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THE LOWLANDER - VE DAY & AU REVOIR
155 Plays8 months ago
Our penultimate episode, a VE Day special! The Lowlander reported on the surrender as it happened. Andy and Merryn dig in for almost the last time, to find out what the Jocks were reading, and what was happening this week in 1945...
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Transcript
End of WWII in Europe
00:00:04
Speaker
Yesterday morning, at 2.41 a.m., at General Eisenhower's headquarters, General Jodl, the representative of the German High Command and of Grand Admiral Dernitz, the designated head of the German state, signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender of all
00:00:30
Speaker
German, land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied expeditionary forces and simultaneously to the Soviet high command. From 1944 to 1945, the 52nd Lowland Division is fighting its way across northwest Europe. The writing is on the wall, but it's also on the page.
00:00:57
Speaker
The Army Education Branch sends a newsletter out to thousands of men, all pulling together, pushing the enemy back. This newsletter is called The Lowlander.
VE Day Declaration and Festivities
00:01:36
Speaker
8th May 1945. Today is the day. Today is VE day. After many hours of uneasy expectation, news was released at 8 o'clock yesterday evening that Mr Churchill will announce the end of the European War by radio at 3pm today. Later at 9 o'clock and dressed by His Majesty the King will be broadcast. Already the Allied capitals are gay with bunting.
00:02:02
Speaker
Crowds have been lining Whitehall and Downing Street since early yesterday morning. In New York, ticker tape has been showering down in the main avenues and in Scotland, last-minute details for the festivities have been settled. Glasgow University and Paisley Abbey will be floodlit and for special holiday attraction, there is a match between Queen's Park and Celtic. The Scottish Football Association tried but failed to arrange a Celtic and Rangers match. The E-Day, of course, is a peace celebration.
00:02:34
Speaker
Full particulars of the unconditional surrender of Germany to the three great Allied powers have not yet been released. The first news of an agreement came from the German Foreign Secretary, Count von Schwerin Krosig. In a broadcast at 2pm, he admitted his country's capitulation on the grounds that further resistance would lead only to senseless bloodshed and futile disintegration.
Details of German Surrender
00:03:00
Speaker
But although nothing official has yet come from Shafe, it is known that early yesterday morning, the document covering the surrender was signed in the schoolhouse at Raas, General Eisenhower's headquarters by General Bedell Smith and other Allied representatives, and by Colonel General Yodel for the Germans. General Eisenhower was not president of the ceremony, but later he received the enemy planet potentiaries and asked them if they understood the terms of the agreement. They did.
00:03:34
Speaker
Where was the school house that generalised on how its headquarters was? So it's R-H-E-I-M-S, which most people would pronounce reams, but I have it on good understanding that it is actually pronounced grass. So somebody will put me right if I'm wrong. Can we go back to the end of your article, please? The Scottish Football Association tried but failed to arrange a Celtic Rangers match. However,
00:04:00
Speaker
VE Day, of course, is a peaceful celebration. Well, do you know what? That's a thing, you know, because at the end, so in Northern Ireland, at the end of the Troubles, after the Good Friday Agreement was signed, they were deciding on things they could do to bring the communities together. Yeah. And one very well-known manager or the head of communications for the Tony Blair's government suggested they should have a Rangers and Celtics match in Belfast to celebrate, which, trust me, would not have gone nowhere.
00:04:30
Speaker
they were intending it to go. They know their audience, don't they? They know their Lowlander audience and actually the football is the main thing for a lot of the jocks when they read the Lowlander. We should look though at the surrender itself because there were two surrenders really, well there were several surrenders. Yeah there was, yeah quite a few. Well there was this surrender which was the surrender of the whole, that set the whole thing from the Flensburg government run by Karl Donitz at Admiral Karl Donitz who'd taken over from
00:05:00
Speaker
from Adolf Hitler. And there was a little bit of wrangling as well because the Russians weren't present at one part of it and they insisted that they redid it while they were there so they could get the photographs taken and all the rest of it. But we're thinking about a different surrender, aren't we? Yes. A few days earlier, we were for a
Post-Surrender Transition
00:05:17
Speaker
change. The 52nd Lowland Division was early. May the 4th, 1945, the German delegation arrived at Montgomery's headquarters at Lunaburg Heath, not far from Falingwostel, just east of Hamburg.
