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  I worked out roughly that if we kept up this pace we could be there in about an hour and a half, we could be back at the cave if all went well before Four a.m. which meant we could make our escape tonight and not have to wait until tomorrow.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Ahead of us we could make out another bridge or tunnel where the path was intersected by a road we slowed to a walk and approached cautiously but although early the night was quiet and we were not expecting any delay. To the right the road was clear, the bridge on the left was in darkness but there were no signs of headlights from either direction.

  We started across the road, hurrying to seek refuge in the shadows on the other side.

  “Halt” screamed a voice and at the same time the inside of the bridge burst into brightness as a searchlight illuminated our surroundings and from several directions we heard the sounds of weapons being cocked ready to fire.

  A German officer emerged into the glare of the light brandishing a pistol, his English almost perfect as he spoke

  “Good evening gentlemen are you lost? I think most of your countrymen have already gone home”

  As my eyes adjusted to the glare from the searchlight I could see that there were several other men pointing machine pistols in our direction, I quickly realised that resistance would be futile.

  “I must insist that you place your weapons on the ground, let me assure you that if you give me trouble my men will shoot you”.

  Looking at each other with a sense of hopelessness showing on our faces Ronny and I did as he asked placing down the Thompson’s and our pistols neither of which we had yet fired. A sergeant came up to us and removed our daggers, clasp knives and torches but did not take the coloured lenses. Then he spoke to his men in German and we were shoved after him as he walked off towards the bridge. Someone turned off the searchlight and as our eyes adjusted to the darkness under the bridge we could see hidden from view an Opel truck and a Kubel wagon.

  Without ceremony Ronny and I were shoved into the back of the truck with the eight men who had formed the patrol. The officer accompanied by the sergeant and our weapons were in the Kubel wagon leading the way to wherever we were going.

  Fifteen minutes later we pulled up outside a single story stone building that looked as though prior to being requisitioned by the Germans it may have been a local schoolhouse, there were several other German trucks and motorcycles parked outside and a row of six large dark tents had been erected on what I guessed would once have been the playground.

  We were taken into the schoolhouse and told to sit down on the small wooden forms that lined the walls of a corridor, two soldiers were left to guard us standing opposite us and holding rifles.

  A door opened and the sergeant we had seen earlier came out into the corridor and motioned for us to follow him into the room.

  Already sitting behind a desk was the officer we had seen earlier “Good evening again gentlemen please may I introduce myself my name is Hauptmann Brandt and I am in charge here and this is Feldwebel Steiner, he is my senior NCO, so please I have introduced us if you would be good enough to tell me your names and why you are wandering around my district in the moonlight”.

  Ronny and I exchanged glances he nodded and I told the Hauptman my name and serial number and Ronny did the same.

  “Good so you are going to cooperate that will save a lot of time I think. Now please if you will just explain why you were wandering around the district”?

  Making it up as I went along with Ronny adding colour here and there we went through our story about staying behind to fix demolition charges to our guns and equipment, how we had been unable to catch up with the rest of our unit and how we had been wandering around hoping to get to the coast and find a way of getting back to England.

  The Hauptman listened without interrupting until we had finished our tale and then smiling he spoke again.

  “A fascinating story gentlemen but it does not explain why it has taken you more than one week to travel only thirty kilometres? Or why you do not wear the uniform of the British artillery soldier? Or even why you chose to shut up two of my men in a French tomb” …

  “I can explain about the uniforms sir” Ronny said and I could tell the sir was to mislead the Hauptman into believing that he was doing his best to be helpful, he looked so sincere anyone would have believed him.

  He then went to some length to retell the story of how our battery had been chosen to test a new type of uniform during active service. Although I would have believed him I could tell the Hauptman was not convinced. Turning to me he asked if I would like to explain why we had incarcerated his men.

  I went to some lengths to explain that it was our duty to try and get back to England and that we had no choice but to lock them up if we were to continue with our escape. I mentioned that we could have killed them but chose not to.

  Hauptmann Brandt nodded for quite a long time obviously considering what we had told him, eventually he spoke in German to Feldwebel Steiner and the sergeant left the room. Steiner returned some minutes later with three mugs of coffee and placed them before us and Brandt, we asked if we could smoke and Brandt told us it would be allowed only if we also gave him an English cigarette explaining that he was quite partial to them and that it was some years since he’d last smoked one.

  The restorative powers of hot coffee and cigarettes was unimaginable, it had been nearly twenty four hours since we had last had a hot drink and the few cigarettes we had risked had been smoked so furtively we had not really enjoyed them. Brandt also seemed less formal as he continued talking while we drank the coffee; he explained that his responsibilities now lay only in completing a short report with the details of our capture and our explanation of our movements. We would he told us be moved to a detention camp where we would be handed over to the SS who were responsible for looking after prisoners of war.

