大象传媒

Friendly Fire 1945

By
Donald J.R. Wilson

On the 4th February, 1945, we arrived at Malag & Milag Nord, about twelve miles East of Bremen, having had a most uncomfortable hike in deep snow from Luft 3, in order to avoid failing into the hands of the advancing Russians. They were already attacking Breslau and the Luftwaffe guards were ordered to hasten the evacuation to Spremberg. We could hear the thunder of the AA rail junction, where cattle trucks awaited to take us to Bremen. The journey took us through the southern outskirts of Berlin at a time when Bomber Command was in the process of converting the city to rubble.

The guards and other railway employees, hastily abandoned us to seek shelter from the dropping bombs, but escape - though possible - would have been futile. Eventually the AA Fire gradually subsided, so we assumed that the Lancs and Halifaxes had headed for their home bases. The engine drivers returned, and to our great relief we moved out of the city and headed north west.

Life at Malag Nord was comparatively pleasant in spite of hunger, because we witnessed daily sweeps by the "Typhoons" of the tactical air force seeking out any moving transport, which they always left in flames. The 20mm cannon and the 601b rockets were effectively devastating. The day to day scenes rarely changed, but just before we were forced to flee from the Camp by the advancing British and Canadian armies, we again had a further encounter with the visiting RAF.

Most of us were outside the huts investigating the sound of approaching aircraft. Accompanying the sound of engines was the bark of gunfire, and very shortly after, a Mosquito appeared, closely followed by a German fighter which was attempting to get a "bead" on the bomber, but every time it opened fire, the Mosquito side-slipped and managed to avoid the cannon shells. A second Mosquito was on the tail of the German fighter and the group continued to circle the camp, firing bursts from time to time. Eventually the fighter managed to escape, probably having run out of ammunition, and the Mosquitos continued to circle the camp.

We thought that they would have been informed of the positions of British POW Camps, but alas, we were wrong. The skirmishing took place at such a low level, that one could see the crews, however they obviously did not recognise RAF Prisoners of War, because, without warning, the leading aircraft dived down with canons blazing, and made a pass at the main gate of the Camp. Everyone "hit the deck", and I was lucky enough to be standing against a concrete wall, enclosing large dust bins and I responded with alacrity, hugging the ground as closely as I could.

When the sound of the Merlins and the cannons receded into the distance, the clouds of dust settled to disclose what was originally a Luftwaffe wagon, loaded with our bread rations for a week, and was now a smouldering wreck containing toasted black bread. It was a miracle that nobody was killed or injured, considering the scene of devastation left by the "Friendly Fire"!!!

Pr-BR

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