大象传媒

Part two.

While on my way back to my hideout to make fresh plans I was spotted by the Hun sentries and heard the click of a gun bolt. Immediately I fell flat on my face and how long I lay there I will never know. Minutes were like hours. About 10 rounds were fired at me at point blank range but my luck held out and I was not harmed. Then a flare was sent up and my exact position was disclosed. I cannot understand why I wasn't fired at while it was light because I must have been an easy target. As soon as the flare went out I heard a grenade thud on the ground, roll along and then explode but I was bearing a charmed life and lived to tell the tale.

By now things were getting desperate and something had to be done. I was so near to the Germans that I could hear them whispering together. There were only two things I could do :-(1) try and swim the Rhine again; (2) continue to my hideout. I decided on the former. But the difficulty was getting to the water line again without being mown down; nevertheless I decided to take the risk, I was pretty well near a dead bird whichever course I took. So suddenly, I got on my feet and went hell for leather, zig - zagging and stumbling to the bank, on which I threw myself and rolled down into the water.

I swam out for probably 30 yards but the odds were too great. The water was far too cold, I was gasping for breath, and my joints were beginning to seize up. Now I was starting to be sucked under and I had strong visions of drowning. Fortunately the water in which I was swimming was protected by a breakwater and was comparatively free from treacherous undercurrents. If I had got into the mainstream I surely would have 鈥渂ought" it.

By some superhuman effort I was able to struggle back to my depth and then another flare was sent up. I immediately ducked under the water until the light went out and then made my way further from the sentries where I managed to crawl out on to dry land. I was by now so exhausted that I could hardly stand, my right leg and left arm were useless and would not function. In addition it was wretchedly cold.

After lying down to rest in which I picked up a little strength I succeeded in making my way back unnoticed to my hideout. I realised that patrols would be sent out on the morrow to search for me but I was in such a weak condition that I couldn鈥檛 do much about it.

At the side of my small stack was a bigger one 15'- 20' high, with a cover to keep it dry and a tall ladder to get to the top. As it looked like rain that night, I decided to change quarters. The front of this big haystack was in full view of' the farmhouse which was occupied by the Bosch so I decided to try and climb it at the back. The ground was dug with trenches and fortification holes and in going round to the back of the stack I fell down two of these holes. Why I didn't break my neck or something must be another example of my charmed existence.

God was watching over me and looking after me. And how I ever climbed out I don't know for by now I was in a wretched condition but get out I did. I climbed up the front of the stack because there was no way up the back. Once on the top of the haystack I dug myself in and hid myself as well as possible. In fact I made a pretty good job of it.

In the morning I heard someone climbing up the haystack - a German soldier. I watched him searching in the hay and prodding with his gun until he was only a yard away from me and still he hadn't seen me so well was I concealed. But by now he was getting too close and when he saw me lying there I half expected him to riddle me with bullets so I jumped up with my hands high and I became a German prisoner.

LIFE AS A P.O.W.

I was feeling wet and uncomfortable and by means of foot, pedal cycle and car arrived at Ede in Holland. Didn't feel so good, my right leg and left arm almost failing to function and I was cold from the damp.

October 24th Wednesday
Stayed in the same house (occupied by the Hun) again, once more sleeping on the floor with a carpet over me. My clothes were being dried out and my plan of' escape was dependant on these drying -when these were ready, I was! Food consisted of :- Breakfast, 2 slices black bread with margarine and coffee (ersatz) without sugar or milk. Dinner, bit of stew and potatoes; Tea, same as breakfast.

October 25th Thursday
Left this house in the afternoon for a guard house, still in Ede. No more food today.

October 26th Friday
Breakfast :- Bit of dry bread and coffee (without either) and then again on the move. Taken (by hitching cars) to an Army POW transit camp (Amersfoort). Time for dinner (bowl of barley) and to whip off a week's growth and away again by car to Helgora or Helego or something in Holland near the German border. On the way I had an insight into the German character during an incident concerning overtaking a Dutch civilian lorry. Arrived at a shirt factory used as a prison, at night.

October 30th Tuesday
Left by train about 6.0 p.m. with 3 Yanks and F/Lt. Hallett (263 squadron) for Germany.

