Shattered Dreams

by Vivienne Dockerty

  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.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  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 riv
er 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.

  Another battle commenced which had a successful outcome and they were able to send their prisoners back behind the lines. They moved on to a village, where houses had been booby trapped, with small explosives being left in dressing table drawers. In the cottage that Eddie went in, a trap door lay in the floor. Two men could have hidden in the space revealed, but luckily no one was there. Shelves ran around the kitchen walls and were filled with jars of jam, bottled fruit, vegetables, pickles and bottles of homemade wine. It must have broken a housewife’s heart to have left it all behind. On this occasion it was left for her to come home to, as the soldiers were looking for snipers at the time.

  A farmhouse stood a little outside the village; it had a blue grey slated roof upon it. Eddie looked up, interested as he was in all things to do with buildings, and noticed that some of the slates had been disturbed. He went up to the door of the farmhouse and it was opened almost immediately by a woman. She spoke in German, then went to close the door. Eddie put his foot in the door, determined to find out why the slates had been disturbed. As an infantryman he had been trained to look for possible sniper positions.

  When he had succeeded in gaining admission to the house, he stood in the hall. A man came from the kitchen and the woman pointed to her wedding ring. He was a tall fair-haired man, who looked as if he was a military man, not a farmer, but he was dressed in farm clothes, so Eddie indicated that he wanted to search the house. He had his rifle in readiness in case he had to enforce his demand, but the couple stood back and let him pass to mount the stairs. The attic was empty except for a pile of straw. He turned and went down the stairs, then into the garden where he found, after searching around in an old shed, what he was looking for. It was a German uniform, a rifle and Luger pistol, buried under a pile of tools and rubbish there.

  Eddie walked back, carrying his evidence to where they stood waiting; the man had no expression on his face, but the woman burst into tears. She offered him a gold cigarette case, but Eddie refused it with a gesture. He was not afraid of any trouble from the man, as he had already taken the magazine and bolt out of the rifle, and the pistol, empty of its bullets, resided in his army satchel.

  Eddie turned and left, supposing that the man must have been a deserter who had made his way home. In the same circumstances he would have probably done the same and his orders were to look for snipers, not farmers.

  “But for the grace of God go I,” Eddie muttered, as he set off down the lane.

  Weeks later and many miles on, they were in Hamburg when peace was declared and there was no more fighting to be done. It was a wonderful day for war-weary men.

  There were no celebrations in Hamburg: it was France, Belgium and Holland who celebrated their liberation, but the feeling was there just the same. War had ended, peace at last.

  However, for Eddie and others, there were changes in the air. There was much work to be done by the Army of Occupation. Drivers were in demand and Eddie was sent on loan to the Dutch; he went to Emsdetten and began work on various duties there.

  When he and the other drivers arrived at the camp they were taken to Holland to have a vehicle allotted to each man. There was a big field park there filled with lorries and other vehicles. They were all polished up and waiting. Eddie chose a Q.L. Bedford, finding it a joy to drive as it was so well maintained. It was very light on the steering, unlike others he had driven and which he had found very tiring.

  When each man had been allotted to his vehicle, they started back on their long journey to Emsdetten. Eddie enjoyed this part of the detail most of all. It enabled him to see some of the villages and towns where he had either marched through or fought his way through during the campaign. It was a shame that he couldn’t stop and look at the scenery, but he was now in the company of the drivers who were making up a long convoy.

  Back in Germany with his new vehicle to drive, the days were filled with many duties. Part of these were spent transporting displaced persons from the camps where they had been confined, to other camps where they were able to have a bath, a change of clothing, eat regular meals and have papers prepared so that they could travel back home. When they were ready to go, the lorries were detailed to take them to the nearest biggest railway station and Eddie looked forward to each day’s work.

  It was nearer to his previous lifestyle before the war, as other duties included loading coal or delivering potatoes to the civilian population. As he drove along the road, he saw many displaced persons, a pitiful sight, trudging along with their feet wrapped in sacking as they had no shoes. All intent to get back home and to their loved ones, if they were still there of course.

  One day he saw a young girl running along the side of the autobahn. It was raining in torrents and there was no shelter for miles. She raised her hand in the hope that Eddie may stop his lorry and give her a lift, but those were the days of non-fraternisation even if he had not been driving an army vehicle. As always he carried his gas cape, so he lifted it and threw it through the window to her. At least it would shield her from the rain until she could get a lift.

  There was a small vegetable truck behind, which chose to swing out and try to overtake Eddie’s trundling lorry, whilst he was throwing out the cape to the girl. In doing so the army vehicle had swung out a little and the truck smashed into the rear of it. Water ran out from its ancient radiator in rusty rivulets and fruit and vegetables slid from their boxes and rolled about the road. Eddie stopped just long enough to make sure that the driver wasn’t hurt, then he drove as fast as he could to catch the rest of the convoy. He had been last in line and was already late for civilians waiting at the station.

  A German shopkeeper and his daughter had been waiting at the station for the best part of an hour. When Eddie arrived, the daughter, who spoke fairly fluent English, made it very clear to this English soldier that she wasn’t very pleased. Eddie got the message, then proceeded to shovel potatoes onto his lorry from a train truck, whilst the other drivers waited in line. This did not suit the German girl, as she wanted to sort through the potatoes and put the best ones in some sacks.

  The drivers got impatient and started to hoot their horns at Eddie, but the girl was impervious to their hooting and carried on. Eddie, with the lorr
y eventually loaded, pulled out of the station with an angry girl and a Papa who was obliged to ride in the back.

  The girl was most displeased that there was only room for one passenger in the driver’s cab and spent the first part of the journey standing up and shouting through the window to her Papa. The wind blew up her skirt and Eddie, glancing sideways, pulled it down and made the remark that she was a big girl now. She shot him a furious look and sat down for the rest of the journey.

  An army camp loomed up and without any explanation Eddie turned and drove the lorry inside. He pulled up outside the cookhouse and asked the cook if he could supply them with a meal. He had not eaten since breakfast and he thought that the civilians would be hungry too. The cook was very good and he gave them some food and cups of tea and Eddie filled up the father’s flask.

  When the cook heard that the lorry was carrying potatoes, he asked the young fraulein if she would be willing to trade him some for a few cans of fish. A deal was struck and she brightened up considerably for the rest of the way.

  Eddie’s day was not over when they got to the shop, as the customers were waiting there even though it was dusk. He had hoped that he could throw off his load at the rear of the shop and be on his way, but he was frustrated by the fräulein yet again. She wanted the shop scales brought out, the potatoes weighed and shared out equally. He dropped the backboard and she proceeded her weighing, but was horrified when he threw off some of the loose ones in effort to speed things up.

  “People will run off with the potatoes and half of them won’t get their ration,” she wailed. Eddie explained that the convoy would be back at the camp now and would be tucking into a hot meal.

  “Go into the house and have schnapps with Papa and Mama will cook a meal for you.” She went on with her weighing, seeing that everyone got their fair share. When all was finished, he jumped into the driver’s cab, waving his hand in a polite farewell and drove away as fast as he could.