Memories of the Second World War (Part 4)
In January 1945, I was one of about fifty posted to Catterick for Royal Signals or Royal Armoured Corps. I became a Gunner/Wireless Operator on Churchill Tanks. This was where we met the Polish tank men; a hardened lot on a refresher course of training. Posted to a remote part of Scotland, we knew we were going to the Far East, Japan most likely. The pattern of war was changing. The Generals and Politicians had a better understanding of that than we did. We finished our final training, were kitted out and embarked on a troopship at Liverpool with thousands of others. We headed out to an unknown destination and as we passed Gibraltar we guessed it was India, the traditional staging post for Cavalry…now mechanised. In about ten days we were all disembarked at Port Said and moved off to various holding camps. We, the Armoured Corps, spent a few days in Cairo then moved off to The Bitter Lakes.
In 1945 we wondered what was going on, skirmishing around and also guarding thousands of German prisoners segregated into three groups…Black, Grey and White. The Whites, mostly Austrian, worked around our quarters and entertained us in the NAFFI at night (The 308 POW Band).
August…the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and the second on Nagasaki…Japan surrendered thus ending the Second World War.
On guard one day I spoke through the wire to a ‘grey’ German prisoner. He talked about music and the Russians he met on the push to Moscow and could I give him a cigarette? He offered me a most beautiful cigarette case made out of an aluminium mess tin with carved embellishment etched with a nail. I did not smoke so gave him my tin of 50 – the weekly ration. I still have that case and would return it if I met him again. Unknown to me, I was to meet another of these prisoners in 40 years time!
An enjoyable time to me. Army records noted that Trooper Mould had been given only three days leave since joining up, so with a few others we were packed off to Cairo for a weeks leave. On return from leave we moved to a Transit Camp, lined up (again) and allocated to our regiments. I was posted to the 3rd Recce Regiment. They had returned from Italy.
I recall being on guard when Damascus Airfield was handed over from the French to the Syrians…down came the French Flag, which was torn up and the pole chopped down. The Syrians had a nice new pole, flag and airfield!
We were camped nearby, and I remember walking around Damascus and then being in a convoy of 10-15 vehicles going through the outskirts of Lebanon into Syria. I was in a White Scout Car, a half armoured vehicle with a low open back, seating 6-8 men each side, including me. A Union Jack was painted on the back.
As we drove north, we would stop outside each village, don tin hats and sit to attention with rifles between our knees, then slowly drive between the waiting, cheering crowds. This we did right up to the northern parts of Hams, Homa and Aleppo, thus seen as liberators. The two French colonies of Lebanon and Syria fell. (About 30 years later, two young Syrians appeared on my TV saying “We are ready to die for our freedom”)
Now into 1946 and returning from the North, we moved to the top of Mount Herman in severe blizzard conditions and were given a rum issue to relieve the cold. The camp was an old British one, overlooking Palestine. There followed a month or so of very harsh conditions and all men were struck down with an illness…dry toast and Water for a week and after a month or so we moved back to Egypt, had a bit of a party and gave the camp to the Syrians. The Recce Regiment was disbanded and I transferred to the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards now in Palestine.
Victor H Mould