大象传媒

On the 19th January 1940 I travelled by rail to Longmoor, where I joined the Longmoor Military Railway hauled by a great Eastern tank engine pulling 2 trucks and a Brake Van. As there was snow lying around I was pleased to squeeze into the Brake van with 20 other rookies. There was a roaring fire going in the stove.We arrived at Longmoor at dusk, and we went to temporary quarters for the night. Sorting out took place the next day. In February 1940 they posted me to 1006 Docks Operating Company. It was then that intensive "Square Bashing" and rifle drill began. Most of us found it exhausting, but we all managed to get on very well. I teamed up with Bertie Baker fro London and Gilbert Brown from Bromsgrove. We became known as "The Three B's". All of a sudden at the end of February 1940 we were given embarkation leave. We thought this was a bit sudden, as we had only been there 6 weeks. In March 1940 about 300 of us went on a train from Liss to Greenock, where we were put on a Polish ship named the Chrobury.We were not told where we were going. The next day we were at Scapa Flow amongst the big war ships. The next day we were in the North Sea, which was so rough that the bow of the ship dissappeared beneath the waves. Nearly everyone got sea-sick!! We then realised we were bound for Norway, where Jerry had taken over and we had a small force in real trouble. We sailed up a beautiul snow lined fjord, and reached a landing stage near Namsos at day break. We unloaded the essential supplies on the pier. There seemed to be no-one around. We were then sent back to Blighty. As we reached the sea, German planes came roaring in dropping bombs while straffing us with machine guns. We replied with several Lewis guns. There were no casualties, by the time they flew off, but we were left with the u-boats. However they didn't get us and we reached Leith safely. We were taken to GailesCamp near Ayr by train, where after a week we returned to Longmoor. We'd only been at Longmoor a month when along with 11 others from various other Docks Operating Companies, we were summoned to our HQ Orderly Room, to be informed of our promotion to Lance Corporals. Captain Mortleman informed us that we were to depart on a special mission next morning. We were picked up by a 3 tonner and taken to Dover, and all was revealed. The BEF in France was in full retreat, and we were joined by a company of Stevedores, to unload supplies for the retreating army at Dunkirk. We arrived on the 1st May 1940 to find dockside buildings in ruins, an oil refinery ablaze, andwrecked ships in shallow water. The road ahead was full of rubble and ruined cars. The whole place was full of the sounds of bombs explodind, Luftwaffe machine guns, and lots of people shouting. We got the Stevedores lined up on the Quayside, and I was left in charge to work at quay 8. Meanwhile the captain and the other NCO's went back to the ship to arrange transport. We marched off, and a spectacular air raid started. I fell the men out, and we crouched down by walls. After 10 minutes it was all over, and we set off again to quay 8, where we took shelter waiting for our CO and NCO's. They arrived to pick us up, but they thought we were lost as he wanted us to wait by the boat. It was a good job we didn't because of the air raid. After 7 days, we unloaded many more ships and one of our NCO's was killed, and several Stevedores were reported missing. I was on the docks on the 27th May when a naval officer came up to me and said "Get your CO here at once" I quickly found the captain, and he got the message "Get yourvmen aboard the Maid of Orlens immediately". Half an hour later we left the harbour, and that was the last ship to leave Dunkirk before the dock was un-usable. We were congratulated on our efforts to help with supplies for our defeated comrades still waiting on the beaches for the small ships to rescue them. We returned to Longmoor, where someone thanked me for my efforts and said "Take your stripes off and become sappers again". We felt annoyed, but we began to understand there is no sentiment in the army. In September 1940 we were moved to Folkstone to man pill-boxes to resist the invasion forces with our Lewis guns. We were gun fodder, whilst the specialist troops were further inland. The Battle of Britain was raging overhead. We had first hand views of how the RAF saved us. January 1941 we were sent to Blackpool, where we had embocation leave. On the 18th March 1941 we went to Liverpool to board the troop ship Strathmore, bound for the Middle East. It was not until we got out to sea that we realised how big our convoy of ships was! It stretched from horison to horison. We called at Freetown in April where the locals came in canoes full of fruit for us to buy. 1 had evidently served troops before as he proudly announced "Me Robin Barsted". After 2 days we were off to Cape Town, for 6 days, and the Royal Engineers Band paraded the streets. We headed north from there, as the temperature increased immensely as we reached the Red sea. By the time we reached Port Tewfik, the heat was unbearable, and the air was full of flies. Next we headed to Alexandria by train. After working at the docks there until October 1941. Someone decided the HQ of the Docks group could be spared to assist GHQ Cairo Movements Section. There were 30 of us in total in the HQ. I was made a full Corporal, and soon after arriving in Cairo, rumour spread that Rommell was about to make an attack. In case the HQ had to be evacuated speedily, important documents were destroyed in advance, which put enormous pressure on us. However it didn't happen and on the 22nd October 1942 the tables were turned at the Battle of Alamein. I was then made a Sergent, and we re-joined our unit, following the 8th army crossing the desert to Tripoli arriving 14th February 1943, after stops at shell and bomb devastated Tobruk and Benghazi. The stench of death still lingered in the air. Shorlty after arriving at Tripoli, the Germans had 1 last try at us, with an air raid on the harbour. A direct hit on an oil tanker resulted in the spillage igniting and soon all the water in the harbour was alight. Then they hit a ship full of ammunition. The rations began to get short, and our main meal consisted of cheese 1 day, bully beef the next. Instead of bread, we had hard biscuits, and fortunately there was plenty of drinking water. Our hopes of following the 8th army were dashed in September 1943 when the order vame for us to return to Alexandria. In December 1943 we were on leave in Jerusalem. The YMCA organised trips for us to visit many biblical places. On Christmas Eve, about 200 of us were singing Carols in the shepherds fields in Bethlehem, around a huge bonfire. Throughout the whole of 1944 we were in Alexandria working the docks. It was not until June 1945 that we recieved the call to proceed to Moascar transit camp. In July we boarded the Strathallam to Liverpool. A brass band welcomed us on the pier. We joined a waiting train at a station nearby, and we were greeted with newspapers and refreshments from the locals. We had lumps in our throats, as we had forgotten such kindness. After service in the orderly room, at Weston on Trent I was allocated a spot preparing mens references, for return to civistry. I also put myself on an accountancy course at Welbeck Abbey, in January 1946. Whilst there I visited a Whist Drive, where I met my future wife. She won a teapot! I won a treasure, and we're still together after nearly 60 years, and we've still got the teapot.

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