00:05:30
Speaker
And there Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of German forces in the Netherlands and northwest Germany and Denmark and then at his headquarters in Reims-au-Kras it was Eisenhower who accepted the unconditional surrender of all German forces. But on May the 4th
00:05:48
Speaker
Montgomery needed a translator. And to translate everything that happened in the tent, and there are some photographs of this, Malcolm Montgomery, another Montgomery serving with the 52nd Lowland Division, acted as his interpreter. So we had two Montgomery's. Malcolm was born in 1919. I think he died in 1988. And there's a lovely piece in the full Kirk Herald that sort of kind of celebrates his life
00:06:17
Speaker
And his granddaughter, I think it was granddaughter of his niece, had been researching her uncle. And she says, they say the 52nd Lowland Division was an elite unit. And my uncle spoke German. My uncle spoke German. So he was able to translate what was being said during the signing. You can see him standing beside the other Montgomery, Field Marshal Montgomery in the Pathé News film. The German command.
00:06:43
Speaker
agrees to the surrender of all German armed forces in Holland, in northwest Germany, including the Fissian Islands and Hellegerland and all other islands, in Svertikostein, and in Denmark, through the Commander-in-Chief, 21st Army Group. This to include all naval ships in these areas. These forces, to lay down their arms and to surrender,
00:07:13
Speaker
unconditionally.
00:07:16
Speaker
And we should point out that this page here, this is a page of the Lowlander from the 8th of May, obviously, which is VED. And this particular edition we were reading from was actually taken from the diaries of Peter White, the author of Win the Jocks, which I thought was nice, because it was really funny. We were wondering how much of the Lowlander actually got down to the units on the ground. And when we went into the archives, which holds the Peter White archives and the diaries, lo and behold, there it was.
00:07:46
Speaker
And he'd obviously kept it as a memento of the end of the war. He kept his edition of The Loner, and he'd pasted it on the inside of his diary, which was amazing.
00:07:58
Speaker
Well, that's all very well reading the Highfalutin Big Surrenders, but we should probably have a look at how it actually affected the men of the 52nd. And we've done this a few times. We're actually going to go and have a look at the Wardars and actually see how they heard about it and then what they did about it, because I think you'd be surprised at the kind of difference in approach. And we'll kick off with the 4th 5th Battalion, the Royal Scots Fusiliers. This is their Wardary starting on the 5th of May, 1945.
00:08:29
Speaker
Bremen, 5th May. Ten hundred hours. Baths and administration. Fourteen hundred hours. A short service of thanksgiving was held and the GOC was visiting the battalion, attended the service and took the salute at parade of the battalion. No warning order received of any further move.
00:08:47
Speaker
6th May. Warning order of possible move, 7th May to occupy German-controlled territory. CO was warned for O Group on 7th May. B Company was ordered at 1300 hours to provide one platoon to form a guard at the bridge over the river Lism. An interpreter was also provided. Duties were to stop civilian movement over the river in any direction and to collect prisoners of war who may attempt to leave the German-controlled territory
00:09:13
Speaker
territory of the north of the river. 7th May, CO attended a no-group at Brigade and gave some details to the company commanders at a no-group. The battalion would remain present area, tasked being to dominate the civilians and still collect the all-prisoners of war. Trying to escape civilian clothes, the battalion was also responsible in assisting and maintaining order in the DP camps. Companies were now to get down to getting the men fitted out and administration was to be brought up to date.
00:09:41
Speaker
Rear B echelon came under the command of the battalion. Dining halls were established. The battalion started to clean up after continuous slogging of the past months. 8th of May, 10 hundred hours, Brigadier GD Rennie, Commanding Officer 156 Infantry Brigade, spoke to the officers, warrant officers and NCOs. He said,
00:10:01
Speaker
The war is over for us. He thanked everyone who had assisted him in the effort of the past month and made special mention of Hopston, where the battalion in the face of setbacks and difficulties made good their objective.
Reflections on VE Day and Shift to Peace
00:10:13
Speaker
In conclusion, he said, I do not thank you for what you have done. I glory in it. His message was passed to other ranks of the battalion. Fifteen hundred hours, battalion listened to Prime Minister announcement at the end of hostilities in Europe.
00:10:27
Speaker
2100 hours, the battalion listened to the King's broadcast. 2130 hours, double rum ration was ordered. Remind me about Hopston? Well, Hopston was the battle that took place just on the just coming into the second week of April. They'd they'd pass for a dryer wilder in the kangaroos to take on the village. But they'd come under intense enemy fire and some fire from their own guns as well. But they eventually took it.
00:10:53
Speaker
So for the 4th, 5th Royal Scots Fusiliers, it kind of goes into a go slow, wait to see what's happening, just double check and then whoop, the war's over. Yeah, that's basically it. I mean, so you noticed there that on the 5th is when they found out. So we mentioned about Monty signing that part of the surrender for North Germany and Holland and all the rest of it. Yeah.
00:11:16
Speaker
When that happened on the 4th and the word got out, basically the 5th, don't nobody move anywhere, nobody do anything, wait for other instructions. And that really was kind of the end of war for 21st Army Group, even though the main surrender, as we mentioned, wasn't signed until the 8th or the the actual VA day wasn't the 8th. So it's basically from the 5th to the 8th, they are just waiting for everything to be confirmed and signed. And then I say on the 8th, they can actually celebrate.
