大象传媒

When we got to Tunis, we were unloaded into a barn. By then it was dark again. It was full of bodies in this barn, I noticed the berets and things and I thought they must be French troops in here, it was uncanny. We weren鈥檛 told, we were just thrown into this barn, with straw on the floor. In the morning we realised that the other people were British but they were paratroopers. We鈥檇 never seen them in England before, red berets and the camouflaged smocks 鈥� we鈥檇 never seen them before. They鈥檇 been rounded up and caught as well.

After a day in Tunis, we were taken to Tunis airport, put onto these German planes which had brought their troops to Tunis and didn鈥檛 go back empty. That was my first ever trip in a plane, a Yonkers 52, I believe. There was the crew of the German aircraft and one guard. And I think I had two paratroopers with me and probably 2 other colleagues with me, I can鈥檛 remember the exact number. And when we were flying over, the paratrooper said had we realised that we hadn鈥檛 got any parachutes? The crew had, but we hadn鈥檛! And he said, 鈥淵ou know what they鈥檙e going to do? They鈥檙e going to unload us across the Med鈥� and that would be the end of it. And that was within our thoughts, and we were so hungry and fed up and tired. When the German crew gave out their rations to each other 鈥� a sausage on a stick and a piece of bread 鈥� we were more or less told politely Sorry, there鈥檚 nothing for you! And we thought, well if they鈥檙e going to get rid of us, there鈥檚 no point! Anyway, it didn鈥檛 happen. We circled Versuvius which I remembered from my history books, Versuvius it must be, smouldering. And we landed in Naples.

One of the first sights at Naples airport, we saw Col Lee, we鈥檇 wondered whether he鈥檇 got through, sitting on a chair with a guard over him, really looking very disconsolate. I felt sorry for him, I really did, the leader of men! Anyway, we were searched, we were handed over to the Italians and searched; watches divulged, domestic watches, anything that looked worthy of taking.

Sue: And they took them from you?

Ron: Oh, yes. I have a feeling that the Germans reprimanded the Italians and demanded that they give them back. The Germans were like us, in a way, they were soldiers, they were like us, they didn鈥檛 treat us badly.

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sue Craig on behalf of Ron Redman and has been added to the site with his permission. Ron fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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