Chotie Darling

Happy 100th Birthday Eric Postles

HAPPY

 

BIRTHDAY

 

ERIC

 

100 Today!

 

John Eric Postles joined up in January 1942 becoming Trooper Postles 10602580, one of the legendary '1060 boys', a large intake of men from north-west England for the Reconnaissance Corps.  Reconnaissance meant gathering information, often from behind enemy lines or in battle, and getting it back safely, in person and by radio so it could be used to plan tactics or find a safe way to advance.  The Reconnaissance Corps' official mottos 'From One Learn All' and 'Beaten Paths are Safest' reflected this role, while their unofficial motto 'Only the Enemy in Front (every other beggar behind)' describes where they often found themselves.

Eric Postles' Regiment, the 61st Reconnaissance, was to play a critical role in the Battle for North-West Europe from 'D' Day to February 1945.  By then they were so decimated from their engagements with the enemy that they were disbanded and dispersed to other Regiments.  Eric was in the first wave of those landing in France, endured the bitter campaign to expand the Normandy bridgehead, led Montgomery's Twenty-First Army Group across France and liberated towns and villages across Belgium with fierce fighting as the Germans dug in their defences along the canals.  61st Recce were with the Guards in the forefront of Monty's 'Market Garden' effort to reach the Airlanding at Arnhem across the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands (the famous 'Bridge too Far') and then spent two drear months on the front-line there as water levels rose on their 'Island'.   With the infantry division they were attached to (50th Northumbrian) returning to Britain that December, the Regiment was in process of being broken up at Izegem in Belgium when the Germans launched an unexpected new attack in the Ardennes.   Seizing their discarded vehicles and weapons the 61st went into action alongside the Americans in the 'Battle of the Bulge', obtaining vital information in the freezing conditions of a mountain winter.   With the enemy eventually pushed into Germany, disbandment was resumed and Eric went to join the 49th Reconnaissance Regiment back on the flooded 'Island', patrolling and observing the V2 rockets launched from the northern Netherlands.  Arnhem was at last taken by the Allies in April and Eric was involved in the liberation of Lunteren, Amersfoot and Utrecht before VE Day on 8th May 1945. 

Eric married Gladys, his wartime sweetheart, in 1947 and worked for the War Office, then Her Majesty's Prison Service; receiving the Imperial Service Order on his retirement.  One of the few remaining 61st Reconnaisance Regiment veterans, he lives in the north-west, near enough to enjoy the support and appreciation of the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment Living History Group.

Hearty Congratulations on your 100th Birthday Eric

and many thanks for your wonderful contributions to this blog.

                                                                                                                                                                        Eric with the 61st Reconnaissance Re-enactment Group on 20th August 2022.

75 years ago - Driver Mechanic, Mortar Troop

On 21st August 1942 Dick (a Francophile and fluent French speaker) wrote to Chotie horrified at the list of French celebrities published as traitors for collaboration with the Germans.  Some of the boats from the disastrous raid on Dieppe had left from the Sussex coast and the county had received attention from the Luftwaffe – Dick’s mother was shopping in Bognor Regis shortly before the Odeon was bombed and Dick, who “saw most of the action in the Channel” was “machine-gunned in the streets”.  On 29th August he got very drunk with some French-Canadians, who may have been involved in the commando raid, carried out by mainly Canadian forces.  He was still enjoying other delights of Brighton with frequent visits to the cinema, as well as the ballet.  He seems very keen to become engaged to Chotie in his letter of 30^th August, but as far as I know there was no engagement.

‘Polyfoto’ of Chotie just before her nineteenth birthday.

On 2nd September Dick passed his trade test as a Driver Mechanic with good results. He wrote to Chotie the next day to let her know he would soon be back in Dover and wish her a very happy nineteenth birthday. He’d also visited the opera and made a new friend, the Italian Benetti.

On Tuesday 8^th September, back with 43^rd Recce he wrote again:

5731671 Tpr Williams R

A/TK Troop, HQ Squadron

43rd Recce Regt,  Recce Corps,

Armed Forces

Tuesday

My Darling Chotie,

I'm in a lecture at the moment, so I'm writing this in my notebook under pretext of taking some notes…  I got your letter this morning - for which many thanks.   Hope you can read this scrawl but I never could write on my knee.  Glad to hear you celebrated your birthday in style - wish I could have been with you.

            (The bloke here is a yawning on about internal combustion engines - very dull after six weeks of it.)

By the way - in your last letter but one, you told me about your ‘change of employment ', but it was, if you remember, in the form of a postscript, which I missed of course, at the first reading.  When reading it again at a later date (a very sound habit of mine), I came across it, and needless to say, would have congratulated you in my last epistle.  Anyhow - nice work.

            (I very much doubt whether you can make head or tail of this scrawl.  I've got a job to understand it myself - but persevere, Darling.) 

I have to keep answering questions all the time to this wretched man - a Sergeant from the Ordnance Corps.  Up to now, I've managed to keep just one jump ahead of him.  He's not really very bright - typical of the R.A.O.C.*, but writing a letter as well has its snags.

I've been enquiring about my leave, and may get it on the 16th i.e. next Wednesday (a week today), but it seems rather doubtful.  What can you manage if I do?  I'm afraid I can't say definitely, because the Squadron Office don't know themselves.

I've been put on fire guard for a week (!) which means I work evenings as well.  I haven't been out since I've been here.  Not that there's anything of interest.  I went out on an exercise yesterday morning, and passed through some marvellous villages, would have delighted Frances B. Young**.