00:11:44
Speaker
The other thing here is at the end of the sixth course, we've got collect the prisoners of war who may attempt to leave German controlled territory. There must have been a huge change in focus. But by which I mean, you know, day and night, it's about how do we move forward? How do we stay alive? And then suddenly,
00:11:59
Speaker
Well, is it sudden? I suppose that's the question. How far in advance are people starting to say, hang on a minute, we're just going to have a massive influx of prisoners of war? Yeah, well, basically, from the start of January onwards, they're starting to collect more and more prisoners. And by that point, the pens are getting bigger and bigger. Yeah. Not sure of the actual administrative thing behind it, but they are expected to take prisoners as they get further into Germany. And of course, you've got troops waiting around that are able to do that.
00:12:31
Speaker
4th Battalion, Kings and Scottish Boarders. Warpsvader. 5th of May. A.M. Nothing to report. P.M. Decompany to patrol as company to stop all displaced person's personnel from entering area. Nothing to report. 6th of May. A.M. Nothing to report. P.M. Rumour of peace and at 1900 hours the news. 7th of May. 10 A.M.
00:12:59
Speaker
Church service held at TAC HQ with battalion present and a service for the fallen of the 4th Battalion Kingsland Scottish borderers. This was a very impressive service and one of thanksgiving and prayer by and for all of the 4th Battalion. 2300 hours, O group for commanding officer at brigade. 8th of May 0930, O group at TAC HQ for company commanders, advanced recce party for Osterholz.
00:13:28
Speaker
10am. OP of 80 Field Regiment will move with Regiment. Midday. Commanding officer will attend divisional conference at Bremen for area and occupational role of Italian. 1400 hours to 1600 hours. Prisoners and enemy begin to surrender in numbers to company headquarters and TAC HQ are told to report back to German Army. 1700 hours. Commanding officer's orders on occupational duties.
00:13:56
Speaker
Battalion in new location at Osterholz Scharnbeck after move via Bremen. 1800 hours. PM's speech broadcaster troops. 1830 hours. Battalion pipe band plays retreat in Town Square of Osterholz Scharnbeck.
00:14:12
Speaker
We've got a photograph of that, you know. I know, yeah. Yeah, we've got a photograph of one of the famous pictures of Peter and the rest of the B company officers. So there's Smegenis, Frank Kutz, Pip Powell and Peter and the pipes are marching through the town and the German kids are jumping all over them. They're loving it, but I'm not sure the parents are. But again, this message switching focus on occupational role of battalion.
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, yeah, it's almost immediate. And the fourth battalion spend another week there and then they move right over east towards the elbow where they take over to the Americans and they actually literally take on a policing role. Frank Kutz, who's the company to IC of B company, he becomes the police commander for a small town and Peter becomes his two IC. And it's literally policing
00:15:01
Speaker
movement of the DP. Now we've heard the phrase DPs a couple of times. What we mean that is displaced persons or refugees. So there's all sorts of people. There's slave workers or enslaved workers from all over Europe, France and Poland and all the rest of it. You have Russian prisoners who'd been in Germany over the years and you have even have some allied POWs as well roaming around all over the place looking for families, food, well you name it.
00:15:33
Speaker
5th Battalion Highlight Infantry Bremen 5th of May 0800 Hours Cease far soured outside Battalion HQ in accordance with the surrender terms of all German armed forces opposing 21st Army Group. 7th of May 1400 Hours Battalion Recce party left for new area at Vegasac 8th of May 001 Hours all German armed forces surrendered unconditionally to the Allied nations. 100 Hours
00:16:03
Speaker
Battalion left and TCVs for Karsena Grande, Vegasac. Battalion policed and directed DPs and civilians in the Vegasac area. I don't think they celebrated. But they did, they did put an exclamation mark after Vegasac. Oh yeah, yeah and we should say it does go on to say so between the 8th and the 15th they actually, they're roaming around collecting arms, equipment, dumps, all the German armed forces stuff and they're sort of collecting all that stuff in.
00:16:32
Speaker
When it says cease-fire sounded, is that literally somebody going out and going, cease-fire, cease-fire? Yeah, basically the rules change. The rules are then changed. The sort of what you're allowed to shoot at, if you're allowed to shoot at all.
00:16:48
Speaker
is quite clearly stated. You'll receive that in your orders as well. That'll be an order. It won't just be like a, oh lads, by the way, it is a very- No more pop shots, yeah. Exactly. It'll probably come out on something called part one orders. So most battalions, when they're sort of static, they start producing their own orders and that's posted at the end of the day or read to you at various different times. So yeah, that's very, very firmly, you will not fire. And if you do fire, you could get charged.
