大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War Site by Suzanne Longstone and has been added to the website on behalf of Mr Marcel Heath with his permission and he fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

Marcel spent his younger life near Freemantle, Australia, coming over to England aged 16 with his father to see his ill grandmother and staying here for the rest of his life. War breaking out in 1939 found Marcel, aged 18, working in N. London. He was a keen cyclist and a member of the CTC 鈥� Cyclists Touring Club. It was on one of their trips in 1941 that he met Eileen, his wife of 59 years. They both lived and worked in London through the Blitz, always cycling to work - Blitz or no Blitz! Marcel was an electronics engineer at Trix Electrical in Bolsover Street, and also stayed on as a volunteer for firewatching duties during the night as the 大象传媒 were close by. Marcel and Eileen were married in Jan 1943 and their first daughter was born at the end of the same year. Then, out of the blue, the Brown Envelope with Marcel鈥檚 call-up papers hit the door mat! This hit them both hard. Marcel had been deemed to be working in a vital industry and had thought he would work in London for the duration of the war.

He left for Lanark the same day, but when he arrived he was marched to the Captain and told that he was AWOL! The Captain refused to listen to his explanation that he had left on the day he got the letter and couldn鈥檛 have got there any earlier. Marcel was docked a weeks wages which, with a wife and baby at home, he could ill afford to do. Not the best start to his Army Career! He endured his basic training (Dec 43 to Feb 44) and was then posted to Clitheroe, Lancs to be trained as a Royal Engineer. This was much more enjoyable and Sapper Heath learned about bridge and road building, explosives, sewage, electrics and constructing Army Camps. He spent the summer of 44 in Bordon Camp, Hants. From there he was sent to Newhaven and crossed the channel to Dieppe. Three days in a train cattle truck followed taking them through France and Belgium to Eindhoven in Holland. He was finally sent to the 13th Field Squadron RE at Oorshott in SE Holland, near the River Maas.

By now it was January 1945. The Squadron moved up the Rhine northwards in small units so that they could push forwards on a broad front. Marcel travelled in an International Half-track which took a driver, two Corporals and six Sappers. The Officers and Sergeant were in a Humber Scout car, and there were also two supply trucks, and three Honey tanks each with six Infantrymen to defend the unit. They moved in the day, avoiding the main roads and keeping to country lanes to avoid being spotted by German planes, billeting each night in a different place and sleeping outside 鈥� remember this was Jan, Feb and March! Luckily for him, Marcel鈥檚 experiences in the Australian bush had enured him to hardships. He admits that he was a bit of a loner and well able to look after himself - after WW1 his father鈥檚 motto had been 鈥淟ook After Number One!鈥� All this meant that Marcel was often picked for dodgy missions.

Marcel had three lucky escapes. In Venray / Venlo (N. Holland) he was sent forward from his unit but a sniper fired four bullets at him. Bullet number three grazed his arm so he headed back towards the river. The bridge at Soltau had been blown so Marcel had to row across the river with a bleeding arm and a rope to guide him. When he landed on the other side the Germans opened fire with 20mm airbursts on the opposite side of the river 鈥� the side he had just escaped from. Ten men were killed in that incident. Another time they were in a small village where they had to clear foot mines from the road verge. To do this you had to push a heavy roller in front of you to set off the mines. Marcel did 30 minutes of this and was then called away by the Corporal to do something else. As he walked away a mine exploded and injured the man who had taken over rolling from him. A third experience was just after his Unit had finished a bridge. The cook truck turned up and some men rushed over the new bridge, eager to get their food. Marcel wasn鈥檛 so bothered so he stayed back, only to have to watch an 88mm shell hit the bridge and see those men die.

Marcel remembers travelling through Germany to be an eerie experience, fraught with booby traps. All the civilians had left, so all the villages and towns were completely empty and silent. The enemy couldn鈥檛 be seen, but had mined or booby-trapped everything as they retreated, and you risked your life every time you travelled. They were even at risk from being hit by their own side! Units were given special tarpaulins to cover their vehicles so that the RAF could identify them, but despite this Marcel鈥檚 Unit were once nearly hit by RAF fire when they were close to the German Army.

Marcel heard about the Armistice on 6th May 1945. Then all duties were to vet German soldiers for arms and ammunition and imprison them. The rest of his service was in Germany 鈥� Lubeck (Husun barracks), Nenmunster and Aachen. During that time RE was changed to REME. He was demobbed in June1947, having only been given three fortnight鈥檚 leave since 1943. He had managed to get home to London only once, and spent the other times in Amsterdam and Belgium.

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