Soldier's slang and the liberal use of acronyms are as much a part of military life now as they were before and during the war. The words that Tanner uses were mostly of Indian origin, and became part of his normal vocabulary during his time in India before the war.
For those unfamiliar with them, however, here is a guide:
Basha shelter, house
Bunduck rifle
Croaker dying person, someone severely wounded
Cushy easy
Dekko to take a look
Iggery, jaldi get a move on
And here is a further glossary of the military terms used:
HE high explosive
M/T motor transport
RAP Regimental Aid Post
Sangar a small defensive position above ground
(usually built when the ground is unsuitable for excavation)
SMLE Short Magazine Lee Enfield
To those unfamiliar with military jargon and terminology, the complexities of structure and organization may be hard to grasp. An army of the Second World War - British, American, German or Italian - was divided into corps, divisions, brigades, regiments and battalions. A force could be designated an 'army' if it consisted of two or more corps. A corps had no great significance but was a contained force within an army, usually comprising at least two divisions, i.e., no less than thirty thousand men. Next down the scale was a division. This was still a major tactical and administrative unit of an army, and within its structure contained all the various forms of arms and services necessary for sustained combat. However, different divisions had different emphases: the fighting core of an infantry division was an infantry brigade, and could, as was the case in Norway, be deployed on its own. An infantry brigade was made up of two or more infantry battalions, plus attached artillery, engineers and other units. The battalion was the basic infantry unit, usually made up of four companies of, in total, between seven hundred and nine hundred men of all ranks. A company was divided into platoons of thirty-six men, which in turn were split into three ten-man sections. The remaining six men would be the platoon commander, the platoon sergeant, and four other ranks. The size of an infantry brigade could vary enormously, but a three-battalion brigade plus additional units would be between four and six thousand men strong. An infantry division - at full establishment - usually included around seventeen thousand men.
The Norwegian campaign showed Britain that she had a lot to do if she was to keep the Germans at bay. Too many of her tactics were out of date. There was no concept of co-ordinated air power, for example, or even all-arms tactics, whereby infantry, tanks and artillery were trained and employed together. Britain would have to learn the hard way and suffer numerous bitter disappointments before the tide began to turn.
For the men of the Yorks Rangers, the end of their part in the Norway campaign marked only the beginning of their war. There was much work for them still to do over the long years to come. Jack Tanner and Stan Sykes were needed again all too soon.
I owe thanks to the following: Oliver Barnham, Robert Boyle, Dr Peter Caddick-Adams, Trevor Chaytor-Norris, Rob Dinsdale, Richard Dixon, Professor Rick Hillum, Steve Lamonby, Peta Nightingale, Hazel Orme, Dr Hugh Pelly, Michael Ridpath, Bill Scott-Kerr and everyone at Transworld, Jake Smith-Bosanquet, Lt-Col. John Starling, Patrick Walsh, Guy Walters, Susan Watt, Rowland White, Major Steve White, Bro, Rachel, Ned and Daisy. Thank you.