00:17:23
Speaker
5th Battalion, the King's Own Scottish Borderrs. Bremen. 5th of May. 70 prisoners come in during the day. Patrol, consisting of one officer and 10 men and 22 others, set go out to take over prisoner of war camp near Vegasac. 60 British prisoners of war, Arnhem captives, in camp provided with food.
00:17:44
Speaker
Short thank giving service at each company in the morning. See company relieved by D company in forward area. 6th of May. Sunday. Normal church services. Patrol returns bringing the 60 ex-Prisons of War with them. 154 German Prisons of War taken.
00:18:04
Speaker
7th May. Orders to carry out Phase 1 of Operation Eclipse. Elimination of Corps EMS by 52nd Lowland Division. Total prisoners of war taken by battalion on Operation Bremen, 6th and 709. Total since Rhine Crossing. 16 officers and 1,461 other ranks. 8th May. Battalion moves to the area between Bremen and Bremenhaven to disarm German troops.
00:18:34
Speaker
mainly divisions Gilbert and 408. Battalion disposed in the following areas, Würzburgl, Utleider, Kreiner, Neinhausen and Galstep. What is Operation Eclipse? Well, Operation Eclipse is the official operation to switch over to the occupation of Nazi Germany. It specifically says Nazi Germany. So this is where they get their new orders to go, you're no longer
00:19:02
Speaker
fighting the Germans, you're now basically taking control of the country, including all that that entails. And of course, Operation Eclipse there is in upper capitals as usual, but my mind, my eye is drawn to the 4th of May in which, well, basically somebody, it looks like somebody sat on the typewriter, all German armies in northwest Germany, Holland, Denmark, surrender unconditionally to 21st RB Group BBC announcement. I think he might have been a bit excited, the intelligence officer when he wrote that.
00:19:30
Speaker
What's interesting is already we've read a few of these out. You can see the difference in what they think is important to report, how they've actually celebrated or marked VED and the surrender and all the rest of it. Maybe we'll talk about it a bit more, but you have this perception that all of a sudden they're all going to have a big party, but there's this big job to do, operation eclipse. Things are still very important. You're still an army. You're now an army of occupation, and now you need to get on with that job.
00:19:59
Speaker
The other thing that's apparent is that, whereas in almost every other page of the War Diaries that we've read, there's kind of an introspective, this is what's happening, this is what's going on, what we're doing, this is all externally focused. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:20:20
Speaker
Sam Bostell, 4th May, Battalion Commander Command of 43 Division, 5th May, Battalion carried on with task of clearing up camp, 6th May, orders received battalion to rejoin remainder of brigade at Delman Horst area, 8th May, official VA Day celebrations and barracks, 1130 hours brigade commander visits battalion and spoke to officers, warrant officers and NCOs.
00:20:44
Speaker
Now, they mentioned a place called Sanbostal. What is Sanbostal? Sanbostal, Stalag XB, was a prisoner of war camp located near Sanbostal, just on the edge of the village of Sanbostal. And there are several hundred thousand prisoners who went through there over the six years of the war, 55 nations in all. It was a very strange place because
00:21:07
Speaker
It was segregated between the services, it was segregated between nationalities and there was very much a ranking and hierarchy in places as to whether or not you received Red Cross parcels, whether you were going to be starved. At the end of the war, it was liberated on the 29th of April, 30 Corps Horrocks went in
00:21:26
Speaker
there is some debate, certainly in my mind, about whether or not he could have liberated in a different way, knowing that surrender was only a week away. But when he went in, what he found eventually led to it being called Baby Belson. It was horrific. And he rounded up the women from the village and got them in to administer some first aid and to help clean and offer some degree of dignity to the prisoners that they picked up there.
00:21:55
Speaker
Yeah, I've seen some pictures from San Boston. It's it's particularly gruesome in it. Baby Belsen sort of it sounds. Yeah, I mean, it's the same very similar sort of appearance, but it's hardly ever known. I mean, most people have heard of Belsen, but most people have not heard of San Belsen at all. Yeah, the reason for that is the end of the war. The end of the war is only a week away and the focus is on Belsen as well. There is, you know, it's one of those things.
00:22:26
Speaker
7th Battalion the Cameronians, Scottish Rifles Bremen, 6th May Battalion Church Parade at 1100 hours March passed by companies, salute being taken by the CO Battalion received warning order to move 7th May, Recce parties for new location ordered to move Main Recce party postponed
00:22:45
Speaker
Seoul made recce for brigade HQ of new location which contained a very large number of German troops and still in organised formations but apparently willing to surrender unconditional surrender if German armed forces announced it on the wireless news. No celebration. Major Tinto rejoined the battalion from hospital. 8th of May, advanced party received a new location in Sotel and returned in the evening. So what are these guys up to then?