Glad to hear you met Jones.  Where is he stationed these days, or didn't he tell you?  Did I tell you that Brinner was on a course in North Devon?   

Are the old Dorsets*** still with you?  It would mean that they've been there a year now.

I've got a cross country to run this evening after tea, a Devil, isn't it, seeing that I haven't done PT of any sort for seven or eight weeks.

My two Scotch friends have gone on leave to bra’ wee Ayr, and left me disconsolate, although they are both in ‘A’ Squadron, and I don't see much of them.  (The lecture has at last ended, 1½ hrs, so I'll finish this tonight - maybe...)

Well, Lulu, after the lecture I heard I'd been transferred from the Anti Tank Troop to the Mortar Troop****, and having seen the Troop Commander about my leave, feel more confident about the 16th - but remember it’s still not definite.

This mortar job appears cushy - driving - but not quite so cushy in action.

Well, Darling, I must close here with all my love,

                always yours, Precious

                                your loving

                                            Dicker

P.S.  I mentioned our “engagement” to the old folks at home in my last letter.  I haven't yet had a reply ... keep your chin up, Lulubelle..

*Royal Army Ordnance Corps – responsible for supplying weapons, ammunition and equipment to the Army.

**A Frances B. Young wrote a biography of Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke (an Elizabethan writer) but the origins of this reference are obscure.

***Dick’s original regiment (see Chotie Darling Part 1 ‘The Blue Cockade’) last heard of at Branksome in Poole.

****A Reconnaissance Regiment consisted of one HQ Squadron and three Reconnaissance Squadrons. Mortar Troop was one of the four Troops in HQ Squadron (with Signals, Armoured Tank and Admin) and used 6 x 3” mortars. Mortars are portable. Fixed to the ground they are used to fire small bombs in a slow high arc into the enemy at close range.

 

In September 43^rd Recce received orders to mobilise complete with re-inforcements, which presumably would include Dick. There were Brigade exercises ‘Break in’, which Dick may have been involved in and ‘Break out’, which he would have missed while on leave.

Later in September the Sunday Pictorial (now the Sunday Mirror) published an article on the Recce entitled “The First Thrilling Story of Britain’s ‘Reccies’ – our Secret Army is Ready”:

“The men of the Reconnaissance Corps have taken on one of the toughest jobs in the war – the spearhead of our attack on Germany. They are as elusive as guerrillas, fast as scouts, tough as commandos…..every one picked for brain as well as brawn…everything is improvised, time reducing, hazardous…an army which will roam behind enemy lines…their job, to spy on the enemy a close quarters…every scrap of information they get will be fought for” etc.

(From ‘Beaten Paths are Safest’  by Roy Howard, courtesy of the Sunday Pictorial, now the Sunday Mirror.)

 

Back in Dorset Chotie had “a change in employment” – since she was in Beales’ knitwear department in June 1942 perhaps this was when she went to Plummers, the employment she recalled after the Land Army episode? Certainly her last civilian job before January 1943 was as a window dresser at Plummers (Chotie called herself a “Display Artist”).

Luftwaffe attacks continued with 5 people killed by a bomb not far from Chotie’s home in Parkstone on 11^th September.  In the Channel planes from Warmwell sank two armed trawlers on 9^th September and 21 people died when a famous Poole flying-boat, the Clare, caught fire over the English Channel the 14^th. A new aerodrome that was to play a critical role on D Day and in Operation Market Garden was now under construction at Tarrant Rushton.

Poole’s Small Scale Raiding Force successfully obtained captured German wireless operators and Naval codebooks from les Casquets lighthouse in the Channel islands on 2^nd/3^rd March but their founder and leader, Major Gus March-Phillips was killed in another raid on 12^th/13^th September on a beach at St Honorine in Normandy, later better known as ‘Omaha’ (from the D Day landings).

 

On 3^rd September 1942 a National day of Prayer was held in Britain for the third Anniversary of the Declaration of War.

Germany began a major offensive in Stalingrad on 13^th September with orders from Hitler that the entire male population of the city should be eliminated. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)   Fierce Russian resistance and cunning was eventually to save the city but Stalingrad became a legend for the huge numbers killed on each side – possibly 750,000 troops and approximately 40,000 civilians.

On the other side of the world thousands of Japanese soldiers and US Marines were killed on one day, 12^th September, in the ‘Battle of Bloody Ridge’ over the airfield on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

75 years ago – The World at War

All we know of Dick in December 1941 is that he visited the dentist in Bournemouth on Friday 19th.  Perhaps he even spent Christmas at home with Chotie?

In Dorset the early radar mapping discoveries (called ‘Blind Navigation’) were encouraged to enable bombers to find targets in poor weather at night. 

Dick’s future unit, the secret 1^st Air Landing, became established in Shaw House, near Newbury in Berkshire,under the leadership of Major ‘Freddie’ Gough (later of Arnhem fame).

On 2^nd December the new National Service Bill introduces compulsory war service for single women aged between 20 and 30.

 

Hitler’s armies were in striking distance of Moscow at the end of November but a surprise counter-attack by Soviet forces on 5^th December halted their advance. 

In Libya Operation Typhoon successfully led to the withdrawal of Rommel’s troops and the lifting if the siege of Tobruk. 

In Norway Combined Operations’ newly formed commandos successfully destroyed 16,000 tons of German shipping in a raid.

However…..

