大象传媒

My experience of war against Germany was limited to the action through Northern Europe from the beach at Arromanches on 1 July 1944 until the final armistice. As a trooper in a Daimler Armoured Car (gunner/wireless operator)in the Inns of Court Regiment, a reconnaisance unit of the 11th Armoured Division, I and my fellow soldiers saw much action, both exciting and terrible. Apart from the horrendous moments, one peculiar and fun situation has always stayed in my mind.
On the French/Belgium border, we caame across an abandoned goods train, which had trucks full of stolen wine and champagne, obviously bound for Germany. Apart from refreshing ourselves on the spot, the whole regiment enjoyed the results of this find and we were able to keep a few bottles for ourselves in our vehicle. At this point we determined to keep one bottle of "champers" until the war end, and this, surprisingly, we managed to do.
Thus early on the morning of 5th May 1945, near Rendesburg on the Keil Canal, we three (gunner/driver/commander) made good use of the said bottle celebrating an end to the war, but followed by much more "booze" in the company of a unit of Bulgarian cavalry, who were delighted to be freed from the German yoke and, of course, were equally "well oiled". They were more than pleased to offer us the use of their horses, which we accepted as meant and spent hours riding around in a drunken haze until the alcohol and sleep took final control.
A "glorious" end to the war !!!

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