Austria was divided into 4 zones –American, Russian, French and British.
Vienna was similarly divided plus there was an International zone in the centre of Vienna.

The Company Capt. appointed me as his secretary and admin clerk and I was a lance Corporal again. This resulted in being billeted in the local “Gasthaus” (commandeered by the British occupying army) with own room and maid. There were three other commandeered Inns for officers.   One night we were told we were going to Vienna for 6 weeks guard duty on Schonbrunn Palace which was taken over for the Commander of British Troops Austria. At midnight we left for Vienna but were held up when we got to the border of the Russian zone.

We were billeted in Meidling Barracks Vienna and I had the job of arranging the guard duty roster every night.
On one night I was called to the guard house as I had a visitor. This visitor was the platonic, girl from Graz who had travelled up 150 miles, through the Russian zone and wanted to continue our friendship, which I later learnt was possibly to get a visa out of Austria, then a very poor country. But Jack wasn’t having any, and carried on arranging the Guard rostas without romantic distraction. 

These rostas had the advantage of allowing me to go to the Opera if I could get tickets, as I didn’t do guard duty. The operas were at The Volksoper, as the Vienna State Opera house was bombed by Allied planes towards the end of the war In Europe.  The only way to get tickets was by bartering with Russian troops with English cigarettes or Austrian civilians with bars of soap, chocolate  cigarettes or money.  I went to 2 or 3 operas or musical concerts a week during those 6 weeks either in the Volksoper, the Schloss theater or the Musikverein. This latter hall hosted the New Year’s Eve Ball which I attended in Army boots. The tradition was similar to a Masked Ball which can be a bit of a lottery as far as dancing partners are concerned.

I can’t remember how it happened but I finished up with a Viennese Ballet Dancer with me wearing Army Boots. It was not conducive to doing a Viennese waltz which I couldn’t do and still can’t. Anyway I walked her home across Vienna and I returned to barracks. After about 2 hours sleep I got up and went to New Year Mass at a local church.  The Border with the Russian Zone was at the Danube bridge by the Prater wheel. If a non Russian soldier managed to get by the guards on the bridge he was arrested and taken into custody by the Russians. It was not an infrequent occasion.  The other musical experience I had several times was going to Mass at the Karlskirche at which they had 4 members of the Viennese Opera as soloists a 12 to 30 piece orchestra and choir singing a full classical Mass by Mozart and Bach not too devotional, but musically amazing.
 
Another memory of this time was:-The Ringstrasse tram, all round city centre with integrated offshoot transport of buses, underground and trains and the very fine architectural buildings to be admired on this journey round the city and also Stadt Park where there are statues of all the old composers. 

Shortly after returning to Langenwang I was transferred to HQ 2nd Echelon British Troops Austria at Klagenfurt to take charge of the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers Records and promoted to Sergeant  - again. The 2nd Echelon had just moved up from Italy and I joined it in Klagenfurt in a commandeered school taken over for the records. Each Regiment had a sergeant at a desk in charge of his regiment’s records. The mechanics of the operation was that each one of us would receive data from his Regiment in the field and also The War Office about each man including officers re his military, history, actions & decorations, postings, demobilization, leave, health, AWOL, Courts Marshall. This data was regularly compiled and typed onto Gestetner duplicating stencil machine which was then telexed to the War Office and internally transposed onto a Hollerith punched card mechanical like computer that separated out groups required, like Age and Service groups for demobilization etc. This data was also recorded on individual cards manually. In action this had to be done behind the lines and moved in parallel with the state of the fighting – hence 2nd Echelon.

A fellow sergeant in charge of his regiments records ( Dennis Small) became a friend with whom I shared an interest in walking in the mountains and photography. I also became a member of The Austria British Society who organised functions and I took weekly lessons in German at the NAAFI Club. Dr. Mozer who gave the lessons also recommended I bought a book which I did, called ‘I Chose Freedom’ by Victor Kravchenko about the Gulags and NKVD Russian secret police, which at that time was almost a banned book. Favourite walks,climbs and swims were Mt. Gerlitzen and the Kanzelbahn cable car and ski lifts to the hotel near the top, swims across the Worthersee, boat trips or walks to Maria Worth, and Velden. A little further afield were Hochosterwitz Castle (An inspiration for Snow White. ) and the Grossglockner mountain & glacier? Also went on a skiing course at Hotel Turracher Hohe taken over as a rest centre. During this period I applied for and got on a 3 day Historical course in Vienna when I stayed at a British Army Sergeants Mess in the city.

Also at this time there were two incidents. One was of a fellow sergeant who for some offence was put under open arrest. I had the job of escorting him, even out of camp. So I decided that we could go for a swim across the lake. He turned out to be a strong swimmer and he got across the lake long before me, but all ended up well, otherwise I would have had a more serious misdemeanor.
The second incident involved a Captain who was found in bed with a soldier. He was put under open arrest until his court martial. This involved a rota of this duty which I was on. He was later cashiered and discharged with ignominy.

At some stage the Sergeants at 2nd Echelon all felt that they had a grievance because we had to be in charge of the guards all night whereas the corporals did ½ the night and other ranks had 2 hours on and 4off. We were told that the Brigadier would be paying a visit and that anyone with suggestion or grievance should put it in writing and that an interview with him would be arranged. Several of us did and the Colonel in charge 2nd Echelon said the there was no need to see the Brigadier, as he would deal with it. Alone, I insisted on seeing the Brigadier and did. The guard arrangement was changed. That taught me again that “Palace Revolutions” often fizzle out.

I was offered the opportunity of staying on and extending my service in Austria for a year but I didn’t take up this offer and was demobilized in the UK on 5th April 48.  The main objective was to get a job, but not in a Bank.