大象传媒

My name is Peter Bailey. I was born in 1916. I was in the Surrey Police Force from 1937 so I was there when the war broke out, and at first you were reserved occupation if you didn鈥檛 volunteer for the air force, which one did but one had to be colour-blind and didn鈥檛 get in, so you waited until you were called up.

When we were called up, another colleague of mine, we both decided we鈥檇 like to go into the Churchill tanks. We figured it would be a good thing to have had that training for after the war with mechanical motorcars and things. So we eventually, after our initial training, finished up at Catterick Camp to learn to be Churchill Tank drivers.

Whilst we were there, a whole load of Chemical Warfare branch of the Royal Engineers, officers and NCOs arrived. This would have been 1943. They arrived to be familiarised with Churchill tanks, but not to drive them. Whatever they were up to was no interest to us, except one day we were all told to go to the camp cinema, which was a large concern, and there believe it or not, we were shown the German propaganda film of the Dieppe Raid. We didn鈥檛 connect this very much at the time until suddenly both of us, having completed our training, we were sent to Bury St Edmunds, where we had to go to 82 Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers, which we knew nothing about. A whole load of drivers from different cavalry regiments had also arrived at the same place for the reason we didn鈥檛 know.

When we got there, there was a Major Elpinstone, an extremely nice gentleman, I believe he was related to the Queen Mother, and on D-Day put his head out from one of the tanks of 82 Squadron and he was killed. He never got ashore alive. He was a gentleman and instead of, as is the army usual 鈥榶ou, you, and you鈥�, he said 鈥淩ight you chaps, there鈥檚 a list of squadrons on the door of one of the offices and that tells how many drivers are needed at different squadrons which have been formed. I don鈥檛 care where you go so long as the numbers are filled鈥�. So my colleague and I said 鈥渨ell, as ex-policemen we haven鈥檛 got any friends, so we鈥檒l go to wherever is left鈥�.

So we finished up going to a squadron, I don鈥檛 remember the name of it now, and there we started all this 鈥榝unnies鈥� training. The 鈥榝unnies鈥� are the armoured engineers of the 79th Armoured Division. We didn鈥檛 know until about two days before D-Day that the squadron that we鈥檇 gone to happened to be the junior one and was going to be kept in reserve on D-Day. So although one would have liked to have seen D-Day, it probably wasn鈥檛 a terribly healthy place to be. So anyway we were then involved in a lot of experimental work and training. We even finished up on the Downs behind Worthing, and even on Worthing seafront. We waterproofed for an invasion that was cancelled whatever that was going to be. The advance must have come up quite a way by then.

Eventually I went over from Tilbury on a tank landing craft across to the port next door to Dunkirk in Belgium where we went by road right down into Belgium where there was a training experimental place. We spent a lot of time there and then eventually, at the time of the advance into Germany I suddenly found myself taken on my own to Nijmegen where I was presented with a tank and we had to sleep in a house, as everybody else did, empty house, and we put over a barrage of a thousand guns firing a thousand rounds, and the Germans replied and then next morning we were going to drive into Germany, which we did straight away with a new tank, I just had a look at it the day before when I arrived, and that was it 鈥� off to the Reichwalde Forest and kept going.

The Rhine crossing. Now I don鈥檛 know how old this tank was that I鈥檇 been given but it gave a lot of trouble and when we were preparing for the Rhine crossing when we were to all carry Fascine bundles.
I鈥檇 had trouble the day before with the gearbox. The fitters spent all night, took the gearbox out and put it back again. OK they said. So then we drive up to the village where the rest had gone, which was right beside the river, just one or two fields separating this little village from the river, and then we set off at night, it was quite eerie, there were little metal posts stuck in the ground with white tape linking them all the way towards the river, military police and little bicycle lamps with hoods and yellow lenses, but the thing was the Churchill tank had an ultra-violet headlamp and the tank in front had oil wiped on its back and that glowed in the dark. And that鈥檚 how you followed until in our case, the last field before the actual river, and the gearbox gave trouble again. So we pulled out and we had to stop there for about two days then because they got the proper fitters 鈥� the electrical mechanical fitters. They put it right and instead of crossing by raft, as the rest had had to do, we were able to drive down to where the first floating Bailey bridge was and drove across with our 40-ton tank on that and caught up with the rest of the mob. So that was the Rhine crossing over with, but on out way to that floating Bailey bridge we watched the air armada perform and all the gliders come down. It was a wonderful sight to see. Mind you, we did go to the river with our canvas bucket and get loads of Rhine water, which we used for washing and shaving.

Now the next thing of any interest was a place called Goch. We鈥檇 been doing all these funny things with bridges and Fascine bundles and explosives of all kinds. We鈥檇 got to take one of these assault bridges, now they were 40 feet long and they could carry a 40-ton tank. It was two pathways or roadways joined together with crossed steelwork so that you could see between the two roadways as the bridge was poised on the front of the tank, held up by steel cables, which released the bridge with the press of a button in the turret. So we built this thing, and we were funnily enough, billeted in some empty damaged houses that night, which had been houses used by the German officers for their family homes, and they all had reinforced concrete cellars and all the cellars were inter-connected down the road, in other words, part of the Siegfried Line defences.

