Dieppe

by Hosker, Griff

  "Sir, Jerry!"

  "Wave at him. They might think we are friendly. Tell the others not to shoot!

  Shepherd shouted, "Don't shoot, wave!"

  He circled over us and then flew lower. It was really tempting to let him have it but he would radioed that he had seen us and was investigating. We had to carry on with the bluff. He circled away and headed due east. He was going back to the airfield. We had been seen. If they sent fighters we were in trouble. I saw a road to the left approaching and it led into the trees. I threw the wheel around so sharply that poor Scouse nearly fell out. I gunned the motor down the track until a canopy of trees covered us. I stopped.

  "Jerry has seen us." I took out a map and an aerial photograph. "This road runs through the forest for a few miles. It is parallel to the road we need. We drive along it, relatively slowly. If we move fast it will make it easier for Jerry to spot us from the air. If they think we have lost them then they will widen the search."

  "What if they get ahead of us, sir?"

  "Then, Peter, we will have to think of something else. We have another seven or eight hours of daylight. This cover helps us. Let's use it. George check that Groves is all right with the MG in the rear Kubelwagen. We may need a sting in our tail! When we are close to the main road again we will scout it out and choose our best moment to leave the cover of the trees."

  We listened to the German radio. They knew we were to the north and they had patrols out looking for us. Ominously I heard the word Luftwaffe.

  "I think we sit tight until we know where the aeroplanes are."

  We were about to move off when we heard the sound of aeroplane engines. We could not see them but the roar of their engines as they approached told me that there were three of them. They sounded like 109s. The flight was using the road as a marker and they zoomed to the north of us. The engines faded and then returned in the opposite direction. They faded again and this time, when they approached, came at us on a north west to south east alignment. They flew in the vicinity for forty minutes. Then they left.

  "Time to head to the road."

  The odds were that there would be vehicles on the road. Had we left when the aeroplanes were above us we would have been spotted and, more importantly, attacked. We moved cautiously. When we were, according to my reckoning, two hundred yards from the road, I sent Ken to scout it out. I heard vehicles using the road but I could not see them. He was away twenty minutes.

  "Sir, there are Germans on the road. They have no road blocks and the vehicles are mainly motor cycles and Kubelwagen. There were plenty going up and down the road."

  I got out and joined the other two cars. "There are about five hours of daylight. We have to be across this road and close to the beach by dark." I pointed to the map. "There is another track across the road. It parallels the main road too. We will go to the road and nip over one by one. Polly you go first and then you Harry. I will be tail end Charlie." I pointed out their route. "You wait at the main road. It should take us no more than twenty minutes to reach it. If you hear firing then you are on your own and you take your own decisions."

  "We can't leave you behind sir."

  "Sergeant, they are looking for three Kubelwagens. If any of us are attacked it gives the other two more chance to reach the rendezvous. It isn't open for debate. It is an order."

  We stopped ten yards from the entrance and I went to the edge. A pair of motorcycles came from the west and I ducked behind a tree. Their engines faded, I waved across Polly. There was no one else and I waved across Gowland. I ran back to the Kubelwagen. "Ken. Go and see when the coast is clear."

  "Sir."

  I edged the Kubelwagen closer to the edge. He waved me forward and I drove next to him. We had just emerged when the two motorcycles he had seen heading east came back. I acted instinctively I turned and headed towards them. They could not fire at us and it took them by surprise. "Use your Colts as they come close."

  The Germans tried to turn; that should have warned me but it did not. One slid and spun into a tree. "Use the machine gun. We have to stop him." The second motorcyclist's turn had allowed me to close with him. Scouse stitched a line of bullets across his back and he was down. I had just managed a three point turn in the road when Ken shouted, "Sir, a German lorry! It is right behind us."

  I saw, just ahead of us, the track we had first taken into the woods. It might be too narrow for the German lorry. Ken's Tommy gun barked and I heard a heavy machine gun fire in reply. "Save your bullets and hang on!"

