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 squadrons moved up to relieve the 44th Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) and started to clear the area north of the woods. Some opposition was met and an Armour Piercing (AP) round in the tracks put one tank out of action.

The following morning, the 27th, the regiment crossed the river Issel at Ringenberg and started to clear the woods in that area. At midday RHQ had moved into the woods behind the squadrons. We had cooked our midday meal and I was standing beside the left hand drive sprocket holding my meal in my hand when I heard the rushing noise of an approaching shell.

The High Explosive (HE) shell hit the tree right above me. I felt a blow on my back, but I didn't stop to investigate and hurriedly scrambled into the co-driver's seat, still carrying my meal. When I pulled my battledress blouse down, I got Stan our driver to have a look but it was just a bruise, probably caused by a branch of the tree.

After about ten minutes the shelling stopped and we climbed out. On the mudguard where I had been standing when the shell had exploded was a spare bogie wheel with a rubber tire. Embedded in the tire was a large piece of shrapnel. We found out later that the guns, which had laid the barrage, were British, a case of friendly fire!

The area we were now in was the rich farming country of the Rhineland and we found farmhouses bursting with food. There were hams hanging from the rafters, bottled fruit of all kinds, a kind of skinless sausage packed in lard coiled into Kilner jars and chicken, ducks and geese for the taking.

There was potato 'clamps', mounds of potatoes covered with earth. One of the squadrons had 'liberated' an egg-packing factory and nearly every tank had a case of eggs strapped on their engine covers. Added to our 'Compo' rations we lived very well. I suppose the thought that every meal might be our last encouraged us to eat everything in sight.

The nights were getting shorter, which meant that 'stand to' at first light was getting earlier every morning. We had to have everything packed on board with all crew present and with engines running. As soon as it was full daylight the 'stand down' command came over the air and we could switch off, dismount, get all the gear off which was necessary and start cooking breakfast.

It could happen that an order to move came before we had time to finish cooking, in which case everything had to be dumped and the frying pan etc. reloaded on the tank.

On the night following the friendly shelling, 'C' Sqdn. supported a night attack on the town of Bocholt, with infantry of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The area was heavily mined and one tank was lost to a mine.

The river in the town was reached in the early hours of the 28th March. 'B' Sqdn and the 2nd Battn. Kings Royal Rifle Corps started clearing woods near the town. They met heavy machine gun fire from either side of the road, but using 75mm High Explosive, cut this down and the infantry were able to get into the woods and clear them.

In the early morning of 29th 'C' Sqdn were still in Bocholt when a German came out of a house and fired a Panzerfaust, which luckily missed. He was dealt with.

The regiment moved very early on 30th March, reaching the outskirts of Bocholt at 0545 hrs. We were held up until mines had been cleared. When the engineers had finished they marked the cleared area with white taps and put up a notice 'Roads and verges cleared eight feet'.

We then moved on to the next town, which was called Rhede. The town was clear of the enemy but there was a demolition beyond it which was too wide for the scissors bridge so the Reece troop were sent to find a way round.

A route was found to the west of the town and we were soon on the move again to a town called Grosse Burlo where our leading tanks met the 8th Hussars who had come in by another road.

On the following day our leading column met the tanks of 7th Armd. Div. coming the other way. The regiment moved into a leaguer area and carried out cleaning and maintenance. We had a chance to clean ourselves up and cook some more substantial meals.

The weather had been particularly bad and the message came over the radio to 'Splice the mainbrace,' which as every sailor knows, means issue rum to all ranks. In a mug of tea it was very much appreciated. We remained at these positions until April 2nd.

The next move started early in the morning of the 2nd April, driving through Vreden and Ottenstein to Ochtrup. 'B' Sqdn reached the area first and were met with small arms fire. 'A' Company of the 2nd KRRC went forward and the firing ceased. One of Recce Troop Honey tanks was blown up on a mine.

The driver was one of the chaps I shared a billet with in Weert. A further Honey became bogged in a ditch. Luckily there were no serious injuries in either of these incidents.

The ambulances the regiment was equipped with, were American White Half-tracks, semi armoured vehicles that could cross most of the ground the tanks could cover. This meant that wounded crews could be removed to the Regimental Aid Post as soon as possible. The following day the regiment was taken over by a new Commanding Officer, Lt.Col. Stewart MC. and it moved, less 'C' Sqdn, to NeuenKirchen.

RHQ moved into the courtyard of a large farmhouse that still had civilians in occupation. They claimed that they had had nothing to do with the Nazi party and had just been farmers throughout the war.

One of the lads found freshly turned earth in one of the barns, so we dug it up and found a quantity of very smart uniforms with all the Nazi insignia, with ceremonial dagger and belt. The 'civilians' were handed over to the authorities.

On the same day we saw a very unusual aircraft fly over with scimitar shaped wings, and an engine sounding like an express train. I now know that this was one of the first jet aircraft a Messerschmitt 263.

Ron Levett, 2001