By the way,as I get down to sticking the contributions together I have to convert them all to Times New Roman `12pt. Can contributors help on this. I also set out with the idea that it is good to acknowledge the contributors, the result of which can be seen. Do I continue with this 'style' if so, it is essential to include the date of serving, I believe.
I am beginning to see the shape now.
There will be training of Ops and I, Corps
On the job
Leisure activities
What the locals thought of us
How langeleben shaped our lives, perhaps for ever
The 'opposition' where we already have a fabulous contribution from an Estonian Op Spec and
My big dream of locating someone from 3rd Shock
The development of radio listening service
The contribution that it made to NATO's defence
The structure of the 3rd Shock army and its role.
It won't be in this order by the way. Any comments on this?
Hi Paul, Yes your subject headings seem to cover most of the areas we are contributing. I must admit I’m looking forward to reading about what the ‘other side’ thought of us, or how much of a threat they regarded we were. All the best, Dave T. _________________ Dave Thomas 2 Sqn 13 SR, '63-'66
One area that I missed from the list was
THE DAY TO DAY LIFE
The shift patterns. What a watch was. (was it the same in the 60's, 70's and 80's as it was in the 50's. I have no idea. Anything on this please.
have had some wonderful stuff from Ritchie Hammond, post KOnigslutter which I hope he will agree can be included.
I think a history of Langeleben is about people,you ask about the 60's,70's etc and what was it like.
It was a unit in two parts that had been a whole sqn but due to space it was in two locations,one with the dessert rats at w/b.
To run a unit like this everything was duplicated,or travelled from one location to the other,so we had signals drivers,the vehicles had to be filled with fuel by quartermaster stores people,fixed by Reme fitters,driven around by civilian drivers,to other stores depots for spares,Royal engineers maintained the gantry,comcen ops(Mick Fill & co)were in the ops block,with S/SGT Penman in charge,the equipment was fixed by mechs,(Bernie Perrin&co),Nick Saye the company clerk with Bill Clarkes missus did the admin,telling the german chargehand(with his peaked forage cap from ww2)what work neede doing.The Plaskit brothers,who were radio ops were the unsung heroes and many of the 'other'signals trades in the unit.The cooks were supervised by a geordie staff sgt who had passed the course with honours,(it is a difficult course that cooks course,you won't find many who have passed it)
All these people had to be paid by a pay corps sgt,who looked for ways to avoid the barber,who came to the unit every other Wednesday,was in the dessert with Rommel and had a dodgy leg to prove it.
Not to mention the polish displaced people who did the gaurd duties with two vicious alsatians.
So,if it takes 19 people to keep one soldier in the field,how many to keep a couple of ops,and errant I corp on shift,Hudson had his point,Langeleben existed by the people in the unit,nothing at all to do with the job done there.Since a large number of the people in the unit neither knew or cared what went on in the ops block,I know I did not care less about it but enjoyed the company of everbody in the unit
I know the history of Langeleben is about 'people'. Why on earth do you think I have been asking for contributions.
"errant"? That is about as relevant to the subject as rats who eat puddings, or did you mean desert?
Yet again Paul you miss the point, the very thing Hudson is talking about.
By the way,the unit at Wolf that the other 'half' of the sqn billeted with were Irish Hussars(7th armoured),the perverbial desert rats.
Frankly Mr Shorep, I am now bored with the whole damned thing. Can I gently point out that all you can do is to express what is an opinion. After all, you may be right but. so may I.
I know exactly what I set out to do (it was entirely my idea) and if it differs from what you want then take it over!
By the way Mr Shorep did you notice that in the Irish Hussars website 'Dessert(sic)' is spelled slightly unusually too. By the way, the company who continue to employ my fading talents is the biggest and best sellers of Military literature and ephemera (www.maggs.com) so it is a subject with which I am not totally ignorant
Dave, the contributions from the 'baddies' are absolutely marvellous!
I can't believe we have got them. So ... the I Corps (who dug them up) aren't completely useless. I am hoping that there is even more to come in that area. Sending you the chapter on the history of radio interception direct to your email address.
GENERAL
Am I dreaming when I recall being woken up to go on watch with s/steel buckets of tea? Or was that just hoping?
Did you get the bit on radio interception? There has been no comment on it so as usual I wonder if it ever arrived. I am old enough not to trust these electronicals
I have just learned that there were/are intercept stations operated by the TA following National Service from one of our members. Did anyone else get involved and would they like to add their memories to Richard's? Did they carry on after the end of National Service in 1962?
I hope that there will be some more memories coming through soon. You have all had the opportunity of seeing what it looks like and how worthwhile a project it is.
In your editorial labours did you discover the Wikipedia article on traffic analysis? Informative and non-technical. If the internet had been around in 1956 I might have understood what I was doing.
I'll read it right now!
It is amazing that we had NO idea where we, the ants, fitted into the Universe. What is amazing is that it was going of i the first World War but Welshman, working at GCHQ thought that he had discovered it all over again
Just been ploughing through a History of the Y Service only to discover fro the index that the I Corps and MI8 get no mention. I then see it was written by a WAAF operator!
Gordon,
I have read it and now realize that I had read it before and indeed had quoted fro it mercilessly. So, I agree(d) entirely with your view of it.
I think that I asked you if you recalled John Fortey. I have just been assembling his contribution fro a load of emails. He holds a Birgelen I Corps re-union evry year
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I think a history of Langeleben is about people,you ask about the 60's,70's etc and what was it like.
