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After we had been hard at it, out battery, known as 4th Battery, West African Artillery began to take shape. The increasing threat to the West African ports and installations by the Vichy French, made it desirable that we should become operational quickly. Reconnaissance aircraft, mainly from Senegal in the north, had been very inquisitive of late and we felt that the American Glenn Martin bombers, which we knew they possessed, might be visiting us soon. When we were passed out as adequate by the Chief Instructor of Gunnery, we took over two new positions about 10-12 miles up country from Freetown. These were known respectively as Hastings East and Bassu Town. Battery HQ was located at the latter site. I was selected to be Troop Commander of the independent position on account of my having greater experience than many of the other subalterns. The site was on a small raised portion of ground about the size of a football pitch, surrounded by malarial mangrove swamps. This site clearly had been determined from the map without adequate inspection on the ground. Within a short time we were deployed and ready for action. In lieu of sand-bagged emplacements we made and used sun dried earth blocks which proved an excellent substitute. Most of us were still living there in the very primitive conditions nearly a year later.

The West African coast was well known as ‘the white man’s grave’ and there are certainly large areas of graveyards in the Freetown district to support this unwelcome title. Malaria, sometimes leading to blackwater fever, is the main culprit caused by carrier mosquitoes which breed in swamps and stagnant pools. They mainly get about in the hours of darkness and the strictest observation of dress rules, rolled down sleeves and no short trousers, was essential for all British personnel after dusk. This wear together with calf high mosquito boots was obligatory all the year round.

The temperature rarely falls below 90 degrees day or night, with maximum humidity, for eight or nine months of the year, so this dress was not very comfortable and led to prickly heat and other skin troubles. Dysentery, as we used to say, was always lurking just around the corner and was more prevalent than the common cold. As the saying goes ‘you shouldn’t have joined if you can’t take a joke.’

We saw little action during our year at Hastings only a few long range shots at high flying recce planes and an impromptu practice camp set up at Lumley Beach. You cannot imagine how much the Africans loved the first round they heard fired. They squeaked and roared and I thought they would never stop laughing with glee.

Towards the end of 1942, we were given notice to move from Sierra Leone to the Gold Coast. This former colony, now called Ghana, is about a distance of six hundred miles further along the coast of Africa. There was no very obvious reason for this move as the job required was similar to the work we were already doing. The bonus was that it was a change of scene in a new colony, and anything must be better than Hastings East. Also the climate was considered to be marginally better.

At Takoradi, a small port on the coast, west of Accra, there was an airstrip with a workshop where fighter aircraft were assembled. The parts came in crates by ship from the UK and after assembly were destined to fly by stages via Lake Chad and Khartoum to Egypt for use by the RAF in the Middle East. It was felt that this facility needed to be defended and we built and manned two gun positions there for that purpose. An addition to our equipment was radar now supplied to us in the form of a mobile cabin rather like a night watchman’s hut. This elementary radar had been adapted for gunnery use and though far from the perfected product was a step in the right direction. It did, however, improve our ability to pick up a target at long range and provide us a better night firing capability.

This, in fact, was to be a relatively short episode before undertaking a further operation in another and more distant country.

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