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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Rob Illingworth & Alison Palmer of the Kent Libraries & Archives Team on behalf of Robert Kempton and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions

SURNAME Kempton

CHRISTIAN NAMES Robert

DATE OF BIRTH 30.08.1923

REGIMENTAL NUMBER 6298599

RANK Trooper

SERVICE DETAILS

Regiments served in are as follows: 70th Bn The Buffs, Royal East Kent Regiment, 51st Tr Regt RAC, 49th RTR, ¾ CLY, 2nd RTR.

I joined the Army on 2nd October, 1941 at Canterbury in the Royal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs). I had hoped to enlist in the RAC but was informed that they were not recruiting for the Corps at the time. So I enlisted in the Regiment that my father served with from 1915-1919. He was, in fact, a holder of the Military Medal, which is now shown in the Buffs’ Museum.

After a month’s training we were posted to a Battalion stationed at Hothfield Park near Ashford in Kent. We carried out normal infantry training under awful weather conditions; it was very cold late autumn and early winter. In early February 1942 I was transferred from the training company E to the main Battalion at Dover. I will always remember that day; it was when the Pocket Battleships broke out of one of the French ports and sailed up the Channel to Germany; I think it was February 14th 1942.

The Battalion was engaged on three months intensive training (I was in D company). This training usually consisted of a route march in the morning and a cross-country run in the afternoon. Platoon, Company and Battalion schemes also took place. We were also very hungry.

When the three months had elapsed we left Dover and marched to Manston Aerodrome to take up aerodrome defence; this was in the days before the RAF Regiment was formed. We spent a month on the aerodrome and a month in positions overlooking Pegwell Bay near Ramsgate, where I was in a Vickers machine gun team of three. My part was to carry the heavy tripod, 56lbs, half my weight. We were called out regularly to take up positions in the early mornings. By luck I discovered an old wheelbarrow in a farm building. On call-out I collected it and became sort of mechanised, I had to keep on hiding the barrow up as anything to reduce hard labour was not approved of.

During late July it was time to move again as the RAF Regiment wished to move in. This time we marched from Manston to Shorncliffe Camp near Folkestone during a heatwave. The Buffs did not reckon using transport and petrol. Time was not important.

It is now September and it was time to move again to Barming near Maidstone, very near West Malling Aerodrome. This time … sheer joy … we travelled by train! D Company was billeted in the grounds of a very run down country house and normal training was resumed.

We were now informed that the Battalion was to be disbanded and after taking aptitude tests I was offered a transfer to RAC. This I grabbed with both hands.

About 29th December 1942, I travelled with quite a number of chaps from the other companies from Tonbridge station to Richmond, Yorks to take up training at Catterick Camp. On our arrival at Catterick we caused quite a stir as we arrived in true infantry style with rifles, bayonets and fifty rounds of ammunition each. The reception committee pleaded with us not to cause any trouble with all this armoury. Our answer was give us something to drink and eat and something to sleep on — we had been travelling for about eighteen hours with no refreshment.

I then prepared to become a turret gunner.

1943

After about 18 weeks training we went on leave. After a few days, I received a telegram to return at once. Visions of joining the First Army in North Africa! Not a bit of it. A draft was made up and we ended up in a camp near Morpeth in Northumberland, awaiting to join 49th RTR in the Penrith area.

On arrival in Penrith we were amazed to see Matilda tanks with funny turrets. We were then informed that they were CDLs and very secret. It was then May 1943 and soom after the Matildas began to disappear and be replaced with Grants and Lees. The first thing that amazed us was the size of the tool kits and the quality. These vehicles then started to go to Brigade Workshops for the removal of the gun turrets and the fitting of the CDL turrets. Large generators had to be fitted to provide the power for the searchlights which would provide 13,000,000 candle power.

Our training was carried out at night on the Cumberland Fells. We gave demonstrations with the lights and fire power to visiting high ranking officers on a regular basis. As this equipment was highly secret we were led to believe that we were going to play an important role when the invasion commenced.

I should explain that the searchlight was not of the conventional type. The light was produced by carbon rods reflected onto two mirrors in the turret and then took up a fantail pattern. These fantail patterns overlapped to give areas of intense light and darkness. There was also a motor in the turret which could open and shut to give a flashing light. The theory was that this would confuse range finders and confuse the eyesight of the opposing troops, I can confirm that the flashing light used to give us operators nasty headaches.

