大象传媒

W. G. Upshall

A few thoughts on the event of October 18th 1944 and the after effects

I was with the 94th Field Regiment RA who went to Normandy just after D Day and made our way through France, Belgium and Holland where we took part in the battle of Arnhem. After two weeks at Elst we moved south to the German border near the Reichswald Forest where we still had a lot of firing to do. But one afternoon the order came for all No 1s to report to the command post, so being in charge of No 4 gun I went off expecting another big fireplan to be arranged, but, surprise surprise, it was news of 48 hour leave in Brussels for one man per section to include one Sgt from the four of us. So it was a case of drawing lots. I was most surprised when I won, and my lads said I must have fiddled it. So to keep the peace I said I would do duty all night, which I did.

When the morning "Stand To" was over I made my way to the rear of the position
where the cookhouse truck was waiting with breakfast for all the lads. Well,
breakfast consisted of "Porridge" (that was hard biscuits crushed and boiled in
water to look like PORRIDGE). Anyway I joined the queue and when the cook was
pouring mine into my dixie, I remember seeing it slipping out onto the ground, as
everything went black. When I woke up I was laying on the ground with my feet
almost in a huge fire!! I tried to get up but couldn't so had to crawl away still not
knowing what had happened. And to this day I can't remember anything else
about it, but I was told that a shell landed on the truck and the whole thing was
blown to pieces Two men were killed and nine wounded, but two more died
before they reached hospital.

When I reached our First Aid Post I found I had been hit eight times, one rather nasty piece crushed my ankle and took away part of my boot and a lump of flesh; three more pieces in the fleshy part of my legs, and four tiny pieces which were allowed to stay and work out on their own.

By this time, a couple of ambulances had arrived and four of us were on our way to Nijrnegen Hospital which was operated by British and German staff. On arrival I was put in a ward that was already full, but I had a stretcher on the floor between two beds where we were almost touching one another. My condition was not life threatening and I had no treatment that day, but during the night the enemy opened up with long range guns and shelled the ward I was in. The roof came in and we were all covered with rubbish, timber and plaster. The chap next to me was killed, but they pulled me out alive, but with a few more bruises. It was into the ambulance again and off on the road back to Eindhoven where we arrived in the morning to find ourselves in the care of Nuns. They were very good and did what they could for us. But of course there was no medical care.

Anyway in 24 hrs or so we were on the road again to Brussels hospital. They were very crowded and I spent one night in the corridor before going down to theatre to have three pieces of shrapnel removed. When I woke up I was in a room with eight other men, but to my surprise I had a label on my arm saying "To England by Air". This did not happen though because the weather was so bad and Dakotas were not equipped to carry stretchers. So it was on another train and a ride of 48 hrs to another hospital in Rouen where I developed "Shell Shock" and can't remember the first few days, but apparently I was rather restless and was always shouting orders to the chaps and the staff as well.

My first memory of that ward was at breakfast time one day when I shouted "Take Post Troop Target" and someone called out "Sister, He is at it again". The nurse came in and sat on my bed and we had quite a long talk. She said I had not eaten for four days and she was going to make me some soup some real soup that she had received in a parcel from her Mother in Blandford!!! Well that was the turning point for me and after another week I was put on a hospital ship bound for Southampton. On arrival we were all put on a train and a nurse came to give me a penicillin injection which I had been receiving every 2 hours. As she prepared the needle I asked how long it would be before we reached Weymouth. She said "Do you want to go to Weymouth? It's rather a long way round because this train is only stopping at Liverpool!!"

Well that was it. I was admitted to Alder Hey Hospital for 4 months, but life was not too bad really. After three or four days, and another operation, I was allowed out of bed on crutches, only to find that I was Senior NCO in a ward of 31 men, and the sister, who only had two nurses to cope with all those men, made me responsible for discipline. So I had plenty to think about and no time to worry about myself. Each day at 2 p.m. I had to go down to the Guard Room to see how many local people were wanting to take a man out for tea (the locals were very good for that), and I had to go., to the Sister's office to see if we could find enough men who were fit to go out for 4 or 5 hours, then go and tell the lucky ones a few times I was able to go myself! This went on until the second week in January when I collapsed in the toilet with a rash over my whole body, and I went blind with "Penicillin Poisoning". This lasted two weeks before I was back on my feet again.

At the beginning of March I was sent to a convalescence camp at Chester for a month, then to Woolwich RA Depot waiting for another job, because by now I was graded down and could not rejoin my unit. Eventually I was posted to a training regiment in Lydd (Kent). On arrival I was told that the intake would be ex POW's who had to be retrained in marching, rifle drill and gun drill on 25Pdr 4.5 How and 5.5 guns. I was surprised, to say the least, but there was no time to check on any drill, because on Monday we were due to receive 200+ men, and start work at once. The men were lined up on the square and 12 sergeants facing them. On comes the RSM. He counted off 20 men, turned to us, pointed to the first man and said "Sgt take them away they are all yours". So it was off to their quarters and record their names and numbers. And for 6 weeks they were my responsibility in every way.

Right from the start I made up my mind that I would go into the mens' room after tea and just chat with everyone who might have a problem, and I felt that this helped us to understand each others position. I felt that most of these had been POW's for quite some time and their first impression was that I had probably been at home" on training duties for the whole war. But sooner or later someone would raise the subject so that I could explain why I was there!!, and that was why I went to see each group after tea.

However there was one squad who were difficult, and on one morning I was due to give a lecture on the recoil system of the 25Pdr. This is not an easy subject and they were getting out of hand, shouting and laughing. So I said "Outside. Three Ranks" (in my best Parade Ground voice). They obeyed and I gave them 10 minutes drill at the double on the square, then back to the lecture, and I said "You will pay attention"

We got on fine after that except that I was called to the office that evening, and the BC told me off for giving punishment without his permission. Still after 6 weeks I saw this squad off to the railway station, and as they left one man gave me an envelope to be opened after they had left. It contained 拢2 0 0d and a note (Thanks for all your help). This only happened once!

Just one more event. Another group some time later was passed to me, and I marched them off the edge of the square to record their names etc. I went through the front and centre ranks, but as I came to the rear rank, a man said "Hello Sgt, How are you George?' This was a man I had been at school with. He lived at Wool but had been a POW for 3 years. We became mates when I recommended him for a tape and he stayed as my Junior NCO.

Well the months rolled by and 26 Group came up for Demob, so I took my ticket at Taunton, and came home to start a new life with the family

W G Upshall

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