"With the Jocks" Topic

Just re-reading this again having only read the odd page before – written by a Lt in the KOSBs re the fighting in NW Europe in 1944/45. link (ignore the comment that says that this is a novel based on a diary – thats not right – the people named are real etc and the Commonwealth War Graves site matches the names of the fallen to those in the book)

This is probably the single best book I have read from the perspective of the British infantry re the post D-Day fighting.

The writing itself is brilliant and he brilliantly evokes the lack of sleep, cold wet early mornings and overarchingly the fragility of life as a British infantry soldier in those years where "prepare to move" were words that were loaded with huge import for the hearer and each "stunt" meant the end of this earthly road for a few more of the platoon (high-lighted of course by the infantry shortage that afflicted the British Army in late 44).

One reviewer complained about his tendency to refer to his troops by the generic term Jocks (Peter White himself being a Sassenach) or only by their last names/as 2 dimensional caricatures – but thats modern PC coming through – that was how many British officers in WW2 did relate to their men.

My dad (now passed on) served in the same division (52nd Lowland – R Sigs attached 6 HLI) and as is so often the case I wish now I'd properly read this before as so many of the places it mentions gel with memories of incidents he told me about.

Its also interesting esp in its mentions of those members of the platoon who were bomb happy and disappeared as the first few mortar rounds started to fall – some of these were regular soldiers and in one case it was the platoon radio operator who ended up taking the radio with him too – an area you don't often hear mentioned in memoirs.

It is the British Band of Brothers in truth and has given me a far better idea of the day to day life of the front line soldier than anything else I have read. As ever it just makes one think what a remarkable generation that was.

"an authentic account of the horrors of war experienced by a British soldier"

I read the book several years ago and I agree that it is a very good book.

I also liked "By Tank Into Normandy" by Stuart Hills.

Yes FWIW I heartily endorse what has been said about this book – the harsh reality of WW2 Platoon command in NW Europe comes through this book in spades, its quite harrowing in places…A real testament to this Regiment, indeed to the Infantry of the British Liberation Army.

its without a doubt one of those "if you only read one book about infantry combat in NW Europe read this" type of things

Absolutely. Sidney Jary's '18 Platoon' and Stuart Hills' 'By Tank Into Normandy' are also right up there.

'The Jocks'

They were still calling them that in Iraq with Scots DG.

My Uncle Evan was in Normandy with the 3rd Mons (a Welsh battalion) and they used to call them the 'Highway Decorators'. I'll leave you to figure out why

Aha, THAT's who you are! ;o)

Other Jocks – Peter White was with 52 (Lowland) Div, not the 'Highway Decorators'. :o)

The silly thing is that as an (English) member of a Scottish regiment, Peter White would undoubtedly have referred to himself as a 'Jock'. A friend of mine, a Major in the Irish Guards, was proud to refer to himself as a 'Mick', even though he was a South African-born Englishman!

Hi Mark!

Hey, guess what? I might actually get to Pavee this year. I've booked a Battlefields trip for Bluecoat going in July and hope to be able to stop off there.

Cheers,

B

Other Jocks – Peter White was with 52 (Lowland) Div, not the 'Highway Decorators'. :o)

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yes – my Dad (as a Welshman in a Scots division) always complained about all the publicity going to 51st (Highland) Div – when 52nd had probably the most unusual war profile – trained as a Mountain Div (with a view to opening up a 2nd front in Norway – though may well have been a deception operation to encourage the Germans to keep troops there in numbers) then as an Air Landing Div to go into Arnhem when the airfields were taken (which they never were) and ended up fighting below sea level in the Dutch Islands using amphibious vehicles

B,

Cool. You'll have to see if my cross to your Unlce Evan is still there. It was still there last November, after a year. I guess that Pavee doesn't get many visitors.

I'm off back to Normandy with my dad in May. We were going to go to the Netherlands, but that fell through sadly.

Incidentally interesting point in the book (clarified by when he says it was nice to get back to wearing battle dress) is that the units in the 52nd (don't know about other British infantry) primarily wore camo windproof smocks and overtrousers in action (presumably over BD at least in the winter fighting in Holland). Not something that I have seen modelled in 15mm or 28mm – Brits – other than Paras/RM/SAS in camo.

Yes, being a Mountain Division, they were issued with windproofs and 'Bergan' rucksacks. Very different to other divisions and as you say, they are sadly not modelled in any wargames scale.

The divisional artillery ws also issued with 3.7-inch Mountain Howitzers rather than the usul 25pdrs. They were re-issued with 25pdrs after the failure of Market-Garden, though the 1st Light Regiment, with 3.7-inch Howitzers, was attached for Op 'Infatuate'.

Here we see everything in one picture – windproofs, bergans and 3.7s:

Windproofs and bergans were both initially a natural, pinkish-khki canvas colour, though they both items were manufactured from dyed Jungle Green canvas by 1944. While it's very hard to tell from black and white photos, the infatry photographed at flushing appear to be wearing very dark windproofs, so it's my guess that they had by then been issued the green items.

TQD do a couple of packs of 1/72 Brits in windproof smocks (not bergans though)

link

Smocks were also available in denison camo I have seen a pic of Brig Essame of 43 Wessex wearing one.

So they do! I'd forgotten about those – they were highlighted on TMP when they came out, but as I'm a 15mm man, I duly forgot about them again. :o)

Yes, I've read that they were issued in camo, but the only place I've ever seen it is on the TQD figures and a couple of re-enactors wearing repro windproofs. Thanks for the confirmation! :o)