大象传媒

I was in the Parachute Regiment for 7 1/2 years; this account covers the time just before VE day to VJ day and beyond when I served in several countries.
On the 24th March 45 the unit I was in as part of the British 6th Airborne Division together with the US 17th Airborne Division dropped into Germany - Operation "Varsity"
21,000 men and 3.100 aircraft took part and the fly-in took 2hrs 40mins to complete, We were met with heavy ack ack from German 88s.and small arms fire whilst dropping but all objectives
were achieved and the operation was recorded as a complete success.
In our advance through Northern Germany we came across Belsen and witnessed something of the horror perpetrated by the
Nazis in these concentration camps.
We were so far ahead of the main front at one time that we were fired on by one of our own aircraft. a rocket-firing Typhoon, the pilot evidently mistaking us for retreating Germans.
We eventually met up with the Russians at Wismar a town on the Baltic around VE day and celebrated the occasion with a bottle of beer for each man, supplied with our rations, supplemented by some with Vodka - supplied by the Russians.
Shortly after this we were flown back to UK, given leave, on our return issued with jungle-green uniform and equipment and sent to India. The war in the Far East was still going on and there were strong rumours that an airborne asssault against the Japs was being planned, possibly on Singapore. After acclimatisation and some training the l6 Independent Parachute Brigade of which my unit was a part set sail in two aircraft carriers. the Triumph and the Warrior, bound for Malaya. Fortunately, whatever had been planned was cancelled because of the Japanese surrender shortly after the dropping of the atom bombs. We were taken on to Singapore where we disembarked.
We were given many varied tasks there. Firstly to take over from the Japs in guarding munition dumps, food depots, etc., from looters.
Although we received a favourable reception from the inhabitants
as a whole most of whom were relieved to be rid of the Japs, there was also a strong communist element seeking Independence for Malaya, They regarded our purpose in being there, simply to restore colonial rule.
We had one or two skirmishes with them and in one incident
our own platoon officer was killed.
For a time my unit acted as warders in Changi Gaol and we were billetted in the warders quarters just outside the prison. Some of us were given the task of escorting the prisoners, Japanese accused of war crimes, to the courts in Singapore to stand trial
and if found guilty returning them for execution, either by hanging or by firing squad. One of our men was appointed assistant hangman - he was a butcher in civilian life.
From Singapore we were sent to Java (now part of Indonesia) to assist the Dutch who were having some difficulty in re-establishing themselves in their former colony. The natives had got on rather well with the Japs and had enjoyed a certain amount
of independence whilst they were there. Our role, we were told by our CO was to act as mediators and get on friendly terms with the natives. He went on a tour of the villages outside Batavia (now Jakarta) unescorted, apart from his driver and was fired on, his driver was wounded The incident called for a change of tactics .
and we were detailed to carry out searches in all these villages
for arms and explosives. There was a battalion of Japanese soldiers near us awaiting repatriation back to Japan - we would take them with us on these operations and had no further
trouble.
Very few of us drew any pay whilst in Java; had we done so we would have been paid in Dutch guilders which few shopkeepers would accept - they still preferred the currency in use during the occupation. We were given a liberal supply of these, gratis, during our four month stay.
We returned to Singapore for a short time, As most members of the unit were due for demob the unit would soon be disbanded.

As a regular I still had some time to serve and was posted to the 9th Battalion Parachute Regiment in Palestine where Britain had been given the task of acting as mediators between the Arabs and the Jews An impossible task with the mass influx of Jews from Europe.
As Oliver Hardy might have said
"Another fine mess they've got me into"

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.