Chotie Darling

75 years ago - Home, Married and at Rest

 

Dick was killed at the end of March 1945, less than 6 weeks before the end of the war in Europe.

He met Chotie for the first time since D Day on 1^st March in Pagham, where he was home on leave with his parents.  Five days later they married under under special license at Chichester registry office.  Their one night of honeymoon was spent at the lovely Spreadeagle Hotel in Midhurst, West Sussex.  On 7^th March they returned to be with family and on the 8^th Dick “Left Bognor for Dover via Victoria” to rejoin the war.

 Mr and Mrs Richard Williams with Dick's parents at Pagham

 

Meanwhile his regiment, now the 52^nd (Lowland) Reconnaissance, had at last crossed the anti-tank ditch at Afferden, defended tenaciously by German paratroopers.  They advanced into Germany, south-west towards Geldern and the Rhine.  On 3^rd March Montgomery’s pincers in the Northern Rhineland (British XXX Corps with Canadian 1^st Army for 'Operation Veritable' and the US 9^th Army for 'Operation Grenade') at last met at Geldern, about 10 miles from the Rhine, east of the Ruhr industrial region.  Dick’s ‘C’ Squadron were nearly at Twisteden, five miles to the north-west.  On 7^th March 52^nd Recce took over from 53^rd Recce to lead the Rhineland advance. 

Further south the US 1^st Army’s 9^th Armored Division dashed forward to secure an intact bridge over the Rhine at Remagen (between Bonn and Koblenz).  They secured a bridgehead across the Rhine and successfully defended the bridge from the relentless German attacks, including the use of V2 missiles.

 

Chotie wrote to Dick from Pagham on 9th March: “It was very wonderful to be with you for even this short while, so it is a glorious thought that we have a life-time to spend.  Don’t feel too blue – I am trying not to.”

 

Dick, having travelled overnight via Calais, had reached Bourg Leopold in Belgium, where he managed to spend a couple of days with his brother Bryn.  He wrote to Chotie on 12th March just before rejoining his regiment – his home leave had perhaps not been idyllic:

“You must find me terribly moody.  I try not to be, but since the beginning of the war I find I’m completely di-orientated at home.”  (My mother said Dick ‘knew’ he was going die and they cried all night on their honeymoon.)

 

Meanwhile on 10^th March Dick’s ‘C’ Squadron had been tasked with reconnaissance of the Rhine west bank along a four to five mile frontage near Menzelen (north-east of Geldern, near Xanten and Wesel).  At Menzelen they met no opposition and took a dozen prisoners.  There was more German resistance at Ginderich (nearer the river to the north) but they were soon backed up by infantry.  Pushing on via Gest (en route towards Wesel) they reached the Rhine at dusk and could observe hundreds of Germans on the opposite bank.  Calling down an artillery bombardment on the German defences, they also captured an enemy patrol sent back across the river to recover equipment.

From 12^th March 52^nd Recce rejoined their Division (52^nd Lowland), although squadrons were detached to work with various Scottish regiments – ‘C’ Squadron were with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment).

 

Dick was at Ginderich on 13^th March ‘resting’.

Photo labelled 'Ginderich, March 1945'. Dick is on the right.

 

Chotie wrote to him from her home in Parkstone where she was enjoying being 'Absent without leave' with her best friend, Mary Dakin.  She wrote again later, after a miserable time at the dentist, having broken a tooth on her mother’s home-made toffee.  She was meant to return to her unit now after 14 days leave.

Dick wrote on 14th March from a “cushy billet (no windows but everything else is OK)” where he’d had a party with three other “Bolshie subalterns” and had made a new friend, Peter Evans.  Lieutenant Evans had led ‘C’ Squadron’s ‘almost copybook advance to the River Rhine at Ginderich’ (Trevor Whitfield) and subsequently received the Military Cross for this and his role in clearing the Scheldt Estuary in autumn 1944.  Dick’s old friend from 61^st Recce, Ronnie Jury, was now a Liaison Officer “in some Corps or other.  A pretty steady job but not much excitement.”  After the war he returned to painting and taught at the Slade School of Art.

Don Aiken recalls that the 52^nd Recce were now pulled back about a mile from the river awaiting the Rhine crossing, which was preceded by an intense build-up of men and equipment.  Like Dick, some of the men passed the time in bare-back riding the horses left by the Germans.  One of Don’s troop was killed by a single shot across the river while riding.

 

Chotie wrote on Friday 16th March with some good news – she’d been granted another 7 days leave so would not be punished on her return.  Relatives were still sending money for their wedding presents and Chotie was enjoying taking her sister Margaret’s baby, Roger, out in his pram.  Her younger sister Beryl was also at home – they went to see ‘Kismet’ at the cinema.

On Saturday night Hull, where Chotie’s anti-aircraft battery were stationed, was attacked by a single Heinkel, which killed 13 people and injured 22.  Chotie wrote again on Sunday 18th while packing to return there and sent another letter when she was back at Fort Godwin (on Spurn Point near Easington, east of Hull) after "an eventful journey".  She’d treated herself to lunch at a Spanish restaurant near King’s Cross and missed her train.  Arriving late in Hull a fellow lady in her carriage had invited her to stay so she enjoyed supper, a comfy bed and bacon and eggs for breakfast.  “Everyone” back at the battery was excited about her marriage and she seemed to have told her “tale about a hundred and one times”.

 

On the west bank of the Rhine 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment had been assigned traffic control duties as part of the preparation for ‘Operation Plunder’ (the Rhine crossing), although their ‘A’ Squadron was now with 1^st Commando Brigade – destined to lead the assault across the river. 

Dick was at Kevelaer, back from the line and north of Geldern, in a 300 year old cottage “having evicted the ‘civvies’ ”.  He wrote to Chotie that he’d spent 48 hours painting signs (presumably for traffic control) after a very close shave when a shell killed the bloke next to him.

 

Chotie wrote on Wednesday 21st: “We had a spot of excitement last night” so Hull may have been under attack again.  She was furious Dick had shaved off his moustache.  He’d written “I reckon I look much better without it.  I now look eighteen instead of thirty-five” (he was 23).  Chotie was enjoying walking on the beach in the sun with friends.  On the 23rd she wrote “It is decidedly better up here, now that Spring is here” and was hoping to stay with her ATS friend Nan’s family in Yorkshire.

 

At 6pm on 23^rd March Operation Plunder began with a massive artillery barrage along the Rhine from Nijmegen to the Ruhr – the largest bombardment undertaken by the Royal Artillery during the war.  A huge smokescreen was amassed to assemble supplies near the front and at nightfall the RAF saturated the town of Wesel, on the east bank with high explosive bombs.  52^nd Lowland Division, with their guns trained on the bank near Wesel was “in the front row of the grandstand at one of the most imposing spectacles ever staged".  General Eisenhower watched the operation from within the Division’s beat for a while.

Sandy Handley in Dick’s No 15 troop remembered “we were on the banks of the Rhine opposite the town of Wesel” in a large bulldozed ditch. Their officer told them the artillery barrage was about to start - canon and rockets were fired with a deafening noise – and later came to their car again to tell them this was only the beginning: “he said at 11 o’clock pm ALL THE LOT was going to open up.  At 11 o’clock we found out what he meant!  The noise was terrible; my nerves were getting a bit jaded.  There we were, in front of all these guns, yards from the actual river. 

I suggested to the other chap we go under the Daimler, which we did, scooping ourselves a little dugout.  We thought the deeper we dug the more safe we were…”  They had a complicated code to send back messages but Sandy was so shaken he just relayed the message in phonetic terms: “At times like these certain things didn’t go text book fashion…I had experienced these artillery barrages since we landed but this was the Daddy of them all.”

The first attack towards Rees (north of Wessel), led by 51st Highland Division, was a diversion from the main attack.  1st Commando Brigade with 52nd Recce’s ‘A’ Squadron, quietly crossed the river at 10 pm.  The Recce were in canvas boats with oars – their job was to provide beach control parties for the commandos and keep up communications across the river while the commandos observed radio silence.  By mid-morning the Commandos had secured most of the town – of the 1,600 men with them 11 were killed and 17 missing. 

The 15^th Scottish Division also crossed during the night, north of Wesel while to the south the US 9^th Army had crossed between Wesel and Rheinberg on an 11 mile front.

“In the early hours of the next morning the guns had ceased firing and we could actually hear birds singing.  One of the Officers in charge of our section came over to our Daimler and said “Well done men!” although I didn’t think we’d done anything except cringe under the Daimler… The officer then said at 10 o’clock this morning the Airborne paratroops and gliders will come over and land on the other side of the river near Wesel … precisely at 10 o’clock we heard a roar which grew louder and louder.  Someone said “Here they come”.  They flew low.  It was one of the greatest memorable sights I have ever seen, unforgettable.  First the paratroopers, then the gliders being towed over this great river.” (Sandy Handley)

 At 10 am on 24^th March 'Operation Varsity' began with more than 3,000 planes and gliders dropping over 16,000 men of the British 6^th Airborne and the US 17^th Airborne Division.  Unfortunately they were landing in ‘Flak Alley’ – the main defences for the Ruhr – and took more than 2,000 casualties.  However, by nightfall they’d met up with the ground forces and captured 3,500 German soldiers.  Montgomery’s  bridgehead over the Rhine was established.

Don Aiken, was also on the bank of the Rhine having volunteered to assist the Royal Engineers with communications.  After the air landings they went in under heavy fire to build pontoons across the river for getting ground troops across.  Don was waiting for a runner to come from the next armoured car with the latest message when, poking his head out of the turret in a lull, he found the runner had been killed by a German shell landing close by. 

The bridges were constructed and in a few hours the infantry had crossed followed by tanks.  Soon the pontoon bridge was a two-way highway: “all the paraphernalia of an attacking army was crossing into Germany” and “long lines of German soldiers were being marched out to Prisoner of War camps somewhere in England”.  8,000 Royal Engineers assisted the crossing of the Rhine.

 

The rest of 52^nd Recce, now based in a tented camp in woods near Sonsbeck (between Kevelaer and the Rhine), were given the administrative job of getting the leading battalions and regiments from their concentration area up to the river bank.

Dick wrote on 24th March: “Well my darling, I’m in a smashing billet away from my troop in charge of about 20 miles of road as Traffic Control Officer.  Imagine it, armband and all!  I look quite a dog…I’m with two other subalterns who share my taste in living so we’re really very happy.  I’m afraid it won’t last for long though – it’s much too cushy for that.” 

 

Chotie was on watch between 10 and 3 am that night when she wrote to Dick:

“The news is good again today, darling, - it can’t be long now.  When you come back and when we can be together always, well, won’t it be wonderful?

One day next week, if we get a spot of ‘off duty’, a whole crowd of us are hoping to get cracking on a ‘binge’ - celebrating my third week of being married or something.” 

 

By midnight on 24^th/25^th March 80,000 Allied troops had crossed the Rhine, including Winston Churchill who went over the river in a landing craft near Wesel.  Over the next couple of days there were more Rhine crossings by the Americans to the south and the US 1^st Army broke out of their Remagen bridgehead and marched south to join up with Patton’s 3^rd Army forces.

 

Chotie wrote to Dick again on the 26th, having received a letter from Brinner: “It’s marvellous that you are so near to each other.  I hope you manage to meet.”

“Just think, darling, tomorrow we have been married 3 weeks...  I spend quite a lot of my time just dreaming of things to come.  Have built us a home and furnished it (all in my imagination) most marvellously.  I think I had better see what I can do with a Missen, probably have to.”

 

By 27th March the Rhine bridgehead north of the Ruhr was 35 miles wide and 20 miles deep and 52^nd Recce’s ‘A’ Squadron reverted to regimental command.

52^nd Reconnaissance Regiment “moved over the Rhine under a full moon in the early hours of Good Friday, 30^th March, 1945; crossing on one of the various pontoons and Bailey bridges built in record time by the Royal Engineers.  Mile after mile of vehicles queued for the limited space on the roads, therefore it was mid-afternoon before the regiment was concentrated near the town of Mehr (north-west of Wesel), just a few miles east of the Rhine, ready to take part in what was a rapid advance into Germany” (Carl Shilleto).

 

Dick wrote his last letter to Chotie:  from “a windowless ‘brewed-up’ house with with half a gale blowing but having so much spiritual warmth I’m not unduly cold.  My cushy post has gone with the wind and I’m now back on the job again…Nothing very thrilling to write about – so I’ll close here.

                                                          Your loving husband

                                                                        Dicker.”

 

Photos from the BBC's VE Day 70: A Party to Remember - Honeysuckle Weeks and Laurence Fox read extracts from Chotie and Dick's letters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Mehr ‘C’ Squadron were placed in reserve, earmarked for Prisoner of War duties.  Dick learnt that Bryn’s unit was in the vicinity and set out to visit him in his small Daimler Dingo.  He was taking Bryn back when the car hit a small crater in the road, made by a shell or bomb.  Dick was killed instantly while Bryn escaped with cuts and bruises.

Sandy Handley remembered:

“Sometime in the afternoon Mr Williams’ brother came towards us and introduced himself and said “Mr Williams, your Troop Officer, is dead”.  Naturally we were stunned…

Later we (the No. 15 Troop) attended a small burial ceremony conducted by the 52nd Division Padre for the burial.  I think we all wanted to pass our condolences on to Mr Williams’ brother, who sat in another staff car with his fellow officers…

We would miss Mr Williams.  He had been with us from Normandy June ’44 to March ’45.  From a trooper’s point of view this Officer had looked after his eleven men and never asked us to do or risk anything that he couldn’t do himself.  We liked Mr Williams and we were going to miss his coolness.  He thought his troop were a good team too… 

It seemed ironic that a man could live through the many hazards and horrors of war, from the beaches of Normandy (where the 61st had become the first Reconnaissance Regiment to come ashore) and through the terrible fighting on the Rhine, only to be killed in a traffic accident.  Perhaps most tragic of all though was that the young officer had just returned from some leave and had been married for only three weeks.”

 

Chotie, at Spurn Point in Yorkshire, was “in the large mess hall, full of people.  The Sergeant-Major handed me the telegram to say Dicker had been killed.  The saddest moment of my life.”

 

Lieutenant Richard Kelner Williams is laid to rest in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery south-west of Kleve in Germany.

We will remember them.

The Last Post

 Alex de Groot's memorial photo of Dick's grave.

 

75 years ago - Preparing for Operation Overlord

On 1st May 1944 Dick became a full Lieutenant.  He was still in Nightingale Wood and acting Squadron Leader – possibly while senior officers attended Exercise Thunderclap, Montgomery’s preparation sessions for D Day with ground force officers who would be involved in the assault.  By now Dick would have known he wasn’t going ashore with 61st Recce on D Day but would follow to France with the majority of the Regiment in later in June.  He wrote to Chotie describing the joys of the countryside and listening to classical music on the radio.

61^st Reconnaissance Regiment was inspected by General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, at the beginning of May and also received a visit from King George VI.  On 6th May Dick was Orderly Officer, checking on the guards at night, and still running the Squadron.  Chotie had been home, to Parkstone in Poole, where her sister Margaret was expecting her first child (Roger).  Dick’s old friend Eric Kessler now had a baby son and Dick was “almost envious”. 

By 10th May he’d “managed to get rid of this Squadron Leader racket”.  On 14th May Bristol, where Chotie was stationed in an Ack-Ack unit, was again attacked by the Luftwaffe.  The Easton-in-Gordano anti-aircraft camps defending the harbour would have played an important role successfully defeating the impact of the attack.  Having at last secured 24 hours leave Dick wrote to Chotie urging her to join him in “the Haunch town” – their favourite pub was the Haunch of Venison in Salisbury (co-incidentally where Eisenhower and Churchill are said to have met when planning D Day).  She went AWOL and they stayed overnight together in Salisbury on Friday 19th May; their last meeting before February 1945.

 

Letter written on Saturday 20th May 1944

Usual address

Saturday

Chotie Darling,

                                    Just a few lines to thank you for a very happy, though all too brief, 24 hrs.

            I managed to get back with ten minutes to spare and just made the afternoon parade.  I hope you managed to get back without too much trouble – I hate the thought of you scrubbing floors all night*.  What you would do for me, Darling, is a constant source of amazement to me.

            I’ve just finished censoring the mail – a man size job tonight as unfortunately no one else bothered to do yesterday’s for me, with the result that I’ve had two days to do at once.

            I regret to say that the 24hr passes have stopped but there may be a chance of some leave a bit later on – three or four days, I imagine.

            I went to the naffy** and imbibed a little beer earlier this evening with the result that I keep running outside.  Sorry….

            All the other officers (both of them) went to the cinema tonight to see “Bombers Moon” – some punk Yank film, but I just couldn’t have stood it so I stayed here, in my little tent and wrote you, my Darling, which seems infinitely preferable.

            After this show, Chotie, I reckon we’ll take a few months off – sheer rest – and forget all about the wretched life we now lead.  Walking in Provence or somewhere like that.  We could find a little hotel every night … and when we’re married things will be different….

            I intend to come out of this business, darling, if only to take the chance of making you very happy, which is what you deserve.

            I must close here, Precious as I have to write a few lines to mother – not having written for some time.

            Goodnight, my Darling – I love you very, very much.

                                                                        Dicker

RKWilliams

 

*Presumably an ATS punishment for going AWOL (Absent Without Leave)

**Slang for the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute’s canteen and recreation building.  Officers weren’t meant to frequent the NAAFI as this was an intrusion on the private lives of the Other Ranks.  The Commissioned Officers had their own ‘mess’, sometimes separated into Junior and Senior, and the senior NCOs had theirs, known as the Sergeants Mess. 

Eric Brewer’s diary reveals he was working in the Sergeants Mess (“not a bad job”) from 22^nd to 30^th May (from Eric Brewer’s Diary by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family).

© Chotie Darling

 

Soon after this Dick moved to Aldershot with the rest of the Regiment not involved in D Day (including Tony Rampling).  He wrote to Chotie with “No news from this end, of course.  The old security racket again.”

 

Eric Postles, Sandy Handley, Eric Brewer and Don Aiken were all to be part of the first assault.  They had been involved in the practice exercises, seen detailed reconnaissance films of their destination (without any names) and waterproofed their vehicles for an amphibious landing.  Eric Brewer went AWOL overnight on 6^th May and was fined three day’s pay, possibly by Dick (RW)

(Eric Brewer's Service Record - copyright Derek Brewer and family)

 

The camp was shared with American Rangers, an elite unit who were to spearhead attacks from Omaha beach.  Sandy was “shaking in my boots at the thought of what was to come.  The majority of us hadn’t seen any action at all so far.” 

Towards the end of the month the camp was sealed off – no-one was allowed out or in.  Personal items had to be sent home and the cars loaded with ammunition and supplies to get through the first 24 hours.  Some of the troops copied the Americans example and shaved their heads in case of lice.  On 31st May they were told they would be embarking the next day and were served steak – an unimaginable luxury in those wartime days. The gunner in Eric Postles car ‘did a runner’, trying to get home to Slough, and was never seen again so Eric went to war with a crew of three, instead of the four he should have had.

 

On 8^th May Eisenhower had decided that D Day would be on the 5^th of June and a week later Montgomery gave a masterly presentation of the final plans for Overlord to the King, Churchill and the Senior Officers of the Allied Armies. 

Map of the Overlord Plan from Olive-Drab website

150,000 troops were to land on the five Normandy beaches: United States 12th Army Group, commanded by Lt-General Omar Bradley, in the west on ‘Utah’ and ‘Omaha’ and the 21st Army Group of British and Canadians in the east on ‘Gold’, ‘Juno’ and ‘Sword’.  XXX (30) Corps would be led ashore on ‘Gold’ beach by Dick’s own 50^th Division.  8,000 British and 16,000 American Airborne troops were to seize crucial inland points ahead of the landings.

It was vital to keep the Germans guessing where and when the invasion would take place.  The deceptions of Operation Fortitude North continued with another attack on the giant battleship Tirpitz (feigning preparations for a Norway landing from Scotland) and Operation Fortitude South built up General Patton’s fake US First Army Group in SE England, threatening the Pas de Calais.  Air attacks on key military and infrastructure targets all over northern France continued with a 5,000 bomber raid on 20^th May.

Berlin suffered a 1,500 bomber raid on 7^th May by the United States Army Air Force but the Allied air forces were now turned towards tactical support for the invasion and the USAAF began strategic bombing of Germany’s synthetic oil manufacture, succeeding in halving production by the end of June.

In Italy the Allies at last broke the Gustav (winter) line, which had stalled them for so long, taking the stronghold of Monte Cassino on 18^th May.  They also broke out of the Anzio beach-head to the north, linking up with the US 10^th Army by the Tyrrhenian Coast on 25^th May.

In Eastern Europe the Red Army’s advance in the Crimea continued with the capture of the Black Sea port Sevastapol on 9^th May.  Hungary was now occupied by German forces – mass deportation of Hungarian Jews began on 15^th May (less than one third were to survive the Holocaust).

The U-gō invasion of India by Japan retreated from Kohima on 13^th May. 

Chinese forces crossed the border to attack the Japanese in Burma on 11^th May and joined with Merrill’s Marauders who had captured the Myitkina airfields.  However, the town and river port of Myitkina remained in Japanese hands until August.

On 18^th May the success of Operation Cartwheel was demonstrated when the US Navy’s Admiralty Island campaign at last isolated the Japanese base of Rabaul, making it useless.

For the British the attention of the world was soon to focus much closer to home.

75 years ago - Italy and Pagham

Letter written on Wednesday 1^st and Thursday 2^nd September 1943

Same address

Wednesday (nearly Thursday)

My Darling Chotie,

                                                            It’s a long time since I’ve written to you at this time of night, but I find myself with two others operating a wireless for three days and nights and this being the first I thought it would give me a golden opportunity to send you a young novel – so here goes.

            The remainder of the troop are out on a three days exercise and we are maintaining contact with them the whole time.  The system, as it stands sounds quite fun but unfortunately we are not allowed to sleep as those on the exercise aren’t able to.

            This little discrepancy is, however, compensated by the fact that I get a weekend on Saturday, so things aren’t really too bad.  Diller will be home I believe so she’ll have a glorious chance to moan to her hearts content, an opportunity I know she won’t be slow to seize.

Came back from 48hr scheme yesterday, just about all in.  This wireless* is murder, it’s not only the mental tiredness you get, but also chronic headaches owing to the headphones which have to be worn continually.  I’ll spend the week-end in bed – lonely and cold ….

            We’ve managed to scrounge some cocoa and milk, also a shave, so we have hopes of something hot soon.

            Weather here is typical autumn – lots of mist and rain and last night a beautiful sunset, one of the best I’ve ever seen.  The trees – hundreds of them here are just beginning to turn – though it’s early yet.  It will be lovely by the time I leave – always presuming I don’t leave prematurely …

            We have a pretty sound wireless officer, one of the pleasant slavedriver type who works all hours from morn ’til night and expects the whole troop to do the same…Luckily he likes his pint and consequently we always find ourselves some hundred yards from the Duke of Wellington for lunch and he always stands the troop a pint apiece.  God knows how much it must cost him.

