大象传媒

Word must have got round that there was no way out, a trickle became less and less until it stopped altogether. Then a couple of army ambulances turned up, they came back going very slow, so I guess they were full. There was now a great cloud over the battlefield, so it was really hotting up. For us too, mortar shells were detonating as they hit the roof of the barn and it was getting very unhealthy, so much so that I walked towards Vic to ask if it would not be better out in the open, at least we would have shell holes to shelter in. Suddenly there was an explosion, I saw my carrier lift on its springs, then settle down again, I ran to the carrier to see what damage had been done. I had just laid down to look underneath he carrier, when a succession of mortar bombs punched gaping holes in the roof of the barn. When the first bomb burst I was looking underneath the carrier, before the next I was watching the others explode, shrapnel rained down on the carrier I was under, I saw Vic dive under his own carrier, his face buried in the dirt and straw that covered the floor.
As the last one blew, there was a scream of agony, both Vic and I scrambled from underneath and ran to the far end of the barn where Pinkie and Tommy Major were stripping and cleaning the two Bren guns. We clambered over the bales of straw they had erected around them, I saw Pinkie holding his left elbow with his right hand and shouting that it hurt. Tommy was looking at his hand from which blood was dripping, Vic went to Tommy and I went to Pinkie. I took out my knife and ripped up his sleeve to the elbow, then his shirt. The skin was clean cut from just above the wrist to above the elbow, there was not a lot of blood flowing, the shrapnel must have been white hot and burnt each side of the wound, so that was fortunate. What was not so fortunate was the fact that it had also sliced through the elbow joint, and the white bone of his elbow was pushed halfway up to his shoulder and he was in considerable pain. While I strapped his arm to his side with his equipment belt, I shouted to Vic that we could not stay in the barn, we would be safer in one of the shell holes in the field on our left. Bombs from the mortar were falling on the field on our left and they would be switching back to the barn before very long, and Pinkie was too bad to move quickly if that happened, besides which I was scared stiff I was very close to panic. Fate stepped in then, another bomb landed, it must have come through one of the holes in the top of the barn, for it exploded as it hit the floor. It was our good luck that it exploded behind the bales of straw, it saved us from the shrapnel, but set the straw on fire. We had no option but to go, and go we did, me supporting Pinkie and Vic helping Tommy and taking shelter in the nearest shell hole.
It was obvious that one of us had to get to the Medical Orderlies or an ambulance, or get them to the Medical Officer. Vic then told me to take them in on my carrier, when I told him it had been hit he told me to go and check it, and let him know if it was okay or not. So off I went with some misgiving for they were still bombing the barn and the fields, but not the one we were in. I got to my carrier, I wondered if the shrapnel had gone into the sump, and the only way to find out was to start it up. I got out from under and climbed into the back of the carrier, the first thing I saw was a box of grenades with the lid blown off and the top row of twelve cut in half and they were smoking. I got out smartish and went round the other side of the carrier and looked at them again. I could not understand why they had not gone off, it would have saved me a lot of bother, but they had to come out before I could start up. I walked round to that side and very carefully I lifted the box by the rope handles over the side of the carrier and carried them to the side of the barn, then scuttled back to the carrier, jumped in and started up. She started okay but there was no oil pressure, I revved up but still no pressure, so that was it. I reported back to Vic and he asked me if I could get it to H.Q. I said I thought I could. He then said I was to go to H.Q. and tell the Medical Officer where they were and their injuries and let him come and fetch them, and to tell H.Q. that we were down to one carrier and no crew. I could see his point, if I seized up on my way back and had to leave them to get help then God knows what would have happened to them, so off I went very slowly. I reached H.Q. and reported to the Officer in command, he told me to inform the M.O. and then report back to him, which I did. He told me to ditch the carrier in the river and report back. I drove down to the river and ditched it, as I did so I noticed a gun firing from inside a small copse on my left. He was firing tracer shells and trying vainly to hit a carrier that was weaving through the trees about four or five hundred yards on my right, he must have seen my carrier as it went into the water and thought I was trying to outflank him. The next shell blew up in the river. I scrambled up the river bank and over the top in no time, peered over the top of the bank just in time to see my carrier get a direct hit and disappear under the water. At least he had lost his other target, the other carrier had gone.
I got back in time to find the remainder of H.Q. taking bandoleers of ammo out of what looked like the last of the boxes of ammunition. I took two of 100 rounds in each, slung them sash wise over my shoulders and filled my magazine, shoving one up the spout. There was much loading of rifles, then the Major I think it was, told us to gather round him. He told us that the Germans had encircled us, and it was every man for himself. We were to run as hard as we could to the river, cross it and run up the field on the opposite bank to a road at the top. We were to take up position there and hold up the enemy until it was dark, lorries would pick us up if they could get through, if not, we would split up and make our own way to Dunkirk. 鈥淗ave you all got that? Right. Go鈥� and off we went, helter skelter. I was on the left, nearer to that gun that I liked, so praying that he would miss me, I took a running jump at the river and landed about a couple of feet from the opposite bank, as soon as we had scrambled up the bank, the gun opened. He must have fired about four or five rounds and I could see by the tracer that we were going to run into the line of fire. Then the miracle happened, they stopped firing and we passed safely up the field to the road.
Thinking about that then and now, I can only suppose that the sight of twenty or thirty 鈥榮quaddies鈥� with rifles held at port, put the wind up them and they ran, for they never fired that gun all the time we were there. We had to wait until about two in the morning, our hearts in our mouths. We fully expected the Germans to be chasing after us, we watched as a lot of Belgian soldiers crossed the field in front of us, they had packed it in that day, so we were on our own now. We had heard the French had withdrawn to Dunkirk, so we lay there and waited, hoping that the lorries would come before the Germans. At last the lorries came, swung round and took us on board and away.
