|
|
TROOP SERGEANT 1940
- 1943 The Lord Mayor's Welfare Fund,
with the help of volunteers, distributed 100,000 cigarettes, buns and biscuits were
ordered daily in 5,000 lots, 3,000 oranges and apples were given away daily plus much
more. This had taken place,
mainly, before our arrival. Yet that
cup of tea, to me, was all I needed to lift my spirits.
Well done, the people of the Hoe. In contrast, during all our time
in France, apart from the officer in the French 155mm artillery battery, there had been no
hospitality or any form of friendship from the French people. Perhaps they had too many war concerns
to make us welcome. As it was, we could
have been aliens from another planet. Now for me to have my feet on any
part of this island will be a very precious privilege.
When the military transport officer at Plymouth had sorted out the
various army personnel who had made it, we, the 209 component, were put on the train for
Devizes army barracks. It was a most
comfortable journey, having only our own personal kit to take with us. Inwardly, we knew we were the
lucky ones and had every reason to be thankful and relax.
We had time, also to give our thoughts to those at home, who must be
wondering what fate had befallen us. What
was causing concern to the families of our unit was that certain personnel attached to our
HQ had already returned home, we were to learn later. At Devizes, we were greeted by the
barracks duty officer as we alighted from the military transport which had met our train
at Devizes Station. We were shown our
quarters and where we could obtain food and refreshments; equally important we were shown where we could have a shower to clean our bodies
of sweat and grime. He told us that there would be an
inspection parade next morning and it was expected that we would be given 48 hours leave. We were very tired and hungry, our only food
on the ship had been the usual dog biscuits and bully beef.
Normally, I would have 'phoned Gladys, but very few of us had English
money. Tomorrow hopefully, we would
have news about when we might expect to arrive home.
In the meantime, like the others, a shower was top priority. I remember that my beard was quite
soft and not bristly. I was given a
separate room to sleep in. I looked at
the bed and, after laying on it, I found that I could not get accustomed to the softness
of the springs. That night, I made my
bed on the floor! It is surprising how
the body adjusts to its environment, in this case the rough ground of France. The commanding officer of the army
training barracks addressed the parade the following day and gave us a list of don'ts, he
did not want us to set a bad example to his recruits.
This went down badly with the lads and I have always remembered his
discourtesy. Once I had been dismissed,
it was a matter of seeing the paymaster and obtaining my travel warrant. I attempted to 'phone Gladys but she had, I
presumed, already left to go to work at the Efandam, a battery firm which was part of the
Ever Ready Co., where she was employed as a wages clerk.
By coincidence, when I arrived at Wolverhampton, I caught the number 9
trolleybus. When this reached Park
Village, Gladys, with others leaving work, boarded this bus. The bus was full, with people
standing, so that she had not seen me. I
noticed that her face showed signs of stress, which was not surprising in view of her lack
of news regarding our unit. I now
regretted not attempting to 'phone her the night before and dreaded revealing myself, lest
the shock would be too much for her. I
decided that I would try and hide myself and get off at the next bus stop after she had
alighted to go to our house at Old Fallings Lane.
At the stop where I got off, there was a fish and chip shop, so I was
able to take this favourite take- away food home as a welcoming present! But I would not have been in such a happy state if
Gladys had been larking about on the bus, not caring a hoot about my absence. Gladys was living at Old Fallings Lane
and keeping father company, for mother was still evacuated to Wales. When I knocked on the door, my
father opened it. We both gave a smile. "Where have you come from, we had almost
thought the worst had happened.", said my father who, I thought, had aged, loosing
most of his hair during the last year. I
replied, "I have come all the way from Epernay, the Champagne country - starting on
May 10th. Sorry I wasn't able to send
you a postcard." As I entered the
hall, I noticed Gladys in the kitchen, holding her hands to her face, with her fingers
slightly apart over her eyes. I called
out, "I can see you, look I have brought you a present of fish and chips to celebrate
the prodigal son's return." As she took
her hands off her face, the tears could be seen pouring down her cheeks. This was a very emotional moment
for all of us. Dad retired to his
front room, where I took him a tray with his fish and chips. It was a relief to see Gladys quickly
recovering from the surprise of my return. There
was much to catch up with, as well as meeting her family around the corner. This would have to wait until the morrow,
not forgetting that I was on a 48 hour leave. We spent an hour with my father
and listened to the evening news on the wireless.
Churchill's famous speech to the House of Commons on the 18th June was
again repeated, to rally the people. "I
expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin.