On 8^th December 1941 (7th December in Hawaiii) Japanese forces successfully sprung a surprise air attack on the American Fleet in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii and the USA and UK declared war on Japan.  On 9^th December China, already at war with Japan, declared war on Germany and Italy and two days later the USA was also at war with Germany and Italy.

World War 2 was now truly global.

Japan also attacked US bases in the Philippines, destroying half the US Far East Airforce, Guam (in the Mariana Islands) and Wake Island (between Hawaii and the Marianas).  In China they moved into Shanghai.

Japanese forces landed in Malaya, launching air raids on Singapore, and sinking the great British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse, sent to defend the colony.  Their troops landed in Borneo and Burma and on the British held Hong Kong Island.  Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese on 25^th December, Christmas Day.

Churchill was, by then, in America, in urgent conference with the US President and essential ally Franklin D. Roosevelt, relieved that at last the USA was entering the war.

(From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

75 years ago - Chotie's 'second best'

“After my fiasco with the Land Army I went to work at Plummers, Boscombe, where I learnt a lot about displaying fashions.  Then, as it was quite a way from home, I transferred to Plummers, Bournemouth and did a spell in the Knitwear Department.  I got friendly with a Jewish girl and was spending the weekend at her home in Mudeford when I met George.  He was sitting in the back of a car smoking a Petersham pipe, just like Dicker did.  That was the attraction.  He was motorcycle officer at Blandford Camp, very posh - in fact an old Etonian, which I found out much later on.  He used to say he was second best, as he knew that Dicker was first.  George never gave me a clue as to his swanky background and he came to our humble abode for Sunday lunch and thoroughly enjoyed my Mum’s apple pie.” (From ‘Chotie’s Story’) 

After the war Mum was with George Bainbridge for seven years (she lived on his boat off Poole Quay in the summer) but he married someone else and went to live on the Isle of Wight.

Where Dick was in November 1941 is uncertain since there are no letters to my mother during this time.

Dorset’s Telecommunications Research Establishment were just beginning to produce radar ‘maps’ using their ‘Special Duty Flights’ from Christchurch Aerodrome and RAF Hurn (guarded by Dick’s Dorset Regiment).

In November 1941 a critical reconnaissance photo was taken revealing to TRE the presence of a Würzburg transmitter (Germany’s secret radar) near Cherbourg.  This became the subject of the successful Bruneval Raid in February 1942, organised from Mountbatten’s Combined Operations HQ near Poole.

Dorset was still subject to bombing raids with three people killed in Weymouth on 2^nd November.  On 11th November a British fighter plane crash landed at RAF Warmwell hitting the station’s ammunition dump and killing two of the Dorset Regiment troops on guard there.

Paper was in short supply so Christmas cards were banned and buses were stopped from 9.30pm because of the fuel shortage.

In Poland work began on the Nazis first extermination camp at Belżec.  Stalin celebrated the Anniversary of the Revolution in Moscow, although the city was in a state of siege and, as hard frosts firmed the sodden ground, German troops were advancing on the capital.

In China the Japanese had achieved a devastating victory over the Chinese Nationalists in southern Shensai and on 14^th November the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal sank following a German U-boat attack.

However, the Allies had cracked Italian naval codes and, on 9^th November, succeeded in destroying a huge convoy carrying vital supplied for Axis forces in Tripoli. On 18^th November Allied forces advanced into Libya, ending Rommel’s 241 day siege of the key supply port at Tobruk on 27^th November.

On 26^th November Japanese aircraft carriers in the north Pacific had set sail from the Kurile Islands heading for Hawaii and the American Naval base at Pearl Harbour.

75 years ago – Not much of a Birthday

The Atlantic Charter, a joint statement of mutual goals for the post WW2 world, was signed by Britain and the USA on 14^th August but America had still not joined the war.  On 25^th August British and Russian troops invaded Iran, then known as Persia.

At the beginning of September Jews in Germany, like those in Poland, were forced to wear the yellow star.  Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration camp in southern Poland, began the murder of prisoners using gas. By the end of World War 2 over 1.1 million men, women and children had lost their lives there.

In Dorset R.A.F. Hurn welcomed the fighter aircraft that were to become the secret Telecommunications Flying Unit (later the Radar Research Flying unit) linked to the Telecommunications Research Establishment at Worth Matravers, near Swanage.  This was the top secret centre for scientists working on Britain’s radar warning system.

By 17^th August Dick’s section of the Dorset Regiment based at Fort Brockhurst in Gosport seem to have been getting restless.  Dick’s friend Bill Ede ‘deserted’ the Intelligence unit and there were a number of court martials.  Dick appears to have been given his 7 days leave at the end of August since there are no letters until September when he sent Chotie a card for her eighteenth birthday:

 

Letter posted on Saturday 6^th September 1941

Intelligence Section

HQ Company, 70th Dorsets

Fort Brockhurst, Gosport

Hants.

Darling Chotie,

                                    Just a few lines, Precious, to wish you very many Happy Returns of your Birthday.

            I'm afraid you won't get this missive until after the sixth* as I haven't had one single moment to spare since I've been back.  Also of course it's the hell of a job to get anything posted out here in the wilds.

            Anyway, Darling, as you put it once before, “Here's wishing you everything you wish yourself”, which is, I think, easily the best way of expressing myself.

            Unfortunately I haven't yet been paid this week, as they wouldn't pay me at Brockhurst, and pay parade was over when I arrived up here. 

