14 April 2020
Here is another post on the theme of British soldiers and civilian members of the Control Commission who met and married their future wives in occupied Germany after the end of the Second World War.
William Clark and his wife Paula were married in Hamburg on 1 August 1947; not as early as some of the other couples I have written about on previous posts on this blog, but I think it is an interesting story, that tells us something about life in post-war Britain in the 1950s as well as in occupied Germany in the first few years after the end of the war.
The post is based on an unpublished memoir written by Mr Clark, now held as part of the documents collection of the Imperial War Museum.
William Clark was born in 1926 in Birkenhead. He enlisted in the army towards the end of the war, when he was just 17 years and 10 months old. He trained as a radio operator, took part in the Normandy landings, and in May 1945 at the end of the war in Europe, he was in Kiel in Schleswig Holstein, in the north of Germany. He remembered that:
‘The feelings of relief and happiness that we all felt [at the end of the war] were greater than it is possible to express. We could relax, and have a bit of fun.’
He did not stay long in Kiel, and was posted to Berlin where his unit had to clean the barracks previously used by Soviet soldiers, now taken over by the British, ‘a most unpleasant job’.
On a trip home for leave on a long train journey from Berlin, he wrote that he saw German civilians gathering along the line holding out their hands, hoping that the British soldiers on the train would throw unwanted food to them: ‘It was a pitiful sight, whether they had been at war with us or not, they were starving, and it was impossible not to feel extreme sorrow that people had been reduced to that kind of begging.’
Shortly before the end of the war, on the way to Kiel, his unit drove through a small village in Schleswig Holstein called Horst. This was when he first saw his future wife, Paula. He wrote that: ‘I could not help noticing a German girl coming down the steps of a building near the side walk opposite me. I thought she was pretty, and wishing to convey that thought, I gave what was then known as a “Wolf” whistle. The girl obviously took offence and indicated so by spitting on the sidewalk while saying “Ach schmutzig Tommy” [dirty Tommy] … I remember thinking that she was not afraid to show that we were the enemy, and that friendliness was not in order at that time. I quite admired her courage; there were a lot of us and only one of her.’
They ‘pushed on’ and he thought no more about it. But some months later – it is not clear quite how long – he was posted, by chance, to Horst, the same village where he had seen the girl earlier. ‘After settling in at the village of Horst, my first thoughts were to try to locate the girl. The village was quite small, and it remains so to the present, so I didn’t think I would have too much difficulty.’
His unit took possession of houses down one side of the village street and a curfew was imposed on all civilians. During one of his turns on patrol, he saw the girl and ‘made a mental note of her address. Many walks past her house paid off, as I finally got to talk to her. Just by speaking to her I was breaking the law, because we were not supposed to fraternize with German civilians. However, being nineteen and smitten, all rules were made to be broken … After a while I was made welcome into her home, and passed many happy hours with her family.’
Four of Paula’s brothers had been soldiers on the Russian front. Two had been killed and two were Russian POWs. He wrote that: ‘It says much for the compassion the parents had, while having been so affected by the war and having lost two sons, they still made me, an enemy soldier, welcome in their house.’
His unit moved again, to Wilhelmshaven, not very far away. He travelled to Horst when he could, by jeep, motorcycle or train. ‘We were not supposed to use civilian trains, but a little bribery with cigarettes worked well.’
‘I can’t remember when I asked Paula to marry me, but in order to do so I had to get the permission of the commanding officer.’ He was told he had to spend at least one period of leave in England. ‘The purpose of this was to enable the parents to talk their son out of marrying one of the enemy!’
As he did not want his parents to talk him out of it, he decided not to go home on leave. He wrote to his mother that she should tell anyone who asked, that he had been home. The army checked up on him and his mother told them the truth, that she had not seen him. His application to marry was refused and the army ‘postponed the chance of marrying until I could re-apply in a further nine months’.
‘I thought the world had come to an end, a fact made worse a while later, by Paula finding she was pregnant. I was even angrier at the army, but there was nothing I could do. Her parents were very understanding, and while not pleased with the circumstances, continued to treat me kindly.’
He returned to England and his reception there ‘left much to be desired. They were all still very bitter about the Germans, and the idea that I wanted to marry one was met with a lot of disapproval.’
He felt lonely as he spent the time buying things for the baby. He cut short his leave and returned to Germany, adding that: ‘It was the first time that I was glad my leave was over. I felt more at home in Germany than I did in England.’
His daughter Helen was born in Horst on 8 December 1946. He was still stationed at Wilhelmshaven and a week later was able to see his daughter for the first time.
He continued to try to get permission to marry. By the time it was granted his unit had moved to Münster, nearly 200 miles away. ‘Making wedding arrangements was extremely difficult, various regulations had to be met, an army padre had to be found, and a church suitable to him and us had to be arranged. Transportation presented yet another difficulty. German civilians were not supposed to ride in army vehicles. [This was officially forbidden at the time]. How to get Paula and the family and other relatives to and from the church was going to be difficult, and required another law to be broken. The irony was, that after the wedding, Paula would be a UK citizen and entitled to travel in the military vehicles.’
After further delays due to unavailability of an army padre, they were married In Hamburg on 1 August 1947. He returned to Münster and she to Horst.
They remained in Germany until 1948, when he was posted back to Britain. He had 6 months to serve before demobilization. Paula, his daughter Helen, together with other German wives and children, had to move to a transit camp awaiting clearance to enter England. [This is the first reference I have found in any archive to a ‘transit camp’ for German wives of British soldiers who had been posted back to Britain].
After a brief period living with his parents, they moved to Parkgate, a village in the Wirral not far from Birkenhead. Paula was expecting another baby. He worked as a milkman, and then found another job on the railway at a nearby station, that paid £3 per week, barely enough to cover the rent, which was £2 per week.
‘Things being quite tough in those days, the thought that I was responsible for taking a young girl from a comfortable home to a strange land, with the lack of money and other discomforts, was hard to bear. We tried hard not to allow the children to suffer, and I think we succeeded, in spite of having to eat porridge as a main meal! Although it does look terrible in the written word, we were quite happy really.’
They needed more money so he changed jobs again to work driving a delivery van. ‘Our family continued to grow. Paula’s English improved greatly, and both she and the kids made many friends.’ People were friendly in Parkgate. He got a better paid job at the Atomic Energy Plant at Capenhurst, 11 miles away, but left after 3 years, disappointed at not getting a promotion. They moved to Harlow in Essex which, he wrote, was a mistake. The work was bad, inspecting glass jam jars and bottles as they came out of the oven.
He visited an officer he had known during the war, who lent him the money to buy a delivery vehicle, to do door to door vegetable deliveries.
Towards the end of 1954 or early 1955, he became ill, had to go into hospital, and the finance company re-possessed his delivery van. Paula got a job in a local factory. He found a job installing TV aerials. Things started to improve, he was given a store manager job, but gave it up and decided to emigrate to Canada, initially on his own. By May 1958 he had saved enough to pay the fares, so Paula and the children could join him in Canada. He obtained a good job with an established company where he worked for 18 years.
They then discovered that Paula had cancer and she died aged 38. He met his second wife and a ‘second life’ began. At the end of the memoir he wrote: ‘While having wonderful memories of those years, I also have many regrets. Sadness at realizing too late that I was often impatient with, and perhaps unkind to, a great person.’
References:
Private papers of William Clark, Imperial War Museum documents, reference 26005
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