Let us brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if
the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say -
this was their finest hour." There
can be no doubt, Churchill's pugnacious attack on Hitler and the Nazi movement, with his
famous speeches and stirring voice lifted the morale of the British people as no other
leader could have done. My leave came to an end too
quickly, again there is the sadness in the parting of one's other half, particularly when
there is no knowledge of when or where one shall finally be posted. On returning to Devizes barracks after our
short leave, the 209 lads read on the order board that their unit would be transferred to
Aberporth the following day after inspection at 9.30 am, using military transport. Laurie, standing by me as we read
this order said, "The commanding officer here cannot get rid of us quick enough for
fear of corrupting his recruits." "They say a rolling stone
gathers no moss. As far as Colin
Elwell's unit is concerned, this must be true." I responded. All that could be gleaned about
this army station is that it was a firing range, used for testing rockets, in an isolated
part of South Wales, eight miles from Cardigan. We
arrived to find to our dismay that we were to be housed in bell tents. The command post team occupied the same
tent, enabling us to hold our war council from time to time. Apart from a canteen and ablutions plus
toilets, we had no access to any other permanent buildings.
Many buildings were marked 'Special permit holders only'. It was agreed by the war council that we had
been dumped out of harm's way. The unit
had no equipment and I suppose this exercise was being repeated over the whole country,
having to dispose of 400,000 troops who escaped back to England during and after Dunkirk. Our troop officer could tell us
little about this move. He made it
quite clear that there would be no marching drill and that the unit was to be considered
as 'resting'. Now the army council
decided to hold a meeting. Laurie
started things off by saying, "Did you know that this was an experimental station for
firing 3 inch unrotating projectiles (UP) and that one of their staff has had their head
blown off? Maybe we are rocket fodder;
perhaps they will be calling for volunteers soon."
Eric said, "What do you think
of our set-up here, Alan?" "Well, as far as I am
concerned, I shall explore the coastline for a sandy beach and maybe get a swim." I
replied. While we were billeted here, I
discovered that the projectors from which the rockets are fired have 2 pairs of guide
rails, which allows them to be fired singly or in pairs.
This type of projector, known as No. 2 Mark is operated by a gunner on
the left side, to the rear of the rails, who is responsible for bearing, whilst the other
gunner, on the right side is responsible for elevation.
Both use cross wires to aim onto the target and when the fire officer
gives the order to fire, both press down their firing lever, which completes an electrical
circuit to the terminals of the rocket. Later that evening, I made up a
four at bridge with rocket technical staff in the canteen.
They gave me a background to the development of this, until now
unknown British rocket. Work started on
the rocket in 1934 at Woolwich Arsenal by a physicist, Dr Crow. It was, at first a 2 inch rocket and then
later, a 3 inch version was designed to match the warhead of the 3.7 shell, in weight. It was hoped to introduce rocket batteries
to supplement the 'ack ack' defences by 1940. These
were to be known as Z batteries. This
information was to become very helpful in the not-too-distant future. Our morale was very low, knowing
that we were to be put out to pasture. Why
could they not have sent us home until they had decided what to do with us. I found a spot close by the range, where I
could swim with my underpants on, having no swim suit with me. This became a routine for the few days we
were here. It was at the end of June,
we were to hear that we were to be on the move again.
This time we were drafted to this beautiful coastline of South Wales. It represented our third move in as many
weeks. Could it be at the war office
that we were known as the 'Nomad tribe'? The
only logic that we could see was that we were moving closer to the base where our future
would be decided. In less than a week
we had arrived and then said goodbye to Blackpool, finally taking residence at Catterick
transit camp. At Blackpool, I had now readjusted to sleeping in a
normal bed. We were at a strict military base
and inspections and route marches became the order of the day. On 16th July, my troop officer, Colin Elwell
sent a message that I was required to visit the troop office after inspection parade. He held a piece of paper in his hand and
after a conversation of a personal nature, he said, "We are about to part
company." He then read from the letter. "Lance Bombardier A C Rayment will form part
of a cadre in the formation of 106 Z battery, based at Marske-by-the-Sea, Cleveland,
England." At first I did not take
in what would be the effect of this transfer. Why
me, I thought, so I asked him, "Are there any others of the 209 unit also being
transferred?" He replied, "I only have this
instruction from the 'Ack ack' Army Drafting Centre."
In shaking hands and smiling, "I hope you have a successful move and
that you are not asked to take part in too many Christmas tree raiding parties." I learned later that the 209 unit
served in Egypt during 1942 and in the invasion of Sicily.
