大象传媒

WARTIME MEMORIES 鈥� JOHN OSWALD

1

C.V. 鈥� JOHN OSWALD

1) PERSONAL DETAILS

Name OSWALD John (rank on demobilisation 鈥� T/Capt)
Address 48 Watkins Court, Old Mill Close, Hereford HR4 0AQ
Telephone 01432 370946
Date of birth 26 Jan 1920

2) BACKGROUND (1920 鈥� 37)

I was born in Germany. My claim to British nationality is tenuous: my father had been born in BELIZE, British Honduras, the eldest son of a German immigrant who became a naturalised British subject. My sole British bloodline is through his wife (my grandmother), whose mother was a FORMAN, descendant of a Scottish (?) immigrant to British Honduras. All records there were destroyed in the 1930鈥檚 during a hurricane, and it is no longer possible to verify this line.

My father came to Germany with his parents and siblings in the early years of the 20th century. His father had been offered a directorship in a pharmaceutical company in DARMSTADT, which he had been supplying with Central American raw drugs. The family was overtaken by the 1914-18 War, and my father and his brothers were interned at RUHLEBEN Camp, BERLIN.

At the end of hostilities, my father married my mother, a German subject (who became British by marriage). My grandfather鈥檚 business, in which my father was now also active, collapsed during the German financial crash of the early 1920鈥檚, and in 1924 my parents and I moved to LONDON.

I was educated in CROYDON (Whitgift Middle School) from 1928 to 1936. I was already bilingual, and readily learnt other languages at school 鈥� French, Spanish and Latin. After leaving school, I spent a year on the Continent, working in sales offices, mainly in Belgium and Switzerland.

3) EARLY MILITARY SERVICE (1937 鈥� 39)

Shortly after I came back from Switzerland, probably in early 1937, we were visited by a cousin of my father鈥檚, LtCol Leslie WOODS, Indian Army, who painted an interesting picture of life in India. He suggested that I should apply for a career post with the Indian Civil Service, where I would have an interesting life, good pay, and the possibility of special bonuses if I learnt some of the Indian languages. The only thing that I needed to be able to do was to ride a horse. He suggested that I should join a mounted TA unit with a view to learning to ride.

Enquiries of a colleague at my office (I was then a junior clerk at the Eagle Star Insurance Company in Threadneedle Street, LONDON) resulted in an introduction to the City of London Yeomanry , which I joined at their Bunhill Row drill hall on 25 Oct 1937. I went to riding lessons, and had barely mastered the 鈥渢rot鈥�, when it was announced that the battery was being mechanised. I was accordingly taken off riding and taught to drive a truck.

I went to two annual training camps 鈥� in 1938 and 1939 鈥� at STIFFKEY, Norfolk.

4) WAR SERVICE WITH THE ROYAL ARTILLERY (1939 鈥� 43)

Shortly after the 1939 training camp I received my call-up papers. My unit, which by this time had become 43 Battery, 101 LAA & ATk Regt, RA, was sent to TILBURY DOCKS, and later to CHINGFORD. I had in the meantime learnt the trade of signaller.

In Feb 1940, the regiment moved to BERE REGIS, Dorset, to become part of the 1st Armoured Division, which after a period of training was sent to France in May 1940.

On the point of departure, I was called into the CO鈥檚 office and informed that, as I had presumably got relatives in Germany (which I confirmed) I would not be sent to a theatre of war in case I was captured. This could well have resulted in sanctions being taken on my relatives. I was at first extremely upset. However, it turned out to be a blessing, as I later heard that the regiment had been disastrously involved with German armour, and many of my comrades had been killed, wounded, taken prisoner, or had traumatic escapes.

I was sent to the RA Barracks in WOOLWICH for a short time, and then posted to 215 Battery, 54th ATk Regiment, RA, a unit of the 52nd (Lowland) Division. This division was sent out to France in June 1940. I asked to see the CO, and informed him of my interview with my previous CO. However, the only action he could take was to delete the 鈥淧lace of Birth鈥� entry in my Army Book. This deletion was so obvious as to draw attention of any German Intelligence Officer to it!

We crossed to CHERBOURG by troop transport, and drove in convoy to the LE MANS area, where we pitched our tents. That evening, a group of us went into the nearby village, where we were called over by a group of Frenchmen drinking outside a bistro. I was the only one who understood them. The others went on, and I sat with them for an hour or two, drinking and chatting with them. The next morning, my Troop Commander asked me how I had managed to make myself understood to them, and was surprised to hear that I could speak, not only French, but also German and Spanish. He told me that I would no doubt be called upon to help purchase wine for the Officers鈥� Mess!

