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.

Although the war was over, we were still having casualties. One of the cook sergeants borrowed a motorcycle from the Despatch Rider's Section and went off for a joy ride. Unfortunately he lost control and ran into a tree at the side of the road. He died on the way to the Field Dressing Station.

On another occasion some of some signal troop men from 'C' Sqdn. attempted to disconnect the generator similar to the one at RHQ. The electricity supply company chose this moment to switch on the supply. The supply had not been isolated from the substation and the full mains voltage was applied to the generator and the men who were touching it. Two of them were killed.

On 18th of May, 6th Airborne Division left for home, their place being taken by 5th Infantry Div. Each of our squadrons had acquired a number of horses and mounted patrols were formed. A riding school for junior officers was constituted under Capt. Hanbury and Lt. Makesy ended up in a local pond at his first attempt.

The following week the Brigade Commander paid a visit to the Regiment and a Church Parade was held at Beidendorf church. I was on my usual job of repairing phone lines so I missed the parade.

The following day, the 28th May, an advance party departed for Rotenburg, which was to be our home for the next four to six months. The area, which we were policing at this time, was, by international agreement, to become part of the Russian Zone of Germany, the River Elbe forming the new frontier between the Zones.

Early the next morning all of our Sherman tanks departed for Hamburg, where they were handed over to 471 F.D.S. As far as I know the tanks were taken by ship out into the Atlantic Ocean and dumped overboard. So once again we were homeless. About a week later, the regiment moved by truck to Rotenburg.

We discovered that our new billets consisted of an ex-Luftwaffe aerodrome situated about a mile from the town, with first class barracks, which had been built in the woods next to the aerodrome. The whole place had been camouflaged by stringing nets across the tops of the trees so that it would have been impossible to identify it from the air.

Our first job was to remove all these nets, which took quite some time. On the edge of the aerodrome was a line of hangers camouflaged by paint. These became garages for such vehicles that we still possessed. Our barracks were very comfortable after living like gypsies for the last six months and were very welcome.

We were now soldiering again. Webbing had to be blancoed and boots and brasses polished. Guard duties consisted of a main gate guard, a patrol around the perimeter of the camp and two night guards on the nearby displaced persons camps, one male and one female.

The latter was a much sought after duty, but I am not sure who was guarding the guards. The displaced persons were of all nationalities and were mostly the slave workers who the Germans had forced into their war industries, so we had a lot of sympathy for them.

During the latter days of the conflict we liberated one British P.O.W. from a farm. He had been living very comfortably with the farmer's wife and didn't really want to be liberated!

On our way across Germany we also freed two Scots Guardsmen who had been in captivity since Dunkirk. They were as smartly dressed as if they had just come off the square at Caterham.

Ron Levett, 2001