  Time passed during which we were given more coffee, some bread and strong French cheese, I suppose it must have been about two hours or so later there was a knock at the door and two soldiers came in. They were dressed differently than the soldiers who had captured us and there was arrogance about them that we had not found so far in any of the others that we’d met.

  Although more or less the same colour grey as the other soldiers the jackets they were wearing were cut shorter than the normal uniform, the collars were black and when they turned towards us I noticed that the right hand side of the collar bore the legend SS. On their feet they wore soft leather jump boots with their trousers tucked inside.

  So these were the SS guard we had heard much about they didn’t look so special.

  A lot of heel clicking and saluting went on before signatures were applied to Hauptmann Brandt’s forms releasing us I assumed from his protection. Eventually the Scharführer which the Hauptman told us was the SS equivalent to a sergeant came over to us and put hand cuffs on us, we were then led outside to a waiting Citroen, that I guessed had been commandeered for use as a staff car. The Scharführer opened the rear door and his companion who we later learned was a SS-Oberschütz, a sort of lance corporal prodded us non too gently in the ribs with his machine pistol we took this as a sign that they wished us to get into the back.

  When we were all in the car, with us in the back and our guards in the front the Scharführer started up the car and we pulled out of the schoolyard.

  It was another bright moonlit night and a glance at my watch showed that it was just before one a.m. my thoughts turned to fishy and the crew of the launch waiting out at sea for the signal that we were now not going to send.

  The car passed through the centre ville and picked up speed as we headed along what was obviously the main road out of town. The SS-Oberschütz lit two cigarettes and passed one to his companion it was obvious we were not going to be included.

  The car had only slits in the light covers but the bright moonlight meant that we could see pretty well all around us,

  We had left behind any signs of
population and now the road was enclosed on both sides by tall pine trees we were passing through wooded country on the way to our internment.

  The two Germans hadn’t said much during the hour or so that we had been in the car but now they started talking quite animatedly the SS-Oberschütz looking back at us furtively as they spoke. Suddenly he became excited and pointed to a spot somewhere in front of us, the Scharführer changed down through the gears and the car slowed down in time for him to turn off the road and down a dirt track that led through the trees. They had to travel much more slowly now the trees blocking out the moonlight as we went deeper into the wood, at times branches scraped along the side of the car and I thought this strange, surely the path to a detention centre would be frequently used and wider than this?

  I looked across at Ronny who was obviously thinking something similar and shrugged back in reply to my unspoken question.

  The car slowed further and then stopped, we were in a clearing that was wide enough to turn the car around in.

  The two Germans got out of the car the SS-Oberschütz pointing his machine pistol at us as he did so

  “My god they’re going to shoot us” whispered Ronny “Roust” shouted the Scharführer opening the door on my side “He wants us to get out” said Ronny giving me a shove. I stepped out into the night followed closely by Ronny.

  Once outside they split us up taking off one side of Ronny’s handcuffs the SS-Oberschütz kicked him hard at the back of the knees causing him to cry out and fall onto his knees on the ground he was then handcuffed to the front bumper of the car and then they both pushed me towards a tree.

  The Scharführer stood some yards away his gun pointing at me whilst the SS-Oberschütz came up to me shouldered his pistol and started to go through my pockets he was right up close to me and I could smell body odour and his breath stank of garlic I guessed from the sausage they were all supposed to love so much. All I knew was that despite everything that was going on it was making me feel sick. He found my French money and held it up for the Scharführer to see laughingly shouting something across to him as he did so. He looked at the emergency ration but put it back in my pocket but kept my remaining chocolate when he found it. Finally he gestured for me to take off my wrist watch I hesitated; it was nearly new and had been a gift from my parents for my twenty-first birthday. A sharp slap across the cheek brought me back to reality and I undid the strap, I was angry now. Strange as it may seem up until this point I had not seen any of this as personal but now they had stolen my watch and laughed at me as they did so.

  A push with the barrel of the Scharführer’s gun indicated I was to change places with Ronny, over by the Citroen the Scharführer unlocked one side of my handcuffs whist his companion admired my watch in the moonlight.

  Another push with the barrel meant I should bend down nearer to the bumper I started to comply still seething at the loss of my watch when for some reason thoughts of the CPO came into my head

  “And remember the elbow is far more effective than the fist”. It was!

  I must have got it just right because I heard bone crunch and the Scharführer started to fall to the ground I turned and quickly caught him keeping his lifeless body between me and the SS-Oberschütz who stopped looking at the watch for long enough to see that he was now in trouble. He pointed his machine pistol towards me but realised that he would have to shoot his friend as well if he was going to shoot me. He pointed it at Ronny but quickly realised that, that wouldn’t help either he was obviously confused.

  While he was still deciding what to do, out of his line of vision I opened his friends leather holster took out his luger cocked it and shot him dropping the Scharführer to the ground as I did so.

