大象传媒

Germany, 1946 to 1948

My husband was appointed Naval Officer in Charge (NOIC) of Wilhelmshaven, where the German fleet was based, which was to be divided between Britain, Russia and France. One of the concentration camps was not far away, although people in Wilhelmshaven said they had not known what was happening there. So my husband put up photographs of it in his outer office where people would have to look at them while they were waiting to see him.

I think it must have been in October 1946 that I set off for Germany, to join him. My second daughter was about four months old by then. I think we sailed from Southampton. It was all arranged for the children 鈥� there was a nursery on the ship. When we got to the other side we went to Cuxhaven, where my husband met us with a big car and Marine chauffeur, and we drove to Wilhelmshaven.

The house we had in Wilhelmshaven was reasonably modern. It had been, I think, the quarters for two naval officers and then had been joined together to make one big house for the British officers when they came, and then it was divided later again, but we had the whole house. It was furnished basically from the dockyard, as my husband didn鈥檛 want anything that had belonged to somebody else in the house. He thought it was not right, but we did have a very nice piano 鈥� otherwise it was all white wood stuff. We had two or three bedrooms in each house and two living rooms and a kitchen and so on. We had a chef, who was a master chef, a couple of male waiters and three maids, one of whom was a trained child鈥檚 nurse and so took over looking after the children, and she was excellent. The boilerman looked after the boiler down in the basement and did the garden, etc 鈥� there wasn鈥檛 really a garden 鈥� not much of one anyway.

The German Navy owned the whole town and everything in it 鈥� the buses, the Gin factory, a big clothing store for the Navy, and also there was the dockyard with the great big docks. They made furniture and absolutely everything there, so it all came under my husband. It was hard to believe that he had got this whole sort of empire to himself. The big old barracks that were there for the German Navy were turned into quarters for all the poor refugees who came from the east. They were housed there and they had soup kitchens for them. The sailors used to go out on the dunes and shoot some of the masses of hares which were there, and these used to be given to the refugees to be cooked and made up into a very nice hare stew. Some of the refugees made their little corner of these barrack rooms into a nice little place where they were private, with curtains and things, but others just sat on their beds looking miserable. Of course, the winter was bitterly cold in the following year of 1947.

The 1947 winter was so cold that the sea froze, cutting off many islands, and people starved. They tried to walk from the Friesian Islands and got lost, very sadly, trying to find their way across the sea to the mainland. It was bitterly cold in England too. Thick snow everywhere, but we were all right. We had heating and everything. I think we were better off than in England probably. I did invite my parents to come out and stay with us, but sadly everything was arranged and then my father was taken ill with kidney failure, from which he died in 1949. It was very sad because they would have loved the luxury of being looked after and fed and kept warm etc, but it was not to be.

I went for walks with nanny and the pram, which was a very English pram given us by my sister-in-law. The Germans all had basket ones on low wheels but this was one of the big, high prams. Lizzie would walk and Cathy was in the pram. One day we were walking along and a lot of naughty boys saw us, and realised we were English, I suppose. They had snowballs and started throwing them at us. Nanny was rather worried for the children so I sent her on and I went back and I made some snowballs and waited round the corner. When the boys came round the corner, I threw the snowballs at them as hard as I could and they were so surprised that they ran off. When we got home I think my husband sent some military police up to see what was happening there.

Wilhelmshaven was then the biggest German port 鈥� the Tirpitz was built there. We used to show the film of it being built and Hitler coming to launch it 鈥� the Germans couldn鈥檛 believe we enjoyed watching it! Admiral Raider had to spend the rest of his life in prison after the surrender, as the Russians insisted on this. Admiral Doenitz was let out after a bit. Kurt Weyer was a Konter Admiral (equivalent of Rear Admiral) and he was taken to London by my husband. They were all very poor as they were not being paid.