00:23:14
Speaker
Well, they're not celebrating VE Day, are they? No. So they've moved to this location, which it doesn't actually mention, and they pick up basically a group of large group of Germans who are waiting to hear the official announcement on the actual wireless. The reason why Major Tinto jumped off the page, the name Major Tinto. Tinto is a very Scottish name, even though it doesn't sound Scottish. And my doctor, when I was growing up, the family doctor was called Dr Tinto. I wonder if there are any relation, probably not.
00:23:45
Speaker
Well, you never know. Slightly more interesting, got to admit at the top of the page, battalion guard duties taken over by US troops of Bremen garrison. Yeah. Yeah. It's something that I don't necessarily link is US troops in Bremen.
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah, well, they took over the running of the docks. A lot of the administration and the docks administration by the Americans had to go over there because, of course, Germany only has a couple of really large ports that access the North Sea. And so to administer Germany, you need to have those ports up and running in the US. Yeah, there's US troops. I think some of the other war diaries have mentioned it as well. Basically, the Americans take over.
00:24:31
Speaker
7th Night Royal Scots, Warpswader, 5th of May. Pipe band played Reveille at 0700 out. At 0755, Bugler's sounded heads down, at 0800 Cease Fire, followed by the pipes and drums playing the regimental march. Dumbarton's Drums.
00:24:52
Speaker
This was repeated in each company area. Battalion parade at 1500 hours. CO inspected the battalion and addressed all ranks and took the salute at the march past. A number of German civilians watched the entire parade. 6th of May, CO called to brigade O group at 2230 hours. Orders received for the taking over from 480 German division and for recce parties into the area. 7th of May, CO left the battalion to assume command of all brigade recce parties.
00:25:21
Speaker
Major H Rose, DSO, assumed temporary commander of the battalion.
00:25:25
Speaker
and attended GOC's conference in Bremen at 1200 hours. Recce party under the command of Major R.J. Normand with under the command of carrier and pioneer platoons and one armored car troop, A Squadron 52 Recce Regiment, left at 1200 hours for general area Dorfhagen arriving at 1600 hours. Battalion area Recce de Brahmstedt and Recce parties joined brigade Recce parties in Harbor area, Osterholz, Chambec for the night. 8th of May, Victory in Europe Day announced.
00:25:55
Speaker
Battalion area changed to Bockel. New wreckies carried out. Main bodies left Forbes Vader by motorized transport 0900, arriving in new area at 1200 hours. CO resumed command of the battalion and met the commanders of 22 and 269 regiments, Oberst-Ricmers and Oberst-Ramath respectively, at his HQ at 1400 hours. Orders for the disposal of weapons, ammunition and equipment issued. Commander of regiment, Heydendrich, interviewed at 1700 hours.
00:26:25
Speaker
I mean, apart from the fact that it's taken nearly 42 minutes to record.
00:26:32
Speaker
four lines of a war diary, I get the impression that this intelligence and offer is mightily hacked off with the end of the war and just he's saving space on consonants all the way through. Yeah, he's he's not really he's not really that bothered about punctuation either. And yes, he's quite confusing to get through some of that. The interesting thing is on the fifth of May, the pipeline Blaine-Dravilly, the bugle has sounded headstone, 800, the ceasefire followed by the pipes and drums playing the regimental march. There was nobody getting a line on the fifth of May that
00:27:03
Speaker
But contrast that, and this is where I keep coming back to, it's useful to read these things out. Contrast that to the day before, the 4th of May, so one day before everything's kicking off and it's pipes and drums and up you're killed. And on the 4th of May, patrol during the evening to the railway bridge, 757145 by A company, bridge blown and 45 mines found in area. I mean,
00:27:27
Speaker
One day you've got war going on, blowing bridges up. The next, it's bag pilots out and head staying. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, so those who have read with the jocks, the last page or the last couple of pages in it, they're basically on a patrol not far from where 79th are. And there's every chance they're going to bump into so many. In fact, there's not their guys, but there's some guys from a different battalion.
00:27:51
Speaker
who drive over a mine in a Jeep and two people are killed. And that's on the 4th of May. So it's very, very real up until it's not real anymore. And really, it's only late on the 4th that they get word that tomorrow is ceasefire. So yeah, it must be really weird, I think, for them. And in fact, we'll read some examples from some of the books that are associated with the 52nd and you'll get a feel for that kind of weird feeling that they have.
00:28:22
Speaker
Jay Smith reporting for the Combined American Networks. Three and a half years ago, I left Berlin by impolite request of the Nazi government. I thought it was a pretty crummy city that I gladly bade farewell to then. Yesterday, I went back. I went back to report on the Nazi capitulation to the Red Army and to us in the headquarters of Marshal Zhukov.
