9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2001 - Page 0084
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2001 |
| Transcription |
84 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) some 15 Staghounds and our white half-tracks with 75mm guns pointed at the Yugoslavs on the opposite banks must have looked impressive. We had no trouble and they had gone by next morning. Our VE day ended with two small bottles of Canadian beer, guard duty and then... a feeling ofanti-climax and relief. The War was over and we had survived; I did think at that moment of those former Comrades in Arms who had not been so fortunate. Two days later, we moved Northeast to Graz. 6 Troop manned a road junction at the foot of the Packsattel Pass, the main road into Graz. The remnants of two German Divisions marched through. They speeded up as rumours spread that the Russians behind them were gaining ground. One officer wearing the Iron Cross said to me in English: “What a disaster, I think I will shoot myself!” However, he hurried on with his soldiers. General Keightley, with ‘Popski’ as interpreter, went up the Graz road to parley with the Russians. Popski of “Popski’s Private Army” fame was in reality Colonel Peniakov, part Russian by birth and a Russian speaker, hence his role as inter- preter to the General. Popski and his small unit worked behind the enemy lines to good effect in North Africa and in Italy with 27L during the advance to Ravenna. He lost his left hand whilst supporting 2 and 3 Troops of D Squadron with his Jeep-mounted .50 Browning. This was an engagement with a strong German Parachute force north of Ravenna. In that par- ticular battle 27L held the position until relieved by our armoured troops. Sergeant Park won the DCM and Corporal Greetham the MM for their part in the action. Later in the day the huge column of retreating soldiers disap- peared and we found a suitable roadside cottage suitable for a ‘brew’. We were thus engaged when a black Mercedes drew up and a man entered saying; “Wallis, Daily Telegraph, I’m starv- ing.” After we had met his request he told us that he had been present at the meeting of the English and Russian Generals on the Graz road. The Russian’s first question was: “How many Divisions do you have?” We did not hear General Keightley’s reply. Our journalist then left to make his report on these pro- ceedings. As dusk fell we found accommodation in nearby Bad St Leonhard. Here we also found more prisoners of war and we received further food parcels which went into our capa- cious bag for spent 37mm shell cases. Later that night while I was on guard outside the door of our abode a well-groomed middle aged man came out of the dark- ness. I did not understand what he was saying until he tried Italian. He explained he was a staff officer of General Mihailovich, the Royalist Chetnik leader who had opposed Tito’s communist plans and was now to be a victim. “What shall I do with my life?” he asked. He thought it was unlikely that he could return to Yugoslavia, as any Chetniks, who did return, mostly by force, were shot. We suggested he became a British prisoner but he declined and returned to his ‘Safe House’. If he had lain low for some time he could have quali- fied to enter the UK as a Displaced Person. Quite a number of such Yugoslavs did just that. General Mihailovich stayed in Montenegro, was betrayed, tried and summarily shot in 1946. Recent events in the Balkans sow that brutality and killings are still very much on the agenda and old scores are still being settled over 50 years later. D Squadron entered Judenburg on llth May. The river Mur runs through the town and formed the boundary between the British and the Russian Zones of Occupation. The population was glad to see the British, the women in particular, because of fear of rape from the Russians. 6 Troop was accommodated in a medical centre in the Town Square. I had a room and a bath- room, a great luxury after sleeping on the ground, indoors and out except for a spell in hospital and two periods of leave in Cairo and Rome. The first few weeks of peace were very relaxed with minimum duties. Lt Hartigan as Regimental Equestrian Officer was charged with arranging a race meeting at a suitable site out- side ]udenburg. 6 Troop helped build the jumps and staff the meeting on lst June - within a month ofVE Day. A more serious duty was our involvement in returning the Cossacks to the Russian Zone. They had been used by the Germans for internal security in Italy and were now living with their families in covered wagons in Austria. It had been agreed by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference that the Cossacks should be returned to Russia. We had heard that the officers were shot but we were disin- clined to believe it. Eighth Army were criticised later for helping with this repatriation but we were obeying our Government’s orders. At 6 p. In. one July evening we received orders to move. We had to fit our re-charged batteries and stow our kit in ‘Dictum’. Many of our Austrian hosts waved us offas we went into the former Russian Zone. The following day the convoy carrying the British Allied Control Commission for the British Sector of Vienna passed through. The British Zone was extended to the Semmering Pass and the Russians with- drew to their previously agreed positions. We finally ended in Langenwang. Rumours started spreading 7 which were found to be accurate 7 that 27 L were to be disbanded with half the officers and soldiers going to the 12th Royal Lancers and the remainder to be absorbed into other Cavalry Regiments stationed in Italy and Austria. I was transferred to the 2nd Dragoon Guards (The Queen’s Bays) in 2 Armoured Brigade in Palmanova, Northern Italy. Mr Hartigan, by now promoted to Captain Hartigan, became General McCreery’s trainer. The general was a 12th Lancer and was the last Commander of the Eighth Army. He had inspected the 27L Disbandment parade and D Squadron provided the Mounted Squadron for this occasion. The Bays moved to Valdagno, to do security duties in the area around Verona and Lake Garda. I was promoted to Corporal and ran the technical Adjutant’s office. We employed some Italian staff, who spoke no English so that my Italian came in very useful. In the summer of 1946 the Regiment moved back to Palmanova to be part of the ‘Tito-Watch’. We received our first Comet Tanks to replace the former Sherman that had served so well from Alamein to VE Day. I was discharged on 8th May exactly two years after VE Day. Epilogue: After my family grew up and my wife and I were free to take our own holidays we spent some superb times in Italy, Austria. We would hire a car and explore Umbria, Tuscany and Ravenna with its surrounding area. In Forli War Cemetery we found some of our own Squadron including for- mer 6 troop Sergeant George Brittain. Holidays in Austria included Carinthia, Judenburg and beau- tiful Salzburg and the surrounding lakes. Vienna had been left out. It was only in 1999 that I visited Eastern Europe with some family friends and eventually made it to Vienna. We visited the Prater, Vienna’s municipal park, where a race meeting was held by the British Occupation Forces on 27th October 1945. Captain Hartigan won on General McCreery’s horse ‘Jumbo’ in the Champion Cup Race. He had trained the horse for only two months and was pre- sented with the Cup in front of the Commanding Generals of the Russian, French and American Forces. |
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