Exercises – Spearhead One and Spearhead Two

We participated in a couple of major exercises: Spearhead one and Spearhead two, an authentic scenario involving allied troops with a daily newspaper and paratroops flown from the UK.

To get to these locations we travelled via the Autobahn at a speed, that for some reason was calculated at miles per two hours.  To achieve this it was possible to pull out the hand throttle and put a match box behind to keep it open and sit back to occasionally be disturbed by the despatch rider or the horns of a huge Magirus Deutz truck and trailer with a stylised M looking like a rocket on the radiator.  Up until then, the largest private lorry I had seen was a Pickford removal lorry.

We either put up our own tents or found alternative army camps using their facilities. On one occasion we found an abandoned hotel, the Overather Hof ¹ at Haltern-am-See, which was on a large lake and a pre-war spa. Being a somewhat independent character, I had sent out to me an ex navy canvas hammock which could be suspended between trees or Jeep and trailer with the Poncho draped over.  It was very comfortable.