I had to do a 24 hr Guard at Brockhurst as soon as I was back but I hope to be able to get a bracelet in Gosport or Pompey*** when I can get there.  Brinner’s** still got the residue of my cash, but said he would send it on.

            Poor Chotie ... I'm afraid it won't be much of a birthday for you, but doubtless better times are coming.  Don't forget to tell me all the latest when you write, Honey.

            I'm dying to know what’s happened re the Land Army, etc.

            If you see Brinner, tell him to let me know all his news, (also to send some cash!)

            Well, Darling I must close here, as I have to see the Intelligence Officer.                                                                          

                                                    All my love Darling

                                                                                    ever yours

                                                                                                Dicker

PS. Don't worry about anything, Precious, - we'll pull through all right.

 

* Chotie’s 18^th birthday

** Dick’s younger brother Brian

*** A name for Portsmouth

© Chotie Darling

75 year ago – Lance Corporal Williams at Bemerton

 

75 years ago Dick was a soldier at Bemerton on Salisbury Plain and had started training to be a PT Instructor.After a month in the Army he’d gained his first stripe, becoming a Lance Corporal, which must have been testing since there were already 'a large number of deserters'. ‘

 

 Dick had 48 hours leave on weekend of 27^th and 28^th July 1940 and met Chotie.

Sunday 28^th July 1940 was his nineteenth birthday.

 

6^th Dorset’s

South Wilts

Cricket Ground

Bemerton

NR Salisbury, Wilts.

My Darling Chotie,

                                            I’m writing this on Monday evening, my first opportunity to write since regaining Camp, which I’m trying to do in almost total darkness in the NAAFI*, in the company of Hughes and George. There’s really nothing to write as there is of course no news. I feel terribly flat. We must get really moving on our next meeting. We seem to waste so much time…

            I was told tonight that I am going on a fortnight’s P.T. course at Tidworth, which I believe is somewhere near Salisbury. Could you let me know where this is, (ie look it up on a map or something?)

            I’m afraid I have to turn in now, but will continue tomorrow.

 

            It’s now Tuesday dinner time. There’s still no more news. I have been on P.T. all the morning and I’m rather fed up. I’m certainly going back to the ranks after I become proficient.

            I had a yarn with the Instructor who appears to be rather pleased with my going on this course.  He imagines I’m going to come back and teach him something. He must be nuts. Still there’s no harm in thinking.

            I have another two squads to take this afternoon, what a life! I’m not missing much however, as all the boys are trench-digging.

 

             It’s now Tuesday evening. I write a little every time I get a moment to spare.I really must thank you again for this super writing case. It certainly gives me inspiration.

             I must close now darling, as I have to slip this down to the Post Office without delay.

                                         Bye, bye darling

                                                        Your devoted

                                                                            Dicker

P.S. Je t’aime encore de tout mon coeur même plusque la vie.**

 

*NAAFI – Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes – official trading organisation of HM Forces i.e. the canteen.

** “I love you always, with all of my heart, and more than life itself.”

 

Dick was appointed Lance Corporal on Monday 29^th July 1940.

 

 

On 31^st July 1940 Dick’s medical form stated he was in A.1. condition.

 

 

© Chotie Darling, 2010.

The Baroness and the Countess - Tuesday 12th September 1944

Sunday (sic) Sept 12^th

Chotie Darling,

                          Have a few hours to spare (I hope) so here goes for a few more lines.

            We’ve had it really very cushy for the past few days so I’ve been able to write a number of letters (which I dearly owe) and catch up on my maintenance and sleep. 

            We were in the grounds of a very old and famous château for some days and as the people were kindness itself we had an excellent time of it.  The woman was a Baroness and her sister, who had a summer house for the holidays, was a Countess.  They were both French speaking so of course I made the most of it.

            The Countess had hidden five British pilots who pranged there in October of last year and wished to write to them.  She therefore tackled me on the subject and I made a fair copy of her letter in English and despatched it through the normal channels.  From then of course I had my feet right under*.  Had several dinners there and I was shown round the Château.

            I’ve written to Jan & Madeleine**, but expect to wait some time for a reply as they will have to send it to my home address for re-direction.

            It’s a lovely sunny morning – everyone’s in the pink.

            Have heard no recent news of Brinner but mother tells me Diller is expected home for 9 days as from the 9^th inst.

            As regards something for your 21^st*** we’ll go out and buy something when I get home – which won’t be long now.

            I’ve just had a long conversation with three monks of the local monastery, almost medieval in its quality – an hour well spent.

            Must close here, darling for lunch.  Will write again as soon as I can

                                                                        Love

                                                                                    Dicker

P.S.  Don’t do anything too strenuous in Scotland, will you?

                                                                                                                        R

*’under the table’ – Dick uses this to mean he was a welcome guest.

** Jan and Madeleine Gervaert (link to last letter) from the town in Belgium Dick’s troop liberated, where he had to guard the two bridges.

***Chotie was 21 on the 6^th September 1944.

© Chotie Darling

 

Chotie takes up the story:

“Prior to all this I was sent on a P.T. course at Dalkieth, Scotland, where I spent my 21st Birthday.  Dicker sent me a lovely powder compact which I still treasure. 

While I was there, Dicker was fighting the war in Europe in the Reconnaissance Corps.  He had to lie amongst the German dead to gain information and was awarded the Oak Leaf for being mentioned in dispatches:

 

 

‘BY THE KING’S ORDER, THE NAME OF LIEUTENANT R. K. WILLIAMS RECONNAISSANCE CORPS, ROYAL ARMOURED CORPS, WAS PUBLISHED IN THE LONDON GAZETTE ON 10TH MAY 1945, AS MENTIONED IN A DESPATCH FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE.  I AM CHARGED TO RECORD HIS MAJESTY’S HIGH APPRECIATION.

