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THE LOWLANDER - DEEP FRIED LEMONS
237 Plays1 year ago
From controversy over the Scottish/English divide (what's new), to news from the Ardennes and the intrigue of murder on the Home Front ... it's all go in the Lowlander. Andy and Merryn dig into the issues being presented to men of the 52nd (Lowland) Division on a daily basis. Um, lemons, anyone?
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Transcript
Introduction to The Lowlander Newsletter
00:00:05
Speaker
From 1944 to 1945, the 52nd Lowlander Division is fighting its way across Northwest Europe. The writing is on the wall, but it's also on the page. The Army Education Branch sends a newsletter out to thousands of men, all pulling together, pushing the enemy back. This newsletter is called The Lowlander.
00:00:42
Speaker
Hello, Andy. Hello, Maren. Hello, hello.
Analysis of The Lowlander Issues from January 1945
00:00:45
Speaker
We are back again looking at editions of the Lowlander that were sent out between the 8th and 14th of January 1945. Yes, the men of the 52nd Lowlander Division would have been reading this daily newsletter every day as they make their way across Northwest Europe. Our job is to fit for each edition. It's one piece of double-sided paper to pick out our favourite articles and generally work out what they're saying and why. So what's happening this week, Maren?
00:01:11
Speaker
This is the second week in January, 1945. So what's going
Military Updates and Operation Blackcock
00:01:15
Speaker
on? We've got, in the Far East, we've got the Battle of Bessang Pass begins just north of Manila. Closer to home, the Red Army begins the Vistula Oda offensive. Of course, we've got the British Second Army is about to launch itself into Operation Black Cock. I know we're going to get to that soon. In Norway, Operation Woodlark, members of the Norwegian Independent Company blew up a railway bridge this week in Sniesa.
00:01:38
Speaker
and a military troop train that wasn't aware of the sabotage derailed and crashed into the river below, killing about 80 people. It's still one of the most deadly railway accidents in the whole history of Norway.
00:01:49
Speaker
On a lighter note, do you want to tell us where the jocks are this week and what the 52nd Lowland Division is getting up to, please? Yep, definitely. You know I always want to. Yes, I do. Well, it's all changed this week. So for the last, well, really since the middle of December, they've been holding that line on the southern part of the Roar Triangle from about Sittard through to just north of Geilinkurken.
00:02:12
Speaker
This week it's all changed because they start to pull out of the line. The 43rd Wessex Division take over their positions and they move into a holding area just south of Sittard in the Netherlands to start preparing for what's going to be called Operation Blackcock which is the capture of the Roar Triangle.
00:02:30
Speaker
And on the 10th of January, a memorial service was held near Brunson for the men that were killed in the main accident, which we mentioned last week. So the general officer commanding of the 52nd Lowland, Major General Edmund Hakewell Smith, he was in attendance as well as the representatives from 155 Infantry Brigade, the 4th Battalion, the King's Own Scottish Borders and the Royal Engineers that were killed in that accident.
00:02:52
Speaker
but the rest of the week they are really preparing for Operation Blackcock and in fact in some of the ward hours they're mentioning about training with kangaroos which are a armoured personnel carrier which used to be shermans that had their turrets taken off and lots and lots of preparation in terms of orders and reconnaissance and all that sort of stuff. Well it sounds like we're making progress then. Shall we get started with the first edition of the Lowlander this week?
American First Army and Field Marshal Montgomery
00:03:18
Speaker
I think that's a good idea. So do I.
00:03:24
Speaker
Monday 8th of January. One road back. From a hundred slopes in the Ardennes, there rises tonight the glow of bonfires lit by our troops for protection against the cold and snow. The scene, says one correspondent, resembles a gigantic gypsy encampment.
00:03:43
Speaker
but our men are in great heart. Along practically the whole length of the enemy's northern flank, we've pressed on from one to three miles. The American First Army, which German propaganda wrote off as a fighting force a fortnight ago, has recovered from its annihilation to cut the main road from St. Vith to La Roche. von Rundstedt has now only one road to supply or evacuate his troops still fighting tenaciously at the tip of the salient.
