大象传媒

I joined up on 25/06/1942 to the 49th Division, 68th Anti Tank Regiment 271 Battery. Our badges held the symbol of a Pithead and our nickname was The Coyles. Before that I had worked at Fords, Dagenham. I was called up with someone else who worked at Fords and lived in Rainham but I can鈥檛 remember his name.

I went for 3 months training at the Gaza lines in Catterick, Yorks. Our Seargent was called Kempsall and there was a Bombadier Green, both were from London. We did Square bashing and rifle drill. From there we went to a small village in Northern Ireland called Poyntzpass. We came back by truck from Stranraer, Larne to Ashford, Kent then on to Margate, where we were for a year. Just before the invasion I went on a six week MC course. While I was away the troops went on exercise that involved crossing the river. One of the men let go of his rope and was swept away. Our troop Officer, Lieutenant Burton went in to save the man but both were drowned. We got a new troop Officer who I believe was called lieutenant Fellows, as far as I remember he was a good Officer and I got on very well with him. I was his driver. We waterproofed our vehicles for the invasion of Europe. We were there for maybe 6-12 months.
We went on to Wanstead Flats, then Berkshire. We loaded our vehicles with Anti tank 17 pounders guns etc. at Victoria docks. We sailed down the Thames across the channel for the invasion. I can鈥檛 remember the name of where we landed (could have been Juno or Sword) but I remember a white house on the beach. We landed on a sandbar and had to wait for the tide to go out so that we could drive ashore as it was too deep to go through the water.
We were outside Caen in the woods where the Mortar platoon were firing mortars into the town which went on for two to three hours. The noise was getting on my nerves and I couldn鈥檛 wait for it to stop.
I saw my first dead soldier, a Canadian in the woods. I saw a dead German soldier covered in flies. There was a sweet sickly smell, I will always remember that smell of death. At the same time, our MT Officer went forward on a recce and the news came back that he had been shot by a sniper. That brought home to me the reality of being at war.
We moved into Caen. It was quite badly destroyed, the Germans had actually already gone before it was bombed.
We went to a place called Noyers crossroads where a German Tiger Tank was stationed. It was firing down the road towards us so we couldn鈥檛 go down it. The gun crew didn鈥檛 want to continue toward the tank but our officer threatened to shoot them if they didn鈥檛 get back into their vehicle. Eventually they got back into their vehicles. As we went up the road, the German tank had moved anyway.
Went to Villers Bocage, a village where it was completely silent. The animals all lay with their insides hanging out, and bloated, there were no birds singing. The village was deserted.
The Falaise gap, where part of the German army were surrounded by the British. The British Air Force were shooting their own men as the information of where they were was not getting through quickly enough and there was a lot of anger amongst our troops.
I had to fire my rifle 5 times at a mortar shell for practice as I hadn鈥檛 used it yet. I went to a chateaux on a Bren carrier to collect a wounded soldier. The chateaux was on fire. I took the soldier back to the regiment.
The wood was frightening at night times in the Bren Carrier because the road sloped away very steeply to the side. We were mortared in the Chateaux. I remember laying on the ground, hearing the sound of the shrapnel whizzing through the trees. It was quite frightening, laying down, holding my tin hat on, not knowing where it was going to hit. The whizzing sound was the most frightening part.

As the whole division advanced forward we had to dig a slip trench each time we stopped to avoid the mortars and gunfire. As the Germans retreated they knew the area we were in better than we did as they had already been there. I heard a story that five drivers were under their vehicles, they got out and into a shell hole and a shell landed on the hole and killed them all.

We went on to a place called Loopen Sands in Belgium. I was put on a charge for smoking in the vehicle. There was training for firing the 17pounders digging trenches for the gun to elevate it and get a better range. When the drivers called to pick up the guns, I was caught smoking in my vehicle. I got seven days report to the cookhouse but fortunately for me we moved on the next day so I only did one or two days!
Then to Tuddern on the German/Dutch border (maybe Belgium) where we took over from the Canadian soldiers. We were mortared here in a warehouse, we were putting our 17 pounder into the woods. We were in a warehouse for the night, we cut cards to see who would stand guard, I got the highest and chose 2 鈥榯il 4 as the best time. There was a soldier (I think called Roberts) who went on guard before me, he was hit by shrapnel and he lost an eye. I don鈥檛 know what happened to him after that (presumably invalided out).
We searched around the chicken coops, sticking iron bars into the ground to find where the Germans might have hidden some valuables (someone had told us that they hid them in milk churns in the ground). We found churns with 5 mark pieces but not being able to change them, and too many of them being too heavy to carry, they were worthless to us. In the Tuddern we found cellars in the houses that stored bottled fruit. It was good to eat but we couldn鈥檛 carry much of it! There was also a big safe that we spent ages trying to open, with no success!
We saw three dead Germans around a field gun, they were just laying on the ground around the gun. We later saw a newsreel of these Germans but instead of laying on the ground, they had been placed so that it looked more like they had been in action ( a threat) when they died.
We went to an English First Aid post where wounded soldiers were being brought in some were as young as sixteen. Some Germans prisoners were used as orderlies to help in the hospital. Around that time one of my friends was shot. That is when I felt anger and hatred towards the other side, before that I hadn鈥檛 felt anything towards the Germans.
The regiment (49th Division, 68thAnti Tank Regiment 271 Battery) broke up around 1944/45. All the gun crew were sent to the infantry and my troop officer and a few other drivers were held back and sent to different regiments. I was sent to the 11th Armoured Brigade, their shoulder flash was the bull.

When the war was finished I was stationed at Eckinforde in Germany, not far from Kiel.
After the war ended we were all transferred to the 7th Armoured brigade. I was at Lubeck.

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