大象传媒

These are notes which my father made for a talk he was requested to give to local schoolchildren.

Probably the best place to start is when I joined the army in February 1940. I was told to report to the Royal Engineers in Aberdeen where I did my training. We had to learn about bridge building, different sorts of knots and their uses, and also dozens of different things the Engineers had to do.

About that time the British army had to be evacuated from Dunkirk, something which I suppose you will all know about. After training I was posted to the 51st Highland Division, which had lost a lot of men in France and we carried on training. A division consists of three brigades, a brigade consists of three battalions of infantry plus one company of engineers plus artiller, service corps, etc. A company of engineers consists of three sections and an HQ Dept and each of the three sections is attached to a battalion of infantry in the brigade. My section was attached to the 5th Black Watch for mine lifting etc.

During war if an enemy retreats normally he blows up bridges over rivers and blows up anything that will hinder. So in the early part of the war a man named Bailey invented a bridge, which could be put over a river where the bridge had been blown. it was built in sections and assembled on the site. We were taught how to build this bridge and also how to use explosives such as gun cotton for cutting railway lines, gelignite for various jobs. The detonators were dangerous to handle and we had to be very careful with them.

In June 1942 we set sail from Glasgow in the SS Leopoldville (a Belgian ship) for North Africa, going round the Cape, calling at Freetown and Capetown, where we were allowed on shore twice finally arriving at Port Tupic in Egypt. The journey took 3 months and so by the time we arrived it was August - just about the time Rommell (the German Commander) made his attack at Alamein. The attack failed and the British line held. General Montgomery had been put in charge of the Eighth Army with General Alexander, Commander in Chief in the Middle East.

On October 23 Montgomery mounted an attack against the German line at Alamein. He had received reinforcements from Britain of tanks, guns, etc and the guns (900) were massed on the front and for the start of the battle fired a barrage the like of which had never been seen before. Our job in the battle was to remove mines in the German minefields to make gaps for the infantry and tanks to pass through safely.

The Germans had roughly 20-30 different types of mines, which we had to learn how to defuse. The most famous was the Tellex mine, which was for use against tanks and when it was laid could be booby trapped. Another was the anti-personnel mine which when trodden on jumped up about 3 feet in the air and exploded. All that showed above ground were three small antennae, whichwere very difficult to see but both types were picked up on the mine detection which was very much like a vacuum cleaner.

The Battle of Alemein in 1942 was the turning point of the war in the desert and the German and Italians were pushed back past Tripoli. We had a victory parade in Tripoli marching down the main street behind bands of bagpipes, but after that it was on to Tunis (capital of Tunisia). Before that the 1st Army and Americans landed in Algeria so the Germans were pinched between two armies, 8th in the east and 1st in the west and it wasn't long before the Germans and Italians surrendered and the war in North Africa was over.

From there we went on the invasion of Sicily going by Malta where we spent a few days. We waded ashore in Sicily to no resistance and marched up the east side of the island. It wasn't long before our trucks arrived with our euqipment, expolosives, etc. and we were able to ride instead of walk. The main thing about Sicily is Mount Etna, an active volcano, which was smoking all the time we were on the island. Also one could smell sulphur in the air.

The worst job we had there was an attack of Lfero station at the foot of Etna where a shell had set fire to a railway wagon full of oil and it blazed for three or four days and of course it lit up the whole area at night. The Germans had a super all-purpose gun, the 88 mm which could be used against aircraft as a field gun (88 mm is the size of the shell it fires) and it was extremely accurate so if they saw any movement at Lfero station by day or night they could shell the place. The shell burst on landing so were anti-personnel.

When the campaign ended then we were in Messina and stayed there until we were sent home to England. We came home on an American ship and the trip took ten days. On board we only had two meals a day - breakfast six hard boiled eggs at 10.00 am dinner at 6.00 pm. We docked in Liverpool and immediately went by train toMaidenhead where we went into training for the Second Front, which started on June 6th 1944.

We went over to France in an LCI (landing craft infantry) and on arrival (on D-Day + 1) had to climb down a net slung down the side of the ship into an LCA which was a small boat on which the front lowered to allow us to disembark when near the beach. We landed near to Caen, which was considered by the Germans to be essential to their control of Normandy. Consequently all their best armour (tanks) was based there. At Oistreham we built a small Bailey bridge and at Lizeux a culvert bridge to replace blown bridges. Then we moved back into Caen and after some hard fighting our troops took the town. Then home - small local jobs for us. All the time the Germans were in retreat Paris was liberated and the Allies captured the port of Antwerp so solving their supply problems.

Our next stop was in Holland where the Dutch people made us very welcome. At that time Montgomery thought of the idea of dropping paratroops in Arnhem which was on the border of Germany and Holland and if successful would shorten the war.

Our part in all this, 30 Corps of which we were part, was going to push from the border through Eindhoven to Arnhem. The attack started by 30 Corps and at Goch, a town on the border the Allies fired 1000 rockets in half an hour. Of course the Germans replied firing their 88 mm artillery but when we arrived in Goch it was dangerous to cross the road because of snipers. Eventually the snipers were found and we movedon but unfortunately 30 Corps could not reach Arnhem to help the paratroops who were finally defeated after a heroic struggle. The bridge was blown by the Germans but eventually after much heavy fighting our troops reached the Rhine which was the last obstacle before going into Germany.

The Rhine was a wide river and we crossed in a tank that swims called a Buffalo and our job was to clear the opposite bank of mines. Then the main force crossed and slowly the Germans were crushed between the British and Americans int he west and the Russians in the east. The Americans had captured a bridgeover the Rhine intact and had got tanks over immediately. The Germans asked for peace and Montgomery met them on and both signed the surrender. When that happened I was at home in Normanton on leave and the whole country celebrated the end of the war in Europe.

I was demobbed in May 1946 in York.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.