00:04:11
Speaker
That road running through Hufaliz is already under fire from 3rd Army guns, and at its narrowest point, the corridor is a bare 12 miles wide. Speaking to a press conference yesterday, Field Marshal Montgomery gave high praise to the American troops who stood up to the first onslaught. And this is what he said about the Supreme Commander. We are all members of a great team, and he is the captain. I am absolutely devoted to Ike.
00:04:41
Speaker
I'm sure there's a song in that somewhere. I'm hopelessly devoted. I'm hopelessly devoted to Ike. But that kind of goes against the grain really, because a lot of the reports, unless I've got this wrong, a lot of the reports were that he had a certain amount of antipathy for Eisenhower.
00:04:56
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not sure if that's true. I don't know. I think there's a lot of nonsense. I think he was definitely tricky to work with, but I think he believed in what Ike was doing, I think. Maybe I'm wrong.
Hitler's Strategic Retreat
00:05:06
Speaker
What's interesting is that on the 7th 8th of January, Hitler actually gave the order to start pulling back, which is rather unusual for Adolf Hitler, mainly because there was a feeling that the German armies were going to get encircled and then cut off and destroyed in place.
00:05:21
Speaker
And clearly the pressure that Americans have been building throughout January after the initial assault on the Battle of Bulge was starting to tell. Yeah. Yeah. OK.
00:05:35
Speaker
8th January. Any complaints? Growsing is a soldier's privilege. Hitherto our readers have been merciful and few complaints have found their way into our mailbag. Two, however, received recently, we thought worth repeating and they're published below. We're just going to read one.
00:05:56
Speaker
Sir, can you find space to draw attention to a point that's causing me some anxiety? I refer to the habit of some members of the division in emphasising the differences between Scotland and England to the detriment of the latter country. As numerous personnel are billeted amongst civilians and few are fluent linguists, the subtle difference between irony and truth is lost.
00:06:20
Speaker
and an entirely incorrect impression that might easily percolate to enemy ears and form a basis for hostile propaganda is created. Although long domiciled in England, I am justly proud of the fact that one of my ancestors was the last man to be hanged in Inverness for sheep stealing, Sergeant Stuart Robertson. Well he seems like fun.
00:06:46
Speaker
I mean, well, it's funny. One of the reasons why I picked this letter is actually I've seen some of the propaganda leaflets dropped on the 52nd Law and Division at this time. In fact, when they were in their own trip track, none of it mentions the difference between Scotland and England.
00:07:03
Speaker
So he's got himself in a pickle. And actually, I did have a look on some court records as well. I can't find the last person to be hanged in Inverness for sheep stealing, which is very disappointing. However, the last person to be hanged in Scotland was actually in 1963. And that was Henry John Burnett.
00:07:23
Speaker
OK, so I had a little look as well, and like you, I couldn't find the last person hung for sheep's dealing, but I could find two men. One was from Perth, which you might count as Inverness, and that was William Crichton, and the other one was... Well, you've just dropped a clang of our Perth and Inverness are not the same thing, but carry on. I'll let our listeners remind you of that. And the other one was James Ritchie in 1818, and he was from Aberdeen.
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah, well, Henry Burnett was actually the last person to be hanged in Scotland and the first person to be hanged in Edinburgh since 1891. There's some hanging stuff. I tell you what, we could follow that up because on June the 12th, there's a response to this. OK, go on. OK. Sir, I observe that the age old controversy of England versus Scotland has crept into your journal.
00:08:16
Speaker
Though born, bred and buttered in England, I think I can lay claim to the rank of War Substantive Scott. I have served in three Scottish divisions and spent a pleasant four years in exile north of the border. But I must agree with your correspondent who deprecates any comparison between Scottish and English troops.
