大象传媒

CHAPTER 10

After the German offensive failed, it was not long before our forward troops joined up with the Russians and the war with Germany was over.

We now had to leave our comfortable barracks and proceed to Luneber in Holland where the unconditional surrender' documents were signed by the Germans. Not long before this Hitler had shot Eva Braun and then himself and the whole hierarchy of Nazi leaders had either committed suicide or were on the run. This war was finished but not the war with Japan.
The date of the surrender by Germany was 7th Hay 1945. Our next instructions were to drive to Potsdam, which was a few miles from Berlin. To do so we had to drive through Helmstadt which was the border between Allied held Germany and what was to become East Germany, held by the Russians. Later on we had to go over a bridge which had been called 'friendship bridge' by the Russians. We were the first Allied troops to go over this bridge and it was lined with Russian soldiers from one end to the other, with British, American and Russian flags everywhere.

It was an important occasion, because we were headed for Potsdam and the big conference between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. We spent about three weeks in Potsdam and during that time I drove by motorbike into the centre square of Potsdam, with the panniers filled with tins of coffee, which Eileen had sent to me from England. It had to be pure coffee without chicory, and as soon as I stopped in the middle of the square, I was immediately surrounded by about twenty or thirty Germans all clamouring to buy my coffee. I had decided beforehand what price I wanted for each tin and in a very few minutes I had sold the lot. The reason for all this effort was as follows - we were allowed to draw all our pay in English postal orders, which we could send home. Then, when we did go home, we could change all the money we had been paid (as shown in our pay books), into English money, providing we could produce the equivalent in German occupation marks. As I had drawn all my pay in postal orders, I had no way of getting these marks other than selling something and the only thing I had to sell was the coffee Eileen was sending me. I suppose it was all rather sad, but to the Germans, coffee was a form of currency on which they could make a good profit. I was even offered gold rings off their fingers, but I was only interested in money.

I only had the opportunity of making three such trips, and then suddenly six of us with two lorries were ordered to Berlin. We ended up by being quartered in a block of flats, centrally heated and very comfortable. It was in the Charlottenberg Strasse, an affluent part of the City, and of course, in the English sector, and at the top of the Unter den Linden, one of the most important thoroughfares in Berlin.

It was a very wide road, about six traffic lanes across, and it was fun to speed down this in a Jeep, with hardly any other traffic in sight. A large part of the centre of Berlin was destroyed. All the buildings on both sides of the road had been flattened down to ground level. All that could be seen were piles of bricks and rubble. The incredible thing was that out of this rubble one constantly saw people emerging. Apparently they were still living in what was left of their properties, most likely in their own cellars.

At the end of the Unter den Linden was the famous Brandenburg Gate and close by was the Chancellory. This area just came into the Russian held part of Berlin and was guarded by Russian Soldiers. Immediately we went through the Brandenburg Gate we were in East Berlin.

The English and American sectors of Berlin were like the West End of London with high class buildings and very impressive but East Berlin was drab and miserable. I paid several visits to the Chancellory which was badly damaged. I rummaged through various rooms which all had dust and debris over the floors. This was the place where all the unissued medals were. They were very difficult to find, but eventually I found a few, including several Iron Crosses 1st and 2nd class. In one room was where Hitler used to sit at his huge marble desk. It had been badly damaged and also overturned. I managed to break a little piece off the desk, and brought it home with me, together with the medals. One day I travelled on one of the double length trams typical of German cities. It was fairly full of Germans, but sitting opposite me was a Russian with four or five watches on each wrist. This was not unusual and we saw many Russian soldiers similarly adorned. To then it was legitimate loot and almost certainly stolen. He sat there grinning and the Germans were looking at me to see my reaction. I ignored them all. In any case I could speak neither language.

On another day I was out walking when I saw a number of placards some of them in English which read - 'atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima' and the next day -'second atom bomb on Nagasaki'. I think it was the day after that when the placards read 'Japan surrenders' . Now the Second World War really was over. It was August 1945.

