We’d have nipped Hitler in the spud

DURING my two years’ National Service with V Battery, 6th field Regiment, Royal Artillery, I was stationed at Munsterlager in Germany. I was a driver/signaller in an observation party whose job it was to be at the front line and direct fire from the guns to the target. Most of our time was spent on manoeuvres on Luneburg Heath. Our team comprised an officer, Captain Nesbitt, myself and another signaller, Ken Lewsey — a formidable team. We were a self-contained unit, which meant that one of our tasks was to feed ourselves from a ration pack. Among the limited variety of food supplied was always tins of mashed potato powder. After a while, this particular food became boring, tasteless and something we did not look forward to, although it did fill a hole in a hungry serviceman’s stomach. Once, we were summoned back to the gun position for a few days. This was looked forward to as it meant that someone would be cooking for us. And the biggest delight was the anticipation of eating proper potatoes instead of mashed potato powder. Shortly after we arrived, we noticed a field full of potatoes ready for harvesting. A wicked thought came into our heads. What if we replaced some proper potatoes with some tins of mashed potato powder? When no one was looking, we crept into the field and did the deed. And once we returned to our field position, we enjoyed several lovely meals with fresh potatoes! I often wonder what the farmer’s face would have looked like when he harvested his crop! One wonders, if we had done this in the war, would the Germans have surrendered more quickly? Ray Haxell, ex-lance bombardier,

Bexleyheath, Kent.