German behaviour

Gordon. wrote:

Used them a lot on exercises...

For us on centurions the lifesaver was the BV. Our 'aux gen' austin motor was switched on all the time.

And for heating food up was easy. We used to pull up an engine deck or under the exhausts and place some tins of compo. Fruit and stuff we used to knock down into our bridge as we trundled merrily along the german lanes, then we sometimes borrowed stuff like corn which again we left under the exhausts.

We had it easy compared to some.

My brother was 2RRF and I'd told him to join me, but he wouldn't learn.

2 Pin, 3 Pin Brew Sticks on Exercise, never heard the likes!! We were grateful for a mouthful of rainwater and the occasional liberated Turnip!!

......and a nice cosy ditch beneath a hedge to sleep in?

DITCH ?

You were lucky !

We had ter sleep in't lake !

Tied to the back of a Honest John Rocket Launcher, me!!

Your breaking my heart

Found I could sleep on the bike...... (M/C that is)..... rear stand down, sit on seat backwards and lay on tank ( MT 70 that is, not AFV)., feet on pillion footrests, head in crash hat supported on handlebars. Needs a bit of padding here & there, and much better if you aren't mobile at the time. Beats a soggy ditch......... anybody can be uncomfortable without too much effort.

You seem to be one of the brighter RA types Cartav.

Now where did that ADC dig the slit trench?

Not many of the "RA types" were encumbered with a motorbike !

When tired I could sleep more or less anywhere, except the roof of a Saracen command post. That was just impossible.
The 432 was a blessing. As a driver/radio op I never had the luxury of a kip while the guns were moving, so to snatch a few zeds, I would drop the driver's seat, put the backrest horizontal and enter the arms of Morpheus that way. Trouble was, every so often the signallers would want the engine starting, to charge the bloody batteries, so I would be woken for that. At least I was in the dry.

Gordon. wrote:

You seem to be one of the brighter RA types Cartav.
Now where did that ADC dig the slit trench?

Praise indeed from one so high ! Here's your pit Gordon...........,
And a deviation, but worth telling ( I think so, anyway). When my mates & I were swapping pics, one took something similar to be copied. Not quite the same, but it showed one digging & one watching holding an SMG. Photo copier called in the fuzz, mate had to explain why he had pics of Brits making a prisoner dig his own grave.

Only ever dug one of those.On my T1 somewhere around Catterick in the winter of 63/64.Froze in it all night while waiting for an attack by some para unit.Someone got fed up and sent up a flare.Result...Lots of blanks fired and thunderflashes lobbed at nothing.

[quote="brum"]
Not many of the "RA types" were encumbered with a motorbike ! [ quote]


Encumbered was about right ! When nukes became a possibilty, those on high considered the M/C would be the only vehicle to survive a stray Honest John strike and decreed the bike had to be put in a pit, 12" of good German soil on top. The lad in the pic I posted was a wonder...... He'd been a farmer's boy, helped dig graves in the local churchyard. For a packet Senior Service or a bottle of Pils he'd dig all the pits on a three day ex. He even nicked an outhouse door from a farm to support the top dressing.

[quote="cartav"]

brum wrote:

Not many of the "RA types" were encumbered with a motorbike ! [ quote]


Encumbered was about right ! When nukes became a possibilty, those on high considered the M/C would be the only vehicle to survive a stray Honest John strike

Wie Bitte??

[quote="cartav"][quote="brum"]
Not many of the "RA types" were encumbered with a motorbike ! [ quote]


When nukes became a possibilty, those on high considered the M/C would be the only vehicle to survive a stray Honest John strike and decreed the bike had to be put in a pit, 12" of good German soil on top. quote]

Honest John Sir ?
Stray Sir ?
How very dare you Sir !

Has anyone mentioned about waiting for a bus in this thread when you were over in Gemany ?

Think so, my recollections are - front of the queue, bus turns up, doors open, Germans all push on the bus, doors close, bus drives off, steal a bike!!

I`m sure you meant to say...borrow bike.
We soldiers never stole any thing.....we borrowed things.

How long we `borrowed` things for is another story.

bigmal wrote:

I`m sure you meant to say...borrow bike.
We soldiers never stole any thing.....we borrowed things.

How long we `borrowed` things for is another story.

Just to put things straight here. When making up defiences on veh CESs one did not "borrow", one "acquired".

You are so right.
I stand corrected.

Shelldrake wrote:

Think so, my recollections are - front of the queue, bus turns up, doors open, Germans all push on the bus, doors close, bus drives off, steal a bike!!

That's about right.

I can remember waiting for bus .

No one around for ages.

Bus arrives on time.

Many Germans come from heaven knows where out of woodwork, and mad pushing contest starts, getting through door onto bus.

It's even worse than when flying with Easyjet.

It's even worse than when flying with Easyjet.[/quote]





Never flown with Easyjet..............sniff.

pete26 wrote:

Has anyone mentioned about waiting for a bus in this thread when you were over in Gemany ?

Yeah ! They had a baffling system of driving on the wrong side of the road....
There were trolley buses in Osnabruck in the 1950's, one route's terminus was about 3 km from town & a few hundred metres from the main gate of Quebec Bks. One cold winter's night I was alone on the trolley , going home with 3 REME lads from the LAD. They'd had a good time, were slightly pissed & stroppy. Came to the terminus, they still refused to pay the 10 pfg. ( 2d.) fare. Conductor switched the doors shut, driver took off back to town. He stopped about 1 km. down the road & kicked them off.

How did I know ? I was getting off when the doors slammed shut, my raincoat was trapped between them. Thank God there was a pole to cling to.
(anticipate some hilarious comment about eastern Europeans )

bigmal wrote:

I`m sure you meant to say...borrow bike.
We soldiers never stole any thing.....we borrowed things.

Drivers used to pray they'd be selected for MT Guard & not Main Gate......... with the run of the MT sheds when on stag in the small hours, they could "acquire" bits
that weren't locked away from the other batteries' trucks. Rear lamp lenses, in particular, moved around regularly. For any oddments, like pressure gauges or spanners, keeping on the right side of the bike section was a good idea. Dozens of such bits were the result of careful "borrowing" going back years. They were locked away in a huge chest in the bike store and were distributed to helpful drivers who agreed to use their airpumps to top up M/C tyres.

When target figures of 50mpg were easily exceeded on the 350cc Matchless, a quantity of MT70 (ie about 3 jerricanfuls) was drained off over the years. The BSM deleted names from the Duty Roster in exchange for an occasional top up in his pre-war Adler, but most of it went into 3-tonners when their targets couldn't be met.

The Army couldn`t run without `borrowing`.

Shelldrake wrote:

It's even worse than when flying with Easyjet.

Never flown with Easyjet..............sniff.[/quote]


It's about 10 years ago now but flew a few times from Liverpool to Madrid.

You have to literally run across the tarmac to get a favoured seat as it's 'first come, first served'. Very germanic!

I think they have made it more civil nowadays but you could spot those that travelled Easyjet as regulars.

Even the Easyjet plane used battered up AIRTOURS pots for pouring tea or coffee.