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StanEllis12
Postscript

Hello, my name is Ellis Stanley, Army Service number 2092841. I have written my memoirs of World War Two as I lived it. I served through the war from first day to last, and served as a vehicle mechanic, reaching the rank of Corporal. I was a soldier in the Army firstly in the UK, then in North Africa, and finally in Italy and Greece. After Victory in Europe, I was posted to Italy again until I was returned to Aldershot and demobbed in 1946. These memoirs have been edited to conform to People’s War standards, and are spread over 12 title pages, and cover my service in locations as listed below. They have been transcribed by Andrew Voyce, an Open University graduate.

StanEllis1 UK- The Phoney War part 1
StanEllis2 UK- The Phoney War part 2
StanEllis3 UK- Northern Ireland and preparations for the desert
StanEllis4 North Africa- The journey by troopship and the Battle of El-Alamein
StanEllis5 North Africa- Active service with the Eighth Army
StanEllis6 North Africa- The final defeat of the Afrika Korps
StanEllis7 Italy and Greece- Arrival in Italy and joining the Battle of Monte Cassino
StanEllis8 Italy and Greece- Monte Cassino
StanEllis9 Italy and Greece- Some matters of everyday soldiering
StanEllis10 Italy and Greece- The end of the war for me: Victory in Europe
StanEllis11 Demob- Time after the cessation of hostilities
StanEllis12 Demob- Postscript

