Indian Army Cadet College Banglore April 1941: Tuesday 1 April

 On the outbreak of WWII, my father Geoffrey Webb, aged 18, enlisted. In December 1940, as a Royal Scots officer cadet he was posted to the Indian Army and sailed for Durban on the Highland Chieftain, a ship normally used to transport meat from Argentina to Liverpool, then on the Windsor Castle to Bombay. From Bombay he travelled by train to the Cadet College Bangalore where, with Indian troops, cadets were trained for the Middle East. On passing out from the college, Dad was posted to the North West Frontier RIASC Transport School, Kakul near Abbottabad. Following Pearl Harbour and Japanese attacks in the Far East, the 14th Division and Lieutenant Webb set off to cross India to Ranchi in Bihar State, then Dimapur in Assam, and to the Burma border beyond Imphal and Tamu in Burma.

Found in Dad's papers after he died was his diary from 24 March to 28 December 1941. This year, 2021, every day I am posting what Dad wrote exactly eighty years ago. See entries for March 1941 at https://lestweforgetmarch1941.blogspot.com/. Entries for April follow here.

Tuesday 1 April

Well, 1 April and I didn’t hear ‘fool’ mentioned; no time for frivolity. Had three periods of WT on the Plain, today, lying position on the gravel. Nearly wore the skin off my elbows. At 2:30 p.m. we marched to the Opera House to see what we believed to be a war film, but actually saw old news reels, some as far back as 1938. It was dud(?) propaganda, Chamberlain’s speech, Dunkirk, all showed what a mess we had made in the past. Better forgotten. Received very nice letter from Did [Eileen] and from ‘Conk’ [Hall-Cinderford]. Most cheering.


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