It was a strange life we led there because I had really very little to do. There were no women friends particularly. We had a tennis court that my husband had had made across the road, where a house had been hit by a bomb and so we had a sort of red sand court put down. We used to go to the wardroom mess and play what they called 鈥淗ousey, Housey鈥� (Bingo) for sixpence. There was also the nice Officers Club 鈥� we used to go there and have dinner and dance. I sometimes went round with my husband when he was going to see various things 鈥� factories, etc, that he was trying to get the people to start up and give them something to do since the German Navy had gone. I used to go and take the children swimming in the sea. The boys came out, of course, and they were able to sail round inside the dock harbour. There was a very nice riding school in Wilhelmshaven, which was funnily enough for the German Navy 鈥� an indoor riding school. They had a whole contingent of mounted officers, which seemed a very strange thing to have. They鈥檇 hidden all the good horses because they鈥檇 thought the Russians would eat them, but gradually the horses came out again. The sailors used to enjoy learning to ride and the former German riding instructor was still there. We used to go riding on the dunes.

Our time in Wilhelmshaven was rather unnatural because we had masses of people to stay 鈥� official guests. I think we had about 90 people to stay in one month, but I didn鈥檛 have much to do really because the chef ran the food arrangements. I used to talk to him in the morning about it but he knew what he was going to produce and he鈥檇 take the rations and swap them for meat that to us was nicer. Although the rations were good meat they had fat on them, which the Germans didn鈥檛 have and they were pleased to have it.

There were many nationalities in Wilhelmshaven, including Russians, Canadians, Poles and English. There was a Russian who came with a delegation and stayed with us until they got a house of their own. He was horrible, telling me I was a woman so my opinion didn鈥檛 count. He had a whole cooked duck in his briefcase! We had a New Year鈥檚 dinner with the Russians and they brought in little roasted sucking pigs, which got cold while we waited for the bells of Moscow to ring before we could toast everyone in vodka and eat.

We had a Labour MP who came to stay. He鈥檇 come out to see how we were all living it up too well in Germany, I think. We had a big dinner party for him, and the Admiral, 鈥楬ookey鈥� Walker, was there together with various others. He said to me, 鈥淲hat are you giving him?鈥�, and I said, 鈥淵ug-ged hare!鈥� which was what the chef called it. That dinner went all right, and of course Hookey Walker had to have everything that didn鈥檛 have to be cut up, so stew was a good thing for him. He鈥檇 lost his hand at Jutland, I believe. He must have been very young. I鈥檇 seen him playing tennis when I was a little girl in Ipswich 鈥� he used to throw the ball up and hit it with the same hand, backhand somehow 鈥� put it on the racquet and throw it up and then hit it.

While the MP was staying with us he went round a submarine to have a look at it and he slipped and hurt himself, so he was laid up and we had him for a week instead of two days! So we rather gave up on feeding him stewed hare and things like that, and we left it to the chef. It was my husband鈥檚 birthday and the chef had produced a marvellous cake. My husband said to the MP, 鈥淐ome and have tea. I鈥檝e got a tea party today鈥�, but he didn鈥檛 want to come. R茅 said, 鈥淚鈥檝e got the whole Town Council coming.鈥� So he thought he鈥檇 better come, and this cake was brought in, covered with mushrooms done in whipped cream, most beautifully made, and sprinkled with cocoa to make them look speckled, and with a calendar in the middle with 鈥�10鈥� on it because it was the 10th. He was quite impressed, I think. Actually, he asked me out to have tea with him in the House of Commons when I was home again!

We had various adventures. On one occasion we were driving through Bremerhaven to go to see the High Commissioner who was running Germany and who was somewhere down the Rhine. We were driving through the US sector at Bremerhaven in our official car, flying a pennant with the British flag on it, when we were stopped and arrested by two GIs in a jeep and taken to the barracks. My husband said, 鈥淵ou must send for an officer.鈥� Not only were we in the official car but he was in full Captain鈥檚 uniform. They said they couldn鈥檛 disturb the officer because he was 鈥榟aving chow鈥�, so my husband said, 鈥淕ive me the phone.鈥� He took it, unscrewed it so they didn鈥檛 see and then spoke down it as if there was somebody the other end. Then he turned to the two GIs and said, 鈥淵our officer says you are to let us go immediately.鈥� And we went. Our poor chauffeur was having a fit wondering what was going to happen. He was chain-smoking.

