大象传媒

I think my war really started in March 1939. Mr. Chamberlain had returned from Munich in 1938 with Hitler鈥檚 undertaking not to attack Czechoslovakia to recover the Sudetenland provinces which were largely German inhabited. In March 1939 Hitler invaded the Sudetenland. When the news broke in England I was on my way by bus to the Polytechnic, Regent St., and a lady in the seat behind said to her friend 鈥淲ell of course, it means war鈥�. It gave me a cold shiver down my back. Soon afterwards the Government called for an increase of 250,000 in the Territorial Army. Several of us from the Poly joined up, and although we had no weapons or uniforms, we knew that these would come and in the meantime we felt we were 鈥渄oing our bit鈥�.

I was with an artillery unit and in August we went to camp in the New Forest area and all I can remember is that it poured with rain and our tents provided little protection, and secondly one could get a wonderful supper at the Montague Arms in Beaulieu.

After camp there was a hiatus and I had time to construct a reinforced concrete shelter under the staircase at my home.

Then came the Hitler-Stalin pact which made war inevitable. Hitler invaded Poland and I was called up on 1/9/39. My unit was billeted at Kempton Race Course and there, on 3rd September, we heard Mr. Chamberlain, on the wireless, declare that we were at war with Germany.

At school I had been in the OTC (Officers Training Corps) and had passed certificate A. In October 鈥�39 my Battery Commander told me I was being posted to the Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU) at Filey. When I told my parents they were horrified and wanted me to refuse the posting. I was surprised but years later realized that their concern was based on the 鈥�14-鈥�18 war when a subalterns life on the front was about 3 weeks.

The six month course at Filey was technically very effective but there was one subject which was completely ignored and which was really more important than any other 鈥� man management. At 19 one needed guidance in how to handle and get the best from men perhaps 10 or 20 years older than oneself. This became more apparent in later years.

In March 1940 I was commissioned Second Lieutenant and although this made my life a good deal more agreeable I am not sure, on reflection, that it was in the best interests of the army!

Eventually I was posted to 148th Field Regiment (Bedfordshire Yeomanry) stationed in Norfolk. We had no guns and most exercises were 鈥渕ake believe鈥�. To repel a possible German invasion at Yarmouth there were 3 or 4 Great War 18lbs (size of shells) chained to the railings on the front. Most, or rather all, the army鈥檚 equipment had been lost in the retreat to Dunkirk.

It was a great day when we received 25lb-er field guns and there was much effort in familiarising ourselves with them. Eventually the regiment went to Larkhill for a firing camp on the range at Salisbury Plain. The guns performed well and everyone was satisfied. Still, on reflection, their maximum range at about 6000 yards and 25lb shells left us outgunned by the Japanese when we fought them in Singapore.

Divisions were regularly moved round the country and after Norfolk we moved to the Scottish borders and my regiment was stationed in Hawick. It being January, February and March we had a good deal of snow which restricted outdoor manoeuvres. However we did manage one or two night exercises, i.e. getting the guns in position in darkness and the laud lines between the observation posts and the gun positions laid. At that time Hawick was a very impressive and clean town, many buildings faced with granite. I made the mistake of passing through many years later and was shocked at the way it seemed to have lost the character that I remembered.

Our next move was to the Rochdale area (where I met my future wife) and we were there for May, June and July. Training continued as before and we had one firing camp at Trawsfynydd (known as Trousers). The range is close to the lake where there is now a nuclear power station.

In August we made our final move before going abroad. This was to Monmouth. Training was intensified and we had a further firing camp at Senny Bridge. In October I was in the party which took our guns and vehicles to Liverpool to be loaded onto a transport. This ship was fortunate in avoiding the U-Boat menace and our guns and vehicles were waiting for us when we reached our final destination. This was a miracle considering that no one could possibly have imagined where that destination would be when the transport set sail.

On October 30th 鈥�41 we entrained for Liverpool and embarked on S.S. Andes, a luxury passenger liner, which, as far as meals where concerned, seemed to have forgotten we were at war! I think the whole of the brigade, of which my regiment was the artillery arm, were on the Andes. The rest of the division were spread over similar ships.

We set sail due west on, I think, 1st November with an escort of three destroyers. Fortunately the Andes and the other ships were capable of at least 20 knots, which reduced the danger of U-Boat attack.

At this time America was not in the war, so we were amazed at reaching the mid-Atlantic to be met by a formidable escort of American ships! One aircraft carrier, two large cruisers and nine more destroyers. There were great tootings of sirens in greeting and waving from ship to ship. Then our three faithful destroyers gave final blasts on their sirens and shot off back to England.

Our next escort guarded us to Halifax, Nova Scotia, but discretely disappeared before coming in view of land.

The next surprise was that we disembarked from our English ships and re-embarked on American transports! After a few days we set sail southwards but out of sight of land. We anchored for a few days at Trinidad and anyone with a relative was allowed ashore to visit them.

On again, skirting the coast of South America, crossing the Equator, with the customary ceremonies! Still southbound and into the Roaring Forties 鈥� very cold after the tropics 鈥� then a turn to North and the convoy split, half going to Cape Town and half to Durban.

Cape Town was a lovely town in December 1941. Two places are clearly in my memory, the Starlit Room caf茅 where the ceiling was dark blue like the night sky with pin points of light like stars. The other place was the Orange Grove Night Club. This was literally a bar/restaurant built in an orange grove, the flowers scenting the air. Several of our officers were visiting it when, suddenly, there was a stir and Field Marshall Smults came in. He greeted us warmly and then said he was grateful to the Japanese for bringing America into the war. Pearl Harbour had been attacked on 7th Dec 鈥�41, and perhaps the Field Marshall had not yet been advised of the devastation which had been caused.

During our stay in Cape Town we slept and took meals on board our ship, the U.S.S. Wakefield. After about four days we set sail again eastwards and arrived at Bombay after about 14 days at sea, my regiment entrained and passing through the Western Ghats reached Poonah where we stayed for about two weeks. The news from Malaya, which the Japanese invaded on 10th December, was bad. Both the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse had been sunk by torpedoes launched by Japanese aircraft when they sailed north to intercept the landing at Kota Baru. Of course, it was crazy to send two capital ships without either a destroyer or airplane escort and the result could have been foreseen.

Malayan forces needed reinforcement and the only available troops were our 18th Division. After our short stay in Poonah we went back to Bombay where we found our transports waiting to take us to Singapore.

We arrived in Singapore at the end of January 鈥�42 during an air raid but fortunately the target was not the docks. We were accommodated in tents surrounded by coconut trees and so could not be seen from the air.

Singapore Island is separated from the Malayan mainland by the Straits of Johore. There is a causeway across the Straits with rail and road links to the mainland. The Royal Engineers had blown up a section of the causeway when all our troops had withdrawn onto the island.

Eventually the Japanese attacked across the straight at the west end of the island, which because it was all mangrove swamp was thought to be impassable and was, therefore, only lightly defended.

During the battle the Japanese put up an observation balloon. As we had no aircraft, nor guns which could reach it, the Japanese were able to observe all our troop movements during the day with impunity and to bring down artillery fire or make counter attacks where necessary.

Although our defence was sturdy we were running out of the sinews of war. Also, apart from a comparatively small amount of water in the MacKitchie Reservoir, the main water supply to the island came from the mainland and was, therefore, in Japanese hands. The significance of these factors is reflected in Lt General Percival鈥檚 Order of the Day, as shown at the start of my entry.

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