大象传媒

The three of us remaining in the Battery Command Post, had earlier on been requested to take pot- shots at the diving Messerschmidts with our rifles, in the hope of hitting a pilot, but at such speed it was to me like trying to hit a fly with a pea-shooter! A Mark V1 Tank had Parked itself only about five yards below our C.P.on the track above. The Major suggested that we could have almost touched the end of its gun muzzle, by putting our hands through the scrim on top of the C.P. However, we remained as obscure as possible whilst, at the Major's request,we were asked if we had any letters from home bearing a military address. Naturally I had that of my young lady friend at Wrexham which, together with one or two others, were set alight out of sight of the enemy.I had been concerned about the smoke which would draw attention to our presence, but Major Raworth said there would be no fear of that because we would disperse the smoke by waving it about with our hands. Now the time for decision had arrived,- Were we going to wait for darkness in the hope of making a get-away? I immediately replied "Well Sir you know what happened earlier on this afternoon when that Officer arrived with the ammunition. He could not get away because they were all across the bottom road" Whereupon he said "Right then, follow me, Put your hands up" Up the shallow bank we climbed and the Tank Commander turned round, noticed us, and said "Ah, Englishmen!, come come, quick, quick!" Frankly, I was amazed to think that our Battery Commander should have asked us that question in the first place, thinking that it would have been his responsibility to decide what we should have done.Upon being questioned by the German Commander later on, he said that the German
refused to believe that a battery of eight field guns had held up his armour all day. He was also complimentary of the Battery's action and expressed admiration for the stand, but he also enquired where the other two batteries were. Major Raworth simply told him to go and find them. The German had been quite convinced that a whole field regiment of artillery had been holding him up. Could he possibly have been von Arnim himself?

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