The unit also served in Italy, both in the 'ack ack' role and in the
field. It is sad that I have not had
the opportunity to meet former members of my Wolverhampton TA unit, particularly as, a few
years ago, a small number of them revisited Paul Roger's shooting lodge at Plivot in
France. It was a weird feeling I had as I
arrived at a deserted hutted encampment at Marske-by-the-Sea. Apart from one other soldier, with three
stripes on his arm, an officer sat at a desk in the only visible occupied hut in this
ghostly camp. This officer greeted us,
saying, "I am the adjutant of this newly formed Z battery and we are now to witness
the build up of this unit." I
spoke to this sergeant, who informed me that his name was Crawthorn and had served in the
1st World War. The adjutant took us to a
local army training centre, where we were to use their canteen. Our hut encampment was part of this
establishment and was only occasionally used, when they had a large intake. I did not sleep a great deal in
this isolated compound. I was feeling
the absence of a closely-knitted unit, which the Bedouin style of living had brought. One such group was the command post team, with its
frequent army council discussions. There
was Greg, who sang Gracie Fields songs and the flamboyant Colin Elwell, who always had a
smile for everyone. When arriving at this camp, the
route took me through Redcar and along the coast.
At first I thought I was witnessing a scene from a First World War
film of the Western Front. The whole
length of the coastline had invasion defences, consisting of staked coiled barbed wire and
shore metal obstacles. Land mines had
also been planted in the sand dunes. There
was no mistaking that Hitler's threat to invade us in his famous 'Directive No. 16
Operation Sea Lion' on the 16th July was being taken seriously. It is interesting to note that
Hitler tried a peace offering on the 19th July and stated that he thought no useful
purpose could be obtained by continuing the conflict.
He did not get any takers for his olive branch. He now set plans to invade us on the 25th
August, using 41 divisions, six armoured, three motorised, seven parachute divisions and
two airborne divisions. There was a
problem outstanding apart from the Channel - mastery of the air, which had yet to be
achieved. After a week, the 106 Z battery
was reaching its full compliment. From the
nearby training centre, RA unit a squad of roughly one hundred men were handed over. It was claimed that they were to form a
25-pounder gun battery Our new unit had the loan of a
drill sergeant, Harvey, from the training centre, who drilled us on the square. He was an artist in his calling, who put his
stamp on this unit. He stood perfectly
upright with his drill stick tucked under his arm and the other arm folded behind his
back. His movements were like
clockwork, and you just had to copy him. Our
time at Marske had now nearly come to an end, as our complement was almost completed. Unfortunately there were no signs of rocket
projectors appearing, nor was there anyone who had knowledge or experience of these
weapons. I did not reveal at this stage
that I had some background knowledge since I had been at the rocket experimental unit at
Aberporth. The equipment could change
from the last time I saw it. Before leaving Marske with the 106
unit, I was promoted to acting bombardier, going up in the world. We were honoured to have General Sir
Frederick Pile, COC Ack Ack Command, to inspect this newly formed 106 Z battery. He addressed the parade after the inspection
and told them that each gunner was of officer potential and wished them a successful army
career. Now the sting in the tail,
following his inspection was a directive issued by army command, stating all 'ack ack'
gunners were required elsewhere in the army. Lower
grade men down to C3 would be posted in. This
took place before we left the camp. Major
Fernough was not pleased to see his new unit downgraded so soon. To me, the formation of the 106 Z unit was
premature, having no projectors to train with.
Each section now had to keep its men occupied. Our new posting was just a mile or
two up the coast to Redcar. We had no
army living quarters and so were billeted in private houses. Our parades took place outside the houses we
were staying in. Sergeant Crawthorn had
so many C3 men that he formed what was later
to be known as the 'Disney Squad'. He
at first gave instructions to any one who had a man marching out of step in front of him
to tread on his heels. After a few days
there were so many complaining of heel injuries that he had to withdraw this instruction. The local residents were now referring to
this 'Disney' leader as the 'Cruel Sergeant'. There were two in this squad who
could only march with their arms out of phase with their legs. In the end they were always asked to fall
out and make their own way to the destination where the men were going to march to. Amongst those C3 men were some who could not
read or write, with others who had some minor physical disability. Those who were fit took part in
long-distance marches, over the moors in the border country of Cleveland and North
Yorkshire. One of the chief benefits of being
semi-permanently based at Redcar was that 48 hours leave was granted once a fortnight to
allow us to go home regularly. This
removed a great stress from Gladys not having a place of her own - although there had been
no family disagreement. Remember, we
have had no honeymoon since our marriage on 4th September 1939. My troop officer, Lieutenant Little, was
very much out of touch with army routine, and in our ad hoc accommodation there was not
much opportunity to be regimental. On the 29th October 1940, I was
granted war substantive rank of bombardier, which meant that after war was over, I could
lose this rank. I did not think I would
lose much sleep over this aspect of the award. Shortly afterwards, I was informed
that I would be in charge of a section within the grounds of Dorman and Long iron and
steel manufacturers, sited between the Tees and Redcar.