            I was talking to the publican who says that the present Duke (who lives in the neighbouring estate – Stratfield Saye) is quite a pleasant bloke – Captain in the Commandos in Sicily and always goes to the pub when on leave to play darts with the farmers.  Apparently he’s about 30**.

            Did I tell you that Dad went up to Purley*** to see all the relations?  It’s the first time he’s seen his father for about five years!  Awful isn’t it?  Apparently things have changed quite a bit.  Gramp now looks his years – he’s about 78, which he never has done before and has slowed up considerably.  Cyril (Dad’s brother) took him on a trip which included all the most dubious of London’s night clubs.

            They all expect me to go up (after Brian going, of course) but I still prefer to go home, or if possible come down to see you.  (I still owe you about a dozen spankings…****)

            However, he did see them, they were all very pleased, and that’s that – for another five years anyhow.

            Incidentally is there anything I can get you for your Birthday? I haven’t had a chance to get out for ages, and you can’t do anything on schemes.  Let me know – and if there’s no chance of my getting it, I’ll send you some shekels*****.

            The ATS are a better crowd than I thought, despite their being mostly Generals’ daughters.  The one I had (not literally….) yesterday did all the cooking for us – and did it very well – probably because they were scared of letting us do it, as they have to eat it as well.  I managed to get her a room in a farmhouse and she managed to get me half-a-dozen eggs so we had quite a happy time.  She comes from Kent of course – Pett’s Wood – about a mile from Orpington†.  We had several common friends.  I should say friends in common – there’s a subtle difference….

            I still haven’t had an FFI†† – you really must organise another meeting…See what you can do.  I always get atrociously rude this time of night – at the moment I’m thinking awful things.  I couldn’t even tell you… 

            That’s enough of this – I’d better do some wireless for an hour or two.

            Well, I’ve done some morse – over an hour in fact and have just been relieved.  Still feel the same.  Good thing I’m not in the Bristol area.

            Read Deeping’s ‘Two Black Sheep’ on the scheme and also “Fanny by Gaslight” again (Michael Sadleir) which I’ve always thought an awful lot of.  It’s the finest picture of Victorian England of the last ten years and heaven knows there have been enough books on that subject!  I’m sure Fanny would get the same hold on you as she has on me.

            Won ten bob on a little side bet last night.  Bill said it was Tchaikovsky’s ‘Casse Noisette’ and I said it was ‘Eugen Onegin’ and Eugen Onegin it was†††.  Just as easy as that.  Wish money was always so procurable as that 10 bob.

It’s now nearly 2 oclock and we’ve got the water on the boil for some luscious cocoa!  Jeez! 

My two colleagues have just started to take an interest in things – now that there’s a chance of a hot drink!  One is that madman I told you about from Corfe Castle – incidentally his name’s Peter Collins (happy memories?) who still intends to live on Round Island after the war††††.  A genuine hermit’s life with just his wife.  Notice I say just!  This is where I should say “what more could a man want”… (after his pipe of course…Never mind Darling – you come second …)

            The other one’s an Oxford law student, pretty nearly broke.  Tennis champ of north of England.  Quite a good type.

            I’ve just had my COCOA(!) and, it’s good.  I’ve got a lovely warm feeling in my tummy which I definitely didn’t have before.

            Well, Chotie Darling I must close here as I have to go on the set again.  I’ll let you know how things went on the weekend and enumerate some of Diller’s moans.

                                    All my love, precious.

                                                Always thinking of you.

                                                                        Dicker

P.S.  You should read Napoleon’s letters to Marie Louise and Josephine.  They’re good….

*Wireless – “not enough emphasis can be put on the importance of communication in battle situations”…Wireless operators needed high quality training “to pick up weak signals against a background of atmospherics and interference” known as ‘slush’. (From ‘Phantom at War’ by Andy & Sue Parlour, Cerberus 2003)

**The Duke of Wellington’s estate at Stratfield Saye near Basingstoke in Hampshire . The 6^th Duke of Wellington, Captain of No 2 Commando, was killed in action at Salerno on 16^th September 1943 (from Commando Veterans website).

***Purley, near Croydon, South London.

****Possibly referring to Chotie’s involvement with her officer at the Bristol camp earlier that year??

*****slang for cash. Chotie’s 20^th birthday was on 6^th September 1943.

†Dick was born in Orpington in Kent and spent his childhood there.

††the 'Free from Inspection' inspection for venereal disease (presumably being used by Dick as a euphemism here)

†††Tchaikovsky’s ballet ‘The Nutcracker’ and not his opera ‘Eugene Onegin’.

††††an island in Poole Harbour.

Peter Collins was the name of one of Chotie’s early admirers:

“Peter Collins, the boss’s son, home from Blundell’s, a posh school in Devon, also took a fancy to me and given the chance, we would canoodle in the store room.  His mother was very kind to me and I was invited to stay at their lovely house in Talbot Woods for a weekend.  Peter had won a scholarship to Blundell’s for his brilliant piano playing and taught me about classical music - a love that has stayed with me all my life.” (From ‘Chotie’s Story’. See also F.W.Collins)

 © Chotie Darling

 

Dick went home to Pagham, Sussex over the weekend of 4th and 5th September and sent Chotie a postcard of Sea Lane, Pagham for her 20^th birthday on the 6^th September. 

His next letter of Tuesday 14th September had news of his brother Brin, now an Officer Pre-Cadet at Wrotham near Sevenoaks, and Dilys, his sister, home from the Pay Corps.  Dick was still worried he wouldn’t get an officer posting to the Recce

“They’re over staffed as it is, which has the annoying habit of making them very difficult to please.  They cheerfully accept about five in every fifty and the unhappy remainder have to go all through an Infantry OCTU, which takes nearly another five months.”  He agreed with Chotie that the news was good (see below) but wrote “We still have the hardest fighting to do”.

Chotie went home on leave again in September to Parkstone, Poole and met up with her best friend Mary Dakin.  Her unit moved from Portishead back to Markham Camp, Easton-in-Gordano, sometime in the month and she had two trips to the dentist in September.

Dick was still on “schemes” – training exercises, which went on for a number of days outdoors but had found time to read, see some films and listen to classical music on the radio (mentioned in his letter to Chotie of 28th September).

His future unit, the 61^st Recce, were involved in a full scale battle ‘scheme’ with Canadian and Polish troops - Exercise Link.

 

On 3rd September the Italian government signed a secret armistice deal with the Allies.  The same day British and Canadian troops of Montgomery’s 8th Army crossed the Messina Straits unopposed, to land in Calabria on the Italian mainland.  This and subsequent amphibious landings by the 1^st British Airborne Division at Taranto and Brindisi, on the south-east ‘heel’ of Italy, were intended to divert the Germans from the main Allied invasion south of Naples but did not succeed. 

The armistice was announced on 8^th September as the Italian Fleet sailed to surrender to the allies in the port of Valetta, Malta.  Italian forces in German-occupied territory became prisoners-of-war and German troops rushed south to take up defensive positions against the Italian invasion.  When the US Fifth Army including the British X Corps arrived at Salerno the Germans were already in place to meet them.  Casualties were terrible as the Allies attempted to break out of the beach-head.

By the 10^th of September the Germans occupied Rome and two days later they rescued Mussolini from his prison in the central Abruzzi Mountains.  At Salerno the Germans launched a counter-offensive on 13^th September, which nearly defeated the Allies but a few days later, with the 8^th Army approaching from the south, the German army began to withdraw to defensive positions north of Naples.

On 23^rd September Mussolini proclaimed the re-establishment of a fascist government in Northern Italy and Hitler now ordered the execution of all Italians carrying arms in Axis-occupied territory.  10,000 were massacred in Greece for resistance (5,000 on the island of Cephalonia on 24^th September).

The Allies' forces from the east and west coast joined up to form a front-line across the country on 25^th September and began to head north.  (This was an arduous campaign against Italy’s geography – a central ridge of high mountains with wide rivers flowing to east and west, providing natural lines of defence – as well as the Germans.)  On 27^th September the people of Naples rose up and drove the remaining Germans out of their city ahead of the Allies' advance.  Marshal Badoglio signed the official armistice with General Eisenhower on 29^th September at Valetta, Malta.

Free French commandos had landed on Italian occupied Corsica on 14^th September to aid resistance fighters in harrying the Germans withdrawing from Sardinia (they'd been duped into arming for an Allied Invasion by Operation Mincemeat) via the formerly French island.  By 21st October the Italian forces were assisting the French.

On 18^th September the British began an attempt to liberate the Greek Aegean islands with a landing on Rhodes but the Italian troops they were looking to for support had already been arrested.

Jews in Athens and Denmark were now facing the threat of deportation as their countries came under German control.  In Denmark, Danish authorities arranged a secret operation to move Jewish citizens into hiding for a safe escape to Sweden while in Athens two-thirds of the Jews escaped with help from the Greek Orthodox church and even the Athenian Chief of Police. The Danish resistance established a shadow administration, ‘the Freedom Council’, on 16^th September.

While Sweden remained neutral, Norway had been occupied by Germany since June 1940 and Hitler’s massive battleship, the Tirpitz, was anchored at Kåfjord on the far north coast.  On 22^nd September a British attack using midget submarines caused enough damage to put her out of action for 6 months.

In eastern Europe the German front-line was now held at the Dnepr river, across central Ukraine, but on 22^nd September Soviet troops began to cross despite suffering heavy losses.  The Allies were now poised to squeeze Hitler’s Europe between eastern and western fronts.

75 years ago - Chotie trains for Ack-Ack

On 3rd February 1943 Chotie began training to be a ‘spotter’ on the Anti-Aircraft gun sites at Park Hall Camp, Oswestry in Shropshire.  Before her posting she had 48 hours leave and was able to see her family in Poole.

Dick was stuck in Dover, which was still suffering air raids as the anti-aircraft guns attacked planes coming in over the Channel.  He now sported his Good Conduct tape for “two years undetected crime”.  He wrote to Chotie again on 24th January : “I suppose you’ve discovered that writing letters is just about the last thing you feel like in the services”. 

(I’m glad he did write letters – this blog wouldn’t exist without them!)

before taking part in the Kent Exercise Hammer II, returning on the 29th.  At the beginning he’d filled out a Recommendation form for Candidates for officer Training Units and this was endorsed by Lieutenant Colonel Crawford on 30th January.  By then Dick was taking this seriously with evening classes in French and German and participation in the Post-War Reconstruction Committee.

At the beginning of February 43^rd Recce was Section Training with a cross-country run and a day on ‘Battle procedure – Withdrawal’.  Writing on 4th February Dick knew Chotie might be training on the artillery sites in North Wales, where his family originally came from.

Chotie did not warm to Park Hall Camp where “life was grim”.  “We did full military training with a Sergeant major on the parade ground.  God, it was just like prison – food so awful and the tea implanted with bromide to stop us getting passionate.”

Dick’s letter of 7th February had been ‘opened by an examiner', maybe at Dover because of Dick’s officer prospects or perhaps at Oswestry to check the correspondence of new recruits.  I doubt there was anything that would get either of them into trouble (Dick was attending evening classes, reading French, listening to classical music and trying to play the Warsaw concerto – although he did refer to ‘spit and polish’ as “Heluva waste of time altogether”

43^rd Recce commenced Troop or Squadron training on 8^th February.  From 10^th to 14^th February Dick was undergoing officer section tests with the War Office Selection Board at Brockham Park in Betchworth, Surrey and on 14^th February his recommendation was approved.  Not knowing this there is no mention of the Board in his letter of 16th February - just family gossip and more about his friend Alex Johnston (who was to be one of 214 men killed when the ship transporting 43^rd Recce to Normandy hit a mine off Sword beach in June 1944).  However, when Dick wrote again on 25^th February he did have news:

As usual

Thursday

My Darling,

                        Many thanks for your letter received yesterday.  Glad to hear you’re still alive & kicking, even though rather over-worked….

Well, Precious, I have got an item of news this time, as, since last writing to you, I’ve been on and passed a War Office Selection Board for Commission.  It will mean a long and arduous task ahead but with proverbial luck and good management I see no reason why I shouldn’t be successful in this respect.

            I am now waiting to go on a pre-OCTU course, which may last any time before eventually getting to an OCTU.  After that it’s about six months of merry hell before getting the old commiss!

What a game it is,,,I had three marvellous days on the Board, as all the time you’re there you’re treated as an Officer – even waited on at table by ATS….

            Marvellous old Georgian House and Estate* has been loaned to the W.O. for this purpose and the owner had the decency to leave all his furniture there.  The pictures alone were insured for £120,000!

            You spend three & ½ days there doing just about anything the human body can do – and more, - intelligence tests, exams, interviews with Brigadiers, Colonels and psychiatrists etc.

            First question the last mentioned asked me, was “How many women have you slept with?”….

            Shook me – rotten.

Most of the paintings I knew – several of Manet, Monet, Cézanne etc. so I had an interesting chat with the Brigadier and visiting woman M.P.  Apparently the owner used to buy still life & his wife, the nudes.  Some of the nudes shook us …..All excused like strip-tease, under “ART”.

            I’ll let you know any further developments should they arise.

I wrote to and had a long reply from Benetti** the fellow at Hove.  Sent me a letter full of arias, and invitations to stay with him.  The bloke’s a genius on arias.  Hope to look him up on my next leave, which brings me to a sore point. 

I’ve had the wretched thing cancelled indefinitely!  Heaven knows when I’ll get it.  However one can’t talk of commissions and leave in the same breath I suppose.

Saw ‘In which we serve’*** this week.  Wasn’t very impressed I’m afraid, though Captain’s wife’s speech was rather brilliant.

            Must close here Darling

                                                            All my love

                                                                        Dicker

*Brockham Park, Betchworth, Surrey.

**See letter of 3rd September 1942

***Patriotic British war film – ‘the story of a ship’ – directed by Nöel Coward and David Lean and starring Nöel Coward. Celia Johnson played the Captain’s wife.

© Chotie Darling

 

The major event of February 1943 was the end of the battle of Stalingrad on 2^nd February.  By 13^th February the Germans’ withdrawal extended to Kharkov, the former capital of the Ukraine far to the east (which had been taken by Operation Barbarossa in October 1941).  Rostov-on-Don, the ‘Gateway to the Caucasus’ near the Sea of Azov, was re-captured by the Russians on 14^th February.

As news of the defeats in Russia leaked out Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister attempted to rouse the morale of the German people with calls for ‘Total War – Short War’ but during his speech he mentioned the eradication of the Jews.  By the end of the month the German wives of Jewish men had begun to gather in Berlin to protest against the deportation of their husbands to concentration camps.

In France the introduction of the ‘Service du Travail Obligatoire’, forcing French men to labour in Germany, was bolstering recruitment to the resistance forces.

Rommel inflicted heavy losses on the Allies in Tunisia during the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, the first major clash between German and American forces.

By the end of February the US was in control of the Pacific Solomon Islands having taken the central Russell Islands.  British Special Forces in Burma, the Chindits, were now fighting behind enemy lines but the Australian commandos who had continued resistance to the Japanese were finally forced to withdraw on 10^th February.

Meanwhile Eric Postles and the 61st Reconnaissance Regiment were back in England to take part in Exercise Spartan.

   

75 years ago - the End of the Beginning

November 1942 was the month that the tide of the war turned for the Allies. 

In Africa the legendary success of Montgomery and the British Eighth Army at El Alamein pushed Rommel’s German and Italian forces into a retreat from Egypt to Libya.  On 3^rd November General Dwight D Eisenhower was flown from Hurn Aerodrome in Dorset to the Rock of Gibraltar, his base for command of Operation Torch in West North Africa and on 8^th November the American landings began in Algeria and Morocco.  Although initially US troops found themselves fighting the Vichy French, Hitler’s aggressive response to this new threat - sending German troops into the south of France in breach of the 1940 Armistice Agreement - led the French leaders in Africa to declare a ceasefire.  Germans also landed in Tunisia and very soon American forces were engaged in fierce fighting with the Germans for the first time since World War I.  Eisenhower accepted the Vichy French Admiral Darlan as head of French North Africa to the disgust of General de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French.  Admiral Laborde, having been reluctant to hand the French Fleet to the Allies, scuttled the Fleet in Toulon Harbour rather than let it fall into German hands. 

The US Air Force bombed the ‘U’- boat docks at St Nazaire in western France (which was already under German occupation) but their daylight ‘precision bombing’ was proving less than accurate and their airmen paid a high price for flying with visibility.  In Norway British and Norwegian commandos were attempting to destroy the German heavy water plant (critical for the development of German atomic weapons) at Telemark without success.  Denmark had resisted adopting anti-Jewish legislation so Hitler installed a Nazi, Erik Scavenius, as Prime minister.

Hitler (increasingly crazed by amphetamines?) doomed his Sixth Army to annihilation at Stalingrad by commanding the beleaguered forces to again attack this ferociously defended city.  They made their final push on 11^th November - just as the cruel Russian winter took hold - leaving a weakness in their flanks, held by the Romanians.  Operation Uranus, the Soviet encirclement of the Sixth Army, had been planned since September.  Advancing on 19^th November the arms of the circle met by the 22^nd.  Although a diversionary attack at Rhez, Operation Mars, was a disaster, the Red Army could now draw the net around nearly 300,000 men.  The Führer forbade his army to attempt a retreat.

In the Pacific the Second Battle of Guadalcanal left the US Navy finally in command of the waters around this critical stepping stone to victory.   By the end of the month the Japanese had also abandoned their attempt to take the capital of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, and had retreated to their original bridgeheads.

As Churchill appositely said in his speech of 10^th November:

“Now this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning.”

 

Dick was still kicking his heels in the 43^rd Reconnaissance Regiment at Dover.  On 29th October Corps he sent Chotie a Recce broach and wrote of the “rain, rain, rain for days on end” but with “glorious sunsets”, books and cinema to pass the time.

The Reconnaissance Corps badge

At the beginning of November 43^rd Recce commenced the “Winter Routine” and a 6 week period of intense individual training.  Dick was on exercises, cross-country runs and route marches with lectures on guerrilla warfare from China.  His letter of 6th November sadly mentions friends dead or missing in action: “I’m afraid we’ll all miss someone before this wretched show is over”.  Chotie was still thinking of joining up – she wanted the WRNS initially (a smarter uniform) but was persuaded to join the ATS to work on something new and “top-secret” (radar location of planes for the anti-aircraft guns).

In Dick’s letter of the 10th he’d visited Canterbury, where he was at school before moving to Poole.  He’s also called in on his former girlfriend, Monica – now married and pregnant – and had a frosty reception.  The news was “brightening up” (see above)and Dick writes with some foresight “the importance of command in Libya cannot be over-emphasised as it means command in the Mediterranean, which we hope will lead to the elimination of Italy as an Axis Power”.

On 17th November he writes:

Address as usual

Tuesday

My Darling,

                                    Once again I find I’m able to reply to yours just received instanta, but I’d better not make a habit of it ...

            Well, my Dear, you seem to have some news this time – whether good, bad or indifferent I leave you to judge, though from your letters I see a sort of aloof indifference.  As my literary hero said “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.”*

            I was pleased to see that you’re sticking out for a specialised job – for which I think you are very wise.  The main criticism offered against this procedure is that you tend to get into a rut; but a comfortable rut is preferable to wandering de place en place as most of us appear to do.

            I was, needless to say, even more pleased to hear that you will not be going before Xmas.  By all laws and statutes I should get my leave a fortnight today, ie the 2^nd of December – but you know what leave can be, or you soon will...

            En passant, I think you are in error as regards the leave; most blokes find that the feminine services are able to get leave when their ‘soldier hero’ gets his.  Naturally this is not always the case but I think you’ll find that in general practice it can be wangled.

            Sorry to hear that Diller’s given me the bird.  Maybe I’ll write her one of these fine days.  You might tell her that I’m giving the matter considerable thought.

            Well, there’s no news from this end.  I managed to get Saturday and Sunday – quite a change, and saw “The Saint’s Vacation”** and, at last – “Reap the Wild Wind”***.  Neither was particularly outstanding.  Always grumble, don’t I?

            Well, I suppose I must close here, not having anything else to hold your attention.

                                    Hope to see you soon, Darling

                                                all my love                                                   

                                                              Dicker

*Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ – Act 5, Scene 2.

**a film based on one of the Simon Templar a.k.a. “The Saint” novels by Leslie Charteris. The film was reset in the Second World War with Nazis as the villains.

***a swashbuckling adventure film set in the 1840s along the Florida coast.

© Chotie Darling

75 years ago - Before the Tide Turns

From 17^th to 25^th September 1942 Dick had nine days Privilege Leave and spent some of this with Chotie.  He returned to Dover via Hastings and sent her a postcard from there. 

Hastings postcard

Writing to her again on 28th September he apologised for being “rather vacant”:

“I find it very difficult to act normally when home on leave, as I suppose all the time I realise that I have to come back to this existence.” 

Perhaps inspired by his Mechanics course he’d applied for a transfer to the Engineers. It also seems that Chotie was planning a “change of employment” – possibly thinking of joining up?  (She joined the ATS in January 1943).

A few days later he wrote again, teasing Chotie about becoming an old maid, so the engagement does not appear to have taken.  He was enjoying the glories of autumn, vividly described in his next letter after a “four day scheme” or exercise.  He’d also met a “very decent subaltern”, Ronnie Jury, who was to become a great friend.

This letter was sent on a Sunday in October 1942, probably the 25^th:                 

Sunday

My darling Chotie,

Please excuse my writing in pencil but I came in a hurry and forgot my pen.  I’m writing this in a Methodist Church Army Show, a hellish place to find oneself on a Sunday evening…However in a hour or so the Ritz will be open…

            I’ve been on the range all yesterday and today – marking in the butts (too technical for you?) means you signal the shots from the target end.  Very boring.  We manage to alleviate part of the boredom by betting on our own target.  After two days I’m where I started !  Not over profitable.  I’m on again Monday and Tuesday.

            Met a farmer on Friday.  Charming.  Quite the style with orange waistcoat etc, and a moustache like Marshall Budenny*.  Very interesting.  We talked for over two hours, mostly on farming topics.  Needless to say he was born and bred here, (man and boy for nigh on forty year etc…).  Altogether a very nice bloke, by which I mean he stood me a couple of pints…

Needless to say I haven’t yet heard from that rat du Rose.  If you see him, tell him from me, he’s a SNAKE!

            Fancy you liking Maggie Mitchell’s tale of ‘Ye Olde South South’***!   Very surprising.  It’s on here.  Queues about a mile long for each performance.  There’s certainly a sucker born every minute…

            I went into a Church Army place this afternoon and found to my horror that they were issuing free teas.  Now when you get your tea gratis they expect you to stay to a temperance service afterwards.  There was a crowd of effeminate-looking service men seated round a table with various civilian was-led-in-the-blood-of-the-Lambers****, so I beat a hasty Dunkirk out of the place…                

Well, my Precious – will close here and see if I can’t find a drop of something warm somewhere.

