Ernest John Rooke-Matthews

Serving as a Private in the 9. Parachute Battalion of British 6th Airborne Division, Rooke-Matthews (1924-2009) was one of about 1800 paratroopers who jumped on DZ A at Bergerfurth on March 24th, 1945.

Then it was bedlam, lights on, “Go, go, go” and out we tumbled. The canopy opened, I was on my way. I could now see the mass of planes and the sky was full of parachutes, this really was a mass-drop. We were under fire from the time we left the aircraft, but at least there was no problem about getting one's bearings, you must follow the crowd. Although there were a number of casualties, these were minimised thanks to the efforts of our comrades who had dropped just a few minutes earlier and were silencing the enemy near the DZ. The sheer volume of numbers obviously statistically reduced the individual’s chances of getting hurt. A number of our comrades were unfortunate and landed in the trees, some killed before they could be released. (…) The battalion assembled very quickly and in little more than about half an hour we were ready to move off to our first objectives, some of which were soon secured. (…) I was with company headquarters and we were just moving from the road to a position inside the woods when a tracked vehicle wielding a big gun came roaring along the road toward us. I am told it wasn't a tank but a half-track gun-carrying weapon - I wasn't arguing. As it reached the spot where we had just entered the woods it skidded to a halt, swerved into a ditch and let fire with its big gun into the woods. We had not got ourselves dug in at this juncture and were exposed. A few brave comrades had in fact helped the vehicle to halt by attacking it with explosive charges. Their action forced the crew to emerge and surrender.

(Quoted from “One Third of my Life”(1988), the memoirs by E. J. Rooke-Matthews, held in the collection of the Imperial War Museum London, Private Papers, Catologue No. Documents.2029)