大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by Lisa Butcher of Leicestershire Library Services on behalf of Len Taylor and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

We embarked on a 10,000 ton Liberty ship belonging to the US Navy, as we had been lent to the Americans who had a shortage of heavy artillery.

The ship anchored offshore near the 鈥楿tah鈥� beach head and we had to lower our guns and lorries down onto the landing barges and climb down rope ladders on the side of the ship onto these landing craft, which were bobbing about in rather rough seas. We made it to the beach and waded ashore about waist deep. It was hard work getting our heavy guns and lorries off the beach and ready for action.

We then proceeded up to the coast road through lots of debris and finally reached the cliffs overlooking Cherbourg. The site of the docks was something, the Germans had dumped trains, carriages, waggons and had sunk ships in the harbour to prevent its use; it was a right mess. We didn鈥檛 have too much trouble there. We had to watch out for mines and there was some rifle fire after dark.

We came under the Americans for our food and rations. They just about doubled our tobacco ration which was very popular. We settled there for a time and occasionally managed to get into the town of Cherbourg. The Americans, of course, were there first and had taken over anything worthwhile including those typical French places with red coloured lamps outside.

Having been stuck for a while the Allies suddenly began to attack and took Caen which suffered very badly. At the same time we left the American sector and moved up to the British Sector. Being an NCO I was recruited to be in our advance party whose job it was to go ahead of the regiment to choose sites for our guns and help clear any mines that may be lurking.

We kept going and in what seemed no time at all found ourselves on the outskirts of Brussels, it had been a sight for sore eyes going through the towns and villages. Caen was really bad and after that the Falaise Gap was really choked with knocked out German armour, dead horses and the general carnage of war.

On reaching the Belgian border close on the heels of the retreating Germans, we were given the most glorious welcome by the German people. I鈥檒l never forget it, they had strewn the roads with flowers, etc. On some buildings they had signs up with the words 鈥淲ELCOME TOMMY鈥� and they just swarmed all over our vehicles wanting to touch and kiss you, it was really wonderful.

It took our regiment nearly a week to catch us up, and having done all that was required of us we were all allowed to go into Brussels. On our first trip into town we visited the 鈥楢u Ballon鈥� Hotel. There were about eight of us and of course we didn鈥檛 have any Belgian money. We had however been issued with specially made notes that would be accepted in Belgium. The waiter, unfortunately, had other ideas and didn鈥檛 want to accept this strange currency. Eventually the manager arrived and instructed the waiter to accept it.

A Belgian couple sitting nearby overheard all of this and the gentleman being able to speak English, asked to see one of these new notes. I offered to give him one as a souvenir, but he would only accept providing I accepted the same amount in real Belgian money. We then struck up a conversation and on leaving he presented me with his card and invited me to visit his home. After a while I had the opportunity to do this and that friendship has lasted to this day. We are hoping to meet again soon, before we get too old.

We eventually moved up into Holland and they started a leave plan back to 鈥楤lighty鈥�. I was fortunate in the draw and was amongst the first to come back on leave. It was a grand experience. We boarded a special train from Antwerp to Calais that was plastered all over with 鈥淏RITISH LIBERATION ARMY鈥� posters and we got tremendous welcomes in every town we went through in Belgium and France. You can imagine the roar that went up when we got in sight of the White Cliffs of Dover; it certainly brought a rather large lump to the throat.

We had another special train to take us from Dover to London, again decorated with the BLA signs and we got a nice British welcome. It was wonderful to once again see your close relatives and friends, but all too quickly it was over, although I did get an extra day due to bad weather in the Channel. You had to listen to the radio the day before you were due to sail back and they would tell you if it was ok to return.

One thing I remember very vividly is when we were being transported from Holland down to Antwerp. We came to a section where there had been a bad skirmish with the enemy and chaps had been buried on the spot. As we went past they were digging these bodies up and piling them into army lorries it was a sad sight and one thought 鈥漈here but for the grace of God, go I.鈥�

That winter proved to be one of the worst on record and we, of course, had no kind of shelter from it. You had to keep the guns well covered up but you came second. However, on the worst days and nights we were treated to the Navy鈥檚 usual pleasure of rum rations, that was good stuff.

Most of us made it through this fairly quiet period, and after guarding the Arnham Bridge, we were brought back into Belgium to help stop the German breakthrough at the 鈥楤attle of the Bulge鈥�. This lasted over Christmas 1944 and during that time we were attacked by the first German jet aircraft to go into action. They really took us by surprise and before we could get a shot off they were gone.

We eventually got into Germany and finished up in Hamburg. With the war in Europe over, it had taken away five years of our lives, but the Far Eastern war was far from over and we began to train to go out there. However the Atom bombs on Japan brought that to an abrupt end and thankfully we stayed in Hamburg.

One cannot describe the horrors this large city had suffered, and our first task was to ship out the thousands of German soldiers who had surrendered. We took many up into Denmark, where I met Russian soldiers doing the same thing.

We also had thousands of refugees to contend with. At the time these were called 鈥楧isplaced Persons鈥� and lots were in a terrible state having been released from concentration camps. Another task we were given was to put a guard on the River Elbe Bridge, one of the few bridges still intact between the Allied Armies and the Russian Armies.

I spent the next year in Hamburg eventually helping to train the new recruits who were still being called up in Britain and sent out to Germany to replace the men who were slowly but surely being released to go home after six years. I was offered further promotion and gratuities to stay longer but I had had enough and had a lovely wife and two small children to come back to. My eldest son was three years old and I had only seen him five times, my youngest son was one and a half and I had only seen him once so as you can imagine my wife was somewhat overworked.

By the time I came home just a year after the war had ended all the 鈥楪lory鈥� had gone. We were left to try and make a new life for ourselves with very little help from the country we had so proudly defended.

The fighting men of the Far East were nicknamed the 鈥淔orgotten Army鈥� during the war, but I think we could all call ourselves the Forgotten Army now. I am sure most of us feel a little disillusioned at the lack of recognition of our service to our country. However, I would not have liked to have missed it despite the hardships, in fact I still remain a very proud ex-serviceman.

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