With no firing practice, I would be responsible for training the
section consisting of one lance bombardier and 10 men in firing 3-inch UP rockets from
Projector No. 2 Mark 1, and also in firing a Lewis gun.
We were to be sited on the vital point VP as we would have to be an
'ack ack' defence against dive bombers. A Nissen hut was being erected to
house us and a shelter for the rocket ammunition was also in preparation. The projectors were to be mounted on
steel plates, bolted to the ground. I
had been handed firing instruction books, both for the projectors and the Lewis gun. The equipment was expected to be delivered
in two weeks' time. The troop HO was at
Eston recreational ground, a distance of roughly 4 miles further up the Tees. It is here we familiarised ourselves
with the equipment from the handbooks supplied.
The equipment was simplicity itself.
Two men operated the weapon. Each
operator was responsible for placing a rocket on the guide rails, pulling the rockets onto
the rear contact knife edges of the projector.
The operator on the left inserted an electrical battery, making
the weapon live. This operator was now responsible
for aiming the projector in bearing, using crosswire sights, whilst the operator on the
right took responsibility for laying on in elevation.
When the firing officer, in this case me, gave the order,
"Plane!", pointing in the direction of the target and shouting,
"Fire!", the operators pressed their firing levers as soon as they had their
target in their crosswires. For the
Lewis gun training, I had the weapon and ammunition to carry out the instructions. I remember that I had the squad squatted on the
floor in a circle. I was demonstrating
the loading procedure with live ammunition, having no dummy rounds. I inadvertently released the trigger, but it
failed to fire. This was a lesson to
last me for the rest of my army service - never use live ammunition for demonstration
purposes. There was a continuing downgrading
of men. It was no secret that all
footballers, musicians and cooks were indispensable.
Amongst the footballers, we had was an international player from
Sheffield Wednesday, Jackie Robinson. He had
played at Berlin against Germany, when Hitler watched and they gave the Nazi salute. Also, another professional footballer was
Cliff Whitelum from Sunderland FC. Each
Saturday afternoon, the battery turned out a team against local clubs, the police fixtures
were the most popular and were well supported by the locals. It was early November when we
became operational at our vital point in the centre of Dorman and Long. I gave my lance bombardier responsibility
for organising the manning rota for spotting and Lewis gun operation. I also had a rota for projector and
ammunition maintenance. These rotas
were always a problem when dealing with small numbers.
A very important piece of information given to us was that flying by
the RAF was not permitted in our zone, so that any plane flying in this area was to be
regarded as hostile. The Civil Aviation
Authority was also notified of this flying restriction. Amongst the recent intake was an
all-in wrestler named Oakes. He and an
ex- Irish guardsman had formed a gang within the battery.
They were known to have caused trouble in local pubs, breaking beer
bottles and putting them close to people's faces.
It came to my attention that Oakes had been put under arrest and that
he had been given seven days confined to barracks on our site. I had a discussion with my lance bombardier
that if this was true, I would put him on a charge for the least offence. His arrival with the orderly sergeant came
as no surprise. Having told me that
Oakes was to be regarded as a member of my manning team and that he was confined to camp
for seven days, this sergeant then said, "This is your baby from now on." I did not reply, if I had expressed my
thoughts, I too would have been on a charge. I had not met Oakes, only heard of
his reputation. It seems both his troop
sergeant and officer were scared of him. He
was around 5ft 8 inch in height, broad shoulders and had a crooked nose. I showed him where his bed was and told him
that he would have to do manning duties like the rest of the men. I told him that after he had sorted himself
out, he would be required for equipment maintenance duties.
I set him on cleaning the rocket terminals. As was expected, he put a cigarette in his
mouth. Immediately I remonstrated and
said to him, "If you light that cigarette, you will be on a charge for endangering
life." There was a reply of some
sort, it could have been, "Sod off."
Oakes then lit up and I told him to stop what he was doing and
consider what he was being charged with. I
at once contacted my troop officer that I wanted an escort to take Oakes back to troop HQ
to answer the charge placed on him. When
charged, he was given a further 7 days CB and returned to my unit. I was enraged that the officer should again wash
his hands of him by returning him to me. When Oakes returned, he was in a
threatening mood. I reminded him that
he was on look-out duty at 5 pm and returned to my bed.
