29th September, 1939
Gnr. Penman
1440280
60th City of London Regt.
Royal Artillery H.A.A.
194 Battery
Section 4
Poperingle Barracks
Arborfield Camp.
Nr. Wokingham
Berks.
19.9.39. 9pm
My Darling,
As you will see we have arrived, ain’t it a lovely address. I think you may be interested in a chronicle of events so far.
I arrived at HQ safely at 12:00 after having just managed a haircut in Bromley. All the boys were flat out on their backs, the place looked like a shambles. Reason they had all been inoculated for typhoid the previous day.
We have got it to look forward to sometime next week. They were really very bad. The ATS were apparently wonderful, bringing round hot soup and spanging foreheads with Eau de Cologne. I believe that usually one has a course of injections for typhoid but they decided to give us the whole lot at once.
We have a sort of send off jollification with the ATS last night and their Commandant presented us with a horseshoe of white heather. She was quite overcome with emotion, it seems than Mr Chappell will be returning from Ireland tomorrow having only gone there to collect some equipment so that the theory that we were going there was only a rumor.
They woke us at 5:00 this morning so that we should be in good time to catch the trains from Bromley South at 1:30 this afternoon.
We went right through to Wokingham from Bromley South arriving about 3:00.
The whole Regiment is here. Approximately 700 Officers and men and we expect to be here about a week. We have to march 3½ miles from the station in full fighting kit weight several cwts, so you may imagine we are several miles from nowhere situated in beautiful country however; we are in huts, but darling what huts. We’ve got BEDS, mattresses, springs, wardrobes, hot showers, brand new and never been used before.
Well darling I must shut up shop now as it will be lights out shortly and I want to try and get this in the post tonight.
Night night darling, be good.
Your loving husband Kenneth.
29th September, 1939
Twenty-six days ago, on September 3rd, Britain declared War on Germany in response to the invasion of Poland. Today Poland formally surrendered and the country is split along the Bug river, with Germany occupying everything to the West and the Soviets all territory to the East.
After years of tension, and over a year of frenzied preparation, the fight Terry and Kenneth have both feared and planned for has finally come to pass.
Kenneth seems almost giddy to be finally facing combat. At this point optimism is easy, as no one can guess how long hostilities will last or how far they’ll reach. English men raised to see themselves as heroes, rulers and the brave don’t fear combat as much as they see it as a way to test themselves against inferior cultures.
From his letter it’s clear Kenneth doesn’t know where he’s being posted to and rumors abound.
Kenneth uses some slang and abbreviations in his letter you may not be familiar with:
- ATS is short for Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the Territorial Army
- cwt is the abbreviation for hundredweight or 100 lbs (45.4 kg)
- Spanging means to slap or smack.
The ATS Commandant presents Kenneth’s battery with a horseshoe interwoven with white heather. It’s traditionally given as a gift at Scottish weddings and symbolizes good luck. Perhaps the Commandant is old enough to remember the last Great War and knows that in battle luck is more important than character or cause.
- September 1st
German troops cross the Polish border near Krzepice and Polish President Ignacy Mościcki declares a state of emergency. - September 2nd
Poland officially changes its “State of Emergency” into a state of war with Germany. - September 3rd
9:00 a.m. Britain gives Germany until 11:00 a.m. to withdraw from Polish territory. Germany does not respond. War is declared.
12:00 p.m. France give Germany until 5:00 p.m. to withdraw from Poland in order to avoid war. Their deadline is also ignored and France enters the conflict.
In America, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses his nation by radio, declaring that plans are being made to officially declare the US as neutral, and assuring American’s that they would not be sent to fight.
Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies announces by radio that, as the UK has declared war on Germany, Australia is also at war. - September 4th
New Zealand’s Governor-General Lord Galway announces that country is at war with Germany and backdates the announcement so it aligns with the UK’s declaration of the previous day. - September 5th
The US officially declares neutrality. - September 9th
The government of Canada approves Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s declaration of war on Germany. - September 15th
Charles Lindbergh, who the previous year had received a medal from Hitler and who would go on to speak for the “America First” committee, makes a national radio address urging America to keep out of the war in Europe and urging isolationism.
He insinuates that it’s the Jewish population who want to push America into battle:
“We must ask who owns and influences the newspaper, the news picture, and the radio station… If our people know the truth, our country is not likely to enter the war” - September 17th
The Soviet Union invades Poland from the East. They have not officially declared war and are not allied with Germany. The invasion is a product of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which committed the Soviet Union to a non-aggression treaty with Nazi Germany for ten years and secretly enabled the countries to split Eastern Europe between them. - September 21st
In Germany Director of the Einsatzgruppen (SS), Reinhard Heydrich, orders that Jewish and Romani people in Germany be sent to Poland by train. - September 26th
The British shoot down a German plane for the first time. A Luftwaffe Dornier Do 18 flying boat is hit by an RAF Blackburn Skua in the North Sea facing Denmark. - September 27th
The Polish Resistance, Służba Zwycięstwu Polski, is created by general Juliusz Rómmel.