This cushy job was however, not to be. After only a few days we became involved in the German advance, but managed to escape relatively unhurt to CHERBOURG, where we were taken off by a flotilla of small boats. My troop came back home on the London pleasure steamer 鈥淩oyal Daffodil鈥�.

The division went to East Anglia. We were first located in OLD CATTON near NORWICH, and later redeployed in LODDON and CORTON near GREAT YARMOUTH.

In the autumn of 1940, we went to Scotland, first to RAPLOCH, STIRLING, and then to AUCHTERARDER. I had the feeling that the disclosure of my parentage to the CO, as well as of my linguistic capabilities, had made my officers suspicious of me, and I was sent to LONDON for an interview at the War Office. My German was tested, and I was offered a comprehensive training course in parachuting, explosives handling, unarmed combat and wireless operation. The object was to drop me into Germany with the equipment to blow up bridges, train lines, etc. The idea did not appeal to me, even though I was offered the carrot of immediate promotion to Sergeant.

However, shortly afterwards I was promoted to Bombardier, and in July 1942 sent off to 122 pre-OCTU, RA at LARKHILL, Salisbury Plain. On completion of the pre-OCTU course, I was despatched to the HAC OCTU at ALTON TOWERS. Whilst training here for a commission in the RA, I was again called to the War Office for a further language test, and shortly before the Passing-Out Parade in February 1943, I was informed that I would not be commissioned in the RA, but in the Intelligence Corps. This caused the local military tailors considerable trouble due to the changes in badges, buttons, etc.

5) WAR SERVICE WITH THE INTELLIGENCE CORPS (1943 鈥� 45)

I joined the Intelligence Corps at Oriel College, OXFORD, in early 1943 and attended a number of courses and attachments 鈥� CAMBRIDGE, MATLOCK, 鈥淟ONDON Cage鈥�, HQ Western Command, CHESTER, and an interrogation exercise at OLDHAM, Lancs, where thousands of Afrikakorps prisoners were screened before leaving for captivity in the USA. This was to weed out anyone who might have knowledge of the PEENEM脺NDE Rocket Testing Station in North Germany.

In late September 1943, I joined a small group of Intelligence Corps officers being posted to the Middle East (MEF). We sailed in convoy on the RMS Dunnottar Castle from LIVERPOOL to PORT SAID. It was apparently the first convoy to sail unmolested through the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean.

On arrival in Egypt, we were posted to HELWN Camp, South of CAIRO for a short while, prior to going on to MA鈥橝DI Camp, near CAIRO, the CMF HQ of the Combined Forces Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC). There followed months of interrogation of prisoners brought in by various raids on the Greek islands, notably by the Polish submarine Sokol, which had perfected a technique for this type of raid.

One episode of light relief was when the CO鈥檚 private car, a beautiful Rolls-Royce open tourer built in the 1920鈥檚, had to be returned to BEIRUT because its triptyque had expired. I was detailed with a fellow officer, Capt 鈥淭eddy鈥� ANNAN, to carry out this task. We drove the car across Sinai and Palestine, stopping en route at Army depots. We delivered the car to the CO of the CSDIC unit in BEIRUT, Capt 鈥淭ommy鈥� THOMPSON, who had been briefed on where to dispose of the car. Capt ANNAN and I returned to CAIRO by train.

On 1 Apr 44, I and two or three other officers were informed that we were to be posted to the Central Mediterranean Forces (CMF) theatre 鈥� Italy. We left MA鈥橝DI on 12 Apr, sailed from ALEXANDRIA on 15 Apr, arriving in TARANTO on 21 Apr. Transiting to BARI, we went on to join HQ CSDIC (CMF) in PORTICI, near NAPLES on 23 Apr. I was originally to be attached to 56th (London) Division, but this division had been severely mauled in southern Italy and the early battles of CASSINO, so I was returned to CSDIC pending bringing the unit up to strength. There was now a waiting time, and after the great push (Battle of CASSINO, etc) the HQ was moved up to CINECITT脌, ROME on 3 Jul 1944. I went up with the first convoy. On 13 Aug 44, I was attached to the 10th Indian Division as forward interrogator, in the AREZZO area.

Two interesting incidents occurred during my attachment to 10 Indian Div:

The first was an invitation by the local partisans, who had come out of their hiding places in the mountains, to a celebration. About five or six officers from Div HQ and two or three NCOs came to a small hall in the village of SUBBIANO, North of AREZZO. Here we were plied with mountains of spaghetti, followed, to our dismay, by enormous helpings of meat stew and vegetables, all washed down by red wine by the tumblerful! There were speeches, and one of the officers from HQ contributed in passable Italian (which I had not yet mastered).

