大象传媒

ALAN MEIKLE

Wartime on a hopyard near Pershore, Worcs.
The Home Guard defend the A 44 road from German invaders.

Most of the men left behind on our farm were in reserved occupations so most of them joined the LDV and then the Home Guard as it became later. We provided most of the training weapons, pitchforks, axe handles. And hoes were used before proper firearms arrived. Being a hopfarm we had an abundance of long poles and heavy wires. The poles were used in the flat fields outside Pershore, (also at Upton ) to provide obstructions to any gliders that might land. The wire had a more deadly use.

At the corner of our front orchard at the cross roads at Wick on the A 44 a defensive trench was dug, behind it attached to a tree was one of the coils of wire .The idea was that when a German motorcyclist was driving along the road from Evesham, one of the men would run out across the road and attach the wire to a tree opposite at the right height to decapitate the motor cyclist. How did they know whether it was a German or a local who was coming along the road? Well we had about 戮 of a mile of road frontage towards Evesham, so scouts were to be posted along the hedge that would shout out whether it was a friend or foe. Thankfully no Germans ever came our way. If they had got past our defence line they would have met a 6lb ant-tank gun sided in the south side of Pershore Bridge, (now converted to a pumping station for Pershore College) and the Bridge itself was to have been blown.

ameikle@ukonline.co.uk

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