Another time we had the High Commissioner鈥檚 house in Hartzburg in the Hartz Mountains and went skiing there. I had skied before but my husband hadn鈥檛 skied, and we went out and he said, 鈥淥h, I don鈥檛 want to go up there on those nursery slopes 鈥� those look silly. I鈥檓 going down here.鈥� He went down, fell down, lay in the snow and said, 鈥淚鈥檝e broken my ankle.鈥� I said, 鈥淒on鈥檛 be silly. Get up.鈥� But he couldn鈥檛 and he had broken it or done something dreadful to his ankle, because we had to go and have it plastered up in the hospital. Then he rang up the Admiral and said he was no longer fit for leave, he was fit for duty! And so they sent a car for us and we were driven home, which was a pity. I had gone skiing only once or twice while he was laid up. So the accident rather spoilt things, but on the other hand we went home to the children, which was rather nice because I had never left them before.

On one occasion we were marooned in snow in the mountains, wearing evening dress, when we were going to meet my brother in Goslar, where he was with the Control Commission (they dealt with everything that wasn鈥檛 military 鈥� metals, etc). We took the wrong road straight into a snowdrift and couldn鈥檛 get out. My husband said, 鈥淕et out and put the leather coat under the back wheels and I鈥檒l back out.鈥� I had on dainty evening shoes, etc. My fingers stuck to the door when I tried to get in again, because of the cold. Luckily a van full of German boxers came by and stopped and pushed us out with merry laughter and good will. The skin on my fingers came off like a glove from frostbite afterwards.

We had a house on one of the Freisian Islands, Borkum, which belonged to the Naval Officers鈥� Captain originally, and so we went there with the children and nanny. It was quite fun because it was all flat sandy beaches there 鈥� the story in the book "The Riddle of the Sands" had its origins in that area. The children caught shrimps. When the tide turned, a loud horn was blown and we all had to run, because the sea came in so quickly. However, it was nice there and we had a cook and a man to look after us. He used to go out on the wet sand digging up something 鈥� they called them ostern, but they weren鈥檛 oysters. I wonder if they were little clams, as they were underground and he could only tell them by a hole in the sand. The cook used to fry them. They were absolutely delicious.

We had been given a motor yacht that had belonged to the Armstrong-Sidleys (car manufacturers) and been stolen by the Germans and used by Admiral Doenitz. It was called the "Royal Rupert" and was beautiful, with blue leather seats and birdseye maple woodwork. When we knew we were soon to lose it to its rightful owners, we went out in it with its crew one last time. It was very foggy and my husband leapt up before it ran aground and told the crew to leave the wheel as a boat finds its own way off the bar if you leave the wheel alone. We had to be back by morning to greet the Admiral!

We went to Hamburg, because the Admiral was in Hamburg, and saw the Planetarium 鈥� a special show for us 鈥� something I had never seen before. I think it was quite a new thing then and it was very interesting. We also went to Berlin for some reason and stayed with a naval Captain who had stayed with us in Wilhelmshaven. He was very nice and was living in a beautiful house with lovely things in it. It must have belonged to some very wealthy person and it had a grill, like you have on a jeweller鈥檚 shop, across the whole of the front of the house. It had a large sunken bath and also a most enormous bed.

Another time we were in Hamburg to entertain all the scrap merchants of Britain. We had dinner with them in this big hotel. After dinner, we all went to their suite and sat round and they discussed scrap metal, with the idea of selling the British part of the Wilhelmshaven dockyard to them for scrap, as it was being demolished. We were drinking liqueurs 鈥� brandy chiefly 鈥� which went round and round and round. Everything was fine and at the end of the evening I got up and said goodnight, walked down the corridor and went into the bedroom, where apparently I sat down on the bed and went out like a light! My husband said he couldn鈥檛 understand it because I was perfectly all right, I said goodbye politely and nicely, and we went down perfectly happily. The moment I sat down on the bed, I鈥檇 gone. It was the brandy I think. I felt perfectly all right next day, so I think there is something to be said for drinking the same drink all the time!

In 1948 we had to leave Wilhelmshaven and come back to England. First of all, of course, my husband had to be seen off because usually you pipe the captain away from his ship and he is rowed ashore. This time what they鈥檇 arranged was for the wives to all dress up in duffel coats 鈥� it was all a surprise 鈥� and there they were with their boat, and my husband had to get into it and be taken away while the bosun blasted on his little pipe and he was rowed across the harbour! I made a short speech to the dockyard in German (I had read it to our waiter, Hans, to check it beforehand!). The man standing behind me to translate it was rather astonished, I think. When the time came to leave, we got on a train. We said goodbye to all the servants. I was very sad to leave them all. They鈥檇 been very good friends to us.

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