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.

On the 5th April the brigade came under command of the 52nd Lowland Division. This division had been trained in mountain warfare and had no experience of working with tanks. I heard a lot of complaints over the radio about infantry who hid behind the tanks instead of going forward and protecting the tanks from Panzerfaust carrying enemy infantry.

It had been expected that a bridge would be ready over the Dortmund-Ems Canal by 0600 hrs in the morning but there had been a hold-up. 'A' sqdn moved down to the canal bank to give fire support to the Glasgow Highlanders as they crossed the bridge.

We crossed on the 6th April. 'B' Sqdn had the job of taking Hopsten, with 156 Bde. The village was strongly held by SS troops with SP guns and a tank. Crocodile flame-throwers helped a great deal but the battle lasted all day. 'B' Sqdn lost one tank to mines and two men in a Honey were wounded.

April 7th was a quiet day taken up by cleaning and maintenance. I had managed to get some flour from the cooks when the ration truck delivered, and made some 'Bully' fritters by making some batter, dipping slices of corned beef in it and frying them.

On the following morning 'A' Sqdn with a company of the 6 Cameronians plus 8 Crocodiles attacked a village called Recke. This was really 'a sledgehammer to crack a nut' as the village was unoccupied.

On the next day 'C' Sqdn took a village called Voltage without opposition, mainly to secure access to two bridges over a stream to the northeast. The next day 'A' Sqdn attacked a village called Alfhausen. All seemed quiet until they entered the town when they were heavily sniped. They responded by using 75mm High Explosive to set the whole village on fire.

Just after midnight on 10th April a column was formed consisting of 'C' Sqdn, a company of infantry riding in Kangaroos and two troops of Archer 17pdr SP guns (Royal Artillery). Driving along very poor tracks and covering some 20 miles they seized and held the village of Holdorf by 0230 hrs.

On the 12th April the Brigade was ordered to accompany 52nd Lowland Division on a seventy-mile night march to a town called Rethem. Every tank had to follow the very dim convoy light mounted on the vehicle in front. One tank missed a turn and drove down into a ditch.

Naturally about four more tanks followed the one in front. Luckily no one got stuck and the whole regiment arrived in the new area by 0800 hrs on the morning of the 13th April where we passed the remainder of the day on maintenance and rest.

I had travelled in the co-driver's seat and by the time we arrived the gear and differential gear boxes were hot enough to keep the tank warm for an hour or so. It was a wonder that our rather elderly Sherman's managed such a long run on their tracks. I don't think that any modern tank could do it.

The following day the regiment closed up to the town of Rethem and crossed the river Aller at around seven in the evening. A group made up of the regiment plus Royal Welch Fusiliers in Kangaroos had the job of clearing the woods east of the town. This was difficult because there was only one track through the wood.

The area was alive with Panzerfaust and Spandau parties. By the time it got dark, 'C' Sqdn was leading and it was found that the safest method of advancing was for the tank behind the leader to fire High Explosive past the tank in front. This set the wood on fire and the opposition soon disappeared.

By the dawn of the 15th, we had reached open heath-land. We had just started preparing a meal and I had cracked fourteen eggs into the huge frying pan that we had 'liberated' from a farmhouse, when we heard the moaning noise of a salvo of Nebelwurfer rounds on their way.

Although Nebelwurfer means smoke-thrower in German, this name was only given to the weapon to fool the Armistice Commission in the thirties. It is actually a six-barrelled mortar that fires rather large rounds of High Explosive, each of which is fitted with a different whistle.

The noise is enough to frighten anyone. Its only redeeming feature is the fact that the rounds fall in roughly a straight line, so having watched the first two rounds fall I could get on with my cooking. Since it takes about ten minutes to reload the weapon we knew we then had a respite.

During the afternoon a report came through on the radio that one of the leading tanks had found a German field telephone still connected to a line, and when the tank commander had turned the crank handle attached to the phone and listened to the handset, a voice had answered in German.

While we had been in Holland, a German-speaking Dutch Sergeant of the Free Netherlands Army had been seconded to the regiment as an interpreter. The sergeant was sent up the front line and when the telephone was operated again he spoke to the German officer on the other end of the line and persuaded him to surrender the village he was defending, without a fight.

When RHQ was moving along a narrow country road later on that day there were infantry in the ditch beside the road taking cover from mortar shells that were falling at intervals. Since we were halted at the time we offered the infantrymen a place in our tank until the mortaring had ceased. The answer came back 'I wouldn't want to get in that tin-can for all the tea in China'.

The following day, April 15th, 'A' Sqdn with 2 companies of infantry carried in Kangaroos put in an attack on the village of Kirchboitzen. The village was strongly held by SS troops and Marines.

The infantry seemed to have disappeared so 1st troop of 'A' Sqdn went in alone. The first tank in was the troop commander's who had six Panzerfaust fired at him, all of which missed. The attack was successfully completed and by 0900 hrs the town was cleared.

The Honey tanks of Reece troop went on ahead to check the area outside the town when they came across a piece of open ground and, on the far side, a battery of 105mm guns. There was no time to form any plan, so the commander of the Recce troop pointed his umbrella at the German guns and shouted 'Charge', over the radio.

Off went Recce troop like the charge of the Light Brigade, blazing away with everything they had got. The defenders were so surprised at the light tanks coming towards them at about thirty miles an hour that they came out with their hands up.

In the early hours of 16th April, a number of enemy infantry with horse transport, which the Germans used a great deal, tried to enter the village of Idsingen, retreating to what they thought was safety.

Unfortunately our tanks held the village. After a short engagement about 20 dead German marines, several horses, and three 105mm guns lay in the road. At 0800 hrs a bridge was found to be blown and a Churchill bridge-layer was called forward and the bridge was laid under MG fire.

The regiment crossed the bridge without mishap. Sniping was still persistent so the undergrowth was set on fire with tracer fire. This removed the opposition. The advance continued toward Bendingbostel where an 88mm flak gun opened up from a wood. Two companies of infantry attacked the woods and the gun fired three rounds. All of 'C' Sqdn opened up with HE and the gun was knocked out. The village was taken by 1930 hrs.

Ron Levett, 2001