24 BBC Wynford Vaughn-Thomas crossing the Rhine

The murder of waiting is over. This is the time. In the buffalo, that's a strange all-purpose vehicle which is taking us over the Rhine. I'm coaching with the commanding officer of the assault battalion. And in his breading on carrier fills the buffalo and on the brain gun carrier, piled into his men, tin-hatted, and we're watching, gazing towards that far bank of the Rhine.

Slowly, carefully, we come down to the water's edge. On the buffalo dips its nose down the bay and now it's opening up for power. We are racing across and side by side we'll just go racing the other buffalo.

Racing for that hell on the other side. The searchlights cast a white beam now right across the river. On one side of us, but ahead of us it's only red water. The cotton's carrying us down and we're putting up our nose against it, going clean across it all the time.

And the place is making a path on either side of us beating down the opposite room. It seems right out in the middle is swirling stream. You've got a complete feeling of detachment. Waiting all the time of the enemy to open up.

Waiting all the time for us to... The spotters as we lie, helpless in the teams. Outyard this wide stream. The buffalo swings, points. The point it's nose upstream now. We're turning, fighting the current to get over.

Now we're looking behind us the other way. The buffalo's is dipping down and coming out behind. and you got a feeling of the resistible power flooding now across the line.