00:08:35
Speaker
I am very proud of belonging to a Scottish unit without traditions and I am certain any Scot would be equally proud to serve with a famous English unit should he be so posted. Sergeant Auntie Hun. No, I'm saying if he served in three Scottish divisions that might tell him that the Scottish divisions don't particularly like him and they keep moving along.
00:08:58
Speaker
It's a good point though actually and we should I think next week we're going to talk a little bit more detail about the 52nd and how it's broken down into different units but I mean just in the infantry battalions alone although they're all Scottish regiments and they're all from the lowlands of Scotland by 1944-45 it's people from all over England Scotland Ireland Wales
00:09:20
Speaker
and the Dominion's Empire and all the rest of it. And we've even got Norwegians and the 52nd Lowland Division up until the summer of 1944.
00:09:29
Speaker
They're right. And of course, the thing is, when you join a Scottish battalion, you wear the tartan trues or the kelp, depending which battalion you're in, you have the Tamashanter, you've got the pipe bands, you haven't got a choice whether you want to be part of it or not. And of course, there's lots of Scots in the other battalions as well. But also there's units like the seven Manchester's, which are the machine gun battalion for the division. And there's other various different units from all over the country. So, yeah, I don't think it's too much of an issue.
00:09:57
Speaker
And also the most famous combination, of course, is Peter White. Exactly, from South Africa. And within his platoon, and maybe we'll talk more about Peter as we go through the year, of the 20 people that were killed in his platoon, half of them aren't from Scotland. Indeed. January 9th, 1945. Can you believe your ears?
00:10:22
Speaker
This is what the BBC said last night. In the Ardennes battle, men of the Glasgow Highlanders, holding a village and surrounding woods nearby, recently defeated a German attack. Although surrounded, they held on until relieved by tanks. The commander received a message from the enemy that if he continued to resist, 50 British prisoners would be shot. He replied, we hold 25 Germans. Later, the British prisoners were rescued. Don't write and tell us what's wrong with this report. We know.
00:10:51
Speaker
Go on then, can you tell me what's wrong with this trip? No, no, you tell me, you tell me. Well, of course, the Glasgow Highlanders were not in the Ardennes battle, not the 1st Battalion of the Glasgow Highlanders, which were in the 52nd load. But if you remember back to two episodes ago, they are the guys that held on in Tripsrat under a pretty severe German counter-attack. And typical journalists have got hold of it, and they've got it completely wrong. They're not in the Ardennes, they are just north of Geilinkurken in a village called Tripsrat.
00:11:21
Speaker
This is this is the Highland Light Infantry. No. Oh, yes. Well, they are. Yes. So I should point out again, I did mention it before the first time the Glasgow Highlanders are a separate battalion in their own right. But they are part of the Highland Light Infantry, which is, I know, very confusing. Good old standards of British journalism, eh? Yes. Excellent. 9th of January 1945. News from Scotland.
00:11:51
Speaker
At long last, the news item for which so many have waited for so long. For the first time in four years, the towns and villages of space side will resound with the busy hum of the distilleries. Every week,
00:12:05
Speaker
250,000 gallons of whisky will flow from 30 reopened plants and into a vast number of thirsty throats. There's a shortage of workers and even managers and clerks have to take a hand as labourers. For servicemen on leave from overseas, Mr Duncan McLeod is offering a bottle of pre-war whisky or gin at the Bath Hotel in Glasgow for 21 shillings.
00:12:31
Speaker
no increase of special leave trains
Space-Side Whisky Production Resumes
00:12:33
Speaker
to Glasgow has yet been announced. Hang on a second, hang on a second. Let's not descend into talks about Scottish people and drinking, but carry on. No, no, no. This follows up the very next day, right, 10th of January. News spreads quickly. On the first day, 400 servicemen presented themselves at the Glasgow Hotel offering reduced price whiskey.
00:13:00
Speaker
I don't know if Mr Duncan McLeod is a genius or an idiot. We'll have to find out how much 21 shillings is. It sounds like quite a lot. It does. Bearing in mind that the working wage is only about ยฃ4 a week. Yeah. Yeah. So that is quite a lot. But I mean, I suppose if you haven't had whisky for a long time.
