Ex-soldiers retrace WW2 route in Jeeps for VE Day

A group of former soldiers from Dorset are embarking on a 1,600-mile road trip, retracing the route of Allied forces across Europe, in WW2 Jeeps.

The Light Dragoons veterans will follow in the tank tracks of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars in three 1940s vehicles to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

The challenge will take them from France - where the 13th/18th regiment landed on D-Day - through Belgium and the Netherlands, to northern Germany.

They will lay wreaths and crosses at more than 40 cemeteries en route where more than 200 of the regiment are buried.

The 13th/18th Royal Hussars were predecessors of the Light Dragoons regiment, which was formed when the 13th/18th merged with the 5th/19th King's Royal Hussars in 1992.

The veterans will be travelling with military vehicle enthusiasts for three weeks, beginning 26 May.

Retired Lt Col Robert Wiles said they would follow the route taken between D-Day on 6 June 1944 and VE Day on 8 May 1945.

He said: "They fought all the way across... France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, finishing up Bremen in northern Germany on VE Day, hence the event that we are running is called D-Day to VE Day."

Jeep owner Howard Witt said: "We are taking wreaths along and we are taking small crosses and will have a service of remembrance at every [cemetery] to mark the sacrifice those guys made for our freedom, which is currently under threat again."

Mr Witt said driving a Jeep was more difficult than driving a modern-day car.

"You don't have power steering and you have drum brakes," he said.

"It's all going to be fairly low speed, maximum 40mph."

The group will be auctioning the passenger spot of the cars for each day of the trip to raise money for veterans' charity, the Light Dragoons Charitable Trust.

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