Chotie Darling

75 Years ago - Joining Up

Chotie Darling

Dedicated to the memory of my mother

and all those who hold the forever young of war in their hearts.

 

Part 1        The Blue Cockade  

 

Chapter 1     A Soldier on Salisbury Plain

 

Dunkirk, the famous rescue of the defeated Allied Forces trapped on the northern shores of France, took place over ten days leading up to Tuesday 4^th June 1940.

On that day Winston Churchill addressed Parliament and the nation with these words:

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender”

(Reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Ltd, London on behalf of the Estate of Sir Winston Churchill. Copyright © Winston S. Churchill )

 

On 18th June 1940 his speech to the House of Commons ended:

“the Battle of France is over, I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin… The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age …. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say,

“This was their Finest Hour”.

 

(Reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Ltd, London on behalf of the Estate of Sir Winston Churchill. Copyright © Winston S. Churchill )

 

 

On 21st June 1940 Richard Kelner Williams, age 18, occupation ‘student’, was enrolled in the British Territorial Army at Weymouth in Dorset and assigned to the 6^th Dorset Infantry Regt, to assemble in the Drill Hall, Wilton Rd, Salisbury.

 

They were ‘the Bath & Dorsets’ then but for June and July Dick was based in Wiltshire at Salisbury, Quidhampton and Dinton.

 

Saturday 22^nd June 1940

 

Miss Barbara Chalkley

The Hollies

Commercial Rd

Parkstone, Poole,

Dorset

Salisbury

Saturday 

Darling Chotie*,

                                                                                    I’m terribly sorry I haven’t been able to write before but have not had a moment to spare.  I’m trying to write on a window-sill at the Drill Hall at Salisbury, as the Sergeant has gone out.  Had a rather stiff medical, with eight doctors.  I could have kidded one, but eight was too much.  Unfortunately I passed A.1.

 

            I left Weymouth at 2pm Friday afternoon for Salisbury.  Arrived here at 4.30 approx. and was given tea by Sergeant of the guard.  We are at present under canvas in the heart of the country about 2 miles from Salisbury.  It is only a temporary camp of about 30.  We are moving to a larger camp sometime next week.  At the moment I have no number nor address, but will let you know immediately I get one.

           

            I must close now as the Sergeant is coming and try to get some stamps.

                                                                                               

                                                                  Bye bye darling

                                                                                  Your devoted quack-quack

                                                                                                      Dicker

 

* Hindustani for ‘Little One’

 

© Chotie Darling, 2010

 

What happened to Tony Rampling?

Anthony Rampling joined the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment early in 1943. He was a trained to use a Bren gun and in April 1944 transferred from the assault troop to Dick's armoured car troop.  Arriving with Dick in Normandy soon after D Day they were ‘brothers in arms’ through the Normandy campaign (including the hell of Briquesssard), the 'swan through France', battles in Belgium and the ill-fated advance of XXX Corps to relieve the 1^st Airborne in Market Garden.  After a very soggy time holding the line for three months in the Netherlands the Regiment was due to be disbanded but the 'Battle of the Bulge' called for a hasty reprieve and desperate fighting in the freezing Ardennes winter.

By the end of January 61^st Recce had lost three-quarters of the men that landed in Normandy (although all of Dick’s troop had survived). Men from the unit were sent to re-inforce other regiments and on 5th February 1945 61^st Reconnaissance was consigned to memory and history. 

Tony has been a key source of my information on 61^st Recce and accompanied this blog from October 2013/1943 to February 2015/1945:

    

    “When I left the Recce after our second visit to Iseghem (Belgium) – after the Ardennes – I went to the 44^th Royal Tank Regiment 4 Armoured Brigade. My brother was a Major in the 4^th A.B. and her got me in there, saying it was safer than the Recce (I didn’t see much difference).

    When I arrived at the 44^th in Holland a Sergeant said: “What are you?” I said I was a Driver, although I was a Gunner/Wirless Operator. My driving consisted of 4 hrs training in England. He said “Drive that DINGO”. I was put in the Assault Troop.

