Chapter 3 In the Thick of the Fighting

Gogh
Eventually we reached a big German town called Gogh which had to be taken. The whole war seemed different on German soil, not like fighting in Franc, Belgium or Holland. Things were very serious. Then we had a new way and idea of attacking the enemy. The army decided to remove all the turrets and the insides of the tanks, and we called them kangaroos. We had to practise jumping out of the kangaroos. All we had was a big hole to jump out of. As we jumped out of the tanks, the tanks stopped firing, we ran ahead of them, I couldn’t believe it, the Germans were still there. I’ll always remember a friend of mine standing up shouting “Wrighty, I’ve got a blighty!” When he stood up and saw all the blood run out of his trousers, I thought “You’ve got more than a blighty pal!” His name was Richie, he was a Welsh chap, and a very nice chap. Richie had been our section leader and had been hit right between his shoulders when he had jumped out of a kangaroo, the moment between life and death. He’d been right in the sight of the enemy, they couldn’t have missed him. I never did see him again, never heard of him again

It wasn’t long afterwards; we had a good rest for a few days and a re-grouping. Major Cadger came to me and remarked that he was stuck for a replacement leader, and detailed me to become the next leader. I refused at first, knowing that the leader is usually the first to be killed. He insisted I was to be the next leader as I was the oldest member of the section and claimed I was now a Lance Corporal. I was told I would lead my section and be responsible for 9 men. Goodness knows how many thousands of rounds of ammunition we had, also a mortar gun to be carried which fired mortar shells, also a PIAT and nine rounds of ammunition, we had hand grenades and phosphorus bombs strapped to us, had you seen us, you would have said,” That’s not my Dad”!

We had to carry on and obey orders. The following day Major Cadger told us that we were to take a certain village which we did. We had a hell of a fight but we captured it. We re-grouped, took up positions for the night and dug in. I had a good section. One was Smudger Smith from Dover. He told me that he would be off in the morning when it was to be “stand to” at 4 o clock. He told me he would no longer be there. Another chap told me he wouldn’t be there either as they would be going together. They were going to dessert. I begged them not to, but in the morning when it came to “stand to”, I checked the trenches and the two of them had gone. I never saw or heard of them ever again. Smudger Smith was a nice chap but his nerves had gone, he just couldn’t go on.

I don’t know whether they were ever captured, killed or taken prisoner. If you deserted you regiment and were caught, you definitely were imprisoned for two years, which really they deserved. But then their life was safe. They weren’t shot in those days for desertion but were imprisoned for 2 years, but they considered that was better than losing your life. They also put their comrades in danger.

The Battle of the Rhine
We arrived at the banks for the Rhine. It was wide. Early April, I spent my 21st birthday on the banks of the Rhine. I had a parcel from England with a cake in it, I’m not sure who sent it, probably a girl friend. We really enjoyed it. I received a few cards from 1 or 2 girlfriends and home. We had to sort our weapons out before we crossed the Rhine. They couldn’t tell us too much in advance of the plans, in case the enemy found out. We were ready for the crossing, but the boats hadn’t arrived. Little did we know what was going on back in England and all the planning involved. The Airborne and gliders were preparing to land on the other side of the Rhine, to form a bridgehead, so we could then cross it. The officer warned us that in the morning, the sky would be black with planes of all sorts. All hell broke loose. The Air force first, as the Germans were waiting for us and it was to be a big battle. Rocket firing typhoon, I think made of wood. When they fired, the planes appeared to remain stationary in mid air for a split second. After, it was the artillery’s turn. Ti was a carpet barrage, a creeper. The shells started for fall 100 yards in front of our position and they continued on to fall half a mile in front of our position, until they thought they’d destroyed enough of the enemy. The sky was black with Dakotas each pulling 2 gliders. All hell broke loose the other side of the Rhine.

We were checking our weapons, when one of our chaps took the barrel off his Bren gun which was fixed with only one clip, which slid on the gun. We had several barrels in case they became hot when firing, in which case we had to change barrels. This gun was ready for action when he took the barrel off, he then replaced the old barrel with a new one, clipped it down and as he did so, the gun fired. One of the bullets went straight through him, Clements was his name, and in doing so took the finger off another soldier. What a calamity that was. Everyone started to run all over the place as they thought the enemy was around the corner or in a ditch somewhere nearby. We were told Clements was only wounded, but we later found he had died. Poor Clements, he was a smashing chap. Gone.

We had new orders, we were not to cross the Rhine at that point after all and we were to go by 3 tonners down to Cologne. The Americans had already crossed the river; they had a pontoon bridge across the Rhine there. A pontoon bridge was frightening. It was made up of a line of boats all side by side, tied together, with planks across them. They drove the 3 tonners across these big barges. When the vehicles drove over, they rocked all over from side to side. We were so relieved to reach the other side! After the crossing we had to drive all the way back up the road to opposite our old positions. It was a good idea, we didn’t seem to lose any more soldiers this way. We were well and truly into Germany now. We should have crossed at Wesel. It was battle stations all the way. The war on the Eastern front, Russia, was closing in, the French and the Americans were closing in and Germany was becoming smaller by the day. More of their troops were being taken prisoner and more troops replaced them.

I can remember attacking a village one day; we had to walk through a corn field. A few shots rang out and we jumped up to find out what was happening. All we could see were white flags. As we approached the flags it became clear it was the enemy. They were a regiment of 14 year olds in uniform with guns. They had been too frightened to fire. They looked as if they could have been the Youth Movement of Hitler’s army. We took them all prisoner; they returned to camp and never had to fire a shot. It was lucky for us all that they were only kids. Another lucky day for us! We didn’t know where we were going next, it was near the end of the war.

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