In September we entrained to Linney head battle ranges in Pembrokeshire for several weeks working with the support units. The rest of the winter was spent training on the fells in awful winter weather conditions.

1944

Still training and being told how important we were going to be. June came along and on my way back from breakfast on the 6th I heard the war had started without us. Not very important now.

July 1944

We again went to Linney head for a massive exercise and after that we moved to Fareham in the Hants district. We thought we had got a bit nearer the action. Casting my mind back, at the age of 18, I was only 20 miles from the action and on a good day I expect the Germans could see me with a good pair of field glasses.

After a couple of days at Fareham we loaded onto Tank Landing Craft and crossed to Normandy. We thought they must have remembered us at last.

To our utter amazement, we moved off under cover of darkness and arrived at Tilly. We could see the night sky illuminated by gun fire and were ready for our first bit of action. To our utter amazement the fighting got up and left us standing. We were horrified when the 2nd Army was unable to break through at Arnhem as we felt that we could have changed the situation.

While we were vegetating at Tilly we discovered that the Americans also had three battalions of CDL in their section, also inactive. If the powers that be were frightened to use this equipment, why were we not disbanded in August and posted to other armoured units who had suffered serious losses in men and in some cases the Regiments were broken up. Such is the case of the 4th County of London Yeomanry who had to amalgamate with the 3rd CLY, after the 4th CLY suffered grievous losses at Villers Bocage.

September and October came. Our tanks gradually disappeared and we existed in a very damp and soggy orchard. Then in November we were lorried up to Belgium to a place called Vilvoord near Brussels. It was the Armoured Reinforcement Depot, run by a quite mad Guards RSM. Three of us tried to stay together on a posting to another Regiment. No such luck. Jo was sent to Royal Scots Greys, John to Sherwood Rangers and myself to CDS (Corps Delivery Squadron) at Breda in Holland. This CDS was engaged in overhauling the Sherman tanks of the Polish. Armoured Division.

1945

January 1st was quite a day when the German Air Force had its big day and shot up many aerodromes in Belgium and Holland. I was standing in a factory courtyard at Breda when they came over the rooftops. I have never run for cover so fast before. I was later able to break any records I broke that day.

When the overhaul of the Polish tanks was over, it was back to Vilvoord and eventual posting to 3/4CLY (Sharpshooters). On arrival I was taken to the crew I was joining and asked Have you crewed a Firefly before to which I replied No.

Now is the chance to learn came the stern reply. The driver was Willy Smith from Derby, the operator Jimmy King from Manchester, the crew commander Cpl Johnny Glaze from Wolverhampton. They were all old 8th Army men with bags of experience, which I was thankful for because my real war was about to begin.

When the crew commander Cpl Glaze went on leave soon after the Rhine Crossing the new commander was Sgt Bert Harris. He knew all the other crew members and asked me my name, I replied Kempton Sgt.

I didn’t mean that, he said, what do your mates call you?

Bob, I replied. I am Bert, he said. I thought to myself My God! An Army run on democratic lines! The 49th RTR was a Newcastle on Tyne TA unit who had spent all its time in the North of England and no familiarity between NCOs and men permitted.

The week before the Rhine Crossing was sheer heaven; general maintenance, tea drinking and enjoying life to the full. I discovered that 49th RTR, now the 49th Personnel Carrier Regiment (Canadian version of the Sherman called Kangaroos) was in the next field and I took the opportunity of visiting some of my old mates. During one conversation, the Squadron Sergeant Major of 49th RTR came along and recognized me. He looked me up and down and remarked You look disgraceful. There he was with his webbing scrubbed white and dressed immaculate. My immediate thought was You’re not going up the sharp end. The CLY were not at all fussy about individual dress.