The other incident happened when the division moved forward rather rapidly to take the hilltop village of RASSINA. Some trigger-happy German soldier had emptied his machine gun magazine into the wooden vats in which the local co-operative stored their grappa, which was now spraying out and running down the gutters of the main street. My batman, with great presence of mind, collected all the containers he could find, including tin helmets, and filled them with the raw, pungent liquid. We were happy for weeks!

I found the dress regulations in the 8th Army, of which we were a part, were more relaxed than elsewhere. It was not long before I adopted some of its customs 鈥� a colourful silk scarf in the hot days of summer, and a jacket run up by a local seamstress (paid for with my cigarette ration 鈥� I do not smoke!) from a 鈥渓iberated鈥� sheepskin, for the cold winters. Flying boots were also all the rage.

After some months with 10th Indian Div, I was transferred to 56th (London) Div in Dec 44, for similar duties on the Gothic Line and Via Emilia fronts. I was still with this division when hostilities ended. By this time, we were within sight of VENICE.

At some time during this latter attachment, I was interested to find, near a deserted German HQ, a serviceable FIAT sports car painted in camouflage markings . I had the car checked out for booby traps and mechanical problems, and found that it was clean and in reasonable running order. I drove the car away, wrote out a 鈥渞etention certificate鈥�, which I signed myself. This certificate was checked on numerous occasions by the Military Police. I finally abandoned the car in Austria, when it developed a terminal malfunction of the gearbox.

6) POST-WAR SERVICE (1945 鈥� 48)

A forward unit of CSDIC had at the end of hostilities moved up to UDINE with a view to moving to Austria as soon as feasible. I visited this unit, which was commanded by Capt 鈥淭eddy鈥� ANNAN, on 9 May 1945, and was informed that I would be joining it as soon as it was established in Austria.

I have no record of when HQ CSDIC (CMF) moved to Austria, but it firstly occupied Professor Porsche鈥檚 (of Volkswagen fame) villa at P脰RTSCHACH near KLAGENFURT. During this time I was attached to 46th Division at V脰LKERMARKT. Later, CSDIC moved to LASSNITZH脰HE near GRAZ. Duties during the Austrian period mainly involved sorting out the vast numbers of German troops wanting to return home. We had to delay any of them who were found to have served in SS units or who were deemed to be suspicious in any way, for further questioning re possible war crimes involvement.

I was promoted to the rank of Captain during my time at LASSNITZH脰HE.

CSDIC was wound up in early 1946, and, as my formal demobilisation was still some months off, I was found a post with the Judge Advocate General鈥檚 Branch in NAPLES. I joined this on 7 Apr 46. After suitable briefing, I was sent out to interrogate senior officers held in POW cages in the NAPLES and RIMINI areas. This kept me suitably occupied until I was sent home for demobilisation in May 1946.

Shortly after my demobilisation, I was interviewed for a post with the grade of IO II with the Intelligence Organisation (IntOrg) of the Allied Commission for Austria (ACA) in VIENNA. I accepted this post, and continued with the work of sorting POW鈥檚 into categories for home posting. My most notable success during this time was spotting and arresting Gauleiter KALTENBRUNNER. He was wanted for War Crimes in Croatia, and was masquerading as a junior NCO amongst other prisoners.

It was during my time with ACA that I met my wife Eunice (a former P5 鈥� Bletchley Park 鈥� Wren) who was also working in IntOrg. We were married in 1948, at the end of our contracts.

During 1947, IntOrg was wound up, and I was transferred to the Intelligence HQ of the Control Commission for Germany (CCG) in HERFORD, where I was posted to No 2 Documents Unit in BAD MEINBERG. This unit was housed in a house belonging to the composer Jan SIBELIUS鈥檚 brother, who was forever demanding that the British authorities should carry out repairs to the building 鈥� notably major structural repair work on the roof.

大象传媒 consisted of translating into English a vast stack of miscellaneous documents from various languages, with the help of a small staff of British and German multi-linguists. During this period, the unit received a large quantity of papers, apparently a secret cache of pornography collected by some German official. It had been bricked up in a monastery in Bavaria. I understand that the original MS of Carmina Burana was amongst these papers.

My contract with the Control Commission ended in 1948.

7) CIVILIAN LIFE (1948 ->)

After my return to 鈥淐ivvy Street鈥�, I at first found it difficult to find suitable employment, until I was told by a prospective employer that 鈥渘o-one was going to employ even the most highly-qualified candidate who had a German-sounding name.鈥� I had been christened with the name 鈥淗erman鈥�, so I quickly consulted a solicitor friend, who officially changed this to my present name 鈥淛ohn鈥�. I found a job almost at once!

Since leaving the Army, I have had a number of posts, almost all in the export field, and have also done a lot of free-lance translation and interpreting work, especially since my redundancy from the British Steel Corporation.

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