大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Sandra Beckett on behalf of Richard H J Rowe DFM, the author, and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and condition.
..CONTINUED FROM Part I :
APRIL 17th.
This was a bad day; some military busybody turned up and ordered the Feldwebel to move us on 鈥� immediately.
By and large, with two exceptions, I had found life relatively pleasant since leaving Fallingbostel but this new move seemed ominous. The first exception was at Soltau, when the train was attacked by allied aircraft. We were shut in the train and could see nothing but we certainly heard the noise which was quite frightening. However, none of our chaps were injured.
The other occasion was at Salzwedel, the train had been stationery all night, during which time there were continuous odd noises and groaning. I was curious about this but prevented from looking out by all doors tightly shut. However, the roof of our truck had been damaged, leaving a hole so getting Jack to bend over, I removed my boots, stood on his back and looked out of the hole. What a sight it was, another train was stationery alongside ours, comprising open trucks which were full of concentration camp prisoners. They had no protection at all from the cold night, wearing only pyjama type clothes. As I watched some dads were being dropped over the side of one truck and further along a German soldier was throwing stones at another fellow looking over the side of a truck. As far as I could see all the prisoners were male, the expressions 鈥� or lack of 鈥� on their faces was unforgettable. I was probably the only allied POW on our train to witness this.
We left Leiston at 8am and walked with a few rest periods until 2pm when we arrived at the village of Guhreitsen, with a wagon accompanying us, which contained break obtained from a bakery at Schnege. We stayed in this village for one night, sleeping in a bar. The following morning at 7am we left and arrived at another small village at 1pm, where we were to spend the night. Somebody suggested that we were about 6 or 7 kilometres from Donnenberg. Accommodation was arranged in what seemed to be the small village hall.
After the relative easy time we had been having I was concerned about the change in our circumstances and suggested to Jack and Ken that it was time we left the Germans and made our way to allied forces, original number of about 100 I estimated we were down to about 70.
I mentioned that I had heard that the next day we were to cross a river 鈥� the Weser was named. This would be possibly taking us further away from our armies. I also mentioned the large numbers of prisoners which we had found out were marching on nearby roads and suggested that if we became incorporated with these larger groups, the Germans would never be able to find us.
I had decided to leave that night but Jack and Ken preferred the current circumstances rather than changing the unknown 鈥� so I was on my own.
My plan was simple I had packed some food and a bottle of water with my few belongings, so now it was just the matter of getting away.
At the rear of the hall was a sash window close to where we were due to sleep, the window only a few feet about a walled courtyard, the back of two houses however formed part of the wall with a two or three feet gap between the two houses, partly blocked with some brambles and some rubbish. I intended to open the window, cross the courtyard and force myself through the gap and I would be in open country.
As darkness fell I was not pleased to note that the Feldwebel had placed a gunner at the rear of my prepared route. At about 11pm I walked out of the side door where the Feldwebel was talking to some of our chaps and in answer to his query of where I was going, told him, I was going for a pee.
I spoke to the guard at the rear of the building, an elderly man and asked him how he was 鈥� not very well he replied, said he was suffering from Haemorrhoids. I gave him a cigarette and suggested he sat and enjoyed it n a lean-to shed a short distance away, telling him his boss would not be around as he was busy chatting. I bid him goodnight and went back in.
I quickly lifted the bottom sash of the window and looking out saw the glow of his cigarette to my right in the lean-to. I calculated that I could be out of the window, across the courtyard and crashed through the debris in the gap before he could put down his cigarette and find his rifle. I put on my overcoat, picked up my belongings and did so. Within seconds I was in open country and swallowed up by darkness.
I was now free and started to walk in a direction about south of west to head for the area where the noise of guns had been heard, using the North star when visible, keeping it a bit back from my right shoulder. I intended to keep on this course, ignoring roads, walking by night and hiding by day.
I continued until dawn was breaking and eventually found some bushes where I could conceal myself. This was not easy to find as the area was mostly pine woods, underneath which there is little or no undergrowth.
