Memories of post-war Germany

By Anthony Breed - 04/08/2008

Like one of your readers, Colin Noad, I found myself in Germany in September 1955 - my first time outside the UK. Along with a ship full of other troops I travelled from Harwich to the Hook of Holland on what was described by a crew member as one of the worst crossings in his memory.

 

A high percentage of passengers experienced severe “mal de mer”. I was one of the fortunate minority who escaped it, which meant I had access to plenty of food - the best since I was conscripted three months earlier - on the train journey to Hannover.

Along with four friends, we spent just four days in Hannover, then were told we were to be posted to Berlin. An overnight journey -travel through Soviet occupied East Germany was not allowed during daylight hours - took us to REME Workshops, Berlin. From there we were fairly quickly despatched to the REME Light Aid Detachment (LAD) to the First Independent Squadron on the Royal Tank Regiment, billeted at Spandau Barracks, next door to Spandau Gaol, the home of the solitary prisoner Rudolph Hess.

One of the first things we were told on arrival in Berlin was that, in the event of hostilities, our next of kin would be informed after twenty four hours that we were “missing believed killed”. That, of course, made us feel very welcome - but the reality was far less serious than the perceived threat and, in fact, we enjoyed reasonably comfortable relations with the Soviets who surrounded us. But they never missed an opportunity to demonstrate their numerical supremacy over the allied occupying powers, British, American and French!

I spent just short of two years in Berlin, with opportunities to visit other parts of Germany, on duty and for pleasure. In March of 2008, I returned to Berlin for the first time since the end of my tour of duty, to find a much changed city: many of the buildings that had been virtually destroyed in 1945 and, in the Eastern (Soviet) Sector remained in ruins in 1955-57 had been restored to their former glory.

Especially beautiful are the restored Berliner Dom, the main Cathedral in the city and the Brandenburger Tor. Both were well worth the fifty year wait for a re-visit!