THE RESULTS OF MY LANGUAGE TESTS at the War Office must have been positive, for some time later, an order came through transferring me to the Intelligence Section of a new unit called Demilitarisation. I left the Recce Corps and Catterick Camp for good and reported to St. Paul's School in Hammersmith, London, there to await further instructions. Meanwhile, being in London was in itself a wonderful opportunity to see movement friends and become active once more in the sphere I loved and understood. By now, the allied forces were advancing in Europe and liberating areas from the brutal German yoke, and there was a general feeling of hope and optimism, albeit tempered by the terrible trauma caused as the concentration camps were overtaken and their true situation exposed. But the war was not yet over. We were being outfitted with tropical clothes and gear and being prepared for overseas service. I was al promoted to the rank of sergeant.
We shipped from Liverpool, after a long train journey, in a troopship named Orontes which held 9000 soldiers. For me it was a watershed in that I was no longer able to substitute yellow cheese for meat dishes and had to adapt myself to the very different conditions on board ship. We slept in hammocks slung over the dining room table, there was a total blackout by night, and we traveled in a convoy protected by destroyers. In the middle of this journey, my first ever away from England, the war in Europe came to an end - it was the 8th of May 1945. We harboured at Naples, Italy and after a few days left by train for Rome. Italy was entirely liberated, though in the north, there were pockets of resistance.