                             SIGNED P. J. GRIGGS, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR’

I have an exact copy of this, so proudly kept.  He was a very brave soldier.” 

(From ‘Chotie’s Story’, unpublished.)

Commanders-in-Chief in the field submitted periodical lists of officers and soldiers who were 'mentioned in despatches'. Award of a Mention ranked below Military Cross or Military Medal and could be for gallantry in action or for a wide range of services on and off the battlefield. (National Army Museum)

 

Eric Brewer also wrote home again on 12^th September:

"Dear Mum Dad and all

Just a few lines to let you know I am still keeping fine and doing nothing as per usual.  I see that at last we are actually fighting on German soil. I don’t expect Gerry likes that and he must be getting a shake on...

…….I saw a half track going along and on the front was painted Grays*.  Out here the drivers generally paint on their vehicles where they come from, so if anyone comes from there they will be able to find out (because of the town's name) if the know them..."  (Extract from Eric Brewer’s letters by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family.)

*Grays was Eric’s home town, near Tilbury docks on Thameside, Essex.  He’d met Glover and Coyston from Grays, both attached to the 50^th Division.

 

On 12th September the 'badly battered' 50th Division is withdrawn from the Geel bridgehead to relieve the Guards at 'Joe's bridge' over the Maas-Scheldt canal near Pelt.  Their replacements, the 15^th (Scottish) Division, were able to enter Geel unopposed on 13^th September, the Germans having fled.

 

12^th September – Liberation of Le Havre, the major port on the Normandy coast.

US troops cross the German frontier with Belgium at Roetgen, east of Liège.

Bombing raids result in a firestorm in Stuttgart causing 957 deaths.

The Germans evacuate eastern Mediterranean islands including Rhodes.

At the Octagon Conference in Quebec Churchill and Roosevelt agree to advance again Germany on two western fronts instead of pursuing a concerted drive by the British.  They discuss the Morgenthau plan and proposals for the post-war division of Germany.  Churchill’s offer of a British fleet for the Pacific is accepted and Lend-lease agreements are to continue.

Improvisation - Sunday 2nd January 1944

Chotie Darling,

                                    At long last, I find myself with a little spare time, so will write you to let you know that I am still alive, after all. 

            First, Darling, I must thank you for sending the Sobranie at Xmas, which you shouldn’t have done, as you can’t really afford to do these things on private’s pay.  I certainly enjoyed it though.  It always smokes better coming from you….

            I’m also enclosing the book* I said I’d send which I hope you’ll find time to read and which I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

            It’s the first book I’ve read which bears out a theory I’ve entertained for some years, viz. that however long you live you will always come to regard your childhood as your happiest years.  This also served to show my lack of erudition in matters literary as the author quotes from three or four others who bear out this idea.  There will always be extenuating circumstances, however, which will give rise to cases contrary to the general rule – Dickens’ is an example – but these cases are isolated I’m sure.

            You probably think this is all rot…. – though personally I know I’m right.

            I’ve got all my camp kit now and am just starting to get organised.  We’ve got some furniture on loan in the mess and I managed to scrounge an old oak circular table for my own personal use.  Improvisation is the key note in this army , so I pinched two old bricks from the 16^th century cottage to use as book rests.  The mixture of matured oak and red brick gives my room a touch of the Tudor… Absolute rot…

            I share a room with a new arrival – a bloke I was at OCTU with.  He’s a portrait painter – knows everyone from Titian to Augustus John.  He’s now assault troop commander**…

            I still haven’t received notification that I’ve been credited with pay for November or December and, unless I win at pontoon tonight, I’ll never meet my mess-bill, severely swollen by the untimely advent of Xmas.

            Happily I’ve still a few quid in war savings, etc.  I keep fighting off ruin – even giving my batman my last five bob on Xmas Day.  I hope to become, comparatively, fabulously rich in the next few days, however, with two months’ pay, about £30-£35. 

        The major we had has now left us – left the army in fact and the Senior Subaltern is acting Squadron Leader – a very happy state of affairs.

            I haven’t had time to write either Diller or Brinner yet – expect they’ve written me off by now.

            Must close here, Darling, for dinner

                                                            All my love

                                                                                    Dicker

 

*by Claude Houghton

**Ronnie Jury (later Dick’s closest friend in the 61^st Recce.)

© Chotie Darling

 

3rd January 1944 - General Bernard Montgomery (‘Monty’ of El Alamein and the British Eighth Army) had left Italy at the end of December and now took command of the 21^st Army Group – British Second Army and First Canadian Army - to prepare for Operation Overlord, the D Day landings.  He immediately decided a wider assault front was needed and two more beaches were added to the west (Omaha and Utah, near the base of the Cherbourg Peninsula).

4th January 1944 – the US Army Air Force begin to re-supply resistance groups in France, Italy and the Low Countries in Operation Carpetbagger. (From Chronology of World War II.)

5th January 1944 – end of the Battle of Changde (in SE China’s Hunan province) with the Chinese repelling the Japanese invasion of the city, begun in November 1943.

