´óÏó´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Matthew Smaldon on behalf of Fred Rayner and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Rayner fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

'I joined the 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment in 1942, and after completing a number of training courses in drill instruction, small arms, PT instruction, etc, I joined the 5th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, as a field tactician. There were a lot of anti-aircraft men in the regiment, who were retraining to be infantry after the Battle of Britain.

We landed in Italy, at Salerno, a few days after the main troops. I didn’t see any fighting, as I was a field tactician, we were attached to Intelligence.

We were responsible for guarding Displaced Person camps, when the Intelligence men went in, looking for Nazis. This was in Austria, at the end of the war. I remember the chief one we caught was female. There was a large mansion across the road from a DP camp, which we were suspicious of. It turned out there was a female Gestapo officer living in there, living very well too. Well, they caught her.

We were part of BTA (British Troops Austria). I was in charge of guarding the Semmering Pass, which was on the edge of the Russian and British zones in Austria, and was the main route from Italy to Vienna. We had to stop and check all vehicles and pedestrians. One day I got a call from the orderly room. ‘Everyone, be on your toes’. There were a couple of estate cars with brigadiers coming through. When they stopped, we noticed that one of the cars had a civilian in it, dressed in black, wearing a homburg hat. There was nothing special about him. The ADC Captain got out with the IDs of all the passengers. He was showed in, and I asked him ‘Is that civilian British?’ ‘Yes’, he replied. I asked to see his ID card, and he passed it to me. It said A. Pierrepoint

The civilian came in to the room and asked if he could use the toilet. So I said to him ‘I’ve had a look at your card. Are you him?’ Yes, he replied. I asked him where he was going. ‘I’m on my way to Vienna, to show the authorities how to do a proper hanging. They need to have the scaffolding set up properly, to take the prisoners height.’
When he found out where I was from he passed me his card and said ‘I keep a pub near Huddersfield, on the Oldham Road. You should come in for a drink’ His card said ‘Help the Poor Struggler - Licensed Premises / Accommodation / Bed and Breakfast — Licensee: A. Pierrepoint’. I never did go in, and it’s been pulled down now, but I’ve still got the card.'

Note: Albert Pierrepoint was the Home Office’s Official Executioner between 1931 and 1956, and executed a number of Nazis including Josef Kramer, commandant of Belsen.

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