Tommy Atkins

Great stuff! Thanks very much for the replies, everyone. Lots of interesting information for me to get my teeth into. I'll be reading through the website that John K and The_Enigma linked to for a long while - what an incredible resource that is.

I've been trying to determine the syntax that would be used when British and Commonwealth forces called for artillery support. I'm particularly interested in the precise language that an FOO or similar would use when calling in a 'Quick Barrage' or 'Quick Fire Plan' in support of a small unit action (as described here). How would the FOO initiate contact with the battery (for example, what callsigns were used, what were the radio/phone procedures)? What phonetic alphabet did the Royal Artillery use (Able, Baker etc.)? Ideally, I'd really like to find a transcript of an FOO requesting such a fire mission (whether in a real or training situation). Does one exist anywhere? Any ideas/links/references much appreciated.

Of course – I think he inspired most of the books. Like Austin he was a Territorial when war broke out, but I’ve no idea which unit he was in (I’m not even sure what type of gun he served). He’s never talked about the war a great deal, and I’ve never felt comfortable interrogating him for all the groggy details (much as I’d like to know). I know he was in Burma some time after that and wasn’t demobbed until ’46. All in all a pretty rotten way to spend your youth, I’d say. It rather puts things in perspective knowing that your birth hinged on the drawing of lots in a French field!

This was certainly the case. My grandfather, then a 19 year-old bombardier in the Royal Artillery, took part in the rearguard action on the Dunkirk perimeter. The BEF was in near-chaotic retreat, having abandoned most of its heavy equipment, Dunkirk itself was well alight, and he didn’t expect to see England again. From the German perspective they must have looked thoroughly beaten. The German let-up (he would definitely take issue with the term “halt”) offered some of the rearguard the chance to fall back to the beaches. In his unit, one gun crew in three was ordered to hold the line, so lots were drawn amongst the men. My grandfather was one of the lucky ones: every man that stayed behind was either killed or spent the next 5 years as a POW. By the time he reached the Mole, the Germans were already through his unit’s positions and on their way to the beaches. On the plus side, though, my grandfather came off on a Thames steamer and managed to get a hot shower and a bunk to sleep on during the crossing, so arrived on the south coast pretty refreshed compared to most of the PBI. He didn’t even get his boots wet, but then he always has seemed to manage to land on his feet!