World War 2 Eighty Years On - July to December 1942

The periodic change of troops brought a section of 331 Bty. 106 Regt.  to take over the guns at Dorney camp, the battery being under the command of Major Shearer for the months of December '42. and January '43.

The No2 Conscription Act had allowed women to be called up for the Armed Forces to relieve men engaged on home defence for overseas duty.  A.A. Command was asked to supply men and guns, often as complete batteries and to replace these batteries the first mixed A.A. Unit commenced its training in 1940 and a gradual buildup of mixed units continued. The eventual number of ATS on gun sites exceeding 50,000.   Except for manning the guns, the A.T.S. posted to AA Command trained and served in all battery assignments as operators on radar, predictors, plotters, telephones, teleprinters and other essential trades serving as drivers, cooks, and clerks.

When posted to a newly formed battery more training was to follow until troop and sections could work as a team. The first mixed Batteries to arrive in the Slough - Windsor area came from 183(M) Regiment H.A.A. having joined 38 Brigade in 1942 / '43.

The batteries comprising 183 Regiment were 564(M)HAA; 608(M)HAA; 591(M)HAA and 640(M)HAA. Bty. H.Q. was installed at Chandlers Hill, Uxbridge. It is thought that 608 H.Q. was at Shirley Lodge, Colnbrook, Nr. Slough. ‘E’ Troop of the battery were stationed at camp SM8 Chandlers Hill, Uxbridge which was a show site often inspected by the ‘Elite’ from the War Office and others from the establishment. This Battery (608) had been formed at Blackdown Camp (Aldershot) in 1942 and after Gun Training at Ty Croes, Isle of Anglesey had proceeded to join 38 Brigade. Corporal Rose Castle (now Mrs Richings) from 608 Battery H.Q. Uxbridge was the first A.T.S. to arrive at Dorney Camp with Captain Martin. Their assignment was to make arrangements for the camp to receive a troop from the mixed battery. The tents of the original camp were still on-site awaiting return to depot stores for which she arranged transport to Slough Station.  The Battery that was about to leave the camp and go overseas was all male and Corporal Castle recalled her first day at Dorney.

Corporal Castle

“Being the only A.T.S. and the first, no arrangements existed for feeding so I went to the men’s mess hut a surprise awaited me in the form of a mass scramble to the centre of the table for the food and I was supposed to have what was left. The tea (char) was served up in a bucket. Needless to say, I got out and took myself to the Officers’ mess for my lunch”. Corporal Castle at first cycled from Uxbridge to Dorney each day but later lodged in the Eton Wick Road with an elderly lady whom she remembers was very kind, also the enjoyable cups of cocoa - made when she returned at night.  608 Battery manned sites at Datchet, Windsor Great Park 

Mary Lake remembers the day she joined 608 Bty.

"On the 10th. December 1942, I arrived by train at Windsor and on leaving the station I asked a policeman if he knew where I could find 608 Battery, “no joy”, but he directed me to the Windsor Post Office another blank, but they directed me to the privately owned local bus service.   I had no idea where it was going but eventually, we came to a camp and the driver let me off and waited until I had been to the Guard Room.  I was lucky and on thanking the driver retrieved my kit bag from the bus. It was then a wait until a Sgt Hellier picked me up and took me to Uxbridge.  (Blue Bus service. Windsor to Dorney) Three impressions were of the mist, sometimes very dense and when running on a call out it was a nightmare. On fine nights the mosquitoes would eat you to death, and the baby frogs presented another hazard; it was a wise precaution never to go to the ablutions bare footed as they would squelch underfoot. Sleeping in the bottom bunks of one's billet could be a frightening experience as one would awake with small frogs tangled in one's hair or frogs hopping over the blanket”.