Postscript

Afterthoughts:
After leave I returned, as I say, to Italy. From Verona we moved up to Lake Garda and took over the hotel on the lake shore. The Army did all the food. Always seemed to feed us, because everything was rationed. I think we could go out on the town at Verona and get a plate of spaghetti, and it would just be flavoured with cheese, something like that. We didn’t use ration coupons for that- just used to pay for it. I’ve mentioned the relief mechanics coming in- taking the load off, we just waited for our orders to proceed to the Assembly Centre, Milan, it was called. And, as I say, Age Service Group, you all got a number, which in my case was: 66478. That was on the fourteenth of April, ’46. And then got to Aldershot and got released on the nineteenth of April. Five days later- and they’d sorted us out, and fitted us out with Demob suits. The tailors like Montague Burton were when you got home, Bexhill- there was in Devonshire Road. Of course they were all on coupons, you see. The Demob suit, you got that issued to you. I don’t know who made them, but they were the same people as made the uniforms, I suppose. The Army had them all in listed categories. (The Army planned things well in advance- like training us for months in desert conditions before we were sent out.) I suppose they realised then that they wouldn’t want so many uniforms. So the people who were making the uniforms moved over to suits. They didn’t seem to do overcoats, because we had the offer of retaining our greatcoats, as we called them. Which was a good thing. (As regards the Army’s advance preparations…) After the desert campaign, we were training on mountain warfare training. We were just working out where- and then it was: we’re all going to Italy, you know. Never actually been told, you’re going to be going to Italy, but just the nature of the training gives you the message. Our mountain training was in Palestine and Syria.
Know a man by his footwear:
We had some Indian troops, well one lot were the Gurkha battalion. They live in the mountains, apparently, in their homelands, so it wasn’t anything new for them. Useful people to have along with you, I should think. They could tell someone’s nationality by the feel of their boots- because when they were fighting, moving through their own lines, they used to feel a hand, just- it was pitch black, you know! Imagine that. And they say, they used to feel the boots, your footwear, and they knew that you were English troops. But the German boots must have been distinctive in some other way.
The Highs and the Lows:
The real high point, of course, was being on site for the surrender of the German Afrika Korps. We realised that was a big event when it happened, oh yes. Because the Afrika Korps were a prime fighting force, same as the Eighth Army was, in opposition. And Rommel was a very well known German general. As I say, they decided he wouldn’t be captured, they flew him out. ‘Didn’t go in the bag’, as the saying was. That was the high point, anyway. One of the worst points was Monte Cassino. The other way round, frightening, horrible, and everything. We got bombed by the American Air Force, on the fifteenth of March- I know that date because it was my Mum’s birthday. We were completely surprised by that because we couldn’t understand why they were bombing us, with all our trucks with the Allied recognition signals on ‘em. We could see the aeroplanes as clear as anything. But that was what is known as ‘Friendly Fire’ now. There were hundreds of bombers going over, bombs dropped all around our lorries. Strangely enough, they never hit a lorry. A big cloud of dust went up. Everybody was a bit pessimistic- they thought: when the next lot come along, and see that dust, they’ll throw a few more in for luck, you know. The other thing that used to happen, of course, is that these artillery guns, they gradually wear. Of course the artillery would be firing over our troops…They were set, you know. The theory was that they’d go over them. But as the barrels wore, they sometimes couldn’t get it quite right, they went into them. That was another thing of ‘Friendly Fire’ that was definitely disastrous. Mind you, as soon as our shells started landing on our troops, the telephones were red hot, I expect. They’d be going: What’re you doing back there? But that’s war, I’m afraid, isn’t it? Such atrocious conditions as at Monte Cassino could be really comparable to World War One, I should think. Because in the desert it was sort of wide open spaces, it didn’t feel so claustrophobic. At Monte Cassino they were climbing up the mountains or foothills and all that, and everything had to be struggled up there. And Jeeps, mainly, were about the only things that could go up. And when they couldn’t manage they had mules. Fortunately these Indians had handled mules, so they got the job of bringing the supplies up. (Another feature similar to warfare in World War I ). It was all done in the dark, at night. Couldn’t do anything in the day because you’d be picked off by the enemy fire. It was unbelievable, what went on. I’m glad I didn’t go up that end of it.
My decorations:
Anyway: campaign stars, and clasps, and medals…’In recognition of service: the War of ’39 to ’45. Awarded to Corporal Stanley, E.’ Africa Star and Eighth Army clasp. I got a clasp, which signifies you were actually in the Army, the 8th Army. Everybody in Africa got the Africa Star, I think. And the same applies to Italy Star, and then there was the ’39-’45 Star; Defence Medal; War Medal, and the Territorial Efficiency Medal which was for twelve years’ service, war service counts double in the Territorial Army. And then the Greek Medal was for service in Greece, ’41 to’45- that’s the era. I got that because- you had to apply for that, which I thought was a bit much. But you had to write to the War Office and verify that you had actually served out there, and then got the medal. (The medal is up here.) There is the 8th Army clasp and the medal with the head of George VI. Fortunately they (the Greeks) sent you the medal and that…diploma thing and a translation, ha! We helped to liberate Greek people from German occupation. Some of it you might be able to understand, the rest is all in Greek- it’s all Greek, as the old saying goes! Hellenic Republic Commemorative Medal, Campaigns 1941-1945, being presented to Corporal Stanley,E. who participated in the war operations 1941-1945. ‘Fortunate is the one who defends his country.’ Date: Athens, 6/6/2001. Signed by the National Defence Minister. I thought, well the…as it was on offer, we’re going for it, because that was the bit out of the British Legion magazine which initiated my response. (The British Government had omitted to issue a proper medal- there was one for North Africa, Italy, Territorial Army.) This was the sort of thing that came with the medals- various categories of order of wearing. You have to have them on in the right order, apparently. The set came with the Territorial Efficiency Medal, which they sent in 1951. I was quite surprised to see that, I didn’t know I had actually qualified for that. ‘ Number of stars, medals, clasps, or emblems enclosed: six.’ With the extra one: six British, plus the Greek. I have a record of service- they give you that when you get demobbed. I started off in the Royal Engineers, then RAOC (Royal Army Ordnance Corps), ended up in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (R.E.M.E.) after a while. Certain trades, they formed the REME during the war. Certain trades were automatically transferred to REME, like motor mechanics and vehicle electricians- all those sort of people. That happened to me on the way to Italy. There is a date. The date is 1st October 1942. That’s when I joined REME, in the desert, but on the way out. I was made a Corporal, but if you move about, they sometimes take your stripes off you. If you transfer. I must have been in the records, possibly in Nottingham (training for North Africa), or in North Africa. Probably Nottingham. I went from Private to Corporal without being a Lance-Corporal. As I remember. In the complement of the unit of a Sergeant and a Corporal, there was a vacancy for a Corporal, which they promoted me to. Of course the ordinary soldier in the REME was a Craftsman. You could be a Craftsman or a Corporal or a Sergeant. I was a Corporal. And that’s about it, thank you very much. This has been the memoir of Corporal Ellis Stanley, service number 2092841.

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