  I spun the Kubelwagen through the gap and on to the track. I turned so quickly that I almost turned the car over. This time I did not drive sedately through the woods, I gunned the motor and drove as quickly as I could. Ken shouted, "They are following!"

  "Good!"

  My mind, like my engine, was racing. The other two would have heard the firing and obeyed my orders. My disaster might just help to save them. I would then be free to make my own way to the rendezvous. Perhaps this accident might be a happy one. I did not use my brakes when I turned, I used the gears. It was more efficient although definitely more hazardous. We established a lead. When we were on the last part close to the road I said, "Ken, get a German grenade ready." When I saw the track lighten as we approached the road I stopped and jumped out. I grabbed the grenade from Ken. In the distance I could hear the German lorry as it laboured through the woods. I had minutes only. I improvised a booby trap jamming the grenade beneath a broken branch.

  I jumped back in and drove straight across the road to the track on the other side. Luck was on our side and the road was clear. We plunged into the woods. The track went right and then, after forty yards turned sharp left. I had to stop this time to negotiate the tight turn. We had just turned when I heard the crump as the grenade went off. I hoped I had disabled the lorry. In all events I now had the distance between us. We were at least eighty yards or more ahead and they would not know which way we had gone. We hurtled through the woods. Scouse and Ken had to cling on for dear life.

  I did not pause at the main road. The trees ended some seventy yards before the road. I could see it was clear. I just hurtled out. It was much easier travelling on the main road and it was, amazingly clear. I could see that the road was heading up into the mountains. It was exposed and bare. If anyone was on the road behind us or ahead they would see us. I slowed down.

  Scouse turned, "Sir?"

  "We have to pretend to be Germans. There was no radio on the motorcycles. The lorry would just have seen our back. He might assume that the three of us are still together. Until we are rumbled we pretend to be Germans."

  We managed another three miles before we met a vehicle coming the other way. It was another lorry with a dozen men on board. They pulled next to us.

  "Have you seen the Tommies?" I asked the question before they did.

  The driver said, "No. We heard on the radio that there was shooting in the woods ahead."

  I pointed to the north east. "We were in the woods. I heard something but I thought it was in this direction. I have to get some more fuel. We are running out."

  The driver nodded, "There is a fuel dump twenty miles up the road at the road block. Can you make it there?"

  I tapped the jerry can which was attached to the front. It had a little in. "I can refill for a few more miles if I have to."

  He waved and carried on. We drove on west. The place he mentioned had to be Tamra. We would need to turn off before then but it was handy to know where the Germans were in strength. The Messerschmitt 109s returned half an hour later. This time they did not fly as a flight but as three individuals. They appeared to be flying a box pattern. They were still searching for three vehicles.

  "When they come over look up and wave."

  One flew really low. I looked up and waved. Ken did the same. He waggled his wings and flew on. We had fooled them but it would not last long. We had to watch them flying overhead for another thirty minutes as we headed down the road. Worryingly we saw nothing e
lse coming the other way. We were five miles from the turn off when I heard firing from up ahead. One of the fighters dived and strafed something I could not see beyond the brow of the hill we were climbing. They must have been on the edge of their endurance for it peeled off and headed south. I heard more firing and this time I recognised the sound of Thompsons. It was my men. Then there was the sound of rifle fire.

  Scouse turned and looked at me. "Yeah, Scouse, it is our lads. Let us approach, slowly, slowly."

  I saw a thin spiral of smoke beyond the hill. There were woods close by and, when I drew close to the brow of the hill I turned off into the woods and drove the Kubelwagen through the thin trees. I grabbed my Thompson and led the other two through the woods. We reached the brow and saw, in the hollow a burning Kubelwagen. The other was stopped and I saw twenty Germans. There was a gunner on their lorry with a machine gun trained on them. The other vehicle was a Kubelwagen. Four of my men had their hands above their heads and two lay on the ground. One was moving but one was still. We did not have long and I led my last two men through the woods. The attention of the Germans was on the prisoners and I saw the officer shouting at Poulson and then slap him hard.

