大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Chloe Broadley of the CSV 大象传媒 Coventry and Warwickshire Action Desk on behalf William Lennox Trinder and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

In late August 1939, as Territorials we were called up. After a few days we were sent to Thoresby Park in Sherwood Forest. After a week or two the horses began to arrive. Training began, also mounted exercise. While riding past a small wood (ride one, lead one) a large stag popped out and bellowed. These horses had never seen such a thing before so they all bolted in panic. My horse burst his surcingle and girth, and I fell between both horses and sat on the grass looking at the whole troop disappearing into the distance. Our young Troop Officer, Mr. Lyons, rode back laughing, and ordered me to carry my saddle and walk back to camp.
In late December we put the horses on a train, took them down to Dover, on to a ferry and over to France. From there we put them on a French train and went through France to a camp near Marseilles. After a week we put the horses on a ship called "The Rajula". The food was indifferent, for breakfast once or twice we had stew! funnily enough the horse nearest the galley cookhouse died after a few days. During the voyage there was a storm, and I was on Stable Guard, and ever so seasick. Our Squadron Leader (an ex-Navy man) Major Fenwick helped me to feed the horses as I was so bad.
We finally landed in Palestine. Back the horses went to open railway trucks and we travelled across the country to a place called Affule. There we took them off the trucks and each man held two horses by rope leads to their head collars. Then we started to climb this fairly steep hill in front of us to a camp in the grounds of a Jewish school called Cafe Yeladine. At the top of the hill we were to turn right up a drive of about fifty yards to our final destination. Just as I was about to turn into the camp, round the corner came a large camel train escorted by large Arabs on small donkeys. All this lot were hung with tinkling bells and preceded by a very strong smell. Well, our English hunters, racehorses and polo ponies etc. had never seen (or smelled) such a terrified spectacle in their young lives. They all panicked. I was dragged into a ditch, kicked, trodden on and jumped over and then some one hundred and fifty horses galloped back down this steepish hill to the railway station. After bringing them over five thousand miles we had lost them in the last fifty yards! However troops who were already there, who had come on a tropship without the horses, were sent to fetch them from the railway station. The Horse Party were allowed to have meal and rest to rub our bruises, and even given a rum ration to calm our shattered nerves. In the Cavalry however this sort of experience is "all in a day's work".

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