Authors: Vivienne Dockerty
An enemy patrol had made their way under cover of darkness to the little Protestant chapel at the end of the village, where they were able to command a good view of the village. They used the chapel as a post for their snipers until they were winkled out. This was at the cost of many lives on both sides.
Miles past Blitterswijk they camped for the night in a thickly wooded area. The guard was placed at the edge of the road, which gave a good view in either direction. Eddie was on the first spell of duty on the front post where he would be for the next few hours. The night was very dark and he shivered with the cold, despite the heavy greatcoat he was wearing.
He had been there for about an hour when his sharp ears heard rustling in the ditch some yards away on the other side of the road. He stiffened and brought his rifle up ready for action. At that moment his sleeve was touched by the duty sergeant, who had come up very quietly.
“All right, Eddie?”
“Rustlings in the ditch, up on the left, about eight yards away.”
Visibility was very poor, neither of them could see anything at all. It was still very dark and all sounds had ceased around them. The sergeant was carrying a Bren gun and minutes later the stillness was shattered as he opened fire with it, spraying the ditch along its length for a dozen yards. The matter was settled as far as the sergeant was concerned and he walked away.
Eddie stayed at his post without further incident and no investigations were made that night. He completed his spell of duty, handed over to the relief soldier, then turned in to sleep until the morning.
The sergeant went personally to investigate as soon as there was enough light to see by, going straight to the place where he had fired upon the previous night. There in the ditch lay five dead Germans, four soldiers and an officer, remnants of a fighting patrol, who had come very near to success in their mission last night.
Eddie was in the camp cleaning his rifle when the sergeant came to tell him about his lucky escape, and it was the same sergeant who had saved his life before in the back streets of Caen.
Things had begun to start easing up, as the enemy had put their all into the fighting previously, but were now in retreat. The weather had turned cold and it was raining. It was on this night that Eddie, along with the sergeant and another soldier, had volunteered to go out on a mission. Two strange soldiers came to accompany them and they were the scruffiest men Eddie had ever seen. The two men looked at them, seeing the army issue denims over pristine khaki shirts and asked, “Have you ever done this sort of thing before?” Eddie and his fellow soldiers were too amazed to answer that question.
They were ferried quietly across the river in an engineer’s boat. The object of the mission was to capture some enemy soldiers, two at least, and take them back for questioning. Their faces had been blackened, slippers were worn instead of heavy boots and small camouflage nets were carried by each man. Few soldiers like to part with their boots once they had got used to them, but the slippers ensured a noiseless approach.
They arrived on the opposite bank and climbed up the steep side, which was slippy and muddy. Once on the grass they made for the nearest cover and after a period of cautious watching and waiting they came within sight of a small cottage. They got into positions of surveillance, shivering in their wet clothes, as at that point the rain was still pouring down. The sergeant and the two strangers were to make the ‘snatch’ and Eddie and his mate were to provide covering fire if necessary.
After what seemed an eternity, the door of the cottage opened and two figures were outlined in the shaft of light that shone out. The German soldiers made their way along the road, then two other soldiers passed them by to take their places in the cottage. Before the first soldiers were able to settle down to their guard duty and before their eyes could become accustomed to the darkness of the night scene around them, they were seized and taken prisoner. It was all done so quickly that the two Germans in the cottage were unaware of the fate of their comrades.
Their mission successfully completed, the little party returned to base with the prisoners, handing them over to H.Q. where they were duly interrogated. Eddie was most impressed with the strangers, as he felt they had really known their job.
Eddie took off his soaking wet denims and shirt with relief and dried himself as best he could, seeing as he didn’t have a towel. He searched around for dry clothing and put them on, glad that they were sleeping in a warm and cosy barn that night, where the hay was fresh and sweet smelling. He set to work to make himself a comfortable bed, stacking two straw bales on either side and two bales on top to make it snug and draught proof. He searched for some army blankets, found two and, wrapping them around him, he fell asleep almost immediately.
There was a terrific banging noise going on and it penetrated through the haze of sleep into which Eddie had fallen. He awoke very reluctantly back to his world at war. The enemy must have found their positions, they continued to shell for some hours and Eddie found it near impossible to get back to sleep again. He welcomed the sergeant who had come into the barn to talk to him, as Eddie was to be the first guard that day, and spoke of his grief over a fellow sergeant, who had accidentally been shot by a new recruit while inspecting his rifle that day.
Eddie sought to divert him from the tragedy by talking of civilian life and the sergeant stretched out on the hay beside him and asked him what being married was like. They spoke for a good hour and the shelling had stopped, but neither man noticed, as Eddie spoke about the honeymoon he never had.
The light of dawn filtered through and the sergeant, who was in charge of setting on the guard, told Eddie to continue his story, whilst another man was sent instead.
After his night time expedition Eddie was allowed to go on leave again. He liked Brussels and he and a group of soldiers were dropped outside the civilian billet by the lorry in which they had travelled.
The host and hostess were very hospitable and, after checking in with them, Eddie went straight up to bed, savouring the clean sheets and blankets after all the nights of sleeping rough.
He was awakened in the early evening by his pal called Jock. He had to shake Eddie awake as he was so soundly asleep, but Jock was determined to go out on the town.
“Come on… wake up,” he persisted, as Eddie opened reluctant eyes. He was still half asleep as he dressed to comply with Jock’s demands.
The Belgian lady met them in the hallway.
“You go out? You must eat something first,” she said in her heavily accented English, leading them into her dining room to wait for a meal. She was an excellent cook and they really enjoyed the food that she placed before them, making a nice change from army food. It was a good hour afterwards before they stepped out into the street to make their way into the city.