Return to Dover - Thursday 3rd September 1942

The War in Dorset - September 1942

The Small Scale Raiding Force was involved in raids on Les Casquets lighthouse in the Channel Islands and St. Honorine near Bayeux, Normandy.  In Operation Dryad on 2nd/3rd Septembera the successful raid on Les Casquets lighthouse destroyed the ‘U’ boat wireless transmitting station, capturing seven German soldiers, as well as vital code books and Naval information.

Tarrant Rushton airfield was constructed between Blandford and Wimborne, near Badbury Rings in Dorset. The aircraft was to field the first arrivals on French soil on D Day and 1st British Airborne set off for 'the Bridge Too Far' that was Arnhem from here.
 

Whirlwind aircraft from Warmwell in Dorset sank two armed trawlers in the Channel on 9th September.

On 11^thSeptember five people were killed by a single German bomb dropped on the Bournemouth Road in Parkstone, Poole; near where Chotie and her family lived.

A Poole flying-boat, the Clare, came down in the Channel after a fire, killing six crew and thirteen passengers on 14^th September.

(From 'Dorset’s War Diary - Battle of Britain to D Day’ by Rodney Legg, Dorset Publishing Company 2004 and ‘Poole and World War II’ written by Derek Beamish, Harold Bennett and John Hillier and published by Poole Historical Trust in 1980)

 

During September 1942 43^rdReconnaissance Regiment was still based in Dover, although that month they received orders to mobilise, complete with first line reinforcements. All reinforcements, including Dick, arrived during the month.

Inter-Squadron Exercises were held at the beginning of the month “bringing out many useful lessons in Section and Troop tactics and instituting considerable enthusiasm.”

Intensive First Aid training commenced early in the month, designed to train all ranks during the winter.

(From the War Diary of the 43^rd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)

 

 

On 2^ndSeptember 1942 Dick passed his Trade Test as a Driver Mechanic

 

Copy of Record

TRADE TRAINING REPORT FORM

REPORT ON STUDENT          c) End of course

TRAINING ESTABLISHMENT  ADDRESS:    

THE DREADNOUGHT GARAGE AND MOTOR ENGINEERING WORKS (HOVE) LTD

STUDENT’S REGTL.  No 5731671     RANK Trooper          NAME  Williams R.K.

ORIGINAL UNIT        43^rd Recce. Regt.                COURSE (Trade)  D.M.

Duration of course    From 23^rd July 1942           To 2^nd September 1942.

SUITABILITY FOR TRADE - Very suitable                       

CONDUCT AND INTEREST - Good

PRACTICAl ABILITY -  Very Good

THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE - Good                                                                    

SUMMARY      Passed Complete Class 2 Test in Army Trade of DM*

REMARKS:

Will make an excellent D.M. Requires plenty of work.

Date   2/9/42                              S.F.Webb. Lieut O.M.E.

*DM = Driver Mechanic. Reconnaissance called for many more drivers and mechanics than standard infantry to successfully reconnoiter the battlefield. (From ‘The British Reconnaissance Corps in World War II’ by Richard Doherty, Osprey Publishing 2007.)

Copy of Record:

SERVICE AND CASUALTY FORM

Passed trade test and qualified for appointment as Drv. Mech. Tp. ‘D’ Cl.II                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3^rd September 1942 – a National Day of Prayer was held for the third Anniversary of the Declaration of War.

 

 

Letter - Thursday 3rd September 1942

5731671 Tpr Williams 

HQ Squadron, 43rd Recce Regt. Recce Corps

Home Forces 

Thursday

 

My Darlingest,

                                                                                    By the time you get this letter, I shall be back at Dover, but remember not to mention please or put anything but the address above.

            I hope this will reach you before the 6^th* – and so will wish you a very happy Birthday, and only wish I could be with you.  I have sent something – or rather it’s being sent – nothing much I’m afraid, but I wish you every happiness, with it.

            I went to the opera three times during the last week, the only nights I could get off and saw ‘Bohème’, ‘Trovatore’ &  ‘the Barber’**.  It was the Carl Rosa of course with Joan Hammond and Parry Jones.  Very good.  I met an Italian there (naturalised) and spent a very enjoyable night.

            Well, Darling, I’ll write again when I get to the other end, so all the very best, Precious

                                                                        Your loving

                                                                                    Dicker

                                                                                    Xxxx

PS. Have just started to run for the train…

 

*Chotie’s 19^th Birthday on 6^th September 1942.

**All famous Italian operas - Giacomo Puccini’s 'La Bohème’, Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore’ (The Troubadour) and Gioachino Rossini’s ‘Barber of Seville’. The Carl Rosa were a touring opera company.  Parry Jones was a Welsh tenor. Joan Hammond,
an Australian soprano, became internationally famous after the war.

***Benetti – mentioned again in letter sent in February 1943.

© Chotie Darling

 

On 7^th September 43^rd Recce had a demonstration of the Army Cadet sign system for all wireless operators, Dvr Ops (driver operators?) and officers.  (From the War Diary of the 43^rd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)  Dick mentions being on exercise on the 7^th in his next letter.

 

 

7th September 1942 - Rommel withdraws from his attack on the El Alamein line at Alam Halfa Ridge in Egypt.

 

 

 

Pearl Harbour - the world at war, December 1941

The War in Dorset - December 1941

While the Telecommunications Research Establishment continued to develop their ‘Blind Navigation’ two more British planes crashed in Dorset – a Wellington bomber on 16^th December 1941 near Powerstock and a Beaufighter (the long-range heavy fighter modified from the Beaufort bomber) at Pulham on 29^th December. Both crews survived the crashes.

