h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Deborah.
In your personal blurb you stated apologetically that Cape Aghulas was far from any action. Not so. There was a constant movement of German submarines around the Cape. A friend of mine, a Rhodesian in a Catalina flying boat, sunk one off the Cape Atlantic coast. And South Africa was full of military activity under General Smuts. Your countrymen were in the front line.
Derek Wilkins

Hi Derek,

Sorry for the delay in replying - I've been off on holiday.

First of all, the 'remove' link relates to the Editorial Desk - if you decide you no longer want your contribution submitted to the Editorial Desk for whatever reason, you can click on that link to remove it. The article will still be up on the site, and accessible via your personal page, but no longer accessible through Editorial Desk. Only you or the BBC Editors can do this for your articles.

I've just read your contribution about training in southern Africa - very interesting stuff! I guess the reason I said Agulhas was far from any action is that I've been reading so much WW2 stuff that - compared to say, Arnhem or El Alamein - it does seem like it was far from the action. I do know that troops were stationed there - you can still walk up to their lookout post on the little mountain, and the barracks has now been turned into a rather nice holiday home! There is also a tidal pool that was built by the soldiers during the war - known by the locals as Soldatepoel, or Soldier's Pool.

My family, however, were farming in the area and didn't see action in quite the same way as some of my colleagues' relatives.

Would love to hear more of your stories - you must have flown over Agulhas and the Overberg more than once while being stationed at George?

Deborah