The next important occasion was the Victory Parade in Berlin. This was held on the Unter den Linden and consisted of a march past of different units of all the Allied Armies. Taking the salute were the leaders of the various countries involved in the defeat of the Nazis. There were no cheers from those watching.

Germans - they stood there in silence, showing little or no emotion. There was a little bit of clapping from the hangers-on around the leaders, but when it was shown in the cinemas back in England, loud cheering had been superimposed on to the tape.

I had been in Berlin for four or five weeks when along came further orders. The six of us who came to Berlin together were to travel back to Iserlohn in the Ruhr. We again travelled in two lorries but this time each lorry pulled a trailer with a generator on board. As there was virtually no other traffic on the autobahn, we made it into a kind of race, first one in front and then the other. On more than one occasion we forgot we were pulling trailers and had near misses as we crisscrossed in front of one another.

Eventually we came to a crossroads and took the wrong turning, and after about ten miles we were stopped by a Russian military police lorry. Neither party could understand the other, but we finally produced an official looking piece of paper and they appeared to be satisfied. We turned around and made our way back to the crossroads taking the correct road which led us to Helmstadt, the boundary between East and West Germany. During the latter part of this journey, as we made our way towards the Ruhr, we passed hundreds and hundreds of German refugees trudging along the edges of the roads. At one point we passed a lorry carrying prisoners still in their prison garb and we presumed they must have come from one of the concentration camps, but who they were and where they really cane from I shall never know.

We finally arrived at our destination which turned out to be Osnabruck in the Ruhr, but we only stayed there for a week or two before we had to move to Iserlohn. Again, only a short stay and then another move to barracks at Wuppertal. These were very good quarters, previously used by the German army. They were very comfortable with all mod cons and very good food.

It was now winter and very cold but clear and bright with blue skies and very little traffic. It was a pleasure to walk into the town centre that was close by. We, of course, still had to maintain a signal office and these duties took up a good deal of our time.

There was an extremely large sergeants' mess, and for the first time in the war, we were working with the ATS - the womens' side of the army. This meant that half the signal section were men, and half were women. In the mess we were able to drink all the evening as the beer and whisky were both cheap. Many times we staggered back to our quarters that were several hundred yards from the mess. Even though we frequently tottered into the road there was no danger of being run over because there was virtually no traffic. As the war was now over we felt entitled to enjoy ourselves.

I had the opportunity of going on a two week course at Catterick in Yorkshire and I jumped at it. It was an M.T course to teach me all about the internal combustion engine. I learnt a lot and passed the course but there is a deal of difference between learning things on paper and actually physically doing the jobs. When I rejoined my unit back in Germany I found I was in charge of transport, which was hilarious considering how little I really knew about engines.

Christmas 1945 came and went and I cannot remember any celebrations of any kind. In spite of this we were all having a good time and waiting for our turn to be demobbed. One day I was offered a commission to stay on in Germany as a member of the Army of Occupation. If I had agreed I would have had to sign on for a further two years. I declined the offer but I admit it did have its attractions.

It was now 1946 and my turn for demobilisation eventually came in March. It was back to England to hand in all equipment and in return to be fitted out with a new suit, overcoat, shirt, tie, socks, shoes and trilby hat. Also we were paid a gratuity based on how many months we had served overseas. In my case I was paid about 拢120, which represented five years overseas out of my six years service.

It was a strange feeling after all that time to be back in England and having to get used to civilian life again. It had been an incredible experience, travelling to India, the Middle East, North and South Africa and Europe, all at the Government's expense.

In retrospect, the whole period brings back fairly enjoyable and in some cases happy memories. There were, I suppose, some periods of danger, apprehension and considerable discomfort but in general the mind erases these and only the good times are retained in one's memory.

All the above happened at least fifty years ago, and as it gets more and more difficult to remember the past, this story can only be a small part of what happened during those war years. It is true to state that six of the best career building years of my life were spent in the army. Was the sacrifice worth it? When one realises that nowadays the whole of Europe appears to have a higher standard of living than we do, then I doubt it. At the end of the war, I was back home with my wife, Eileen and my daughter Jacqueline, so I personally had no complaints.

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