大象传媒

Xmas 43 and the poor devils in Italy were still slogging their way up Italy. Following Salerno and Anzio slow progress was made. Surely they weren鈥檛 going to keep so many troops tied up in Gib. The C.O. left to take command of a Medium Regiment in Italy and for some reason 鈥� influence we decided, one of the subalterns 鈥淐hips鈥� we called him went with him. Already the static guns in the regiment, my 4鈥� naval guns, were put into 鈥渃are and maintenance鈥� 鈥� bees waxed and greased, and there were signs of movement in other units. U.K. we thought and we were right. I, with people I鈥檇 come out with in 41 and those who鈥檇 been in Gib before that were embarked on the 鈥淒uchess of Richmond鈥� a medium size liner and arrived in Liverpool (February 1944). How different from my first experience in the French liner 鈥� The Pasteur. Troopships had become much more Spartan and I just don鈥檛 remember much about this trip except we arrived in Liverpool and I think I went to Woolwich at the time and then on leave and back to mother!

Then I was posted to the 179th (I think) Field Regiment 鈥� a holding Regiment in Cooden, near Bexhill. After Gib the weather was horrible cold and wet 鈥� yet sometimes there were sunny days. I went to technical 鈥� mathematical - lessons and learned to drive a Bren Carrier 鈥� quite different as steering is by slowing down one track and speeding up the other. I remember a little problem I had with a right hand turn in Bexhill and partially destroyed a garden wall. Soon I was told that they were looking for artillery officers as Forward Officer Bombardment (F.O.B.s) and B.L.O.s in Combined Ops.

The Dieppe raid in 1942 had shown how vital it was that immediate communications should be established between individual army units ashore and the naval guns supporting the landing and so C.O.B.U., basically army observation units with naval telegraphists, were formed and were in action in Sicily and Salerno and Anzio. It was a huge joke in the unit that Captain Tommy Thompson who went ashore at Salerno with the American Rangers, as their Commandos were called, was wounded in the back 鈥渂ackside actually鈥� he said, was in bed in an American Field Hospital. A General came round with his staff pinning 鈥淧urple Hearts鈥� on to the casualties鈥� pyjamas. When he came to Tommy Thompson鈥檚 bed, Tommy explained that he was British but had been attached to the Rangers. 鈥淲ell son,鈥� the General said 鈥淚 guess you get a Purple Heart too鈥�. Tommy, a regular, was killed in Korea (in 1951?). But I digress.

I was fed up with having no responsibilities and, though informed that they were choosy, I volunteered. Another train journey to Dundonald Camp in Troon in Ayrshire. We slept on the floor in the Golf Club in Troon which had been requesitioned to accommodate all the extra officers in Combined Ops training. I reported for the course and the instructor came up to me and said 鈥淗ello Doug, you are still in one piece鈥� 鈥� or words to that effect. It was Dougie Munro, the only thing Scottish about him was his name, who had been in my O.C.T.U. squad and was now a Captain running the course. There was a good deal of map work and practical distance judging outdoors. There might have been about 20 or so on the course, all Lieutenants or Captains. Dougie said that only a few were needed and 鈥渨as I keen?鈥�. I said I would like to be accepted on merit and at the end of the course I was accepted - on merit and experience - or nepotism I never knew. In the end it often seems in life it鈥檚 not what you know but who you know and if you are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. So I was promoted Captain (March 1944).

I suppose it was the end of March 1944, possibly the beginning of April and everyone knew that the invasion of France was imminent; the signs were obvious. Tented camps were being erected in the New Forest area, lots of them. Then in the following weeks the troops, tanks and guns and vehicles started to arrive and entrance to large areas was forbidden to civilians.

Now in a C.O.B.U. and learning about the Navy and naval gunnery, we knew we were going to invade France. I was sent on a course to the famous Whale Island in Portsmouth and was accommodated in the ancient royal yacht 鈥� Victoria and Albert鈥� was it? I鈥檓 not sure about that now. It was spartan 鈥� but the wardroom was ok and of course Wrens galore 鈥� ward room stewards as well. The Wren boat crews manning (can I say that?) launches to move officers out to ships anchored in the harbour were much admired and were considered to be a small elite. In retrospect I think it was the white woolly jerseys that they wore.