                                                                                    All my love,

                                                                                                Dicker

P.S. Will write again tomorrow or Tuesday.

*Marshall Budenny – a Soviet military commander with a moustache wider than his face.

**du Rose – one of Dick’s close companions in the Dorset Regiment. See http://www.chotiedarling.co.uk/my-blog/2010/09/enter-du-rose.html .

*** ‘Gone with the Wind’, from the book by Margaret Mitchell giving an idyllic portrayal of the USA’s deep South during the Civil War era, despite the reliance on slavery. It went on general release in 1941 and has been hailed as one of the greatest American films of all time.

****Possibly a mischievous reference to the Salvation Army. 

  © Chotie Darling

 

43^rd Reconnaissance had continued training from their base in Dover with lectures and a major emphasis on firing skills (rifle and Bren guns).

 

Back in Dorset HMS Turtle, which was to become the Royal Marines base in Poole, was opened on 7^th October 1942.  On 12^th October Churchill specifically praised the exploits of the commandos in his speech "Keep right on to the end of the road".

However, on 4^th October a breach of wartime convention – killing a German soldier with his hands tied i.e. a prisoner – by the Small Scale Raiding Force led to Hitler’s Commando Order on 18^th October – that all Allied commandos taken prisoner were to be killed (a flagrant breach of the 1929 Geneva Convention).

 

In October 1942 Roosevelt announced the establishment of a United Nations commission to investigate war crimes.

Bitter fighting continued in the Solomon Islands and on the Russian front, as the Germans continued their attempts to take Stalingrad and the Caucasus.  Allied raids on Italian cities intensified in 1942 and on 28^th October the RAF bombed Genoa and Turin.

In Africa Montgomery launched an attack on the German and Italian line at El Alamein – although Rommel lost half his panzer tanks the line held.  The Americans were holding secret talks with Vichy France leaders in Algiers, hoping to prevent opposition to their imminent landings in North Africa.  (General de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French, was not told about this invasion until it was taking place on 8^th November).

As the tide of the war was about to turn a British Navy’s raid on a sinking U-boat submarine seized an Enigma machine and code-books crucial to Bletchley Park’s deciphering of German Naval messages.

75 years ago - Brighton

On 22^nd July 1942 Dick had been assigned to the No3 Technical Training Group in Brighton, to learn to be a Driver Mechanic for the 43^rd Reconnaissance Regiment

Although slightly dismissive of his new comrades: “a very rough lot - no signs of mental vigour” he was “very thankful” to be out of the Airborne.  He enjoyed being back in Kent, his childhood county (he’d attended the Simon Langton School in Canterbury) and found “almost everything was going on” – cinema, theatres, etc. in when he arrived in Brighton.  On his 21^st birthday, 28th July he was still suffering from his latest vaccinations (43^rd Recce had received orders to mobilise for overseas) and had a quiet night out by himself in the town centre.  By day he was training at the Dreadnought Garage in Hove and eating in the local 'British Restaurant'.

Postcard sent from Brighton on 4th August 1942.

Dick managed to get home to Pagham on the weekend of 8^th August but was also enjoying the delights of Brighton, going to the Anglo-Polish Ballet twice.  On 16^th August he wrote to Chotie about the films he’d seen in town:

Letter – Sunday 16^th August 1942

5731671 Tpr Williams R

Room 28

3^rd Technical Training Group

Preston Barracks, Brighton, Sussex

Sunday

My Darling Chotie,

                                                                        Many many thanks for polyfotos.  They’re marvellous, Darling.  I showed them to the boys who now regard me in a different light.  I would have sent them back with this letter, but haven’t yet procured a big enough envelope, but I’ll definitely send them in my next.

And also many thanks for a very nice letter.

            Well, Lulu belle there’s no news as usual.

            I went to the ‘Curzon’ yesterday – saw Viviane Romance in “L’Esclave Blanche” (White Slave) a French film.  It was very good but not up to the usual high standard achieved by French Directors. She (Viviane) is very much like Danielle – also has her hair up.

            I’m looking forward to seeing Eileen Joyce tonight – never having seen her before. She’s an Australian and extraordinarily good pianist to hail from there.         

I saw a rather good film a few days ago – “Mien Kampt” (sic)* – showing Adolf’s rise to power since his early days after the last war and the brilliant way he went about it – the way he removed Ernst Roehm, Dollfuss, Schnussnigg (sic) and the rest**.  A lot of it was documentary, ie actual shots, especially of the jolly old Reichstag Fire Trial*** etc, and the flagwrapping parade in the Olympic Stadium***.

            Well, Precious, I must close here as it’s now dinner time, and as I didn’t get up in time for breakfast, I’m not missing it.                            

                                        All my love, Chotie Darling,                                     

                                                        Hope to get leave soon                                                         

                                                                                         Dicker

*Dick meant ‘Mein Kamf’ - German for ‘My Struggle’, the title of the film and Hitler’s autobiography.

**Ernst Röhm – head of the SA (Sturmabteilung), the Nazi brown-shirted stormtroopers. Arrested and executed in the ‘Night of the Long Knives’, 1934.

Engelbert Dollfuss - Chancellor of Austria from 1932 to 1934, who destroyed the Austrian Republic and established an authoritarian regime based on conservative Roman Catholic and Italian Fascist principles. Assassinated by the SS in July 1934.

Kurt von Schuschnigg – succeeded Dollfuss as Chancellor of Austria. Opposed the Anschluss, (annexation of Austria by the Third Reich) and was imprisoned by the Nazis when they invaded Austria.

***The Reichstag Fire Trial in 1933 followed the part destruction by fire of the German ‘parliament’ building soon after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe was charged and executed for having set the fire as part of a Communist plot and the Nazis used the incident to ensure the defeat of the Communists and other leftist parties in the following elections.

****The 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.

© Chotie Darling

 

Meanwhile 43^rd Recce in Kent was ready for mobilisation and continuing training.  They may have been destined for the Far East, Africa or even France…

 

Churchill arrived in Cairo on 3^rd August 1942.  The staff changes he made there resulted in Bernard Montgomery (Monty) taking charge of the Eighth Army in Africa.  Rommel’s Afrika Corps again attempted to break through the El Alamein line at the end of August but was forced to withdraw.  Churchill flew on to Moscow for talks with Stalin who reluctantly agreed that there would be no Allied invasion across the Channel in 1942 to take pressure off Russia.  Instead plans went ahead for landings in western North Africa with Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed as Commander-in-Chief for the invasion.

An offensive by besieged Soviet forces in Leningrad prevented the Germans from cutting off their supply line across Lake Ladoga.  Germans in southern Russia scaled Mount Elbrus but their over-stretched forces never reached the rich oilfields of the Caucasus.

On 6^th August 1942 the World Jewish Congress announced that one million Jews had been killed in Nazi occupied Europe.  Roosevelt warned that the perpetrators of barbarism would ultimately have to stand in courts of law and answer for their acts.

On 7^th August the Allies began their first major offensive against the Japanese, landing 19,000 US Marines on Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the southern Solomon Islands (which the Japanese had held since May).  The Japanese responded, landing thousands more troops and Guadalcanal became a bitter campaign of jungle fighting and survival.  In the Battle of Milne Bay on Papua New Guinea the Japanese attacked on 25^th August but the (predominately Australian) Allies had won their first decisive victory against the Japanese by 7^th September.  Japan directly attacked the USA in late August and September, firebombing the west coast forests.

In India the ‘Quit India’ campaign led to the British arresting Gandhi and other Congress leaders.  On 19^th August 1944 the British and Canadian combined operations raid on Dieppe in northern France ended in disaster.

The first all American bombing raid from Britain went ahead in daylight on 17th August, directed against the railway yards in Rouen, France.  The huge RAF night-time raid on Nuremberg on 28^th August killed 4,000 civilians.

 

Dorset, where Dick’s beloved Chotie lived, was still suffering from coastal bombing with 15 people killed in Bridport and Swanage in August. Combined forces practised for the Dieppe Raid off the Dorset Coast and the Small Scale Raiding Force successfully attacked a radar station on the French coast on 14th/15th August. Dorset boats were involved in support of the foiled raid on Dieppe and Portland played an important role in the testing of midget submarines, later used with success against Germany’s greatest battleship, the Tirpitz.  The Royal Australian Air Force arrived in Poole on 31^st August to fly anti-submarine patrols over the western Channel approaches in Sunderland flying-boats, safeguarding the vulnerable but vital supply convoys.

75 years ago - Poole saved from bombing with Island decoy

On 23^rd May 1942 the new 'Starlight' radar system was employed successfully by RAF pilot John “Cat’s Eyes” Cunningham to shoot down the German flying ace Hauptmann Langur, whose plane crashed near Shaftesbury in Dorset.  The Telecommunications Research Establishment, however, did not stay in Dorset. In May 1942 it moved inland to the safety of Malvern in Worcestershire – the Small Scale Raiding Force and Bruneval Raids were proving how vulnerable coastal locations were to attack.

Poole was the target for a large bombing raid on the night of 24th May, involving 60 German aircraft.  Luckily one of the initial ‘pathfinder’ bombs fell on Brownsea Island setting off the pyrotechnic displays of the Elstree Studios’ decoy used to simulate burning buildings and successfully diverting the rest of the attack to the Island.  Although several people were killed in Hamworthy by other Pathfinders - and a bomb falling near Chotie’s home in Parkstone killed a Home Guard - the ingenious "Starfish" (from ‘Special Fire’) decoy was a great success, attracting 157 tons of the 166 tons of bombs used in the attack – it may well have saved Chotie’s life.

A Starfish decoy in action

 

On the other side of the world the Japanese now held all of the Phillipines and were advancing into southern China along the Burma Road but in the Battle of the Coral Sea the American Navy prevented their landing at Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea). 

Soviet forces experienced terrible losses to the German Army in the Second Battle of Kharkov (Ukraine) and the Crimea.  Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect of the Jewish Holocaust, was shot by the Czech Resistance and died a few days later.  Germany suffered its first 1,000 bomber raid on the night of 30^th May when the RAF attacked Cologne, devastating the city.  However, Rommel’s offensive in Libya in May 1942 led to his most famous victory in the Battle of the Gazala line.  This also impacted on Dick’s future since the 50^th Division’s Reconnaissance Regiment was wiped out in the Battle to be replaced shortly before D Day by 61^st Recce, the unit Dick and his comrades were to fight in.

Eric Postles was already in the 61^st Reconnaissance regiment, training in Northern Ireland but in May 1942 Dick was with the 1st Airborne  training on the Bulford Ranges near Salisbury and moved there from Shaw House at the end of the month.  On Sunday 3^rd May he had his first flight, in a glider, but seemed unimpressed (possibly slightly airsick?).  He met up with his brother Brin on Saturday 9th May and again the following Saturday.   On Thursday 21^st May he had a rather more illustrious meeting:

 

Saturday 23rd May 1942

5731671 Tpr Williams R

1^st Air Landing Sqdn

 Recce Corps

HOME FORCES

My Darling Chotie,

Hope you will excuse my writing in pencil but expect you are used to it by now...

            Many thanks for letter - as welcome as ever.

            Glad to see you managed to get a swim in - which is more than I've been able to - not that I've got the inclination - seem to have lost all interest in that direction, which is probably a good thing as I always tended to overdo it.  I rather think Brinner has also lost interest.  If ever I get out of this show alive I'm all for a life of ease – swimming’s far too strenuous.

            So Margaret has made it up with Ted to quote your own words.  Well, well...On ne sait jamais*..

            Had quite a thrill on Thursday - when we were inspected by the King & Queen and a score of Generals.  It was a demonstration of Paratroops & Gliders etc.  I hope Johnny knows what he's letting himself in for.  At any rate he'll find out sooner or later.

            Did you hear the “Barber**” this afternoon (Saturday)?  Unfortunately I was working and missed it.  I cursed my ill-luck bitterly.

            Flying all the morning - cold & cloudy.

            Lucky Diller - wish I was going down, or rather we were.

            Books: “Portrait of a Village” Francis Brett Young**, “Blood & Sand” Ibanez - though rather dull gives quite a true appreciation of the life of a Torero.

            Brinner may have moved by now - probably has.  Near Winchester I believe - couldn't be worse than Oakmere Farm - I was horror struck when I saw it last Saturday.

            Raining hard at the moment - very miserable - the weather I mean - I'm reasonably cheerful.

            Well, Precious no news as per usual.  Incidentally will you get in touch with Eric and get him to send me a GROUNDSHEET. MOST IMPORTANT!!! I'm about to be charged 18/- for one! Will you send it, Darling?  (please...) - and I'll give you a big kiss...(Hope that will do the trick).

                        Well, bye, bye for now, Darling.

                                                            All yours,

                                                                        Dicker

PS. I now drive a 15 cwt truck. It was called ‘ Evelyn’ but is now ‘Chotie’ - I painted it in Gothic’s.

                                                                        xxxxxxx

                                                                        all for you!

                                                                                    Darling.

                                                                                    Xxxxx

*French for “You never can tell”.

**Presumably the ‘Barber of Seville’, an Italian comic opera by Rossini.

***A mystery story set in the Black Mountains of Wales.

****A famous tale about bullfighting in Spain.

© Chotie Darling

75 years ago – Somewhere in England

The siege of Leningrad, which was to last until January 1944 began on 8^th September 1941.  The Germans also captured Kiev in Russia on 19^th September, carrying out the notorious massacre of Babi Yar there.  More than 33,000 Jews were killed – the largest single mass killing of the Holocaust.  At the beginning of October Hitler began his attack on Moscow.

Meanwhile Dorset and the Hampshire border were used for the filming of 'The First of the Few', the story of the Spitfire, starring Leslie Howard and David Niven and featuring pilots from RAF Command.  Niven had left Hollywood to rejoin the  Army at the start of the war and, although he did some work for the Army Film Unit, he also commanded ‘A’ Squadron of the secret GHQ Liaison known as ’Phantom’, which specialised in front-line communications.  ‘A’ Squadron were based on the south coast behind Poole Harbour in Dorset working with ‘V’ Corps (part of Southern Command) for the defence of Hampshire and Dorset. 

Also in September Dick’s unit, the 70th Battalion of the Dorset Regiment moved to Bournemouth while its companies guarded RAF Ibsley (the main location for the film above), RAF Hurn, RAF Warmwell and the cliffs at Canford (where Chotie was later to live). 

 

Chotie, now aged eighteen, had joined the Women's Land Army.  Dick, who’s enjoying the Autumn countryside in Hampshire, writes to congratulate her but then, in his next letter, reveals that his HQ Company is moving to the Branksome Chine area in Poole on the weekend of 20^th/21^st September.  Although this must have been frustrating, with Chotie now moving out from Poole to a farm somewhere in Dorset, Dick also seems intent to “go elsewhere”.  He writes to Chotie at Church Knowle (where she’s working on the farm near Corfe Castle in Purbeck and living in Miss Grace’s little cottage at Cocknowle) saying he “should be out off this punk crowd in a month or two”.  His family also has plans to move from Poole back to Herne Bay in Kent, where they lived when Dick was a child.

On 7^th October Dick had a medical, prior to his transfer, passed in A1 condition and wrote Chotie his last letter for some time:

Intelligence Section

HQ Company

70th Dorsets

Branksome

Hants.

Tuesday

My Darling Chotie,

                                                            Just a few lines to let you know that all is well, and that I still love you, EVERYTHING.

            I'm now feeling much better and though still on the sick list, hope to be OK again in a few days time.

            I had a letter from Brinner (NO not Monica*, Darling...) who appears to be enjoying himself.

            I do little or nothing all day with Eric, which gets pretty boring after a while.  He had a parcel today and is, consequently, feeling quite cheerful, and sends his love (brotherly).

            I was medically examined this morning re transferring, and was categorised A1. - not that it makes any difference.  I'm afraid there's no news, of course, as nothing seems to happen.

            Marjory, as I hear from Diller, who still corresponds, has now found her true love (etc), and may now cease to cause me sleepless nights.  It's about time she had a change of front and policy.  That's the only snag of going back to Herne Bay**.  But at any rate we hope she's married by then and in safe hands.

            This pen’s horrible to write with.  Needless to say, it’s Eric's!  He has everything on the thin side.

            I've managed to find Cocknowle on a large-scale map - so I now know whereabouts it lies.

            As regards next Sunday, I'll borrow a bike from Somewhere in England and be around sometime about 3 pm to 5-30.  At any rate, I'll write again before then.

            Well, Darling I must close here as it's time for tea, and I must rush to post this.

            I managed to get a Dorset Brooch, which will do, I hope, until I get into a Genuine Regiment when I'll send you another.

                                                                        Bye, bye Darling

                                                                                    All my love

                                                                                                Dicker

                                                                                                Xxxxxxxx

 

* Dick’s former girlfriend – see letters of 12^th November 1940 and 31^st March 1941

** Dick’s family were planning to move back to Herne Bay from Poole

 

© Chotie Darling

75 years ago - German class

On 13^th July 1941 Britain and the USSR pledged to assist one another against Hitler.

In Dorset a new Aerodrome was completed at Hurn (now Bournemouth Airport) and the Small Scale Raiding Force set forth from Poole on a mission to West Africa – Operation Postmaster.

Dick was still at Fort Brockhurst in Gosport, training for Intelligence work. Diversions included the cinema, heavy drinking with his pals in Pompey (Portsmouth) and a painful attempt at horse-riding.  He was giving lectures, practising the laying and disconnection of minefields and studying Spanish, German and French (Dick was fluent in French and found Spanish easy but thought German ‘a swinish language’).

The 11^th August 1941 found him writing to Chotie during a German class  :

Monday 11^th August 1941

Fort Brockhurst

Gosport

Hants

Monday Morning

My Darling,

                                                                                    It's not often that I begin an epistle to you at this hour in the morning - it's now only 8.30 - but as I have some time to spare, I thought I'd start anyway.

            It's been raining hard since réveillé and looks like going on all day.  I suppose it will stop by about eleven or so.  I'm meant to demonstrate sniping to the Company Commanders at nine o'clock but with this rain I suppose it will be postponed - at any rate I hope so.

            Thanks for your last letter.  I've passed on best wishes to Eric (I'm too jealous to give him your love...) who returns same.  I haven't seen Pete lately and JP is on leave.

            Incidentally my leave is down for the 22^nd of this month but we have been warned that all leave will probably be a month late, so it's not a bit of good to back on it.  It would be marvellous if I could get it, as it's only about ten days time.

            Eric and I went to the flicks yesterday and saw ‘Typhoon’ (Lamour & Preston).  It's a bit ancient but very good.  I don't know whether you saw it or not.  Don't miss it if you get the chance.  Eric & I also joined the Gosport Library - which is an excellent one in every way.

 

            We have just started a German class, but I hope to carry on with my letter.  The Education Sergeant is very ancient and could easily overlook this writing.  At the moment he’s chalking up lines and lines of German on the blackboard - I've no idea what - I never do.

 

Well, I just had a break for lunch so am once again at it.

            Hell!  I wish I could get my Seven Days... and don't you start talking about going Russian either*, or I'll start…

            We are now having a lecture on mopping-up paratroops - a lot of bloody rubbish…  They are under the impression that a section (one Lance Corporal & nine men) could easily finish off 18 paratroops, which is ridiculous as a British Army section has only one Bren Gun, possibly a Tommy gun and seven or eight rifles, whereas paratroops have each a light machine-gun, and bristle with Mills bombs**, grenades etc.  That's the Army all over - mass slaughter.

            I'm just going to dinner, so I'll probably feel better after that.

 

Well, Darling I've had dinner and do feel considerably better for it.  Excuse the ink (unusual for me) but as there appears to be a pen here I thought I may as well use it, perhaps it helps to make my writing legible.

            It has cleared up and the sun is shining once again - think of the time when it will always be shining, Sweetheart, when there shall be ‘no wars nor rumours of wars***’ ...  That little cottage with the thatched roof and glorious roses...And a Queen Anne bed... (?)

            This nightmare of separation will soon be over Darling, and then we'll start to live again.  That's if you'll still love me then.  All I ever do is hope & pray that you will. Please tell me you will, Darling, and I'll get some sleep at night...

            Well, Precious I must close here as I have to go on parade at 2 o'clock.

                                                            All my love, Darling,

                                                                        Your loving,

                                                                                    Dicker.

* Dick and Chotie appear to have used ‘Russian’ as a euphemism for intimate matters.

** kinds of hand grenade

*** Mark Chapter 13 Verse 7 “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet…” from Authorized King James version of the Holy Bible (Matthew Chapter 24 Verse 7 is very similar).

© Chotie Darling

75 years ago - bombing raids in Southampton

In March Dick moved back to south Hampshire from Southbourne and was stationed in Southampton. The city was subject to regular air-raids, the Luftwaffe having resumed their bombing campaign (which had been hampered by the winter weather following the terrible attacks of November and December).

Poole, where Chotie lived, suffered 88 air raid alerts in March and April as incendiaries, high explosive bombs and UXBs were dropped on the area (from  ‘Poole and World War II’ written by Derek Beamish, Harold Bennett and John Hillierand published by Poole Historical Trust in 1980.)

 

Dick wrote this letter while on guard in Southampton:

‘D’ Company

70th Dorsets

Southampton

Hants.

My Darling Chotie,

                                                                        As I’m on guard once again I thought I’d write as I have a few moments all to myself!

        I have to go on guard every three days or so – far too often - a 24 hrs guard, mounting at 6 pm and dismounting at 6 pm the next day. 

        It’s a regimental guard over the main entrance to the Battalion Headquarters.  Needless to say everything is just so-so or the RSM* wants to know why.  However, there’s a stove in the guardroom which helps matters not a little.  There’s also an orderly attached to the guard who gets the meals and anything from the NAAFI.

        The guard consists of one Corporal and three men, each man doing two hrs on duty and then four hrs in the guardroom.  The main snag is that we have to wear full equipment and are not allowed to take it off during the 24 hrs, except for reasons too obvious to mention!

        That’s enough of guards – they’re pretty depressing things anyway. To turn to a more cheerful subject, I hope to get home next weekend for a few hours – either on Saturday or Sunday.  It all depends on when I have to go on guard again.  If it falls on Saturday evening it ruins me, as there wouldn’t be time to get home and I would be on guard all the Sunday.  I believe, however, that I go on again on Friday, which means I come off Saturday night and could get home on the Sunday.  We must trust to luck as usual.  I think I can make it all right.