Late morning I heard voices in the distance coming from the direction where I intended to walk during the coming night, so decided to break cover and investigate. I walked to the edge of the wood and saw fields in front of me, the nearest field containing about a dozen men working. As I watched they started to leave the field, presumably going for a midday meal. They looked like POW workers to me so, as the last two stragglers were about to pass close to me, I stepped out from my cover. Spoke to them, telling them who I was and my purpose; one was French, the other Polish. The Frenchman asked me to remain where I was and promised to bring me some food. I waited but not exactly where he expected me to find me, I was suspicious. It was ok, however, he later returned alone with a Dixie of hot stew, some coffee and cigarettes and some sandwiches. I had a job to eat all the hot stew it was so much, I thanked him profusely, gave him my home address and moved on. He wrote to me after the war so obviously reached his home safely. I found another hiding place and started walking again at nightfall.
During the night I heard clanging noises which sounded as if they may have been tank doors and hatches being shut, so having received training for a secret organisation known as auxiliary units before joining the R.A.F., and had been told by a commando instructor that tank crews often set booby traps when parking up at night, I gave these noises a wide berth.
At dawn I hid again in a tree covered area. About mid-afternoon I heard small arms fire in the distance, again in the direction of my proposed night鈥檚 course so decided to have a look. On reaching the edge of the wood I could see a considerable distance and noticed smoke coming from a copse about half a kilometre away and that the noise was coming from that area.
As I was weighing up the situation I heard voices some distance behind me, wondered exactly what to do, as there was no cover where I stood, only bare tree trunks. As I pondered there was an explosion behind me and something swished overhead with a noise I had never heard before. It may have been a mortar or rocket. This was followed by an explosion in the copse. Whoever was in the copse must have become annoyed as guns started firing down there and shells started exploding in front and behind me. Although it was daylight I obviously could not stay there, so walked out at a 45 degree angle from their line of fire, got well away from the area without actually seeing anybody.
Although it was still daylight, I saw no sign of habitation and kept walking.
As dark fell I covered a considerable distance until maybe 10 or 11pm I was walking silently along the edge of a field, bordered by woods, when I heard a stick crack in the woods as if someone had trod on a dry twig. I stopped, crouched down, peered into the wood and could see somebody approaching, quite near. A quiet word then said 鈥淲er isdt da鈥�. Instinctively, I whispered back in German 鈥渇riend鈥�, straightened up and continued walking at the same pace as before, expecting to hear either a 鈥淗alt鈥� or a shot. To my surprise and great relief I was neither challenged nor pursued. Who or what he was I had no idea; he probably thought the same about me.
I continued walking for another 2 or 3 hours, there was not a sound to be heard, having left the noisy activity far behind me I was thinking that I must be well in allied held territory, when suddenly there was a tremendous explosion ahead and a shell went over my head and exploded a long way behind me where I had recently walked, other shells followed and I laid down between furrows of the field which had been ploughed.
What was being fired at I had no idea, but came to the conclusion that because of the direction of fire, it was allied artillery.
As dawn was breaking, I crept forward gingerly expecting to find the culprits quite close but clearly it was much further away.
I passed a cottage, I saw a man looking out of a window and beckoned to him, when he came out I asked him whose gun had been firing and he said 鈥淓nglander鈥� then he asked who I was, I replied 鈥淟uftwaffe鈥� and walked away.
I eventually found the gun site, with guns, tents, vehicles, a spotter plane, the vehicles with white stars painted on but not a sole to be seen. It was an American artillery unit. I pulled back a flap of a tent and saw six Americans asleep, instead of waiting patiently I foolishly woke the nearest who was a Sergeant. He came out of the tent and we chatted, I never got a satisfactory reply to my query of what they were supposed to be firing at and he explained lack of sentries because everyone was so tired after travelling non top for 5 days.
I had a superb breakfast with them and was taken a short distance away by jeep to the British 11th Armoured division. The date was now 22nd April 鈥� I HAD SUCCESSFULLY GOT AWAY.

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