大象传媒

Taken from my father in laws Wartime Log. His personal experiences, written some time after the event, of being shot down and taken prisioner in Northern France.

A WARTIME LOG FOR BRITISH PRISONERS

T. TRIMBLE 631467 P.O.W. 242 STALAG LUFT 7 JUNE 14TH. 1944

This narrative should have been written quite a few months ago, but mainly due to laziness on my part, also partly due to the fact that I hate writing of any sort I have kept putting it off from time to time with the result that the date is now 1st. December almost five months from the date of being taken prisoner.

The only trouble with writing a 鈥渢ale鈥� like this is that all the facts cannot as yet be written for reasons that are only to obvious to anybody. However here goes.

On the morning of June 14th. we were first on 鈥渂attle order鈥� together with some other aircraft for a 鈥渏ob鈥� in France. As the day wore on we went out to our A/C (aircraft) and checked everything over, also the pilot and myself (Rear Gunner) done an air test and found everything satisfactory. When we landed (at about 4 p.m.) we went and had tea, our last meal in Dear Old Blighty, after that there wasn鈥檛 very much to be done so I went back to my billet and had a few hours sleep. At about 8 p.m. we were called for briefings and got all the 鈥済en鈥� on the job we had to do. Actually we all thought it was going to be one of the easiest trips we could have, however things didn鈥檛 work out that way.

From briefing everybody went to the crew room to await our times of take off and to do another check of our A/C (aircraft). It was a beautiful evening so most of our time was spent around the 鈥渒ite鈥�. During my wait at the A/C I got into conversation with one of the ground crew who told me he had been six years in the R.A.F. In the beginning of his career in the service he was a parachute packer for some time during which time he had done 38 parachute jumps and reckoned there was nothing in it. Well ---------, of course right then I agreed with him that perhaps it was alright getting out of an A/C in straight and level flight but a horse of a different colour when the old Kite is on fire. As time went on and we discussed different topics he told me he had to wait for us coming back (what a wait) and that every kite he had ever waited for always returned, as yet. Well I wonder what he thinks now.

At last we were airborne and as I stood in the astro dome watching the runway fade away little did I think that it would be the last time I would see it for a long time and so much would be happening in between. However we set course for our target and in a short time were in sight of the French coast where we could see fires burning on targets which had been visited earlier by our aircraft. They sure had done their work. On approaching the French coast we were informed that one plus bandit were in the vicinity but we could see nothing of them. Just before crossing the coast I tested all of my guns and everything worked perfectly.

As soon as the coast was crossed some flak came up which certainly was at our height but about 100 yds. astern. From then until we reached our destination we encountered slight flak but none very close so everything went very well till we reached our target. Well things did not go very well from then on and after a few mishaps things began to happen. The first I knew of it was when I saw a sheet of flame licking past the turret. Well just as I switched on my mike to inform the Pilot the Navigator yelled out we were on fire and for someone to come and help him put it out. By this time we were well on fire and I could see nothing outside the flames, so as the pilot knew this I set my turret dead astern and opened the doors to go back into the kite and see if I could help in any way. Well strange as it may seem I got caught in the turret. I was wearing a new type of flying boots and they got caught in some of the mechanism of the turret, I thought it was all up right then and to make matters worse I plugged my intercom in again and at the very moment I did the pilot gave the order to bail out. Well after about two minutes I managed to free myself and get out into the A/C although we had lost a lot of height we seemed to be again straight and level so I believe the pilot was still at the controls although I could not see any body. Now we seemed to be on fire from end to end and it was d---- hot in there so of course I wasted very little time in putting on my chute. To my horror when I got rid of the escape hatch we seemed to be just about 50鈥� from the ground. (I got this impression from the flames licking past the escape hatch). Needless to say in a situation like that you do some very fast thinking and I didn鈥檛 seem particularly to like the idea of a slow painful death by burning so I decided to jump out and make it quick and painless, so out I went and luckily I had my chute on when I made the decision so immediately I was clear of the flames I pulled the cord but strange enough I didn鈥檛 expect it to open, the next thing I know was when I felt a terrific jerk and I imagined I was caught in the A/C, well to my delight when I look up I saw my chute fully open and I was dangling in space about 1000 feet from mother earth.

During this very short space of time the thoughts that passed through my head were too numerous to mention in this book. I think all my past life must have been relived again. Then I found I was swinging a lot also drifting a lot so I pulled on my chute to try and prevent it. It did stop a bit and then I heard an aircraft very close and on looking round found my own A/C had done a left hand circuit and was coming back right under me, I was very low at this time so she went in about 300鈥� beneath me, for a few moments I thought I was coming down into the burning wreck as it covered a very large area.

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