        I’ve been to the flicks twice lately – saw ‘The Great Dictator’ and ‘Black Fury’ (Paul Muni).  How anyone could see anything in the ‘Great Dictator’ I don’t know.  I thought it was chronic.  ‘Black Fury’ was quite good but nothing up to the usual Muni standard.  The place we go to (the only place we are allowed without a pass) is Shirley.  I’ve no idea where it lies on the map but it’s inland from Southampton.  It’s a pretty dull place; reminds me of the East End on Sunday – all 50 shilling tailors and patent leather.

        There’s nothing to go out for anyway, as we have a first rate NAAFI and a good Corporals’ Room.  The boys say there are plenty of women here but I haven’t seen any – except a couple of old bags, doubtless engaged in plying the oldest of professions. I’m afraid that’s rather crude. Almost Russian**…

        Incidentally, I don’t know whether I told you I had an interview with the ‘Old Man’ and he’s recommended me.  It will mean some months, as I have to wait for the recommendation to go through to the interview board.  They’re the b----rs to get past and even if I get past them (which I very much doubt) I’d still have to wait to get posted to an O.C.T.U.***  Still it’s a start, I suppose.

        I’ve just paused to make out the Guard reports – a wretched job as everything has to be reported – even the minutest detail.

 

            Later

                                    Well, Precious, it’s now just after midnight and still the sirens haven’t gone.  It’s really rather odd as we seem lost without them here.  I expect Jerry’s stocktaking this evening…  the raids lately have been almost continuous and pretty vicious. About six houses in a row, 200 yards from here came down on Saturday night.

        When there’s a night raid on the shrapnel comes down like rain, from the Anti-Aircraft Barrage.  There’s not a house in the whole place that hasn’t got some windows out or half the roof gone.  It’s certainly more interesting from that point of view, as there’s seldom a dull moment at night.  It makes the guards a lot more fun when you can hear the shrapnel on the roof.

        I’ve done very little reading lately as I don’t get very much time.  I read, or rather re-read, Hitchins’ ‘The Garden of Allah’, and quite an interesting little book called ‘I’ll tell you Everything’, written by Priestley in collaboration with some one else****, which, although very light & sometimes puerile, was really rather good.

(Every now and then I light my pipe and march up and down outside in an effort to keep awake.  The stove in here makes me wish for my dear little bed…).

        There’s a piano here in the Assembly Hall, on which I manage to amuse myself occasionally if no one else.  If I can find a piano anywhere where I can play without fear of being interrupted I’m really happy for hours – which only goes to prove what a simple minded soul I must be.

Well, my precious baby, I must close here as I don’t want to put an undue strain on your eyes (?) reading all this rubbish, so I will say ‘Good Morning’, Darling,

                                                            Your ever loving,

                                                                                    Dicker

P.S.  Please look after yourself, Darling, as you mean just everything now.

 

* RSM – Regimental Sergeant Major

** ‘Russian’ was a romantic code between Dick and Chotie.

“Dicker and I, so young, played wonderful games. We pretended to be ‘Russian’ and he taught me to love the ballet as he did.  Having always wanted to be a dancer we pretended I was.  I wore my long blonde hair in the style of a ballerina. He was a brilliant pianist and played Chopin by ear. He had a very good physique having exercised with weights and things – very muscular.  How I adored him.  Our lovemaking was very pure by today’s standards.  Just to kiss and hold each other close was very thrilling.”  From ‘Chotie’s Story’.

*** O.C.T.U. – Officer Cadet Training Unit

****Robert Smythe Hichens’ ‘The Garden of Allah’, a tale of adventure in the Sahara Desert written in 1904, was made famous by the Marlene Dietrich film of 1936.  ‘I’ll Tell You Everything’ written by J.B.Priestley in collaboration with Gerald Bullett is a light-hearted crime thriller.

© Chotie Darling

Heading for 'The Bluebell'

Letter from Chotie written Monday 26th March 1945

W/242328  Pte. Williams B.E.

‘B’ Troop. O.F.C. A.T.S.,

462 Hy. (M). A.A. Bty. R.A.,

Fort Godwin,

c/o  G.P.O. Easington,

Nr. Hull, Yorks.

 

26th March 45.

My darling Dicker,

                                                For one evening, at last, I am not on duty, so have been writing letters. 

What do you think? – today I received a letter from Brinner.  Amazing isn’t it?  He says he will write as often as possible too.  Seems to be fairing pretty well as regards food.  Trust Brinner.  It’s marvellous that you are so near to each other.  I hope you manage to meet.

            I can imagine, darling, that you have been pretty busy of late - the news is still good.

           

Today, we had another present, darling, from Marion, the person I stopped with when I went to Glasgow for the weekend.  She sent us a Scotch £1 – wasn’t it kind of her?  I am enclosing her letter for you to read.

           

Yesterday afternoon we had a film on in the Naafi.  Rosalind Russell in ‘The Beautiful Cheat’.  I had seen it before but it was awfully good.

            I am in the Y.M.C.A.*  writing this – it’s quite a good canteen on site.  Had some Horlicks tonight – to make me a bonny, baby.  As if I need it.

           

Just think, darling, tomorrow we have been married 3 weeks.  Must hie myself to the Naafi if possible.  If Nan is ‘off duty’ I will haul her down to The Bluebell**.

            Not really very much to tell you, dearest.  I spend quite a lot of my time just dreaming of things to come.  Have built us a home and furnished it (all in my imagination) most marvellously.  I think I had better see what I can do with a Missen, probably have to.

            Take care, you are very, very precious to me darling.

                                    All my love,

                                                            Cho

 

*Young Men’s Christian Association

**The café at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre at Spurn Point http://www.ywt.org.uk/reserves/spurn-nature-reserve  is still called The Bluebell.

 © Chotie Darling

 

 

By 27^th March the bridgehead across the Rhine was 35 miles wide and 20 miles deep.

 

WAR DIARY of 52^nd (Lowland) Recce Regt RAC March 1945

– Lt Col J.B.A. Hankey OBE

Date 27^th        Place WOOD 069332:                                                            Weather – Fine

Strength - 905 men, 188 tanks/armoured cars/guns

‘No change.  ‘A’ Squadron revert to Regimental Command having been providing Beach Control parties for No:3 Commando Brigade at the WESEL crossing.  Other Driver/Operators from Regiment were doing similar work.'

No troops detached.

(From the War Diary of the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)

 

Operation Varsity

At 10.00 am on 24^th March 1945 airborne troops of the 18^th Airborne Corps – British 6^th Airborne Division and the US 17^th Airborne Division -  began dropping behind the enemy lines, north of Wesel and near Hamminkeln.  More than 3,000 planes and gliders, escorted by a thousand allied fighters, dropped over 16,000 troops in three and a half hours – the largest airborne operation in a single day.

They were landing in part of ‘Flak Alley’ (as the RAF called it) - the Ruhr’s defences and were met by an inferno of German anti-aircraft guns taking advantage of the enforced break in Allied artillery fire.

The two airborne divisions attacking in Operation Varsity received more than 2,000 casualties but captured about 3,500 German soldiers.  They also succeeded in severing communications, capturing vital routes and diverting attention from the forces crossing the Rhine.

By nightfall they had joined up with ground forces that had crossed the Rhine, establishing a firm bridgehead on the east bank.

(See the film Operation Varsity : Airborne Invasion East of the Rhine .)

 

Sandy Handley watched Operation Varsity begin from the banks of the River Rhine:

“In the early hours of the next morning the guns had ceased firing and we could actually hear birds singing.  One of the Officers in charge of our section came over to our Daimler and said “Well done men!” although I didn’t think we’d done anything except cringe under the Daimler.  It was really frightening.  I think this Officer was more pleased to think none of us had gone round the bend with the noise and we were glad we weren’t on the receiving end of the bombardment.  Although grovelling about under the vehicles was bad enough - we looked dirty and disheveled.

The officer then said at 10 o’clock this morning the Airborne paratroops and gliders will come over and land on the other side of the river near Wesel and precisely at 10 o’clock we heard a roar which grew louder and louder.  Someone said “Here they come”.  They flew low.  It was one of the greatest memorable sights I have ever seen, unforgettable.  First the paratroopers, then the gliders being towed over this great river. 

As the planes reached the other side the enemy started to fire their anti-aircraft guns, several of the gliders were caught in the flack.  My mate said “Look, the gliders are on fire. There’s men being burned alive up there.”  It was terrible to watch.

 

A day or two after we left the banks of the Rhine and later crossed the Rhine on pontoon bridges ourselves.  We could see the results of all that bombardment – whoever came out of that alive was lucky.”

 

 

(From Ex Trooper S Handley’s ‘61 Recce - Memories of Normandy etc 1944 – 1945’, unpublished)

Safe and Sound and Soon

Letter from Chotie written Friday 16^th March 1945

Friday 16^th March 45.

My darling,

                                    Must thank you so much for your letter*, which was really quite quick coming.  I did not expect to hear from you for quite a while.           

Thank Goodness! Bryn approved - I do hope he writes to me.  It is a shame he got posted  just when you could be with him.  I was pleased that your trip over was not too deadly and I do hope, precious, that you continue to get good food.  That’s an important thing.

            Actually darling I think it is you, making the sacrifice so nobly, and if you come back safe and sound and soon I will be the happiest girl in the world.

 

We have had some more money, darling.  2 guineas from Auntie Nellie & Alice & £1 from Auntie Ethel – Mummy’s sister.  We also had lots of promises.  I hope you have managed to write to some of those people, darling, if not send the letters etc. to me & I’ll write them.

           

Well, I have been very fortunate about leave.  I phoned the unit up and spoke to Mrs Wilkie, luckily.  She told me to await instructions.  Yesterday, I received a wire granting me 7 days, so I’ll have to go back next Monday.  No C.B.** or anything – thank goodness!

           

Have just received a letter from your Mum with some photos enclosed – also some negatives.  The photos of me are ‘chronic’ – you don’t look too bad, one is quite good.  Beryl is getting some negatives developed so I’ll send you some on as soon as possible.

           

I have been taking the baby out quite a bit.  In Poole yesterday I bumped into Sas & Johnny; they thought it was “very quick work”, until I explained, of course.  They walked back through the park*** with me, getting quite 'paternal'.  Sas had schemes of weaning him on beer.

            This afternoon Margaret & I walked nearly to Sandbanks with him.  She was in the best of spirits as she had just had a letter from Ted and he should be home April 6^th, 7^th or 8^th – isn’t it thrilling?

            Roger is a bit fretful – we think some teeth are coming, or something.  Ted’s brother Don is coming tomorrow, I have not seen him for ages.  He will be the first of the ‘Lewises’ to nurse Roger.

          

I have opened a banking account at the National Provincial – so that’s all settled.  I think you have to enquire about my allowance, or something.****

 

Later

Beryl came rushing in from work and wanting me to go to the flicks.  We went to the ‘Grand’ to see Ronald Colman & Marlene Dietrich in 'Kismet'.  All Baghdad and thieves and things.  Not bad.  We had to walk home, so I’m pretty well on my knees.

            Must close now and go to bed,

            Take care, my precious,

                        All my love,

                                    Chotie. XXX

 

*Dick’s letter of Monday 12^th March 1954 –  'A Noble Sacrifice'. 

**’Confined to Barracks’?

***Poole Park – not far from Chotie’s home.

****A married man in the services could get a ‘Married Women’s Allowance’ for his wife.

 © Chotie Darling

 

WAR DIARY of 52^nd (Lowland) Recce Regt RAC March 1945

– Lt Col J.B.A. Hankey OBE

Date 16^th Place MENZELEN:                                                Weather – Rain

Strength - 907 men, 188 tanks/armoured cars/guns              

‘No change in situation except that ‘A’ Squadron less Assault Troop ordered to go to VENRAIJ to come under command of Commando Brigade.  ‘B’ Squadron also to supply 9 19 sets to report to HQ, 15(S) Division in area HASSELT.  Regiment also warned that elements may be taken for Traffic Control.  Slight shelling in area.’

 ‘A’ & ‘C’ Squadrons were still detached. ‘B’ Squadron were at Helenhof 1225.

(From the War Diary of the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)

 

Dick’s 1945 diary for March:

16th Fri – Supper with Peter Evans. Wrote Poll.

17th Fri – Wrote Averil.

A Bath and a new Battle Dress - Wednesday 6th and Friday 8th December 1944

61^st Recce Regt

RAC BLA.

Tuesday (sic) Dec 6^th

Chotie Darling,

                                    Many thanks for your letter from home, which I received yesterday.  Yes, Darling, you can come as my batwoman any time you like – though I don’t think I’d get much work done.  Perhaps it would be better to wait until I get back to England, and I’ll apply for you then…. Let me know if you’re on, and I’ll start teeing-up the necessary formalities.

            I expect Margaret’s baby has arrived by now.  Give her all my best wishes won’t you Darling?  I’ll try to write her if I can find time.

            I was very lucky last night, hearing the whole of Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio'* – his only opera, in German from Munich.  'Turandot' was also on but of course I wasn’t to know that.  Actually, I heard the last note – as I switched from Munich to the Home Service.  It was the first time – believe it or no – that I’ve heard ‘Fidelio’ in its entirety, which was quite a thrill, as you can well imagine.

            Well, my darling, I suppose you’ll be back again by the time you receive this.  I expect you managed to have a pleasant, if lazy time (knowing you….).  Don’t forget to let me know of anyone you happened to meet – though I don’t suppose there’s many of the old stagers about – unless they also happen to be on leave.

            Yes, 'Fanny'  is quite a good book**, but Sadleir has no need to write, as he’s rolling in money, anyway.  The film, of course, was shocking – but then I expected that.  Merle Oberon’s effort at George Sand*** will be equally ludicrous – she just hasn’t the ability to play that extraordinary woman.

            Did I tell you I read HE Bates ‘The Poacher’?  It’s a very fine piece of writing – which I can heartily recommend.  I must admit I was sitting in front of a fire – always a luxury out here - with the old pipe, which may have influenced my criticism.      Got a new battle dress**** today (a great thrill) but don’t yet know when I’ll be able to wear it to advantage.  I rushed it to the local tailor (there’s only one in this wretched village) and got the lapels faced-up.  He (the tailor) couldn’t speak any English and I can’t speak any Dutch so you can imagine the proceedings.

            Ronnie has just turned-up with a bottle of ’29 Bordeaux, so it looks likes being a happier evening than I expected.

 

            Two more days have elapsed since I wrote the foregoing – though nothing of any interest has happened.

            I’ve moved once again, but still find myself in the inevitable farmhouse.  The last one we were in was really ideal.  Our usual practice was to do a week or so ‘in the line’ and have a week back at the farm in reserve.

            The three Armoured Car Officers (Geoff Winzer, Eric (Schoolmaster) Macey and I) used to share a room, with the equally inevitable stove (no Dutch houses have open fires) and of course the radio.  There was always plenty of work to do, especially on the cars, but we usually had the evenings free, and spent most of them with the Burgomaster.

            The Rhine (they call it the Maas in Holland*****) flowed by, some hundred yards from the farmhouse, and there was a cluster of gaily-painted barges alongside the dyke.  Had it been spring it would have been very pleasant – though I spent many happy hours wandering along the dyke road on the few sunny days we did have.

            To come back to earth – I hope to get a bath this afternoon – the first for six weeks or more.  Always a great occasion.  Must close here to tee it up with the Squadron Leader.

            Tons of love, Chotie Darling   

                                   Dicker                                     PTO.

 

P.S.  Do you think you could get me some leather buttons?  About this size:- (drawing of circle 1.4 cms across) for utilizing battle dress?  I need about 30.  Also four of five big ones for great coat?

            Let me know if there’s any chance won’t you?

                                                                        Love

                                                                                    D.

 

*Thomas Mann, the great German writer, commented when Fidelio was performed in Germany soon after the war:

"What amount of apathy was needed [by musicians and audiences] to listen to Fidelio in Himmler’s Germany without covering their faces and rushing out of the hall!”

The music and theme of love, liberty and justice “for all men…will always represent an appeal to our conscience” (Wilhelm Furtwängler, German composer, 1948).

**the novel “Fanny by Gaslight” by Michael Sadleir.

***Merle Oberon, and Anglo-Indian actress, played George Sand, the French writer and Chopin’s lover, in a biographical film of the composer released in 1945 – “A Song to Remember”.

****’Battle Dress’ was the standard uniform in the British army made of woven wool (serge) with a short jacket that buttoned to high-waisted trousers.

*****Dick has got confused – the Maas is a separate river flowing east and then south of the Rhine.

© Chotie Darling

 

Eric Brewer wrote against 5th December that he:

“Moved to Ell, near Weert (south-east of Eindhoven and west of Roermund) in a civvy’s house.  Having a good time.”  (From ‘Beaten Paths are Safest’ by Roy Howard, Brewin Books 2004)

 

Dick was presumably at Mill and then at Ell, near Weert,

when he wrote this letter.

 

Music from Germany - 16th? November 1944

WAR DIARY of 61 Recce Regt RAC November 1944

– Lt Col P.H.A. Brownrigg

Date 16^th       Place WINSSEN

‘ “A” Squadron relieved “B” today in area 6071.  Orders were today received for the Regiment to take over the sector EAST of ELST from 151 Brigade.  Relieving an Infantry Brigade has now ceased to be a novelty but this particular sector has extra problems as “A” Squadron are still to remain under command of 501 RCT at ZETTEN.’

Eric Brewer wrote: “Moved to base at Venssen (Winssen) in a civvy house.” (From ‘Beaten Paths are Safest’ by Roy Howard, Brewin Books 2004)

 

 

61^st Recce Regt

RAC BLA

Chotie Darling

                                    Many thanks for your last letter – which I received whilst ‘on the job’.  However, I’m now in a cushy area once again so I can now reply at ease.

            I was very pleased to see that you had enclosed the photos, darling – they’re very very good indeed.  I’m afraid I had to part with one of them – Ronnie the ‘artist’ wanted one to keep.  Don’t mind do you?

            Glad to hear you got the magazine – I also thought the stuff in them pretty good.

            As regards the perfume, I may be able to get some in the future – but I don’t quite know how.  You see there’s nothing here – all that sort of thing is in Belgium, and I said goodbye to Belgium months ago.  Also there’s the snag of changing guilders into Belgian francs – no mean task as the Field cashier is never seen within 20 miles of the ‘front’ and I’m certainly never 20 miles from it!  However, I’ll see what I can do – Brinner may be  able to manage something.  I could have got some in Antwerp but I haven’t sufficient Belgas – only guilders.

            Don’t tell Margaret, but Ted’s crowd haven’t fired a shot in anger for about 8-9 weeks!

            Nothing much to do here – we’re in a little village, which is very deadly but as there’s so much to do in the way of personal and vehicular maintenance we find our time is pretty occupied.

            I’m anxiously awaiting a letter from Brinner as his last P.S. said he had just been granted 7 days leave before joining his unit!

            We’ve had a little snow here but not much.  As the ground was wet, it didn’t lay anyhow.

            Have read Graham Greene’s ‘Stamboul Train*’ (Guild Books) which I can recommend.  I think you may have read some of his other efforts – ‘Brighton Rock’ ‘Ministry of Fear’, ‘England made me’ ‘A Gun for Sale’ (filmed as “This Gun for Hire’) etc, etc. 

            There’s a helluva dearth of books in the Squadron.  Never seem to be able to get anything to read.  I carry about 30 books on my car – but I’ve read them a good many times now – and anyhow they’re all in French.

            I’ve got the devil of a lot of washing to do this afternoon – looks as though it will take me about four hours.  The laundry system over here is lousy as there’s no marking ink available and you never get the same stuff back again.

            Must close here for lunch will write some more this afternoon.

           

Well, Darling, I’ve had lunch and got the stove cracking so I’m beginning to thaw out for the first time for days.  We’ve also got the radio going.

            Eric, Geoff and Charlie from ‘C’ Squadron went to the Burgomaster’s last night for a game of bridge so ‘Junior’ (Ronnie) and I sat in here and managed to get a wonderful programme from Munich.  It was announced in German and consisted entirely of Italian Operatic records.  We had that beautiful tenor/Baritone duet from ‘Fozzer del Destino’ (Verdi)** sung by Gigli and Corrado Zambelli*** - easily the finest recording of this particularly lovely duet.  Also an aria by Janina Arangi-Lombardi (- the second soprano in the world before the war) from Donizetti’s ‘La Favorita’****.

            ‘Junior’, luckily, had brought a bottle of Burgundy so what with a warm fire, mellow wine and Verdi, we simply revelled.  What it is to be simple-minded!

            Must close here to get back to earth and laundry!

                        All my love, Precious

                                                            Dicker.

 

*a novel set on the ‘Orient Express’

**’La Forza del Destino’ (The Power of Fate’), an opera by Giuseppe Verdi set in Spain and Italy.

*** Corrado Zambelli was an Italian bass and Beniamo Gigli was the most famous tenor of the early 20^th century.

****a grand opera in French by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti, also set in Spain.

© Chotie Darling

Paris and the Seine

Chotie Darling

 

Dedicated to the memory of my mother

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

 

Part 4        Only the Enemy in Front   

 

Chapter 12          Across France and into Belgium

 

25^th August 1944 – Paris is liberated by the Free French Forces, Leclerc's 2ème Division Blindée, and the US 4^th Infantry Division and General De Gaulle enters Paris.   The German Garrison Commander surrenders having disobeyed Hitler’s orders to burn the city.

De Gaulle makes a speech to unite France against the Germans at the Hôtel de Ville:

“Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated! Liberated by itself, liberated by its people with the help of the French armies, with the support and the help of all France, of the France that fights, of the only France, of the real France, of the eternal France!”

The next day the Free French parade down the Champs-Elysees led by General de Gaulle despite shots from German snipers.

 

Avignon is liberated by the Allies in the south of France.  In Italy the Allies commence Operation Olive to crack the German’s ‘Gothic line’ across the hills and mountains north of Florence.

 

25th August 1944 - 43rd (Wessex) Division reached Vernon, on the west bank of the Seine,tasked with making the first assault crossing here. (The town had been liberated by French Resistance a few days earlier, the Germans retreating to the east bank at Vernonnet.)  The first attempt failed when the wind changed blowing away smoke barrage created to cover the DUKWs crossing at dawn.  However, a bridgehead was established on the 26th August with the support of a Folding Boat Equipment bridge using pillars from the bomb destroyed bridge and a Bailey Bridge built the next day.

*DUKWs (known as ‘Ducks’) were amphibious trucks that could be used to make a crossing or quickly assemble a bridge.  They were also used in the Normandy landings.

 

61^st Recce were beginning to assemble in the Vernon area ready for their Seine crossing.

Don Aiken recalls:  “25th August - Vernon and Seine crossing
The Free French Armoured Division was ordered to advance on Paris, and we moved on to the Seine, in the vicinity of Vernon, and there we indulged in the luxury of a short bathe in the river.” ( ‘From the Breakout to the Rhine’ from the BBC People’s War website http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/35/a5791935.shtml by kind permission of Don Aiken)

 

Eric Brewer wrote in his diary: “Shifted to two miles off Seine.  People are very nice.  Went out and found Gerry barracks, which had been abandoned, also loads of vehicles knocked out round here. Think we are moving tomorrow and hope to get well across the Seine, so they say.”

