Behind Enemy Lines

by Hosker, Griff

  He made it sound easy but I knew it would not be,. He had to wait close enough to get in quickly to pick us up and deep enough so that over flying aeroplanes could not see him.

  “What time is the pick up?”

  “It will have to be after dark. We will have been under during daylight and so we will surface and head in to charge our batteries. We should be there by ten. We have to leave by three. That gives you a five hour window. I can wait a little longer for you. An hour is too short a time frame eh?" His smile left his face as he said, “It you aren’t back by five past three then I use my radio to send a signal home and the bombers will come. You know that don’t you?” Lieutenant Marsden and I nodded. “Still you should be out by then. I will have a good man watching the landing site. You signal and we will there lickety split!”

  “Good. Have you done this sort of thing often, Captain?”

  He smiled, “Good gracious no. You are the first of the cloak and dagger chaps. The whole crew is excited to have commandos on board. We have all heard about you. Have you done much of this sort of thing?”

  We nodded, “We have but this is the first time we have been in a submarine.” Lieutenant Marsden shook his head. “I have no idea how you do it.”

  “You get used to it. Well I’ll pop back to the conning tower. If you need anything just give a shout. Oh the heads are a bit tricky. Ask the CPO if you need to use them.”

  After he had gone Ken said, “Heads?”

  “Aye, Ken; the toilets.”

  Ken shook his head, “I’ll hold it, Sarge. If this is a mess then God knows how big the bog is!”

  It might have been my imagination but the air began to feel heavy and I longed to be on deck. When we travelled on MLs I was never below deck. I was not claustrophobic but if I was a submariner then I would soon become one. To take my mind off the atmosphere I questioned the lieutenant.

  “What do we know about this chap we have to rescue?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “His age for a start. If we have to run will he slow us up? What does he look like?”

  “Good point. He is forty years old and is a teacher. As far as I can discover he is single. He wears glasses and is slightly balding. His build is described as medium.”

  “No photograph then?”

  “No, I am afraid not. The other members of the resistance wanted to have a go at rescuing him but Intelligence persuaded them to let us have the operation. They didn’t tell them about the bombing raid.”

  I could see that, with the airfield being so close, the wrecked house would appear as collateral damage. “And what is the plan, sir?”

  “Scout out the building tonight and then lay low during the day. If we can get to the house before dusk then we can attack then. The Germans are predictable about meal times.”

  The Lieutenant was right. It was how we had rescued the general, his staff and my dad; we had struck while most of the guards were eating. The difference this time was that we only had four of us. The number was right. The submarine couldn’t accommodate any more and a larger number would be harder to hide. It would not be an easy lift.

  We were brought food and tea. Both tasted oily. The rating who brought them shrugged, “You get used to it, chum.” I ate because I knew I needed to not because I wanted to.

  When we heard the tannoy next my heart sank. “All hands, diving stations!”

  Watertight doors were slammed shut. The submarine became even more coffin like. Ratings rushed by to go to their stations. After the initial noise and the clanging doors there was a slow hiss, like a beach ball being deflated and then there was silence. I noticed my ears hurting. The rating who was watching the panel near us said, “Hold your nose and blow or chew something.”

  Holding the nose worked, “Thanks.”

  He said, like the other rating, “You get used to it.”

  I think they were both wrong. I would never get used to this mole like existence. I know we only had a couple of hours to go and the longest part of the journey had been endured but the last part seemed interminable. There were occasional noises from the hull; some were alarming creaks. I preferred the dangers of an aeroplane to this.

  Lieutenant Conklin came forrard, “Well chaps, we are approaching the bay. Best get your gear together. You will go out of the forward hatch. We have a dingy. The lads will paddle you ashore. Who is your signaller?”

  Ken said, “Me sir.”

  “Right, preface your message with 'Sunfish'. Just a little precaution.” He cocked his head to one side. “If you are captured and they make you signal us without the prefix 'Sunfish' then we will know and we won’t surface,”

  Ken said, “I wouldn’t talk, sir.”

  “I know but we have lost submarines before because the beach was compromised.”

  I nodded, “He’s right Ken. It makes sense. And it doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

  He said, "Now it is close to dawn now so we will have to be quick when we rise. And I think you lads will have to be fairly quick and get to ground." He smiled, "But you know what you are about eh?"

  "Yes Lieutenant."

  I had no need to check my guns; I had done that before. We blackened our faces and hands and followed the two ratings to the forward torpedo room. It seemed an age before the message was passed down to open the hatch. Polly was too keen to be out and received a dousing as the seawater from the hatch cascaded on him. It made the torpedo men smile. They had half inflated the dingy and they dragged that out first. They took the air line and then we followed. It was pitch black and there was no moon. We moved down the deck out of their way. I saw that the machine guns had been fitted to the conning tower rail and lookouts scanned the shore. All that we could see was a black lump.

  We heard a whispered, “Ready lads!” as the inflated dingy was lowered over the side.

