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Well, we thought, this is ridiculous! The Russians are here, they’re coming. And then we learned that all the Jews had been evacuated — we learned later that they went to Belsen. And we were the only ones — the French had gone, the Ukrainian girls had gone, all the forced workers had gone, the factory was finished, well not finished but closed down. And we were the only ones left there, with the German guards and the engineers. And we demanded to be moved out, to the Commandant, but he said, ‘Well until I get the order, you’re staying here!’. And we actually watched the German troops, in their white camouflaged uniforms, walking by the wire. And we said, they’re frontline troops, if they’re going the Russians must be only a few miles away!

Sue: You say white camouflage suits…

Ron: In that period everything was covered in snow, it was cold, it was January. And that’s why I had frostbite, through sleeping in those bunkers.

Sue: So when the huts were destroyed, you slept in the bunkers?

Ron: We had to! There was nowhere else to go.

Sue: Did you have blankets?

Ron: We probably grabbed a few blankets, or overcoats, yes. But it was living in a concrete bunker. But it didn’t last for long, because eventually the German Commandant obviously had an order to move out. And we were lined up, and started marching, or walking, going west. And the first night we were… it was killing me, my feet were …

Sue: Did you know you had frostbite?

Ron: Well, yes, all this feeling, or non-feeling as you might say, because some people say when you have frostbite you have the end of your toes are taken off. With that in mind, it was a bit worrying.

We holed up in this barn, lots of straw and vehicles in there and I realised I couldn’t go on. I thought, I can’t! I must have done about 10 miles or so that day, and I realised I couldn’t do it. With the Russians at the back door, as you might say, I think the Germans were anxious to get moving on and away they went without me! And maybe others, I don’t know. I just stayed there, in the straw. No-one was going to worry about anybody missing because the Germans themselves wanted to get on.

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