A far cry from Dorset - Monday 11th January

5731671 Tpr Williams, R.K

Mortar Tp  HQ Sqdn 43^rd Recce regt.

Recce Corps  Home Forces

Monday

My Darling Chotie,

                                                            So you’re in the Army at last…._ and from your letter things don’t appear to be too bad.

            I should imagine by now you know all about innoculation….Just ignore it. Personally we always welcome it as it means 48 hrs in kip – that is TAB* of course, not ATT etc.

            Northampton seems rather a far cry from Dorset, but you may be posted farther South of course.  It’ll be the helluva way to go just for 48 hrs though.

            You say the clobber seems stiff – and soft cloth at that….

            I’ve just done an amazing thing – for me, or rather two amazing things – won two cross-countries inside a week!  Shock nearly killed me.  Had a forced route march today over ploughed fields.  Half the troop fell out.  I made it all right, but it left me with a swine of a headache.  All those who fell out go on a charge automatically. 

            Expect you’re bored stiff reading all this tosh!  Specially if the innoc. got
you down.  We are always urged to get about and forget it, but I just give in and relax in bed.

            It’ll be a change to write to you at another address….

            Ramble, ramble….

            Pretty chilly here, expect it’s the same with you.  We pinch about ½ ton of coal a week from various sources.

            Haven’t heard from Brinner for ages – and Eric needless to say has always failed to write.  Brinner’s still somewhere in Essex I suppose.

            Did you hear about Monica’s effort?  Baby daughter – 9lb 4oz something.  Helluva weight.  Mother did tell me her name.  I’ve forgotten I’m afraid.

            Re. Xmas present.  Is there anything you want?  Or would you rather I send you the shekels?  Don’t be afraid to let me know will you in your next epistle.

            Met an Eire padre last night.  Ex boxer from Dublin Varsity.  Found quite a lot in common.  Opera, Georgian Houses etc.  Quite a lively argument about the Church.  Had to admit we both had our own points….

            Don’t forget to give me a lucid description of the Sarn’t-Major.  Yes Ma-am….

            Must close here, Darling.

            Hope I get the address right.

                                                                        All my love

                                                                                    Dicker

P.S.  Don’t let ‘em get you down….

* Typhoid inoculation

 © Chotie Darling

 

Section Training continued for 43^rd Recce from 11^th to 15^th January 1943. On Saturday 16^th  there was Vehicle Maintenance and Recreational training and on 17^th Church Parade.  43^rd Recce officers provided umpires for Exercise “Hammer 1” from 17^th to 19^th January. (From the War Diary of the 43^rd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)

 

11^th January 1943 – Chotie again visited the dentist at Northampton.

Copy of Record

Dental Treatment Card – 13/1/43         Northampton

 

 

On 11^th January 1943 Chotie filled out a qualification form and was tested and interviewed on the 12^th January:

 

Sheet 10A. (A.T.S.) - record copy in poor condition so written out in full.

QUALIFICATION FORM

1. Training Centre  1                   2.Company  3            3.Date of intake  8^th Jan 1943

4. Surname (in block letters)  CHALKLEY                   Army No  242328

5. Christian names  BARBARA CHALKLEY        6. Home County  DORSET

7. Date of birth  6^th Sept 1923           8. Height  5’2¼             9. Spectacles  NO

10. Married or single  NO                       11. Ages of children (if any)        -

12. Schools (name and Place)  Courthill School, Parkstone

13. Age on leaving full time school  15yrs              14. Standard or class  7^th  (Elem.)

15. School Certificate, Higher leaving Certificate or Matriculation, Subjects;

16. Further training since school:

a) Evening classes (give place, subjects, No. of sessions in each)

Poole Technical College. Maths, Literature, Art. (*Thrice weekly. 1 session – 6mths.)

b) Full-time courses (give place, subjects, length of course, and certificate, diploma or degree obtained)

17. Your main job in civil life?  Display Artist (Backgrounds, decorating etc.)

How long did you work at it?  3 yrs

What exactly did you do?           Window Dressing

Name of employer,and nature of business   Plummers Roddis Ltd. Drapers

Average wages  £2 weekly

Other kinds of work you have tried

YOUR JOBS                    PERIOD             FIRM                             AVERAGE WAGE

Display Work                 1yr                    Beales & Co                    27/6

(Trainee for 2 months. 6mts store, drapery etc.)

