大象传媒

This posting is a continuation of the first part entitled "Royal Dragoons and the German retreat in Lower Saxony"

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I had hoped to go into Bodenteich and meet the German girl (Ursula Babatz) who had helped in Tapper Rapkin鈥檚 rescue, but in the event I had to be content with sending her my army address and my home address on an old envelope I had in my battle dress pocket, with the scribbled message that if I survived the war, I would return if possible and buy her the nicest dress that coffee and cigarettes could buy. In return she sent me her name and address.

The war ended in May 1945, and more by luck than judgement, I had survived.

The regiment went to Denmark for six months 鈥� the only regiment to do so. Our job there was to disarm and send back to Germany ten divisions of the German army (mostly white Russians fighting for the Germans), and also to send back the crews of a number of German warships and U boats, that were in various Danish ports.

After that, I spent five months in Eutin about 20 miles north of Lubeck, and another four weeks in Lubeck itself. I never imagined I would ever get the opportunity of returning to Bodenteich.

In May 1946, truth turned out to be stronger than fiction, and my regiment, the 1st, the Royal Dragoons, which was now the senior cavalry regiment in the Household brigade of Guards, was posted back to Bodenteich. Unknown to us, or anyone else, at that time of our ill fated patrol of April 1945, the pine forest surrounding the village housed the biggest stockpile of poison gas in the whole of Europe.

Since the end of the war, the Royal Navy in co-operation with the British army had been transporting to the German port of Cuxhaven at the mouth of the river Elbe, and had been dumping in the Irish Sea. By May 1946, however, there was still a lot remaining.

The 鈥淚ron Curtain鈥� was now only four to five miles east of Bodenteich and the Russians were getting a bit stroppy, and were threatening to move west, so we were sent there to actively patrol the west side of the Iron Curtain in case the Russians decided to get their hands on what remained of this German stockpile before the navy could dispose of it all. I was put in charge of the advanced stores party which travelled from Eutin to Bodenteich by train ahead of the regiment who came a few days later by road. During the evenings before they arrived I looked for and found the house where Ursula lived.

I found that her family lived in a small, but comfortable flat, above the village chemist (Apotheke) shop, which they had previously owned until her fathers death, and until the end of the war, they had been very well off, but were now very hard up, as they had been quite ardent Nazi鈥檚. All of their assets had now been frozen until theey could appear before a local British de-Nazification court in order to be officially de-Nazified.

Ursula had been conscripted by the British Control Commission as a travelling farm labourer although she was university educated, as the only means of support for herself and her mother until she was officially declared de-Nazified, and the family assets returned. These conscripted farm labourers were constantly moved around the countryside from farm to farm without notice, and I eventually tracked her down to a farm planting potatoes by hand. She told me that after leaving university at Heidelburg she had become a university librarian at Lubeck, but had returned to her home village when the university had been destroyed by bombing. She had been engaged to a fellow student who had been conscripted to the army at the outbreak of the war, and had risen to the rank of adjutant of a Panzer regiment. In 1940 he had taken part in the invasion of France, Belgium and Holland, but had reported missing on the Russian front in 1942. She had heard nothing about him since, and was convinced that he was dead.

She and her eldest sister Great both spoke perfect 鈥減roper鈥� English, as they had both attended prep schools and private girls schools in England in the early 1930鈥檚. they had hoped to go onto English universities, but the advent of Hitler put an end to these plans.

In the early to mid 20鈥檚, another elder sister, Lissolotte, met an English man who was working for the League of Nations. At that time the Rhineland was a demilitarised zone between France and Germany, and was being administered by them. Eventually, Lissolotte married him 鈥� Charles Blake-Lawson and had a son named John. In 1936 Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, and the League of Nations was disbanded, and Charles joined the British diplomatic services. Between then and the outbreak of war, he served in British Embassies in Vienna, Prague and Danzig. The only contact Lissolotte had with her family during war up to 1946, was via the Red Cross in Switzerland, and this was only limited to Christmas, and strictly controlled by means of pre-printed postcards on which they ticked various alternatives.

Just before I met Ursula, she was told Lissolotte鈥檚 present address in England, but still only allowed two letters a year via the Red Cross, owing to the de-Nazification problem. I wrote to Lissolotte direct via the army post office 鈥� by this time censorship was finished for soldiers serving in Germany, and the risks of getting caught acting as a go-between were very minimal. For some months, I acted in this capacity for direct mail and food parcels from England. I was able to take food parcels back to Germany after home leave.

I spent 11 months in Bodenteich until I was posted to Berlin. I had become very friendly with the family, and visited them at every opportunity when I was not on duty. During this period I went fro many long walks and cycle rides with Ursula and Greta, as they wanted to show me as much of the beautiful countryside as possible. I spent a memorable Advent and Christmas with the family in 1946.

When I was demobbed in 1947, I kept in touch with her for six months or so, but gradually it faded through distance, and different social backgrounds. Her family were very much upper-middle class, and fairly well off, whilst my background was working class. The gap was to much to bridge.

Ursula always insisted the Lissolotte would invite me visit her at her home in Essex, but I knew that this would not happen. Lissolotte herself might have invited me, as I had done a lot for her, but her career diplomat husband would never have allowed it. If I had been an officer, even of a low rank, perhaps it would have been possible. Being only a Sergeant, it was not on.

Round about 1949 to 50, Ursula wrote to me to say that she had become engaged, and I was very pleased for her. By this time I had met my future wife, and I felt it best not to reply.

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