John Kemp wrote many letters home during World War 2.
There's nothing unusual about that.
But so many of these letters have survived that Nick Kemp has been able to publish 3 books.
This is a review of sorts for the first of the three books covering the lead-up to John's posting overseas.Of particular interest to me is that John following a similar route to my dad; from the Territorial Army in 1938, service in the UK until late 1942, to North Africa following Operation Touch, and then up through Italy.
I don't know how many letters John wrote in total from 1938 to 1945, but 488 letters sent to his wife Peggy have survived. The content of these letters has, in effect, been 'edited' three times; first by the Army just prior to them being released for posting home, then many years later when John went through them adding notes in the margin, and finally by Nick who removed some personal sections clearly only ever meant for Peggy's eyes.
The lack of Battery/Regimental detail is of course disappointing, but there is still much to be gained from what detail there is, and you get a sense of just how boring the days could be when they didn't see any 'action' or even get to fire the guns in practice sessions.
Although John made the transition from Gunner to RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) gaining a batman along the way, it didn't stop him complaining from time to time (even about the batman!).
I addition to the diary extracts, this book also contains some useful reference material;
- The pre-war years: a bit of history on the guns, RADAR and Europe
- Britain 1938-42: some political and military background
- the years after 1942-45: an intro to John's overseas service
- Appendix: HAA Gun Positions: includes a table with locations, map refs & dates
- Appendix: Vickers QF 3.7": specification, ammunition & gun crew details
- 76th HAA structure within the Army; basically an Army (like the 8th Army) was made up of Corps, Brigades, Regiments, and in the case of HAA, Batteries & Troops.
For anyone with an interest in British World War 2 Heavy Anti Aircraft regiments, this should be an interesting read.