大象传媒

This story has been contributed to the People's War by the 大象传媒 Learning Centre, Gloucester, on behalf of Tom Overs with his permission.

I was nine when war broke out and growing up in the village of Cranham, near Gloucester.

Shortly before D-Day I was woken, as were my family and most of the village, by a company of Canadian troops who had decided to travel from the Cirencester direction towards Gloucester via Cranham, not realising before they arrived the steepness and narrowness of the roads.

My mother supplied the motorcycle outriders and others with cups of tea throughout the night. It was very exciting, although we did not realise at the time it was part of the D-Day plan.

The route they took down the Portway from Cranham Corner was so steep that it burnt out the clutches of many vehicles known as Quads. They were pulling two trailers, one containing a gun, the other the relevant ammunition. The problem became so bad that a billet had to be set up near the top of the Portway under the cover of the trees. A captain and some of his men had to remain there until the vehicles could be repaired.

As a lad I can remember going over to this camp and being amazed to see one soldier with his Canadian slouch hat, sitting on his vehicle with his feet up on the steering wheel. I watched as he managed, with one hand, while continuing to read a newspaper, roll himself a cigarette and light it with a match taken from his hatband and struck on the seat of his trousers!

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