大象传媒

War in the front line is horrific 鈥� one never knows whether one be still alive the next day. Small things however can distract ones attention for a short time, from the destruction and devastation. Here is an example.

8th March 1945. I was a Royal Artillery Forward Observation Officer with an Observation Party of 5, and we accompanied the leading infantry to bring down 25-pounder gunfire on targets which they required to be destroyed. We had spent 2 days capturing a moated grange and village called House Loo and at the end of the action my O.P pals and I were relieved and returned to our gun positions. I found a comfortable farmhouse barn and we settled down to have a mug of tea and some hard rations and some sleep. Suddenly a German shell ripped through the wall above us and hit the opposite wall 鈥� but did not explode.
Instead it ricocheted off the far wall and destroyed all our food and drink 鈥� so we thereafter had to go to sleep with no sustenance.
Next day we advanced again and reached the River Rhine. As we consolidated our positions I set up my Observation Post in a small building behind the bank of the Rhine at Xanten. I had a good view across the river. Fate suddenly took a hand, and enabled me to take revenge for the spoiling of our supper the previous night. Very clearly I could see a small hut on the far bank of the river. It had windows back and front and there, silhouetted between the windows, I saw two German soldiers pumping up a Primus stove, presumably to make tea.
I should explain at this point that 25 pounder guns are not so accurate that you can hit their target with the first shot. You have to fire a first round which, unless you are very fortunate, will not hit the target. You then fire 鈥榬anging shots鈥� to correct line and distance. In this case however, the very first shell landed on the hut鈥nd its two occupants were blown sky high. We felt we had avenged the destruction of our supper the previous evening.
When we landed on the far bank we were confronted by the badly damaged concrete base of the hut, but there was no further evidence of the hut we had destroyed.
In 1950 I returned to Germany with my wife to visit some battlegrounds in which I had been involved. One day, as we approached House Loo from the East I was amazed to see the East wall of the barn where our supper had been ruined five years previous. It had no shell hole in it, for it had been repaired - the large circle of new brick stood out from the old wall. The damage caused by the shell responsible for the loss of our supper in 1945 had been repaired.
The story does not end there. Some years later I saw on 大象传媒 TV a film called 鈥淭he True Glory鈥�. It had been made by the Allies to show major engagements made by the allies from Normandy to Berlin in 1944/1945. To my amazement, when assault craft were shown crossing the Rhine, there was I and my OP pals prominently displayed in the first boat.

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