00:13:33
Speaker
January 12th, 1945. Nearer Mandalay. In Burma, our troops have now completed the occupation of Shwebo and have pushed beyond it to the south. They are now only about 40 miles from the great prize of Mandalay. Super fortresses from India yesterday attacked Japanese installations in Malaya. The enemy says that Singapore was amongst the targets. I like these little ones because the whole of the Lowlander is full of just short updates from everywhere, isn't it?
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah, tiny little updates. And in fact, that battle is quite a big battle. It's a major battle really being fought, really advancing on Mandalay. And it was the British 2nd Division and the Indian 19th Division that has actually cleared Swibo that week. And then they're really pushing on the east banks of the Chingwen before they launched their attack on Mandalay later on in the year. So it's a nice little chunk of little section of news just to keep you updated on what the British Army and the Indian Army are doing in Burma.
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, they're on the same page. We've also got a short paragraph on the Luzon Advance in Manila. And there's an update about Greece and there's also an update about getting your votes in by post.
00:14:45
Speaker
Well, that's a very, very relevant thing nowadays, considering the way voting restrictions are. But yeah, I mean, it's just a it's just gives you a really good idea that, you know, in the middle of January, you sat in your your your select trench or or in your and your little billet somewhere and you're reading about stuff that's going on around the world. It's keeping you informed. So it's a really good example of that kind of information.
00:15:20
Speaker
Obeleuttenen! Obeleuttenen! We habben eine Wichtigen achit, de Schotteschauppen abgefangen! Was habben de Schotteschauppestare yets vor? There will be a battlefield tour to Germany and the Netherlands in October 2024. Hmm.
00:15:40
Speaker
They will look at the 52nd London Division and Peter White and his jocks. And you can find out details at www.Walkingwiththejocks.co.uk. You can't cut on him! Give this not a fuss. There have been a lot of big rubies, but it's not the 50th one. Ooooh!
00:16:14
Speaker
13th January 1945. News from Scotland and England. Glasgow knows the answer now. Lemons were on sale there yesterday for the first time in a year. Go on, what's this about? Well, they'd obviously got a batch of lemons from somewhere. I don't think what condition they are. Lemons and bananas went on the ration I think in 1942.
00:16:39
Speaker
And clearly this is the information everybody has been waiting for. The update about lemons. Although of course you could make some stereotypical joke about Scottish people not being particularly healthy but I should imagine by 1945 a lemon is probably high up on your list of things you'd like to get hold of wouldn't you say?
00:16:59
Speaker
I think the guys buying all the whisky wouldn't mind too much. I do love about this though, it's now sitting on a page where it's not just news from Scotland, it's news from Scotland and England.
00:17:09
Speaker
Well, obviously taking heed of the complaints about Scotland. You can tell they're actually playing a little bit, playing a little bit with the audience there. But yeah, so I mean, the good news is lemons were in sale yesterday. I should imagine they were sold out. Who knows when Glasgow get lemons. It's only a matter of time before they batter it and deep fry it anyway.
Murder of Eric Teichmann and Trial
00:17:33
Speaker
10th January, Private G Smith was sentenced to death by an American court Marshal yesterday for the murder of Sir Eric Teichmann, the distinguished diplomat who was found shot at his Norfolk home. That's got to be big news for anywhere, but let alone Norfolk. Yeah, I know. Well, as people possibly know, I am from Norfolk.
00:17:56
Speaker
This is Eric Taichman. Have you heard of Eric Taichman? Never heard of Eric Taichman, no. Okay. Well, pull up your own personalized sandbag then, because here we go. Taichman was one of British diplomacy's dashing characters. That's how he gets described a lot. Flamboyantly enigmatic and explorer-cum-special agent and orientalist. He was a travel writer and he was serving as an advisor to the British Embassy at Chung King.