After the Rhine Crossing we went back into Holland again to cross into Germany. About the middle of April we were resting at the side of the road when a colonel of the Royal Army Medical Corps said that his men had discovered a POW camp in a terrible state and required some of us to come down to it to maintain order and organize things. The camp was quite small, an old swimming pool. The prisoners lived in the cubicles and the pool, now empty, was the rubbish tip. We discovered that there were no British prisoners, mostly Eastern Europeans. The colonel sectioned us off for various duties: issue of blankets, food for the prisoners etc…

He approached me and said, Find a German soldier and get the latrines cleaned up. I then spotted the camp’s Sgt Major and beckoned him to me. He informed me that he spoke very good English as he had been a POW at Cambridge during WWI. When he realized I had chosen him for such a lowly duty, he protested strongly and said I refuse. To which I drew my revolver and promised to shoot him and tell the Colonel he had been going to attack me. He decided to cooperate and made a good job of such a distasteful task. He immediately protested to the colonel who approached me and said, Did you not realize he was the camp Sgt Major? I replied Of course I did and I hate Sergeant Majors of any nationality. He grinned and said, You are a rotten sod. I wonder how many drinks he had in the mess in later years on that story.

We continued across Germany mainly working with 53rd Welsh Division. We gave them support by day and carried them on the backs of our tanks by night. It was very exhausting for us and the infantry and everyone needed a good rest. We didn’t know and the powers that be were not prepared to tell us that the Russians were coming in so fast, it was feared that they would take the ports of Lubeck, Hamburg and Kiel before us. We did succeed but only in the nick of time.

We eventually made Hamburg and arrived very tired and dirty. I had been wearing the same clothes for the last six weeks. We didn’t notice the smell as we all stank the same. I did change my socks weekly as I had a good supply of these. Our first thoughts on stopping in Hamburg was food and we sat on the pavement having a good fry-up. A German woman approached our crew and said in very good English You should be driving the Russians out of our country. Our replies were unprintable.

After a couple of days we left Hamburg and took over private houses at Elmshorn, which lies on the River Elbe. After that we moved to Meldorf on the North Sea coast and helped run a Demobilization Centre for German soldiers whose homes were in the American zone further south in Germany. We then moved to a German castle between Kiel and Lubeck where we spent part of the winter.

1946

We then moved to Schleswig where we lost No 26 Group of people who had been in since 1939, mainly 8th Army chaps. Our next move was to Hamm in the Ruhr where we exchanged our Sherman tanks for Comets. These were first used by the 11th Armoured Division in January 1945.

Our next move was to Luneburg where we lived in a block of barracks next to the Royal Scots Greys. There I met one of my old mates, Joe, from the 49th whom I had last met at Vilvoord. Sadly John Hargreaves was killed or died of wounds after Ardennes attack. I went back to Belgium in March 1997 and found his grave in a civilian cemetery at Hasselt, which is near the Dutch/German border. Within the civilian cemetery is a plot containing the graves of 51 service men. I finished my time at Luneburg with an advance party of 2nd RTR who were in the process of moving up from Trieste.

The few Sharpshooters who were left behind at Luneburg because they were within a few weeks of demob played a cat and mouse game with the incoming regiment to avoid fatigues; we had our fair share. When I look back I can really say that my my time with the Sharpshooters and the 4th Independent Armoured Brigade was the best time. We were led by Brigadier Michael Carver who finally made Field Marshal. I remember when he inspected us shortly after the end of the war, he spoke to me, I believe he wondered about me because although I was then 21, I looked only 18 or 19. When he spoke to me I was a bit guarded in my replies as he was with our CO, RSM, SSM and may hangers-on. Because I was not giving immediate answers, one of his party said, I expect he means something else, to which the Brigadier turned on him and said Shut up! I’m not talking to you. After that I felt quite relaxed.

I almost forgot about August 1945, my paybook was taken and stamped in red (Eligible for Service in the Far East). We then had a visit from officers trying to trace former CDL operators. Burma suddenly flashed across my mind and when they questioned me I was able to act the complete simpleton and they had no further wish to speak to me.

Our Troop Officer, a first class leader, volunteered for the Far East and wanted our troop to go with him. Strange to say there were no volunteers. I wonder why? I think we had learnt that it never pays to volunteer for anything.

Came home for Demob in October 1946.

Extra Details

OVERSEAS SERVICE North West Europe

MILITARY CONDUCT Very Good

MEDALS ISSUED 1939-1945

Star.

France and Germany Star.

Victory Medal.

I joined the Royal Tank Regiment Association (London Branch) on 8/9/1999

I was incorrectly informed that I was not entitled to the Defence Medal as I had not completed 5 years service by the end of hostilities. Later, when it was discovered that this was incorrect, I declined to accept it.

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