  The dingy was held close to the bow and we gingerly descended. One false move could tip us all over. There were two spare paddles and I handed one to Ken and we helped the two ratings to paddle us to the distant bay. We heard the surf as it slithered and hissed along the shingle. Polly and the Lieutenant leapt ashore. Ken and I laid our paddles down and jumped into the surf too. I waved to the ratings who quickly paddled back to the waiting submarine. They would move away from the island to recharge their batteries and then sneak back before dawn. We had the easier task.

  There was a gentle climb from the beach to the tower which was visible from the water. We moved quickly but carefully, watching all the time for any sentries. Mercifully there were none. The four of us moved swiftly and silently. We reached the wrecked tower and threw ourselves within its bramble covered interior. We took off our Bergens and hid them beneath the prickly bushes. Satisfied that they were hidden the Lieutenant led us north west along the trail towards the wood of Les Nicolles.

  Quickly we crossed the two apologies for roads which led to the beach and headed across the open fields. They were tiny roads. I doubted that a lorry would fit down them. There were sheep there and they scurried out of our way. I could smell the smoke from houses to our right. They would belong to islanders but we could not risk involving them. We were on our own and had to get in and out unseen. We dived for cover as a vehicle drove by. It had to be German; there was a curfew. We could tell, from the sound, the proximity of the road. Once the night became silent again we rose and approached the road. We did not leave the safety of the woods but lay down to watch.

  It was a proper manor with a walled entrance and a gate. We saw two German sentries seated around a brazier. They were close enough for me to hear their conversation. It was just soldier talk: they complained about their Feldwebel and the food. They bemoaned their duty and the fact that the beer was poor. After an hour a Feldwebel came by and they snapped to attention. He reprimanded them for both being seated and pointed out that only one should sit and the other should patrol around the perimeter. He said it should be every fifteen minutes. If they failed to do so they would be given field
punishment. He tapped one on the shoulder with his stick and they went off around the outside. The Feldwebel was showing him what to do. I looked at my watch as they did so. This would be a good opportunity to see how long it took. It was ten minutes. The Feldwebel left them after he had finished his patrol and told them they should repeat in fifteen minutes. He then returned inside. As he went through the gates, which were not locked, I saw that there appeared to be no guards on the inside. That made sense. There was a high wall all around.

  The Lieutenant looked at his watched and, tapping it, gestured for us to move away. It would be dawn in less than an hour. The journey back was as incident free as the one there had been. Once inside our tower we ate some rations and drank some water. Neither was needed but we had learned to eat and drink when we could. We spoke, in whispers.

  “What did that sergeant say, Tom?”

  “He told them off for not patrolling. I think we can count on the fact that they are likely to do so tomorrow. I reckon that is our chance. It gives us ten minutes to get one. Two of us can wait around the back and get the other.”

  “Aye Sarge. It looked to me like there were woods to the east of the house too.”

  “Then we just have to get inside, overcome the rest of the guards, find the prisoner and escape without anyone being the wiser.”

  “Sergeant Harsker, you make it sound impossible.”

  “No sir but I am a realist and I would prefer to assess all the problems before we get inside.”

  “What do you think then?”

  “We have the advantage that this will be an English designed house. There will be an entrance hall, a couple of sitting rooms on either side. The dining room will be on the west and the kitchen on the east. I am guessing there will be a library or billiard room; something like that. There will be up to ten bedrooms upstairs. I am guessing they will be for the guards. If this is Gestapo or SS they will have their own cook. There can only be a maximum of twenty people in the house and as the officers will have their own rooms and, probably the sergeants too, then it is more likely to be twelve to fourteen. There will be two on duty and a duty sergeant. Inside, I am guessing a third guard for the prisoner.”

  “Well reasoned but where will the prisoner be?”

  “Cellar. It looks to be an old house and the cellar will probably run the length of it. Part will be the wine cellar and they will have their prisoner, probably shackled, to the wall.”

  The Lieutenant smacked his head, “God I am a fool! I forget bolt cutters!”

  The three of us grinned, dived into our Bergens and each took out our home made ones. “One of these should do the trick, sir.”

  He laughed. “Are you saying we get in and out without them knowing we have been there?”

  “I reckon it is our best chance. We take out four guards, one by one. If we can’t do that silently then we ought to join the tank corps where we can make as much noise as we like. It took fifteen minutes to get to the house that means fifteen minutes to escape. Ken can hurry on ahead and signal the sub so that the dingy is there by the time we reach the beach.”

  “But that means we have to time it so that we started our attack after nine thirty.”

  “Make it later sir, it will be darker. They have more chance of being asleep and the sub should be there. We have until three, remember?”

  “Good, so all we need is to evade detection until then.”

  “Yes sir, we each take a two hour stag. As soon as dusk arrives we are up and about ready to get to the woods.” We prepared our beds. It would be a cold night.

  Chapter 6

  The Lieutenant insisted upon the first duty. I rigged up my oilskin cape above me and made a tent under the brambles and rocks. I was almost certain that I would be invisible. I quickly fell asleep. The Lieutenant woke me. He said nothing but gave me the sign for all clear. I drank some water and spat it out. It was as close to cleaning my teeth as I would get. I could still taste the oily submarine in my mouth. I wondered if I would ever get rid of the taste.

