大象传媒

On the 19th May 1939 my father took me down to the local drill hall and I joined the Territorial Army, after a very short (arm) medical, along with many others who were answering the call. My father had been in the Terriers for some 3 years, having finished on the Reserve before that. He was convinced that there was to be a war very shortly and he thought it would be a good idea for me to get into the same anti-aircraft unit so that he could keep an eye on me. I wasn't too impressed at the time but did as I was told or it was suggested I do. My thoughts then were probably more inclined to the Navy or the RAF, but I have no regrets having seen and heard of the casualties in those services.

Shortly after I enlisted in the TA we were embodied for 4 weeks instead of the normal 2 weeks. With the threat of war the powers that be decided that we should spend 2 weeks on our war stations in addition to the camp where practice firing was carried out.

Camp was held at Weybourne in Norfolk where I learned to operate a Vickers predictor, which was used to follow the target and calculate its future position for the guns. These were extremely heavy 3" First World War guns and the word mobile was hardly suitable. Either they were not very accurate or our training was not up to scratch for I never saw any shots burst near the target drogue in all our stay. We did get the odd afternoon off and visited Sheringham but I have no great memories of the time, other than the rude songs that all but me seemed to know!

Back in Rotherham we went to Brinsworth which was one of a series of gunsites built for the protection of Sheffield and Rotherham. steel and coal being vital to the war effort.

At Brinsworth I was drafted into the Battery Office as I had some experience-9 months- of being a clerk and found my first job was to take down the weather report. I was given no information as to its content, it was assumed I knew! When the phone rang I answered and had to wait until all the other sites were on circuit and then the message began.

Beer Ack Robert meant absolutely nothing to me and this was followed by a whole series of unlikely numbers. It was of course the Barometric report for the next few hours and the figures represented the barometric pressure expected at various heights over the coming hours. This info. was needed to be set in the predictor and to help set the fuses on the shells. I got better by the time our two weeks had passed and went home with my pay and the 拢5 embodiment allowance. I had never been so well off!

It got even better after about 4 days as the war situation worsened and we were called up again being paid another 拢5. I was at work when the news came through and ran all the way home to get into uniform and go to the drill hall - I needn't have rushed as I wasn't to be out of the army again for 6 years and 9 months.

War of course did break out at 1100 hours on Sept 3rd. and the air-raid sirens went almost immediately finding me alone on a canal bank with a Lewis gun with which I was to defend the power station at Tinsley between Rotherham and Sheffield. Quite close behind me were 2 cooling towers, which I would have had difficulty hitting and any German intruder plane would have been perfectly safe! Incidentally these 2 towers are plainly visible today to the right of the M1 as one travels north through Sheffield.

Whether it was a shortage of clerical help or the thought that I might be a danger to the local community I don't know, but I soon found myself back in the troop office trying to type out daily orders etc.

This didn't last long however as we were soon back on the gunsites and this time at the Manor Estate on the outskirts of Sheffield. Even today the Manor Estate is a rough place and in 1939 it was very rough, but we got by. The local cinema used to give us free seats for about 20 of us every night, so we took it in turns to go. We also got four hours leave between 2 o'clock and 6 so we could go home or whatever we wanted to do as long as we got back at 6 o'clock in order that the site was manned ready for any possible air-raids.

It was a very boring time because there was no activity but I got a boost round about Christmas because I was sent back to Headquarters and, again through my father's influence, was put on GL equipment. This was gun-laying equipment which in fact was radar although that name didn't come into being for quite some time. This was quite a new innovation and we were taught how to use it and eventually got back on the gunsites where the equipment was being installed and which would be greatly used in the subsequent blitzes.

Early in the New Year I volunteered for radar operators to go to France, and like most things in the Army, proceeded to hear absolutely nothing at all. I'd almost forgotten all about it when, one Friday I think it was, I was called to the site office and told I should have had all sorts of inoculations and that I was to proceed forthwith to the school of anti-aircraft artillery, wireless wing at Watchett in Somerset. I found I was on a Senior NCO's IC Sets Course. As I was just about to be 18 at the time you can imagine how young and immature I felt compared to the other 19 people on the course. However, the 6 weeks passed and apparently I was satisfactory, and at the end of this time there was no possibility of going to France because the BEF was in retreat and was eventually pulled back via Dunkirk.

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