(From ‘Dorset’s War Diary - Battle of Britain to D Day’ by Rodney Legg, Dorset Publishing Company 2004).

During 1941 construction began of the Starfish (from SF for Special fire) Decoy on Brownsea Island that was to play such an important role in the defences of Poole. Elstree Studios' pyrotechnics crew helped to install theatrical explosives and fires to mimic the bombing of Poole and draw the Luftwaffe's attention away from the town.  Designated as PE1, it was operated by the Royal Navy who also maintained decoys to protect the Royal Navy Cordite Factory at Holton Heath– HH1 on Arne and HH2 on Gore Heath.

 (From  ‘Poole and World War II’ written by Derek Beamish, Harold Bennett and John Hillier and published by Poole Historical Trust in 1980 and ‘The Book of Poole Harbour’ edited by Bernard Dyer and Timothy Darvill and published by The Dovecote press Ltd 2010.)

 

1st Air Landing Reconnaissance Squadron:

In December 1941 the newly formed 1^st Air Landing Reconnaissance Squadron moved from their secret training location in Wales to Shaw House, an impressive Elizabethan building in Newbury, Berkshire.  There they had lectures and motor cycling, driving and weapons training.

On 26^th December their designation changed to 1^st Air Landing Company, Reconnaissance Corps.  Major C.J.H.Gough (later of Arnhem fame), known as ‘Freddie’, was their commanding officer and the squadron soon acquired the nickname of FGS or ‘Freddie Gough’s Squadron’. He was a stickler for discipline and set exacting standards in search of 'the best of the best' in selection and everyday duties. All Air Landing (gliderborne) troops were volunteers.

 (From the War Diary of 1^st Air Landing Reconnaissance Squadron, WO166/6955 National Archives at Kew, ‘Airborne Forces’ by Lt-Col T.B.H. Otway, D.S.O. London: Imperial War Museum, 1990 and Paradata  – the living history of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces.)

Dick joined 1st Air Landing Reconnaissance on 20th April 1942.

 

At the beginning of December 1941 German heavy artillery were within range of Moscow but the German commanders realised that their exhausted and frozen troops could not take Moscow this winter (frostbite casualties were now exceeding the number of wounded in battle), even as they began a final assault on the city. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012).

 

2nd December 1941 – the new National Service Bill introduces compulsory service for women.

 

 

5^th December 1941 – Soviet forces mount a surprise counter-attack to defend Moscow and the Germans advance is halted.

 

6^th December – Roosevelt approves the commencement of atomic weapons research in the USA.

 

7^th December 1941 – Admiral Yamamoto’s Japanese carrier fleet bomb the US fleet in Pearl Harbour.  The Americans, taken completely by surprise (Japan had not declared war on the US), lost the battleships Oklahoma and Arizona, two destroyers and 188 aircraft. Many other ships and planes were damaged and 2,335 servicemen were killed.  The Japanese lost only 29 aircraft. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

Japanese forces land on Kota Bahru in the far north-east of Malaya and are able to make their first air raid on Singapore the next day.

 

8^th December 1941 – the USA and the UK declare war on Japan.

Japan attacks the US controlled Phillipines bombing the Philippine capital of Manila and American airbases. Half the US Far East Airforce are destroyed.

Japanese forces attack the British territory of Hong Kong and Japanese forces occupy Shanghai in China.

 

Mass killing began at the Chelmno extermination camp near Lodz in Poland. More than 152,000 people were murdered there during the war, mostly in the gas chambers, including Jews and Romanies from Poland, Hungarian Jews, Czechs and Soviet Prisoners of War.

 

9th December 1941 – China declares war on Germany and Italy.

Japanese troops occupy Bangkok, Thailand.

 

10th December 1941 – Allied Forces enter Tobruk in Libya. This was their first major overseas victory.

The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse, which had been sent to defend Singapore, are sunk by the Japanese.

The Japanese take Guam, an American base in the Mariana islands.

 

11^th December 1941 – Germany and Italy declare war against the USA and the USA declares war against Germany and Italy.

 

14^th December 1941 – Thailand becomes an ally of Japan.

 

15^th December 1941 – Japanese troops enter Burma.  The Battle of Burma begins with a Japanese bombing attack on the capital of Rangoon on 23^rd December.

 

16^th December 1941 – Japanese forces land in Borneo.

 

18^th December 1941 – Japanese troops land on Hong Kong Island.

The British battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and Valiant are sunk by the Italian Navy while in Alexandria harbour, Egypt.

 

19^th December 1941 – Hitler took over complete control of the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht.

 

22nd December 1941 – Roosevelt and Churchill meet at the Arcadia conference in Washington and agree to pool British and US resources and develop strategy to win the war together.

Japanese forces land near Manila in the Philippines. US and Philippine troops with the American Commander-in-Chief General Douglas Macarthur, withdraw to the Bataan peninsula.

 

23rd December 1941 – Japanese forces finally land on and occupy Wake Island an American base in the Pacific between Hawaii and the Mariana Islands (after unsuccessful attacks on 8th and 11th December

 

25th December 1941 – surrender of Hong Kong to the Japanese.

 

 

26^th December 1941 – Winston Churchill addressed the US Congress with his speech “A Long and Hard War” rejoicing that “the United States, united as never before, have drawn the sword for freedom and cast away the scabbard”.

27th December 1941 - A combined services commando raid on German occupied islands off Norway results in 150 Germans killed and 16,000 tons of shipping destroyed as well as defences and infrastructure.