Comes the morning, we were ready then to take this bridge up to drop it at a place Goch, and as we were driving up a sort of a valley with hills either side where the enemy was, and in the ditches either side of the road were our troops. And we were going along for a short distance when we were stopped because one of our scout cars had come up to have a word with the bods up in the turret, and I was sitting in the driving seat, I could see our infantry in the ditches either side of the road and then my radio operator called down for me to put my head out the turret and look to the right.

Now on these tanks we didn鈥檛 have guns, we had Petard bomb throwers, and the muzzle of the Petard is rather a frightening size, and if it happens to be looking at you, you wouldn鈥檛 fancy it. I looked out across this expanse between the two lots of hills and there was one of these big farm combines, rather like the Americans have, a massive thing anyway, and out of it was a whole procession of German soldiers, civilians, hands up, white flags flying, and everything else, old sheets, all coming out to surrender and the infantry in the ditches near where we were, were laughing. They said 鈥淲e knew the beggars were there but we couldn鈥檛 get at them鈥�. Now we鈥檇 stopped in all innocence, but that muzzle had to be pointing straight at the farm and I presume the German owner saw his post-war prosperity going for a Burton. They all surrendered to the infantry in the ditches at the side of the road and we went up the road then for another mile or two and dropped the bridge without any trouble and returned to base.

Another thing that happened, it was on our way up to Bremen, I think it was near Bremervorde and one of our lot had gone up to put a few of these bombs that we fired from this Petard, there was a road block, which was causing a problem and of course one or two of those got rid of any opposition and they went up to do it but what they didn鈥檛 know was, that in desperation the Germans had been burying sea mines under the roads and making the concrete road look 鈥榦ld鈥� where it had been done. Next and last we saw of that was the tank go climbing up a house and everybody killed inside of it and there was a massive explosion to send that flying.

Eventually we were up near the south of Hamburg somewhere in the Lunenburg area, and of course these assault bridges, they used to have to be shared. If we were about to use one by several tanks which would be towing something rather like a stripped-out Bren gun carrier or one of the troop carriers of that type with nothing in it but space and all these sections of these assault bridges would be shared out amongst two or three of these carriers and they were towed behind the Churchill tank. Overweight for what they were meant to carry. Unfortunately, although you could change the bogey on a Churchill tank, you weren鈥檛 officially allowed to do it on a simple little carrier. So if a bogey overheated, which was quite a habit when you were overloading them, they would run hot and you would have to pull out and wait for the fitters to do the change, which is what happened to us.

We were going along and the radio comes on from the tank behind to say that smoke was coming out of one of your bogies on this carrier, so you pull out. This was on a country road, nothing about apart from us and our lot were going on down the road for another mile so into a farmyard for the night where we should have joined them. Anyway, we were stuck at the roadside, nothing happening, nobody about, fed up, and a lot of flashing lights and some scout cars came roaring up the road with a couple of large German civilian cars, and as they went by we looked and saw a lot of silver braid and what-have-you, and we thought well, they鈥檙e definitely Germans, and off they went.

Then an hour or so later we were still in the same place, still waiting for the fitters who never did come, and this same lot came back again and this time they shouted out as they went by 鈥淚t鈥檚 all over鈥�. So we were actually on Lunenburg Heath but didn鈥檛 know that we were near to Montgomery but that was the surrender party that had just come up and done so and on their way back to wherever they got them from, and we were some of the first to know that the war was over. Or at least on our area and I think the next day the Americans got the same treatment.

Anyway so then eventually our officer came up and he said 鈥淲ell, Bailey, we won鈥檛 want this bloody lot any more will we鈥� and I said 鈥淣o, sir鈥�, and he said 鈥淩ight, well unhitch it and push it in the ditch and come on down to this farm鈥�. So we set off down the road, it was only a mile away I suppose, didn鈥檛 know we were that near to home.

Nobody about but suddenly in the middle of the road was an infantry soldier with a bucket, and he鈥檚 waving me down to stop. So I pulled up, 鈥淲hat do you want mate鈥�? 鈥淥h give us a lift鈥� he said 鈥渢his bucket鈥檚 heavy鈥�. So I said 鈥淲ell, jump up鈥� and he sort of sat up above my hatchway holding the bucket, and off we went down the road, and of course, naturally called out 鈥淲hat鈥檚 it for then, what you got there?鈥� 鈥淥h鈥� he said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 the unit鈥檚 rum ration鈥�. So at that moment five mugs came out from the tank and the tide went down in the bucket and he had no trouble to carry it when we left him. We turned into the farmyard, and of course more rum there and some Schnapps we had in the turret, and I don鈥檛 remember much more that day.

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