The War Diaries of Colin Dunford Wood, Volume 3

Edited by James Dunford Wood

From Spitfires over the Rhine to post-war Holland, and back to India for Partition.

Volume 3 of the war diaries sees Colin return to the UK from India and train on the Spitfire XIV, which he flies on reconnaissance and tank-busting operations with 2 Squadron, supporting the Allied forces as they advance into Germany and cross the Rhine in early 1945.

When the war ends, he is posted as Air Movement Officer to The Hague. His diary records a fascinating and little-reported period in post-war Holland in 1945, as the Dutch nation recovers from the Hunger Winter of 1944–45 and years of Nazi occupation. The place goes wild.

Colin's eye is also on the next phase of his life, and he is desperate to find a girl to settle down with. Ironically, the only time he is injured is towards the end of 1945, when he crashes into the back of an unlit tank on a German autobahn, returning drunk from a party. He is repatriated to a hospital in the UK, where he meets a charming physiotherapist.

They marry after a whirlwind romance, only to find that he is to be posted back to India. The RAF no longer needs him, and he is to return to the unit he served with before joining the RAF, the Frontier Force Rifles, just in time for the horrors of Partition. And since the British Indian Army does not recognise RAF ranks, he goes back to the rank he held when he last served, in 1940: Second Lieutenant…