I don鈥檛 remember if Tony Hawes was on the course but we arrived at the same time at Gurnard on the Isle of Wight, a holiday camp which was run by the Navy and became firm friends 鈥� Dawes and Hawes! That was a strange situation 鈥� an ex and early example of a holiday camp. The pongos or brown jobs as the army were affectionately or insultingly known, about 8 of us as I remember, were billeted in a house, not very large really, considering that the camp, we believed was in the grounds of the house, rows and rows of huts. Of course we were attended to by Wrens 鈥� or batwomen, who also prepared the meals 鈥� and a good job they made of it too.

I remember in the first months after returning to England how amazed I was by the change in attitude of young men and young women since I left in 1941, just 21 and a brand new second lieutenant 鈥� young and innocent. When I returned in 1944, I was nearly 24 and had had no converse with a British woman of any age except the poor Wren I had hit with my bicycle in the Admiralty Tunnel in Gibraltar 鈥� and that was brief! Mind you having spent most of my time previously in rural Gloucestershire, rural France and very rural Yorkshire, being an only child and having given up women at 11 when I left Junior School to join a boys鈥� school, friends whose sisters if any were younger or older, I was a fish out of water. But the Americans had arrived. I can only describe the attitude as 鈥淓at, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die鈥�. I had my leg pulled unmercifully 鈥� all these parties and dances which I didn鈥檛 want to go to because I couldn鈥檛 dance and was painfully shy.

In May a few of us were sent on an exercise to Tarbert, Loch Fyne. The last part of the journey by car from Glasgow via Inverary 鈥� my first experience of Scotland. The weather and scenery were wonderful. We stayed at the T Hotel, very comfortable and smoked haddock for breakfast. Various shoots were conducted with targets on the moors. One day I observed for HMS Ajax (I think it was) and the fall of shot was all over the place. My observations were queried by the B.L.O. on board and I said that the gunnery officer would know what was wrong. I鈥檇 seen it before 鈥� guns wear out, the fall of shot becomes erratic and nothing can be done apart from re-lining 鈥� or re-sleeving the barrels. The Ajax did not appear on D Day.

At the beginning of June we set up a small camp very near Fort Southwick in the rising ground behind Portsmouth. There was team of Naval Telegraphists and several F.B.O.s. This was a listening post to follow the communications between B.L.O.s ashore and the bombarding ships. Hence we could, like other setups at S.H.A.E.F. follow the progress of the invasion. On June 6th the largest number of planes we have ever seen were flying south.

The landings took place and the progress plotted on the large maps. One or two FBOs could not be contacted and we feared casualties and that was so. I was sent over with my jeep and soldier and naval telegraphists that night in a landing craft and found our divisional commander at Courseulles in the morning. The beach had been cleared but it was noisy ashore but so much better than in 1940 because all the aircraft were Allied and my goodness what a difference that made. No dashing for cover everytime aircraft appeared. The following weeks, well, really I don鈥檛 remember much detail.

I spent most time early on in Ouisterham 鈥� the port for Caen. There was an observation post on top of the tower there with a good view of the coast and surrounding countryside. The building was in a dreadful mess, floor after floor was strewn with German Army debris and on one floor I spotted a German helmet, almost covered in clothing. I thought I鈥檇 have it but knowing about booby traps I was wary so I collected some heavy debris - bricks and masonry from down below and from the door I pelted it 鈥� hit it several times and it moved considerably and there was no explosion. I wasn鈥檛 surprised because our infantry had been there days before and it would obviously have been checked. Anyway I kept it until I went on leave and dumped it at home. After the war I gave it away I don鈥檛 remember when and to whom.

There were requests that we should take on jobs that couldn鈥檛 be done. Naval artillery is more like anti-tank guns than field or medium or even heavy artillery but the heavies were really W.W.1 static situation artillery. Naval guns are of high muzzle velocity, like anti-tank guns and of course both are designed for a specific purpose. Most targets were map targets, ground was undulating. Naval guns can paste a forward slope but it cannot hit the reverse slope because of the flat trajectory, and of course there鈥檚 always the danger of friendly fire casualties (quite common, sad to say), but with the long range of naval guns harassing fire onto backward areas was very important. I shot Warspite, the monitor Roberts with 2 15鈥� naval guns, the cruiser Emerald and other cruisers and destroyers I cannot remember.

