大象传媒

This contribution to WW2 People鈥檚 War was received by the Action Desk at 大象传媒 Radio Norfolk. The story has been written and submitted to the website by Tim Edwards (Volunteer Story Gatherer) with the full permission and on behalf of Mr Neville E G Donmall.

Having baled out of a stricken Halifax LK-Y over enemy lines; having survived the bitter, harsh conditions of the German winter; having moved through occupied villages like a shadow; now to be faced with the Siegfried Line of German defence and hopeful of freedom across the Rhine River, it was time to continue the Great Escape.

I had a drink of water, as I was always thirsty and once again made my way on a westerly heading. I crossed fields, keeping clear of farm buildings. Coming across a small stream I broke the ice to refill my water bottle, put in a purifying tablet and then had an Ion- drink. I was so thirsty. I once again refilled my bottle.

In the early hours of the morning I left the farmland behind. The fields appeared to be sloping slightly and after passing a small wood I heard the cracking noise of a pulse jet roaring away behind me. I turned and could see a V I taking off; it was flying directly towards me. I threw myself to the ground and watched it as it rose to about 200 ft above my head. As soon as it vanished I departed from the area in a hurry as I knew there were German troops close by.

It was getting close to dawn again, and I was still travelling west. I came across a large wood of fir trees. Checking it out carefully to ensure it was not occupied I went through the wood looking for a hiding place. There appeared to be none. As I emerged from the trees I could see a large lone pine about 50 yards away. Propped against it were small pine tree logs, forming a tepee type shelter. I thought this would make a reasonable hiding place, but not a very good windbreak. I cut another branch from the tree, went back into the wood for about 100 yards, I brushed out my foot prints to my hide, pulled one of the logs away and slipped inside. With my back to the tree on the leeward side, I tried to get off to sleep, but woke a short while later due to the cold wind. As it got lighter I could see a town on a river. I checked my map and my approximate position and considered that this was the town of Trier. I could see a bridge across the river. The town appeared to have been bombed recently since buildings were still burning with smoke drifting across the rooftops. Mid morning I heard voices and I looked out from my resting place and there, climbing the hill towards me, was a group of German soldiers accompanied by a young woman. I hid behind a large tree, but they passed within 100 yards of me towards the wood. Once there they started cutting branches down and also silver metal strips, which were a jamming device against radar by the R.A.F., it dawned on me they were going to use these for Christmas decorations. Then I realised it was Christmas day.

I started to think about the Christmas lunch we were going to have in the mess, so I had 3 Horlicks tablets and 2 glucose sweets for mine, and a long drink of water. At last it was dusk. I opened my concealment and started to make my way down the hill. By my observations during the day I ascertained there only appeared to be one bridge across the river, so l would have to reconnoitre the area to find out how easy it was to cross. I made my way along a major road towards the centre of the town. As I was walking along, a number of military Lorries and 2 tanks passed me. On passing a junction a lorry pulled up and the driver asked me the way. I made out that I couldn't speak, pointing to my throat and mouth, and pointed down to the road, which branched off and held up 5 fingers, indicating the distance. I removed myself from the area quickly.

On reaching the town I found it reasonably easy to get near to the bridge. I could see military vehicles pulling other Lorries along, so I gathered there was a shortage of fuel in Germany. Another two tanks went past me and I made a note of there military markings. There was a guard on my side of the bridge, but a number of vehicles were crossing, both civilian and military and the guard wasn't stopping anyone, merely watching. I decided to risk crossing the bridge on the guard's side, and on doing so I walked towards him. I noticed him looking at me so I walked up to him. Taking a chance and talking in a garbled version of Spanish, I asked the way. What I didn't know I made up. The guard couldn't understand me, or I him, and he got fed up and waved me across the bridge. The guard on the other side fortunately showed no interest in me whatsoever.

On going through the town I noticed far more bomb damage than I first thought when observing it from the far side of the river. Going along one road I came upon a large bomb crater right in the middle of it, the overhead lines of a tram were down across the road. As I skirted the crater a person was coming the other way, which turned out to be a German officer. As he passed, I nodded towards the crater and shrugged my shoulders; he replied with a nod and passed on.