00:28:46
Speaker
But however great and important that historic event was, the thing that left me and all the other correspondence speechless before we ever reached the Marshall's headquarters was the site of Berlin. It's still hard to make myself believe that it wasn't some dream. The city I knew is gone, rubbed out. 13th of May, 1945. World News. Norway.
00:29:14
Speaker
Crown Prince Olaf has returned to his own country from Scotland. More airborne troops have arrived at an airfield north of Oslo to supervise the withdrawal of the German forces into the reservation areas. A part of the first airborne division is among them. Denmark. Field Marshal Montgomery yesterday visited Copenhagen. He received a great ovation from the populace and lunched with the royal family. France. General Eisenhower yesterday received the freedom of Reims, the city he had chosen as his headquarters.
00:29:45
Speaker
Belgium. The ministers who have been visiting King Leopold have returned to Brussels. A statement issued says that owing to ill health brought about by his imprisonment, the King has asked his brother, Prince Charles, to continue for the time being to act as regent. Austria. The Americans have captured the notorious SS commander, General Sept Dietrich. Formerly commander of the 6th SS Panzer Army, he was later entrusted with defence of Vienna. He is wanted by the Russians for war crimes committed in the Kharkov area.
00:30:14
Speaker
Channel Islands. The King has issued a royal plot commission on the occasion of the liberation of the Channel Islands. He promises the islanders full support in their task of rebuilding and cordially welcomes them into their place in the free world. A convoy of 60 ships have now arrived at the islands bringing food and other necessities. San Francisco, Mr Eden and Mr Atlee are leaving for home today, their work for the moment having been completed. Lord Halifax will now act as leader of the British delegation.
00:30:44
Speaker
Britain, 1 13th of the area of Britain and Northern Ireland, some 3 million acres were handed over to the US Air Forces as training areas. All but 50,000 acres have now been handed back. From the outbreak of war to VED, national savings have amounted to the sum of 9 billion pounds. America. The US is to send 12 million tonnes of food to Europe in the next year. Most of it will consist of wheat and flour, fats and eggs. But there is likely to be a world shortage of meat and of sugar.
00:31:14
Speaker
Well, that was a whistle-stop tour, wasn't it? It was a bit. Everybody's pinging all over the place celebrating eyes and hows, rass or reams, however you pronounce it. So he's received the freedom of reams. Is everybody celebrating or are they really muscling down to getting on with the occupation? I think, well, let's talk about Field Marshal Montgomery who liberated, who visited Copenhagen. I'm sure he's enjoying it.
00:31:41
Speaker
I'm just really enjoying it. Now there's lots of serious work to be done. Obviously we mentioned Operation Eclipse and whatever the American version of that is. So there is lots and lots of work to be done. And then of course you've got the whole thing with Russia or the Soviet Union because that's starting to get already, there's already tension there. And of course you mentioned about the food coming into Europe from the Americas. That's going to be the biggest thing really that goes into the winter. How do we feed the people of Europe?
00:32:07
Speaker
including the German prisoners of war that you mentioned and there's some problems there getting the right food to the German prisoners at the right time and actually some of them start to starve which wasn't the intention but it actually was the outcome later in late 45 early 46. If you're a wee jock reading this you get the impression it's all over now.
00:32:27
Speaker
Oh, well, well, is it? Because I think we'll go into a story which may well, if the jock is feeling quite buoyed and quite happy about this, the next article may well bring him back down again. 10th of May 1945.
00:32:46
Speaker
What? No morning paper? For the past five months the Lowlander has been printed at night, usually after midnight news, and distributed in the early hours of the morning. You may not have received it in time to read it at the breakfast table, but believe it has reached most units by midday. From today the Lowlander is changing from a morning to an evening paper.
00:33:09
Speaker
Now that the war in Europe is finished, attention is naturally focused on the Far East. The latest news from Southeast Asia and the Pacific comes in during the morning. Therefore, although you'll receive your news sheet later in the day, you'll be getting the latest information about the war just as speedily as you did in the past. It's either that or they want to stop working at late at night.
00:33:32
Speaker
No, but that's the real, that's the big issue that we mentioned a minute ago, isn't it? Yeah, because they're not sure actually whether they're about to go home or whether they're all going to be spread out to the Far East. I think the general consensus within the division at the time is we were the last division to be deployed in the war, therefore we are going to be one of the first to head out to the Far East.
00:33:54
Speaker
actually it probably wasn't going to be like that. They were probably going to reconstitute some of the older divisions like the third division and turn them and just backfill them with all sorts of people. So lots of guys from the 52nd would have ended up there, but whether it would have been as part of the 52nd low end division, it's probably unlikely. But still, you're just two days after VED and even the paper you listen to in your own division is saying, what about Japan?