Life at Ouisterham was quite cushy really in contrast to Belgium and France in 1940. We were static to begin with and made ourselves as comfortable as possible. The outskirts of Ouisterham had some very pleasant houses, built in the 20s I should think. We slept in the cellar of one of these houses, hard lying but safe we thought because at first there was some desultory shelling in the area and some hit and run air raids at night. One night there were some loud explosions and we found that the door into the cellar was blocked by debris. Not to worry, it was really a semi-basement and there was a small window giving light on one side so we smashed the windows and window frames, squeezed through but some found it easier than others who needed help from outside. In the end the window (top and bottom) frame was levered out and to much merriment the fatties were extracted. To our sorrow, the marvellous seagull with wings outspread on the apex of the house was there in the garden smashed. The cookhouse was very upset one day by stray shells 鈥� not uncommon because things had become very static.

I remember the Libisey ridge in front of Caen which caused problems and infantry and tanks were repulsed and finding life difficult. German defence was very stubborn and with shorter lines of communication, the British and Canadians were finding life very hard. I remember seeing a battalion with a number of different regimental flashes on the shoulders 鈥� a worrying sight 鈥� a signal of heavy casualties. The Americans, who had taken heavier casualties on the initial landings but were farther from German reinforcements were making good progress on the right into open country and eventually the breakthrough came. The Americans turned east.

Falaise Gap - I was told by a Canadian that a 17 pdr anti-tank gun had knocked out a troublesome observation post in a church tower when repeated shelling had wrecked the surroundings but had left the tower standing.

After the rapid retreat to the East we were left doing very little except some desultory shelling. The Germans on the coast had been cut off and we desperately needed to capture Le Havre to lesson dependence on the Mulberry Harbour at Arrowmanches. There was rumour about another landing which came to nothing. Le Havre with its civilian population was shelled and eventually surrendered and we went home.

In November we attacked Flushing as I always called it. Royal Marine Commandos 鈥� very difficult 鈥� a well defended port 鈥� one of our B.L.O.s on a destroyer that was badly hit was awarded a M.C. as was one of the Normandy F.B.O.s. I was back in Holland at Bergen op Zoom, investigating the islands at the mouth of the Sheldt covering Rotterdam. It was cold, wet and horrible 鈥� it snowed. One day a sentry brought an elderly Dutchman to see me who spoke a few words of English. I went with him and he showed me his tropical fish tanks 鈥� a dozen or so, some empty but a few still quite crowded with fish, but as he said, 鈥淐old鈥�. He had heated the slate bottom of the tanks with spirit lamps. 鈥淐old鈥� he said. I couldn鈥檛 help him. Methylated spirit? I sent someone to an Ordnance Unit close handy with some success and I don鈥檛 remember the detail but he kept his few tanks going somehow.

We got our feet under the table at a house in a hamlet on Schoen, one of the islands where we used a water tower watching over Flakke the next island where we saw absolutely nothing. However, one night the Germans came over and blew it up! The people we got to know were called Philips 鈥� a good old Dutch name! We used to swap Army issue cigarettes for eggs. "Turvy eiss fur teen cigaretten" 鈥� or words vaguely to that effect! Being farmers they had more than the townspeople 鈥� but still welcomed a tin of bully beef. The Canadians had long moved on. The troops in the area were Dutch Princess Irene鈥檚 Brigade with orange flashes but there were men in plain clothes with rifles who supervised others who were repairing bomb craters in the roads. In the cold and wet 鈥� these labourers, mostly middle aged 鈥� even elderly were given a rough time. But the ordinary Dutch civilian had really suffered. We noticed that they were much worse off than the Belgians we had seen. I think the British always respected the Dutch but I read, not so long ago, that proportionally more Dutch volunteered to serve with the Germans than any of the other occupied countries. I was surprised.

I saw few German civilians, they had become refugees 鈥� but what a mess. My memory fails me but I went to S.H.A.E.F. which by this time was located in Munchen Gladbach in I believe an empty lunatic asylum. I remember going through Aachen which had been absolutely smashed to rubble and roads had been bulldozed through 鈥� town planning.

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