Ready?

Upstairs in the Attic, Officer of Engineers, John Chard, newly appointed Major on the staff of General Odd studied the map of the area he was now responsible for.
     Where to position Pillboxes, Dragons Teeth, Minefields? The question was for the meantime rhetorical, he had no Cement,Barbed Wire, Steel or Mines.
    He still found it difficult to accept that there would shortly be enemy troops upon his blessed England. That rifle fire and shellburst would disturb the peace of the Golfclub. German Armour would smash through Hundred Acre Wood, paratroops descend on Littletown on Sea or E boats disembark onto the pier at Bournemouth.
     His job was to see that it didn`t happen, that any enemy gained only 6 foot of English soil and that the inhabitants of Bramley End,Much Binding,Ringwood and the rest, could live in Peace.

   He looked out of the Window, on the top of the hill to his left, he could see a lone sentry, rifle slung, but bayonet fixed.
      Somehow it summed up the whole situation.

A Tricky Job

General Robert Odd sat back in his armchair, and gazed deeply into the Glass of "Spey Royal" he cradled in his hand, his mind went back over the meeting with the War Office he had just returned from. We`ve a rather tricky job for you, they said. Command of Southern Army Group. It`s rather an exaggeration really, there is no army, but there is the South of England to defend. Your responsibility will be from Southampton Water to the Purbecks and North to Salisbury Plain. We will give you all the resources we can, but at present that does not consist of much. At present we are using the area to re-organise what forces we do have, so you have various odd units, cadres really all over the place. The Navy have forces in Southampton and Portland, The RAF at Hurn, Sopley and others, you will need to co-ordinate with them. There`s Marines at Hamworthy and Hamble, Dutch,Poles,French and Belgians in various places along with remnants of the 51st Division and others who`ve just got back, along with this new lot of Local Defence Volunteers. Oh and a "special Lot" by Bucklers Hard. Weapons are minimal, Artillery, reasonable, since Larkhill comes in your area, but little ammunition. Armour poor, some old stuff from Bovington, but not much else. Good Luck!