Warvolunteer during a cold winter
- John, son of Humbert de Laubespin and Odette Lagarde, became a warvolunteer in the Belgian Brigade in 1944.
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After a quick military training in Temse with a Scottish instructor,
he left at Christmas for the front beyond the Waal in the Betuwe (the Netherlands).
- On the West, the Canadians, on the East, the British near Arnhem and on the North, beyond the Lek, the Germans.
- During the day, the two camps bombarded each other. At night, patrols were sent in the opposite camp and the machine-guns ralled on all that moved (friends or foes).
- As the buildings were all destroyed, the men slept in the trucks. John was using a motorbyke as dispatchrider; so, he could only sleep under the trucks in a Siberian cold fortunately in clothes warmer than those of the photo.
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After the armistice, he was sent to Hamburg and Münster.
- The cities were completely razed. The survivors hid away in the cellars which had not been destroyed by the bombardments.
- In the Fall of 1945, the inhabitants started to clear the ruins to recover raw materials. John was demobilized at Christmas.
