大象传媒

MY LIFE MY WAR

By
Bernard Hallas

Chapter 4 鈥� Eager to be off
For the next few days we eagerly watched the notice board for our instructions, we were waiting for news of our departure, for now we were classed as fully trained Marines and would take our place where and when required. Our first posting would be to our various divisions and as I have previously stated my destination would be to the Royal Marine Barracks in Chatham, Kent.

The time had now come for the splitting up of the squad. As each of the three main sea ports had certain units of the Fleet allocated to them, it would mean that in all probability we would never see the other two thirds of our friends again, I think that I have previously explained that on enlistment every new squad is divided into three separate units by their regimental numbers Ch/X for Chatham, Ply/X for Plymouth and Po/X for Portsmouth and so it was. As we paraded for embarkation, there were three separate groups of emotionally disturbed Marines who had literally gone through hell together and enjoyed the experience but it had been expected and we were prepared. One last 鈥淕et Together鈥� in he local pub the night before had said it all.

I had already said 鈥淕oodbye鈥� to my Italian temptress and it was 鈥淔arewell Plymouth, Hello Chatham鈥�. We arrived on a very cold and wet miserable Monday morning. After being dismissed on the parade, we were given the day off to be allocated to our various companies and once again came the shuffling around to ensure that friends were as near as possible, billeted together. I suppose that for a short time I would miss my Scots friend, Jock Anderson but I did have a standing invitation to call on him or his family if ever I visited Boness in Scotland. In the services, it happens all the time, you just move on and hope that sometime in the future, you would meet up again.

In the meantime making new friends was easy. As I stated at the very beginning, when we first joined we were all as different as chalk from cheese, but after a year of extensive training and suffering the hardships necessary to create us into the finished article it was as if we had been created in the same mould, we were now a member of one of the strongest families in existence.

We were a Brotherhood that would remain united in war and peace for time immemorial. We were 鈥淭he Elite鈥� of the armed forces. Nowadays we read far too often about the 鈥楤ullying鈥� and the swearing, the 鈥楩*g鈥�. I can honestly say that we were never bullied and we were never the recipients of obscene language. Yes, we were sworn at, but mainly by our instructors and never by senior ranks and the Officers.

Yes, we were encouraged and egged on to do that extra 5% above and beyond the maximum and this was achieved by instilling in every single recruit, a pride in his unit, his Corps and mainly in himself. After we had settled down, each man had his own responsibilities. In particular before commencing the daily grind, one of the most important duties that you have is the constant reading of the company notice board. If you are detailed for guard and fail to turn up, you are punished severely and there is always the possibility among other things that you have been posted.

There were several options open, if you were posted to the Mediterranean Fleet, The East or West Indies Fleet or as far East as the China Station, you could rest assured that you would be away from home for a minimum of two and a half years. The young married men naturally were not too keen to be posted abroad and much preferred to be drafted to the Home Fleet.

If the Home Fleet was not to their liking, then there was something wrong with their marriage and we will not discuss that here. The only other alternative was to find a nice 鈥淐ushy Number鈥� like, tailoring, gardening or as a divisional training Instructor, obviously these were very few and far between and much sought after. In specialising in Naval Gunnery I had of course unwittingly placed myself in the category that always remained at sea and this was only apparent in later years.

In those later years after the war had been fought and won, we were not very happy to arrive home and discover that as a unit of so many marines, so many corporals and so many sergeants with no signs of promotion, the instructors who had of necessity, remained in barracks, were now well up the promotion ladder. But that was the system. The waiting and watching soon came to an end and on the notice board one bright morning, in letters that appeared to be a lot larger than usual, B Hallas was drafted to HMS. Resolution, Home Fleet.

My first ship was to be a battleship of the well-known 鈥淩鈥� class. In practice, battleships tended to be built in groups of five. The other four were HMS. Revenge. HMS. Royal Sovereign, HMS Ramillies and HMS. Royal Oak. These were the 鈥淗ard Hitters鈥� of the Royal Navy, all equipped with the same hardware.

There were eight fifteen inch guns, fifteen inches being the diameter of the shell and each shell weighed a massive two thousand two hundred and forty pounds or, one ton and could be hurled (with a full charge of cordite) more than fifteen miles.

The secondary armament consisted of eight six inch guns, four each side of the ship each capable of firing projectiles weighing one hundredweight each. That, accounted for the surface to surface weaponry, The surface to air mountings consisted of eight four inch quick firing anti aircraft guns, four on each side of the upper deck and spaced about the super structure, one on each quarter were four multiple 鈥淧om Poms鈥�; quite an array of weaponry.

These ships were of course the older end of the various Battleships which had fought with distinction at the Battle of Jutland during the 1914/ 1918 Great War. Other and more modern Battleships which we shall mention later, were of course deployed all around the world. Needless to say I was elated. I had at last realised what I had planned all those months ago as I trudged through the dark streets of Manchester on my way to 鈥淛oin Up鈥�.

The posting was almost immediate, I only had three days to say goodbye to the friends that I had made in the town and to write those very hurried letters to my various relations. Letters had to be curtailed in those early days, postage had to be rationed out, there were other and more important things to be purchased out of a very meagre pay, boot repairs haircuts, Blanco (green and white), metal polish, soaps and the necessary toiletries.

All of this out of your pay, which in my case was 13 shillings and sixpence (67.5p), comprising of ten shillings (50p), a week plus my marksman and gunnery qualifications.

Not much for volunteering to risk your life in defence of King and Country, but quite a lot when you compared it with my existence before my enlistment. I forgot to explain that my income was sadly depleted by five shillings (25p) a week, which I had allotted to my parents as some sort of compensation for depriving them of a possible wage if I had remained at home.

Those few days before, my embarkation passed all to quickly and at the appointed time, I fell in on the main parade with some forty or fifty eager bodies ready for the great adventure, We were fully dressed in embarkation order, our kit bags were stacked in the drill shed awaiting the lorries and we were waiting to be inspected by the duty officer.

It was only a matter of routine and took but a few minutes, after which we followed the Royal Marine Band in a short walk to Chatham dockyard and there we entrained for the long journey to Plymouth. You may or not be aware that Chatham is situated on the river Medway and the nearest that the Battleships of more than 30,000 tons with their deeper draught can approach up river, is the anchorage at Sheerness. It was considered more convenient therefore for Battleships allocated to Chatham to use the facilities at Plymouth Dockyard.

PR-BR

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