大象传媒

Following the burst of machine gun fire we were hailed to go up the cliff path if we wanted to stay alive, but thinking we still had a chance to get away we refused and stayed there. Gerry then started dropping hand grenades over the cliff, some men started up the cliff and one of the Generals Pipers, a Cameronian I think, went to the top of the lighthouse, his pipes in his hand, Bren in the other and yelled 鈥淎ny B...s who go up there will be shot鈥�. He took aim and killed two men on the cliff side. Gerry hailed him to stop and he fired at them. They then opened up on him and he fell into the sea amid a shower of glass and bullets with his pipes flailing in the wind.

By this time we had to give up and went up the cliff There were about 70 of us at the time. A young German under officer, a picture of a man, stood at the top of the path with his machine gun on his hip and said 鈥淔or you the war is over鈥�. We were placed near a tank under guard and were under fire from our own troops. The officer commanding the tank unit which had taken us P.O.W. said 鈥淵ou chaps had better lay down behind the tank, I wouldn鈥檛 like you to be killed now that I have you as my prisoners.鈥� The officer was wearing a soft cap and appeared to be oblivious of danger. A number of shells came close to us and burst in the sea. The handful of German troops turned out to be about 100 tanks and the officer I have mentioned was General Rommell.

During the night it poured with rain and we were wet through. As it came to dawn we were moved to a hay rick and a guard on orders from Rommell set fire to it in order that we could dry out. This was one mistake that Rommell made and it nearly cost him his life. I knew a bit about aiming points, having been an F.O.O. Signaller R.A. before the war and it crossed my mind that if I was a gunner I would like to have something like that to aim at when WHOOM! 4 inch burst not 20 yards from us towards where Rommell and his staff were and one of the tanks disappeared. From then on the area was saturated with shells and as it got light we could see 4 destroyers laying off shore pumping shells like nobodies business. We all thought - just like the Navy, late again. It鈥檚 a pity they didn鈥檛 do that yesterday. JU 87s were soon after them and as they turned away one vessel was hit and sank. We said a silent prayer, for at least they had tried to get us out of trouble.

Under Rommell鈥檚 men we were treated as well as they could. They sent some of us to raid the NAAFA in St. Valery, but when these troops moved on we got the rough of the German army and from then on began a life treated like animals. In fact generally speaking I think animals were treated better.

We were marched to Yvetote where a large load of rotten cheese was dumped in a field. We were told if we were hungry we could eat it We started on a long march and near St. Pol it was very hot, we had nothing to eat and drink. A French woman came out with two buckets of water for us to drink and a German officer nearly beat her to death with the butt of his pistol. The other side of it was a German cavalry man on his horse trampling down women and children with his horse. A senior German Officer pulled him from his horse and beat him with his crop.

Near St. Pol, a German guard, I feel sure, saved me from serious illness if not death. We鈥檇 had no water and were getting in quite a state. We came to a river and I grabbed a petrol can and tried to fill it with water. There were about 30 of us at the river bank. The guard shouted to us to get going or at least I thought he meant that. When we took no notice of him he dropped a couple of rounds to sharpen us up a bit and we were on our way again. We moved abut 200 yards along the road with the river alongside it and it was there that I saw a sickening sight. As far as I could see were bodies of men, women, children, cattle dogs etc. Some of the bodies were in the water which was polluted and the smell was awful. They must have been dead for at least 10 days.
We marched about 20 miles a day and our final rest period was at the sports ground near Lille. There were no lavatories and at no time anywhere other than open ground to sleep. The only food we had was what the French people gave us, which was very little. At this time there were thousands of prisoners and as a result it was difficult to find a place to sit. We had two days at Lille and then went off into Belgium. One day while marching we saw a number of Nuns sitting on the side of the road. They asked us to write our names and numbers on bits of paper and they would inform the Red Cross. They did, in fact, and in September 1940 my wife was informed by the Red Cross that I was alive.
We stayed at Aras for one night early in July. It was our first time under cover. From here we marched into Holland where we entrained in open trucks which ran through the streets pulled by a small engine. The Dutch people did what they could for us, but the guards kept them back. I got into a truck and was sitting there very fed up and very hungry when a round loaf about 18鈥� across hit me in the back of the neck. From then on whenever we stopped we were showered with food. That evening we all embarked into coal barges. As we embarked I hear a roar of engines and saw 5 Blenheims returning home after a raid. You can imagine us reaching up to them to pick us up. We were kept under cover in the barges until we reached the Rhine and then were allowed up for air. We were heavily guarded at this time and were unable to get our bearings or know where we were. We were taken from the barges at Emmerich in Germany and entrained like cattle in cattle trucks.

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