大象传媒

A SOLDIER鈥橲 DESTINY

It was the summer of 1944 when I had my first lucky escape from getting killed. I am RFN F MUTTON of the 10bn K.R.R.C. and I was stationed at STRENSALL CAMP YORK. It was a sunny afternoon in JUNE or JULY - I cannot remember the right month so anyway let鈥檚 get on with the story. Two riflemen and myself decided we would go over to the GRENADE RANGE to pick up some grenades (WHICH WAS STUPID). When we got to the grenade range we saw lots of unexploded grenades that had not exploded because the striker pin had got stuck, so they did not go off.

We knew that to pick up any of the grenades could we could set them off, but at the time we did not see the danger. The first grenade I picked up was a PHOSPHORUS one made of bakelite. I had lifted it about two feet off the ground when I felt the the striker pin move. I knew that it was going to explode so I tossed it forward about six feet and as it hit the ground it exploded, but as luck would have it the explosion all went forward and none came back towards me. The other lads were out of range but this did not deter us from carrying on. We picked up quite a few grenades and started to unscrew the base cap and remove the detonators. When the job was completed we went over to the tank range and put them inside a tank, tied a length of signal cable to one of the grenades, then got back into a ditch and pulled hard. There was one almighty explosion which we thought was great fun. When I look back now I think what fools we were and how very lucky we were not blown to kingdom come!

My next encounter of being lucky was my first night in action on the front line. We had just moved out from GEILENKIRCHEN up to a village in the front line I haven鈥檛 a clue where it was, but our job was to guard some tanks so that the tank crews could get some sleep. I was paired off with a chap called Smithy a seasoned vet, and I was to be his partner until the end of the war. The tanks we were guarding were parked up against a farm house building either side of an archway leading into a big courtyard. It must have been the early hours of the morning when a signaller turned up and asked us if we had seen a signal cable. We told him we had and showed him where it was. He said there was a break in the cable and started to repair it. My mate was holding a torch for him at this point in time and the GERMANS started to shell our positions. We heard this shell coming towards us so we all dived for cover. My mate dived to the left between the tank and the wall I went to the right, and the signaller went under the arch. The shell hit the top of arch and bought it all down. When the dust had cleared Smithy called out to ask whether I was all right. I answered yes, then we called to the signaller but there was no answer. We started to clear the rubble and found his body. He was unlucky because he
dived the wrong way. We all could have dived under the archway but we did not, so what made us take different directions? (I have my own opinion of this that I will explain at the end of this story )

My next near miss was just outside HENGELOO in north HOLLAND. We had just taken HENGELOO and were on the outskirts of the town, settling down for the night when my partner was picked to go on patrol into no mans land, but he had a nasty cough so he could not go. I was next in line to be picked. It was pitch black and when we set off the patrol was made up of one officer LT. SNOWDON and three men. We took off in single file LT SNOWDON taking the lead as he always did, the rifleman behind LT SNOWDON I cannot remember his name. Then behind him was rifleman, BRADLEY then myself. We were walking along a grass verge and had covered about four or five hundred yards when a burst of machine gun fire opened up at us from our own lines. Rifleman BRADLEY took a burst of fire in the stomach. I thought he was dead; luckily he survived and I actually met him again in 1948 in NEASDEN north LONDON and said to him that we all thought he was dead. We had a good joke about it! Now to get on with the story, I was sent back to get help and as I made my way back to our lines to get help I thought if I go back the way we came I might get fired upon, so I took to a field on my left and made it back to our lines. Help was sent out to the casualty while I was waiting for the rest of the patrol to return I thought to myself you were dead lucky, that burst could have hit you. The next morning as we moved off in our halftracks, one of the lads said to me Fred did you go through that field last night I replied yes and he said 鈥渉ave a good look鈥� which I did and to my surprise you could see mines sticking up through the ground that had not been buried properly. They must have been put down in a hurry (once again I had been lucky).

My next encounter with near misses was just after we left HENGELOO. We had gone some distance when we stopped and were told to get off our half tracks as we were going on foot through some woods where we knew the enemy was. I came across a GERMAN soldier all rolled up in a ball. At first I thought he was dead so I gave him a prod with my bayonet and he got up. I was going to take him back to our H.Q. but one of my section said he would take him back so I let him. He then carried on through the woods we came under small arms fire. Training dictates that when fired upon you hit the deck, but again for some unknown reason I did not. As I looked down I saw the ground between my legs churn up from a burst of machine gun fire and I did not get hit (once again I was very lucky).

My next encounter with a near miss is very strange. We had moved on quite some distance and when we came to a halt, we were in very slightly hilly countryside. We got off our half tracks and went forwards on foot. We must have walked about six hundred yards when we came under artillery fire so we started to run back to our half tracks. We were running crouched at the time and I looked to my right where the firing was coming from and I saw a round black thing coming towards me. I yelled out 鈥渄own and down鈥� as I went, and a rifleman named CHARLIE HAZELDENE running beside
me did not drop. The thing - a small shell - caught him a glassing blow on his right shoulder. He had a very nasty bruise and when things had quietened down I told my section what I had seen but they would not believe me. They said it was impossible for me to see a shell coming towards me. So what hit CHARLIE?

The next time I missed getting blown to kingdom come was in the REICHWALD FOREST. We had just entered the forest which was occupied by the enemy and we had to be on our toes in case of a counter attack, when a corporal noticed that I could not use my left arm. He asked me what was wrong with my arm I said I did not know but I could not move it. He said 鈥渞ight in the morning you are going back to a first aid Station鈥� Early next morning I was sent back to a first aid station in the forest where a medic had a look at my arm and said 鈥測ou will be going to hospital so wait over there until we can get you on an ambulance鈥�. When one arrived I went to get on I had one foot on the step when a medic stopped me and said 鈥淭his chap is more serious than you. You will have to wait for the next one鈥�. so I stepped aside and as I watched it drive off down the track it must have travelled about a quarter of a mile when I saw it explode. A shell must have hit it. Now the point is why was I stopped from getting on that ambulance? When I got to hospital I was told I had two septic fingers and blood poisoning. After a few days in hospital I was returned to the front line all fit for duty.

As I have said I will tell you my reasoning at the end of my story. Well here is what I think: I am not religious but I do believe in DESTINY and that is from the day you are born it has already worked out the day and the time and the place you will die. This is what I believe. IN SHORT MY NUMBER WASN鈥橳 UP!

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