Page 130 - RSDG Year of 2021 CREST

136 EAGLE AND CARBINE Tim Spenlove-Brown
In 1964 Tim Spenlove-Brown joined the 3rd Carabiniers in Detmold, Nord-Rhein Westphalia, West Germany (as it was then), an attractive medieval garrison mar- ket town with gabled roofs and timber boarded houses. The Teutoburg forest was nearby, dom- inated by the huge statue of Hermann (Hermannsdenkmal)
who fought for the Germanic race against Rome in 9 AD. There was a brook running through the main street of Detmold. There was a rare clock traffic light suspended across the crossroads which was half red and green. When the arrow pointed red, the traffic all stopped, we hoped. It was an ingenious contraption. The Germans are an obedient race so the system seemed to work well with very little screeching of brakes.
The Carabiniers then were part of 20th Armoured Brigade, in 4th Armoured Division, 1st British Corps, and had been stationed mainly in Germany since the end of the Second World War. The war had finished less than twenty years earlier and the local inhabitants still probably viewed us as occupying powers. I con- fess that sometimes we acted as if we were.
The regiment was equipped with Mark Five Centurion petrol driven tanks with a 105 mm rifled gun. Barrack routine was well established, with endless hours on the tank park maintaining these brutish vehicles. Our operational role was to stop the Soviet hordes com- ing across the inner German border, with the British responsible for several hundred miles from Lubecke to just north of Frankfurt.
In preparation for this possibility, we undertook troop and squadron training in the spring and sum- mer, culminating in regimental, battle group and even formation level exercises, up to divisional/ corps size manoeuvres, the latter mainly in the autumn after the harvest. It was known by the soldiers as going on “ Brillon”, after a particular exercise previously in the area of the town Brillon.
Looking back on these exercises, they were extraor- dinary experiences. Military tracked formations, consisting of well over one thousand vehicles includ- ing sixty-ton tanks and armoured vehicles, roamed relatively freely over the attractive undulating coun- tryside. Much damage and havoc was caused to civilian life, but this was considered the penalty the citizens had to pay for the tyranny of Hitler and the
Third Reich. These large scale manoeuvres tended to be around the Hanover plain, including the much attacked Scherfede Gap and endless night crossings over the River Weser. They were halcyon days for the Heinz Guderian supporters of manoeuvre warfare when every budding tactician was talking about the counter stroke.
Tim graduated from Sandhurst with a regular com- mission in 1964 after completing the two year officer training course at Sandhurst. Until then he had led a peripatetic life due to his father’s occupation as an oil engineer. He was born in Trinidad, brought up and schooled in Peru, and then finally educated at Monkton Combe School, near Bath. Wisely the fam- ily had put roots down in Bath which enabled them to settle there when they chose to return to live in the UK after the tragic death in Peru of Tim’s older sister from meningitis at the age of thirteen. Very sadly dur- ing Tim’s time at Sandhurst his father died from lung cancer at the age of fifty-two, despite having never smoked.
With no obvious military roots, it is not clear why Tim embarked on an army life, in particular the Royal Armoured Corps and hence the 3rd Carabiniers. The regimental representative at Sandhurst at the time was Tim Allen, 3DG, which probably explains that point. Subsequently Tim Allen was Tim SB ‘s first commanding officer and was the father of Simon Allen, our recent colonel. He used to inspect the tanks in white gloves with a torch and screw driver, which I witnessed at first hand. They were frightening experi- ences which one could not afford to get wrong. Tim SB did once have to ‘show again’ much to the chagrin of his troop and Sergeant “Bomber Brown”, a regimen- tal character with a walrus moustache.
Tim was proud that he won the Earl Wavell Memorial Prize when at Sandhurst: The Confederate Raid on Catlett Station 1862, personally researched in Virginia. A favourite quote from one of Jeb Stuart’s troopers - “if you want to smell hell, join the cavalry”.
He was a hard working, well-organised and conscien- tious officer. They were carefree days, particularly in the summer when adventurous training was on the agenda, as well as trips in the winter to the German Alps for skiing. Troop leaders in barracks had no real responsibility. Tim easily settled into the routine of life in barracks: first parade in the tank park, coffee at ten in the comfortable officers’ mess, possibly a trip into town, lunch and a lazy afternoon on one’s bed “pressing blankets”, also known as Egyptian PT, or on the sports field. Tim was a great athlete, so enjoyed