Ron Levett's memories of joining up and training in the Royal Armoured Corps during World War II.

It was decided that tank crews who had bailed out when their tank is out of action should have some extra infantry training to give them a chance of surviving. We therefore were despatched to a hutted camp near to the Gunnery Wing at Lulworth.

The first parade in the morning was at 0600 hrs, when we were given a mug of tea. This first refreshment was known as 'Gunfire'. Immediately afterwards we ran all the way to Lulworth Cove, a distance of about three miles. After a five-minute break we marched back to camp, which was uphill all the way, we were then dismissed for breakfast.

An assault course, said to be the toughest in Southern England, had been built near the camp. We wore denim overalls and equipment known as 'battle order', which consisted of belt, shoulder straps, small pack, bayonet, water bottle and the steel helmet issued to tank crews, the type without a brim. We carried a rifle and while running the course, a fixed bayonet.

Obstacles consisted of a wide ditch to be crossed by a rope swing, a number of low tunnels covered with hessian, a sloping plank about five inches wide leading to a walkway of the same width, which was ten feet off the ground. The only way down at the end was to jump.

A sloping rope fastened to a tree at about twenty feet followed this. The theory of climbing this was to lie on the rope with one leg hanging down to act as a counterbalance. I usually managed to climb about six feet, and then was unable to prevent myself rotating to a position underneath the rope.

On one occasion, when I went through the tunnel, I came up against an obstruction, which, when I managed to free myself, found that the chap in front of me had left his bayonet in the roof of the tunnel!

The next brilliant idea was to jump out of a truck when it was travelling at about twenty miles an hour. This was not done in the direction the truck was travelling, but in the opposite direction.

When it came to my turn I found that the best way to do it was to lean forward as far as possible so that when you hit the ground, the forward speed pulled you upright again and down on to your back. The haversack took the blow and not one person was injured.

On the second week of the course, we went on to a battle course using live ammunition. We started at the top of a sloping field, then came up against a series of barbed wire obstacles about two feet high.

A Bren gun had been set up at the top of the field, on a fixed mounting, firing tracer rounds over the top of the barbed wire. That was enough incentive to keep our heads down. While we were crawling under the wire, an officer was throwing thunder flashes at us. One of the thunder flashes exploded as he struck it. Everyone cheered because he had got some of his own back.

There were abandoned houses at the bottom of the field and we were to practice house clearing amongst them. One of the attackers ran up the stairs, threw open a door and ran in, only to discover that the room had no floor. He fell straight through to the ground floor and broke his leg.

A young officer ran out from another room, to be met by an irate soldier who took hold of the lanyard attached to the officer's revolver, which had a loop around his neck, took hold of the tightening slide and pushed it right up to the top. The officer's face went purple and he fell down the stairs. As far as I know, no action was taken against the soldier. It was counted as good training.

At the end of this training I suddenly noticed that my boots had worn right through. Tank crews have no studs in their boots because it would be impossible to climb on a tank wearing them. Consequently, spending two weeks running, jumping and doing suchlike stupid activities had worn out my boots. I was put on a charge, was admonished and had to pay for a new pair of boots.

Ron Levett, 2001