  I stopped, "Ken, you shoot the gunner. Scouse, the NCO! We use our silenced Colts until we run out of ammo. By then our lads will have taken cover and we will be able to use our Tommy guns."

  "Sir!"

  We moved on and I could hear the German now; he was speaking English. "Where is the other car you stole?"

  I saw that Sergeant Poulson had been struck a number of times.

  "Unless you tell me where your comrades are I will put your wounded fellow here out of his misery!" He swung his gun around to aim it at Alan Crowe . I could see his chest rising and falling. He was alive.

  I nodded to Ken as I took aim at the German. The three of us fired together. The officer sprouted a third eye as the gunner fell dead and the NCO was thrown to the ground. I switched target and fired. I kept firing as I moved around. Sergeant Poulson and the rest of my men had also reacted and they grabbed the fallen guns and began to fire. The air was filled with smoke and the sound of German rifles. It was over really quickly. Our twenty .45 bullets did a great deal of damage in a small area and at such close range. The German rifles just mopped up.

  "Scouse, fetch the Kubelwagen." I ran to Crowe who was now being tended to by Hewitt. "I am afraid that gunfire will bring the wrath of the Afrika Korps upon us. Get a medical kit for the two lads and put them in the Germans vehicle."

  Sergeant Poulson shook his head, "Groves is dead sir. There isn't much left of his head and chest. That 109 gave him a full burst. That is how they caught us."

  "Post mortem later." I grabbed Groves' dog tags and his Colt. "Sorry son, I let you down. God bless." The dog tags were bloody. I jammed them in my battledress. "Follow me." I went to my Kubelwagen, "Shove over Scouse."

  I made sure the other two vehicles were both loaded and then I floored the accelerator. We only had to drive two hundred and fifty yards before we reached our turn off. I took it slower this time. I did not want a trail of gravel showing where we had turned. "Ken, nip out and sweep up when the last Kubelwagen has passed." He jumped out even as we were moving and I drove slowly along the rocky track until I reached some bushes. Ken rejoined us and I set off.

  There were trees but it was no constant cover. The track was wide enough for our Kubelwagen and the surface was poor. We would be able to travel at no more than fifteen or twenty miles an hour. The only saving grace was that the Germans could travel no faster. Our danger was aeroplanes. That hazard would only cease when darkness fell and that was still three or four hours away. I did not go the direct route. It was too steep. One of the tracks followed the contours of the hill and provided the best cover. Forty minutes along the track we heard an aeroplane engine and I stopped. We were invisible. I could not see the 109 but I knew it was there.

  I dismounted and went back along the track. I had noticed, just before we stopped that some of the rocks over which we had driven were a little unstable. The recent rain must have washed out the ballast. "Quick get the sand shovels and lever these stones down the hill. It will slow down pursuit if they do find out where we have gone."

  It did not take long to loosen and send crashing down the hill side ten large rocks. Anything but a half track would struggle to pass.

  I listened and heard the 109's engine receding in the distance. "Right, let's push on. Take on water too. Food can wait."

  It was tortuous going. The track twisted and turned along the hillside but always it climbed. Hewitt and Crowe were in Sergeant Poulson's Kubelwagen. It was now in the middle of our small convoy. George and Harry, old friends both, brought up the rear. They would cover our backs if danger threatened. It was two hours to sunset when we reached the top. We could see the sea! When I looked at the track I saw we would be following then my heart sank. It was an even more daunting route down than the one we had taken to the top. There were sheer drops at the side of the pitifully thin track and we still had four miles to go. I could, at least, see the beach which I had identified back in Gibraltar. Now we had a chance. A slim one but we would take that in a heartbeat.

