大象传媒

This story was submitted by Helen Hughes of the People's War team in Wales on behalf of Sid Shorten, and is added with his permission.

MENZELEN WEST (Germany) camp 46
March 15 to 21, 1945

A small badly damaged village about two miles from the Unter Rhine we moved into the best of the houses none were really safe. The company had to mend the roads ready for the Rhine crossing and also put a small Bailey bridge across the Unter Rhine. This was a noisy place with our artillery behind shelling over the river and the Germans retaliating; on one day they even dropped a few bombs. On the 17th. I went with a reccy truck into Xanten; the road was beside the Unter Rhine and under shell fire at times, there was a lot of damage to the historic buildings, the town have a very long history. Almost 30 years later Jean and I stopped to have a look around when on holiday it had been completely restored. A battery of heavy artillery moved in and we were advised to vacate the houses, when they did open fire most of the houses collapsed.

SONNSBEEK (Germany) camp 47
March 21 to 28, 1945

We bivouacked in a wood outside the town; the work was road building and repair. Sonnsbeek is about 8 miles west of Wesel and almost in line with the drop zone for the Rhine crossing. We had a grandstand view on the 23rd. the sky was one solid mass of aircraft and gliders, it was reported 4000 were used and I well believe it I can see them even now after all these years. Five days later and we were on the move again.

VENLO (Holland) camp 48
March 28 to April 2, 1945

This was one of our more difficult jobs, to remove a 1200 foot half floating Bailey bridge from across the Maas and load onto transporters for shipping to the Rhine. We had to bivouac along the river bank as there were no billets convenient; the operation took 84 hours the whole company working in shifts. On completion we then returned to >>
SONNSBEEK (Germany) camp 49
2nd. April 1945 to 4th. April 1945
The company occupied houses in the main street while awaiting our turn to cross the Rhine passing through Xanten. The crossing was on a floating Bailey Bridge built on a large number of pontoons the river was very wide and the bridge a credit to the Engineers who built it. From the bridge we went on to >>

WESEL (Germany) camp 50
4th. April 1945 to 18th. April 1945
The company occupied houses on the outskirts of the town and was helping to build a camp for the thousands of displaced people who had been working as slave labour in the factories around Wesel. We never went into the town, many other units were at work there, our next move was to >>

LAER (Germany) camp 51
18th. April 1945 to 15th. May 1945
A village about 14 miles north west of Munster; our platoon was in an orchard under canvas the rest of the company were in nearby locations. The country side was very pretty and appeared little damaged. We heard the news of the war ending on the officer鈥檚 pick-up truck radio. It had no particular impact as our work went on as before, building refugee camps. The C.O. did turn up in the evening with a barrel of beer for everyone to have a drink. Later we were able to go into a nearby town to the cinema. I remember one afternoon in particular, some of the men came back with a very large fish and suggested I cleaned and cooked it for supper; the smell was awful so I told them to clean it and gut it and then I would look at it again. That was the last I saw of the fish, I think even they thought twice about handling that job. The next move was to >>

HAMMINKELN (Germany) camp 52
15th. May 1945 to 7th. June 1945
This was a village 4 miles north of Wesel; the company was employed on road repairs as were most engineer units, our platoon was in a shop and house the rest of the unit nearby. The shop was facing a Y junction in the road with a triangle of ground and signpost in the centre; near midday shortly after moving in an open back lorry stop and 3 civilians got out and started to dig in the triangle; they removed 5 bodies of German soldiers to take to the cemetery for a proper burial. It was a sobering sight and made us think what war was all about.
We had been here for a few days when suddenly about 800 Italians arrived to assist in the road construction, we were told to house and feed them. Tents were obtained from somewhere and we found some cooks among them so they were fixed up with a cookhouse and told to do their own catering; they were no trouble and joined in the work fine.
On the 24th.of May I was given a 72 hour leave to Brussels, travelled by truck to Wesel and then by train to the City, it was via a floating Bailey bridge across the Rhine which the trains used very slowly, the weight of the train causing the pontoons to dip alarmingly. Our next move was to >>

NORD KIRCHEN (Germany) camp 53
7th. June 1945 to 14th. June 1945
This was a small place about 20 miles from Hamm still in the Ruhr area, the unit was under canvas near a wooded area and cooking was done in the kitchens of a church school run by nuns. Still on the same road repair work. Once again we moved this time to >>

BORK (Germany) camp 54
14th. June 1945 to 4th. October 1945

Bork is a small town about 14 miles west of Hamm in the Ruhr Valley, the company was split up 鈥淎鈥� platoon being in Bork, HQ was at Ludinghausen and the other two platoons in two other places. We occupied one side of the town and a Belgian unit the other side. Most of the platoon was in the big house in the town centre, a Y junction at the end of the town square. The house had a good kitchen and was supplemented by an oil and water field oven in the courtyard at the back. The company were still working on a variety of jobs including the removal of a Bailey bridge from the Dortmund Canal and erecting it on a new site.
The order not to speak to the Germans was largely ignored by all ranks and I was able to pick up enough German language to get by. The facilities for sport were very good and we were able to play several football matches against other units at Herne, Recklinghausen, Lunen, Ludinghausen and Bork. I left on July 25th. for home leave via Calais, the actual leave time starting on reporting at Calais docks; returned on August 10th.
There was quite a bit of trouble with displaced persons from the camps in the area, some of the men were looking for revenge and carrying out raids on farms and isolated houses, it came to a head one night when our patrol was fired on at a farm and Sergeant Tomlinson was hit quite badly, the bullet hit his hand and gunbut ricocheted deep into his thigh; a search of the DP camps for weapons proved fruitless none were found, over the years they had learned the art of concealment very well. On the 22nd August I was on temporary transfer to HQ platoon at Ludinghausen. Because of leave and a cook being ill I returned to Bork on 17th. September
camp 55
On the 20th September I was given a weekend pass to Brussels until the 25th. Two of us were going via Munster but on reaching the station we learnt there was a problem at the bridge causing long delays so we decided to hitch hike. We got just into Holland quite easily and stopped at a caf茅 for a bite to eat and then realised we had no Dutch money and they would not accept Marks. I had a chocolate bar and my companion had a packet of cigarettes they were worth more than money for a meal. There was an Officer on the next table, he asked us where we were going and we said on a 5 day pass to Brussels, he knew of the bridge hold up and offered us a lift in his Jeep; he too was going to Brussels. That Jeep could fly, pre-war he raced cars at Brooklyn鈥檚 and had tuned it up to the limit; we got to town quicker than the train would have done. On our return from leave we learned the Company was being disbanded, all our equipment had been shipped back to England. We cooks being in the catering Corp were being posted to any unit who needed replacements so my next move was to >>

LUDINGHAUSEN (Germany) camp 56
4th. October 1945 to 7th. October 1945
There was just 30 of us at HQ the rest had already been posted away to other RE units. I must have been one of the very last of the 556th. Company to go; I next went to >>

HALTERN (Germany) camp 57
7th. October 1945 to 8th. October 1945
I was here with the remainder of 620th. Field Park Company awaiting transport to my next unit. The unit were in tents on a narrow neck of land projecting into a lake.

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