´óÏó´«Ã½

This story is transcribed by me Graham Shepherd , from notes and discussions with Bill Ashley , and will be added to the site with his permission . He understands the sites terms and conditions.

On 16th April 1945 the Guards Armoured Division were told to move to join the X11 Corps ; which was about 100 miles away . We were in the 5th Guards Brigade and followed the signs of what we called the highway decorators and arrived a village close to the Hamburg / Bremen autobahn on 19th April . After a good nights rest with some good food we No. 1 squadron and No. 3 company set off to take the small town of Elsdorf . Having taken the town our squadron commander Major Mick O’Cock - later to become Brigadier - planned his campaign and my No. 4 Troop were sent to a small farm about 200 yards from the bridge over the autobahn .Straight in front of us about 300 yards the other side of the autobahn was another troop who were using a milk factory , while the other troop went on a further two kilometres to Wistedt . I cannot remember where H Q Troop were.

Our troop got into position , my tank being in the left hand corner of the orchard . To our right was the troop sergeants tank and then the fire fly and a further tank covering the rear . We were getting low on supplies so it was a welcome sight to see No. 1 transport with fuel and ammunition . We then heard on the wireless that the Irish Guard group in Wistedt were coming back to cover the other side of Elsdorf.

By now our 3rd Battalion friends were digging along the hedge in front of the tanks and our troop officer Lt. Halinan told us that he was off for a O Group meeting and that he would cook supper when he arrived back . In the mean time we carried out maintenance , looked at our mail , brewed up and generally talked about the end of our war . I well remember that night , we had omelettes and sponge pudding . Jack Ashbridge cut slices from the leg of ham which was salty , but after a few hours soaking it was very nice.

At this point we did not know that we were about to get a reminder that the war was not yet over . I was detailed first ‘ stag ‘ at 22-00 so I stood in the top of the turret and it was very quite with all the crew off to sleep while I listened to the 19 wireless set . We were callsign Charlie 1 . I was also in conversation with our infantry friends.

At about 23-00 hours all hell let loose , as our gunners started to put a ‘ stonk ‘ on the town of Zeven about miles away . It turned out that our friends the Grenadiers were putting in a night attack . At last I was relieved , so into the drivers seat I went and made myself as comfortable as possible and went to sleep.

At about 04-00 hours Bob Avis woke us all up and we stood to ready for action . We decided to brew up and cook our ham and eggs and while we could hear the noise of battle in the distance . The troop in the milk factory were also on stand to like us , while the other troop and infantry started off to Wistedt led by Lt. Quinan. We heard on the wireless that Wistedt was occupied by the Germans with SP’s and that we had lost two tanks.

At around 06-00 our crew has finished breakfast but others had not when we heard those dreadful Moaning Minnies start up in the distance and we new that they were for us . We jumped into our tank in quick time and closed the hatches and waited . We were soon under a heavy barrage including artillery shells and our troop opened up on them and although our gunners were on target they put us under great pressure . The tank stank of cordite , but we were running short of ammunition and called for urgent supplies . Fortunately there was a lull , although the troop near Wistedt were up against elite German troops who were pressing home their advantage.

From one tank which got knocked out Guardsman Charlton took the browning 300 from the tank and faced the advancing German troops single handed and although he inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy he was severely wounded but moved his position and carried on shooting again inflicting many more losses on the enemy . He was removed by his mates and taken into a house for cover but was soon surrounded by the German troops and all were taken prisoner.

We were right down on ammo and to our surprise we saw three Bedford three tonners coming over the bridge and they turned into the orchard . They were from RASC transport . They were amazed when we told them that they had just come through Jerry lines and said that they had not been this close before . We soon had our ammunition on board and straight away Jerry who had managed to get up to the church started to let us have it . They had set up a machine gun post in the church and were creating havoc , but a well placed shot from our tank put a stop to that . Up until now we had been on the receiving end of the battle and you could see by the expressions on the faces of our men that the heavy bombardment we were under was causing some trouble both to ourselves and our infantry . However luck was on our side for the weather started to change and we could see blue sky appearing.

Next moment the wireless operator was calling Charley1 , Charley 1 could we have the our ‘ feathered friends ‘ at map reference ‘ bla bla bla ‘ , Charley 1 over and out . All of a sudden the shelling stopped and we knew that RAF Typhoon’s were about so we opened our hatches and looking up to the rear there they were . With the targets located they peeled off from their formation into a steep dive and we saw the rockets leave the planes . When they had finished their job it was our turn and when the order to advance came we set off past the church and saw that there were many casualties from both sides lying all around.

As we were leaving the village a lady came out in front of us with two children , she was very frightened and had a note in her hand which she was determined that we should see . My troop officer told me to see what she wanted and I got out to look at the note which had been written by one of my mates who had been taken prisoner with Guardsman Charlton and asked that we look after the this family as the lady had done everything possible to dress Gd.Charltons wounds and make him as comfortable as possible . She also insisted that I go inside the house where I found the badly wounded body of a German soldier and I assured her that everything would be all right.

We then pressed on while the 53rd Welsh Division took up our old positions . It was two days before we caught up with our pals who had been captured only to be told that Guardsman Charlton had died of his wounds.

The German Officer who had led the Battalion against us praised the courage of Guardsman Charlton and recommended that he should be awarded a bravery medal . He was , being awarded the VC , the last VC in the European Campaign - for us the war was over.

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