大象传媒

By this time the HOME GUARD had lost the image portrayed in 'Dad's Army' and was a moderately effective force with little to do since the threat of invasion receded. It still had some "Captain Mainwaring" type officers left over from World War One, such was the C.O. of the 52nd Battalion.

The Battalion H.Q. was a large Edwardian house near Surbiton, Surrey. This house had a tower with a large room at the top with windows in all directions which the C.O. had acquired as his office. During the "Blitz" it had been manned at night by two Home Guards on 'fire watch' reporting bomb strikes and fires in the district. Despite the fact that by 1944 night raids were almost non-existent the 'fire watch' continued. So it was that Leslie and I gained the knowledge of the code words for various eventualities from the papers on the C.O.'s desk!

In the spring of 1944 the authorities became worried by the possibility of suicide raids by enemy parachutists to disrupt the preparations for the invasion of Europe, so the Home Guard were ordered to man their H.Q. every night and send out patrols in their area. For us this came round every eighth or ninth night when one was up all night after a long days work and before another.

About two weeks after D-Day Leslie and I were on one of the these guard duties. About midnight the C.O. assembled the platoon and announced that he had received the code word 'DIVER' which meant that parachutists were expected. I said to Les "That's not the right code word"; whereupon the C.O. shouted "Silence in the ranks!".

He then gave the details of armed patrols which would go in each direction around the perimeter, then "Any questions?"

I asked. "What is the password? If we are going out with 5 rounds in the magazine and we meet the Claygate platoon on our common boundary we need to identify ourselves and them."

He did not say Captain Mainwaring's "Stupid boy" but it was something similar.

The night was very dark and drizzly with exceptionally low cloud. The patrol proceeded without incident, not surprising for the Claygate C.O. had correctly interpreted the code word and had not sent his men stumbling throught the Stygian darkness of the wartime countryside.

On our way back to H.Q. we noted bright lights moving through the clouds and tremendous explosions some of which shook the ground.

For the rest of the night we 'stood to' and watched the lights and explosions which were now getting closer but no explanation was forthcoming.

A very grey day dawned about 5 am but the C.O. would not let us stand down to go to work. Meanwhile the lights and explosions continued. At about 7 am we were called to fall in outside for an address by the C.O.

As we were waiting the Adjutant spotted an aircraft in the distance, as it came nearer it had a terrifying flame from its tail. The Adjutant shouted "Enemy aircraft, open fire!". Some thirty rifles pointed skywards and everyone got off at least two rounds as this flaming device flew 500 feet above us.

The driver of a passing 65 bus leapt out of his cab and took cover under his vehicle, not from the aircraft but from the flaring rifles of the Home Guard!

This day was June 14th and, although we did not know it then it was the first day of the V.1. (flying bomb) offensive when as many as 150 bombs a day rained down on S.E. England.

Our bomb came down on a railway line four miles away doing untold damge to trains and station. "DID WE SHOOT IT DOWN?"

We never admitted it but there was some difficulty in accounting for some 90 rounds of ammunition when the Home Guard was finally stood down some months later!

Note 1: For more stories from Ken Larbey see:

* A7982517 - People's War ("Anyone for tennis?").

* A8104989 - People's War Winter 1940-41 ("Leave the Train, there's a Bomb ahead!")

Note 2: My wife's story "My First Day as a Wartime Nurse" can be found at A3959076.

Story: This story has been submitted to the People's War site by Muriel Palmer (volunteer) Age Concern Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on behalf of Kenneth LARBEY (author) and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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