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'Saturday Night Soldiers' the pride of Lincolnshire
AT the outbreak of the Second World War, the Lincolnshire Regiment had two Regular and two Territorial Army battalions.
The TA had evolved between the wars and comprised of volunteer civilians who trained for one or two nights a week and at weekends.
They were known as the 'Terriers' or more humorously as the 'Saturday Night Soldiers' - hence the title of John Benson's new book (Richard Kay Publications 11.95) charting the fortunes and misfortunes of the 4th Battlalion which included the units in Horncastle, Spilsby and Alford.
The TA was mobilised on Friday ,September 1, 1939, the day Hitler invaded Poland.
In some parts of rural Lincolnshire, messages had to be sent by men on bikes to farm hands working in the fields.
They put down their tools, said goodbye to their workmates, went home, got changed into their uniforms, said goodbye to their families and went off to war.
After B Company had reported to their headquarters at Horncastle Drill Hall (now the town hall), they were immediately taken that evening by buses to Scunthorpe.
They were billeted in the Palais de Dance and arrangements were made for them to have their meals at the Co-op caf and a bus company laid on a special coach on Sundays so that relatives and friends from Horncastle could visit them.
As the Autumn drew on and the weather got colder as they trained in Ripon, little did they know that it was a foretaste of what was to come.
At the launch of the book, held at Sobraon Barracks in Lincoln, author John Benson told the story of how the regiment found itself on standby to go to Finland, embarking in April 1940 for Norway - ill-trained and ill-equipped and with little support from the other services.
After a few weeks they were evacuated but a short time later were sent to defend neutral Iceland where they stayed for two years before training in Scotland in advance of the D-Day landings in 1944.
Mr Benson's book describes in detail what life was like for the 'Saturday Night Soldiers' throughout the war leading up to the liberation of Arnhem.
It is illustrated by contemporary pictures, maps and includes a roll of honour to all the soldiers killed in action.
He acknowledged the help he received from a lot of people including the late Captain Anthony Hay Bell of High Toynton who was with B Company until he was commissioned into the 6th Lincolns in 1942.
"He lent me some photographs and gave me permission to draw upon his lively, unpublished account of his time with the battalion," Mr Benson stated.
"This book really should have been written 50 years ago but I hope the people of Lincolnshire will still be interested in hearing what the Lincolnshire Regiment did and be proud of them.
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Weather for Horncastle
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North
