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The Adventures of Colonel Daffodil by Roy Redgrave



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Author: Roy Redgrave

Publisher: Pen & Sword

Genres:

Publish Date: March 5, 2007

ISBN-10: 1844155250

Pages: 202

File Type: Epub, Mobi

Language: English

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Book Preface

Daffodil was a miniature Pekinese bitch who weighed less than a kilogram. She had bandy legs and one bright eye. The other had been removed by a mean stable cat in the first week that she joined the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at Hyde Park Barracks in London. She always preceded me on my morning tour of inspection of the stables. Neat piles of steaming manure and straw bedding were laid out in the yard to dry in the sun. This was then used again, thus saving the Quartermaster money. Troopers might be resting on their brooms when invariably someone, like an alert African meerkat, would shout, ‘Eyes down, here comes Daffodil’, thus warning dozing troopers of their Commanding Officer’s imminent arrival and the stable yard would suddenly become a scene of great activity.

Daffodil’s friend was called Hannibal, a much-loved drum horse of the Blues, whose hoof alone was enormous. When he died his hooves were shod with silver horseshoes and turned into handsome inkwells. Much later the regiment was horrified to discover that five such hooves had been created, and decided, in order to avoid disappointment, that it was best to say nothing. Daffodil lived for many years and her gravestone stands among the daffodils in a garden in the village of Warmwell in Dorset. To some people it seems I had already become Colonel Daffodil. Fifteen years later, when I was Major General, Brigade of Gurkhas, Hong Kong, this may have changed to General Daffodil Sahib.

I was brought up in Romania. I did not go to school until I was nine years old, in 1934, when I left home for the first time and was sent to Lambrook, a boarding school in Berkshire. Five years later, during the summer holidays, which were spent beside the Black Sea, the Second World War began. I was sent back to England, to Sherborne School, in October 1939. It was to be six years before I saw any of my family again.

Having missed out on the early years of schooling, I realized I knew absolutely nothing about English history except the story of Robin Hood. It was not until I became a Wolf Cub at Lambrook and was taught how to light a campfire that I was also taught the history of the Union Jack. I was keen that Romania’s history should not be forgotten, so I was frequently given to outbursts, standing up in class for Romania, based on the crumbs of information gleaned from my Romanian mother. It influenced my thinking. I suppose I had a chip on my shoulder.

The corruption which existed in Romania at all levels, and still lingers on, was not revealed to me until I was much older. It seemed perfectly normal that my father was obliged to bribe the gendarmes to allow the distillation of plums to continue, provided they each received a bottle of plum brandy. The still was well-hidden behind the coach house at the bottom of the garden. The smell, however, was very strong when it was working.

Our big American Buick motor car was taxed by weight. This meant that it turned up at the taxation office without a spare wheel, with no back seat or tools, and an empty fuel tank.

I have described my life up to leaving the Army in a biography called Balkan Blue. The story continues with the Romanian background to my family history and the adventures I have enjoyed during some of my travels.

Little-known battles were fought in the High Arctic in which a handful of men survived in the harsh climate and against heavy odds. The Cold War in all its forms has occupied much of my life. My admiration goes to those local leaders such as village policemen who have to make big decisions, which, to us in our ignorance, may seem trivial. Is the ice strong enough to take a sledge? Does he let the smuggler go free and risk losing his job or does he arrest him and get a stone through his window?

Table of Contents

Copyright Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
PART I1861-1919
Chapter 1DANUBE DEBUT
Chapter 2DISASTROUS DIPLOMACY
Chapter 3BITTER BETRAYAL
PART II1920-1945
Chapter 4SPRING WEDDINGS
Chapter 5EARLY TRAVELS IN ROMANIA
Chapter 6THE FLOTSAM OF WAR
PART III1946-1965
Chapter 7THE WENDISCH WACHMEISTER
Chapter 8THE HONEY BAG FLING
Chapter 9THE GARDE CHAMPÊTRE
Chapter 10CORSICAN SHEPHERDS
PART IV1966-1980
Chapter 11THE BERLIN WALL
Chapter 12THE VILLAGE FÊTE
Chapter 13BINDHI’S BLUFF
Chapter 14THE AMERINDIANS
Chapter 15THE DOWAGER DUCHESS
Chapter 16GUARDS OF HONOUR
PART V1981 -1996
Chapter 17GREENLAND INUIT
Chapter 18THE GENERAL
Chapter 19BEYOND BEAR ISLAND
Chapter 20SPITZBERGEN AT WAR
Chapter 21FRANZ JOSEF LAND
AFTERTHOUGHTS

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