Ron Levett's memories of his time in the British Liberation Army during World War II.

Ron Levett, born in Alfriston, East Sussex, enlisted in 1943 and joined the Royal Armoured Corps. After completing his training as a Driver Operator he was sent to Belgium to join the British Liberation Army, where he was posted to the Royal Scots Grays and then to the Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) signals troop. After the liberation of Germany he was based in Münster where he met his German fiancée Ruth.

In the town of Münster there were a large number of notice boards with the names, and sometimes photographs of missing people. The large movements of population during and after the war, with members of the conquered races throughout Europe working as forced labour in Germany and the German people from East Germany on the run to escape the Russians, were causing chaos.

Trains were running now but obtaining tickets for them was not easy. All of the British POW's had been repatriated but very few German POW's had returned home

Later that year the regiment moved to Lüneburg, a town almost untouched by any fighting. There were two large barracks situated at the Northern edge of the town with hangers for both our tanks and those of 44th Battn. Royal Tank Regiment, who occupied the barracks nearer the town.

Members of the Polish Army guarded the tank parks at night and we soon found that it was rather unsafe to venture near to the tank park after dark.

Further up the hill from the barracks was a disused airfield, probably an ex-Luftwaffe field. A hotel in the town had been taken over and converted into an excellent NAAFI canteen. They made steak and kidney puddings in a cup, which were just like mother used to make.

Together with a very good range of cakes, some tasty meals could be obtained there. There was a cinema that was used by the Army Kinomatograph Corps to show fairly modern British and American films, and a live theatre that was re-named The Horrocks Theatre, after the Corps Commander who became well known after the war for his television appearances explaining some of the battles of the war.

Soon after our arrival in Lüneburg I was promoted to full Corporal and sewed on my second stripe. The barrack block allocated to Signal Troop was the first block inside the main gate and was ideal for our use.

The Signal Office and telephone exchange were on the first floor, with small barrack rooms on the second and third floors that were small rooms for four men only. The Troop Sergeant and I had a room each on our own.

In the basement were a large number of cellars, which were used for stores, and two of the largest were used as IM (Instrument Mechanic) workshops. I had begun to form my lifelong interest in wireless communications and spent quite a lot of my spare time in the workshops.

In the next block to ours there was also a large basement and the camp electrician, a German ex-soldier who was a very pleasant chap, used this and he and I became friends, because his hobby was also radio work.

Ruth made a lot of visits to Lüneburg but there was always a problem with train tickets. To travel by D-Zug, or express train, a special permit was required. I got round this by typing out a permit (in German, with the help of my electrician friend) on the office typewriter.

This was then rubber stamped with the office stamp and signed by me. We found that the German officials would always respond to a rubber stamp of any kind because of the years of Nazi officialdom.

I found a very pleasant Stube (German Pub) in the old town run by a Frau Sasse and her daughter Elfriede, who was in her late thirties. They always made Ruth and me very welcome and managed to find Ruth a room whenever she visited.

I managed to get a leave pass and, with the help of the office typewriter and rubber stamp, travelled to Münster to spend a weekend with the family. I was issued with rations for three days, which were very welcome because food was still very short in Germany.

Some of the rations caused a few problems. On the first morning Ruth served me breakfast consisting of raw bacon on a slice of black bread. I had to borrow a frying pan and I fried the bacon. There is no equivalent to English bacon in Germany. They have Spek, or smoked ham, and Schinken, which is more like normal English ham.

Ron Levett, 2001