October 31st Wednesday
Arrived at Dulag (near Frankfurt) about 2.0. p.m. and after a search and a few particulars was put into a cell on my own. This room contained a bed, table and stool and measured 10' x 5'. Here interrogation was to take place.
Food consisted of 2 slices bread and a little jam and coffee for breakfast, one soup plate of soup (barley sometimes but other times hardly fit for pigs) for dinner, and bread, butter and coffee for tea. During my stay here of 38 days I spent 37 in solitary confinement having 3 washes and shaves. Saw the interrogator over 24 times, and I didn't disclose anything.

For the first fortnight in the cell I used to occupy my time as far as possible in combing my hair, cleaning my nails, singing, walking up and down the room and visiting the lavatory. Still this existence was a very great strain on one's patience. About the thirteenth day I felt as if I could burst, break a window or do something. I felt as if I was going mad. During that time I spoke to no-one except a few words here and there.

After I had been in solitary confinement a fortnight, another air force fellow came in the next cell to mine and we got organised for having little chats together through the wall. This was forbidden so we located ourselves at the furthest corner from the door exactly opposite each, other where we didn't have to speak too loudly. But after a while we ran short of subjects so I had to think of something fresh to occupy our time. Ah! a game of draughts. For the board I had a piece of toilet paper folded up into 64 squares, and for men, 12 pieces of paper and 12 pieces of wood. The bloke in the next room did the same and we numbered the squares and then played draughts by numbers. It used to take about 3 hours to play a game. Towards the end of my stay in the 鈥渟weat box鈥� Paul Decroix, a pilot from my squadron arrived at the place. In those 37 days , there was nothing to do but lie in the sack -couldn't even get a book to read until I acquired one unofficially a few days before leaving.

December 8th - Friday
Early in the morning left by train for Wetzlar (60 Km) transit camp -and arrived there about tea time.
What a grand place this was from the last. On arrival there was thoroughly searched and then issued with an American Red Cross POW captive parcel, a RAF shirt and 2 collars, an American Army overcoat, a RAF cap and gloves, a set of underclothes and a RAF tunic (much too small). Inside the parcel which was a case were:- 2 towels, 1 pair pyjamas, 1 scarf, 1 pullover, 3 pairs socks, 3 white handkerchiefs, 1 set underclothes, 2 pairs brown boot laces, 1 packet elastoplasts, housewife, tin shoe polish, hair brush, boot brush, tooth brush and powder;
bottle of Stems (vitamin tablets) bottle Cascara, 40 cigarettes, pipe, 2 packets pipe tobacco, 2 tablets soap, comb, razor and 15 blades, 1 tablet shaving soap, carpet slippers, pipe cleaners, toilet roll, 2 laundry soap.
Then I had a shower and a good meal. The meal consisted of meat hash, dried fruit and real good coffee and some bread butter and jam. After all this, I was like a little excited boy and could hardly contain myself after the days in Dulag. The food was from Red Cross parcels. I'm certainly going to appreciate good food, boy oh boy! And did that coffee taste good? Every day we were issued with 10 cigarettes and on Sunday a bar of chocolate. Life was getting better and wasn't a mere existence. Food was good but still not enough.

Thank goodness for Red Cross food. For breakfast we usually had:-2 thin slices of bread, butter and jam (plenty of butter and jam) and occasionally porridge instead and 2 cups of coffee. For dinner the usual thing was meat or salmon hash, 2 biscuits and cheese and coffee or cocoa (always very good). For tea usually a hash again, sometimes stewed fruit, 2 thin slices of bread and jam and butter and coffee (about twice there was tea) .

December 10th - Sunday
Needed a haircut very much ( 3 months growth) so had all my hair whipped off. Gee, did I look strange, and it was a bit draughty as well.

December 12th - Tuesday
Managed to procure a card so sent it home. Also sent a card stating I was a prisoner in Germany on the 9th.

December 13th - Wednesday
Got into the kitchen for washing pots etc. Did a bit better for food, in fact I was content for the duration to stay here.

December 14th - Thursday
Paraded at 2.0. pm. to move off to a permanent camp at Bankau in Eastern Germany (Upper Silesia). We were given a No 10 American Red Cross parcel between two, and a box of gum
(20 packets) Goodbye to a good place.

60 of us were loaded into 3 box cars 鈥�20 to half with guards in the other half. Very cramped for space and it was impossible for us all to stretch out and sleep. The distance for the journey was 600 km and it took 6 days - 375 miles in 6 days -do the same distance in England in about 9 hours -makes thee think about the state of transport in Germany in this war. We were going through Kassal during daylight when the Americans were on their way to bomb it. The train pulled a few miles out of the town, our box car was locked and the guards went away to safety leaving us to our fate. The bombing sounded uncomfortably close making the truck vibrate considerably and what is more the bombing was through overcast.