00:18:21
Speaker
He was in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was mentioned in dispatches and wounded a couple of times in the First World War, served in Egypt, Palestine, Italy, won the Crotte di Guerra. Is that what it's called? The Crotte di Guerra? That's it. That's the one. He also wrote a lovely book called The Travels of a Consular Officer in Northwest China, and he was a real Dab handbook photographer.
00:18:44
Speaker
He walked miles and miles and miles taking photographs everywhere he went. In fact, he was a bit like a Rory Stewart of his day. Very good family man, sadly lost both his boys in the Second World War. His first son was killed in North Africa in 42 and his second son was killed in Normandy in 44. He came back to Britain, to Norfolk, to a little village called Honningham, which is to the northwest of Norwich.
00:19:10
Speaker
a big Jacobean house which he turned into a Bernardo's home for youngsters but he was out and about late one evening unarmed just having a stroll around the grounds and he thought he'd come across a poacher
00:19:25
Speaker
It wasn't a poacher, it was two lads from RAF Attlebridge, Private George Smith of Pittsburgh and Private Leonard Vypatcha of Detroit. They were trespassing, they were both armed with an M1 carbine and Smith shot Taichmann through the head.
00:19:41
Speaker
Now Smith and Wipatcha were both court martialed at Attlebridge and this was under the Visiting Forces Act where Americans were, they were sort of free to try, imprison or condemn anyone independent of the British justice system. There was no difference whatsoever. Murder was a capital of crime. Wipatcha, who hadn't fired his gun, received a prison sentence but Smith got the death penalty. Now,
00:20:06
Speaker
He was taken to Shepton Mallet for a mandatory review of his case and if Clemency was refused then he would be executed. Teichmann's wife made an appeal which was refuted and he was then executed by Tom Pierpoint, Albert's uncle,
00:20:24
Speaker
oh yes it's a family business it's a family business um he was executed i mean there's a period of time between sentencing and carrying out and while everyone else was celebrating smith was hanged on v day and oh god yeah he is now buried in plot e in the american cemetery at wazane i can't ever pronounce this properly yeah i'm sure it is don't ask me yeah
00:20:50
Speaker
So plot E is the fifth plot at the American cemetery that is away from the main section. And it currently holds 94 American military prisoners who were shot or hanged for crimes in the Second World War, rape and murder or both. The individuals questioned were originally buried near where the crime or the trial happened more or less, but then plot E was created. And because this is death with dishonor, there's no American flag. There are no headstones.
00:21:19
Speaker
The graves are relatively unmarked and they actually face away from the rest of the cemetery. The only chap who is no longer there but was first interred there was a chap called Eddie Slovik who was executed for desertion and his remains were returned to the US in 1987 when Reagan granted
00:21:42
Speaker
a petition for his exhumation.
Execution of American Servicemen
00:21:45
Speaker
Of course Eddie Slovak, that's the one that most people know, he was executed for desertion and inverted commas and of course that was around the Battle of the Bulge, so which we've just been talking about. Did you know, here's my bumper fact, it's a gruesome fact,
00:22:02
Speaker
that the US Ministry executed 160 American servicemen between 1942 and 1961. No, I didn't. That's my bumper fact for the day. It's a grim fact on which we shall move on to the next part of the lowlander. I think we better head.
Reflective Thoughts of the Day
00:22:22
Speaker
And finally, we go to this week's thought for the day on the 8th of January, 1945. So now is the grandeur to our dust.
00:22:31
Speaker
Snare is God to man. When duty whispers low, thou must. The youth replies, I can. Emerson. What's he going on about, Marin?
00:22:42
Speaker
So this is Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher, poet, writer and transcendentist thinker. And this is the poem Voluntries. He wrote it in the autumn of 1863. And it was a tribute to everyone who was prepared to sacrifice everything for the sake of the Union. Yeah. And he was that's of course the Union because he was he was actually acting as a nurse or a medic in the American Civil War on the Union side.
