大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Gillian Estall following a telephone conversation. It has been added to the website on behalf of Les Stevens with his permission and he fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was married at the beginning of the war having lived in East London as part of a family of 10, including 7 brothers.
I completed my training at the Northern Polytechnic School of Architecture,(now Northern University) In order to complete my night school I cycled from Stepney to Highgate Hill. I passed all the Poly papers and applied to a building firm in Kensington. In 1939 there wasa very little work available so I applied to join New Scotland Yard Police. I waited for the application to be processed, having passed the entrance exam, but due to the war and my age, 21yrs,I coulndn't be accepted.
I enlisted in the Army as a Royal Engineer and was posted to the Kent coast. I travelled with my attache case with over 100 other men. We were not expected on arrival and so slept on the floor of the Drill Hall. Next morning we were all sent back to London with uniformed soldiers. At Victoria Station a woman remarked, 'They must be P.O.W.'s!'
From here I was sent to Newark,(Notts) to the Market Square. Once again we were not expected and were sent out to knock on doors to find sleeping accomodation. No food was to be provided.
At the end of the 1st week we were paid 10/=, the second week 4/= and thereafter 1/= perday.
We regularly went to the Fish and Chip shop in Newark at closinf time, where we could get 'batter bits' for 1d.
I had obtained a B.Sc. in Engineering and 2weeks later had a command with R. Eng. Field Co., laying minefields along the coast line. My pal and I, Taylor Allen, nicknamed Gubby, became very bored. I was now detailing all tradesmen in the company on a monthly report and the rest did surveying. I gave Bill's details to company parade an dhe eventually became the engineer of Dover Harbour.
I obtained my first voluntary job in L.R.D.G. but due to the Desert Victory I was not needed.
I was then posted to 52nd Lowland Division, based in Scotland. We were alerted to invade Norway when required.
I missed D.Day Landings as I had to stay in the Lowlands ready to invade when instructed. I was then sent to an airfield in Lincolnshire loading up gliders and bicycles for Arnem. I was supposed to follow on but once again I was not required, so missed out again. The gliders were transferred to a boat, Princess Astrid, towards Ostend and from there into Belgium to invade Walcherin.
The seabourne invasion landed in armpit high waters as the island was flooded. This invasion was successful and I ended up in Bremen in 1945.
On the Rhine we were positioned in front of a smoke-screen, behind heavy machine guns and it was very eerie. After several weeks we finally crossed the Rhine and dug out trenches for the guns in the river walls.We reached the point of invasion at Bremen on the N.side of the R. Wesa.(?)
We stopped at a signal box and we were the only English unit amongst the Scots. A phone was ringing in the signal box and a Jock picked up the phone and attempted to speak German. After a couple of minutes he burst out in true Glaswegian language..... the person on the other end of the line was also a Scot doing the same thing.!!!!
We were under artillery fire as we entered Bremen itself. On the 1st day there was no return fire. On the 2nd day we went in with carriers. It was quiet and eerie. We went on through Bremen to the outskirts on the far side. Suddenly a mass of people appeared over the hill. We thought they were D.P.'s.(?)
After the hostilities had ceased we were on the banks of the R. Elbe. Our first sighting of Cossacks on the far side was of naked men on horseback riding into the river to wash. One chap was wearing a pair of white pants and it was said that he was a Swedish Ambassador who had got out of Berlin.!!
I finally moved back into Belgium, prepared to be tranfered to the Far East but because the Atom Bomb was dropped I did not go.
Once again I had been called but not sent.

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