  I crept to the entrance. It was still dark, but only just. I risked leaving the tower for a pee. Steam rose showing how cold it was outside. I peered into the bay which was still dark. I could hear the early gulls as they called and swooped over the water. The sound of the surf was reassuring. I went back into the tower and lay in the entrance. The best way to watch was to lie still and to listen. You could hear more than you could see.

  I didn’t bother to look at my watch. That merely made the time go more slowly. Instead I concentrated on listening to the sounds of the woods and the houses waking up. There were people within five hundred yards of us. From the state of the interior of the tower no one came here save to bramble in the late autumn. The fruit was still green, small and hard. I managed to hear vehicles as they started to use the roads. In the distance I heard the sound of aeroplane engines as they were fired. I saw the sea change from dark grey to grey and then, as the sun peered, a sort of bluey grey. It was then that I checked my watch. My two hours had ended five minutes earlier. I went inside and tapped Polly. His eyes widened and then he relaxed as he recognised me. I made the sign for safe and then remade my cocoon. I was asleep almost instantly.

  We were all awake by four o’clock in the afternoon. We had had disturbed sleep but we had all slept long enough. We ate more tasteless rations, drank water and waited for dark. We could not speak and we could not go outside for our ablutions. We had to wait for the dark. Night and the dark were our friends. The sun was our enemy. It was a bizarre world in which we lived. We had become used to the aeroplanes flying in and out of the airport. They were mainly Henschel 129s and Messerschmitt 110s. We had glimpsed them through the bramble bushes as they came overhead. It showed us the proximity of the airfield. If things went wrong they would do so in a big way.

  Once night fell we all felt a huge sense of relief. I don’t know how the others felt but to me it was like being a criminal, a burglar. We had ‘cased’ the joint and now we would be breaking in. The difference was that we intended to use deadly force. We donned our bags and checked all our weapons. This time we would need to take our Bergens with us.

  The Lieutenant gave us our last instructions before we left our sanctuary. “We need to slow down any pursuit. I will keep watch while you chaps lay booby traps close to the path we use. When we overcome the guards we need to make the house the German’s enemy.”

  “Right sir.”

  “Tom, you need to lead. You speak German and your language skills might just make the enemy slow to react.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Curtis you and Poulson take care of the patrolling guard. Take him on the patrol which is closest to eleven as you can.”

  “Right sir.”

  “Right let’s go. It’s ten o’clock. I want to break in at eleven thirty. Fifteen minutes to effect the rescue and back here for twelve. We should have three hours to spare.”

  As we moved through the woods we heard noise from the house to our right. It sounded like some sort of party. Perhaps the noise might disguise any noise we made when we fled. As we made our way through the woods we were even quieter than we had been the previous night. We knew where the enemy was this time. We could smell their cigarette smoke. Once again they were close together around the brazier. The Feldwebel would not be happy. While the Lieutenant kept watch we used Mills bombs and the cord to make tripwires along the path leading through the woods. We just laid three. Hopefully they would trigger one and then waste time looking for many more. We just had to delay them.

  Then we rejoined the Lieutenant to wait. We watched as the German guards finished their cigarettes and one of them left to patrol the perimeter. Polly and Ken prepared to move off. The guard had only been gone for three minutes when the Feldwebel arrived. “Ah, you are obeying orders. That is good. The Gestapo are flying in later tonight from Berlin. Send for me as soon as they arrive. They are important men.”

  “Yes Feldwebel. Does that mean the prisoner wil
l be leaving?”

  “The Gestapo are a law unto themselves. I think we are here for some time. When Manfred returns tell him. I will be in my room.”

  He seemed satisfied and returned indoors. I dare not tell the others that we had less than a few hours to affect our rescue. If we spoke then the guard might hear us. I looked at my watch. It was ten thirty. When the guard returned Ken and Polly slipped silently off and headed east to wait for the guard on his next patrol. The two guards lit cigarettes and then began talking about the Feldwebel. They did not like him. We watched, a few minutes later as one of the Germans stood to start his patrol. That gave us ten minutes at the most.

  I waited until the German sentry was looking east and I ran across the road. My rubber soled shoes were silent. By the time he looked west again I was lying in the shelter of the wall under a jungle of nasturtiums. He stared at the wood. I wondered if he had seen the Lieutenant for he was at the exact spot where the German looked. I crawled closer to the German. I had three minutes left. If Ken and Polly took care of the other guard I would have longer but the sentry who was now ten feet from me would be suspicious of any delay. Suddenly the sentry stood. He still stared at the woods. He brought his gun up and slid the bolt back. Had he seen the Lieutenant? I was on my feet in an instant. Even as the German took a step forwards I pulled back hard on his coal scuttle helmet and ripped my dagger across his throat.

  The Lieutenant sprinted across the road as I rolled the body under the nasturtiums. I took his potato mashers and jammed them inside my battle dress. I sheathed my dagger and took out my Luger. A moment later Ken and Polly arrived. They nodded and we went in through the gate. We went fast and we went low. We could see lights in the upstairs rooms. I fought the urge to check my watch. It had to be about eleven. We had not seen any men returning from a night's drinking and we were gambling that they would be in the mansion and preparing for bed.