[2002] SID’S WAR

0030 - Sidney Lane War Diary 14

[this is an extract of the war diary, 'An Ordinary War', by my uncle (Sid Lane, my mother's brother) which covers an War Update & itching to go overseas]

6/2/42

We are all making guesses as to why we are going mobile and whether we are destined for abroad.

It's very probable. We have been in this country since the war began. We are fully trained and are the obvious choice for abroad.

The Americans are arriving in this country in increasing numbers and are apparently going to take over the duties of garrisoning the island while the trained troops here will be released for more active theatres of war.

And, Ye Gods, how this shemozzle is spreading.

Japan is at the moment calling the tune in the Far East and again the British are retreating and evacuating in the face of terrific odds. The whole of Malaya has fallen to the yellow men and Singapore at present is undergoing siege - Things are critical. The American Navy suffered a bitter blow at Pearl Harbour, from which they have not yet recovered. Japan has occupied the Manilla islands and has countless other bases which imperil our shipping in the Pacific. Australia faces threat of invasion.

Have we got our hands full!

In Libya we pushed the Italians and Germans back to Agedabia, accounting for at least 60,000 men while our attacking force was only 45,000. Now the German general Rommel (the finest general this war has produced) has had reinforcements and is launching a counter-offensive with more than 100,000 men. Our forces, weakened again by withdrawal of men to aid Singapore and Burma, are once more falling back and we are now almost at Tobruk.

13/3/42

Things continue to be bad. Singapore has fallen and we lost over 70,000 men. Practically all the East Indies are in Japanese hand, including Java, jumping off ground for an attack on Australia. Burma is being invaded and we have had to evacuate Rangoon, the capital. India is threatened and at the moment the only silver lining in the black clouds of war seems to be in Russia. The Soviet forces have made a surprising come back and the enemy who were literally at the gates of Moscow have been forced back with terrible losses.

As to my own activities:- At the moment I am one of a field check board; visiting various gun sites on Merseyside, examining equipment and personnel. My job is to see the G.L. equipment and men are up to standard. It is not a very nice job but it has its interesting points. I am able to see others at work and to get new ideas on how to run things.

I have not yet come across a G.L. section which has been run as well as mine (I am being quite truthful about that) but even so I have collected a good few hints which will help me improve ours even more. I shall be glad when the work is finished, which will be the 19/3/42 because I then go on seven days leave. I have been looking forward to this leave and have been saving my petrol for it. I had a smash on Christmas Eve and have just got the old rip repaired and ready for the road again.

We are not going mobile after all. "90 Bty. is the one Bty. in the Regt. that is not going. Of course being G.L. I would not have been going anyhow, so to me it makes no difference. Chunky (Eric Tomlinson late of Messrs. Prices's (Brom) Ltd. Selling Department) is going and we shall certainly miss him in the mess. It is surprising. I have known him for year, and yet I didn't. It takes a few months of really living together under such conditions as we are now before you really know a man. Talking of conditions, I had better put a few facts on paper lest anyone comes to the belief that we are living in luxury as some of the gun sites are supposed to be.

We have been here off and on for a year. We have built the place. Here I want to say something about the contractors and their rackets. They deliberately slow up on the job of building camps. The troops are living in discomfort, pigging it in tents. The natural thing is for the C.O. to lend men to get the camp built and the contractor sits back and makes a fine profit out of their efforts. This has happened all over the country and this camp is no exception.

Sanitation Nil: A whole year has passed and we are still using buckets. Washing facilities were very crude up to a few months ago, but we now have proper wash basins and showers - hot water - a real luxury. Up to a few months ago there was no lighting in the camp, which is right in the middle of a civilised community. In the end the Hoylake Council put in the electric light, but we had to cut the trench for the cable - about a mile long. In view of this the council wanted to make the men a Christmas present of thirty pounds, but the C.O. would not hear of it. Generous man. Generous with other people's sweat.

The huts in which we live are iron Nissen huts, built on low brick walls, two feet high. The brick-work was so bad that the gunfire blast soon knocked it down and we had to plug the holes with sandbags or be exposed to the weather which has been very bitter. The floor of the hut is concrete. Of course no-one complains. Why should they, there is a war on somewhere, but I think it better to put the picture in, in order to correct any false impression of ease and comfort of a home based station.

I think the foregoing is the subconscious effort to compromise with conscience. For sometime now I have had the feeling that I was not pulling my weight in this war effort. That is due to the fact that things have been so quiet and my services have not been required. But I was still unable to rid myself of the thought that I could be useful elsewhere. Abroad for instance.

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