大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Sandra Beckett on behalf of Neville R Chesterton, the author, and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and condition.
I was a P.O.W. after the Battle of Crete, 1941, and was 4 years in various working camps, not being an officer.
We were a mixed bag of Australians, N.Zealanders, and English, in a working camp in Steinach, Austria. There were only about twelve of us left, as the rest had been picked out to go on that terrible long march. I had been picked, but did not go as I had the 鈥榝lu at the time.
On the day before, we had been filling in bomb craters left by our own bombers on the railway lines. It had been a big raid, and one of our chaps had been killed.
We awoke to the sound of a terrific bombardment, and thinking we were being attached, we scrambled from our bunks and dressed quickly and ran out to see what was going on. I saw the guard walking away dressed in civvies, with his Alsatian dog. We tried the gates, and found they were open, so we went out. All round us were tanks, soldiers, two Divisions of Panzers and artillery spiking their guns. There were also scores of black-leather coated S.S. officers. They took no notice of us at all, so we went into the town centre, where the local tobacconist shouted to us 鈥淐ome inside, Churchill on the radio!鈥� We went inside, and heard that the war was over. Germany had capitulated.
Along the main road lines of tanks were arriving, also one vary large limousine pulled by two oxen! In the back sat two officers smoking cigars and looking very relaxed and happy.
We contacted a local coach firm and bribed someone with Red Cross parcels we had found in a railway truck, to take us to the American lines. We were desperate to get away, as we were sandwiched between the American and Russians, who were advancing close by. Lines of refugees were moving along the roads also fleeing the Russians. We asked a German officer to guide us through to the American lines, and he stood on the running board waving and shouting and got us through.
When we arrived at the American lines, they gave us a wonderful meal, meat pie and veg. and peaches and custard, all mixed together on one plate, and dished out by very happy and well-fed German P.O.Ws.
After de-lousing we were given American uniforms (lovely fine stuff after our own scratchy and ragged gear), and then we were eventually put into a Dakota and flown into France, and then by Welling bomber to England, after 4 years absence which was another life.
N.B. Extracts from N Chesterton鈥檚 book 鈥淐rete was my Waterloo鈥�. He is now 86 years old.

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