Oakes then took out of his pocket a broken bottle. There were several gunners in the hut,
including the lance bombardier. It was
very tense as he slowly approached me, uttering something about what he would do to me if
the money that he sent home to his mother was stopped.
I felt that one wrong movement or word, and I could be seriously hurt. Just as he was almost touching my face with
the broken bottle, he caught sight of McKenzie, the lance bombardier, staring at what was
taking place. He then withdrew from me
and set about what he would do to him, if he acted as witness, should he come to blows
with me. Somehow, no violence occurred and
Oakes was reminded of his spotting duties. As was to be expected, Oakes was
nowhere to be seen during his stint on the Lewis gun and look-out duties. Again, I got through to troop HQ and
demanded an escort to pick Oakes up and take him back to HQ. This was done and Oakes was finally picked
up at some place of low repute. I think
it was a miracle that we got away without damage: it was a very irresponsible decision by
the troop officer to send Oakes here in the first place, ours being an isolated unit. While serving at this site, many
Dorman and Long employees would ask us what were the secret weapons we were equipped with. Many thought we fired springs in the air to
wrap around the planes' propellers. During
the whole of the time we were at this VP, we were not found wanting simply because there
had been no attacks. This was in
contrast to what had been taking place in the South of England, where the Battle of
Britain had been taking place. By
October, the Luftwaffe had lost 1,733 fighters and bombers to the RAF's 1,379 fighters,
but the RAF had only lost 414 pilots. The battle of the air had been won
and this meant that the Sea Lion, the plan for the invasion of Britain was now cancelled
until the spring of the following year. Hitler
had now resorted to the night bombing of London and the main towns and ports. This was the terror bombing that had been
expected at the start of the war, and which was now being applied in earnest. The role of firing at a dive
bomber from the 'vital point' was abandoned in 1941.
More 3-inch UP projectors 2 mark 1 had become available and now I took
charge of 8 at Eston Recreation Ground. A
through road from Redcar to Middlesborough separated this ground from the Dorman and Long
steel works, which span along the upper reaches of the Tees. Less than one hundred yards away, the steel
works' tallest and latest chimney stack stood upright overlooking our site. There were a number of comments,
generally to the effect that this could be the first target to be hit. The projectors formed a right angle to two
4's. One 4 faced this road towards the
steel works whilst the other four faced Eston council offices with a 4 feet high wall in
between. By each weapon, a slit trench
had been dug to give protection for the manning teams.
Now, whenever the sirens went off, the steel workers came out to watch
us, even the smallsteam engine drivers would pull up along the road, getting a better view
of our site. Again, they believed that
these secret weapons sent up springs to foil the enemy's propellers. After a few weeks here at this
hutted encampment, we heard from a long distance radar station that a daylight raider was
flying in our direction. Soon the
sirens went off and the usual spectators appeared across the road as we took up stations
in the stand-by state. This always
involved the rockets being loaded on to the guide rails in a horizontal position. As stated before, this was
a prohibited flying zone both for civilians and the RAF.
Any plane appearing must be regarded as hostile. Suddenly, from out of the clouds this
daylight raider, flying about 2,000 feet from the Redcar direction, appeared, coming in
our direction. I gave the order,
"Plane!", pointing in the direction of the target, followed by "Fire!" For a few moments it was like a firework display
for the bright flashes behind the rockets can be quite lethal if standing directly rear of
the rocket as it fired. It took a few
minutes to appreciate the effects of this rocket salvo.
The spectators across the road had all disappeared and, to my horror,
this tall chimney overlooking our rocket site had been hit and now had a 6ft hole in it,
half way up. The plane had not been
hit, but we did receive news that a machine gun had been dropped by this raider. There was now to be an inquest carried out
and the rocket crew to be identified with their account of the shoot causing this damage. It appears the misfire drill had
not been carried out in the first instance, when the rocket failed to take off after the
fire levers had been depressed. The projector
was later inspected by REME, who discovered that there was a fault in the wiring, causing
a slight short in the circuit. It was
claimed that these weapons cost no more than £5 and sixpence, certainly all the wiring
was exposed to the weather effects. I
believe that this rocket shoot was one of the first to take place in anger. I was technically confined to
barracks until the officer commanding received an official report from the REME. Next day, we again had an air raid warning. The steeplejack building his ladder upwards
towards the gap decided that this was not a healthy place to be and in an instant had slid
down the ladder. There were now no spectators
to be seen across the road, no engine drivers shunted along the road to watch us. I was also told that a crane operator in the
factory boasted that he was not coming down for the air raid alarm. He had now changed his mind. There was a yet more serious
misfire incident which occurred on an air raid standby alert a week later. As the loader on No. 1 projector facing the
Eston council offices placed the rocket on to the guide rails and pulled it back on to the
knife contacts of the projector, the rocket took off.
