Chapter 60

Then they were into the trip to Germany. Corporal Richards drove out on Saturday and was there to meet them at RAF Wildenrath on Sunday where they had flown to from RAF Lyneham. They spent the night as guests of the Commander Rear Areas. Anthony had business with him the next day and then a courtesy call on the C-in-C. Frances and Victoria were taken on a sightseeing tour to Cologne.

That evening they drove to Bielefeld and spent the night with the Commander 1st British Corps with whom Anthony had a meeting the following day. Frances and Victoria had another sightseeing tour in the morning. Mark stayed with his general throughout except for a brief moment when the Corps Commander asked him and his own Military Attaché (MA) to leave the office.

"Anthony," he said. "You're treating that young man as an MA rather than an ADC."

"Yes, General."

"You must have good reason. I'm fascinated. Why?"

"He's exceptional. I knew he was good when I took him on so I chucked him in at the deep end and when I was doing my initial visits to my brigade commanders I took him rather than my Colonels G and AQ. They had briefed me of course so I didn't want to waste their time further. He sat there like a little mouse and took notes. Without my prodding him he went and discussed those notes with the two colonels and they came up with supplementary briefs. He's fascinating when we drive back from somewhere. There'll be a period of silence and then he'll say, "Um, General" and will ask some devastating question or provide a very worthwhile answer to a problem. I value him enormously and I like him enormously. But then I'm biased, I suppose."

"I must say that I was impressed with him last night. He's clearly quite dotty about your Victoria and yet he behaved impeccably and didn't let their private feelings get the better of him."

Anthony laughed. "Goopy's the word I use but you're quite right. His father was in our 6th Battalion at D-Day and picked up an MC twenty-four hours later. Mark could have missed National Service by going to university but didn't. His CO tried to persuade him to become a regular but failed because Mark will have to take over his family's estate at some stage. He did agree to a Short Service Commission though. He'll have a couple of year's to do when he finishes with me. Yes, I chose an ADC and have got an MA."

"Lucky old you. I have one of each. They're both good and they both work hard but I'd love to have just one who could manage both jobs but it would just be too much for one chap. And you are going to keep this one as a son in law. Lucky you!"

"Aren't I?" Anthony smiled.

"Come on," said the Corps Commander. "Let's collect our young men and go and find some lunch."

After lunch Anthony and Mark drove back to the Corps Commander's residence to change and collect Frances and Victoria. They had several hours before they were due at Commander 4 Division's house and Mark had suggested that they take some exercise and go for a walk in the hills and woods near Osnabruck. He had gleaned this tip from an officer in Engineer Branch at Tidworth. The same officer had also told him of a café nearby where they could get a delicious cream tea and pastries. The Collinses had all voted this an excellent idea.

The walk and tea were a great success giving each couple the time to talk to each other and as a family. Victoria confessed that she was getting a little fed up with sightseeing and Wives Club activities.

"Tomorrow should be more fun," said Mark. "If the weather holds you're due to go sailing on the Dummersee and have a picnic lunch."

Victoria clapped her hands and Frances looked a lot happier too. "What's the weather forecast?" asked Victoria.

"The one I heard this morning was fine," said Mark. "My bones..."

"Don't you dare!" exclaimed Victoria, twisting his arm behind his back.

"Oh! Oh!" wailed Mark. "Help! I'm being savaged by a tigress."

"No bones!"

"No bo-o-ones, I promise."

She released him. Her parents laughed.

"I don't know," said Mark. "You turn down the world's most reliable weather forecast."

"Captain Bowers!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"You're seriously risking a divorce before marriage."

Mark melodramatically clapped the back of his hand to his forehead. "Ah! Could you be so heartless?"

"Yes!"

"La belle dame sans merci!"

"Don't try to come clever with me and speak foreign languages."

Mark clasped his heart. "'Alone and palely loitering'," he moaned. "Ah! That it should happen to one so young and innocent."

"You're older than me and you're no innocent."

Mark changed in an instant. He stepped in front of her and said in broad Yorkshire: "'Ey up, lass! Gi' us a kiss."

That was it. All three Collinses doubled up with laughter. Victoria was the first to recover and flung her arms round Mark's neck.

"Oh, darling, I love you so much. You make me laugh and laugh."

Mark hoisted her off the ground and kissed her gently. "Steady, my sweet," he said. "We don't want to upset our elders and betters."

There was further laughter from the Collinses.

They arrived at 4 Division Commander's house at about six and were warmly greeted by Major General Richard Frost and his wife Antoinette. Richard Frost was late the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, another Yorkshire regiment, and he and Anthony knew each other well. Frances and Antoinette had met but knew each other less well. The Frosts had their son and daughter staying. Jeremy was twenty-two, down from university and marking time before going to Sandhurst in January. Jenina had just finished school and was about to embark on a gap year. Two families with similar backgrounds and two young people could not help but hit it off. Looking back, Victoria rated that twenty-four hours the best they had in Germany except the time they spent with the Green Howards.

The men did heir business the following morning, had lunch and then Richard Frost said, "Come on. The Russians aren't coming today. Let's go and join the fun at the Dummersee." They drove up there in Anthony's staff car having changed and picked up their and the women's kit.

Richard had brought some binoculars with him and swept the lake.

"There they are," he said. "The two dinghies out on the right heading this way. Boarding parties each after his own girl."

"Not fair," said his ADC with a grin. "I haven't got a girl."

Richard smiled back at him. "Well, show your initiative, boy," he said.

They stripped off their clothes (they had put on swimming trunks at Richard's suggestion) and swam towards the two dinghies. There was a lot of pushing off and ducking but eventually the boarding parties were successful. Jenina looked like the cat that had got the cream. The sailing went on. Neither Frances or Victoria had ever sailed before but with a gentle wind they had a wonderful time under instruction from the Frosts. Towards the end of the afternoon the wind picked up a bit and they were thrilled with sailing close to it and heeling over as they sped through the water. Then suddenly the wind dropped. Jeremy had forecast this and so they were not far from the jetty but still crawled in. Luckily, what wind there was came from behind.

Victoria was unable to restrain herself from commenting on the reliability of Jeremy's bones compared with Mark's and was unceremoniously dumped over the side. Mark went in after her and did life-saving drill on her including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which brought hoots of laughter from everyone else and very pink cheeks to Victoria.

They were reluctant to leave the Frosts but pressed on to 2 Division Commander's house at Lůbbecke. Their welcome again was warm. Again the two generals knew each other but the wives did not. The evening was pleasant but Frances and Victoria found the following morning's activities fairly tedious. Once again they had time to kill and Mark offered Anthony two alternatives.

"We could go and see the Iron Curtain where it exists and also look at the area where we still argue about wooden pegs," he said. "That could be a bit boring and is also a longer drive. The alternative is to visit Belsen. I've been there once myself and it affected me very deeply. I don't know whether Frances and Victoria could take it. I wouldn't want to upset them. General, which would you like to do? We could always just go for a walk on the Lůnebergerheide, but I'm not sure that that would be a success after yesterday."

Anthony noticed the change from 'Dad' to 'General' and realised that Mark was uncomfortable and that he needed to make a decision.

"I think a walk would be just a bit dull," he said musingly. "The Iron Curtain is also dull unless one sees it running slap through the middle of a village when one really realises the brutality of it. You're right. Belsen is hideous. It may mark them for the rest of the afternoon but they'll cheer up in the evening. I've been there too and it hit me like it did you, but I think it would actually be a good thing in the end for both of them, particularly Little Miss, to see the extent of man's inhumanity to man."