VE Day was muted affair for George
He may have fired the final shots of the Italian campaign.
But Scone centenarian George Stewart recalls comrades’ VE Day celebrations were muted when news filtered through that Nazi Germany had surrendered.
George, a troop commander in the Edinburgh-based 78 (Lowland) Field Regiment who saw action in Sicily and at Anzio after El Alamein and the successful North African campaign, had come under fire the previous day.
“We were part of the 10th US Mountain Division, a formation with which we had developed a close relationship,” recalled the retired Forestry Commission senior manager.
“We were advancing north along the road on the east side of Lake Garda.
“It had many tunnels, and because some of these had been blocked by explosions, we had to take to the high ground above.
“We had lost touch with the enemy, who were retreating towards the Brenner Pass, when I saw flashes from a gun firing from the entrance to a tunnel south of Torbole, at the north-east corner of the lake.
“I engaged the target and it stopped firing. I like to think those rounds I fired off were probably the very last of the Italian campaign.
“The next day, still with no contact with the enemy, our CO, Lt Col Freeth, set off in his Jeep to drive north until he contacted the German rearguard.
“This was a brave action, almost foolhardy I suppose.
“He could easily have been shot out of hand. But he was taken to the local commander.
“Freeth told him the war was virtually over and that a surrender was inevitable.
“This was the beginning of the negotiations which ended in the capitulation of all German troops in Italy.
“I’m glad to think my regiment had some small part in such an historic event after enduring some very tough times, particularly behind enemy lines at Anzio.
“That operation was designed to relieve
Monte Cassino but it was a near disaster. That was terrible, the worst time we had in the whole war.
“VE Day was the day after my final shots were fired, I believe.
“The news somehow got through to us. But there were no celebrations of any kind.
“We paid no attention to it, going about our normal business.
“My reasoning was that the war was far from over. We were only too aware that the conflict continued in the Far East and we were likely to be sent there at any time, a prospect we dreaded with such a brutal, cruel enemy.
“It was only when VJ Day arrived that we were able to sigh with relief - WWII really was over.”
George had been called up in 1940, a freshfaced science student, and his one-time Territorial Army regiment played its part in the North African campaign under Field Marshal Montgomery.
“El Alamein was my first experience of action, in 1942,” he recalled.
“Later we went into Sicily and worked our way up through Italy.
“It was grim. But it was war and we just did what we were told to do.”
The country’s oldest skier, George, who is getting around on crutches after tumbling during a family trip to the Pyrenees earlier this year, had intended to join the VE Day commemoration parade planned for Edinburgh before the pandemic struck.
Ironically, his passion for skiing dates back to the Italian campaign, when he acquired a pair of wooden skis in Florence during a lull in the fighting, and bashed nails into his army boots for binding.
“The British Legion had asked if I would take part and I would have been proud to remember my old comrades. I lost a lot of friends during the war,” he said.
“I would have dusted down my uniform and joined in, even on crutches if necessary. But sadly, like everything else, the parade has been cancelled because of the pandemic.
“This would have been a rather special occasion, probably the last of its kind as none of us are getting any younger. It’s such a pity.”