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. After the liberation of Germany he was based in Münster, where he met his German fiancée Ruth, then on to Lüneburg. In two of the spare rooms in our barrack block, Sgt Don Porter and I had formed a wireless school. The regiment were receiving intakes of young soldiers to replace those being demobbed. These needed training up to the standard required by the Greys. When the regiment moved from Münster to Lüneburg we handed in our Churchill Crocodiles (flame throwers), for them to be replaced by Comet tanks. This model had been issued to 11th Armd Division for the latter days of the war and had proven to be a very good tank. They were a larger version of the Cromwell with a turret large enough to take a slightly cut down version of the 17pdr gun that had been so effective in the Sherman Firefly. There had always been a problem with the Radio Set 19 in that whenever the tank commander wanted to talk on the radio, he had to bend down into the turret and switch over to 'A.' Then of course, he had to alter the switch again to talk to the crew. Don Porter and I tried connecting a wire across the switch in the control box, shorting out the microphone contact so that to talk on 'A,' the commander pressed the mike switch but to talk to the crew he just talked without using the switch. This worker surprisingly well on the Signals Officer's tank and we soon found that we had the job of converting the CO's, 2IC's and all the Squadron commander's tanks. We had a new young officer join the regiment, who was given the job of Signals Officer. He was even younger than I, was very keen, but was open to suggestions. We had a clerk in the Signals Office who had an aversion to soap and water and during the summer months was rather unpleasant to be near. When the other members of the troop suggested that they should give him a clean up I closed my eyes to what was going on when they took him down to the ablutions and scrubbed him. When he complained to the Signals Officer, the Lieutenant took me to one side and said that he had seen nothing either and he quite agreed with the action. The regiment went on exercises on Lüneburg Heath to try out our new tanks. Our new Signals Officer thought it would be a good idea to have a loud-hailer fitted to our tank, so we found a mains/battery public address amplifier and installed it in our tank, together with a large horn type loudspeaker attached to the side of the turret. This was very effective in calling officers to the C.O's conferences while out in the field. Luckily the weather was kind to us and it was not unpleasant sleeping and messing rough again. After our first course had been running for a month it was decided to run an exercise to test out our trainees. We were allocated a number of jeeps together with two of the Humber Scout Cars. The route planned was North to Lübeck, south-east to Hamburg, then return via the Autobahn for about six miles and finally along the minor road to base. The exercise went well with all stations keeping contact. As my scout car was crossing the bridge over the Elbe at Hamburg our front wheel hit an obstruction, which shredded one tyre and damaged the suspension. When the Signals Officer arrived on the scene he told me that I was needed back in camp the following morning. By this time it was after midnight and we had been travelling over fourteen hours. I joined him in his Jeep, sitting in the front seat and reading the map. When we reached the turn-off from the Autobahn we changed places and the officer sat in the front. The next thing I remember was waking up in the German Lazarette, or local hospital, in Lüneburg. I had head wounds and in the beds opposite me were the other two members of my Jeep crew, the driver and radio operator, with similar wounds. I vaguely remember having my wound dressed in the operating theatre while in the next bed the officer was also being attended to. He was moaning and seemed to be very badly injured. He died on the way to the Military Hospital. If we had not changed places, I would not be writing this. As far as we know, the driver must have fallen asleep and the Jeep hit a tree. The impact threw us all through the metal roof, which had been fitted, to all the regiment's Jeeps. Food provided in the Lazarette was rather sparse but luckily our uniforms had been stored in a cupboard at the end of the ward, so the fittest patient got dressed and went up to the NAAFI, which was about half a mile away. He purchased a lot of cakes and buns and brought them back. We then had a midnight feast. Ron Levett, 2001
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