大象传媒

In June 1944 I received my call-up papers and spent a period of 8 weeks training at Caterham. After the passing out parade I became a fully trained Grenadier Guardsman. I spent a month guarding Windsor Castle, followed by a period in Stubs Camp in Scotland at Hawick. In the Autumn we were sent to France and Belgium. We fought our way through to Germany.

The day the war ended Number 4 company and others were sent to liberate the Stalag 10b war camp which was located a few miles away from Hamburg at Cuxhaven on the river Elba. The tanks escorted us as far as the river providing much welcome cover. Then they were unable to go further and we had to make our way across the fields on foot. The German guards were firing continuously as we approached, but as we reached the gates the firing seemed to go over our heads into the distance. As we approached we could hear the loud cheers of all the prisoners who came running out of their huts and streamed out through the gates. They were grabbing and hugging us. The prisoners were a mixture of nationalities and all civilians. Fortunately, most of the prisoners were relatively healthy and appeared to have been reasonably treated. Later that day announcements were made over the loudspeakers that the war in Europe had ended. The next day we were ordered to gather up our equipment and travelled to Bonn in Germany. We ended up in Berlin after travelling via the Kiel Canal. We met up with American forces and took up public duties for 6 months. Finally we returned to England and were stationed at Chelsea barracks.

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