大象传媒

Chapter 鈥� 5-'O.C.T.U.鈥�

Llandrindod Wells was a good O.C.T.U. I was there for five months, from May to October 1941 and enjoyed most of it. As cadets, identifiable by the white petersham bands round our forage caps and the white tapes on the epaulets of our battle-dress tunics, we were quickly made aware that any feeling of superiority we might cherish by reason of previous rank was transitory and that there are few creatures on God鈥檚 earth lower than a cadet. So, off came the sergeants stripes and on parade we went with the instructors intent in reminding us what it felt like to be 鈥榠n the ranks鈥� once more. I believe that much of the ignominy that we had put up with, mostly cheerfully, was designed to remind us of what it felt like to be on the receiving end when we were later to be in a position to hand it out.

The town itself, as it name suggests was a spa where people went to 鈥榯ake the waters鈥� and was therefore furnished with numerous hotels which had been requisitioned by the Army and in which we were billeted. This is one reason why it was a popular O.C.T.U. because instead of sleeping in barrack rooms, with twenty or thirty others, we were for the most part no more than two to a room and, of course, we looked out of our bedroom windows onto the quite beautiful countryside of mid-Wales.

A particular memory of the place is the tailors鈥� shops in the centre of the town. A number of London tailors had taken over a parade of shops and it was here that we spent the grant we were given to equip ourselves with an officer鈥檚 uniform; 鈥榮ervice dress鈥� tunic and trousers of fine barathea instead of itchy serge, officer鈥檚 great coat which reached nearly to our ankles (and which was to prove a boon as an extra blanket later on in the War), peaked hat, which for gunner officers just had to come from Herbert Johnson of Bond Street and last but not least the Sam Browne belt. It took several visits to the tailor for fittings before all was ready, and ready it had to be because before we left Llandindod Wells we were paraded in our new uniforms for inspection by the Adjutant and the tailors had to attend the parade as well and be prepared for the censure of the Adjutant if he had fault to find.
Apart from many hours in classrooms, in the lecture theatre, on the parade ground and in the gun park performing gun drill and learning the parts and action of the 3.7鈥� Heavy Anti Aircraft (HAA) gun, we came to have an intimate acquaintance with the surrounding countryside to a radius of some five miles from the centre of the town. For it was here that we performed exercises known as T.E.W.T.s (Tactical Exercises Without Troops) where we were marshalled, usually on the top a hill, and made to explain what we would do, given that there was part of a battle field in front of us and that the enemy was taking such and such an action. The cadets having said their piece the instructors would promptly tear our utterances to shreds and tell us what we should have done. We arrived at the location of the T.E.W.T. by bicycle; that is, specially made bicycles, with no gears but small wheels that helped us up the many hills that are to be found in that part of the country. It was quite common for us to be dismissed at about half past twelve at a place some five miles or so from base and told to be back on parade at two o鈥檆lock. Then it was a matter of jumping on our bikes and peddling furiously up and down the hills to get back in time to snatch a quick lunch and tidy ourselves up for the afternoon鈥檚 session.

We also learnt to ride a motor cycle, initially by riding round a field on the outskirts of the town and then, as we became more proficient, by exploring the local country side. The more experienced riders were taken on a hair-raising ride across the hills of Wales, led by the Motor Transport Officer who before the war had ridden in the Isle of Man TT races. That, however was not for me and I never was all that keen on motor bikes. Later in the war I was glad when the American Jeep arrived and largely replaced the motor cycle as a means of junior officer鈥檚 transport.

From time to time the local Home Guard were enlisted to act as the 鈥榚nemy鈥� in some of our infantry type exercises and I well remember one such occasion when my section was ambushed by the 鈥榚nemy鈥� and there suddenly appeared over the hedge a row of grinning faces, the owners of which then proceeded, with great glee, to pelt us with clods of earth.

Came the great day when we paraded as cadets for the last time so that we could remove the white bands and sport on our shoulder epaulets the solitary pips which revealed to the world that we now held the King鈥檚 commission as second-lieutenants and an entitlement to the princely sum of eleven shilling (fifty-five pence) per day.

And so we went off to our various units and I was posted to a battery of the Ayrshire Yeomanry on Clydeside.

