大象传媒

The writer of this article joined the British Territorial army in the autumn of 1938 during the Czechoslovakian crisis.
Mobilisation and embodiment into the Regular Army followed Britain's declaration of war on Germany on September 3 1939. My regiment, the 53rd Field Artillery Regiment(2/12 Gun Batteries)- which included within its ranks practically the whole of the Bolton Wanderers Football team, gathered in Northumberland for intensive training under field conditions. We were part of 42 Inf Div , which was made up of 3 infantry brigades. Each brigade comprised 3 infantry battalions and 1 regiment of Field Artillery.
Our guns were 18 pounder field guns of 1918 vintage which were converted to 25 pounder gun howitzers. Rubber inflatable tyres had replaced the wooden wheels for increased mobility and several alterations had been made to the cradle and elevating mechanism to give the weapon its dual feature. It was capable of being used as an anti tank gun with its high muzzle velocity of 1,700 feet per second.

We left Northern Command in March 1940- improved efficiency followed graduation at Salisbury Plain and we embarked for France by the Southampton - Cherbourg route. After a brief respite in the area of St Denis d 'Anjou, we travelled overland via Seine and Somme to relieve another fld. art.regt. at Lambersate in the area of Lille. Several uneventful weeks of phoney war followed, then the situation changed from one of fantasy to one of harsh reality. The war had begun in earnest. Dreams of a political settlement , which had always been an expected possibility faded on the early morning mist of May 10th 1940.

Mystical names like 'BlitzKreig' 'Dinant' and 'Eben-emael' poured from the radios in the estaminets and cafes. First and Second Corps moved immediately to the Dyle Line. Four days later ,42 Div Inf as part of Third Corps moved forward to deploy on the Escaut Canal in the area of Tournai.

53rd Field Regiment occupied the high ground Froidmont. Gun positions and command posts were dug, observation posts were established and bridges were blown before we sat back to await the enemy. That evening our gun area was beseiged by alien pesonnel of unknown identity. I was instructed to take 2 of these strange individuals back to HQ at Esplascon for interrogation. Far from being 5th column infiltrators these strange people were in reality inmates who had eascaped from the asylum for the mentally handicapped at Tournai. One unfortunate tried to break out of custody through a broken window at Brigade HQ. Before he was restrained he attempted to cut his throatwith a pieceof broken glass. Incidents like this, at so early a period of field service, were frightening experiences for a young Tommy. I was glad to be dismissed, relieved of my charges, to return through the refugee congested roads to our gun area. Meanwhile our Battery, as indeed all other artillery groups of 42 Div, along with a regiment of medium, 6inch howitzers from Third Corps Artillery had opened a terrific barrage of fire on specified targets east of the Escaut. This continued for the whole of the 19th,20th and part of the 21st May. I was on the gun position throughout that action and was informed that German infantry formations had been trying to ford the Escaut Canal using inflatable craft but had been beaten off with heavy losses. During this action Brigadier Eric Miles wandered over tho the gun area and was known to have remarked(as a morale booster) 'Don't worry boys, you are containing the enemy. The opposition confronting you is merely a division of half starved Austrians with no artillery'. This was readily believed by gullible Tommies as throughout the 3 day artillery exercise not one counter shell had dropped on our gun position. There had been intrusion from a strafing M.E.109 which had been brought down by ground fire and the pilot made prisoner.

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