December 20th Wednesday
Eventually we arrived at Bankau, dirty, unshaven and travel weary. Then came the usual search etc. and so back behind the wire. Here the older prisoners were preparing for Xmas with what food could be saved from the meagre rations. The accommodation at Luft 7 consisted of 18 men to a room 15' x 22'. We slept in double tier beds on paper palliasses.

December 25th Xmas Day Monday
Xmas Day soon arrived with the display of bags of food. Because of the constriction of our stomachs due to the small rations we actually had more food than we could eat. Here is the menu for that great day:-

Breakfast Bacon, egg, meat roll, Porridge, Bread, butter and Jam, Tea.
Dinner. Roast potatoes, Beef, Soup, cake, Horlicks ( the cake of which we had one each, contained bread, fruit, sugar, butter, milk, etc. with a layer of cream and jam in the centre and cocoa icing on the top. One of' the blokes ( a baker ) decorated the top with cream and- wrote on our names and our girl鈥檚 names. Mine was Roy Celia. The whole thing was finished off with green crepe paper and measured roughly 8鈥� by 4鈥� by 2". The idea was to eat as much of' this cake as possible. I was well and truly podged.
Tea Mash fried spam, cake - 1 small cream cake - 2 jam biscuits. (The big cake was made from biscuits and again decorated with wings and 鈥淎 Merry Xmas鈥� ) and tea.
Supper Bread, cheese, butter, cocoa, cake. Needless to say I had to carry some of my food on to the next day.

At dinner time we had a sing-song and each bloke in turn selected his own song - mine was "When day is done" , ask Celia why.
Felt very sentimental and thought particularly of home and those near and dear to me. At night we had a gramophone and one of the tunes was "Sweet Adeline鈥� -specially for mother. Thought of home again.
We also had an accordion for a short time and my "When day is done鈥� was played by request. You can imagine how I felt.
December 26th - Tuesday
Went in "dock鈥� with tonsillitis. Plenty of' Horlicks, and porridge for breakfast daily.

December 27th - Wednesday
One of the prisoners was shot and killed when inadvertently going into the open during an alert - very tragic. I was in dock when he was brought in.

January 1st - Monday
Back to the compound. We had another big cake. Life in camp was the same every day.

German bread ration of 1/6th, some spuds and soup plus a half Red Cross parcel weekly -not much to live on. I attended school for German language, English grammar, Auto-Engineering and Elocution.
Twice a day - at 9.0. am. and 4.0 pm. - we had roll call. What poor counters the Germans are -many is the time they had to recount. Lights went out at 10.0. p.m.

January 17th
Panic Day. At about 12 o'clock blokes rushed into the room. Be prepared to evacuate the camp within an hour! Joe is getting near. You should have seen us rushing around packing our kit and the food we had saved. Cookhouse was raided, so was the sports stores, in fact every place was, the whole camp was in an uproar. By the evening, though, there was still no immediate signs of us moving.

January 18th
Latest gen is that we will move in 4 or 5 days but we must still be prepared to go at short notice. Things were very grim, no hopes of transport but our own feet and for a distance of something like 300 km. Ponder upon it for a while; 1,700 men on the road, in addition to war material, trying to evade Joe. The Germans threatened to shoot 5 men for every man that tried to make a break. In the evening we were paraded ready to move off, but the move didn't materialise. Then came an air raid and bombs dropped too close to be comfortable.

January 19th
Awakened at 4.0. am. And this time it was the real thing. And what weather for a send off - snow on the ground, hellishly cold and a very strong, bitter, penetrating wind. I was carrying my case on my back, 2 blankets and a Red Cross box containing food. After numerous recounts and many stops and starts were away with no prospects ahead of us but hardships and suffering.

From the Germans we had 2陆 days food ration -
two thirds of a loaf, 1 tin meat, speck of sausage, taste of honey and marg. and we had to march, yes - march on that.

And under these conditions we marched through Kreusberg, Konstadt and on through to Wintersfeldt a total distance of 26 km. Felt painfully weary by the end of the day鈥檚 tramp and my back was suffering considerably. Things ahead looked even blacker and although it wasn't evident yet, was to be the worst ordeal in my life so far suffered.
Arrived at Wintersreldt at 4.0. pm. and made bed in a barn in the dark. What a miserable, sleepless, cramped night it was!

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