A letter to his family said: “We have had a few more eggs lately and it is getting quite a habit to have at least one a day. All the lads in the section have had a bath today, one of those self-made ones, and we had plenty of water as there is a well in the farmyard near us. Also there are some good apple trees round here so we are having a good share of them.

How are you keeping? Alright I hope and also hoping that the war job is going fine.  I see in the local rag that ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is on at the Ritz so I expect you have seen it?” (Extracts from Eric Brewer’s diary and letters included by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family.)

 

Eric Postles recalled:  "Short of the River Seine 43 Division passed through us and on 25 August successfully forced a crossing of the river on the north side of Vernon and established a bridgehead.  Their engineers constructed a pontoon bridge over the river (later supplemented with a stronger Bailey bridge) and troops poured over day and night.  The “Swan” as we termed our advance began in earnest with orders to capture Antwerp in order to provide a supply port and try to stop the launching of V1 rockets to London and the south-east by capturing the Channel coast region from where they were being fired.

The Guards Armoured Division replaced 7^th Armoured Division in 30 Corps and our division (50^th) took over transport from 43 Division to enable the infantry to keep up with tanks and provide extra supplies."   (Extract from ‘My War Years’ by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)

 

Walking in the Woods - Monday 5th June 1944

As usual

Monday June 5^th

Chotie Darling,

                                    I’m afraid I can’t acknowledge receipt of any of your letters for the simple reason that I haven’t had any.  I can, however, still write to you – what little news there is to write.

            We’re still having quite a good time here*, all things considered, though there’s very little to do and time is apt to hang rather heavily at times.  Unfortunately the library here is practically non-existent, some fifty volumes only and these are almost always out.

            I seem to spend most of my spare time walking in the woods.  And what delightful woods they are!  Not the finicky little trees one meets too often, but massive oaks, quite the largest I’ve ever seen, their great boles casting grotesque shadows even at noon.  I expect to meet Rosalind and Touchstone or even the melancholy Jacques walking up the path towards me….**

            And these woods are full of wildlife.  Yesterday I saw pheasant, partridge, rabbits, squirrels and in the evening a baby fox-cub.

            I found an excellent swimming pool (open-air) some few miles from here, so I usually take the boys there whenever practicable.

            I have read a couple of books lately – Alfred Neumann’s ‘Life of Christina of Sweden’***, and Naomi Jacob’s ‘Me-again’.  The latter I heartily recommend.  I’d read the original ‘Me – a story of other people’ but this later autobiography is even better.  I’ll try to get you a copy and send it to you as soon as possible. ***

            I’m just waiting for an audit board to start – a miserable job this weather as it means sitting in a tent for 48 hrs doing nothing but check invoices, bills etc.

            I was going to see ‘Fanny by Gaslight’ but after reading James Agate’s criticism***** of it I decided to give it a miss.

            Must close here for this audit racket.

                                    All my love, Darling

                                                            Dicker

 

*Dick had moved to the Aldershot area at the end of May.

**characters from Shakespeare’s play ‘As you like it’, which is set in a romanticised version of Shakespeare’s local Forest of Arden in Warwickshire.

***Alfred Neumann was a German writer who became a US citizen after his books were banned by the Third Reich.

****Naomi Jacobs was an English author, actress and broadcaster. Her first memoir was called ‘Me: a chronicle about other people’.  Other volumes including 'Me - again' continued her autobiography.

*****The drama critic for the Sunday times.

© Chotie Darling

We Anchor in Hope - Tuesday 30th May 1944

This letter was stamped with censor number 10199 instead of the 14529 Dick had been using in Nightingale Wood.

As usual

Tuesday 30^th May

Chotie Darling,

                                    Very many thanks for your letter.  Sorry I haven’t been able to write you before this, but I’ve been pretty busy as you can guess.  However, things are much easier now, and I have plenty of spare time.

            I’ve just been to the local baths to get things teed up for the boys this afternoon.  Envious?

            You seem to have enjoyed the ‘Fair’ ‘do’ – even though working under forced labour, as it were.

            The leave question is off I’m afraid – as I can’t get off at all at the moment – ‘we anchor in hope’, as the prophet has it.

            Diller sent me a film book cutting of ‘San Luis Rey’.  Akim Lamiroff is having a crack at Uncle Pio.  I also learned quite by chance that the book won the all nations Pulitzer Prize Novel of 1927, which doesn’t surprise me in the least.  I think Uncle Pio is one of the fullest-drawn characters in modern literature.  It was also filmed in the silent days with Lily Damita, etc*. 

            Haven’t had the time to read much recently – only Rutland Boughton’s ‘Bach’, which I found good if only because he places this extraordinary genius in his proper place in the history of music and avoids eulogising him to excess**.

            I’m afraid I forgot all about giving you the train fare on our last meeting so I’m enclosing a cheque which I hope will cover it OK.  I’m sorry I can’t send cash but I simply haven’t got it.

            Don’t seem to have had a letter for ages – but then I can’t grumble, being such a poor correspondent myself.

            No news from this end, of course.  The old security racket, again.

            Weather here has been really wonderful of late.  I’m beginning to get quite brown again.  I imagine I’ll get brown enough before I’ve finished this Summer.

            Well, Darling, I’d better dry up here.

            Hope you can cash the cheque without too much trouble.

                                    All my love, Darling

                                                            Dicker.

 

* ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’ – film made in 1944 starring Lynn Bari, Akim Tamiroff (as Uncle Pio) and Francis Lederer. A rope bridge over a gorge in the Peruvian Andes snaps, sending five people plunging to their deaths. A priest sets out to find out more about the life of each of the victims.  The 1929 film was directed by Charles Brabin and starred Lily Damita and Don Alvarado

*’Bach, The Master’ by the English composer Rutland Boughton, written in 1930.

© Chotie Darling

After this show - Saturday 20th May 1944

Usual address

Saturday

Chotie Darling,

                                    Just a few lines to thank you for a very happy, though all too brief, 24 hrs.

            I managed to get back with ten minutes to spare and just made the afternoon parade.  I hope you managed to get back without too much trouble – I hate the thought of you scrubbing floors all night*.  What you would do for me, Darling, is a constant source of amazement to me.

            I’ve just finished censoring the mail – a man size job tonight as unfortunately no one else bothered to do yesterday’s for me, with the result that I’ve had two days to do at once.

            I regret to say that the 24hr passes have stopped but there may be a chance of some leave a bit later on – three or four days, I imagine.

            I went to the naffy** and imbibed a little beer earlier this evening with the result that I keep running outside.  Sorry….

            All the other officers (both of them) went to the cinema tonight to see “Bombers Moon” – some punk Yank film, but I just couldn’t have stood it so I stayed here, in my little tent and wrote you, my Darling, which seems infinitely preferable.

            After this show, Chotie, I reckon we’ll take a few months off – sheer rest – and forget all about the wretched life we now lead.  Walking in Provence or somewhere like that.  We could find a little hotel every night … and when we’re married things will be different….

            I intend to come out of this business, darling, if only to take the chance of making you very happy, which is what you deserve.

            I must close here, Precious as I have to write a few lines to mother – not having written for some time.

            Goodnight, my Darling – I love you very, very much.

                                                                        Dicker

RKWilliams

 

*Presumably an ATS punishment for going AWOL (Absent Without Leave).

**Slang for the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute’s canteen and recreation building. Officers weren’t meant to frequent the NAAFI as this was an intrusion on the private lives of the Other Ranks.  The Commissioned Officers had their own ‘mess’, sometimes separated into Junior and Senior, and the senior NCOs had theirs, known as the Sergeants Mess. 

Eric Brewer’s diary reveals he was working in the Sergeants Mess (“not a bad job”) from 22^nd to 30^th May (From Eric Brewer’s Diary by kind permission of Derek Brewer and his family).

© Chotie Darling

 

20^th May 1944 – the Allies’ bombing of strategic military targets and infrastructure in northern France and Belgium continues with a record 5,000 bomber raid on railways and airfields. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

 

23^rd May 1944 – the Allies begin to break out of the Anzio beachhead in Italy and by 25^th May were successful, linking up with Allied forces to the south, who had penetrated the Gustav line near the coast.  However, instead of trapping the German Tenth Army, as planned, they followed US General Mark Clarke’s order to head for Rome.  (See The Drive to Rome)

Ghost Stories - Friday 21st April 1944

61^st Recce Regt RAC

APO.

England.

Friday 21^st April

Chotie Darling,

                                    Many thanks for a very welcome letter, and programmes enclosed.

            I’ve already broken the sad news about that wretched photograph*, and I’m enclosing it with this if only to get rid of it.

            You seem to be seeing quite a number of concerts – just one of those things which completely pass me by here.  Glad to see it was the old L.P.O.** who gave them.  They’re exceptionally good and very courageous as they’ve been fighting financial troubles ever since I’ve first heard of them.  There’s a very interesting book been written of their story – I believe by one of the ‘cellists, though the author and title eludes me for the moment. 

            I expect Benno*** was in good form – he’s playing better than ever these days.  I personally would place him among the first five pianists in the world, today.  He plays Rachmaninoff to perfection – certainly better than Sergei**** himself.  The last time I heard any of the Leonard overtures was in Folkestone some four or five months ago – in fact apart from leaves, I’ve heard very little music at all since.

            As regards leave, I expect I could get next Sunday (30^th?) off, when I could perhaps meet you in the neighbourhood of the ‘Haunch of Venison’*****.

            Isn’t there any chance of your getting your full leave?  That of course would be the ideal thing as I could meet you practically every evening.  We must try next weekend however, if nothing better offers.

            Having quite a peaceful time here, though I’m working pretty long hours.  The main advantage nowadays is that it’s not so cold when you get up in the morning. 

            Haven’t read much lately – only James’ ‘Ghost Stories of an Antiquary’† which I’ve read in bed in the middle of a wood – quite the right atmosphere.  Also Graham Greene’s ‘Brighton Rock’ and ‘Ministry of Fear’.  I think the opening chapters of his ‘England made me’ are some of the best stuff I’ve read in years.  I think in fact the only thing to beat them, is Gabriel Chevalier’s ‘Clochermerle’.  But as usual, I digress.

            They’ve got some beer in the bar now (mess) so life is all rosy once again.

            Have you heard from Eve yet?  Let me know all news of the dear little thing, won’t you?

            There was a film show in camp last night – Jane Eyre††, but as I wasn’t in the mood (I should say the Brontë  mood).  I went for a long walk among the hills and found some pukka Queen Anne Cottages, which more than made up for it.

                                                All my love Chotie

                                                                                    Dicker

RKWilliams

 

*see photograph on banner above. 

**The London Philharmonic Orchestra gave concerts all over the country during World War 2, depleted by the call-up and using instruments donated by the public following the destruction of its base (the Queen’s Hall) during the London Blitz in 1941.

***Benjamin Britten?? – the composer, conductor and pianist had returned to Britain as a conscientious objector in 1943.

****Sergei Rachmaninoff – Russian composer, pianist and conductor who lived in the US and Europe from 1918.

*****The Haunch of Venison at 1 Minster Street, Salisbury is an ancient inn dating from the 14^th Century.

†M.R.James’ first collection of ghost stories.

††The 1943 film of Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece, ‘Jane Eyre’, starred Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine.

© Chotie Darling

 

22^nd April 1944 – the Allies’ Western New Guinea campaign begins with amphibious landings on the northern coast of Japanese held New Guinea.  Although these were successful, fighting continued in Western New Guinea until the end of the war in the Pacific.

 

23^rd April 1944 – the harbour installations at Bristol (where Chotie was stationed) were again  targeted by the Luftwaffe as part of Operation Steinbock.  117 planes were sent but they missed their target - no bombs fell on the city, instead being scattered over Wessex; presumably with the Düppel anti-radar foil used to confuse the Allied radar defences.  (See The Baby Blitz, Bombing in the Bristol Area and Last venture over Bristol.)

 

25^th April 1944 – Luftwaffe commences a series of night attacks on Allied shipping concentrated at Portsmouth and Plymouth. (From Chronology of World War II.)

 

27^th April 1944 – Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for the D Day landings using the west coast of Devon near Slapton Ley, resulted in tragedy when German E-boats attacked.  The operation was also marred by casualties from ‘friendly fire’. In all 946 were killed - mainly American Army troops preparing for the Normandy landings on Utah beach. (See Exercise Tiger.)

Cycling home - Monday 16th April 1944

61^st Recce Regt RAC

AP.O.

England

 

Monday

Chotie Darling,

                                    I’m afraid I haven’t written you for some time, due to divers reasons – partly due to pressure of work and partly due to the fact that I took the opportunity of having a day off yesterday to go home for the day.

            To say I had the day off is a slight exaggeration as I was working up till midday – and not trusting to buses & trains, owing to the state that these things are in, I decided to cycle*.  When I was half way home it started to rain and I rode the remainder in a torrential downpour.  However it cleared during the brief time I was at home and I cycled back in comparative peace.  It took me four hours each way, so I only had some three hours at home.

            I’ve given my greatcoat to Brinner as I won’t need it any more – coupled with some pretty sound advice on how to ‘go on’ when commissioned.  He’ll gladly accept the coat – though not the advice, I fancy.

            No more news from this end – things are going as per routine.

            I managed to buy a pair of fleece-lined boots – knee-high black ones.  Cost me a fortune but they’re the only thing.  I don’t fancy lacing up army boots and anklets on a cold morning, a thing that has always offended my sense of having things cushy.

            Have just heard Schubert’s 8^th (unfinished), the best thing that has happened to me for weeks.

            At long last they’ve got some beer in the mess (?) so tonight I intend to imbibe a little.  I shall have to break myself in gently as I haven’t even smelled the stuff for over a week.

            Went to the flicks with Geoff** last Sat.  We both thought that ‘The Lodger’ was on and went gaily in, to find that it was on next week.  What we saw in actual fact was ‘Bees in Paradise’….***  Geoff said it was the best leg-show he’s seen in years, but apart from that, it stank.  I bitterly endorsed his words.

            Are you reading Captain Foulenough’s résumé of his life story in ‘Beach-Comber’s Column in the Express?****  I never miss it.  I’m trying to get a grip on two films at the moment ‘Heart of a Nation’ and ‘Le Jour se lève’, (Gabin)*****.  Both seem out of the question, though I could have seen the former at the ‘Academy’ when I stopped in Town on returning from Scotland.

            Well, Darling, how are you these days?  Cheering up with the Spring I expect.  As I am.  The countryside around here is beginning to look lovely now, though it’s still a little early.  There is also an abundance of thatched cottages in this area.  I’d just love to get to work on one or two of them, as the whole place is almost completely unspoiled.

            It’s really a very pleasant spot, and I’ve always gone for primroses….

            Must close here to relieve the Adjutant ‘cos he wants his dindin – the rat.

                                                All my love

                                                            Chotie

                                                                                    Dicker

P.S. No signs of leave?

P.P.S.  The photo I had taken is absolutely shocking.  I’m sending it on…

RKWilliams

 

*Some 40 miles between Nightingale Wood and Pagham!

**Presumably Geoff Winzer.

***’The Lodger’ is a 1944 horror film about Jack the Ripper while ’Bees in Paradise’ is a musical comedy with ‘scantily clad warrior women’.

****Captain Foulenough was a character in the entertaining ‘Beachcomber’ column. (See Beachcomber.)

*****’The Heart of a Nation’ is a French drama film made in France in 1940, which escaped the Nazis be released as a dubbed version in 1943 in New York.  ‘Le Jour se lève’ (Daybreak) is a French poetic realism film made in 1939 and starring Jean Gabin.

© Chotie Darling

 

17th April 1944 – the British Royal Navy and Bomber Command begin intensive mining of the approaches to the English Channel to protect the D-Day invasion fleet. (From Chronology of World War II .)

18^th April 1944 – in Exercise Smash), practice for the landings on D Day, is the largest live ammunition exercise of the war.   Staged at Studland in Dorset (not far from Chotie’s home in Poole) Eisenhower, Churchill and Montgomery watched from Fort Henry.  The exercise showed the vulnerability of the floating Duplex Drive Valentine tanks – some are still wrecks in the bay.

19th April 1944 – Ichi-Gō offensive by Japanese aiming to eliminate the airfields used by the US Army’s Fourteenth Air Force.  Advancing in north-east China they reached Honan province where the local peasants, starved and looted by their own troops, turned on the fleeing Nationalist Army. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

The Allied Fleet begins their attacks on Japanese bases on Sumatra in Operation Cockpit.

 

 

Lt. Col. Sir William Mount. (Bart) T.D. - Thursday 20th January 1944

Address as before

 Thursday

 Chotie Darling,

                                    Just a few more lines about nothing at all.

                                    They have a film show here every week – an army unit brings round the projector, etc and the show is held in a hall in the Castle.  I managed to sit through the first hour or so but couldn’t stick it any longer than that.  So accordingly I repaired to the pub and had the place to myself entirely, luckily.

            The place is usually cram full with RAF personnel and a contingent from the local Waaffery.  They’re an awful crowd.  Drunk most of the time and very childish.

            Can’t remember the film – I only saw about half of it.

            Just finished Graham Greene’s ‘England made me’ – very good.  Had a long letter from Monica this morning – full of woe as usual, complaining bitterly that I never answer her letters or something like that.  I only wrote a month ago – at Xmas.  In any case I gather that her husband’s the most jealous brute who resents her receiving any letters.  He’s the sort who write every day – poor fellow.

            I still haven’t had any pay but have borrowed 20 quid from the Squadron Leader to pay clothing and mess bills, etc.  He’s an extraordinary sort of man – a young Captain*, Oxford and peacetime Sandhurst – very clever.  An Historian, I believe.  The only one with any real aesthetic appreciation among the whole bunch.

            I never seem to get to bed these days – it’s past midnight now.  That’s the advantage of a small mess – you can monopolise the radio and fire after about eleven or so.  I usually stay down ‘till the early hours as I don’t get up until nearly eight in the morning, and I’m better off with less sleep, these days at any rate.

            More Beethoven – unusual at this time of night – or morning.  From Calais 2 which is very powerful here.

            I’ve had a REME** Lieutenant sleeping with me – (not literally) for the past few days.  He left this morning.  Only spoke about three words to me the whole time.  A Scotsman.  Now I have my room to myself again which means I spread my kit over the whole place.  Awful shambles.  I must need a wife, I’m thinking.

            Well, Darling I must get off to bed.  It’s 1-30 and the fire’s nearly out and the Beethoven’s finished.

            There’s going to be a terrific party on Sunday.  The Colonel’s inviting all the officers in the Regt.  I’m told that when Lt. Col. Sir William Mount. (Bart) T.D.*** throws a party – it’s some party.

            Must close here, Darling,

                                    all my love

                                                Dicker

 

*Captain Frank Harding of ‘B’ Squadron?  He published “War Echoes over Thirty Years” in 1970 including a number of poems about 61^st Recce.  (See ‘Beaten Paths are Safest’ by Ron Howard, Brewin Books 2004)

**REME = Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

*** Territorial Decoration – for long service in the Territorial Army.

© Chotie Darling

 

21^st January 1944 – resumption of German air raids on London in the ‘Little Blitz’. Operation Steinbock, launched in retaliation for the Allied raids on German cities and for propaganda purposes targeted South-East England, particularly London as well as ports including Bristol (where Chotie was stationed), Cardiff and Hull.  The ‘Little Blitz’ continued until May and killed over 1,500 people.

22nd January 1944 – the Allies’ US Fifth Army land 36,000 men on the Tyrrhenian coast between Rome and Monte Cassino in Operation Shingle.  Initially successful, Anzio became one of the bloodiest WW2 battles in Western Europe.  The Germans counter-attacked and the Allies were then pinned down on the beachhead, under fire from German artillery, until the Gustav line was broken in May.  By then almost 10,000 men, Germans and Allies, had been killed.   (See Anzio landings.)

 

The Gentle Sex - Tuesday 28th September

 

Same Address

Tuesday 

My Darling,

                        Many thanks for your letter.  Was very glad to hear that you enjoyed your leave and were lucky enough to get the same time as Mary*. 

            Still, I expect you’re glad to be back …..I was home myself this weekend but felt so wretchedly ill, I did not really enjoy it.  I started on a pint at the Beach on Saturday and hadn’t the heart to finish it.

            Been very busy lately on schemes and will be on them nearly all the next month.  They’re not too bad in the summer but it’s getting just a wee bit nippy these days.  On top of this I’m Troop Sgt. for the week which all means added work.

            Found time to read D.L.Murray’s ‘Tale of Three Cities’ which I’ve always meant to read, and enjoyed immensely.  Have read virtually nothing else.  Saw ‘Gentle Sex’ and Col. Blimp** during past few weeks – I believe I told you.  Enjoyed Blimp but found Howard’s influence on ‘Gentle Sex’ just a little too much.  He always was hammy.

            Sorry to hear about your indisposition – hope it’s better by now.

            Everyone seems to be having a competition as to who can produce the most offspring.  News from HB < Herne Bay***.  Gives lurid details of further progress in this direction.  There are times when I think the world’s gone mad.  They’re no sooner married than the poor girl’s tied down for life, and in most cases before she’s even started to live!  I hope there’s enough money in circulation after this war to feed them all.

            Had a letter from Brinner with yours.  Full of his customary appalling language.  He’s met a soprano of ‘Tosca’**** fame.  It won’t last long.  Apparently the Austrian refugee affaire has closed down for good this time.

            I’d send you some denarii if I had any – but at the moment I’m bankrupt.

            Did you hear the Beethoven on Sunday pm?  Pouishnoff*****.

            I must close here for dinner – not that I shall eat any, but I have to attend anyhow.

                                                            love & kisses

                                                                                    Dicker

 

This letter was addressed to:

 W/242328 Pte Chalkley BE.

 ‘B’ Tp. ATS OF.C. 462 Hy (M) AA Bty RA

Markham, Easton in Gordano

Bristol

 

Maybe Chotie was back at Markham Camp when Dick sent her the postcard addressed to Portishead on 7^th September, or maybe she’d moved the short distance to Easton-in-Gordano since then.

 

*Chotie’s best friend Mary Dakin, who later married Geoffrey Thomas, gentleman.

**’Gentle Sex’ - a romantic comedy film about the ATS, directed and narrated by Leslie Howard, who had been killed in June 1943 and narrated by Leslie Howard. ’The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp’ - a comedy film derived from the satirical Colonel Blimp comic strip.

***Monica, Dick’s ex-girlfriend and Diller’s best friend, lived at Herne Bay.

****Giacomo Puccini’s opera ‘Tosca’ - the lead soprano has the eponymous title role, so Brinner’s new girl was presumably quite a singer.

*****Leff Pouishnoff, a Ukrainian pianist and composer.

© Chotie Darling

 

 

28^th September 1943 – Chotie visited the dentist at Bristol.