On reaching the outskirts I came across a busy main road going northerly. Avoiding the road I continued on in a westerly direction, eventually reaching a narrow country road that climbed up through some woods on a north-westerly direction. After walking along this road for about five or six hours I came across a large farm. I was about to walk past when I heard the sound of someone moving about. There was a German guard in uniform walking up and down past a barn. I could hear further sounds of talking from the barn, and there were obviously German troops inside taking a rest. I rapidly vacated the area in a westerly direction.

I continued in this direction for two or three hours when I stumbled across a large barbed wire and trenched area, and negotiated these when I came across a very large and deep trench running north/south. It was obviously an anti-tank trench about 10-12 feet deep and 15 feet across. I jumped down into the area and tried to climb out on the far side, but couldn't get a grip on the steep slope, so I dug foot and handholds with my knife, and also used it to get a purchase to drag myself up. I continued on through barbed wire entanglements and small trenches when I came across large blocks of concrete set at odd angles. This was obviously another anti-tank device, which was known as "Dragons Teeth".

I continued on a westerly heading for about half an hour and came to a steep sided valley with a river flowing along the bottom. I looked to either side of me, and there set in on the ridge of the valley were large concrete pillboxes on either side. I realised now that I was on the much-vaunted German Siegfried Line, Germany's West Wall defence area with Luxembourg.

A little way off the rim of the pillbox strewn valley I saw a small hut which was situated in a large vineyard. I could also see a slit trench zigzagging its way down the side of the valley amongst the vines. I quietly slipped down to the hut and opened the door. Inside I found farming tools, sacks and other agricultural implements. I decided to remain there until the following morning in order to spy out the lay of the land. After pulling some of the sacks over me I slept reasonably well, for the first time since I had baled out. On waking at first light, I studied the layout of the valley. Down to my right was a small village near the water's edge. To my left, about half a mile down on the other side of the river, was another small village, which was in Luxembourg. Along my side of the river was a five to ten yard wide stretch of barbed wire. All I could do for the rest of the day was to watch the movements of the German troops coming and going between pillboxes and villages. I saw no movement in the village on the far side of the river. As daylight faded the soldiers all went back to the pillboxes. It wasn't until then that I made up my mind to move. Negotiating the trenches and making my way down to the river in what daylight was left I kept a sharp lookout for mines or tripwires. The trenches went alongside and through clusters of vines, which partially hid me from observation by the pillboxes above.

On arrival at the bottom of the valley, I could see a narrow road running alongside the river. I made my way along the trench until I came to the village. It was then getting dark. From my position I watched the village for signs of life, then quickly making my way across the road. I was acutely aware that I was right below one of the pillboxes higher up on the valley side. I searched each house in the village as they weren't occupied, then I made my way down to the barbed wire near the river's edge. I could see small mounds in the snow in the defence entanglements and realised that these were land-mines. I made my way along the barbed wire and came across to a metal plate attached to a post, which stated "Mines -- Verboten". A few yards further on I noticed there was a gap in the mines through the entanglement about just over a yard wide with a slight dog-leg in the middle. I made up my mind to get through the barbed wire in that area. I didn't see any boats around the village, the only way I was able to cross the river was to swim or make a raft. I went back into the village and searched a number of houses. In the backyard of one were 5 planks, which were all 8 feet long, 1 foot wide and 2 inches deep. I carried these to the area where I was going to make my way through the barbed wire. I needed rope to tie the planks together, so I made a further search of the village, but all I could find was a large ball of string and a half pot of jam, which I ate.

I pushed the planks, one by one between the mines, using another one to push the first one ahead until l got four of them through. I also found a small piece of wood to use as a paddle. I levered up the first strand of barbed wire and slipped underneath. Lying flat I could clear the rest of the wire, and crawled along pushing the last plank ahead of me. Beads of sweat were covering my brow, despite the cold. I thus made my way through the minefield.

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