Out Driving - Sunday 11th April

Same address 

Sunday

 

My Darling Chotie,

                                                Many thanks for your letter and the news of your change of address.  Hope you prefer it to Oswestry, - at least you’re a little nearer home ….

            I shall be here for the next seven months or so – at least in this neighbourhood I suppose.

            ‘Fraid I don’t know Bristol – all the blokes in my room at Dover came from this most antique of ports, and, needless to say, consider it the model town of the whole country.  The Clifton Suspension bridge is considered one of the chef d’oeuvres* in the structural engineering world.  I also know a BA who lives at Clifton, hails from the varsity.  That about finishes my knowledge of the town.  Glad to hear you’ve made a friend there.  Always seems to help matters.

            I’ve dropped for Guard Commander for Tuesday next so I’m spending the weekend blancoing etc.

            I start on wireless tomorrow – for a fortnight then a fortnight gunnery – then leave and Sandhurst, maybe…

            I believe I told you there’s an RA** crowd here (ATS).  Always seem to be doing predictor stuff.

            (Have stopped writing to have chat with bloke who’s hobby was mountaineering – very interesting.  Another bloke here – the medico - says his greatest ambition in life is to become a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron!  Nothing like aiming high, is there?  He’ll probably make it.)

            We’ll have to arrange something about my next leave.  You may be able to get a 72hr or something.  I’ll let you know all details when they arrive.

            Had two days out driving last week.  Went to Brighton on Thursday and Oxford on Friday.  Saw Gloucester*** arriving through Oxford in his Rolls.  (One of his Rolls).  Also went through Bicester, Aylesbury, Windsor Great Park, etc.  Made quite a change as I don’t really know this area.

            The country round here is pretty marvellous but the Army of course have got their hands on most of it.  There are literally hundreds of period houses, mostly Tudor cottages which have been used as weekend hide-outs, I should imagine.  It makes me wince every time I see the military in them.

            I’m reading (in brief snatches) Gabriel Chevallier’s ‘Clochemerle’, which is a rather licentious tale of life in a French village.  Very amusing.

            I’m boring you again I suppose so will close here.  Will let you know of any developments as regards leave, etc

                                                All my love

                                                            Darling

                                                            Dicker

P.S.  Excuse envelope – it’s all I have.

 

* ‘chef d’oeuvre’ – French for masterpiece

** RA – Royal Artillery

***Presumably Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester and third son of King George V. He was appointed potential regent by his brother George VI should he die while his daughter, the future Elizabeth II was a minor.

© Chotie Darling

 

Meanwhile Eric Postles , our friend from the 61^st Recce, was in the Chilterns of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire:

“We moved to Ashridge Park near Berkhamsted.  While there we had a local exercise with the Dutch Princess Irene Brigade and got an almighty rocket for setting fire to a haystack.  We lived rough for about a month at Cheddington and Chalfont, range firing at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast, anti-aircraft firing at Clacton (many streets were evacuated and we slept in one of the empty houses).  We regularly went to Thetford Battle Range for live firing and had an exercise with the Polish Army in the same area.  We caused mayhem in Ely on our way back to camp when someone fired a smoke bomb from their armoured car, which resulted in the fire brigade being called out.”

 Anthony Rampling joined the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment while it was camping in a field between Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter, not far from Tring.

 

12^th April 1943 – German radio announces they have found the mass graves of thousands of Polish officers, deported and killed by the Soviet Union, in Katyn Forest near Smolensk in Russia. Almost 15,000 Polish army and police officers and intelligentsia had been killed by the Soviets in April 1940. This threatened a diplomatic crisis among the Allies and was denied by the Soviet Union, who blamed the massacre on the Germans, until 1990. (From WW2-net Timelines,  Chronology of World War II and Wikipedia.)

 

17^th April 1943 – in a US daylight bombing of aircraft factories in Bremen with 115 B-17 bombers 15 Allied planes were lost. Allied air losses over Germany were very high in spring 1943.

Japan mounted its largest air strike since Pearl Harbour attacking Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Port Moresby and Milne Bay in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)