 Copy of Record

Dental Treatment Card – 28/9/43         Bristol

 

28^th September 1943 – two years after the shooting of nearly 34,000 Jews at the Babi Yar ravine near Kiev a number of the concentration camp prisoners now tasked with covering up evidence of the massacres there manage to escape.  By the autumn of 1943 at least 100,000 Jews, Roma and Communists had been murdered by the Nazis at Babi Yar.

 

29^th September 1943 – Marshal Badoglio, the new Italian leader meets General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allies Expeditionary Force to sign the armistice agreement aboard HMS Nelson in Valetta Harbour, Malta. (From Chronology of World War II.)

 

After Exercise Link in mid-September 1943 61st Division, including 61^st Recce, was relegated to a static role in home defence (Lower Establishment status – Higher Establishment Divisions were intended for employment overseas and combat.)  The Division was also a training formation and was intended to find suitable replacements for fighting formations:  “when the 61^st Division was relegated to Home Forces…we had to draft many of our best men away”. (Lt-Colonel P.H.A. Brownrigg’s account of ’A Reconnaissance Regiment in the B.L.A.’ in ‘Beaten Paths are Safest’  by Ron Howard, Brewin Books 2004)

By October the 61^st Division had been assigned to anti-invasion duties in Kent.

Eric Postles writes:

“The regiment was responsible for patrolling the coast from New Romney to Battle.  Our squadron was stationed in Lympne Castle next to an RAF airfield.  We did day and night mobile patrols into Folkestone and Romney.  On a clear day you could see France from the castle tower and at night flashes from the German guns shelling the Dover area.  One night we watched as a night fighter shot down a German bomber in flames.  Our fighter planes took off and returned from France very low over the castle often returning damaged and sometimes with their rockets hanging down from the wings.  On our patrols we reported to the coastguards and coastal gun sites.  We often got a welcome cup of tea.”  (Extract from ‘My War Years’ by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)

 

 

1^st October 1943 – the Allies enter Naples. Much of the city had been wrecked by the Germans, including its historic aqueducts, in revenge for the Neapolitan resistance begun on 27^th September.

Britain’s 8^th Army on the Adriatic coast of Italy seizes the Foggia plain with its airfields vital for bombing southern Germany, Austria and the Ploesti oilfields.

1st October 1943 – the Germans begin to round up Jews in Denmark. However, their plans have been revealed in advance by a German naval attaché, Ferdinand Duckwitz, and most of the 7,500 Danish Jews were helped into hiding and then ferried to safety in Sweden by Danish citizens and the Resistance. 470 Danish Jews were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in Czechoslovakia but relatively few Danish Jews (120) died during the Holocaust for a German occupied country. (From United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.)

 

2^nd October 1943 – heavy RAF raid on Munich, deep inside Germany. Germany’s third largest city was an important industrial centre and suffered 71 bombing attacks during the war. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

 

3^rd October 1943 – the Battle of Termoli commences the Allies’ attack on the Volturno line. This was a German defensive position stretching across Italy from Termoli on the Adriatic coast to the mouth of the Volturno River, north of Naples, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The line was breached by the British 8^th Army at Termoli on 6^th October and the US 5^th Army crossing the Volturno a week later. The Germans retreated back to the Barbara line. Both lines had been established to delay the Allied advance to the main German defensive position (known as ‘the Winter line’) protecting the access route to Rome at Cassino.

4th October 1943 – Corsica is liberated when the last of the Germans are evacuated from Bastia.

 

6th October 1943 – at a conference with high ranking Reich officials at Posen in Poland, Heinrich Himmler is frank about the Jewish ‘Final Solution’ for the first time, admitting that women and children as well as men were being killed so that “this people disappear from this earth”.  (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

Related articles

 

How many women have you slept with? - Thursday 25th February

As usual

Thursday

My Darling,

                        Many thanks for your letter received yesterday.  Glad to hear you’re still alive & kicking, even though rather over-worked… 

            Well, Precious, I have got an item of news this time, as, since last writing to you, I’ve been on and passed a War Office Selection Board for Commission.  It will mean a long and arduous task ahead but with proverbial luck and good management I see no reason why I shouldn’t be successful in this respect.

            I am now waiting to go on a pre-OCTU course, which may last any time before eventually getting to an OCTU.  After that it’s about six months of merry hell before getting the old commiss!

            What a game it is,,,I had three marvelous days on the Board, as all the time you’re there you’re treated as an Officer – even waited on at table by ATS….

            Marvelous old Georgian House and Estate* has been loaned to the W.O. for this purpose and the owner had the decency to leave all his furniture there.  The pictures alone were insured for £120000!

            You spend three & ½ days there doing just about anything the human body can do – and more, - intelligence tests, exams, interviews with Brigadiers, Colonels and psychiatrists etc.

            First question the last mentioned asked me, was “How many women have you slept with?”….

            Shook me – rotten.

            Most of the paintings I knew – several of Manet, Monet, Cézanne etc. so I had an interesting chat with the Brigadier and visiting woman M.P.  Apparently the owner used to buy still life & his wife, the nudes.  Some of the nudes shook us …..All excused like strip-tease, under “ART”.

            I’ll let you know any further developments should they arise.

            I wrote to and had a long reply from Benetti** the fellow at Hove.  Sent me a
letter full of arias, and invitations to stay with him.  The bloke’s a genius on arias.  Hope to look him up on my next leave, which brings me to a sore point. 

            I’ve had the wretched thing cancelled indefinitely!  Heaven knows when I’ll get it.  However one can’t talk of commissions and leave in the same breath I suppose.

            Saw ‘In which we serve’*** this week.  Wasn’t very impressed I’m afraid, though Captain’s wife’s speech was rather brilliant.

            Must close here Darling

                                                            All my love

                                                                        Dicker

*Brockham Park, Betchworth, Surrey.

**See letter of 3^rd September 1942 – Return to Dover.

***Patriotic British war film – ‘the story of a ship’ – directed by Nöel Coward and David Lean and starring Nöel Coward. Celia Johnson played the Captain’s wife.

 © Chotie Darling

140,000 candidates attended War Office Selection Boards during the course of the war. Dick was one of the 60,000 successful candidates.

In 1943 a further instruction was given to WOSBs - that no questions about sex and religion should be asked by psychiatrists.

(From ‘The British Army and the People’s War’ by Jeremy A. Crang)

 

43^rd Recce continued Troop & Squadron Training to Friday 26^th February when there was also an All Ranks Dance. On Saturday 27^th there was Maintenance and the Commanding Officer’s Vehicle Inspection as usual, as well as ‘Recreational Training’. 

Church Parade was held on Sunday and there was a presentation of a certificate for Good Service to Major B.V.J. Vigrass by the C.O. Major Vigrass also received an MBE and the Territorial Decoration during his career.

Troop & Squadron took place again on the 1^st and 2^nd March. At 5pm on 3^rd March the Regiment moved out of barracks to take part in Exercise Spartan, the
first Home Forces exercise for the invasion of Europe and the largest exercise the British Army had ever carried out but Dick was not with them.

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

 

28^th February 1943 – Operation Gunnerside, the most successful of the sabotage attacks on the Telemark heavy water plant in Norway destroys the Germans' capacity to provide heavy water of a sufficient quality for nuclear bombs. The Norwegian commando saboteurs were trained by SOE (British Special Operations Executive).

28^th February 1943 – German wives of Jewish men gather in Berlin to protest against the deportation of their husbands to concentration camps. By 8^th March over 1,000 wives have gathered and Goebbels releases 1,500 Jewish men to stop the protest spreading. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

 

Eric Postles February 1943

“61 Division moved back to England.  After many rumours and much speculation we went by rail to Larne, onto Stanraer and ended at Roman Way Camp, Colchester (a regular army camp) for Exercise Spartan.”  (Extracts from ‘My War Years’ by John Eric Postles ISO used by kind permission of the author.)

Tony Rampling joined 61^st Recce after they returned to England. Having completed his basic training in Norwich in autumn 1942, he’d been posted to Barnard Castle, where he learned to fire a Bren Gun in the Royal Armoured Corps until January 1943. This skill and his intelligence would have marked him out as a potential Recce man. He was briefly placed in the Royal West Kent holding regiment before joining the Reconnaissance.

 

1^st March 1943 – American Jews held a mass rally in Madison Square Gardens, New York to pressure the US government into helping the Jews of Europe.

Early in March 1943 Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (SS leader) visited Treblinka where 8,000 Jews and Gypsies were killed between 1942 and August 1943 and ordered that all the corpses were to be dug up and burned.  The ashes were spread far over the surrounding countryside to hide the murders.  This work took eight months. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

2nd to 4th March 1943 – in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea US and Australian air forces successfully attacked a convoy carrying Japanese troops to New Guinea. Thousands of Japanese soldiers were killed and the eight transporter ships and four destroyers were sunk.  The Americans had adopted a new technique of ‘skip-bombing’ – coming in low and bouncing their bombs in by the side of the ship to explode.  This gave them daylight supremacy in the sea. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

2nd March 1943 – heavy bombing of Berlin by the Allies

2^nd to 4^th March 1943 – in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea US and Australian air forces successfully attacked a convoy carrying Japanese troops to New Guinea. Thousands of Japanese soldiers were killed and the eight transporter ships and four destroyers were sunk.

3rd March 1943 – 173 people were killed by suffocation and trampling in Bethnal Green underground station when panic set in. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

 

END of Chapter 7

43^rd Reconnaissance – the beginning of the end

and Part 2 RECONNAISSANCE.

 

A rather quiet Christmas - 27th December 1942

As usual 

Sunday

My Darling,

                                                Many, many thanks for the parcel received yesterday, - and for such a happy choice of present.  I don’t suppose I’ll have a chance of getting the Token exchanged until my leave, as I so rarely see a shop open – but it’s certainly something to look forward to.

            I wish I could have got you something but it’s pretty hopeless in this place I’m afraid – but I think it would probably be wiser to wait until you get in the ATS when you may find something more practical at any rate.

            Don’t forget to let me know if you see anything for Margaret and Ted. Once again it’s hopeless here.  Even if this place had been a metropolis I’m afraid I could have achieved little as we had no time off for shopping etc -  as I rarely get out ‘till seven or so everything’s shut anyway.

            ‘Spect you’re getting excited over your imminent entry into the Armed Forces of the Realm, though you seem to have overcome the medical with ease.  Hope it wasn’t too exacting for you.

            Well, Chotie, I seem to have had a rather quiet Xmas.  We (the unit) entertained about fifty Aussies & Canadians over the holidays.  Quite good fun.  I’ve had little beer – apart from eight pints with Xmas dinner.

            Told you I saw ‘Eagle Squadron’* I suppose.  Wasn’t it LUVLY!!  I nearly cried.

(I’m in a canteen eating Spam at the moment).  More parenthesis…Having just
failed to finish Picture P.** crossword.  You’ll probably find Spam all over the envelope.

            Have just finished Deeping’s ‘Kitty’*** – quite good.  That’s the 30^th of his I’ve read. Recommend it. 

            Well, Darling must close here.  ‘Fraid I missed you rather a lot over Xmas.  Maybe it will be over next Xmas. Maybe…  All my love

                                                                                    Dicker

PS  Had a Xmas card from Eric & Eve!!!!  Put me off my beer…

 

*Pilots from the Royal Australian Air Force and members of the Canadian Reconnaissance regiment.

**a film about American pilots who volunteered for the RAF before Pearl Harbour.

***Picture Post – a popular photojournalist magazine.

**** a novel by Warwick Deeping

 

 © Chotie Darling

 

28^th December 1942 – sterilization 'experiments' begin at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in Nazi occupied Poland. (From WW2-net Timelines and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.)

 

Section Training continued for 43^rd Recce and on 28^th December there was a Regimental Cross-Country run.  Training on the 29^th featured driving instruction. (From the War Diary of the 43^rd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)

 

31^st December 1942 - Battle of the Barents Sea. The British Navy successfully intercepts German warships attempting to destroy a large supply convoy, JW-51B, to Russia.  However, German U-boats now had 'milch cow' submarines enabling them to refuel and re-arm at sea and could penetrate as far as the Indian Ocean.  (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

 

During 1942 Allied merchant shipping lost 1,323 ships, equalling 7,047,744 gross tons (almost three times the losses of 1941) to U-boats world-wide. 87 U-boats were sunk in 1942 (only 35 in 1941). (From WW2-net Timelines and History Learning Site.)

 

War in Dorset excerpts will not be continued on this blog since Chotie was no longer resident in the county from January 1943, having joined the ATS (see recent post Chotie enrolls in the ATS )

 

On 1^st January 1943 Dick filled out the form for recommendation as a
candidate for the Officer Cadet Training Unit

 

Copy of Record:

RECOMMENDATION FORM FOR CANDIDATES FOR OFFICER CADET TRAINING UNITS

PART 1.  (To be completed by the Candidate.)

1. Surname     WILLIAMS                     
2. Army Number          5731671
3. Christian Names       RICHARD KELNER
4. Rank           Trooper
5. Date of Promotion    -
6. Unit             43^rd Reconnaissance Regt. Recce. Corps
7. Date of joining present unit   10-7-42
8. Date of enlistment    21-6-40
9. Date of birth*          28-7-21
10. Place of birth*          Orpington, Kent
11. Civil Identity No.
12. Religion       Congregational
13. Nationality at birth    British
14. Name and nationality at birth of father           Dudley Kelner Beresford Williams                        British
15.  Name and nationality at birth of mother                      Alice Maude Shrubsall                            British
16. Married or single      Single
17. Nationality at birth of wife     -
18. Number of childres               -
19. Next of kin and Permanent Address of next of kin       Father  “St Margarets” Sea Lane Pagham  Sussex
20. School or other Educational Establishment (with dates)           

Sidcup County School 1931-35

Simon Langton School 1936-38

21. Educational certificates (with dates)   Matriculation (Lond.) 1938

22. Languages (state if written or spoken)     French written and spoken Small knowledge of German and Spanish

23. Civil occupation    None

24. Name of last employer          -

25. Arm or Corps in which a Commission is desired.  Three choices to be given in order of priority, one to be non-technical.

(i)           Recce Corps

(ii)          R.A.S.C.

(iii)         Dorset Regt.

26. Technical qualifications, if any, for each of above choices:-

(i)           Driver Mechanic Group D Class II

(ii)          “                 “           “           “

(iii)         –

27. Have you ever been convicted by the Civil Power or by Court Martial?†   No

If so, state date and circumstances    -

28. Have you previously been admitted to the R.M.A., R.M.C. or to an Officer Cadet Training Unit? No

If so give particulars

                   -

29. Have you at any time held a commission in any branch of H.M. Forces? 
If so, give full particulars No

30.  General remarks      -

I certify that to the best of my knowledge the above particulars are correct and complete.

Signature    RKWilliams

Date           1-1-‘43 

*This must be supported by a birth certificate.

†Commanding Officers will use their discretion in deciding whether a man who appears otherwise suitable should be rejected on account of conviction by the Civil Power or by a Court Martial.  For example, no serious notice need be taken of conviction on account of youthful indiscretions or minor motoring offences, but where the cause of conviction indicates a lack of the high moral qualities which are required of an officer, consideration must be given as to whether the facts disclosed point to the total unsuitability of the candidate for commissioned rank.  Due regard must however be paid to the fact that bravery and distinguished service in the field may be an overriding consideration in spite of past records.

 

On 1^st January 1943 43^rd Recce had a half day. The next day the Commanding Officer inspected vehicle maintenance. On Sunday 3^rd there was Church Parade.

 

2^nd January 1943 – Australian and US troops finally win victory in Papua New Guinea taking the Buna bridgehead.  With this, and the battles of Guadalcanal and Midway, the Allies could now believe the Japanese were not invincible. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

Rough-hew them how we will - Tuesday 17th November 1942

Address as usual

Tuesday

My Darling,

                                    Once again I find I’m able to reply to yours just received instanta, but I’d better not make a habit of it ...

                  Well, my Dear, you seem to have some news this time – whether good, bad or indifferent I leave you to judge, though from your letters I see a sort of aloof indifference.  As my literary hero said “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends – rough hew them how we will.”*

            I was pleased to see that you’re sticking out for a specialised job – for which I think you are very wise.  The main criticism offered against this procedure is that you tend to get into a rut; but a comfortable rut is preferable to wandering de place en place as most of us appear to do.

            I was, needless to say, even more pleased to hear that you will not be going before Xmas.  By all laws and statutes I should get my leave a fortnight today, ie the 2^nd of December – but you know what leave can be, or you soon will...

            En passant, I think you are in error as regards the leave; most blokes find that the feminine services are able to get leave when their ‘soldier hero’ gets his.  Naturally this is not always the case but I think you’ll find that in general practice it can be wangled.

            Sorry to hear that Diller’s given me the bird.  Maybe I’ll write her one of these fine days.  You might tell her that I’m giving the matter considerable thought.

            Well, there’s no news from this end.  I managed to get Saturday and Sunday – quite a change, and saw “The Saint’s Vacation” and, at last – “Reap the Wild Wind”.  Neither was particularly outstanding.  Always grumble, don’t I?

            Well, I suppose I must close here, not having anything else to hold your attention.

                                    Hope to see you soon, Darling

                                                all my love

                                                        Dicker

*Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ – Act 5, Scene 2.

**a film based on one of the Simon Templar a.k.a. “The Saint” novels by Leslie Charteris. The film was reset in the Second World War with Nazis as the villains.

***a swashbuckling adventure film set in the 1840s along the Florida coast.

© Chotie Darling

17^th November 2012 – first clashes between US and German forces, in the Western Desert. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

 

19th November 1942 – launch of Operation Uranus, the Russian offensive to encircle and destroy Axis forces (German, Romanian, Hungarian and Italian) at Stalingrad. The encirclement of almost 300,000 men was completed on 22^nd November. (See 23rd August 1942 and WW2-net Timelines.)

Operation Freshman, a British commando assault on the heavy water plant at Telemark in Norway (potentially critical for the Germans to develop an atomic bomb), ends in disaster.  The captured commandos are executed under Hitler’s ‘Commando Order’.

20th November 1942 – the advance of the Allies’ 8th Army reaches Benghazi in Libya, an essential supply port for the campaign. (From WW2-net Timelines.

 

22^nd November 1942 – Eisenhower accepts French Admiral Darlan (Head of the Vichy French Armed Forces) as Head of the French Administration in North Africa in return for co-operation with the Allies despite opposition from General de Gaulle, leader of the Free French in Britain, and the French Resistance. Darlan was assassinated on 24^th December 1942. He was replaced as leader of French Africa by General Giraud on 27th December. (From WW2 People’s War, WW2 History of US Army in the Med and Darlan.)

23rd November 1942 - the US Eighth Air Force attacks U-boat pens at St Nazaire but their daylight 'precision bombing' tactics are failing with fewer than 3% of bombs falling within a thousand feet of the target.  (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

 

The Recce Corps Commander Lieutenant-General Stopford inspected 43^rd Recce’s  ‘Carrier Drill’ and Battle Drill’ on Monday 23^rd November and the next day 43^rd Recce demonstrated shooting from A.R.C.s on Deal Vehicle Range for a visit from the Commander in Chief of Home Forces, General Sir Bernard Paget. (From the War Diary of the 43^rd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)

 

24th November 1942 - Hitler orders the forces at Stalingrad, some 290,000 men, to hold out there and not attempt retreat through the Soviet encirclement.  A new Army Group Don is formed to breakthrough and relieve the Sixth Army.

 

25th November 1942 – Soviet forces begin Operation Mars, an attack on the central front near Rhez.  Unknown to them it was a diversionary offensive to facilitate Operation Uranus  and the Germans had deliberately been given information on the advance – more than 70,000 Red Army soldiers were killed in a month of fighting.

Left wing Greek resistance forces (EDES – the Greek National Republican League and the communist EAM-ELAS), supported by British SOE (the Special Operations Executive) succeed in blowing-up the Gorgopotamos Bridge in central Greece.  This cut the railway line to northern Greece for four months, one of the most successful sabotage missions of the war.  

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

Reconnaissance Badge - Thursday 29th October 1942

Address as before

Thursday

My Darling Chotie,

                                        Many thanks for letter received yesterday.  I'm just about kicking myself at the moment, having done a very stupid thing last night. 

                I wrote you a letter before going to the library and put it in one of the books I was taking back - and left it in there!  The point is that I didn't realise it until the library had shut, and the wretched place doesn't open again till tomorrow night (it's open every other day), so I can't get it till then. 

                However, thinking as much of my Chotie as I do, I have started another at the earliest. 

                I had a letter and a very welcome half-sovereign from Brinner telling me of your meeting - of which I was very pleased to hear - and also of course, telling me he was on leave.  We seem to strike it very unlucky as regards getting our leave together.  It would be much more fun for him if he could get his leave with us - it must be pretty dull for him by himself.

                 As usual there’s no news worth mentioning.  Anything which may have been of interest I have to leave out.  It's rather a blow to the indifferent letter-writer like myself.  However as always I’m making the best of a bad job (?).

                If ever you get in touch with that Rat du Rose, shake him up, will you?  He hasn't yet raised the requisite energy to write me - and after the effort I made on his behalf!  The whole affair sickens me.

                We have had nothing but rain, rain, rain for days on end. The only thing that has kept me among the living is the glorious sunset which has become a nightly feature.  Really lovely.

                Have read little lately owing to the Army's demands on my spare time.  Just Stephen McKenna’s “While of Sound Mind” and Osbert Sitwell's first prose work "Triple Fugue".  The former I can recommend, but the latter I found only good in parts, I recommend it for those parts.  (It consists of four or five short (?) stories. 

                Saw the ‘Ghost of Frankenstein*' last week.  Rather poor I thought.  Hope to see 'Reap the Wild Winds' tonight, which I just missed while on the course.  May also see 'The Young Mr Pitt’, if I get the time.  ‘Song of the Islands' is on next week I believe.  The boys will be queuing up to see Grable** in a grass-skirt... 

                Well, I must close here, Darling and see if I can get the 2.30 post.

                                                            all my love, precious

                                                                                    Dicker

PS. Je t’adore encore au tout mon Coeur

PPS. Badge*** enclosed (keep it clean!)

*'Ghost of Frankenstein', 'Reap the Wild Winds', 'The Young Mr Pitt’ and ‘Song of the Islands' were all films on circulation in 1942.

**Betty Grable, the star of “Song of the Islands” (a musical set in a Pacific island paradise), was an American actress and musical star said to have the most beautiful legs in Hollywood.

***The Reconnaissance Corps badge featured an upwards-pointing spear flanked by two lightning bolts.

© Chotie Darling

 

31st October 1942 – the brave seizure of an Enigma machine and keys from a sinking German submarine in the Eastern Mediterranean enables code-breakers at Bletchley Park to decipher the German Naval code ‘Shark M4’ by mid-December. (From ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012)

 

2nd November 1942 – the Allies’ break-out at El Alamein in Operation Supercharge. Forces attacking in Operation Supercharge included the 50^th (Northumbrian) Division, who Dick was to fight with in NW Europe.