18. What work have you done outside your home since marriage (if married)?

19. If you have held a driving licence state for how long you have had it  -  and it you still have it  -

20. Underline any of the following of which you have special knowledge or experience:

Typing                                       Cooking                         Car repairs

Languages                                 Catering                         Electrical Repairs

Residence abroad                       Handicrafts                     Photography

Nursing, First-aid                       Use of Sewing Machine     Morse little

Household Management                                                    Use of Telephone

(Embroidery, sewing, Makes own clothes & underwear. Guides. Morse not good.)

21. Experience of organising, instructing, or taking charge of others:

a) in your work

b) in your leisure (e.g. as Guide Lieutenant, secretary of society)

c) at school (e.g. as captain or prefect)   Prefect

22. State your chief spare time interests   Reading, Music, Dressmaking.

23.  A.T.S. Employment:

Your first preference     Ack-Ack. – ‘spotting’

Your second preference     Orderly – Equipment

Are you willing to be considered for operational work? (Ack-Ack)   Yes

Date     11-Jan-43                    Signature        B.E.Chalkley

*(Comments in brackets and italics were added subsequently by assessor)

SUMMARY SHEET

1. TEST RESULTS

Name    CHALKLEY          B.E.                                                      No.  W/242328

(To be filled in by Clerk or N.C.O.)

 

S.G.	Re-test	S.P.Test* 2	S.P.Test 3	S.P.Test 4	S.P.Test 5		AA-A	AA-B	AA-C	AA-D
49/1		26/2	34/3   mins	21/2	64/2	36/3   plus	√	-	√	√

 

ED	Spotter	VAT		Track Tracer
R+	6	10.10.10		E./T. 0   98

            Very steady

 

Educational Standard	Medical Category	Height	Glasses Worn
5.	AWI Visual Sh. R.    L. 6/6   6/6	5’2¼	No

 

 

2. INTERVIEW RECORD.

(To be filled in by Clerk or N.C.O.)

Main Occupation             Window Dresser

E.R.                  1                      2                      3

L                      1                      2                      3 

A                     1                      2 minus             3 

M                     1                      2 minus             3

S                     1                      2                       3

 

3. GENERAL REMARKS

        These should relate to the Auxiliary’s experience and/or qualifications in civil life, her own views about her employment in the A.T.S., and a note of any special qualifications to be noted for immediate or future use in the service.

            Very keen to be on a gun site. Test standards good.  Would like stores as second choice. Although SP 23 one grade below standard recommend in view of other test scores.

 

4. RECOMMENDATIONS

First      AA        Suggest as        D          AD 

Second  Storewoman

S.Q.(i)

S.Q.(ii)

            Selection Officer’s Signature        Joan M Taylor Sub.

 

Potential N.C.O.              Yes

Potential Officer

 

Date     12.1.43             Commandant’s Signature                        Pamela M. Fritton

                                                                                                St.Cmdr.

 

*SP Test = Selection of Personnel Test

 

On 12th January 1943

Chotie’s enrolment in the

Auxiliary Territorial Service was approved.

 

Chotie's enrolment form approval - see Chotie enrols in the ATS for the first part of this form.

 

Basic Training was an initiation into army life with an emphasis on drill, polishing, pressing, inspections, health and hygiene - nit inspections and treatment of the new recruits were de rigeur - as well as pregnancy and VD (venereal disease) tests and vaccinations.  There was a lot of marching in new, heavy lace-up shoes and PT training in the gym.  Army regulations had to be learned and the girls had to become accustomed to army life, living in freezing Nissen huts ‘heated’ by a central stove with one bucket of coal per day and queuing for meals at the cookhouse with your ‘irons’ – personal issues of cutlery.  They slept on ATS 'biscuits' - three separate squares of straw mattress that you had to try to keep together and under you during the night.