They were wearing their best uniforms, which had only cost them fifty cigarettes apiece to have them professionally cleaned and pressed. They both looked very smart as they set off down the street.
On one of the main streets in the centre was a large café and the two men went inside for a drink. At the front entrance there was a large glassed-in cash desk and an equally large elderly lady, dressed in resplendent black satin with pearls in her ears and around her neck, sitting behind the desk. She was a formidable-looking lady and her hair, which probably should have been the same colour as her pearls, was an improbable shade of black.
There was a bar at the end of the large room and, after both men had walked over, Eddie ordered a bottle of wine between them, which he took with a couple of glasses to the table where Jock now sat.
An attractive young lady, who had watched them as they came in, had got off her bar stool and followed him and, as he sat down, Eddie wondered why there were half a dozen women sitting at the bar, but no men. The young woman smiled at them both and asked if they would like to buy her a drink. Eddie, ever practical, said if she went to fetch a glass, she could help herself to one from their bottle.
Apparently he had said the wrong thing, as she ignored him and confined herself to talking to Jock, who seemed very interested in what the young woman had to say. Eddie strained his ears to listen and at first he couldn’t hear what was being said, but when his ears became accustomed, he could hear that there was a bit of negotiating going on. He butted in at a crucial moment and tried to cut the price!
It was then that the young woman flew into a furious temper, stamping her feet and screaming at them. Eddie couldn’t be sure what he had said to cause her upset, until she screamed that she had never been so insulted and she wouldn’t be dropping her drawers for that kind of price.
And there were a good many more things that she said that Eddie considered extremely vulgar and he noticed that her thick French accent had suddenly turned into a ‘Scouse’ one.
Three young men emerged from the back of the café and advanced on the two soldiers purposefully. Eddie picked up his near empty wine bottle and swung it in his hand. They stopped dead in their tracks and while they were thinking about their next move, Jock and Eddie backed up to the front door and made a quick exit.
“What did you go and get her mad for?” Jock asked him reproachfully. “I really fancied her, she was a bit of all right.”
“Go back then if that’s how you feel, but count me out.”
They parted company, whilst Eddie had a look around the shops and Jock went back to his prostitute. He was not in the billet next morning, nor had he slept in his bed.
A couple of days after their return from the Brussels leave, the company was on the move, making their way across Holland. Again the country was heavily wooded and everywhere showed signs that the Germans had only just moved on. Abandoned equipment was found as they progressed further and they had to be especially wary of snipers, whom they encountered now and again. Mines had been lain in the soft sandy tracks as the enemy had retreated, making it hard for the vehicles and extremely hazardous for the men.
They made camp late in the evening amongst the trees, aware that the enemy was very close at this point, but not sure how close. It wasn’t until the next morning when the reconnaissance patrol went out that they saw the Germans were about to vacate their position in a nearby village and move on.
All food, supplies and blankets were being brought up by hand because of the transport difficulties. The food was stone cold when it reached the men and the porridge, which was hard and lumpy at the best of times, was uneatable. They managed to boil some water to heat the tinned food, but as the labels were loosened by the hot water, each tin was a mystery. However beans, stew, vegetables, spam, peaches and tinned milk went down in any order it was given to them. They were, after all, ravenously hungry.
Eddie got his fair share of night patrols and one night heard a lot of noise coming from the German position. The men crawled on their bellies and wriggled nearer for a better look, then saw a soldier leading a horse and cart up and down a cobbled street in the village, making clattering noises. It transpired it was to camouflage the work that the Germans were doing and it was being done on a dark night to prevent any watchers from seeing what they were up to. Later on they found that they were setting up a Dennet wire, a single strand of wire with mines and booby traps attached to it. The wire was dealt with by the Pioneers when the next attack went on.
St.Patrick’s Day came around and, in spite of the push towards the crossing of the Rhine, the company feasted on geese, turkey and pork; food that they had nearly forgotten existed as they had become so used to McConachies tins. Beer and wine flowed to accompany the food in celebration, though Eddie couldn’t remember if the traditional shamrock was distributed.
The whole battalion moved across two countries and into Germany in a day. Lorries and trucks rumbled through cities and towns in Belgium and Holland. They went over the biggest Bailey bridge ever built on the way there and across the border into Germany itself.
Eddie’s company was camped in a wood by an old schloss on the river bank, waiting to be given the signal to cross themselves. Shortly after an attack started and his company was in this action.
They were backed in the attack this time by Churchill tanks, though unlike the advance into Caen, Eddie didn’t get to ride on one. Many German soldiers were captured this time and looking at the age of the prisoners, they realised that the Germans were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Most of those that were captured were mere boys as young as sixteen and others were well above the ‘call up’ age. Eddie heard that near enough 140 prisoners were taken on this and other attacks that day.
The area around began to look like the scene on ‘D’ day, as the army, now up to full strength, began to establish itself. Much of the visibility was obscured during the day by an artificial smoke screen, used to veil the enormity of the preparations for battle being made. The sickly, choking smell hovered over the troops all day long and they were thankful to breathe clean air when it disappeared.
Eddie’s platoon was designated to secure a station and a level crossing. This was their objective, while others went forward on the crossing of the Rhine. Thousands of guns opened up the attack, escalating in power, with 360 rockets in half a minute.
Eddie and his sergeant were on prowler guard that night, when they witnessed a signaler being captured by a platoon of Germans. The two watchers were only on spotter duty and were also outnumbered, so were helpless to intervene. They were totally frustrated being unable to help and had to watch them go.
When the company went forward again, a stream ran through the area ahead of them. It was ten yards wide and very shallow, so didn’t prove an obstacle. However, the banks were a lot of trouble as they were very steep and, once they were over, they encountered the enemy as soon as they had dug in.