Sydney Davies was born in 1924, and came from St. Helens, Merseyside.

On a short questionnaire he answered the following questions:

Age when enlisted? 18 years.

When did you join and why? 1942; called up.

When were you discharged and why? End of War.

He enlisted in to the Royal Regiment of Artillery on the 15 October 1942. ^[1]

Sydney volunteered for Airborne Forces in 1943 and was on Parachute Course 64, at RAF Ringway, 10 – 21 May 1943. His Instructors comment: ‘Works hard, but nervous’. This was a Parachute Brigade Reinforcement Course and upon completion he was sent, along with others, to North Africa to bring up to strength the units of the 1^st Parachute Brigade. He was assigned to the 2^nd Parachute Battalion. ^[2]

By 1944 he was serving as a Signaller in the Signals Platoon, and was part of the Battalion Main Headquarters Detachment.

On Sunday, 17 September 1944, he took off from Saltby Aerodrome, aboard a Dakota aircraft of the 314^th Troop Carrier Group, USAAF., bound for DZ ‘X’ near Renkum in Holland, as part of Operation ‘MARKET’. He parachuted successfully onto the drop zone, made it to the RV., carrying a radio set, and marched with the Battalion to Arnhem Bridge.

Private. Sydney Davies was taken prisoner on Thursday, 21 September at Arnhem Bridge, and was initially sent to Stalag 12A at Limburg, where he was given the POW No: 91120, and then onto Stalag 8C at Sagan. Later he was sent to a Camp at Hanover, and finished up in a Merchant Navy POW Camp at Westertimke. ^[3]

Upon return to the United Kingdom he transferred to the Corps of Military Police, on the 29 August 1945. ^[1]

This is his personal account of his experiences at Arnhem:

17.9.44.

My first encounter with the real war after ‘D’ Day was when I came across a German Staff Car with a number of dead German Officers. True to form I looked for and found a packet of German cigarettes. The day was reasonably quiet. The Dutch thought the war was nearly over and gave us drinks and flowers. A couple of incidents dealt with by other sections. We had to duck for cover a number of times, eventually we arrived at the Northern end of the Bridge via the River Road.

18.9.44.

I had been attached to R.H.Q. as a signaller. After sending out Netting calls to all Stations, except ‘C’ Company, we settled in to await the coming onslaught. And boy did they come! After ‘A’ Company stormed the BRIDGE to try to control both ends, it seemed as if the whole German Army concentrated on the BRIDGE. I have never seen so many armoured vehicles. To me they all seemed to have their guns zeroed on me, for no matter which window I was at, someone seemed to be shooting at me. S.P.’s, 88’s, Tiger tanks with 88mm’s and machine guns. I spoke to a ginger [haired] Para next to me and on getting no answer I turned to ask him if he was alright. Someone had shot him right between the eyes.

19.9.44.

We were repeatedly sending out TUNING and NETTING CALLS in the hope that we could contact ‘C’ Company and, by this time, we of the Signal Section were getting a little fed up, 1 hour of the Set, 1 hour at some window or other, trying to eat and sleep. So, along with 5 other Signals and a Jewish Officer, ^[4] we volunteered to go out on a patrol to look for ‘C’ Company. We got no further than the Church. The Germans had placed a sniper in the tower. After we had lost two of our Patrol, the Officer ordered us back to H.Q., where he requested a 6-pounder to remove the top of the Tower.

20.9.44.

By this time our rations were running low, we had only carried enough for 48 hours, by which time 30 Corps was to have relieved us. We heard that a supply drop had been made on the D.Z., which was in German hands. I dropped lucky. Sig. Mark Kelly ^[5] and I were detailed to connect as many positions as possible by land line, so loaded up with cable, we crawled through entries and ruined houses. Support Company gave us a meal, they were the lucky ones, they were in a well stocked family house. A sick old lady was in bed there, she was a very cheerful person and did my morale a world of good. I also met a friend, ‘Bill’ Fishwick, who gave me some cigarettes. At one station, Mark and I climbed through a rear window, to connect a telephone. In this room was my mate ‘Bill’ Russell ^[7] and a Royal Corps of Sigs Sgt. ^[8] After passing a few bits of information to them we took our leave by climbing back again through the window on to and out of the house. There was a loud bang, lots of dust, and then nothing. Mark and I climbed back into the room. ‘Bill’ was dead by his Set. The Sgt, what was left of him, NOT A NICE SIGHT, was in a corner. I contacted H.Q. and informed Sgt. Cloves ^[9] of the situation. Then we carried on connecting telephones.

21.9.44.

Things were getting grim. We were sending round for Situation Reports [Sit Reps] asking for details of FOOD and AMMO, KILLED and INJURED, not so good. I was given a signal for ‘A’ Company ordering them to evacuate and to fall back on us. We were in much the same position, our building was burning on a number of floors. Around this time we were ordered not to let anymore civilians near the building as German sympathisers were trying to burn us out. Late afternoon a Sapper Sgt, Stan Halliwell was released by the Germans to ask our C.O. to surrender. (His reply is old news).

Soon were also ordered to evacuate our building, in small groups we made our way to a school. When I was crossing the street, the 4 minute mile wasn’t in it. I think all the worst shots in the German Army were shooting at me, as I reached the school without a scratch. We left the school late that night, in pairs, in the vain hope that we could get away. Ammo was gone, I had a useless 38 Set, which I threw away. Eventually it was hopeless, I had to give myself up.

After shunting about railway wagons through Dortmund, Essen and Cologne, under constant attacks from Allied bombers, we arrived at Stalag XIIA, Limburg. A few weeks later all Paras in XIIA were sent right across Germany to Breslau, then to Stalag VIIIC, Sagan.

In 1944-45 I, along with 3,000 P.O.W’s from many camps marched across Germany. It took a long time and not many reached Hanover, about 200, and what a state we were in. I escaped from this camp, but after a few weeks on the run I was recaptured, and finished up in a Merchant Navy P.O.W. Camp, Westertimke, where I was finally liberated by the Welsh Guards.

1. Davies, ex W.O.II., R.E.

NOTES:

[1] The Parachute Regiment, Transfer & Enlistment Book 09, page 11.

[2] R.A.F. Ringway Parachute Course Report 1943.

[3] Proforma for Kenneth Greenough. 18 March 1987.

[4] 301775. Lieut. A.L. Tannenbaum. HQ-Coy, Trg Wing. WIA/POW, O7B, 13293.

[5] 5783524. Pte. M. Kelly. Sig’s Pln. POW, 12A, 91065.

[6] 3774446. Pte. W. Fishwick. MMG Pln. POW, 12A & 4B, 91425.

[7] 2060433. Pte. W.J.G. Russell. Sig’s Pln. KIA: 19/9/44.

[8] 2579000. L/Sgt. L. Westall. Det Comd, 2 Para Bn, J-Sect Sigs. KIA:19/9/44.

[9] 5771257. Sgt. W. Cloves. Sig’s Pln. POW, 12A & 8C, 91056

Researched and written by Robert Hilton