Alfred Buchanan Fletcher — Early days of BEF in France

BMTSD BEF 1939/40
Militiaman 10000094

Phase 1

Introduction — July 1939 to July 1940

In 1938 the Government realised that war with Germany was almost inevitable and decided to call up for service those males whose twenty first birthday was on or after 1 June 1939.

Some of these were styled ‘Bevin Boys’ and became miners whilst others were designated militiamen with numbers starting at ten million. As my twenty first birthday was on 7 June 1939 I was given the number 10 000 0094 and retained this number until war had been declared on 3 September 1939 and I was then mustered into the RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) with a new number.

My call-up on 18 July 1939 instructed me to report to a training centre located at Houndstone Farm, near Yeovil, Somerset. This farmland was on a loam soil with the result that after rain it became some six inches in mud, particularly around the latrine area. The camp was under canvas (bell-tents) whilst the training area was in another field.

Our task was to learn how to operate a sound locating battery linked to a searchlight. I was given a Lance Corporal’s stripe and put in charge of one unit on what was called the six to four line so that I could direct the searchlight to a particular part of the sky where an enemy aircraft had been located by sound.

Equipment: On being kitted out with all the usual items, helmet, gas mask, webbing equipment and shirts etc I was surprised to find that my dress was to be riding breeches and puttees. These items had been issued by the Army stores from stock held over from the 1914-1918 First World War. Keeping our equipment clean was a real problem in the conditions that prevailed at that time. However, it was very good experience and prepared us for what lay ahead in the coming months.

I recall standing outside my tent listening to the radio when the Prime Minister, Mr Chamberlain, broadcast telling the country that as from 11.00 am on 3 September 1939 we would be at war with Germany. Prior to this date a visit had been made by a senior civil servant from the RASC depot in Feltham, Middlesex. He had interviewed some of us and selected those he thought suited for clerical duties. I was one of those chosen, I assume because I was a bank clerk and also was graded C1 for health reasons, having had a mastoid operation in my youth and had a perforated eardrum.

The object of these interviews became obvious when some of us were transferred to the RASC and sent to a holding centre on Hounslow Heath. Here we met up with others from around the country who were recruited from garage proprietors, mechanics, sales staff and anyone with some knowledge of the construction of motor vehicles, such as those who were involved in the motor building industry.

The unit which was then formed comprised storekeepers, in two main groups; A/B Group who dealt with such spares as tools and vehicle components and accessories and C/D Group who were to be responsible for the actual spare parts of the vehicles, engine parts, gears and all spares of a mechanical nature.

The RASC workshops, REME (Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers) and other units indented their requirements for supply from the central depots. Our unit was to be known as BMTSD (Base Mechanical Transport Stores Depot).

Within ten days of war being declared our unit was on its way. We went to Shorncliffe Barracks, Folkestone, Kent and next day marched down the ‘Road of Remembrance’ from the cliff top to the harbour in Folkestone. This road was the one down which so many of the 1914/18 troops marched, never to return. We embarked and crossed the Channel to Boulogne and began what was to be something of a nightmare journey by train across France.

We had not been told in advance where we were headed but found the route going southwards through open countryside. Some of us were fortunate and had seats in carriages (wooden slats) but others had to make do in trucks labelled ‘ten horses’ or ‘30/40 men’.

The train went so slowly at times that some of the troops left the train and tried to find some root vegetables that they could eat to stave off hunger, no provision having been made for any meal/drinks en-route until we reached the outskirts of a large town. After Rouen and Caen we headed down to Le Mans and finally Nantes.

We then went by lorry to a small village, La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, situated on a tributary of the River Loire. No prior billeting arrangements had been made and as nightfall drew near the troops had to find places under cover. Six others with myself, being all of an age, were billeted in the house of the local shopkeeper, whose downstairs lounge had been cleared.

On palliasses on the concrete floor, we stayed there for the next three months. Across the Nantes Road from our billet was a dairy shop where a pot of coffee essence was always available, their café-au-lait can still be recalled! During each day we went to the depot site which was situated in the grounds of the Chateau-de-la-Gascherie.

In the 1914/18 war these same Chateau grounds had been used as a cavalry re-mount depot. Whilst the green lawns were ideal for horses they were not particularly suitable for motor transport but as the cavalry had been mechanised we assumed that the War Office decided that it would be OK for lorries etc. The first task was to unpack the crates of spares and set up the stores in the marquees on site. As many of us were still in breeches and puttees the local villagers must have thought that the clock had been put back twenty years. We were later given battledress.

BMTSD was under the command of Lt Col White and the officer in charge of our C/D Group was Lt Lees-Milne. Four of my section were Johny Beale, Dan Teape, W A M Wilson and Hardy-King.

When we had time off we hired a taxi in the village to take us down to Nantes. Our main delight was to visit one of the large stores and sample their cream confectionery. On our trips into Nantes we felt that we ran a risk of an accident for the local taxi was a dilapidated old Citroen. The driver was similarly decrepit, smoking his foul smelling French cigarettes, coughing and spitting out of the driver’s window whilst negotiating the twisting road to Nantes.

During the latter part of 1939 the weather was very good and it made the erection of the marquees for our stores much easier, and eventually led to my transfer from the village billet to a part of my store marquee, where a quadrant from the tent pole at one end had been separated off to form sleeping accommodation for the NCO in charge.

