18th February, 1940
Mrs Kenneth Penman
MAYCOT
12 COMMONSIDE
KESTON
KENT
No. 1442026 Gunner Kenneth Tebman
194 HAA Bty RA
c/o The GPO
Strathaven
Lancashire
Feb 18th 1940
My Darling,
You must have been wondering what had become of me and the why and wherefore of this long silence, firstly thank you so much for your two letters and the chocolate which I received this evening. We have been away on a most extensive exercise for the last three weeks and noone has been allowed to write at all, in fact we have been completely out of touch, living in gun positions and sleeping in troughs, part of the time, but mostly in tents, in the Highlands! We were lucky enough…
…to get fairly good weather, although the snow was ever present and as you may imagine the cold was intense.
You’d never believe how many miles we may travel up there without sight of human being, home or anything except sheep.
As I expect you’ll appreciate, we are all very glad to be back in warm billets, leave is starting tomorrow after a lapse of over a month, this of course has put everyone back terribly badly, most of the fellows going tomorrow went last in October. I should, darling, get my leave towards the middle of next month. I’m looking forward to it tremendously, sometimes during these last weeks you’ve seemed very far away and I’ve wanted you so badly. I love you so very much…
…darling. You know its quite true that, please don’t laugh, when you’re all alone on a mountain, you get a sort of detached feeling and you can look at yourself sort of apart and I thought of how much I loved you and how little I’ve sometimes deserved your love and I realize how terribly I value it and all it means to me and how I’d not know what to do if I ever lost it.
I must tell you in a letter any more about this exercise, it was more in the nature of a rehearsal done under the most trying conditions possible to imagine, however it was very interesting and I’ll tell you some thing about it when we are together.
I felt very depressed this evening to hear about Singapore and the disgraceful business of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. I think 110 bombers should be allowed to raid the Bight of Heligoland and wreck the all three of them.
I know you’ll forgive me if I write no more just now darling, we were all up at 4 this morning and I’m very weary, with all my love to you dearest heart and a big hug for Jill.
Yours,
Kenneth.
18th February, 1940
- 14th February, 1940–German planning is underway for the invasion of France. This culminates in the “Manstein Plan” on February 17sup>th, which reshapes Germany’s offensive strategy in Western Europe, aiming to bypass the Maginot Line and swiftly advance through Belgium.
- 15th February, 1940–The Soviet Union captures the Finnish Mannerheim Line in Karelia, an important Finnish defensive position during the Winter War. This success forces Finnish forces to fall back.
- 16th February, 1940 (Altmark Incident)–British destroyer HMS Cossack enters Norwegian waters to intercept the German supply vessel Altmark, which is carrying British POWs. This leads to a diplomatic incident between the United Kingdom and Norway, as Britain breaches Norway’s neutrality to rescue prisoners of war.
- 18th February, 1940–German submarine U-23 sinks the British destroyer HMS Daring, resulting in 157 British fatalities. German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, along with the cruiser Admiral Hipper and several destroyers, attempt to intercept British convoys between Norway and the UK in what iss known as Operation Nordmark. The British Home Fleet, alerted to the presence of German vessels, mobilize to intercept them, and force the German ships to retreat without significant engagement.
Kenneth’s upset at events in Singapore likely refers to the deployment of Territorials, such as himself, from Aberdeen. Kincardine and Banff–attached to the Gordon Highlanders–being enlisted to serve as reinforcements there. Most territorials didn’t think their service would take them so far from home.