[ Post A Response: | Royal Artillery Club Board ]
Posted by Derek Biddle
on July 5, 2009, 22:15:18, in reply to "Douglas Crosland"
83.105.71.72
My father (Jack Biddle - died 14/6/1982) went to Norway as part of the BEF very early in the war, and one of the things he did say was that they had to sail with only seven guns due to a strike by dockers over danger money when the squaddies were the ones actually handling the ammunition.
I do not think that he would have described Norway as 'training'
He left Norway thanks to the RN, and had to destroy the breeches of the seven guns and then swim out to the destroyer in the fjord. He had nothing but admiration for the RN, who also took him to (and from) Crete, North Africa and Italy.
He said that three ships had offloaded him, and were sunk within three days - including the Ajax.
He was at Tobruk. Sfax and Alamein.
I really do wish that I had been able to remember more of the things that he did say.
He organised Old Comrades Association dinners for the two batteries he served with - 151 and 152, one of which he said were called the 'top-hatters'
One of the regulars at the dinners was Duncan Sandys (later Lord Sandys, and actually Winston Churchill's son-in-law, and became Secretary for war. He was a politician before and after the war)
Sandys had served with the battery in Norht Africa, and he told me that he had been upended by the ankles into a dugout during a bombardment by a disrepectful lance bombardier (my dad) which had saved his own life, as there was a crater where he had been walking.
I hope you can get more information on your father's service.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread