Michael Reynolds - Soldier At Heart: From Private to General

By the same author:

The Devils Adjutant: Jochen Peiper, Panzer Leader , Spellmount Publishers, Staplehurst, 1995

Steel Inferno: I Panzer Corps in Normandy , Spellmount Publishers, Staplehurst, 1997

Men of Steel: The Ardennes and Eastern Front 1944 45 , Spellmount Publishers, Staplehurst, 1999

Sons of the Reich: II Panzer Corps, Normandy, Arnhem, Ardennes, Eastern Front , Spellmount Publishers, Staplehurst, 2002

Eagles and Bulldogs in Normandy: The American 29th Infantry Division from Omaha Beach to St L and the British 3rd Infantry Division from Sword Beach to Caen , Spellmount Publishers, Staplehurst, 2003

Monty and Patton Two Paths to Victory , Spellmount Publishers, Staplehurst, 2005

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Michael Reynolds 2013

9781783830442

The right of Michael Reynolds to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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To the memory of
Private Bob Ketteringham
Royal Norfolk Regiment

I have mentioned many friends and comrades in these memoirs and it would perhaps be invidious to single any of them out for individual acknowledgement; however, my wife and family deserve special mention. Without Annes love and support I dont think I would ever have reached two-star rank. She followed me around the world, putting up with constant moves and disruption, and she did much to support the families of those I had the privilege to command. I am forever grateful. And then of course I must mention my children, Victoria, Gabrielle and Deborah and their families. They have brought me great happiness and many laughs. Again, I am so grateful.

Finally, I must mention and thank my original publisher, Jamie Wilson, and my editor, Richard Doherty. Without their help and dedication this book would never have seen the light of day.

East Sussex
England
2012

MFR

According to the county and parish records, in 1727 my ancestors lived in the small village of Blankney in Lincolnshire, ten miles south of the county town. The entire village was then part of the Chaplin family estate, but mounting debts forced Henry Chaplin to sell it to the first Earl of Londesborough in 1892.

During the Second World War Blankney Hall was requisitioned for use as billets for RAF personnel and in 1945 was badly damaged by fire, allegedly by a WAAF leaving an iron unattended! Demolished in the 1960s, all that exists now are the remains of the stable block.

Today the entire Blankney estate and village, some 12,000 acres, belongs to the Parker family and it has to be said that, with its lovely medieval church, fine stone buildings, eighteen-hole golf course and cricket club, it is a most beautiful, quintessentially English village. Sadly, the village school, shop, post office and pub have all closed and are now used as private accommodation. The population is less than 400.

So where do the Reynolds fit into this picture? Well, in 1498 the priest in the village church of St Oswald was a Master John Reynold LlB. This may be just a coincidence and why no s on the end of Reynold? I like to think the s was added when villagers pointed to a young child and said, Thats one of Father Reynolds! Be that as it may, my great, great, great, grandfather, Thomas Reynolds, was certainly living in Blankney in 1727. According to the parish records he was an agricultural worker with six children. The youngest, Mary, was born in Blankney in 1766 and, in 1788, she had a bastard son, James, who was also an agricultural worker. James had eight children and one of his grandsons, Thomas, started his working life as a farm labourer but, by 1862, had moved to Lincoln as an apprentice engine fitter. By 1879 he was a qualified iron turner. His eldest son, Matthew, was my grandfather whom I remember well. He qualified as an engine fitter and, in 1891, he and my grandmother, Sarah, moved to Birmingham. By 1911 they had seven children including my father, Frank, born in 1902. We then see the second big change in my family history because my father gained a place at King Edward VIs Grammar School in Birmingham and, with the qualifications he earned there, was able to get a junior appointment with Barclays Bank. In 1927 he married my mother Gwendolen, the daughter of a bank manager, who had also received a good education at King Edward VIs Grammar School for Girls in Birmingham. My family had moved into the middle class and this set the scene for my life a life that would take me into the middle echelons of the upper class.

I was born on 3 June 1930 into a world totally different from that of today. We lived initially in a small rented house in a Birmingham suburb but, in 1934, my father bought a new house in Solihull, Warwickshire. It cost him, then a Barclays clerk, 400 about 21,160 in todays currency.