Chapter 6 鈥� 鈥楢yrshire鈥� and 鈥榃oolwich鈥�

I think it must have been about October 1942 that I joined my Battery of the Ayrshire Yeomanry and my troop of 3.7鈥� HAA guns positioned on what was then, and probably still is, Winhill Golf Course on the hill high above Greenock on the south bank of the Clyde and some twenty miles west of Glasgow. The Battery Headquarters was housed in the Clubhouse but I don鈥檛 remember seeing any greens so they were probably allowed to rot from the beginning of the War.

From the little I remember life in this posting was pretty uneventful and we certainly never fired the guns in anger. I do, however, recall the Christmas of 1942 and my first experience of Hogmanay and the ancient rite of 鈥榝irst-footing鈥� as evidenced by the appearance of a kilted and very drunken Scot appearing in our mess in the small hours of New Year鈥檚 Day. I also remember the weather and in particular the wind. Winhill was indeed well named and one day as Orderly Officer I stepped out from the lee of a hut to answer the report of the Troop Sergeant Major to the effect that the 鈥淕uard is ready for inspection 鈥� Sir.鈥� And fell flat on my face as I was struck by a howling gale.

I remember also that on my days off I once or twice caught the ferry, a paddle steamer, from Greenock and did the round trip, west along the south bank of the river to Gourock, then across the Clyde to Helensburgh, Craigendoran and Dumbarton and back again to Greenock. That was interesting as was the occasional venture into the mighty city of Glasgow but on the whole life was pretty dull and this is probably part of the reason why, when the opportunity presented, that I volunteered for overseas service. This meant surrendering myself once again to the vagaries of the railways and travelling down to London to pick up a draft of some fifty gunners at the Royal Artillery Base Depot at Woolwich. This was a famous place and it was with some awe that I first entered the Officers鈥� Mess on the perimeter of the vast 鈥楩ront Parade鈥� that with my men I was to become well acquainted during the next few weeks. The Mess was probably an eighteenth century building with a large and lofty entrance hall and a great wide staircase leading up to the ante-room, so called because it was where we met for sherry before dinner each evening and where, indeed, we also repaired to after dinner for coffee and port. I mention this because it was all part of the tradition in which the place was steeped and which I for one was most receptive to. When I say sherry before dinner it was an allowance of just one glass, for which our mess-bill was charged six pence and again after dinner just one glass of port, also for six pence. This rationing was to conserve the supply from the Mess cellars and I dare say that in more plentiful times a good deal more than that was imbibed by the incumbent members of the Mess. The dining room was really vast with two enormously long and highly polished mahogany tables stretched down each side of the room where junior officers sat, there being a number of smaller tables at the end of the room which were reserved for officers of field rank; Majors and above. After dinner we ascended the staircase to take coffee and, if required, milk from two mighty silver urns at the head of the stairs.

This was indeed gracious living but not so the sleeping accommodation. I suppose there must have been a fortunate number of officers who occupied bedrooms in blocks specially designed and built for the purpose, but I and my immediate colleagues were housed in what had been married quarters for the men and which I heard had been condemned and emptied before the War but brought back into use as sleeping quarters for the large influx of junior officers. My 鈥榖edroom鈥� was the kitchen of one of these slums, complete with a rusty old kitchen range and, of course, completely lacking in any form of heating whatsoever. Outside were several inches of snow through which we daily stumbled as we went about our business. One Sunday morning we assembled on the snow covered Front Parade for church parade. The garrison church was at one end of the parade ground and it was a tradition that after church the assembled troops would march past the Commandant in 鈥榦pen order鈥�; this meaning in ranks about thirty abreast 鈥� and I鈥檒l never forget the shambles of that march past. I was in front of my men and we proceeded in eyrie silence as the snow muffled our boots and when I gave the order 鈥淓yes Right鈥� at the same time snapping my own head to the right and throwing up a smart salute for my commanding officer all I could see were my own men who had curved round so as to be in front of me and when I glanced to the left the same thing had happened to that end of the ranks so that I was in splendid isolation in the centre of a semi-circle. A hopeless mess but it had to be done because it was 鈥楾raditional鈥�!

All in all none of us were sorry when the order came to entrain for our port of embarkation which was 鈥� you guessed it 鈥� Glasgow: so for the next couple of days we puffed our way northwards eventually to board our transport ship on the dockside and to sail down the Clyde, to the cheers of workers in the shipyards and to moor in the estuary, not all that far from Greenock from whence I had departed for Woolwich not so many weeks earlier.

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