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Robert Newman was called up towards the end of 1940, having been a farmer, which was a reserved occupation, for a year. He joined the Army at Combermere Barracks, Windsor into the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry. However, it did not involve horses as he was put into the Guards Armoured Brigade which was mechanised with armoured cars. After 9 months training he sailed from Greenock to North Africa, a journey which took 3 weeks in convoy. He landed at Oran and after a while left Algiers for Naples where other troops had landed. His unit was immediately thrust into fighting because they were a reconnaissance unit and had to go ahead of the main body to investigate. Conditions were difficult as it was not long after the landings at Salerno and surrounding beaches. Long hard encounters were fought over the land, pushing the Italian and German troops northwards. His unit went as far as Florence. At one time he was based at Foggia on the Adriatic Coast. Sometimes it was mountain warfare including the fighting at Monte Cassino. He had one particularly sad moment when walking through a minefield. His best friend stepped on a mine and was killed in front of him.
As the fighting lessened his unit was brought back to England were they regrouped and then sent out to Holland. He was posted to the banks of the very wide River Maas. British troops were on one side and the German troops on the other were sending up V1鈥檚 and V2鈥檚 towards them. One day, whilst on the River Maas he was in the blockhouse with several other soldiers when a German shell came through the opening, whistled past him and went out through the gun slit!! He was also involved, at times, in street fighting with German soldiers. Over many, many months they fought their way to Berlin and he finished up in Spandau Barracks, where Hess was imprisoned.
Thankfully, he eventually returned to England after 4 years of very active service and was demobbed under B release to return to farming without being wounded.

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