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. Their task was to liberate Belgium, Holland and ultimately Germany. This is his story.

The first surprise we had, now that hostilities had ended, was the fact that we had out-run the field bakeries and our fresh white bread which our cooks had kept us supplied with for the last six weeks, had now run out.

We were back on the biscuits that we had stored away since the Rhine crossing. We were on vehicle messing for a week or two until the regiment had sorted out billets in houses and barns.

'C' Squadron had moved to a village called Metelsdorf. RHQ was still in a farm near Schulenbrook. The officer's mess and quarters were in the farmhouse.

During the advance across Germany somebody had picked up a very nice 220v alternator set, fitted with a twin cylinder DKW, horizontally opposed petrol engine and a 2KW generator. Signal troop had the job of connecting it up to the Officers Mess, filling the tank with petrol every day and starting it up in the evening.

All went well until the first time we attempted to stop the engine. We found that the alternator was leaking current into the ground and could not be approached without getting a shock.

On the first occasion we ran it until the petrol ran out. When the Orderly Officer found that it was his job to turn off the alternator at the end of the day, he found that if he put his handkerchief on the end of his stick and push it into the air cleaner it would stop the engine.

The regiment was told that it was responsible for law and order in the area and keeping refugees off the roads. On May 6th, parties were driven into Wismar, where 6th Airborne Division had set up a bathhouse. Since this was the first opportunity we had had to bathe since crossing the Rhine, this was very welcome. We handed in all our old underclothes and were issued with fresh new ones.

On the same day a Royal Tiger (Königstiger) ARV had been discovered locally and the C.O. went to inspect it with a view to adding it to the regimental strength. It was found to be in good condition except for clutch adjustment and arrangements were made to bring it back to RHQ.

By this time nearly every tank had it's own private car and there was plenty of petrol to spare. We went on a foraging expedition around the local countryside and soon had to learn the German word for egg, which was one of the items our rations did not include.

It was discovered that parties of Russians had started entering Wismar in the evening, kidnapping German girls and disappearing back to their own lines. After this a tank was placed in the town every evening and the practice ceased forthwith.

On May 8th, which was VE Day, we had no parades but the Padre held a church service. The regiment fired a 'Feu de Joie,' getting rid of our spare ammunition. Turrets were turned to the east when firing.

I often wonder if we hit any Russians. One young officer who should remain anonymous fired a Very Light pistol into a haystack, which burned for three days. It was decided to hold a Victory Parade through Wismar in conjunction with 6th Airborne, on the 11th May.

The regiment passed the next two days cleaning and camouflaging all the tanks, which were to take part in the parade. The Commander of 6th Airborne Division, Major General Eels, took the salute.

I did not see the salute because I was further up the road on the junction where I took two photos with the camera which I had been presented with in Bremen by an elderly German civilian, one of the tanks and one of the infantry.

Although I did not get the photos developed until I came home on leave later on in the year, they came out very well. We had a pretty easy time for the weeks following the end of hostilities.

Central messing re-started and all our squirreled away rations had to be handed in. About a dozen of us went on a tour of the airfield that the C.O. had had a little trouble with. There were some very advanced aircraft both in the hangers and on the tarmac.

We climbed all over them. There was a large red button labelled 'Achtung', so naturally someone pressed it. There was a loud 'Bang!' and off flew the cockpit canopy. After that there was a race to see who could blow off the most covers.

Someone had found a German Army rubber assault boat that provided a lot of fun. We had a bathing party organised to go down to the beach for swimming, in the Baltic Sea. Five chaps got into the boat and started paddling out to sea.

The Baltic is a tideless sea and shelves very gently. A gust of wind caught the dinghy and it started heading for Sweden. Those in the dinghy started paddling furiously, but were not making much headway.

One of the lads decided not to take any chances, stood up and dived overboard. Unfortunately, the water was so shallow at this point that he stuck his head in the sand, even though by this time they were almost a quarter mile out to sea.

The regiment had been given the job of searching our area for arms and ammunition. Our party found an isolated farmhouse in which we found a lot of sub-machine guns complete with full magazines. On the outside wall of the house someone had painted in large white letters 'Achtung Typhus.'

As soon as we had collected the weapons we made a hurried retreat. Although we had all had extra inoculations against the diseases, which were rife in Germany at that time there was no point in taking chances.

We also used our rubber boat to go fishing. We used to throw a hand-grenade into a local pond, wait for the explosion, then rush over the bank carrying the boat, onto the water and collect the fish while they were still stunned.

A day or two later we saw a party of displaced persons, of whom there were thousands roaming the countryside, fishing our pond with a net. When they left it was completely empty of fish.

Ron Levett, 2001