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.

At this time 4th Armoured Brigade consisted of my own regiment, the Greys, 44th Battn. Royal Tank Regiment, County of London Yeomanry, 2nd Battn Kings Royal Rifle Corps and 4th Royal Horse Artillery (RHA). The total number of tanks would have been around 150 of whom about 45% would have been Firefly's, the 17pdr carrying tank.

During the day the brigade moved into position ready for the battle due to start on the following day. RHQ troop ended up in a field with the RHA, whose guns were 25pdr's mounted on Grant tank chassis. This made them highly mobile since they could travel as fast as the tanks they were supporting.

The whole of the 11th Armd. Div. artillery, medium guns up to 6' plus the Heavy Guns of 1st Canadian Army were available for this battle. The barrage when it began was reported to be heavier than the battle of Alamein.

RHQ troop moved into a field alongside the battery of 4th RHA self-propelled guns. The battle was planned to commence at 1400 hrs on 26th February with the barrage falling on six enemy positions, starting at H-hour minus 10 and carrying on until H-hour plus 5.

Being in the same field as the guns, we experienced at first hand the concentration of fire. A tale went round that when the first German prisoners came in, they asked if they could see the belt-fed 25pdr guns we were using.

The time for H-hour slipped and eventually turned out to be at 1800 hrs. This meant that the battle was fought in darkness. 'Monty's Moonlight' provided artificial light by searchlights shining on the clouds above. This became standard practice and we became used to working in this strange half-light.

RHQ troop moved to the top of a small rise where we could see the battle going on at the bottom of the hill. A goose had been 'liberated' from a farm while on route and I hung it from the wire strung across the rear of the tank where we carried our cooking utensils and the 'Benghazi' cooker. I then plucked the goose during a mortar attack, but being under the overhang of the hull I was safe unless one dropped behind the tank.

We had obtained a large double handled cooking pot that just held the goose so we roasted it whole. We had some Canadian troops with us and we shared our goose with them. In theory they were supposed to get a hot meal but their cooks had been unable to reach them so they were very grateful.

During another mortar attack I didn't have time to climb in the tank so I shared a slit trench with one of the Canadians. That night I was on wireless watch in our tank. Luckily the set was fitted with the Canadian Mk2 power unit so I had the nice quiet vibrator unit.

The battle went on all night and we could see the tracer rounds of our own and the German guns curving up into the night sky. There were also fires in the distance from burning buildings and vehicles.

The following morning we could see a Sherman in the field nearby, so we went across to have a look. It was blackened and rusty, after only one day. We climbed on top and opened the driver's hatch. There was a blackened skeleton minus a head sitting at the controls with its hands still on the control columns.

It must have been so sudden that he never felt a thing. We looked in the turret and found more bones on the floor. At that age every young soldier believes he is invincible and we thought this couldn't happen to us.

Ron Levett, 2001