We didn鈥檛 know where we were going, and I don鈥檛 think we cared a lot, we were all very tired by now and slept as best we were able. The creaking of the lorry and the changing of the gears lulled me to sleep and I think I dreamed of food. I hadn鈥檛 eaten for a day and a night, and now my water bottle was empty and I had no carrier to go for supplies. It seemed no time before the lorries stopped and we tumbled out and marched into a field. Ten of us were told off for guard duty and by the time we were sorted out I was on last, so I got my head down again.
The whistle went for 鈥楽tand To鈥� at dawn and I had to find the guards and stand to with them, we flopped down in position for about an hour, by that time it was light. The whistle went again and we formed up and marched off. German planes came, machine-gunned the road and departed, then bombers would come and drop their eggs, the rear gunners sweeping the road with bullets as he left. But they had no chance for by this time we were like little mice, the faintest sound of a plane and we scattered, only coming onto the road again when the plane had gone out of sight. Then Heaven smiled on us, two men were standing, one each side of the road, handing out tins of Player鈥檚 cigarettes and half pound bars of chocolate. One was giving out two bars of chocolate to each man, the other giving us two tins of fifty Player鈥檚 each, they were N.A.A.F.I. 鈥榳allahs鈥�, they said they were getting rid of them before Jerry got them. I decided to help them, so I dropped out, fiddling with my boot, until our lot had gone. Then I helped myself to a box of twenty tins, then finding I had room in my haversack for something else, picked up a few bars of chocolate, then I went in search of water. All I could find were some bottles of beer, so I had to make do with that, I filled my water bottle and made my way to the road. I heard a shout of 鈥淲ag!鈥� behind me, looked round and saw another of my mates shuffling after me, I waited until he caught up with me, then we carried on together. I asked him why he was so far behind and what was the matter with his leg, he told me that he had been getting out of his carrier when a shell had hit it low down on the tracks. It had thrown him back into the carrier and he had landed on the gear leaver and twisted his knee and it was now so swollen that he could hardly bend it to walk, moreover, it hurt like hell. I asked if he had bandaged it up, he had not so I got him to sit down well away from the road and I started a bit of first-aid. His trousers would not roll above his knee, neither, when I had undone his trousers, could I get them below his knee, so out came the knife. I slit his trousers about a foot, soaked the first-aid pad and bandage in beer after we had both had a good swig, then wrapped it tightly around his knee. We finished off the rest of the beer in the water bottle 鈥� I still had two more bottles in my pack 鈥� lit cigarettes and joined the happy throng on the road to Dunkirk. Let me add here, that it was not just because he was a mate that I bandaged him up, it was also because I guessed that before long some kind of transport would be coming along and I wanted to be on it. I told him about the transport and to tell them, if they should ask, that he had a piece of shrapnel in his knee, that the bleeding had stopped but that he could hardly walk, that bit was certainly true, the rate we were going, the war would be over before we got to Dunkirk.
Sure enough a lorry came along and I turned round to get a lift, it stopped right by us and the driver poked his head out the window and asked me why I was walking. It was an old mate of mine from pre-war days in the Regiment, was I glad to see him. He told me he was to pick up those who were wounded or who could not march very well and had dropped out. I helped my mate up onto the back of the lorry and went to the front, he said I would have to drive if I wanted a lift, that was okay with me and I got in and started off. I gave him a tin of cigarettes, but knowing him I bet he had a few hundred stashed away somewhere, so off we went, smoking and eating chocolate and drinking his beer that he got from under his seat.
We picked up quite a few more of our lads until we had about fifty or so on the back of the lorry. John, that was the name of the driver of the lorry, had the door open most of the time, ready for a quick getaway if any planes came, I saw now why he had picked me up. Finally I told him to close the so and so door or get in the back, we went on arguing about it until suddenly I realised that an M.P. had got his hand up in front of us and was hastily back pedalling so we would not run him down. I slammed on the anchors and ground to a stop, inches from a very angry M.P. He eventually calmed down, stopped shouting and walked up to me. 鈥淩ight,鈥� he said, 鈥渢his is as far as you go, all out, you march from here.鈥� I told him we had wounded on the back who could not march, he left me and shouted to those on the back to get down. Those who could not walk would stop there and wait for an ambulance to take them to the M.O. at Le Panne, the others were to walk, he watched them get off and then came back to me. 鈥淩ight, drive this heap into the ditch and set fire to it, before you set it alight smash as much as you can, plugs, lights, distributor, and stand well back when you light the petrol.鈥� With that he moved into the middle of the road to stop any other transport that thought it could drive into Dunkirk.
John got out, and I revved up and shoved her into first gear without using the clutch and that took care of the first gear. I had to slow down a bit to get in second, but she took it, and we crashed into another lorry that was already in the ditch, then she toppled on her side. John held the door open while I passed the loot I knew he had down to him, he kept telling me where to look and I kept passing it out, then I climbed down and we had to shift away from the lorry. There was far too much for us to carry, so he had to share it out amongst the lads, I thought he was going to cry. At last they all moved off, except those who could not walk, John as well, I think he wanted to keep an eye on his loot. I smashed everything I could, then put a couple of bullets in the tank, then a match on a piece of oily rag, and up she went. I collected Seymour and his gammy knee and we walked slowly towards Dunkirk.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.