ARMY cadets who managed to cope with enemy soldiers, rock climbers, river crossings and assaults on pillboxes were beaten by the weather during a weekend exercise in November 1971.
The 30 NCO cadets from Oxfordshire units on operation Homeward Plod found themselves plodding back to base in cold driving rain on Saturday evening when they should have been camped out at Hampton Poyle.
The cadets, aged 14 to 17, had come from all over the county to take part in the exercise which was intended to be particularly testing.
They set out from Kidlington on a Saturday afternoon knowing only that they were in occupied territory and had to return with information on the enemy.
Their tasks started with a cliff face descent in Bletchingdon quarry and from there they had to attack an enemy position and move on across country, perform rope drops and attack a pillbox.
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