During training there were assessments to assign girls to the many different branches of the service – the ATS covered everything from the Army Postal and Courier Service and the Royal School of Signals to the Ordnance Corps (checking and packing ammunition or managing supplies), driving or motorbiking and cooking as well as the famous Ack-Ack girls who worked alongside the gunners on the anti-aircraft sites.

(From ‘Girls in Khaki – a history of the ATS in the Second World War’ by Barbara Green, published by the History Press 2012)

 

For first-hand accounts of life in the A.T.S. Training Camp in Northampton see the People's War on the BBC website, an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC.

Gladys Shaw became Company Quartermaster at Talavera Camp and gives a vivid account of conditons at the camp for new recruits in “The ATS in wartime Northampton”.  Doreen Myall, W/242400, also had to report for duty at the camp in January 1943:

“We were met at Northampton by army lorries, which took us to the centre. I do not remember too much of Northampton. It was a very cold January that year with snow on the ground for most of my three weeks training. I had chilblains on my feet and trying to break in new army shoes was very painful as there were parades, PE and marching every day. My first breakfast was kippers, not quite what I was used to at home but when you are hungry you eat. I did go into Northampton once to look around and marched one Sunday to Church Parade but cannot remember the name of the large Church we were in. Training was mainly learning the dos and don’ts and regulations of army life and being assessed as to where I would be posted.”  (From “My Time in the  ATS”contributed to 'WW2 People's War’ by David West.)

Hilda Pooler  was sent to Nothampton for ATS Basic Training in April 1943: 

“Reported to Talavera Camp, Northampton. Hundreds of girls and I only knew one, and she was sent in a different direction. What had I done!  Talavera was a huge place and we stayed together like a flock of sheep. However, lots to do, piles of things to collect, getting tucks put into the uniform (I was small, so lots of tucks). The greatcoat buried me and was so heavy. We were told to work hard polishing our cap badge. I sat all one evening rubbing away, only to be reprimanded next morning for a non-shiny badge!”

“When we were eventually passed as ATS girls (uniforms fitting – knew our left foot from the right – remembered to always carry your knife, fork and spoon and mug – and pack all kit into a quite small kitbag) - we were off.”

 

The basic training routine was the same for all recruits at training camps across the country.

Doffy Brewer had arrived at Talavera Camp in September 1941 and wrote of the Basic Training then:

'If you survive it nothing in the way of discomfort, humiliation, culture-shock or fatigue that life can bring afterwards can be as bad.’ 

(From 'Millions like us: Women's Lives in the Second World War' by Virginia Nicholson, published by Penguin in 2012.)

 

 

 

12^th January 1943 – the Red Army launch Operation Spark at Leningrad (St Petersburg) to break the German encirclement south of Lake Ladoga.  (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

13^th January 1943 – the call-up for single girls in Britain is lowered to 19 (Chotie’s age). (From WW2-net Timelines.)

14^th January 1943 – US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill meet with the Allied joint staff under General Eisenhower at the Casablanca summit Conference. The British persuade the Americans to pursue the war in North Africa (which was going badly in Tunisia) and then launch Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.  They also agree the ‘Combined Bomber Offensive’ with the US Eighth Air Force, which bombed by day, focusing on the destruction of the Luftwaffe and aircraft factories, while the British continued bombing cities by night.  On 24^th January they demand unconditional surrender from Germany and Italy. (See On War chronology.)

15th January 1943 – the French Communist party reacts against the support for former French Vichy leaders in North Africa by announcing in London that it will ally its resistance with de Gaulle and the Free French.

16th January 1943 – Iraq enters the war against Germany, Italy and Japan. (From WW2-net Timelines.) 

17th January 1943 – in an attempt to keep China in the war Britain and the United States give up their right to settlements claimed unfairly after the Opium Wars and Boxer Rebellion. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

18^th January 1943 – the Russians break through the German encirclement of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) opening up a corridor to bring relief to the city. However, the siege was not finally lifted until 27^th January 1944 – 900 days after it began in September 1941.

The first armed clash in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising succeeds in temporarily suspending deportations, although most of the Jews who fought against the round-up were killed.  By the end of 1942 only 70,000 of the Polish Jews who had been forced into the Warsaw Ghetto remained – more than 3,000 had been deported to the extermination and hard labour camps.