The news was significant to the military footprint across the globe. British Army units in North Africa and the Middle East marked VE Day 1945 with a mix of celebrations and a sense of relief, acknowledging the end of the European conflict while still facing the ongoing war in Asia.
For many Signals personnel, the day was still one of duty. When war was declared against Germany in 1939, Joyce Powell joined the ATS as a telephonist and was assigned to work with the Royal Corps of Signals. After working in Scotland, she deployed to Cairo where she worked on strategic telephone switchboards from which the higher direction of the war in that theatre was conducted. She spent VE Day in Egypt, before returning to the UK in July 1945.
Despatch Rider, Sig Sidney Marsh spent VE Day with 2nd General Headquarters (GHQ) Liaison Regiment, 15th Army Group. The GHQ Liaison Regiment listened into both Allied and enemy transmissions to establish their locations and assess the risk to Allied units. It was not a Corps unit, but the operators were Royal Signals. Otherwise known as Phantom, these units operated in all the major theatres in Europe and North Africa. From D-Day, the squadron HQs were based at each corps HQ and every division had a Phantom patrol.