The gunner received the full force of the rocket blast at the rear of
the missile and was blown into a slit trench, badly burned.
The rocket fin touched the top of the 4 feet dividing wall, as it was
in the horizontal standby position at the time of its take off. The effect of the fin touching the wall
caused it to deflect into a blast wall protecting an assembly room full of people. Again, I had difficulty coming to
terms with a possible major disaster. Immediately,
I sent for an ambulance to take the badly burned gunner to hospital. I took up courage to investigate the damage done
on the other side of the wall. First, I was
relieved not to seen anyone carried away on a stretcher.
One could see from the outside that the blast wall had taken the full
impact of the rocket, and had, no doubt, saved many lives of those present. The follow-up to this accident proved that
the loader had inserted the battery before placing the rocket on the guide rails. The loading procedure required that the
battery be inserted after the rocket had been loaded, to avoid being at the back with the
projected charged. For the contacts to
be live without both firing levers being depressed proved that there were serious defects
in the wiring circuit. REME immediately
placed the projectors out of bounds until a thorough examination of the electrical system
had taken place. These weapons had come
off the maker's assembly lines without a proper trial period for both men and equipment. I, for one, received no firing instructions
from any experienced person in this rocket field. Those of us in the services and in
civilian life based in the North of Britain, had much to be thankful for. Night terror raids had continued
increasingly since the air Battle of Britain from September 1940. Here were the British air raid casualty
figures for April 1941 - 6,065 killed, 6,926 injured during raids on Bristol, Coventry,
Birmingham, Belfast, London and Portsmouth. Many
of the civilians did a full day's work and then reported to the ARP, fire service or maybe
home guard to do a full night's stint during these raids.
I always maintained that I had been preserved in the services,
compared to civilians having additionally no ration books to manipulate. On the 10th May, 1941, London
suffered a massive air raid, damaging Westminster Abbey, the House of Commons and the
Mint. During these raids, 1,436 people were
killed. On this day, one of Hitler's
henchmen, Rudolf Hess, parachuted into Scotland.
Soon afterwards, in early June, Germany attacked Russia. This was the first real hope that we would
survive, for Hitler was now fighting on two fronts. During the late part of 1941,
there were plans to deploy projectors en masse at night to fire 64 weapons at enemy
bombers using radar information by the fire control officer to direct the barrage. Control during the day by rocket batteries
was as basic as Indians firing arrows. Gun
batteries used projectors to give future positions for guns to fire at. No such devices existed for rocket units. Major Duncan Sandys had now developed a
plotting table, using information from local radar equipment, now being supplied to 'ack
ack' units. This was known as gun laying
equipment GL2. The plotting table
operators traced the course of a target being tracked by the GL2 operators. To do this, the slant range from the GL2 was
converted to ground range, using a predicted height.
A separate arm, located on the stylus mounting enabled the fire control
officer to predict the future position for the predictors to aim at. This information ensured a much more
accurate firing to be obtained. I was required to accompany
Lieutenant Hall on a visit to this experimental rocket site near Cardiff. The purpose of the visit was for me on
return to reproduce this plotting table. My
officer, the former solicitor from Oldham, I found to be very shrewd and seemed to pick up
the gist of the information on the plotting table on our visit. There were no drawings for me to take back
of this plotter, for it had been developed from trial and error. Lieutenant Hall revealed that the future use
of our equipment would be in the en masse mode. This
is why this visit was laid on, so that we could have fairly accurate fire control
information, rather than the firing officer just pointing in the direction where he can
hear the plane. To make my plotting table, I used
a projector circular base plate and with the help of a chippy, built legs under this
plate. This enabled two operators to sit
under the table, one to set ground range (converted from the radar slant range, using a
forecast height), the other to set the bearing.
A stylus on the carriage responded to the ground range set. The arm upon which the carriage sat rotated
about the centre of the table. This arm
then moved to the radar bearing set by the operator.
