The Support Company vehicles were housed in garages close to, but not part of the M.T. Section. This was a long building, with sets of double doors along its length. From memory, I would say it provided shelter for the following vehicles: four Oxford Carriers and four T16 Carriers; six Humber 1-tonners and eight Austin Champs. At one end there was an inspection pit, covered, when not in use, by the usual heavy timbers. This was of a width which was very convenient for the larger vehicles, but which was not really suitable for the narrower track of the Champs. This didn’t mean that they fought shy of using it, however. As you can imagine, the challenge of driving over the pit with only the outer halves of the tyres on terra firma, was far too great for any young man to resist.
Inevitably, though, one bloke got it wrong and finished up with the off-side wheels in the pit, and the Champ lying at 45 degrees. This would certainly have resulted in the driver being in serious trouble, so we had to do something to help. Having given the matter due consideration, we came up with the following “fix”. Another Champ was brought up on the “high” side of the patient, parallel to it and at such a distance that two of the pit covering timbers fitted lengthwise between the tyres of the two vehicles. The purpose of these was to prevent sideways slippage during the rescue operation. The garage was cleared of as many vehicles as necessary and a Humber was placed at right angles to the two Champs. The winch rope was run out, over the first and attached to the far side of the stricken vehicle, i.e. over the middle of it, down the “fallen” side and attached to the chassis by some brave man (the driver), who went down into the pit to do so! The Humber then winched it onto an even keel and the same chap replaced the pit covers and the Champ was unhooked and driven away.
An Oxford Carrier of the type we recovered from the inspection pit
We were, justifiably, pretty pleased with ourselves, and were still talking about it two days later, when yes, you’ve guessed it, another victim fell into the same trap! There was, however, one important difference. This time it was an Oxford Carrier, a tracked vehicle, the successor to the ubiquitous Bren Gun Carrier of WW2, but about twice the size, and tipping the scales at a substantial seven tons. Now this was a challenge!
Our previous experience with the Champ gave us a starting point, so the first thing we had to do was to empty the garages of all vehicles, in order to have some room for manoeuvre. We parked a second Oxford parallel to the first, and again, placed the pit covering timbers end-on between the tracks of the two carriers, to prevent sideways movement during the recovery process. Two more Oxfords were then brought in to play. These were placed, side-by-side, at right-angles to the others and, as before, their winch-ropes were paid out, over the top of the “blocking” carrier and then over the top of the stranded machine and down to the far side track suspension, onto which they were both shackled. The drivers then climbed aboard and started the engines of the four carriers.
The first phase of the operation required the two “tugs” to take up the slack on their winches. They then moved slowly forward together, and kept going until they had pulled the stricken carrier up onto an even keel, albeit with one track in thin air. Being a tracked vehicle, it was possible to apply the brake on this track by use of the steering mechanism, this being the method of steering a tracked vehicle. This ensured that one track did not simply rotate uselessly in space, but instead, transferred all the driving force to the track which was on the ground. The vehicle being rescued was then reversed, along with its attendant carrier, away from the inspection pit, still supported by the winch-ropes of the other two. As soon as it was safe to do so, it was lowered to the ground, and all signs of this rescue were removed. I am proud to say that I played a very prominent role in both the planning and execution of both these operations, and that no-one, apart from the blokes involved, ever knew anything about it!