大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from Northumberland on behalf of Mr. John (Jack or Geordie) Lowes. Mr. Lowes fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions, and the story has been added to the site with his permission. It is written in the first person.

In June 1939, I was conscripted for six months service with the 6th Battalion, King鈥檚 Own Scottish Borderers Regiment but my conscription period was immediately changed on the declaration of war to 鈥溾�� for the duration鈥�. After initial training at Berwick I moved, first, to a holding battalion at Hartlepool, then to Spurn Point on the River Humber. There, in April 1940, I was on patrol with a lad from Byker, Ted Drake, when we came across a dead body floating in on the tide. That was the first dead person I鈥檇 seen.

At Braintree we were kitted out with tropical gear and we actually had our embarkation leave but the events at Dunkirk, with the evacuation from the Continent of British and French forces, intervened and we soon found ourselves on Home Service duties, first at Clacton, then at Frinton-on-Sea. In November 1940, our unit moved to Epping and the detachment I was in was billeted at 鈥淭he Retreat鈥�. The Germans were then dropping a lot of magnetic mines, one of which hit our billets. Twenty-six men were killed and many others had their ear drums burst.

Shortly afterwards, I was one of six lads, all with similar backgrounds, approached to apply for a transfer back to working on the railways. However, after twelve months I was recalled to the Royal Engineers, more specifically to the 181st Railway Operating Company (ROC). Later, volunteers were sought to work on the tugs that eventually towed the Mulberry Harbours across the English Channel for use during the Normandy landings. Four of us volunteered to be firemen on the tugs and we soon found ourselves stationed opposite Woolwich Pier.

With the 181st Railway Operating Company, I landed in Normandy at Gold Beach on 12 June 1944 (D-Day + 6). The ROCs were to follow the Allied advance closely, transporting all of the bulky materials required by an advancing army. However, it was several weeks before Caen was taken by which time there was not much left in the engine sheds there. It was not long before we moved to Cherbourg, to follow the American breakout and advance that swung round the German forces, which led to the general advance of the Allied armies.

By early 1945, I was with the 164th Railway Operating Company at Aachen, the first town in Germany captured by the Americans. During ensuing months, the amount of two-way goods traffic on the railways was tremendous what with supplies being sent to the Allied armies and reparations material being sent back.

Aachen was near the Belgian and Dutch borders and many refugees were moving about the area. I found myself working in an office shared with the Field Security Police (FSP), the personnel of which were all language experts. One day, the Belgian Police arrived at the office and left with us a number of illegal immigrants, in the mistaken belief that the ROC people there were part of the FSP. One of the refugees was a middle-aged German woman from Hamburg who was constantly laughing. She produced a letter written in English and signed by two Generals, one with the American Air Force, the other British, which said that she had to be given whatever assistance she needed. We sent for the FSP, expecting a couple of non-commissioned officers to come for her, which would have been the norm. I was a little surprised when two officers arrived, to take the woman to the Officer鈥檚 Mess where, I understood, they proceeded to get her drunk before returning her back to Hamburg!

On another occasion, I had to deal with a prisoner of war who had been born at Herbestal, or Neustaat, a town that, at one time, had been Belgian but when the War broke out, because of earlier national border changes, it belonged to Germany. The prisoner had been born German and he had enlisted in the German Army but, with the return of Neustaat to Belgian sovereignty, the Belgians did not want him to return to his home town. Quite what happened to him, I do not know.

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