00:34:20
Speaker
Yeah and indeed the rest of this page goes on to talk about further outlook on settle for Japan, hard fighting in the Pacific. Yeah I mean it's all good it's all well and good but it's not all not all done yet. No definitely not. Speech made by Brigadier General G.D. Rennie to the 4th 5th Battalion Ron Scott's Fusiliers on VAD 8th May 1945.
00:34:46
Speaker
There is no danger today, yet there is great danger that we should forget today. Other things we shall not forget. We shall not easily forget the feeling of sick helplessness when Hitler called the tune and we danced to it. We shall not forget our mortal peril in 1940. We shall not forget the friend who was killed by our side or the narrow escape we had. All these things are grained in our minds forever by fear.
00:35:15
Speaker
Today is different. Only 10 days ago, we would have been marvellous to have 24 hours without danger. We cannot recapture that feeling now. We are tired and easily irritable. At home the church bells are peeling and all our world is on holiday. It is different here. Yet here you have one thing of priceless value. For once in a lifetime, and it can only be once for most of us, you have done the perfect thing.
00:35:43
Speaker
You were determined that neither your country nor your family should ever see the gray-green uniform of the Hun, or feel the unimaginable torments of the Gestapo. You then joined the army with the lowest pay, the greatest discomforts and the highest risks. You joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers and a tradition of glorious deeds which stretches back down the centuries.
00:36:06
Speaker
With them you fought your way across the Low Countries, up to the Roar, down the Mass, over the Rhine and into the Great North Plain of Germany until victory was given to us at Bremen. The fighting was bitter and hard. If I had to choose one battle which would be characteristic of them all, it would be Hopston. No battle could have begun with more ill fortune. It was hard that the start of the right-hand company should have been shelled by our own artillery.
00:36:34
Speaker
Your cup was filled to the brim when the enemy blew up the bridge in the face of the left-hand company. It seemed a failure must result. Yet all the night the fight went on, the darkness hiding the hundreds glorious deeds. When daylight came your courage and determination won the day against all the boasted fanaticism of the Nazi.
00:36:55
Speaker
In all this you have deserved well of your country. You are its heroes, you who without armour have outfaced fear, have written pages in the history of your regiment which have never been surpassed. I do not thank you for your deeds. I glory in them. Well done to the fourth fifth. Wow, move over Churchill.
00:37:18
Speaker
Well, he did the thing, he went back to the dark days. He talked about how the laws pay and then he sort of raised them up again and he talked. You're a bit more qualified to talk about speeches than I am. It's not bad, is it?
00:37:32
Speaker
I don't even want to take it to pieces. It's lovely. It's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant. Yeah. What's interesting, I'm not, this is the, so he read it to the officers, the senior NCOs and the junior NCOs, and then he handed out the sheet to all the men. I don't know why he didn't deliver it to the men in the battalion. There was only sort of six, I'm sure he could have got them around. But yes, it's lovely. And I've looked for the Waradows. I can't find any other speeches from the Brigadier's. So it's really nice to have this little bit of history.
00:38:06
Speaker
And now a quick report from Winford von Thomas in Bremen.
00:38:09
Speaker
And I'm watching the sight that we hope we see, for six long years, the German army coming into surrender, driving into surrender on its own petrol with its own drivers into the British lines. Since two o'clock this morning, this endless stream of transport has been pouring through this town, under the white flags hung over the shattered houses by the inhabitants. We're standing in the streets looking dumbfounded at this wreckage of the Wehrmacht that's going past us.
00:38:37
Speaker
Well, make no mistake about it, this army we see going by us is the most curious collection of wreckage you ever saw. Improvised cars with people lighting on the bumpers, half-track vehicles, thousands of them going through in a steady stream. To make matters even more fantastic, they've got their own traffic policemen directing them under British orders, standing on the corner waving listlessly on as the thing goes steadily by us.
00:39:03
Speaker
These people are the only defeated soldiers. You can see it in their eyes. In the middle of them, there comes a much more joyous note. We've seen a shadowbang full of RAF-released prisoners cheering as they went by, and the Germans on the half-track looking grumbly on. And what do the British soldiers who've been watching it think about it? Those who have been waiting six long years for this, what a sight. My boy, I've never seen nothing like it.
00:39:29
Speaker
War history, or the fourth border battalion, the King's own Scottish Borders. On the 2nd of May, the battalion moved up to the Worpsveda area, taking over from the 1st Wasters, 43rd Division. It was here that Colonel Davidson's appointment was confirmed. It was the most fitting that the oldest serving officer in the battalion should command it in its last battle, and finally when the European War was won.