Vivid memories by telephonist M. Suddaby, describe the inadequate camp facilities at Dorney:

 “Having just completed two weeks firing practice at Ty-Croes on the Isle of Anglesey we were posted to Dorney. Billets were allocated, but unfortunately the Nissen hut that telephonists and spotters were expected to occupy was in an appalling condition having previously been a meat store; an odour I have never smelt before or since. There was a shortfall of beds, so we were given the usual biscuit paliasses on which to sleep on the flagged floor. We could not deter the assorted number of cats from hanging around this hut, but horrible though it all was we just had to make the best of it. Fortunately for me I was on all night duty but was horrified when the poor girls trying to sleep in that hut told me of a night of horrors as dozens of mice left their nest under the flagged floor and ran over the beds and pillows and anywhere else, they fancied. helped by the cats continuing their vigil and making many successful catches. Next morning the Junior Commander came to inspect the hut and ordered the floor to be taken up and it was found that there were literally hundreds of mice nests under the flag stones.  We were transferred to share other barrack rooms which became overcrowded, and the mice decided to move in with us as well.  The accommodation was not the only problem as orders had been given not to drink from the tap as all water had to be boiled before use at the cookhouse; not having water available on tap was to lead to a first-time experience. After a walk from Windsor one warm evening, our little group were all desperately thirsty. On arrival at the camp, we found the cookhouse closed and no drinking water available. For the first time in our lives, we were forced to take a half a pint of beer from the NAAFI which was all they could produce.  It was nectar but personally I did not develop the habit.  We used to walk to Windsor in our free time and often saw the boys from Eton looking quaint in their mostly shabby suits with outgrown sleeves and trousers. No doubt they were affected by clothes rationing as was everyone else.

Although we spent an eventful six months or so as far as action was concerned, no enemy aircraft having entered our zone, we were therefore required to go to firing camp to get real firing practice in the summer of '43.  At this time ‘E Troop’ of 608 Bty. having gone to the Whitby firing camp from Uxbridge in July 1943 returned to the Datchet Old Polo Ground gun site, SM3, in August 1943. German planes were still active with Fighter bomber attacks on London and other targets requiring continued alertness by the radar operators and spotters to watch for the Hit and Run raider that could still cause havoc.

From the last days of June until the end of the war in Europe air activity was seen and heard frequently over the village as large formations of American Air Force bombers passed over. Damage to the American planes that had been inflicted by the German defences was plainly visible when returning from these raids. Falling debris and signal flares fired by the stricken planes was often seen by those watching their return. The drone of aircraft engines continued into the night as heavy bombers of the R.A.F. passed over on their way to attack Germany.

 

U.S. Airforce Boeing B-17 Known as a Flying Fortress, heavily armed with thirteen half inch machine guns. Crew 10.  Bomb load 8000lb.

 

RAF Avro Lancaster. Used in bombing of Germany. Armament. 8 - 10 .303 machine guns.  Crew 7. Bomb Load 18,000lb

 

Hardships and inconveniences which the war had brought by Christmas 1942 of rationing, blackout, lack of fuel and the worry of families for husbands and sons serving overseas did not reduce the enthusiasm and support for functions that took place in the village.  Satisfactory blackout curtaining had been fixed to the Institute windows allowing Whist Drives, Dances and other entertainment to be held at night. As the hall was still in use by the L.C.C. school, rooms used by them always had to be made ready before and after any social use. At the end of 1942 many of the evacuated children had returned home to London which made it possible for those remaining to be absorbed into the Eton Wick and Porney  School, Eton. The London County Council (L.C.C.) school ceased to use the Institute at the end of the Summer Term.

 

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

W. GEORGE - 51st Highland Division.

William George (Gunner No. 1529768) - 44th Battery 61st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment - Royal Artillery - 51st Highland Division.

William was born at Nethy Bridge, Inverness Shire in April 1909 as the eldest son of Alexander and Margaret George of West Culreach, Grantown on Spey, Inverness Shire. William had a sister who regrettably died when only 13 and a younger brother who served with the Royal Engineers during W.W.II. William attended the Abernethy School from five years old until he was 14. His early years of employment are not known, but he later travelled south to London where he worked as butler to Lord Glenndin. It was probably about this time he met Grace Paget of South View, Eton Wick Road, and on August 27th 1933 they were married at Nethy Bridge. Their first home was in Castle View Villas, Sheepcote Road, Eton Wick and in September 1934 a son was born in King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor. On March 15th 1936 a daughter arrived at their new home No. 12, Eton Wick Road. The children were named Dudley and Celia. William joined the Army at the outset of W.W.II in September 1939 and this meant leaving his home, his wife and two infants aged six and three years.

Following initial training he was sent to France to serve with the Royal Artillery of the 51st Highland Division as a gunner. It is possible that he also served at that time with the 44th Battery, 61st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, with which he later embarked for Libya.

