大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Allan Price, of 大象传媒 Scotland, on behalf of Darvid Hardie and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was called up in 1939 and made my way to Fulford Barracks. My pay was 10p a day. One day was kept in credit for me. One day鈥檚 pay held for barracks damage. This was strange because I never stayed in barracks 鈥� I was in a tent in a field! I also never saw my credits again.

Three day鈥檚 pay I sent home to my mother, and two day鈥檚 I kept for myself. The army also took 6p a day in what they called 鈥減roficiency pay鈥�. I did get this at the end of the war after six and a half year鈥檚 service. I was twenty six when I cam out.

First I was inoculated to go abroad, and I was kitted out to go to India. But at the last minute I was taken off that and put on an NCO course. I went to the 49th division where I was booked to fight the Russians when they invaded Finland 鈥� that was cancelled too. Then it was Norway. At this point I was stationed in Hawick and had become a Lance Corporal.

Then we went to invade Iceland with the 49th. There were no roads, no trees, and it was constantly raining. We were staying in tents. The Germans had built one road from Reykjavik to the University. The 49th became a mountain division and we formed ski platoons. We were taught by the Norwegians who were there at the time. All in all I spent two years in Iceland.

We were sent back, initially to Wales, where the new ski platoon demonstrated our skills. We were eventually taken over by the 52nd. For the next two years I worked as an army ski-instructor in Kingussie in the Cairngorms.

In 1944 I was part of the forces involved in Operation Market Garden. We were sent along with some heavy armoured cars to the Mulberry Harbour to France. The remainder of my regiment were to go by air to Arnhem. At this time I was squadron Sergeant Major (8th Squad). It was all a bit of a shambles. I was commissioned in the field.

At the end of the war I became a war crimes investigator. My job was to search for the suspected war criminals and bring them back to stand trial. Lawyers would give me a portfolio and I was sent out to bring them in. One of the people I was sent to get was Dr Harold Heinz. When the allied invasion of Germany came he was transporting a load of Canadian POWs. Instead of travelling with them, he lined them all up and shot them. Thankfully some of them survived to tell the story. When I came across him, butter wouldn鈥檛 melt in his mouth.

Because you had to register where you stayed we had some clues as to where to find him. I tracked him down through his wife. The German police came with me and we questioned her. It turns out he had gone into the Russian Zone. We didn鈥檛 really realise how dangerous it was to go in there, so my driver, two German police and I went to get him.

I knocked on his door. There was no reply, and when we entered we found him dangling from his balcony two floors up. Luckily one of the German policemen grabbed him and we took him back to stand trial.

I was demobbed shortly after that.

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