Symphony in B-Flak
ENGLAND (Part 3)
 CAMP
BLANDFORD
Feb. 27 was a memorable day, because we recieved "March Order"
during a blizzard. Getting out of Lytham was as difficult as getting in
had been, for we were being relieved by the 494th AAA Gun Bn. and the
site had to remain continuously operational. At 1600 hours we were on
our way.
The first stop on the 225 mile convoy was at Preston, Lancashire, only
17 miles away. We spent the night in an English Camp, and set out again
early the following morning. We rode all day on the winding English roads,
and saw many airports and closeups of Lancasters, Sterlings, Spitfires,
and Mosquitoes, as well as their camouflaged hangars, which were hardly
visible until we were almost upon them.
Darkness fell early, so we turned on to a dirt road and made our way
to an English transient camp that was primarily a stop-over camp for convoys.
Here men and women of the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers)
made repairs on both English and American vehicles and prepared the meals.
This site is one mile southeast of Wellington. Most of us visited Wellington
and enjoyed our first malted milks overseas (not half so good as the chocolate
malts at the corner drug store). At 0400 hours the barracks exploded with
the call to rise. After a hasty breakfast we were off (not mentally, yet).
The last 50-mile leg of the journey began.
We approached the city of Blandford, Dorset, from the Salisbury Road,
but it didn't matter which way the city was approached. Its main and only
street had to be ridden. It was a typical "one-horse" town --
really "no horse", because meat rationing had been in effect
for over 3 years.
Camp Blandford, with its Benbow and Drake areas, had good barracks with
excellent shower and toilet facilities. The sun, which we had barely glimpsed
heretofore, shone with surprising regularity. The atmosphere however was
often quite chilly on account of the piercing winds which generally prevailed.
There were tennis courts, ball diamonds, a ration PX. The NAAFI was closed,
with inches of dust on its tables, but we learned that it reopened shortly
afterwards. The discouraging feature of the camp was the fact that it
was miles from nowhere.
Camp Blandford was an old camp under alteration to become a hospital
camp for the invasion. For us, however it was to be merely a staging area
of a sort.
We were ordered south so that we could be summoned to the London defenses
against robot bombs within 24 hours -- a plan which never materialised.
Meantime we heard via the grapevine that our battalion was to take a specialised
course in "Mobile Training" under English supervision. We learned
later that this course was probably the greatest single contribution which
the English made to our training. This Battery did not take the Mobile
Training course. It learned it the "hard" way under blackout
conditions in combat in Normandy.
Just before the course began, Capt. Harvey called a Battery meeting and
gave us what he called "The low down on a good deal". This Battery
alone in the Battalion had been selected to participate in the defense
of London against the increasing raids of the Luftwaffe -- the ACTIVE
Ground Defense of Great Britain. When Capt. Harvey approached Gen. Timberlake,
after the latter had addressed the Battalion on "The Mobile Training
Program", he voiced the individual opinion of each and every one
of us: "When do we leave, sir? Baker Battery is always ready!"
We were happy, for soon we would be on our merry way to London with
Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly and many other historic places, but happy
chiefly because we would soon fire our pampered Nineties. We determined
to give Jerry a symphony, yes, a "Symphony in B-Flak".
|
