大象传媒

Into Germany

On 27th March 1945 the 7th Armoured Division was the first British armoured division across the pontoon bridge over the Rhine into Germany. There were many fierce battles with fanatical SS Troops and Hitler Jugend forces. On one occasion Fred recalls watching two German Meshersmitt fighter planes being shot down by a Bofors gun with five rounds, each only about five inches long, an incredible feat.

It was around this time that Fred was driving Lieutenant Fawcus, his Commanding Officer, in a scout car on a reconnaissance mission close to the front accompanied by an army photographer in an open jeep. In a clearing Fred could see British tanks up ahead but their hatches were battened down. He called up to his commander who had his head above the armoured plating on the top of the scout car, 鈥淪ir, I think those tanks ahead are in action鈥�. 鈥淒rive on Smith,鈥� came back the reply. As they advanced an enemy shell hit a nearby tree and exploded, and the C.O. was hit in the head by a fragment of the shell and fell dead down into the scout car. The photographer was hit by another shell fragment in the chest and was also killed. Fred put the photographers鈥� body on the front of his scout car and returned to Headquarters. After clearing up the car Fred took out his 鈥榋oot Suit鈥� (warm overalls, see earlier picture) which was rolled up behind his seat. There were many large holes in the suit which made him realise how close he had come to being hit.

18.
Belsen.

On April 12th 1945 the concentration camp at Belsen was reached by a reconnaissance unit of the S.A.S. On the 13th Fred鈥檚 unit arrived and was met with a vision of unspeakable horror. The smell (of death) was the first thing to hit from a mile or so away, which made a mockery of the local populations claim not to know what was going on inside the camp. It was almost impossible in some instances to tell the dead from the living. Fred said he was afraid to lift people up in case they would fall apart. The Division was there about a week during which time they took the inmates who were capable of being moved in buses the mile or so to the town square where they made the German people file past to show them the results of their actions. Later in the same town square Fred remembers a bizarre incident where a piano was brought out of a house and of all things an impromptu sing-song occurred, culminating in a wide circle of petrol being poured around the group and set on fire. More likely than not this may have been an attempt to lighten the mood after the events of the previous days.
As a postscript, exactly sixty years later Fred was reunited in London with a young inmate of Belsen, Rudi Oppenheimer, in an emotional ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial in Hyde Park attended by dignitaries such as General Sir Mike Jackson (head of Armed Forces), Sir Jonathen Sacks the chief of Rabbi Great Britain, The MP Lord Janner , see picture below. Out of approximately 200 people present Fred was the only ex-serviceman who had been present at Belsen. There were many TV cameramen and reporters.


Daily Express 13th April 2005
Fred appeared in national TV coverage on 大象传媒 1 and 2, Channel 4 and further pictures and story in The Guardian and also in Fred鈥檚 local paper.

19.
Berlin 鈥� In at the Death.

The Division continued onto Hamburg, the surrender of which was accepted on 3rd May 1945. Fred was astounded at the level of destruction that had been wreaked on the city鈥︹�檛here was hardly a building left standing in some areas鈥�. Then onto Kiel which many were glad to do to escape the stench of the dead in the rubble. They were taking prisoners all along the way.

Fred continued with his unit right up to the outskirts of Berlin where they were halted as the Russians were allowed to take the city, a fact Fred was not too sorry about given the bitter hand to hand fighting that ensued. The surrender came at 8.00 hours on 5th May 1945.

Probably the summary is best made by Churchill after the Victory Parade in Berlin; 鈥淣ow I have a word more to say about the Desert Rats. They were the first to begin鈥� in action in the desert in 1940 and ever since you have kept marching steadily forward on the long road to victory. Through so many countries and changing scenes you have fought your way. It is not without emotion that I can express to you what I feel about the Desert Rats. Dear Desert Rats! May your glory ever shine! May your laurels never fade! May the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war which you have made from Alamein, via the Baltic to Berlin, never die! It is a march unsurpassed through all the story of war so far as my reading of history leads me to believe. May the fathers long tell the children about this tale. May you all feel that in following your great ancestors you have accomplished something which has done good to the whole world; which has raised the honour of your own country and which every man has a right to be proud of.鈥�

Back in February 1943 after the fall of Tripoli Churchill told the Desert Rats; 鈥淟et me assure you that your country men regard your work with admiration and gratitude, and that after the war when a man is asked what he did it will be quite sufficient for him to say, 鈥淚 marched and fought with the Desert Army鈥�. And when history is written and all the facts are known, our feats will gleam and glow and will be a source of song and story long after we who are gathered here have passed away.鈥�

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