00:23:06
Speaker
That's right. Yeah. And the last four lines, the ones you just read, they're the most famous out of the poem. It's not a very long poem, but they're the ones that get inscribed on veterans memorials around the country. But I don't think that's the best thought for the day this week. I tell you what, let's try this one for size. This was on the 13th of January 1945. An immense sympathy for the sufferings of the infantry, an immense admiration for the dogged perseverance and their never ending task
00:23:33
Speaker
is felt by all those whose business it is to assist them from the air. So Walter Raleigh. Now, what kind of assistance is coming to people from the air at the time of Sir Walter Raleigh? I'm just trying to think, Walter Raleigh is what, the 16th century? Yes. Leonardo da Vinci had drawn some flying machines, maybe it's them. I think that's put in your life. I'm going to say maybe God. I mean, I still don't understand what he's going on about. Go on.
00:24:01
Speaker
In that case, with both of those in mind, I think this week we should run a poll on Twitter. It's the poll we've all been waiting for. Which thought for the day has most impact for the men, do you reckon? Is it Ralph or Waldo Emerson, or is it Walter Raleigh? Oh, I mean, it really is Clash of the Titans, isn't it? It is. On that note, I think we'd better call it a day, don't you? Yeah, I think we've had enough. All right. I'll see you next week. All right, then. Bye-bye. See you. Bye.
00:24:31
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Lowlander. The Lowlander was written, produced and presented by Andy Aitchison and Mirren Walters. This was a hellish good production.
00:25:05
Speaker
And now we go to the classified football results for the week commencing the 8th of January 1945. League Cup qualifying competition. Aberanham Free, Bath City 4. Accreting 2, Preston North End 1. Aston Villa 6, West Bromwich Albion 2. Barnsley 5, Leeds 0. Blackburn 3, Rochdale 2.
00:25:36
Speaker
Blackburn 4, Burnley, nil. Bolton 1, Everton 3. Bradford City 2, Hull City 1. Bristol City 3, Swansea 1. Cardiff 3, Lovells, nil. Coventry 1, Birmingham 2. Darlington 3, Sunderland 2. Derby 3, Nottingham Forest, nil. Hartley Poe 1, Gateshead 1,
00:26:07
Speaker
Huddersfield 2. Manchester United 2. Leicester 8. Mansfield 3. Lincoln 1. Doncaster 3. Liverpool 4. Stockport 1. Manchester City 2. Halifax 3. Middlesbrough 5. Newcastle 3. Notts County 1. Chester 3. Oldham 2. Murray 0. Portville 0. Chester 2.
00:26:37
Speaker
Wotherham 1 Sheffield United 4 Sheffield Wednesday 2 Grimsby 2 Trammere 0 Southport 3 Walsall 0 Northampton 1 Wolverhampton 3 Crewe 1 Wrexham 2 Stoke 1 English League South Aldershot 0 Brentford 1
00:27:06
Speaker
Arsenal 4 Millwall 1 Charlton 1 Tottenham 2 Clapton Orient 2 Chelsea 6 Fulham 0 Watford 2 Queen's Park Rangers 5 Reading 1 Southampton 2 Portsmouth 4 West Ham 5 Brighton 4 Scottish League South
00:27:34
Speaker
Albion 2, Hamilton 2. Clyde Nell, Rangers 2. Hebernian 3, Falkirk, Nill. Morton 5, Hearts 1. Motherwell 5, Aeryonians 1. Partik Nell, Celtic 3. Queen's Park 2, Dumbarton Nell. St Mirren Nell, Thardlarnock Nell.
00:28:02
Speaker
Scottish League North East Dundee United 5 Wraith 2 Falkok 8 Arbuth 2 Hearts 5 Dundee 3 Rangers 3 East 5 Nill Other Matches Anti Aircraft Command 3 South East Command 6 London District 7 East Command 6 And all is well with the football
00:28:33
Speaker
Do you know if the lab actually sat and read these schools out to each other? Don't ask me that question, Marilyn, because we don't know. OK. You're right, all right, all right. They went in there and they just saw the bloody journals off. They were hellish goods.