大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by CSV/大象传媒 Radio Nottingham on behalf of Sydney Barthorpe with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions"

There were five of us in the group I was in, Sgt. Rouse, Sgt. Davies, Cpl. Kirk, Cpl. Houlton and myself.
One night we heard a train, it was in Ringebu station and we thought we were in luck it must be going to Andalsnes. We went onto the station with out any thought of danger and there stood the solitary figure of the Station Master. We asked him was the train going to Andalsnes, he said "yes but I do not think you chaps will be interested". On saying he took us round the end of the last coach and we looked down the line. We were not armed, otherwise we could have had a field day. There was a very large group of Germans loading stores and equipment. They had flood lights set up to help them get the work done. The thing that amazed us was that there was not a single sentry on the platform.
After leaving the station we passed the river Lagen then walked on through the night, only to find in the morning we were back by the river. We had walked in a circle. So we spent the daylight hours on the river bank by the road. There was a bridge about 200 yards away, which had been blown but which had got a temporary repair. This bridge was full from end to end with troops and guns, and all we could do was sit and watch. Some of the lorries came past us so close we could have reached out and touched them.
After a short rest by the bridge we decided to move on keeping to the forest as much as possible, venturing into the open when we came upon a farm. Norway being mostly dairy farming and the dairies and cheese factories being out of action, the farmers had nowhere to send their milk. So to avoid complete waste they put the churns by the roadside for the Norwegian troops or ourselves to drink as we passed by. This we often did, and it kept us going quite well even if we did not eat.
It was about this time we were going through a wood when we came across a log hut. When we approached it we could hear men talking, but we could not understand anything. We had no idea whether it was friend or foe, and being to late to make a detour we decided we had to take a chance. We still had no arms but we split into two groups a two and a three and rushed round to the front. I do not know who was more surprised them or us, but fortunately for us they were Norwegian soldiers. After getting some directions we set of on our way once more.
Towards evening we had to cross a clearing in the forest, this was in full view from the valley below. To our dismay we were spotted by the Germans. On the other side of the clearing was a track up which they had positioned a fixed fire machine gun and they also sent over a few mortar shells. Fortunately there was a dip in the track and we were able to crawl underneath the fire and back into the wood. After running for a few minutes we came to a large house. Knocking on the door we asked for food and shelter. The occupant spoke perfect English and said he was a retired American doctor. He said "I can't help you, the Germans are taking reprisals against anyone housing or helping the British Tomrnies. Then he told us there was a barn just a little way through the woods and if we went there he would not know anything about it. We went to the barn as he suggested, inside we saw up in the roof some big roof beams with boards (aid across them. We climbed up thinking that this would be the safest spot, and thank our lucky stars we did. A German patrol came in later on and prodded around in the straw below, with there bayonets. We expected the odd shot coming through the boards, but after a few mumbles they walked out. We stayed up there the whole night, but with the frost being so severe it was impossible to sleep.
At 3a.m it was daylight so we decided to move on. There was a twenty yard gap in front of the barn, which we leapt across, with intervals between each man but were unobserved. During the day we came upon a Cpl. of the Foresters and he gave us a Luger pistol with a full magazine, plus a German machine-gun with a magazine of 11 rounds. "Keep one bullet apiece, the swine's aren't taking any prisoners" he said. He had been in a wood with a group waiting for transport when a tank appeared on the scene. Apparently the tank crew had seen them hop over the edge. A voice from the tank said "come out Englishmen, it is all right". Lt. Esam went into the road with a white flag and was shot down. Lt. McConnel went to his aid and was also shot. After this they started strafing the woods with machine gun fire until they thought everyone was dead.
The corporal went his way and we continued on ours, until we came to an evacuated log hut. We found some food inside and cooked what we needed, and then got down to some rest. We intended having an early start in the morning with the hope of getting beyond the German lines. While walking through the wood we heard a someone shout "where do you think you are going?". We turned around and saw a group of officers and men waiting among the trees. We said that we intended trying to get beyond the German front line. They said "not bloody likely. if you fail you've spoilt it for us". We had to stay in the shade of the trees until 9 o'clock that night. Then off we went at a brisk march. After a few miles they said they thought we were past where the Germans were reported to be. We reached a mountain track 5 miles above Ringebu and everyone was walking casually up this hill when we noticed a sentry outside what we thought to be a school. Everyone thought him to be Norwegian and paid him no attention. We five stayed at the rear of the column, just waiting our chance to slip away, we did not see much chance of getting through with so many people in one group.
The sentry turned out to be German with an advance group. He must have thought we were prisoners because he didn't do anything until us at the rear were level with him. When he realised there was no guard with us he shouted "Englander". Guns came out of every window and they gave us a right roasting. Being on top of an hill with no cover we were sitting ducks.
We five at the rear jumped the hedge opposite the school. On landing, we found we were waist deep in snow. Having no alternative, we lay an top of the snow and rolled sideways down to the trees, which fortunately for us were not far away. Whilst we were rolling a machine gunner fired at us all the way down, but luck was with us. The nearest I got was a tracer bullet through my epaulette, which scorched the back of my neck. I had other bullets through my Norwegian pack, but without harm. Rouse was really lucky! he had a clip of five .303 in a breast pocket and one of the enemy rounds put a groove through all five without them going off. Cpl. Kirk also found two spent rounds in his mess tin. We found out later the woods around the area were riddled with German machine gun posts.
When we got in the trees we walked with a few yards between each man, to give a bit of safety.
After we had been walking for about half an hour we came to a farm were we asked for food. The Norwegians loaned us some razors and told us to have a wash and shave while they cooked something for us. We were just about to sit at the table when the son of the farmer came in and said there was a German patrol out searching for us. The son took us into a barn and covered us with bales of straw. The German patrol entered the barn and prodded around with their bayonets, then after a short time disappeared. When all was clear the family fetched us in
and we carried on with the meal. We rested here until midnight, then decided to move on, the snow being harder now and more able to stand our weight.
At about tea time the following night we came to hamlet called Punjen Seter. Here we gained entry to an evacuated bungalow. We needed sleep and this was an ideal place, there was plenty of blankets on the beds.
Not far away was another bungalow with smoke coming from its chimney, so we thought if any can speak English there we may find out the position of the Germans. Lady luck smiled an us again, the daughter of the family could speak very good English and while she was talking to us her mother cooked us a meal. The daughter told us of what the Germans were doing, taking one third of farm stock to feed their troops. You could see the anxiety on their faces, they did not want the Germans to find us in their house.
We ate our food and bid them farewell returning to the first bungalow we had entered to discuss our next move. When dark carne we thought we could cook ourselves a little supper before turning in for the night. Pearl barley venison with curry was on the menu, something to warm us up. We were stood at the door talking while it cooked when we saw a shadow coming towards us. We were surprised when we saw it was a British officer. The officers name was Maj. German, he was from the Leicester's. His first words were "something smells nice, may I join you?". After sharing what we had with the major we discussed our fortunes and misfortunes, and what we intended to do next. Then the Maj. German said "we'll leave things as they are, you go your way and I'll carry on by myself'. He left after wishing us good luck and we went to bed to seek a good nights rest.

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