The early months of the war were relatively quiet until, on May 10th 1940, the German Army launched a fierce flanking attack against the neutral countries of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, while their strong armoured columns thrust rapidly against the French forces in their drive toward the coast. On May 23rd Boulogne fell to the enemy and five days later Belgium surrendered. With widespread confusion and much of northern France overrun, the British Expeditionary Force prepared for a seaborne evacuation from Dunkirk. Between May 30th and June 3rd over 330,000 troops were brought safely back to Britain by 887 craft of all types and sizes.

Meanwhile fighting was still much in evidence south of the Dunkirk beaches. The 51st Division was withdrawn from its defensive positions at the Maginot Line and given a 16-mile front to hold in the Somme region in support of the French Tenth Army. On June 4th they were engaged in a combined attack against the enemy bridgehead at Abbeville. 65 Divisions, composed of several French Army Groups and the British contingent, were opposed by 125 German Divisions which launched an attack along a 70-mile front between Amiens and the La on to Soissons Road on June 5th. Two days later a fresh attack against the allies drove a wedge into the French Tenth Army separating the IX Corps (French), which included the 51st Highland Division, from the rest of the Tenth Army. They were cut off along the Rouen to Dieppe route and in the utter confusion of Anglo-French command most of the Scottish Division were taken prisoner of war. The French Corps surrendered and only about 1,350 of the 51st Division troops managed to withdraw hastily to St. Valery and make good their escape by sea on June 11th and 12th. 8,000 of their comrades spent the next five years as P.O.Ws.

William George was fortunate enough to sail back to England, where the 51st were re-organised and merged with the 9th Scottish. Troops evacuated from Dunkirk and, nearly two weeks later, from St. Valery and other ports, had been forced to abandon their arms and equipment. Much of the next year was spent re-equipping and enlisting more personnel, always under the threat of a German invasion of Britain.

At this time the only aggressive war Britain could wage was in the air or in North Africa. The 44th Battery, 61st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, are recorded as arriving back in England on June 17th and embarking for Egypt on October 5th 1941, where they arrived on November 29th. Three weeks later they were in Libya. They were involved in The Battle at Gazala from May 28th to June 21st, 1942, and again in the defence of El Alamein between October 23rd and November 4th, 1942.

William's daughter, Celia, states that he was wounded, taken prisoner of war and put on an Italian Hospital ship en route to Italy and that the enemy ship was sunk by the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. This story was found difficult to substantiate despite much searching. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission simply stated:

George, Gnr. William, 1529768, 44th Battery, 61st Light Anti-Aircraft Regt; Royal Artillery. died 14th November 1942 age 33. Husband of Grace Ena George of Eton Wick, Buckinghamshire. Commemorated on the Alamein Memorial; Egypt. Column 35.

This seemed to be as much as could be established until Dudley, William's son, produced a newspaper article of August 1996 headed "Truth surfaces after 54 years", which then went on to report a long and diligent search by someone trying to trace his father's death in W.W.II. The Ministry of Defence had been reluctant to admit the torpedoing of an Italian ship, the S.S. Scillin, by the Royal Navy submarine P212 Sahib in the Mediterranean in November 1942. Apparently bound for Sicily, the Scillin had 800 British P.O.Ws on board. The submarine commander, Lieutenant John Bromage, had been ordered not to sink any ships but believing the Scillin to be carrying Italian troops he decided to fire torpedoes. The Scillin sank within a minute, and it was only when the crew of the submarine heard survivors speaking English that they realised their tragic mistake. Only 26 British and 35 Italians were saved. Nobody likes admitting mistakes, but there can be no justification for a cover-up of over 50 years.

William George is commemorated at Nethy Bridge and Grantown on Spey in his native Scotland and on the Edinburgh Scottish National Memorial, the Alamein Memorial in Egypt, the Eton Wick Memorial and the Village Hall plaque. He is one of four Scots named on the Eton Wick Memorial — two from each war. The two W.W.II Scots both served with the Army in France and both were among the last to get away, after France's capitulation. The other man lost his life in the sinking of the liner S.S. Lancastria at St Nazaire. Coincidentally, St. Valery is now twinned with Inverness.

William George's page on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  

and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.