大象传媒

Tom was my step-father who'd married my mother after the war although he knew her before the war. As a 10 year old I remeber asking him in a childish way what he did in the war. We were decorating at the time and I remember his reply clearly.
He was a corporal in the RASC (Run away someone's coming!) during, I think 1942, he was retreating rather fast from Rommels lot in a huge divisional convoy taking the direct route across Cyrenacia rather than follow the coast road thro' Benghazi. Apparently it was a division that was on the move with Generals O'Conner and Neime.
As they fled eastwards they noticed a couple of light armoured cars pacing them to the right and left. Suddenly the column was halted and their MP's told drivers to disable their firearms and prepare to be POW's. Tom told me he had an Italian pistol which he hid under a nearby bridge. His truck was the 'rum lorry', and before the Germans got reinforcements (The Light Division?) he and his passengers opened a rum carbouy and filled their water bottles. When captured the Germans shook the bottles and those that were full didn't get more water. He said he lived off rum for 4 days, and never touched the stuff again.
The POW camp they were put in initially was run by the Italians who could be bribed to bring in parts for a rudimentary radio which had to be left when they were moved. He was taken to Palermo in Sicily, where on a holiday in 1970 he and my mother were sitting in the town square when Tom (who was notoriously taciturn) suddenly quietly said "I was in that building in 1942".
He was moved in rail trucks with others captured in N Africa and here comes the interesting bit. Once in Germany they were shunted into a siding while an air-raid went on in a near-by town. Pitch black the occupants of their rail-truck loosened their floorboards and some went for a walk to stretch their legs. Occasional bomb-bursts light up another train in the near distance and shouting began between the two units. For some reason I can't remember Tom saying he and a few others went to the other train in which RAF prisoners were being held. Obviously squadron numbers were shouted and for some reason Tom went up to a particular one. His brother having been captured some time earlier also in Africa. His attention momentarily disengaged he failed to notice his train slowly puling away. There was no way he could get back to it and off it went leaving Tom stranded but able to get on this other train. As a 'Pongo' or 'Brown job' he stood out from the RAF lads and, here I do remember he told me he was given items of clothing etc from the others so as not to be thought some kind of 'problem' to the Germans.
He went to Fallingbostel, which I learnt many years later to be a Luftwaffe Interogation Camp. But he was army, how did he do it? He ended up at Barth on the Baltic coast, I asked him if he tried to escape, no he said it was built on soft sand. He mentioned the Russians who were nearby, the Brits threw cigs and bread to them, if the German guards found out vicious beatings of the Russians would ensue.
At the end of the war, in April 1945, he was very ill, I once as a kid didn't eat all my food at dinner, he exploded (very very rare) "If you were starving you'd eat anything. We had to eat wood shavings from out hut posts!". Soon the German camp staff called all the prisoners to the parade ground and said (this I well remember the words of my step-father) "Gentlemen, the noise you hear in the distance is the Russian artillery, we have our arrangements, I sugest you all leave as soon as practical" Whereupon they dashed around to the back of the admin buildings where already running trucks were waiting to speed them away. They were left alone. Tom had a pal whom he made a pact with, they'd look after one another. Off they marched west-wards. After a while the very few Geramn guards simply joined the column throwing away their rifles. As Tom and his mate were at the end of the column there was little food once those at the front and middle raided the nearby farms so they decided to leave the column and take their chances going northwards.
I can't remember what he said about his mate but they were separated and he reached the Baltic coast where he found a Swedish wood ship. Fortunately this was going to West Hartlepool near to where he lived. Arriving there he must have hitched or caught a bus (for free!) I can't remeber him saying which, and arrived home weighing 6 stone.
After 2 days the Military Police arrived and took him off to a camp at Sedgefield (Tony Blairs constituency).
To understand Tom one has to realise that he was one of the old school. All the above was what he actually told me, to exagerate or lie would be anathema to him and I have no doubt as to the total truth of the story.
Some years after his death we found a signet ring of which he had told me sometime previously he had made out of melted down aluminium foil from the top of Players tins of 50 cigarettes. The mould was made of soap, that says something of the soap in camps! In the face of the ring were 3 circular rings of red, white and blue from toothbrushes -The RAF colours!
How I wish I'd gone further into how he 'changed' from Army to RAF. If anyone can add to this story I'd be grateful.

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