  “Bloody hell “said Ronny

  “He shouldn’t have stole my watch then” I said as I walked over to check if he was still alive, I checked for a pulse in the neck but he was dead I took my watch from him and put it back on my wrist retrieved my cash and chocolate and walked over to where the Scharführer still lay. I found the keys took the handcuffs off my wrist then I got down to release the one securing Ronny to the bumper and then gave him the key so that he could remove the other end from his wrist.

  Ronny stood up and walked over to the dead SS-Oberschütz picked up his machine pistol and walked back removing the leather shoulder strap as he did so. He put the gun down on the floor and then he wound the strap around the neck of the unconscious Scharführer put his foot on one end of it and using both hands pulled the other end, the German died without regaining consciousness.

  We stripped the Germans of their weapons which we retained for our own use and dragged the dead bodies into the undergrowth. We made sure they were well hidden, covered them with branches and then walked back to the car. Ronny got into the driving seat and started the car; he then drove very slowly and as quietly as he could back down the track.

  I was holding my captured MP40 on my lap and Ronny had his across his legs even though he was driving. Eventually we came to the edge of the track, Ronny turned left onto the main road driving back the way we had come. The moon wasn’t so bright now which was a good thing because it meant Ronny could not see me shaking as I sat nursing the weapon. “Light us a couple of fags up Alan” he said “I need something to calm me down” I pulled out my tin and gradually bought my shaking hands under enough control to be able to take out two cigarettes and light them up. Passing the fag across I noticed the speedometer was touching the ninety kilometres / hour mark Ronny was wasting no time in taking advantage of the deserted road.

  “Well we’ve done it now” I said “if they catch us again it’s a firing squad for sure”

  Ronny shook his head blowing smoke down his nostrils as he watched the road ahead “Listen Alan if you’re thinking that you’ve done something wrong then don’t … they didn’t take us into those woods just to rob us, they could have done that in the car at the side of the road, believe me we weren’t coming back out of that wood alive. What we did was what we have been trained to do and we did what was necessary”.

  I wasn’t sure what to say in reply so we drove in silence for a while no other vehicles passing us in either direction. There were no road signs perhaps they had been removed by the French to confuse the Germans or by the Germans to confuse the French? Either way it made it difficult to decide where we were. We came to a long stone bridge that spanned a wide river that I’d noticed on the way out and just after we had crossed it we saw there was a cross roads up ahead of us.

  “That’ll do” said Ronny and pulled off the road down a rough track. With the engine idling he pulled out the map and we got out to study it by the light from one of the headlamps.

  It didn’t take us long to find a bridge over a river with a cross roads directly in front of it. We established that we were now about eight miles outside of Bailleul and it was nearly three a.m.

  One thing was certain we were not going to make it to the coast in time for a pick up tonight unless we drove all the way and it would be risky to go much further in the car.

  “I reckon we need to get rid of the car now Ronny what do you think”? I said

  “Seems a shame to loose it but we can’t risk going much nearer to the town in it “Ronny said as he leaned in and turned off the engine “come on let’s have a look down here”

  On foot we followed the track further down towards the river, there was not much to see except an old river barge that must have been lying on the bottom and beyond that on the bank was a ram shackled old boathouse from which a broken concrete slipway ran down to the river. Looking at the boathouse I could see that part of the roof had fallen in and one of the double entrance doors was hanging just on the top hinge. The place looked as though it hadn’t been used for years.

  “I think this will do, lets see if we can get the doors open” said Ronny not knowing what it would do for I followed him across to boathouse. Getting the broken door open was difficult, it was a big door and we had to take all of it
s weight to get it open, after a lot of puffing and blowing we got it to just past the ninety degree point. The other door supported by all three of its hinges opened easily enough and once we had it open Ronny told me to wait there while he went to fetch the car. Taking advantage of the slope and the moonlight Ronny let the car roll down the track, he had not switched on the lights and I watched as the dark shape rolled silently past me and into the boathouse. I closed the good door and waited for Ronny to help me to push the other most of the way closed. Once we had done this we went back inside and sat down on the Citroens back bumper, I passed Ronny a cigarette we lit them up and started to consider our options.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  We decided that the boathouse offered little in the way of either protection or shelter. The Citroen was well hidden from view but other than that we decided that if we stayed and anyone was to notice it then we would probably be seen as well. We concluded that we must put some distance between ourselves and the car. We had about an hour and a half left before daylight, Ronny took out the map again and with the aid of a small interior light inside the car we decided upon our route.

  Bailleul was still a few miles away but we guessed that if anyone was looking for us, that’s where they’d be looking, so although we knew that area we decided to give it a miss.

  Just a couple of miles behind us was Armentieres, the town made famous in the song from the First World War, but going back there would be taking us further away from the coast.

  We chose to follow the course of the river this would take us towards Cassel, which would place us only about ten miles from Dunkirk. So that was it, we had our direction, we had our objective; as near to Cassel as we could get before it got light.