A future link device pivoted about the stylus provided by the fire
officer, with fire direction data to predict a future position. There was general acceptance of
this prototype plotting table by Lieutenant Hall, who in turn said he would notify the
commanding officer. There was some
urgency in equipping our HQ at Brambles Farm, Middlesborough, for firing in the barrage
mode, since we now had our own radar GL set operational at Don site, a short distance away
from HQ. This plotting table, if
successful, would be of immense value to the firing officer. Several senior officers, including a
brigadier were given demonstrations. On
the 27th May, 1941, I was promoted to lance sergeant and on 9th September 1941, I was made
acting sergeant. Rapid promotion indeed! This promotion saw a change in my
role, having taken over a troop with 4 sections under Lieutenant Roderick, based at
Brambles Farm. This took place in the
Autumn of 1941. I had now become a
member of the august body of men who met in the sergeants' mess. The chairman of this mess, like all the
others, was the reigning sergeant major, who was a member of the London Bus Transport. He was a cockney, small and thin and like all
officers and men who had late posting in this battery, could have served in the last war. Apart from the troop which had replaced my
unit at Eston, the rest of the men were now concentrated at Brambles Farm, where their
weapons would be employed in the en masse role. I now had duties of orderly
sergeant. This was of particular
interest when on duty with Captain Smith. He
would have a team of gunners following him when inspecting the gun site. Any cigarette end, or match or any other
litter he spotted, he would point to with his stick, which one of the trailing men would
be expected to pick up. The cook house
staff feared his visits, nothing was left without inspection. The pots and pans all shone and I doubt if
there was another army cook house up to the cleanliness standard of this one. My move to Middlesborough provided
an opportunity for Gladys to move there into digs.
She found accommodation fairly centrally place in the town. This turned out to be ideal, for I was welcomed
when not on duty. There were a few
other boarders, such as Mr Simpson, who became very fond of Gladys! The landlady, Mrs Blackburn, was a good tennis
player and having a tennis court alongside the house, I was to have tennis games with her,
when she generally beat me! Her husband had been a TT racer at
the Isle of Man motorcycle races. He
was called up in the RAF as a mechanic and formed part of the team servicing a Lancaster
plane piloted by Jeff Bond, who worked formerly in the efficiency department of Ever Ready
at Wolverhampton. Small world! I need hardly remind the reader
that this was the first time that Gladys and I were able to be together frequently since
we were married on the second day of war, this was something of a delayed honeymoon. This was to last into 1943. She was able to find a wages clerk post at
Richards, a local wire rope firm. This was a
change in her way of life, she was invited to a weekly social evening at our sergeants'
mess. This was when each member had to
do a party piece, mine was from Rudyard Kipling's poem, 'If'. I must admit they got a different version
each time I recited it. Whilst acting as sergeant major, a
very serious crime had been committed by members of the Oakes gang, now based at Eston. It had already been rumoured that this gang
had taken over their troop. All the men
in the Nissen hut did as Oakes commanded, such as 'light my cigar', 'fetch me my tea',
etc. In the case of this crime, the
gang chased their troop bombardier through Grange Town, which was observed by a local
policeman. When the bombardier managed
to escape and return to his Nissen hut, they again went for him and caused serious head
wounds. There was an indentation in the
side of the Nissen hut, where his head had hit it.
The military police were called in, and all but Oakes were put under
close arrest. Apparently he was not
there when the injury took place. When
all those charged where allowed, under escort, to exercise in the gun park, Oakes was seen
to be giving them advice. Eventually
the military police were informed by the policeman who had seen them chasing the
bombardier in Grange Town, that Oakes had been with them.
Oakes was now charged and joined the rest of the gang in clink. It was several weeks before the
trial could take place. The injuries
were so bad that the bombardier was almost too scared to give evidence. I was to learn a lot from King's Regulations
in dealing with procedures involved with men being charged.
All the men were sentenced to serve several months in the glass house,
this being the army prison where everything is carried out at the double. The battery were wrong in the first instance
to send this troop to Eston, knowing that the gang had existed from the time I had my
experience with Oakes in Dorman and Long works.
I think that it was a case of out of sight, out of mind. As it was, the military police regarded this
case as one of the most serious they had had to handle in the North East. There was another crime committed
just before Christmas. Someone had
taken home the sergeants' mess' turkey. The
sergeant major was not pleased! During 1942, the 'ack ack' command
was being drained of all its fit men and their replacement was now to be ATS and Home
Guard. It was when I had my first squad
of home guard, I was sent for by my troop officer, Roderick, and told I was to take charge
of Don Site, where the radar equipment and operators were stationed. This was formerly a golf club, where the
clubhouse was used as a canteen with members of the WRVS helping to serve the men. The unit was responsible for the financial
running of the canteen. I put
Bombardier Sweeney in charge of this task. The men who operated the radar GL2
set and electrical generator were supposed to be of a higher IQ than the norm and all had
to be trade tested. I was not involved
with their day to day operational duties. My
role was purely administrative and discipline.