    After spending most of the time up front in several actions up to the River Rhine I was sent over on a DUKW the night before the main attack the following morning.

    Then I was among the first troops in to Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck. We were near Belsen and asked if we wanted to see it. I didn’t go. War was ending.

 

        After a few moves we settled at Rantzau Castle. The Baron left and the Tanks were parked in his drive. There were stables and some nice horses; my friend and I started a riding school . There were plenty of horses left by the German Army and we had prisoners to help with the work.

    This was an enjoyable time until August when I was taken ill with pneumonia, massive plural effusion and a collapsed lung. I was taken to Lübeck hospital then Bremen hospital and flown back to Aldershot hospital. Then from Woking hospital, although I was confined to bed I was given a rail pass and put on a train to make my way to Papworth hospital, Cambridgeshire. After some months I was transferred to Broomfield hospital near Chelmsford – they thought I had T.B., like a lot of other soldiers. After bed rest and fresh air I was finally discharged, taking about 18 months in total.

 

    When I recovered I started a wholesale fruit, vegetable and potato business together with a Bomber pilot friend and my brother. From small beginnings this developed into quite a big business. At 65 I sold my shares in the Company and worked from Rome on potatoes, buying seed from Scotland and Ireland and dealing in Ware Potatoes (ready for eating) to the London markets.

    At this time we lived in a nice 400 year old farmhouse with 6 acres of land, and had several horses and ponies. My wife and daughter rode and we all hunted. I did some Point to Pointing, Show Jumping and Hunter Trails. During most of this time I was a member of the 61^st Recce Comrades Association and went to re-unions. It was nice to keep in touch and we did three trips to Iseghem.

 

    I retired from business at 80 years old and brought a smaller property in a village. I was doing well until I broke my hip and had a pacemaker in summer 2014.”

 

Luckily Tony recovered and is still following this blog. In September 2015 he was awarded the medal of the Legion of Honour,  becoming a Chevalier (Knight) in the 'Ordre nationale de la Legion d'honneur' in recognition of his 'military engagement and steadfast involvement in the Liberation of France'.

 

 

Thank you so much Tony for helping me through your war years.

What happened to Don Aiken?

Don Aiken told the story of 61st Recce (and 52nd Recce) on the BBC People's War website for their Millenium Project.  He has very kindly allowed me to use his writing on the Chotie Darling blog and now this Epilogue:

“After the huge gamble by the Germans to break through the Ardennes, which came to a disastrous failure, the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment was broken up during January 1945.

I was then posted to C Squadron of the 52nd (Lowland) Scots Recce Regt.. They had trained in Scotland for most of the war and bore a 'MOUNTAIN' flash on their tunics.

Strangely they had only seen warfare in mountainless Holland before I joined them on my birthday 6/2/45. I was then employed as Driver/Operator in a 'Dingo' armoured car - which was great fun.

In March 1945 the Allies made a massive attack over the Rhine, in which we took part, and successfully entered Germany on a broad front.

The 52nd Division progressed through the Ruhr until we reached and over-ran Bremen. Our Squadron was then quickly re-directed to Stalag XB, which was a prison camp that had been converted into a concentration camp. I won't describe the terrible conditions in that place. Whilst we were there the unconditional surrender of the Germans took place and the war in Europe was at last ended.

We spent the next 11 months or so in doing duty as an occupation army with most of it spent in keeping the peace between rampant ex-POWs and the largely unprotected population.

Then in April 1946 we were merged with the Lothian & Border Horse until July when they were disbanded and we were used to reinforce the 14th/20th Kings Hussars - part of the Regular Army, and now housed in an ex-German barracks in the town of Wuppertal.  Now, instead of armoured cars, we were equipped with light tanks which were also great fun.

Then, in June 1947, after another long year of waiting, it became my turn to be demobilised.

After I got home I spent a couple of months in getting acclimatised to civvy street before finding that I had been fortunate in being accepted back into the Blackpool Fire Service.

I spent the next 30 years in the Service, rising through the ranks to finally achieve the position of Divisional Officer.”

Thanks very much for this Don.

Chotie's Daughter