 

4^th November 1942 – German Army forced to retreat at El Alamein. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

Church Army tea - Sunday 25th October?

                                                                                            Sunday

My darling Chotie,

                                                    Please excuse my writing in pencil but I came in a hurry and forgot my pen.  I’m writing this in a Methodist Church Army Show, a hellish place to find oneself on a Sunday evening…However in a hour or so the Ritz will be open…

            I’ve been on the range all yesterday and today – marking in the butts (too technical for you?) means you signal the shots from the target end.  Very boring.  We manage to alleviate part of the boredom by betting on our own target.  After two days I’m where I started !  Not over profitable.  I’m on again Monday and Tuesday.

            Met a farmer on Friday.  Charming.  Quite the style with orange waistcoat etc, and a moustache like Marshall Budenny*.  Very interesting.  We talked for over two hours, mostly on farming topics.  Needless to say he was born and bred here, (man and boy for nigh on forty year etc…).  Altogether a very nice bloke, by which I mean he stood me a couple of pints…

            Needless to say I haven’t yet heard from that rat du Rose.  If you see him, tell him from me, he’s a SNAKE! 

            Fancy you liking Maggie Mitchell’s tale of ‘Ye Olde South’***!   Very surprising.  It’s on here.  Queues about a mile long for each performance.  There’s certainly a sucker born every minute…

            I went into a Church Army place this afternoon and found to my horror that they were issuing free teas.  Now when you get your tea gratis they expect you to stay to a temperance service afterwards.  There was a crowd of effeminate-looking service men seated round a table with various civilian was Led-in-the-blood-of-the-Lambers****, so I beat a hasty Dunkirk out of the place…

           Well, my Precious – will close here and see if I can’t find a drop of something warm somewhere.

                                                                                    All my love,

                                                                                                Dicker

P.S. Will write again tomorrow or Tuesday.

*Marshall Budenny – a Soviet military commander with a moustache wider than his face. 

**du Rose – one of Dick’s close companions in the Dorset Regiment. (See Enter du Rose.)

*** ‘Gone with the Wind’, from the book by Margaret Mitchell giving an idyllic portrayal of the USA’s deep South during the Civil War era, despite the reliance on slavery. It went on general release in 1941 and has been hailed as one of the greatest American films of all time.

****Possibly a mischievous reference to the Salvation Army?  

© Chotie Darling

 

25th October 1942 – the last German offensive in the Caucasus begins (between the Caspian and Black Seas, now in Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan).  (From WW2-net Timelines.)

 

28th October 1942 – the first six hundred inmates arrive at the concentration camp of Auschwitz Monowitz or Auschwitz III, established to source forced labour for the Buna synthetic rubber factory operated by I.G.Farben. The labourers included 1,200 British Prisoners of War working in appalling conditions. However, conditions were infinitely worse for the Jewish prisoners. Of 3,800 inmates present in December 1942 only 1,500 were alive by February 1943.

(From 'Hell's Cartel - IG Farben and the Making of Hitler's War Machine' by Diarmuid Jeffreys, Metropolitan Books 2008, History Learning Site and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.)

French Canadians and French Films - Sunday 30th August 1942

5731671 Room 28

3^rd Technical Training Group

Preston Barracks, Brighton, Sussex

 

Sunday Morn.

Chotie Darling,

                                                                                                Many thanks for letter of a couple of days ago. There’s no Church Parade this morning, so I have a good chance to catch
up on my mail.

            Feeling pretty low this morning. Went out yesterday evening and met some half-dozen French-Canadians, and I’m wondering now whether it was good luck or misfortune.  They’d only been over here a few months, and spoke no English, but I managed to hold my end up for a couple of hours.  There were two barmaids there, who, knowing they couldn’t speak any English, and thinking I was also French, were saying things …those girls almost made me blush… Unfortunately, when I rolled out of the place, it was pouring with rain, and I had no alternative but to walk, as the last bus had long since gone.  It was about 3 miles, and sobered me up not a little.

            Went to the jolly old Ballet again last week – twice in fact – Allied Ballets, allied to whom I don’t know.  The Prima Ballerina, Mela Carter, was almost as good as Fonteyn, but the rest were indifferent.  Not as good as Anglo-Polish.  Saw “Le Lac des Cygnes” (Swan Lake) and “Les Sylphides” the former Tchaikovsky, the latter, Chopin.  Also saw a Tod Slaughter film – “Murder in the Red Barn” – one of the old dramatics… 

            Was going to see “Joan of Paris”* yesterday, but after one look decided against it, even after your advice on same.  I knew America would ruin Michèle in the same way it ruined Boyer and will probably ruin Babin**.  Shakespeare said, ‘a good wine needs no bush’***, but America would have us believe the contrary.  It’s not necessary to shout the qualities of an actor from the roof-tops, to impress people of his ability.  The best French films were always the most unoffensive and unsung. 

            What about this engagement, Darling?  Kindly express your sentiments
per return…  We’ll have to see what can be done (If anything, can be done).  I suppose it’s about time we did something about it, before tongues start wagging, etc. 

            I was going home this week-end, and rather wish I had now.  But I suppose I
should get my leave soon, hope so anyhow.  Well, I’d better close here, Precious.

            Don’t forget about the jolly old engagement will you.  (I haven’t said anything about it yet …)

                                                                                    Son amoureux mari****

                                                                                                Dicker

PS       Love & kisses xxxx etc

PPS     Ich liebe dich, meine geliebte*****.

 

*A 1942 film about a waitress helping RAF pilots stranded in Paris to escape. It starred the French actress Michèle Morgan.

**Charles Boyer, a famous French actor

***A 15^th century proverb quoted by Rosalind in Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’ – “If it be true that ‘good wine needs no bush’, tis true that a good play needs no epilogue” (Act 5 Scene 4).  Taverns claiming to sell fine liquor bore the sign of an ivy bush above their door.

***** ‘Son amoureux mari’ (French) = 'Your loving husband’

***** ‘Ich liebe dich, meine geliebte’ (German) = ‘I love you, my sweetheart’

© Chotie Darling

30th August 1942 – Germany’s annexation of Luxembourg is resisted with a General Strike. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

31^st August 1942 - Rommel begins his final attempt to break through at El Alamein with an offensive on Alam Halfa ridge (between El Alamein on the Mediterranean Sea and the Quattara Depression to the south). However, the Germans are forced to withdraw back to their start lines. The deciphering of Germany’s secret Enigma code played a critical role in the Allies successful defence – Montgomery was now aware of Rommel’s plans through the Ultra decrypts.  (From WW2-net Timelines and ‘Phantom at War’ by Andy and Sue Parlour.)

The French Traitors - Friday 21st August 1942

19th August 1942 – the Combined Operations raid (see the Missing Winter) on Dieppe in northern France, which ended in disaster. This joint British and Canadian commando raid (originally code-named ‘Rutter’, but now known as ‘Jubilee’), , was intended to practice techniques for an eventual invasion of Northern Europe by the Allies. The coast was heavily defended by German guns and the invasion force lost the element of surprise by encountering an escorted German convoy in the Channel. After less than 6 hours the forces landed on the beaches around Dieppe were forced to withdraw. Of the 5,000 Canadians, 1,000 British, 50 American Rangers and 50 Free French taking part in ‘Operation Jubilee’ more than 1,380 were killed, 1,600 wounded and 2,340 captured. The RAF had given support but lost 107 planes to the German’s 48. One Royal Naval destroyer and 33 landing craft were sunk.

Dieppe convinced the Allied commanders that a successful cross-Channel invasion would need a massive force, which could not be assembled before 1944. The decision not to use airborne troops had also contributed to the raid’s failure. (From Combined Operations WW2 website, WW2-net Timelines  and ‘Phantom at War – the British Army’s Secret Intelligence & Communication Regiment of WW2’ by Andy & Sue Parlour, Cerberus 2003.)

  

21st August 1942 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the USA says that the perpetrators of barbarism in occupied countries ‘that the time will come when they shall have to stand in courts of law in the very countries which they are now oppressing and answer for their acts.'  (From WW2-net Timelines.)

German troops scale Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in the Caucasus, and plant the Reich's flag on the summit but the overstretched forces never reached the valuable Caucasian oilfields.

 

5731671 Tpr Williams R

Room 28

3^rd Technical Training Group

Preston Barracks, Brighton, Sussex

 

Friday Eve.

Chotie Darling,

                                                            It’s pay-night, as you will see from above, but as it’s raining like hell I thought I’d stay in and write to my Chubby Lulubelle. Good boy, ain’t I?  Sometimes I wonder …

            Well, Precious – many thanks for your last letter and account of your adventures.  I am enclosing the polyfotos in this – have had to break them up I’m afraid, as I haven’t yet procured a large enough envelope.  I will give you the number I like best in PS., as I can’t make up my mind (?) which one I like the most, at the moment – they’re all so good.

            Hope you manage to see Michelle Morgan, she’s really very good in French films – I can’t guarantee American or English directors.  I’ve only seen her once – with Boyer, in French, with French direction of course and I was very struck then.  I believe I told you I saw Vivianne Romance, (almost as good) last week.

            Did you see the appalling list of French people who have been marked as definite traitors?  The list includes Georges Carpentier (France’s greatest boxer), Maurice Chevalier, Sacha Guitry (her greatest playwright), Corinne Luchaire (of “Prison without Bars” fame), Jean Borotra (the tennis star) and last but not least, Danielle Darrieux who needs no introduction.  Horrible isn’t it?

            Sorry you had a row with Horlock – but then you must remember that there are people without souls – who appreciate nothing, and the road of a martyr is by necessity an exacting one.  Persevere Darling … 

            However, I was glad to hear of your “Braemar”** show.  Looking forward to
seeing it soon.  I’ve been around quite a bit since last writing – making the most of it while it lasts.

            Have seen a couple of old flicks – “Suspicion” Cary Grant and Fontaine, and “Here comes Mr Jordan” – Montgomery and Claude Rains.  Not too
bad.  Also saw a play “Bedtime Story” with Mary Maguire – quite good.

            Had a letter from home – Mother says the Odeon at Bognor had a bomb, plumb centre – killed a dozen or so.  Luckily she did the shopping in the morning and the bomb was about 3 in the afternoon.  She’s been asked up to Herne Bay for a wedding – Rita’s (family friend) but sees no chance of going.

            Have you heard of Eric since your last letter?  Maybe he’s moved – but then
I suppose he’d have phoned or something. I really will write him some day, but I’m thinking of his heart when he gets the letter. 

            What did you think of the last raid***?  I saw most of the action in the Channel and was also machine-gunned in the streets – though still alive and kicking.

            Have you thought of a name for my new pipe yet?  He’s getting nicely burnt in, and has acquired a more mature appearance.

            I bought a copy of Darwin’s ‘The Descent of Man’ and have been up to my neck in it for some days.  I always do crosswords in the bus, on my way to “work”.  Quite suburban in fact – though I miss the Homburg and umbrella …

            Well, Darling, I must close here as its getting too dark to write,

                                                                        All my love, you Precious thing,

                                                                                     your adoring Dicker

PS. NUMERUS XXIV

that’s look you (No 24)

* Georges Carpentier - French boxer who was world light-heavyweight champion and a European champion at four weight classes.

Maurice Chevalier - French musical-comedy star

Corinne Luchaire – French film actress and daughter of Jean Luchaire a journalist and politician who supported the Vichy Regime.

Jean Borotra – French champion tennis player in the 20s and 30s.

Danielle Darrieux - French actress and singer, one of France's great movie stars.

** Braemar – a village in Aberdeenshire?

***possibly a reference to action following the Dieppe Raid, which had set sail from ports between Southampton and Newhaven (near Brighton)?

© Chotie Darling

 

 

22^nd August 1942 – Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy.

 

23^rd August 1942 – the Battle of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) begins in Russia. One of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare it continued until 2^nd February 1943, claiming nearly 2 million casualties and ending in defeat for the Axis Army.  On 25th August a state of siege was declared in the heavily bombed city. (From WW2-net Timelines and ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012.)

 

25^th August 1942 – beginning of the Battle of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. This Japanese attack was defeated by largely Australian forces by 7^th September 1942 – the Allies first decisive victory over the Japanese. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

 

28^th August 1942 – a massive RAF raid on Nuremberg kills 4,000 civilains.  Unlike the Americans the RAF flew at night and Air Chief Marshall 'Bomber Harris' defined their success by the number of urban acres reduced to rubble. (From WW2-net Timelines and ‘The Second World War’ by Antony Beevor, published by Weidenfield and Nicolson 2012.)

28^th August and 9^th September – the Japanese fire bomb the Oregon forests, USA. (From WW2-net Timelines.)

 

"Mien Kampt" - Sunday 16th August

5731671 Tpr Williams R

Room 28

3^rd Technical Training Group

Preston Barracks, Brighton, Sussex

 

Sunday

My Darling Chotie,

                                                                        Many many thanks for polyfotos.  They’re
marvellous, Darling.  I showed them to the boys who now regard me in a different light.  I would have sent them back with this letter, but haven’t yet procured a big enough envelope, but I’ll definitely send them in my next.  And
also many thanks for a very nice letter.

            Well, Lulu belle there’s no news as usual.

            I went to the “Curzon” yesterday – saw Viviane Romance in "L’Esclave Blanche" (White Slave) a French film.  It was very good but not up to the usual high standard achieved by French Directors. She (Viviane) is very much like Danielle – also has her hair up.

            I’m looking forward to seeing Eileen Joyce tonight – never having seen her before. She’s an Australian and extraordinarily good pianist to hail from there.I saw a rather good film a few days ago –“Mien Kampt” (sic*– showing Adolf’s rise to power since his early days after thelast war and the brilliant way he went about it – the way he removed Ernst Roehm, Dollfuss, Schnussnigg** (sic) and the rest.  A lot of it was documentary, ie actual shots, especially of the jolly old Reichstag Fire Trial*** etc, and the flagwrapping parade in the Olympic Stadium****. 

            Well, Precious, I must close here as it’s now dinner time, and as I didn’t get up in time for breakfast, I’m not missing it. 

                        All my love, Chotie Darling,

                                         Hope to get leave soon

                                                                             Dicker

 

*Dick meant ‘Mein Kamf’ - German for ‘My Struggle’, the title of the film and Hitler’s autobiography.

**Ernst Röhm – head of the SA (Sturmabteilung), the Nazi brown-shirted stormtroopers. Arrested and executed in the ‘Night of the Long Knives’, 1934.

Engelbert Dollfuss - Chancellor of Austria from 1932 to 1934, who destroyed the Austrian Republic and established an authoritarian regime based on conservative Roman Catholic and Italian Fascist principles. Assassinated by the SS in July 1934.

Kurt von Schuschnigg – succeeded Dollfuss as Chancellor of Austria. Opposed the
Anschluss, (annexation of Austria by the Third Reich) and was imprisoned by the Nazis when they invaded Austria.

***The Reichstag Fire Trial in 1933 followed the part destruction by fire of the German ‘parliament’ building soon after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe was charged and executed for having set the fire as part of a Communist plot and the Nazis used the incident to ensure the defeat of the Communists and other leftist parties in the following elections.

**** The 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.

 © Chotie Darling

 

17^thAugust 1942 – first all-American bombing raid in Europe, directed against the marshalling yards of Rouen in France. The American bombers flew by daylight attempting to ‘precision bomb’ key nodes of the enemy’s industrial fabric.  (From WW2-net Timelines.)

Chotie at Church Knowle - Wednesday 1st October 1941

 

Intelligence Sec., HQ company, 70th Dorsets

Branksome, Dorset.

My Darling Chotie,

                                                                   Many, many thanks for your letter.  I was very pleased you have struck it so lucky at Church Knowle.*  I wish you lots & lots of luck in this new venture (does that sound too staid?), and hope you have a lovely time, as I'm sure you deserve it after all our troubles.

          I'm glad Brinner saw you off as I always think it helps.  He told me you met someone to travel down with, which I hope made the journey a little more pleasant, though as a rule this isn't the case.

          I feel b----y awful at the moment, for no known reason, but I haven't felt too well since we've been at Branksome.  I've got the devil of a boil on my shoulder-blade which Eric has been doctoring for a couple of days, without very much effect.  He lanced it about an hour ago, which has caused my left shoulder to pack up for the duration.  I can't even lift my wretched arm.  However that's enough moaning in one letter.

        This cottage of yours sounds most thrilling.  I must try to get over as soon as possible - and whilst the weather holds.  It's been rather dull here and cloudy all day.         

        I was very miserable until I got your letter, which had its usual cheering effect.

          There's the devil of a lot of duties to do now, including keeping the gardens are up to scratch from 5 o'clock to 5.30!  What a game! - and there's supposed to be a war on somewhere...

          We had some excellent news today however - transfers have started again, and consequently, allowing for the usual lapse of time, (transfers take ages as a rule) I should be out of this punk crowd in a month or two.  All of which has cheered me up considerably.

          Incidentally, we are moving**!  It's more or less settled, (I know that look in Ma’s eyes...) for the beginning of November, - just above a month, and once again it's going to be Herne Bay.  I don't suppose I'll ever get leave up there but still these things must wait until after the war.  We'll make up for every scrap of it then, never fear, Darling.

          I went home yesterday and had a quiet evening in front of the fire, thinking about the move, etc.  The doctor apparently told Pa that he couldn't possibly go on working or he wouldn't hold himself responsible for Pa's welfare, which has prompted the move more than everything.

          Well, Precious I must close here to post this in time.

          Please excuse paper but it's all I can get.

                                                          all my love, Chotie Dear,

                                                                   Dicker

                                                                             Xxxxxxxx 

 

* where Chotie was living in the Land Army to work on a farm in Purbeck, Dorset.  She stayed with Miss Grace of Churchknowle Farm in a little cottage tucked into the hillside at Cocknowle.

** Dick’s family left Poole in late 1941 or early 1942.  Initial plans were for Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent but by the spring of 1942 they were settled at Pagham, near Chichester in Sussex.

 

© Chotie Darling

 

In October 1941 – filming of ‘The First of the Few’, a film telling the story of the Spitfire aeroplane, began near Christchurch on the Dorset/Hampshire border.  It starred Leslie Howard and David Niven, both returned from Hollywood to support the war effort since 1939. Niven rejoined the Army and around this time was working for the General Headquarters Liaison Regiment (known as ‘Phantom’) as Commander of ‘A’ squadron, informing Army HQ on coastal defences and invasion risk, and happened to be stationed near Poole.

 

2^nd October 1941 – Operation Typhoon begins, Hitler’s ultimately unsuccessful attack on Moscow.

German class - Monday 11th August 1941

Fort Brockhurst, Gosport, Hants

Monday Morning

 

My Darling,

                                It's not often that I begin an epistle to you at this hour in the morning - it's now only 8.30 - but as I have some time to spare, I thought I'd start anyway.

            It's been raining hard since réveillé and looks like going on all day. I suppose it will stop by about eleven or so. I'm meant to demonstrate sniping to the Company Commanders at nine o'clock but with this rain I suppose it will be postponed - at any rate I hope so.

            Thanks for your last letter. I've passed on best wishes to Eric (I'm too jealous to give him your love...) who returns same. I haven't seen Pete lately and JP is on leave.

            Incidentally my leave is down for the 22^nd of this month but we have been warned that all leave will probably be a month late, so it's not a bit of good to back on it. It would be marvellous if I could get it, as it's only about ten days time.

            Eric and I went to the flicks yesterday and saw ‘Typhoon’ (Lamour & Preston). It's a bit ancient but very good. I don't know whether you saw it or not. Don't miss it if you get the chance.  Eric & I also joined the Gosport Library - which is an excellent one in every way.

 

            We have just started a German class, but I hope to carry on with my letter. The Education Sergeant is very ancient and could easily overlook this writing. At the moment he’s chalking up lines and lines of German on the blackboard - I've no idea what - I never do.

 

            Well, I just had a break for lunch so am once again at it.

            Hell! I wish I could get my Seven Days... and don't you start talking about going Russian either, or I'll start…

            We are now having a lecture on mopping-up paratroops - a lot of bloody rubbish… They are under the impression that a section (one Lance Corporal & nine men) could easily finish off 18 paratroops, which is ridiculous as a British Army section has only one Bren Gun, possibly a Tommy gun and seven or eight rifles, whereas paratroops have each a light machine-gun, and bristle with Mills bombs*, grenades etc. That's the Army all over - mass slaughter.

            I'm just going to dinner, so I'll probably feel better after that.

 

            Well, Darling I've had dinner and do feel considerably better for it. Excuse the ink (unusual for me) but as there appears to be a pen here I thought I may as well use it, perhaps it helps to make my writing legible.

            It has cleared up and the sun is shining once again - think of the time when it will always be shining, Sweetheart, when there shall be ‘no wars nor rumours of wars**’... That little cottage with the thatched roof and glorious roses...And a Queen Anne bed... (?)

            This nightmare of separation will soon be over Darling, and then we'll start to live again. That's if you'll still love me then. All I ever do is hope & pray that you will. Please tell me you will, Darling, and I'll get some sleep at night...

                                Well, Precious I must close here as I have to go on parade at 2 o'clock.

                                                        All my love, Darling,

                                                                            Your loving,

                                                                                              Dicker

* kinds of hand grenade

** Mark Chapter 13 Verse 7 “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet …” from Authorized King James version of the Holy Bible (Matthew Chapter 24 Verse 7 is very similar).

 

13^th August 1941 – fighter aircraft arrive at R.A.F. Hurn to become the secret Telecommunications Flying Unit. (From ‘Dorset’s War Diary - Battle of Britain to D Day’ by Rodney Legg, Dorset Publishing Company 2004).

 

14^th August 1941 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the USA, and Winston Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter, a joint statement of their mutual goals for the post-WW2 world.

Horse Riding - Sunday 20th July 1941

Intelligence Section, HQ Company, 70th Dorsets

Fort Brockhurst, Hants, Nr Gosport.

My Darling Chotie,

                                                Many thanks for the letter received this morning.  Don't ever stop writing to me, Honey, as your letters mean so much to me.  I also had a letter from home, and some drawing stuff I'd asked them to send.           

           Things here on the intelligence are still very nice.

           We were out on exercise on Tuesday and Wednesday in the country about 20 miles from here.  We slept in the barn of a farm - and what a farm!  It was the home farm of the country estate and a pretty marvellous place believe me.  You'd have loved it I know.  Miles from anywhere, and all the estate thickly wooded.  The House was Gothic style and covered with ivy.  They also had some superb horses …. and thereby hangs a tale. 

            There were four of us - Johnny, Welsh, Sherman and myself.  Welsh & Sherman come from Plymouth and are both rather tough.  We happened along a chestnut mare - a beautiful animal, with a filly by her.  We made friends with this hoss and decided to have a shot at riding her.