However, being the person I am, I could not resist watching in the
cabin how the equipment was operated. I
learned the drill and was able to get some technical background from the GL2 handbook
supplied. The visiting radar officer agreed
to trade test me as an operator fire control, OFC.
When this was done, he then said, "You have just passed on your
belly." This was not to be the
last time this comment would be made to me, which by passing altered the course of my
career. In this case, I was now classified
as a tradesman and could not be used by the sergeant major for general duties such as
guard duties or as orderly sergeant. What
I had not realised, being a different animal from the rest of the unit, I was to be
deployed according to the needs of the radar services as regards manning demands. The most positive benefit was that I
received 5 shillings a day extra pay. I was required to call on the duty
officer at Brambles Farm. When I
arrived, he informed me that I was to attend an OFC radar course the following week. I said to him, "My wife will not like this,
if it means that I have to be resident at the radar training centre near Newcastle." He replied, "I am afraid that
it is residential, your travel warrant and joining instructions will be sent to you at Don
Site." Well, as expected, Gladys
was not pleased, but it was only for two weeks, and no doubt that I should be able to get
the weekend off to go back to Middlesborough. When I arrived at this radar
training unit and the duty sergeant examined my papers, he could not find any reference to
my having done a preliminary radar course. He
told me that I could not attend. He
then referred to ATS attending this course and said they could not allow a male sergeant
to fail the course should the ATS pass. When
I returned to report to the office, giving details of why I had been rejected, there was
sudden silence. The duty officer asked
me to stand outside his office, while he spoke to the sergeant major privately. When I was called in again, I was charged
with working my immediate return, to be back with my wife. It was now war between HQ office
and myself, for they refused to accept what I had told them, even though I asked them to
verify what I had said with the training centre. The first effect from this
declaration of war, was that the battery band would not be allowed to play at the social
evening to be held at the weekend in the golf clubhouse canteen, on Don Site. This action was followed by a series of
checks late at night, to see whether those who had received leave passes for the following
morning had left the night before, as was the unofficial custom. There were frequent inspections of the site
by the sergeant major. I was kept on
my toes. Finally, I was caught out on the
canteen finances. Bombardier Sweeney
had failed to balance the books, and this was a breach of army regulations. This was further compounded by the fact that
it was the duty of an officer to oversee the accounts.
Up to a few weeks previously, there had been no resident officer on
site. But the unit's designated major had
been billeted at this site with no duties. Being
the only officer on site, he should have vetted the books. While my fate on this matter was
in the balance, the reigning major and the designated major took a trip out somewhere, its
purpose was thought to be how they could resolve this matter without being implicated
themselves. No further action was taken
in this matter. As regards this major who
was resident on Don Site, it was the continuing process of replacing fit personnel with
older and less fit men. Shortly, it was anticipated that
the 106 Z unit would be classified as a Home Guard manned battery; also the radar team
would be manned by ATS. As part of this
manning process, it came as no surprise that I received my marching orders to join the 229
M 'ack ack' battery on the 2nd June 1943. Before my transfer took place, I
had several weeks to hand over Don Site radar duties to the ATS, who had been given
separate hut accommodation on Don Site. The
only duty that they were physically incapable to handle was the manual starting of the
power generator for the GL2 radar set. I was now beginning to realise
that Gladys would not be able to come with me until I had established a new base. Sadly, our honeymoon was coming to an end,
hopefully only for the time being. Compared
to my first 9 months in the army, this present tour of duty had lasted almost 3 years, and
could be classed as a cushy number. No
tents, no real enemy action and a honeymoon as icing on the cake. But fate can be cruel and kind. Take Alf Nixon, he lived and worked in
Middlesborough. He joined the army and
trained in the same area. He then
joined the 106 Z unit, also in the same area. He
became sergeant major of this unit after I left, where he served the rest of the war in
the same area. For most of us in the
army, when we joined it was 'goodbye, hope to see you soon.' At home, mother had returned from
Dyserth, North Wales, where she was evacuated at the start of the war. It so happened that this area in North Wales
was used to light decoy fires to divert German planes from bombing Liverpool. One night, this turned out to be a most
frightening experience for her, as bombs were being dropped close by her residence. Gladys' move back home turned out to be a
bonus for mother. |
Contents - Introduction - Home |
© Alan Rayment 1998
Last revised: January 14, 2001