In 1942, John Duke was hand-selected to join the 61^st Reconnaissance Regiment of the Armoured Corps. After undertaking intense training, John was sent to Normandy in the 2^nd wave of the D-Day invasion (13^th June 1944). As a Reconnaissance squadron, John’s unit was often further ahead of most soldiers, their job was to gain intelligence on enemy movements and report back. He recalls the precarity of this role, and how as the squadron’s driver, it was often his job to get them out of trouble in a hurry. John served in Normandy until August 1944. He was then sent to Nijmegen in Holland to assist the airborne landing in the Ardennes – this was all a part of Operation Market Garden. He speaks of the poor weather, and relentless German fire, which made it impossible for his squadron to advance. After Nijmegen, John was withdrawn to Belgium where he was involved in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes. He recounts the extreme weather conditions – “we were up to our armpits in snow” – and the difficulty of fighting tanks in winter camouflage. After the Ardennes the 61^st regiment was disbanded, and John joined the 5^th regiment prior to the advance into Germany. He made it as far as Hanover and stayed there until 1946, when he was demobbed and returned home to become a police officer.

For the first few years of the war, Leslie Fernandez was an Army Physical Training Corps instructor who trained SOE candidates in Hertfordshire and Manchester (parachuting). He was then invited by Colonel Munn to become an operative, deploying to SE France in July 1944; when the American landed there in August 1944, his group moved to Italy to help the partisans prevent the Germans in Italy from interfering with American operations. He provides a hugely detailed and modestly understated account of SOE operations (he does not mention his Military Medal or Croix de Guerre), starting with selection for different roles and his insertion by parachute, weighed down by weapons and equipment. He focuses heavily on little-known operations in the mountains between France and Italy, gathering explosives from his cache in a bakery, blowing up roads and negotiating the surrender of 80 Germans to 5 SOE. He also talks about the challenges of communication and receiving resupplies in harsh conditions where they were often isolated, as well as the psychological pressure of warfare and seeing people executed. He has fond memories and recalls the bravery of those involved, especially as he married a woman from the region, who was a courier.