00:39:52
Speaker
The news by this time was very encouraging and significant sign was that the battalion was ordered to stay put, although a little proactive patrolling was carried out and a few shell in the battalion area. Finally, on the evening of the 7th of May, the news of the surrender was announced.
00:40:09
Speaker
It seemed difficult to believe. No more mortar bombs, no more 88s, no more spandos. The CO immediately called in all the company commanders and the padre held a short service in the command post. Major Donald Hogg, MC, then gave the king and proposed the health of the CO. Everybody was very subdued and all felt suddenly very tired. So this is from Mountain and Flood by George Blight.
00:40:38
Speaker
Within the modern British division, to be sure, the chaplain's task was eased to some extent by the establishment of the branches of education and welfare, each directed by a duly appointed staff officer. The functions of these officers inevitably overlapped. It would be idle to pretend that organised education was possible within every fighting division, or that many soldiers found it feasible to work consistently on a course of study.
00:41:06
Speaker
But it is certain that a great many young soldiers were guided towards a deliberately chosen career and introduced to its elements through the work of the more enthusiastic officers of the Army Educational Corps. The general emphasis was rather on what we nowadays call citizenship, the awakening of the citizen soldier to those responsibilities of which his service was, in fact, an extreme extension
00:41:34
Speaker
During the long training period, the unit discussion group using as texts the pamphlets of the Army Bureau of Current Affairs was the normal device of the educational sort. The education officer made it his business to arrange for the visits of lecturers to organise brains trusts and so on.
00:41:54
Speaker
In the field, there was only limited scope for his purely educational functions. Practically, his most important task, it is fair to say, was the regular production of the divisional news sheet, its material derived mainly from the news bulletins of the BBC, with special care for the accuracy of football results on Sunday evenings, and typed and multi-graph in a flurry of blood, sweat and tears in the late evenings.
00:42:21
Speaker
The lowlander was a modest affair, closely printed on both sides of one full-scap sheet of inferior paper, but it was an amenity the fighting soldier appreciated. The education branch was finally responsible, like the valiant bath unit, for the setting up as quickly as possible of reading rooms, usually called the club, in any captured place in which the vision seemed likely to remain for some time.
00:42:48
Speaker
The club was a resort for the quieter spirits. It provided the materials and peace for writing home. It boasted a modest library and through the Tommy Bar it provided for the soldiers simpler ones in the way of soap, razor blades, writing pads, matches and whatnot.
00:43:08
Speaker
This may seem a chronicle of small beer indeed, but education and welfare together demanded of the responsible parties a good deal of thought and labour. Their paraphernalia alone was always so much extra stuff to be transported.
00:43:23
Speaker
and one may feel deeply for a harassed queue officer who, grappling with the problem of how to get the division into battle 20 miles away, was reminded that education's pamphlets and welfare's cinema projector had to go along with it, not to mention the jerseys and pants of the football teams and the loud instruments of the divisional pipes and drums who contributed so heartily
00:43:45
Speaker
to that wild music of the masked bands of the three Scottish divisions which sounded down the mall on Victory Day with, in the commentator's excited words, all the panache of the north. Well, I got a little bit emotional then.
00:44:04
Speaker
It's brought us absolutely full circle, hasn't it? Because we started back in Bergen Ops Zoom, the Tommy bar, the club room, reading the Lola, getting introduced to the Army Education Corps or branch, and just getting into the spirit of the men reading the Lola every day. And here we are at the end of Mountain and Flood. I think the chapter is called The End of an Old Song, isn't it? It actually shows what an impact
00:44:32
Speaker
the Army Education Branch made in this division. I can't speak for any other divisions, but it clearly made an impact because Mountain in Flood, the book, it's not really a work of academic historical record. It was literally George Blake sitting down with some officers and some men chatting to him and saying, what happened here? And so the stories that he tells in the book are the stories that people remember and the ones that people and clearly the low end are made an impact.
00:45:01
Speaker
and the Divisional Club Room which again we mentioned way back in the early days so it's lovely to sort of hear it and it's in the book and I'd completely forgotten about these couple of paragraphs when I read Mountain and Flood, you know, not that long ago. Do you know what Maren, I think it's time for the last article of The Loner.
00:45:30
Speaker
15th of May 1945, au revoir. This is the last number of the Lowlander in its present form. Today we are closing down. But if our hopes are realised and we shall reopen in a new location and in print instead of type, then more than ever your contributions will be needed. Assuming, as may well be the case, that the division will be scattered over a very wide area, the Lowlander will become invaluable as a means of keeping in touch with each other. And so we bid you au revoir.
00:46:00
Speaker
or as they would say in Glasgow, goodbye for now. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Lowlander. The Lowlander was written, produced and presented by Andy Anderson and Mirren Walters. This was a hellish good production.
00:46:35
Speaker
in there and they just saw the bloody Germans off. They were hellish good.