Reg Horn - 1961

Somerset & Cornwall Light Infantry Memories of an exercise whilst in Osnabruk, Germany. by Reg Horn

On one of the many exercises that I was involved in, the name of which is lost in the mists of time. I was attached to H.Q. Coy. (Signals) and on arrival at the tented camp at around ten in the morning I was called over to the control tent which had been put up the previous day and told to report to a Lance Corporal to run a telephone cable from HQ to A Coy, who were camped in woods about six or seven miles away, I mentioned to the Officer about my kit “ Oh leave it in the control tent, the cable laying must take priority over everything else, but don’t forget to take your S.M.G ( sterling machine gun) with you” The corporal and I with the help of the M.T. driver loaded the four reels of cable into the back of an Austin Champ, one of the reels was on a spindle for easy unwinding. Stopping the Champ a few yards out of HQ Coy. The corporal pulled out enough cable for me to connect to the exchange in the control tent.

This done we set about going the six or so miles to A Coy. laying the cable at the side of the road in the ditches. On this exercise everyone had been issued with parkas which were to keep out the cold and the rain (they didn’t). We had gone about a mile and then the heavens opened and it teemed down, the L/jack said “ If I sit in the back of the Champ and feed the wire out while you lay it we could finish the job a lot quicker” The back of the Champ was covered so he sat there in the dry, whilst I was getting cold and very wet. I knew he was only pulling rank so he could stay dry, the only time he got out was to help me climb a tree to get the wire over a road, he wouldn’t even let me put my S.M.G. in the back of the Champ. (the swine). I was now cold, wet and getting very tired.

Very soon we came to a small village of about ten or so houses with a small general purpose shop , the L/jack suggested we would have to lay the cable around the village, he unrolled a huge amount of wire and told me to cross over a field (very, very muddy) whilst he drove through the village to meet me on the other side , we made our connection of the two cables, he then got back into the Champ and we continued on to A Coy. Just over four hours had now passed since we left H.Q. Coy.

When we got to A Coy. The L/jack very graciously got out and laid the last few yards to connect the telephone, he then rang H Q Coy. To check that the connection was O.K. and reported to the A Coy. Commander that the line was operational.
Feeling very tired, very wet, and very hungry I was told by my least favourite Corporal of all time that I could ride back to HQ in the back of the Champ, whilst it was an uncomfortable ride at least I was out of the rain, but the worst was about to come.

On arriving back at HQ we were met by a sergeant who told us that the connection was broken and we would have to go back out and find the break, I said I was hungry and could I get something to eat first, his reply was “ the telephone must take priority, and you can get something to eat when you get back” that was music to my ears I can tell you, anyway they gave me a phone and I started to trudge back along the line. The L/jack said he would go to the A Coy. position and work his way back towards me. The rain still hadn’t stopped, at this moment I was truly fed up with the army and was cursing every body from the C.O. down (under my breath of course).

An hour or so later saw me just outside the village we had passed through earlier that day, it was then that I found the break in the cable, it had been cut and wrapped around a gate post, a local told me a chap had tripped over it and in his anger had cut it , after rejoining the cable I rang H.Q. and they said that they were now back in contact with A Coy. So that was that, mission accomplished, I went and stood under a tree to try and get out of this persistent rain, but that wasn’t much better as the water was falling in even bigger drips off the branches, I was sure the L/jack wouldn’t be long in picking me up, I waited for about a half hour or more, and still no sign of him, and looking across the road at the small shop, made me realise how hungry and fed up I was, I thought I would wait another quarter of an hour and if he hasn’t picked me up by then I’m going to go and get something to eat.

12th Infantry Brigade - BAOR West Germany

Still no sign so I went across to the shop and entered, the old lady behind the counter took one look at me standing there with my parka hood up and carrying a machine gun she ran out through a back door screaming at the top of her voice, I got a bit worried in case I got into trouble and started to go out the door, a small voice called me and asked what I wanted, I explained I wasn’t there to rob them, but I just wanted to buy a cake or something and perhaps a bottle of lemonade, I said I was sorry for scaring the old lady, she did see the funny side of it , anyway I got a cake and what tasted like lemonade and took them back to ‘my’ tree and consumed them, still no sign of the Austin Champ, so I decided to start walking back to H.Q. after a while the rain stopped and that helped me feel a little better.

It was dark when I eventually got back to camp and reported to the sergeant to find out where my kit was, he told me he thought I had been back hours ago, he told me to get over to the mess and get myself some grub, but all that was left was bread, cold rice pudding (lumpy) and barely warm tea, but when you are as hungry as I was you would have wolfed it down like I did. So out of my soaking wet clothes and into a very inviting camp bed, I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow I slept like a log.

Next morning at breakfast I met the driver of our Champ, he informed me that the corporal didn’t even bother to look for the break, they drove to just outside A Coy. position, connected a phone to the cable, made sure he had contact with A Coy. And then waited for me to make contact, and then drove back to H.Q. by another route and told the driver that “I was only a National Service man and I deserved to suffer” I never did see that corporal again. The driver told me to complain, but what good would it have done, who was going to take my word against an N.C.O. and a regular to boot.

Copyright Text and Pictures: Reg Horn.

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