domestic site, to tell me to hang on and stay on watch because the road was totally blocked with snow at Frohnhausen. There, it went through a defile which had filled level to a depth of over 10 feet. The alternative routes were also impassable. In the event, with a very tired crew we were able to keep the tech site running until relief finally got through some 26 hours later. The bad weather, fortunately for all of us, also prevented any flying so I did not have to man a control cabin solo without anyone but a scratch crew. Group was informed and apparently put great pressure on the Station Commander to get a full watch on duty as soon as possible. He did his best, as did the RAF snow plough and snow-blow drivers. We kept the radar working and a surveillance watch was maintained continuously throughout this period. We also, out of curiosity periodically phoned, or I sent someone up to, the Guardroom to find out what the weather was doing. The SPs were not normally given access down into the bunker, but in these circumstances I had to arrange for each one of them, in turn, to come below for a break, while one of the radar watchkeepers did a stint as his replacement for an hour or two.
On travelling back, having been eventually relieved by a new watch, we went through several places where the snow had drifted many feet deep and where our lads had cut their way through it with their equipment. In areas sheltered from the wind, the telegraph wires were stretched and sagged low with the weight of snow on them, and tree branches had broken off. The normally very timid wild deer were openly foraging close to the villages.
It had been quite a storm. Fortunately for us the high, constantly rotating, search radar antenna had kept itself sufficiently clear of snow for us still to get good signals. If the Eastern Bloc had got up to any tricks, even in those conditions, we would still have seen them.
Once back in the Mess, I was extremely pleased to get a hot meal and go to bed after, like the rest of my crew, surviving on hot drinks and biscuits until supplies ran out.
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