Food was adequate and the opportunity to buy extra items in the village was always there if required. For some of us the receipt of food parcels from home or from donors wishing to support the British troops supplemented our normal rations. In that regard I, for a reason I knew not, received a hamper from Fortnum and Mason, London, from a Mr and Mrs Manley of Cape Town, South Africa. The contents were distributed amongst my small group of friends and much appreciated.

One day I had an unexpected visit from a Baptist Pastor who took me out to lunch in the local hotel, a break from routine that was welcome and gave an opportunity to discuss matters of faith but current affairs too.

In the depot it was arranged with some of the local villagers that they would provide laundry facilities for the troops. This worked well and items were returned not only washed and ironed but also repaired.

The question of bathing facilities for the troops was solved by the requisitioning of a building in the village that was used in peacetime for the production of wine from the vineyards of the chateau. The large wooden tubs in which the grapes had previously been pressed made ideal baths.

It was realised that there was a need to have fire precautions in the depot so a small team was set up to operate a Dennis Trailer Fire Pump. I was included in this team and we took the trailer down to the riverside to practise using the hose by pumping from the river and playing the jet of water back again. The pressure of water required a strong control of the nozzle to prevent the hose twisting out of control. As the weather was sunny and very warm we took advantage of rest breaks to sunbathe before starting our practise again.

In December 1939 the weather became very wintry with temperatures falling well below freezing. For those of us under canvas in the marquees this became a real problem. Fire buckets froze solid and at night we had to dress up rather than undressing to go to bed. In an effort to overcome this, each marquee was provided with a Valor paraffin stove.

Several small fires had to be dealt with, caused by careless behaviour by members of the staff. One particular incident arose whilst we were all on morning parade. The fire alarm rang and the fire team left the parade and made a dash for the trailer. This fire was in the end of one of the marquee where the occupant had upset his stove. All his equipment was hanging on the tent pole, including his ammunition belt. This gave rise to the nearest experience we had of being under fire! As the fire spread the ammunition began to explode. One soldier had just thrown a bucket full of water on the flames when a bullet went through the bottom of the bucket, narrowly missing him. This gave everyone cause to stand back and allow the fire hoses to take over and quell the fire.

In May/June 1940 news began to filter down to us about the German advance through Belgium and northern France. We heard of the evacuation of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) from Dunkirk and then the occupation of Paris. From that time onwards we were prepared for the worst.

As the German army came further south we were instructed to pack up vital items for shipment back to the UK but the orders that we received were being intercepted and counter orders given by the French 5th Column. As time passed we heard that ships were awaiting at the docks for the cargoes that never arrived.

Eventually, around 13/14 June we received orders to break up anything that might be of use to the Germans. I was given the task of using a sledgehammer to destroy complete engines ERF; Albion and Bedford by smashing the crankcases and fuel pipes, carburetters etc.

On 15 June we evacuated the site, leaving behind a mass of stores, including some 30 000 tyres. We were told that a demolition squad was following up and would set fire to these and destroy as much as possible of the depot.

We climbed into lorries and set off on a long journey down to the outskirts of St Nazaire. En-route we passed many abandoned vehicles left at the wayside or in the ditches alongside the road. Arriving at the holding site in fields outside the port we found a scene of complete chaos with masses of service and personal equipment left behind by those troops who the night before had been subjected to bombing.

Having spent the night in the open with little sleep we were expecting to leave early in the morning but for some reason we did not leave the fields until later that morning. By mid-afternoon we were marching down the country roads leading to the port when there was an air-raid. We took shelter in the roadside ditches or against walls until the raid was over. We learnt later that during the air-raid a bomb had struck the liner ‘Lancastria’. This bomb had gone through the decks and exploded, blowing out the hull. On board were our sister units, REME, RASC workshop units etc as well as other troops and naval staff. Some three to four thousand lives were lost and it was then that we heard that our BMTSD unit should also have been aboard but we, because of the delay in leaving the holding site, had escaped that fateful destination.

It was now 17 June around 1600 hours by the time we were at the dockside. The naval staff were hurrying us to board boats to take us out to our evacuation vessel. We were told by the sailors that the French were to sign the surrender documents at four o’clock so we were really under pressure to get all our unit on board.

The vessel was one of the Irish ferries, the ‘Ulster Prince’. There were several survivors from the ‘Lancastria’ on deck but we could do little to help clean up the black oil which covered them as we had no facilities or means of offering assistance.

We sailed from St Nazaire in the early hours of 18 June and headed out into the Atlantic giving Brest and the Brittany coast a wide berth. The weather was fine and the sea calm. We landed at Falmouth to be greeted by the local WRVS with tea and buns but more importantly with postcards so that we could send home to announce our safe arrival in England.

From Falmouth we were taken by train to Bognor Regis on the south coast. Our unit arrived back without any loss of personnel and with most of our equipment. In Bognor we were housed in the pavilion on the sea front. This gave us a period of rest and recuperation. We were also assigned to a part of the sea frontage at Felpham, just along the coast.

As our unit was comprised of recruits from the motor industry they had no prior training in the use of weaponry and I shudder to think what might have happened had the expected invasion taken place.

Phase 2 — July/August 1940 to 1945

Many of the staff of the ex BMTSD were transferred to other units but some of us were sent on to a Mechanical Transport depot that was under construction at Ashchurch, Gloucestershire (1940 — 1943).
(To be continued.)

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