 

During 1941 Allied merchant shipping lost 503 ships, equalling 2,530,011 gross tons. to U-boats world-wide. Only 35 U-boats were sunk (from World War 2 Timelines).

 

Not much of a birthday - posted Saturday 6th September 1941

61st Reconnaissance Regiment, who Dick was to fight with in NW Europe, were formed in September 1941 under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Mount, Bt.T.D. (the former Prime Minister David Cameron's grandfather).

1^stSeptember 1941 – Nazis decreed that Jewish people in Germany and occupied countries should wear the yellow star badges introduced in Poland in November 1939.

3^rd September 1941 – the first gassing of prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp. More than one million people were killed there during the war.

5^th September 1941 – Estonia occupied by the German army.

 

 

Intelligence Section, HQ Company, 70th Dorsets

Fort Brockhurst, Gosport, Hants.

Darling Chotie,

                Just a few lines, Precious, to wish you very many Happy Returns of your Birthday.

                I'm afraid you won't get this missive until after the sixth* as I haven't had one single moment to spare since I've been back.  Also of course it's the hell of a job to get anything posted out here in the wilds.

  

            Anyway, Darling, as you put it once before, “Here's wishing you everything you wish yourself”, which is, I think, easily the best way of expressing myself.

 

            Unfortunately I haven't yet been paid this week, as they wouldn't pay me at Brockhurst, and pay parade was over when I arrived up here.

 

            I had to do a 24 hr Guard at Brockhurst as soon as I was back but I hope to be able to get a bracelet in Gosport or Pompey*** when I can get there.  Brinner’s** still got the residue of my cash, but said he would send it on.

         Poor Chotie ... I'm afraid it won't be much of a birthday for you, but doubtless better times are coming.  Don't forget to tell me all the latest when you write, Honey.  I'm dying to know what’s happened re the Land Army, etc.

 

        If you see Brinner, tell him to let me know all his news, (also to send some cash!)

 

                            Well, Darling I must close here, as I have to see the Intelligence Officer.

                                                                                All my love Darling

                                                                                         ever yours Dicker.

 

PS.Don't worry about anything, Precious, - we'll pull through all right.

 

* Chotie’s 18^th birthday

** Dick’s younger brother Brian

 

*** A name for Portsmouth

 

© Chotie Darling

 

 

8th September – beginning of the German siege of Leningrad (St Petersburg) which was not lifted until 27th January 1944. Some 600,000 people died of starvation and disease in the city during the siege.

On 9^th September 1941 Winston Churchill addressed the House
of Commons ending his speech with the famous lines "We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls" based on the poem ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley. (See full speech on Churchill Society website http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/CptsSoul.html.)

Chotie's 17th birthday - Thursday 5th September 1940

 

 

 

Bemerton

Wilts

Thursday

My Darling Cho,

 

                                    Well, Darling, I must start by wishing you Many Happy Returns of the 6^th*, and in your own words to ‘wish you everything you wish yourself’.  I think, and sincerely hope that everything will come out alright in the end, in spite of this wretched war.

 

          I hope you like the present I’m sending along with this letter.  I’m afraid it’s nothing much, but in the circumstances, you know!  However, Darling, I hope you’ll think more of the wishes (and hopes) that go with it.

 

            I was only thinking last night, of when this show’s over, and we’ll be able to settle down again…. And buy a little boat to explore the whole harbour**.  What a time that will be.

 

            I went down to the river for a swim this afternoon, soon after dinner.  As usual it’s terrifically hot to-day, much too hot to take P.T.  I am forced to have a shower about ten times a day to preserve my mental equilibrium, which I may say I nearly lost last night, when I was woken up by a veritable rain of bombs descending around. So far I’ve heard no news as to where they landed.

 

They had a Salvation Army band here in camp last night.Mercifully, I was allowed out – a blessing for which I was very thankful, though I rather think it’s the best army to be in anyway.

 

Well, I must close now Darling, for tea parade.

 

Your own devoted hubby

                                                                                        Dicker

 

* Chotie’s 17^th birthday on 6^th September 1940.

**Poole Harbour, Dorset.

  

© Chotie Darling, 2010

 

 

7^th September 1940 – start of ‘the Blitz’, night bombings on London and the Luftwaffe’s intensive bombing campaign against Britain’s cities and industries which lasted until 16^th May 1941. London was attacked on 57 consecutive nights between 7^th September and 2^nd November 1940. Over 41,000 British civilians were killed during the Blitz (included by permission of the Imperial War Museum ).

 

The Dorset Blitz - Having failed to destroy the RAF and pave the way for invasion, Hitler believed that the bombing of cities and towns would break Britain's will to resist. As far as Dorset was concerned the Blitz prompted a second wave of evacuation from London and the industrial areas of the North but even 'safe in the country' evacuees found themselves subject to bombing. 

 

The German Blitz against Dorset was not on anything like the scale of that on London or, for example, Coventry, but it did bring the war, along with death and destruction, to all parts of the county. Weymouth alone suffered forty-eight air raids in which civilians, including children, were killed and wounded as well as naval and military personnel.

 

The Dorset Constabulary recorded that approximately 4,307 heavy high explosive bombs were dropped on the county during the Blitz of which 396 failed to detonate. There were 37,007 incendiary bombs recorded as being dropped on Dorset towns and villages, along with 14,550 smaller bombs, categorised as anti-personnel (The Keep Military Museum, Dorchester).