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Harry Baker’s Journal.

Extracts from the Journal of 1429538 Gunner Thomas Henry Baker - Royal Artillery, of Hull

Harry Baker served throughout the war both at home and overseas; he was born in Hull in 1913 and died there in 1998. The journal has been kindly loaned to Iris Middleton by his daughter Joan Wright of Hull.

On the 24 th of August 1939, the 62nd Heavy Ack Ack Regiment [territorials] was called up for active service, and within a matter of hours, a number of wives, girlfriends and relations had gathered outside Wenlock Barracks in Hull to wave farewell to the lads as they departed to gun sites in and around the city. By 7pm only twelve men including myself were left, wondering where we would be spending the night. When an army transport returned to the barracks we climbed aboard and one of the lads was taking bets on where we were going. When we went down Anlaby Road towards the city centre, Spurn Point seemed a likely spot, however, we turned into Ferensway, and headed for Beverley Road; it must be Beverley Westwood or Bridlington. We were still debating when the lorry turned down Melwood Grove into Sculcoates Lane, and we pulled into the yard of Needler’s chocolate factory. We had four Lewis Guns, left over from WW1, and we made a good job of looking after the chocolates. I was thinking how lucky we were to be stationed near home, but the next morning I decided that we were not as lucky as I had thought. Next to the factory was the electricity station for the city, and about 200 yards east of us was the gas works! If the Germans had bombed either of these, I could imagine us waving the chocolates ‘Good-bye’.

Later, my regiment was sent by sea, under destroyer escort, to Shetland to guard the flying boat bases at Sullom Voe and Ness of Sound, where for some weeks we saw more rain than German planes, but with better weather the Germans attacked but scored no hits, nor did our guns.

We were then sent back to the Humber area, to the battery at Preston [Holderness]. Although I knew nothing about wireless or electricity, I was sent on a course to learn about a new invention — radar. I must say I was surprised but pleased to be one of those who passed the examination at the end, and I became one of the OFCs (Operators Fire Control).

Our equipment consisted of a generator, a receiver, and a transmitter. The transmitter sent a beam skywards, and if it struck any object, the beam was reflected back to the receiver. So this was the thing which was intended to replace the sound locators and searchlights of the Sherwood Foresters. Entering the receiver for the first time I was amazed at the number of buttons and switches that controlled the set. Looking at the cathode ray tube, I couldn’t imagine picking up a signal from a hostile plane in the middle of the night, miles away from the site. But we had plenty of action and it was not long before I was an experienced operator.

It was much better on the radar than on the guns, at least we were warm, even in the middle of winter. No doubt if a bomb hit our receiver, we would have been blown to pieces but at least we wouldn’t have known anything about it.

Most of my near misses happened on my way back to camp from my home in Hull. One night I had just got off the bus from Hull, near Preston Road, when the sirens started wailing. I had to cross six fields, and was half way back when I heard the sound of aircraft; it was a clear moonlight night and the guns started to blaze away. The sky was lit up by parachute flares, this was the usual method adopted by the Luftwaffe when starting a heavy raid, then came the incendiaries, the bombs and the land-mines. I stopped near a large tree, when I noticed that the flares which had been dropped over the docks were drifting in my direction. One of the flares was most certainly near the ground about 200 yards ahead of me but I decided to carry on and get back to camp.

Suddenly, I heard a terrific thud, the ground trembled and I was stopped in my tracks by an invisible wall. I was showered by soil. I looked to my right and saw another flare coming down about two fields away. I decided to run faster, still keeping an eye on the parachute on my right and I suddenly found myself falling into a crater which I found out afterwards would have held a double-decker bus. I landed on the remains of a parachute which had come down with a land-mine; this must have been the shock wave which had stopped me in my tracks. I climbed out of the crater and continued my run back to camp. I decided someone up there must like me, and I didn’t mean the Germans.

Back on duty that night we were plotting the enemy overhead and had about ten targets on the screen, two were directly above our camp, but we were engaging three planes over Saltend [petrol refineries], hoping the town sites would entertain the enemy above. We had the all clear just after midnight and found out the next day that east Hull had been bombed and a lot of people killed.

I was involved in some air-raids at home, on leave with my wife and children. It was strange; when the sirens stopped there was a silence when it seemed that everyone was waiting to hear the planes and then the guns followed by the crash of falling bombs. One night, at home, I was awakened by a terrific bang; the backdoor had blown open and the wife gave me a shout from the safety of the kitchen table, (where she preferred to shelter — I stayed in my bed). I went into the street to investigate. I could see the flames around the corner in 10th Avenue, and I saw that a bomb had shattered the gas main. Flames about eight-feet high were shooting skywards, so I went home for a spade and tried to cover the flames with soil. After about half an hour I decided I was flogging a dead horse and I had almost cleared the soil from someone’s front garden and I didn’t feel inclined to dig into the clay. So I went back home for a cup of tea and my bed.

Just before I went back to camp next day, the air-raid warden told me three bombs had fallen in the avenue behind us. He said he had been looking in one of the gardens for an unexploded bomb, he couldn’t understand why the fencing was standing and all the soil was in the road. I could have given him a reason but I didn’t.
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Edited by: Alan Brigham - www.hullwebs.co.uk

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