Chotie Darling
Dedicated to the memory of my mother and all those who hold the
forever young of war in their hearts.
Part 3 Lieutenant Williams
Chapter 8 OCTU
On 4th March 1943
Dick was permanently attached to No 1 Pre OCTU* RAC**
30.0 Troop ‘A’ Squadron No 1
and stationed at Alma Barracks, Blackdown, near Aldershot in Hampshire
Copy of Record from Service & Casualty Form
*O.C.T.U. = Officer Cadet training Unit
**R.A.C. = Royal Armoured Corps
Dick was missing out on Exercise Spartan, the first Home Forces exercise for invasion of Europe. It's codename implied the severity of it's nature, with cookhouses withdrawn for two or more days at a time and instructions that on no account was anyone to buy food or accept gifts of food from the civilian population. The 43rd represented part of the Allied invasion forces - in 'Record of a Reconnaissance Regiment - History of the 43rd', edited by Jeremy Taylor, he writes "Exercise 'Spartan' will remain in the minds of those present as an aptly named endurance test ...." - while Dick's future colleagues in the 61st Infantry Division formed part of the German forces in occupation of Eastern England.
Eric Postles recalls:
“This exercise, the biggest ever held in Britain involved British and Canadian forces and was scheduled to last 2 weeks. Our start line was at Princes Risborough and involved fording the River Thames. The troop officer’s carrier got stuck in the water and towed out but was a non-runner. My carrier was detailed to tow it and in the early morning we pulled into a farm off the main Whitney-Oxford Road. We stayed there helping the farmer in return for milk and eggs and the villagers also brought us food. The REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) recovery truck found us and they also decided to stay until the exercise ended. When we ran out of money we sold a new officer’s (Lt. Winzer*) blankets, which were in the carrier, to buy beer at a nearby pub. He didn’t know who was responsible until we told him in Normandy. He was later killed. We re-joined the squadron at Woburn Abbey.”
“Men were still returning to Colchester for days afterwards, some having been taken prisoner and had to clear rubble at Southampton docks.”
* The officer, Lt. Geoff Winzer, later became a close friend of Dick’s. (Extracts from ‘My War Years’ by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)
The 145 (Berkshire Yeomanry) Fd Regiment Royal Artillery War Diary records that the “61st Infantry Division were on the move in Bucks and Berks” from 3rd to 6th March but by 10th March had been “badly knocked up by the enemy” in Exercise Spartan. “Isolated units, including the whole of the Regiment withdrawn to Woburn area, where remnants of 61 Division come under command 49 Division” (from World War 2 Talk Forum.)
5th March 1943 – the first Allied raid of the Battle of the Ruhr, on Essen in Germany. Pathfinder planes deployed the new oboe radar detection to locate targets. The Battle ended on 30th July 1943 having finally stopped steel production at the Krupp armaments factory in Essen and delayed tank production for the eastern front summer offensives.
6th March 1943 - Rommel launches another offensive from the Mareth line but the British had successfully decoded his messages and Montgomery was ready with an ambush. The Germans suffered heavy losses.
7th March 1943 – a new North Atlantic wolfpack of German ‘U’ boat submarines is formed and codename ‘Raubgraf’ (Robber Baron). One four day period in the middle of March saw 27 merchant vessels sunk by German U-boats. (From WW2-net Timelines .)
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