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.

We were under command of 11th Armoured Division. 11th Armoured were under command of 1st Canadian Army so very often in the following weeks fighting we found ourselves alongside Canadian infantry.

We were now situated just south of Cleve, where Henry VIII's fourth wife had been born. The town had been reduced to rubble by the RAF heavy bombers and at the same time Bomber Command had also destroyed the small town of Udem.

During the morning the trucks from 'A' Echelon had arrived and we spent a long time re-fuelling. 'A' Echelon is the supply column that carries POL (petrol, oil and lubricant,) water, ammunition and food up to the front line.

'B' echelon is further back and comprises REME workshops, R. Signals workshop, trucks carrying troops kitbags and valises, regimental tailor, battery charging shop, mobile kitchen and regimental police.

Now that we were in action we had to cook our own meals but I now found that our Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) signals troop, a lot of who were ex-8th Army men, were quite capable of looking after themselves in the field.

Our food was known as 'Compo' rations. The side of each box was stencilled with the legend '14 men 1 day'. We were issued with one box every two days. Since there were five men to a crew this meant that we were over supplied.

The 'Compo' box held 14 main meals, of which I can remember four: M & V (Meat and Vegetable stew), Haricot Mutton (self explanatory), Corned Beef (very popular but not often available) and vegetable salad.

To go with these there were tinned potatoes, diced vegetables and concentrated soup. Since we were usually in a hurry the soup (Pea was the favourite) was sliced up and fried.

A tin of bacon (streaky rolled in greaseproof paper), dried egg and a block of porridge, which just needed water added, made breakfast. There was tinned margarine, jam and a large tin of biscuits and to complete the rations, tinned cheese.

'Compo' tea was made up of tea, dried milk and sugar in a block. Sometimes the cooks managed to supply dry tea, loose sugar and tins of evaporated milk. This would make what was known as Sergeant Major's Brew. Beside food there were also 28 sheets of 'Army Form Blank' (toilet paper), a supply of boiled sweets and a tin of cigarettes.

Cooking was done on what was known as a 'Benghazi cooker.' This was made from half of a 'flimsy' petrol can with holes knocked in the side. A shovel of earth was added, followed by an empty food tin of petrol. When this was ignited it would give a flame good enough to cook on for about half an hour.

Ron Levett, 2001