D-DAY was over and the Allies had established a foothold - but that was just the beginning of the story for men like Victor Hughes.

The 80 year old, who now lives in Forge Mill Road, Redditch, was part of the huge follow-up force which landed in the days after June 6.

Mr Hughes was an infantryman turned driver in Seahorse Company, Royal Army Service Corps, and for the then 20 year old, the war would be an eye-opener.

He embarked with his three-tonne Bedford truck from Tilbury docks on June 7, even though the radiator was ripped off as it was hoisted onto the transport ship.

After sailing through the night, Mr Hughes and his platoon landed at Queen sector, Sword beach.

"Even two days after D-Day there was still a German gun on top of a cliff taking pot shots," said Mr Hughes.

"But our forces were so keen to move forward they just ignored it and took it out later.

"That first night, eight of my mates were killed. A shell wiped them out as they tried to sleep in a field.

"I was in a neighbouring field but a few people thought I'd been with them."

The following months would mean backbreaking work combined with danger as he transported shells right up to a constantly shifting front line through France, Belgium, Holland and finally Germany.

"I could smell death everywhere," said Mr Hughes. "I could tell whether there was a dead body nearby before I saw it."

He also undertook a little-known and bizarre journey through enemy lines.

"They actually stopped the war for six hours. The Germans wanted us to take some Italian prisoners because they couldn't feed them any more.

"We drove 15 miles into their lines with white flags to pick them up.

"I could see the Germans either side. A mate of mine got out and brewed up tea surrounded by Germans. I thought, You silly so-and-so. But he knew he wouldn't be allowed to make tea when we got back to our side."

Following the push into Germany, Mr Hughes witnessed one of the most harrowing aspects of the war and one he has never forgotten - Belsen concentration camp a day or so after its liberation.

He saw hundreds of bodies piled into trenches and the gas chambers themselves.

"I transferred 30 of the inmates to an army medical camp but two died on the way. It was horrible. You couldn't believe it had happened."

It had been an exhausting war for Mr Hughes and he was demobbed a year later after staying on as a despatch rider in Germany.

"It was an experience. I lost friends but it happened and had to happen."