  Chapter 11

  We drove down the steep hill very slowly. I suppose we could have walked down the hill side and that would have been safer but we had our Bergens and we had a wounded man. Crowe had a concussion and a bullet hole in his shoulder. He was lucky the bullet had gone right through but we could not carry him too. It meant that we went down the hill at walking speed. We were fighting the terrain and fighting nightfall. The sun sets far quicker around the Mediterranean than back at home and we watched the sun as it set before our eyes. We were still a mile and a half from the beach when the lights went out, quite literally. A perfect night for a raid, there was no moon, it was the worst of nights for such a descent. We tried to continue, in the dark, but when one of my wheels went over the side and we lurched alarmingly I decided we had best walk. Had Ken not thrown himself to the opposite side of the Kubelwagen then we would have fallen to a rocky death.

  "Everybody out. We walk from here on down. Ditch the field caps. We fool no one now."

  Our Bergens were now almost empty. Sergeant Poulson, use four of the Bergens to make a litter. Spread the rest out between the other bags."

  "Sir."

  "Harry and George, find two strong branches."

  "Sir."

  "You two disable the three Kubelwagens. We might as well make it hard for Jerry eh?"

  "With pleasure, sir."

  I took out a torch and the maps. Using my cape to hide the light I studied the map. The path looked straightforward. If we could reach the beach by twelve then I would be happy. I turned the torch out and repacked the cape and torch in my Bergen. The extras from the other Bergens did not make it too heavy. Now that we did not have the sound of the Kubelwagens' engines I could hear noises further away. There were vehicles and they were struggling. I guessed our trail had been found.

  "Scouse, you and Ken had better booby trap the Kubelwagens with the last of the grenades. I think Jerry is on the way. At least this way we will have an idea of when they are close."

  The litter was ready by the time the booby traps were prepared and in place.

  "Take it in turns to carry Crowe. Half an hour each eh? Ken you are tail end Charlie. Keep those ears open."

  "Sir."

  We began to descend. At first I tried to follow the path using what little light remained. It was no use. I fell twice. We were stumbling in the dark. I risked a torch and we made much better time. After half a mile it was much easier going and we made quicker time but the sound of the Germans grinding up the other side of the hill in their vehicles drew closer. We halted twice to change stretcher bearers and soon I found more sand under foot than rocks. My other senses kicked in and then I smelled cigarettes and wood smoke. There were people ahead. I turned out the torch and hissed, "Scouse, Sergeant, Come with me. Harry take charge."
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  I drew my Luger and headed towards the beach. I saw that what I had taken to be rocks were in fact two mud huts and there were three small fishing boats drawn up on the beach. When the aerial photograph had been taken they must have been out at sea. I waved my hand for the other two to flank me. The smell of smoke grew stronger and I realised that it was not tobacco it was marijuana. I had smelled it before. Then I heard voices. There were four of them and they were speaking French. They had thick accents but they were talking about what a good catch they had made and how they would sail to Bizerte in the morning to sell it. We could not board the Sunderland with these here. I waved Sergeant Poulson around the back of the huts and I stepped out into the light of the fire which had been hidden by the huts.

  There were four men there. Their eyes opened wide when they saw us. I lowered the gun and smiled. One of them took it as a sign of weakness and ran from the fire. He ran straight into Sergeant Poulson's fist and he was dragged, dazed back into the firelight.

  I spoke in French, "We mean you no harm. I promise you that you will be safe. We will not be here for long."

  One of them grinned. He was the oldest of the men and had a white beard and moustache, "English?" I nodded, " My name is Mustapha al-Berkite. This is my home and these are my sons. Even the stupid one who runs into your soldier's fist." He shook his head. "I like Tommies. You are welcome to our fire, effendi. Sit and have some stew. It is good."

  His English was reasonable and I saw my men relax. "Thank you for your hospitality." I turned and shouted, "The rest of you come and join us."

  The others came, with the stretcher. Hewitt said, "Sir, Crowe is starting to come to."

  "Good. These chaps have offered us some food. I suspect they don't have spare bowls. Break out your mess kit. Scouse you had better eat first and then keep watch for the Sunderland."