription and also for doubling the Territorial Army, service in which would be in lieu of conscription. After some considerable thought, and also because my friends were joining, I decided that the TA was the lesser of two evils!

So in April 1939 I decided to do something about it. I was working in the Kings Cross area at that time and had recently passed my driving test. One of my boyhood heroes had been Sir Malcolm Campbell and I heard that he was forming a Provost company at St John’s Wood barracks. Without really knowing the functions of a Provost company (that came later!) I decided to join. However I was rejected out of hand because my driving licence did not include motorcycles.

The next evening I went to join the Rangers (City of London Regiment) whose HQ was in Chenies Street, Tottenham Court Road. I got there about 6.30pm to find a queue about half a mile long and four deep. It was moving very slowly and I reckoned that it would be well after midnight before I got to the door, so I gave up. This battalion went to France early in 1940 and was part of the Brigade sent to hold Calais at all costs during the Dunkirk evacuation — the survivors were all captured and spent the rest of the war as prisoners.

A few nights later I tried again, this time to a Royal Engineers Searchlight company whose HQ was in Ley Street, Ilford, opposite the Green Gate. Unlucky again because they were only taking men over 26 years of age.

My fourth attempt proved successful. I went along to the Royal Artillery Field Battery HQ in South Street, Romford, the site now of the new Telephone Exchange and Army Careers Information Bureau! I was told that orders had been received to form a second line unit to the existing regiment, which was the 85th Field Regiment RA with HQ at Artillery House, Stratford. We were to be the 134th Field Regiment with 340th Field Battery at Romford and 213th Field Battery RA at Stratford.

A Hstation [sic] and medical examination were carried out very quickly and it could be said that I was in the army in a flash! Everyone was very keen but we were hampered by lack of qualified instructors, senior NCOs and equipment. We had one regular PSI (Permanent Staff Instructor) to the Battery. This time my driving licence proved useful and, after several ‘drills’ to sort us out, I was told that I was to be a ‘driver I/C’. I thought this meant ‘in charge’, only later did I discover that this meant ‘internal combustion’ to distinguish us from the elitist drivers of the old Horse Artillery!

We had one vintage 1924 army lorry for training, a six ton vehicle with six forward gears and, being well worn, it was not easy to find the right one! Our training consisted of driving to Upminster Common to practise the bringing of field guns into action by the same commands and movements as used in 1914—1918 and, maybe the South African and Crimean wars! It was just as well that this drill was soon dropped; we would have made ideal targets for enemy aircraft.

The TA annual camp period was 14 days of which 8 days were compulsory. The majority of large businesses, banks, insurance companies etc. allowed their staff 14 days but my firm would only allow me to be away for 8 — this was in addition to my normal holiday. The camp was held early in July 1939 under canvas in the part of Salisbury Plain known as the Bustard — a bleak spot. I was not sorry to do only 8 days as the standard of training due to the lack of instructors and equipment was very low. Discipline was slack and it was not difficult to get away from the camp. Once having attended early morning ‘roll call’ it was possible to ‘disappear’. A friend had a car in which we spent a day in Bournemouth without being missed!

The anti-aircraft artillery was mobilised in mid-August and our mobilisation orders were given on the 1st September. My wife had volunteered to help with the evacuation of the school children. We had a friend who taught at an Infant School in West Ham. The children were sent to Witney, Oxon and I learnt later that my wife not only had to help comfort and pacify the children but also had to calm the householders on whom they were billeted.

I reported very early on the Saturday morning 1st September. I was at once detailed as a mess orderly and sent to the mess hall, a church hall in Victoria Road, Romford. Once again, in my ignorance, I thought this would be my permanent job and decided that it was not for me! I asked the BQMS if he required an assistant and I was given the job of helping him with pay and accounts. We were still using a peace-time accounting system and pay parade was quite a ceremony, this was before the introduction of the soldier’s pay book. I also kept the imprest account in pencil. My figures were inked in once a month by the Battery Commander and then sent to the Regimental Paymaster for auditing. I am glad to say that they were usually accepted with only minor adjustments.

The 300 men of the Battery were billeted in private houses in the Park Lane/Clydesdale Road area of Romford. One of my jobs was to accompany the Battery Captain when paying each householder 6d per night per soldier. This was for bed space only but from my own experience the majority of us were given a bed and usually supper. We did not billet soldiers in houses solely occupied by women.

In September 1939 we were lacking in supplies, we had no guns, a few requisitioned vehicles, no ammunition and a few rifles. Neither were we fully ‘kitted’ out and most of us were wearing our own shoes for which we were paid an allowance. However, this did not inhibit the BSM’s martial spirit and guard duties were prevalent. Included in the patrolled area was the boundary fence of the Drill Hall and South Street. This meant marching along the narrow pavement crowded with pedestrians, which made the ‘about turn’ at the end of the beat extremely hazardous. The BSM’s martial spirit was rather shaken one night when, to the Orderly Officer’s surprise, one of the guards ‘turned out’ wearing steel helmet, with rifle at the slope but wearing pyjamas!

Just before Christmas ’39 we moved to Mullets Camp, Stock, near Billericay. This was a large hutted scout camp on the estate of our CO, Lt Col A H Hayhurst-France. One of our Troop Commanders was Capt C N Thornton-Kemsley, Conservative MP for Kincardineshire. He left us early in 1940; I believe to take a post in the government. We were again in civilian billets spread around the village of Stock. I well remember how proud the owner of our billet was when he showed us his Belgian Croix-de-Guerre from the 1914—1918 war. He also lent us his Austin 7 so that we could get home on our day’s leave.

We left Stock after a few weeks and moved to Chelmsford but once again in civilian billets. By this time we were fully clothed but with no more fighting equipment.

We finally gave up civilian billets when we left Chelmsford in March 1940 and went to Sudbourne Hall, Orford, Suffolk. From there we started to tour England, moving to Haltwhistle in Northumberland followed by Sunderland and then Stanley in County Durham. The hospitality in the North East was overwhelming and I have pleasant memories of my time there, especially as my wife was able to join me. 1941 saw us back in the South again, this time at Eynsham outside Oxford. From there we moved to Felixstowe where we mobilised and sailed from Greenock in February 1942 equipped for the tropics. We learnt later that we were due to go to Singapore, which fell to the Japanese on the day we sailed. Some nine weeks after leaving Greenock, including a week in harbour in Freetown and three days ashore in Durban, we arrived in Bombay, and that’s another story!

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