大象传媒

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Bayeux was liberated by the end of June 7 and the following day we moved into a field containing a group of small chalets on the Caen side of Bayeux. They had previously been occupied by Germans. One had "Aus gabe" painted on the side of it. The Germans must have left in rather a hurry for, when I bedded down for the night, I found a lump under my groundsheet and this turned out to be a pair of German field glasses which I still have. They were khaki/field grey when I found them but I painted them black at a later date. At this time our rations consisted of 14 man day composite packs ("Compo" - rations for 14 men for a day or two men for a week). There were seven varieties of these so we had a fairly varied menu. One good thing was that they contained tins of fruit the like of which we had not seen for years; the worst thing about them was that they held army biscuits in place of bread. One day we were sitting by the roadside eating biscuits with a little chocolate when a young French lad came up to me and presented me with half of an unexploded mine. It had apparently been run over by a tank or something of the sort but had not exploded. It had been filled with an explosive powder and it was possible to empty out what was left of this and so render the mine safe.
By this time cables had been laid under the Channel and we had a small switchboard working. Conversations were monitored at all times and we had instructions to disconnect immediately if any caller failed to use code for the names of officers or other persons or for the locations of army units. I believe that Churchill was one offender! I never worked the switchboard so did not have
to cut anyone off.
From here we saw and heard spasmodic bombing of Caen. On 7 July Bomber Command dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Caen, destroying much of the city and killing many of the inhabitants and occupying forces. I believe that many of the German troops had already left the town. By the morning of 9 July Caen north of the river Orne was in Allied hands. On 10 July British forces threatened the southern part of the city but it was not until 18 July that Caen was liberated by the Canadians.

Two or three weeks later we had occasion to go through Caen. Roads had been bulldozed so that vehicles could get through but the rubble was piled high everywhere else. I shall never forget the stench of rotting corpses.
We soon moved again although I have never been sure just where we moved to. The HQ was in a large and rather isolated house called L'Asile le Chene and I think that it was nearer Courseuilles.
We employed over 100 French labourers to dig trenches for the laying of cables in the approved army manner. This was to dig the trenches close to hedges and to dispose of any surplus spoil in the hedge bottom so that the work could not be easily seen from the air. If the cable had to cross a road a pole was erected on either side and the cable was taken up, across and down the other side. It was slow work and progressed at only a few miles per day. The poles were only about three inches in diameter and were inserted in holes made in the ground with a hammer and jumper. A Canadian signals unit came to our assistance. They were equipped with a bulldozer which pulled a huge plough with a blade about 3 ft deep. To lay cable they just drove the plough directly along the route the cable was to take, ploughing straight across fields, through hedges and through roads. Once the cable was laid the bulldozer pushed most of the spoil back into the trench. They finished the job (about 20 miles) in a single morning. They were useful in another way too: one of their trucks was fitted with a vertical drill, designed for drilling holes for their telegraph poles, which were similar to normal English ones, about nine or ten inches in diameter. The drill could be fitted with bits up to about 15" in diameter and the Canadians took only a few minutes to dig a row of holes for us to use as latrines.
Altogether we had a cushy little number. We were accommodated in ridge tents about six foot by nine in size with only three men to a tent. The earth was dry and solid clay so we were able to excavate about two foot down to give ourselves plenty of headroom. A small store of timber was discovered and I and several of the others made light beds from it. The beds could be supported on Compo boxes which also made handy 'bedside cabinets', We rigged up a shower made from a 4-gallon petrol tin with the top off and a few holes punched in the bottom, supported on a timber framework. We heated water in another petrol tin. poured it into the shower and dived quickly under the spray.
Before leaving England we had been warned that under no circumstances were we to give any of our food to the French as, although they might be almost starving, arrangements would be made with the civil authorities for the distribution of all food necessary_ Normandy was, of course, regarded as the dairy of France and, once invaded, was unable to send its produce to the rest of France, so had plenty to spare. The locals regarded our occupation money (BAFVs - British Armed Forces Vouchers) with some suspicion but I used to take a 15 cwt utility truck round one or two neighboring farms in the mornings and was able to exchange tins of sardines for eggs at the rate of three eggs to one tin of sardines and to get milk and lettuces for a couple of cigarettes. Thus we had a bit more variety in our diet.

The life was too good to last. One morning I awoke with such a sharp pain in my abdomen that I could not stand upright. The Medical officer suspected appendicitis and I was taken to a nearby field hospital. I was put to bed and given medicine and in about three days I had recovered.

I was then transferred to a holding camp at Bayeux where conditions were very rough. After a few days I was posted to 118 Telegraph Operating Section at Cherbourg, which was mainly occupied by Americans. One chap I knew in 118 TOS was Harry Blackshaw. He came from Grimsby and he had been in Ron Peter's section and I had met him when I had visited Ron at Earls Court. At Cherbourg we operated a small signal office attached to a larger American one where they had teletypes, the American equivalent of teleprinters. We ate in the American mess and the food was certainly very much better than the rations to which I had become accustomed. We were billeted in an empty house on a hill behind the town which had been occupied by the Germans.

One incident showed the difference in our languages. Some of the Americans said that they knew a good place to go swimming if they could get transport. Our sergeant told them that he would lay on a lorry for the afternoon. Came the afternoon but there was no sign of the Yanks. The next day we asked them what had happened and they replied that they thought that it was no good because the sergeant had said that he was going to lie on a truck all afternoon!

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