             I got a leg up from John and I was no sooner on her, when she started -and when I say she started I don't mean maybe ... she tore round & round that field a couple of times, stopped dead and started bucking as though her life depended on it.

             I hit the ground!  No kidding!  I hit the ground on that part of my anatomy where it hurts most. I had to sleep on my tummy that night....

             However all is well now - my poor bottom having recovered from the shock.

             As I'm writing this, we're all on another exercise, (Defence), inside the Gosport area, and as my duties for the next four hours are to sit in the Intelligence Office and listen for the phone, I have plenty of time to spare - for a change believe me.

            We are on this stunt all the weekend and are all confined to billets.  However, I've been out a few times during last week and as it's raining hard at the moment I'm not worrying. 

            I've recently seen “Mr & Mrs Smith” (very good), “ Honeymoon for three” and “ Spring Meeting”.  All three were pretty good. I definitely advise you to see the first named as it will give you ideas to say the least. 

            Well I must close here as I'm out of paper.

                                                                                    All my love, Sweetheart,

                                                                                                            Your adoring,

                                                                                                                        Dicker

PS.  Du bist meine geliebte!* (German)

* You are my beloved!

 

© Chotie Darling

 

La France publication for 23^rd Juillet, published in England to use in ‘French studies’

 

23rd July 1941 – Japan occupies all of Indochina under agreement with Vichy France.

26^th July 1941 – US and British Commonwealth freeze all Japanese assets and the US suspends relations with Japan.

The Intelligence crew - Saturday 12th July

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 4          Intelligence

Dick was in Intelligence from early July 1941,

probably until 20^th April 1942 when he officially transferred from the 70^th Dorsets to Reconnaissance.

The secrecy surrounding certain Intelligence units

meant that participants often remained officially assigned

to their original regiments.

From July to September 1941

he was Trooper Williams Intelligence Section, HQ Company while he trained at Fort Brockhurst, Gosport, Hampshire.

 

July 1941 – coal also now rationed.  

July 1941 – formation of the British Special Air Service – a small scale fighting force suited to raiding and reconnaissance, intelligence gathering and close quarter combat deep behind enemy lines. They were the first to use the motto “Who Dares Wins” and were parachute trained to reach the enemy by air.  

1st July 1941 – Germany and Italy recognise the Japanese government of China.

3rd July 1941 - Soviet Premier Josef Stalin exhorted the Russian people to defend their soil by adopting a "scorched earth" policy, destroying anything that might be useful to the German advance.

Dick’s ‘Seven Days’ leave

appears to have been taken at the beginning of July,

at about the time he joined the Intelligence section.

The Sandbanks peninsula, Poole, had been a restricted military area since July 1940 but in the summer of 1941 sea bathing was once more permitted for residents of Poole on a small strip of the Sandbanks beach.  This was courtesy of the Russian resistance to Hitler’s forces deterring Germany from any invasion of Britain.  Before the war Chotie’s family had a cherished beach hut at Shore Road, Sandbanks, but all the huts were removed to clear the line of fire against invading forces in 1940.

“Happy days were spent in the summer going to the beach.  We had a hut on the sands at Shore Road, Sandbanks and I cannot remember when I could not swim.  We pumped up car tyres, which were great fun to dive through and play with - these were the days before lilos and plastic beach toys.  In the evening we would collect all the rubbish left by picnickers and have a bonfire.  Salty, sandy and dishevelled, glowing from the day in the sun and weary from all the playing of games and swimming, we were piled into the back of the milk delivery van to wend our way home.”   From ‘Grandma’s Story’ written by Chotie for her grandchildren.

 

 

FAREHAM SERVICES INSTITUTE

 

Intelligence Section

HQ Company, 70th Dorsets

Gosport, Hants.

My Darling Chotie,

                                                                   Having just been to the flicks and finding myself at the above address, I thought I’d write you to let you know what news there is and that I arrived back safely but very late.  The trains were all over the show at So-ton and I had to go all the way to Romsey, from Totton, and then back on the same train to So-ton.  When I got to Fareham the last bus had just gone, and consequently in the company of several others I had to walk (!) to Brockhurst - about six miles!

          And not one car passed me all the way.

 

          In the interests of National Economy I am using both sides of this note paper.

 

          This Intelligence game is proving to be a cinch, ---- all to do and plenty of time to do it in.  It is in fact, just my vocation.

          We've just been to see ‘ Honeymoon for Three’ - quite amusing.  I was going to see ‘Rebecca’ again but it was on in some vague suburb of Pompey, and consequently I changed my mind.

          I went to the Coliseum again last night.  Annette was there again – strip-tease.  I regret to say I got hopelessly tight afterwards.  There were four of us, and I've no idea how we got back again and believe it or not, I was by far the most sober of us all. 

           After an hour's steady drinking, it developed into a competition, and we started on Brandy and Chablis.  Gertie (Kirkwood) was crawling about under the table before long, and Welsh, a bloke from Plymouth Grammar, looked decidedly ill. Billy Ede, has lived most of his life in France & Germany and is consequently rather hardened. After that we got split up and Bill and I later found the others in Gosport trying to climb a pile of sandbags.  I managed to get to bed, but got up again about midnight and had a cold shower which sobered me up considerably.         

            I'll never forget that night.  We're all on Intelligence.  What a crew. I had the devil of a hangover this morning, but luckily it's Saturday so there's ---- all to do.

 

            Well, Darling, there's no news as usual.  I hope you managed to get back all right. 

              I've written with some pens in my time, but I've never seen the likes of this one.  The ---- nib keeps getting crossed.

         I must say bye bye now Darling as I have to get a bus back to Brockhurst.

                                                                  All my love, Darling,

                                                                                      Dicker

PS.  Je t’aime encore de tout mon coeur.

 

© Chotie Darling

 

12th July 1941 – surrender of Vichy French Syria and the Lebanon to the Allies.

13th July 1941 – Anglo-Soviet Pact. Britain and the USSR pledged to assist one another against Hitler.

Air Raids in Southampton - March 1941

 

 

 ‘D’ Company, 70th Dorsets

Southampton, Hants.

My Darling Chotie,

As I’m on guard once again I thought I’d write as I have a few moments all to myself!

           I have to go on guard every three days or so – far too often - a 24 hrs guard, mounting at 6 pm and dismounting at 6 pm the next day. 

            It’s a regimental guard over the main entrance to the Battalion Headquarters.  Needless to say everything is just so-so or the RSM* wants to know why.  However, there’s a stove in the guardroom which helps matters not a little.  There’s also an orderly attached to the guard who gets the meals and anything from the NAAFI.

            The guard consists of one Corporal and three men, each man doing two hrs on duty and then four hrs in the guardroom.  The main snag is that we have to wear full equipment and are not allowed to take it off during the 24 hrs, except for reasons too obvious to mention!           

        

            That’s enough of guards – they’re pretty depressing things anyway. To turn to a more cheerful subject, I hope to get home next weekend for a few hours – either on Saturday or Sunday.  It all depends on when I have to go on guard again. 

             If it falls on Saturday evening it ruins me, as there wouldn’t be time to get home and I would be on guard all the Sunday.  I believe, however, that I go on again on Friday, which means I come off Saturday night and could get home on the Sunday.  We must trust to luck as usual.  I think I can make it all right.

           

               I’ve been to the flicks twice lately – saw ‘The Great Dictator’ and ‘Black Fury’ (Paul Muni).  How anyone could see anything in the ‘Great Dictator’ I don’t know.  I thought it was chronic.  ‘Black Fury’ was quite good but nothing up to the usual Muni standard.        

                The place we go to (the only place we are allowed without a pass) is Shirley.  I’ve no idea where it lies on the map but it’s inland from Southampton.  It’s a pretty dull place; reminds me of the East End on Sunday – all 50 shilling tailors and patent leather.

           There’s nothing to go out for anyway, as we have a first rate NAAFI and a good Corporals’ Room.  The boys say there are plenty of women here but I haven’t seen any – except a couple of old bags, doubtless engaged in plying the oldest of professions. I’m afraid that’s rather crude. Almost Russian**…

           

            Incidentally, I don’t know whether I told you I had an interview with the ‘Old Man’ and he’s recommended me.  It will mean some months, as I have to wait for the recommendation to go through to the interview board.  They’re the b----rs to get past and even if I get past them (which I very much doubt) I’d still have to wait to get posted to an O.C.T.U.***  Still it’s a start, I suppose.

           

I’ve just paused to make out the Guard reports – a wretched job as everything has to be reported – even the minutest detail.

 

            Later

                                    Well, Precious, it’s now just after midnight and still the sirens haven’t gone.  It's really rather odd as we seem lost without them here.  I expect Jerry’s stocktaking this evening…  the raids lately have been almost continuous and pretty vicious. About six houses in a row, 200 yards from here came down on Saturday night.

           When there’s a night raid on the shrapnel comes down like rain, from the Anti-Aircraft Barrage.  There’s not a house in the whole place that hasn’t got some windows out or half the roof gone.

           It’s certainly more interesting from that point of view, as there’s seldom a dull moment at night.  It makes the guards a lot more fun when you can hear the shrapnel on the roof.

           

            I’ve done very little reading lately as I don’t get very much time.  I read, or rather re-read, Hitchins’ ‘The Garden of Allah’, and quite an interesting little book called ‘I’ll Tell You Everything’, written by Priestley in collaboration with some one else, which, although very light & sometimes puerile, was really rather good****.

(Every now and then I light my pipe and march up and down outside in an effort to keep awake.  The stove in here makes me wish for my dear little bed…).

 

            There’s a piano here in the Assembly Hall, on which I manage to amuse myself occasionally if no one else*****.  If I can find a piano anywhere where I can play without fear of being interrupted I’m really happy for hours – which only goes to prove what a simple minded soul I must be.

           Well, my precious baby, I must close here as I don’t want to put an undue strain on your eyes (?) reading all this rubbish, so I will say ‘Good Morning’, Darling,

                                                            Your ever loving,

                                                                                    Dicker

 

P.S.  Please look after yourself, Darling, as you mean just everything now.

 

* RSM – Regimental Sergeant Major

 

** ‘Russian’ was a romantic code between Dick and Chotie:

“Dicker and I, so young, played wonderful games. We pretended to be ‘Russian’ and he taught me to love the ballet as he did.  Having always wanted to be a dancer we pretended I was.  I wore my long blonde hair in the style of a ballerina. He was a brilliant pianist and played Chopin by ear. He had a very good physique having exercised with weights and things – very muscular.  How I adored him.  Our lovemaking was very pure by today’s standards.  Just to kiss and hold each other close was very thrilling.”  From ‘Chotie’s Story’.

*** O.C.T.U. – Officer Cadet Training Unit

****Robert Smythe Hichens’ ‘The Garden of Allah’, a tale of adventure in the Sahara Desert written in 1904, was made famous by the Marlene Dietrich film of 1936.  ‘I’ll Tell You Everything’ written by J.B.Priestley in collaboration with Gerald Bullett is a light-hearted crime thriller.

*****Dick played the piano fluently by ear.

Something to be fought for - Wednesday January 1941

Lee-on-the-Solent

Wednesday.

My Darling Chubby Little Cho-cho,

                                                                        Just a few lines to let you know I'm still here and still, as ever, thinking of you.

            I'm on Guard at the moment (24 hrs) with three men and a Lewis Gun.  (If it came to a scrap I'd sooner have the Lewis than the three men.)  It's quite sunny, though still very muddy.  We get our feet soaked for some 25 hrs every guard which accounts for the present number down with flu, etc.

            I went to the flicks last night for want of something better to do and saw "A Primrose Path”, which I'd seen before but enjoyed.

            Feeling rather good at the moment as I have an ounce of tobacco and a good dinner in my tum.  That's half the trouble with men, - they’re only able to do anything when they've got plenty of food.  (That is a hint for when we are married...  Darling, I’ll even buy you a cookery book and an oven to practice on!) 

            I can hardly wait for that glorious time.  Just imagine, Precious, when this is over and we can start again - swimming, sailing and just lazing in the sun... – what a time that will be. No worries about leave or bombs or anything else that keeps us apart.

           We have one great consolation Cho, and that is, it will seem much better having been apart so long.   It's something worth striving for.

            Even if I got out of the Army, I should have to join up in something again.  I couldn't be at home enjoying myself when everyone else is away from the ones they love and who I know, they'd die for, if necessary. This isn't an act Darling - it's so tragically true. 

            Chamberlain was only half right.  He wanted peace but went the wrong way about getting it.  It's something that has to be fought for - and won, after much bloodshed and toil - not something that is just written down on paper.

            Am I boring you Darling?  I think I must be. 

            It makes me feel so wonderfully happy to know you still love me after all this time.  It will be just ecstasy when I get back, Darling, and believe me I will be back.  That will give you something else to worry about...

 

            We just had another 10 minute raid.  That's the third in the last two hours

            Well, Darling, that's about all, I guess.  There is no news, as usual, except I'm still loving you every little bit, but then again that's not news, or shouldn't be by now.

                                                                        Bye bye Darling,

                                                                        your adoring

                                                                                    Dicker

© Chotie Darling 

 

29th January 1941 - US and British military leaders begin secret talks concerning a common war policy against Germany.

Lonely Nights - Tuesday January 1941

Rye Cottage, Marine Parade W

Lee on Solent, Hants.

My Own Darling Chotie,

                                                            Many thanks for your letter received this morning.  I was just embarking on a 24 hrs Guard and was consequently feeling rather depressed, when along came your letter like a breath of Spring.  Darling, your letters have a wonderful effect on me.  Like morphia* they soothe my somewhat jaded nerves... - and like morphia too, they raise me from the depths of despair to heights of ecstasy.

            This is a tolerably decent Guard Room.  There's no fire as the place is electrically heated.  There's also electric light, & so for about the first time on Guard I am able to write in almost what may be termed comfort.

            In King's Regulations (the Laws which govern Army Life) it says that any man may ask for a pint of tea or cocoa (free of charge) which he has during the night if on a 24 hr guard.  By reason of this most noble law, I am now enjoying some steaming hot cocoa, which even if it doesn't taste like cocoa is at any rate hot...

            A man is also allowed a pint of beer, but needless to say this luxury comes from his own pocket!

            It's now 20.30 hrs (8.30) Tuesday evening and I am faced with the dismal prospect of staying awake all night until we dismount at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.

            I've just finished a very good book.  It is called ‘Magnus Merriman’ and it's by Eric Linklater (of ‘Juan in America’ fame).  You must certainly read it if you get the chance!  I was just reminded of it because I remembered where:

 “The girls who had been sitting on the sailor's knees, and had now returned to those warm seats began to sing: -

            ‘Morning never comes too soon, I can face the afternoon, But Oh!  Those lonely nights!’ “**

             I had to admit the truth of those lines.  It deals with the life of a poet, from when he joins the army during the last war, to when he finally ends up in a marriage of convenience.  It is brilliantly written in the usual Linklater style.

            I also re-read ‘Rebecca’ (Daphne du Maurier) - in my opinion the best novel of the last five years or so.  You should see the film if you get the chance as I know you'd love it.

(Lengthy pause whilst I fill my pipe).

            Remember in ‘Impatient Virgin’ whenever Ruth (the heroine) walks out of a room she always left behind ‘the blue tobacco smoke mingled with the scent of dried roseleaves’!  Perhaps my mind’s wandering... 

            How's the Guardsmen?  You'd better go careful you know.  I may turn up and catch you in the act – and 6ft 3 or not he's going to hit the deck mighty hard.  You can take that from me.

            Good to hear you had a good time at the ‘Haven’***.  It's not a bad place is it?  The only snag is that they can always chuck you in the sea to sober you up.

            Well Sweetheart, I must close here, as the Orderly Officer is due round.

            I'm afraid it's no good me trying to tell you how much I miss you.  It's so much more than words can convey.  I still love you with all my heart Cho Dear, as I know I always will.  I think it would kill me if I ever thought you were unfaithful - but I trust you, Darling as I hope you trust me.

                                                                        Goodnight Precious

                                                                                    Your ever loving

                                                                                                Dicker

 

* morphia – another name for morphine, a powerful narcotic painkiller.

** from ‘Happy Days and Lonely Nights’, a love song by Fred Fisher and Billy Rose.

*** the Haven Hotel, Sandbanks, Poole

© Chotie Darling

 

Telegram on Saturday 18th January 1941 from Lee on Solent 

BARBARA HOME TONIGHT = RICHARD

  

18^th January 1941

Dick and Chotie’s first meeting since October 1940

 

19^th January 1941 – Allied troops advance into Eritrea. Mussolini accepts German aid in North Africa but not in Albania.

'Rebecca' in Chippenham - Sunday 1st December 1940

Chippenham, Wilts

My Darling,

                                                                        Thanks a lot for the letter. I wasn't expecting to get one so soon, so I've stuck myself in a respectable pub and started to write to my Darling little Cho-cho.

    Dearest, it seems so long since I saw you.  If all goes well I may be home next weekend.  I don't want you to back on it, Honey, as it's only a possibility.  All 48s has been cancelled as everyone here is due for seven days.  As I've had one, however, I may be able to get just one little 48.

     If only the C.O. knew how much I adore & miss you Darling, I know he'd give me 21 days, as no one has ever loved as I love you.  I never dreamed I'd miss you so much.  Perhaps I didn't love you as much when I joined up as I do now.  I feel that I don't care what promotion I get or what happens, provided I can get back to you when it's all over.  Nothing can ever, or will ever, stop me loving you.  Please, Darling, write & tell me that you really do love me, and that nothing can ever part us.

    If only this wretched war would end I could come back and try to make you happy.

     I saw ‘ Rebecca’ twice this week as I liked it so much.  You must see it, if you haven't already done so.  It was wonderful.  If only I could write like du Maurier!

 I'm in the best of health, but worry about you a lot.  You must take care of yourself all the time, as I couldn't live without you now.

                                                            Goodnight my darling,

                                                                                    Dieu vous garde,*

                                                                                                your loving

                                                                                                            Dicker

* “God save you.”

© Chotie Darling, 2010

Raid on Chippenham - 20th November 1940

Chippenham, Wilts

Wednesday

My Darlingest,

                                                Many thanks for the letter which I have just received.  I'm replying instantly as I have one stamp between me and starvation.  I drew 30/- this week, but as I was endeavouring to influence the C.S.M. and as we met Pete, it all went by Saturday evening.  The more I draw the less far it seems to go.

     Well, Honey, you don't mention anything re FWC*.  I see that your letter was written from work.  I hope everything turns out all right, as you certainly deserve it.

     You seem to be having a pretty hot time now.  I wish I could say the same for myself.  Things are very dull here.  On occasion we go out and drown our sorrows but that's all it amounts to.  We very seldom seem to get very merry.

     I hope you won't go and fall for a Guardsman.  They are a trifle smarter than the Dorsets you know.  Have a good time by all means, but don't forget your little Dicker whatever you do, as I'm afraid you're vital to me now.

     Pete and Co are on an NCOs’ Cadre at the moment.  That's a course of sorts.  I did my best and got out of it as I much prefer to go away on a pukka course.  Local courses sound alright but amount to very little.  This particular one is being taken by an old Sergeant, who fondly imagines this is 1914.  He's very smart but lives in the past as so many old soldiers do (Pa for example).

     At any rate nothing can be done, until I get back to duty.  Then the sparks will fly, and I don't mean maybe.

     There's going to be a pretty good change in about a fortnight's time.  Everyone is going to be switched around in platoons and companies.  I'd like a change from ‘K’ as I'm pretty fed up with it.  We've got a new CEO now who is rather a ----.  He stripped a Cpl in ‘D’ for coming in an hour late after he'd been to a dance.  I'm glad I'm not still in ‘D’ as I'd have been finished by now.

    Commissions are still on the horizon, but are approaching gradually. Nil desperandum.

     I'm writing this in an old theatre, in the wings.  We use it for P.T. this weather.

     Went to see ‘ Convoy’ last night as I’d missed it before.  Then we had a raid here.  I should think that half the Jerry Air Force were up.  Plenty of bombs came down, but not too near.

     Well, I must close now and do some work.  The CSMI is on a course, which leaves me in charge of PT for 300 men!

         So long, Honey

                    your devoted

                                        Dicker

P.S. Remember what I said about that Guardsman ....

 

* Chotie’s place of work, which was closing down.

© Chotie Darling, 2010

 

20^th November 1940 – Hungary joins the Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy and Japan.

22nd November 1940 - Italian 9th Army defeated by Greeks.

23^rd November 1940 – Romania agrees to join the Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy and Japan.

24^th November 1940 – Slovakia joins the Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy and Japan.

Dinton, a PT Instructor - 11th July 1940

 Dinton

Wilts

Thursday

My Darling Chotie,

    Have just received you letter, for which many thanks.  I am replying immediately, as usual ….

   

I started P.T. instructing this morning and hope to get a stripe soon.  Toni got one this morning, but as he’s had a lot of previous military training this is to be expected.  I went for an interview with the C.O. - quite satisfactory, apparently.  I get every afternoon off, and have been excused all parades, etc. 

The P.T. instructor is quite a decent sort of bloke.  He’s getting married in a few weeks time, poor chap.  I hope she can cook … He says he will sign a pass (week-end) for me almost anytime I like, so I think I can manage to get home on my birthday (ie about two weeks time). 

    I’m just going to have some tea now.  More later.

Having had 2 pieces of bread & jam comprising tea, I feel a little more contented.

It’s the helluva job to get anywhere to write in this camp.  I’m writing with the pad supported on my lap.  (That’s where you ought to be …)  All the camp had the afternoon off.  There was a crowd of W.A.T.S* at the gate for some time.  Most of the boys trooped down but I wrote to my little Cho-Cho instead.  I think I deserve a big kiss.  How about it?

    Hughes' fiancée has recovered quite a bit according to the doctor, but has no memory yet.  Hughes is going to see her next weekend after his brother’s wedding – hope he bungs back a bottle or two. 

I forgot to tell you that George turned up on Monday night – just after I posted your letter.  He’s getting on very well in ‘G’ Company with Hughes.  George and I won our first game of darts together on Tuesday night.  We hope this will be the first of many victories.

Give my love to Pete’s Barbara the next time you see her and tell her, I already have one Barbara, and as she’s rather a handful, I have all my work cut out to keep her under control without any more. 

 

I hope you will give my wishes to Betty** & Leslie for perfect marital bliss in the future and all possible happiness.

There’s a bloke with a wonderful voice in this tent singing “At the Balalaika***”.

        Je t’aime encore****

Bye, bye, darling,

     Dicker

PS Write soon (or needn’t I say that!)

 

* Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service

** Chotie’s eldest sister who married Leslie Hall in 1940

 

*** Song from the popular 1939 film based on Posford and Grün’s operetta ‘Balalaika’.

**** "I love you always"

 

      
 

© Chotie Darling, 2010.