Like a magician with a special trick I flourished my find before my two men, "Duck eggs!"
Polly rubbed his hands, "Now if you had some bacon and bread this would be perfect."
"I'm afraid it is raw eggs tonight lads but the protein will help us. We are running short of rations."
"I've put some lines in the water. You never know we might get lucky. Fresh fish is good too."
We ate the eggs and had some of the rations. We were running dangerously short of water but I did not want to risk the water here. It might be salty. "Poulson take the first shift. Wake me at dawn. I want to make sure that the hide is well camouflaged."
"Right Sarge."
I knew that it would only be an hour at most but I had to be sure that we were safe. It felt like I had just touched my head to the ground when I was shaken awake. "You told me dawn, Sarge."
"I know. Get your head down."
I crept from under the hide. The nets had more than done their job. I took the opportunity to explore. There were reeds and spindly trees all around. We had managed to find the part with slightly bigger trees. I saw that we were surrounded on three sides by water. I headed north and after forty yards saw that the stream was big enough to jump. I cut down a bundle of reeds with my knife. I used three of them to bind it into a faggot. After I had made three or four I laid them across the stream and stepped on them. They sank alarmingly but did not disappear below the water. They supported my weight. I crossed to the other side. It was firmer ground for almost five hundred yards but there was less cover. Luckily the land was the same colour as my battle dress and I risked it.
Once on the other side I saw there was a wide channel. I crouched down and tasted it. It was not tidal. I peered to the west and saw that it was a mixture of mud flats and water. That was no good. I followed the channel north; it narrowed rapidly. I found a place where it was just twenty yards wide and looked shallow enough to ford. I heard a vehicle and I dropped behind some scrubby bushes. It was a German convoy and the road was just a hundred yards north of where I nervously waited. When the convoy had gone I headed back to the hide. We now had two options. We could risk the channel or risk the road. Both were not without danger and I would decide which was the bigger one when night fell and we reached the point of no return.
By the time I got back the day had warmed up considerably. I went to check Harry's fish lines. We had two small fish. I took them off the hooks and laid them on the bank. I dug up a couple of worms and put the lines back in the stream. Taking out my dagger I gutted the fish. It was a pity we could not cook them but they were fresh and I had heard that the Japanese ate raw fish regularly.
I woke Harry at ten. He was delighted with his catch. I told him about the surrounding area and I curled up to sleep. I was happier now for I had a choice of escape routes.
We left before dark. Harry managed to catch an eel too. I ate the fish but drew the line at the eel. Harry and Polly seemed happy enough to risk it. We packed up and I explained my plan. "We head for the road. If it is too busy then we cross the channel and work our way around to Vannes." I took out the map and showed them. "It looks to be smaller than St. Nazaire but it will still have a garrison and I would prefer to avoid it. If we can pass through the suburbs at night then I think that we stand a chance."
Then both nodded. They seemed to have complete faith in me and my ability to get us home safely. I wished I was as confident. When we reached the channel I saw that the tide was out and the water looked shallow. I saw that the road was still busy and there was plenty of traffic. I had no doubt they were still searching for commandos and the port would need repairs.
"We will risk the channel. Take off your shoes and socks. I don't want to lose them in the mud." We took off our shoes and socks and rolled up our trousers. It proved to be a wise move. The water only came up to our shins but our feet sank into the grey slimy mud of the channel. We might have had our shoes sucked from our feet. Once dressed we headed across the scrubland towards the distant town of Vannes. Some of the fields had sheep grazing on the salt grass but we saw neither people nor dogs. Sheep do not give the alarm.
We reached the River Marle. There was a military bridge across the river. That was when my cleverly constructed plan came unstuck. There were two guards at the Vannes end of the bridge. They would see us as we crossed. I had to come up with another plan. We clambered up the bank and I saw that the bridge was made of girders. There were struts and crosspieces. A mad idea came to me. We could use them to cross under the bridge. No ships would be passing below at night and even if there were they would be unlikely to look up. Once over the other side we would need to escape into the town without the guards seeing us.
I pointed to the bridge and mimed climbing it. At first they looked confused and so I mimed it again. Then they nodded. We would be safe from observation as there was no one on the river. However it would not be an easy climb. The first part was not difficult. I found myself under the wooden boards which made up the surface of the bridge. Once there I discovered that I would not need to hang from the bridge as I had feared; the struts and braces were close enough for me to crawl. I moved like a huge four legged spider. The problem was the Bergen which scraped along the wood but I managed. The water was not that far below but if we fell into it then the splash would easily be heard and I doubted that we would escape. I kept my attention on the other side. Once I reached the other side of the bridge then I turned and saw the other two making their way along the girders after me.
I took out my Luger and made my way down to the base of the bridge. There was no path close to the river. We would have to climb up and risk the road. I waited until the other two joined me and I pointed up. They nodded. We crawled slowly towards the checkpoint. With luck the guard's attention would be on the other side of the bridge. As we neared the top I heard them talking. I rose slowly so that I was hidden by the huge metal post which supported the cable supporting the bridge. I saw that the road was clear and I waved Polly down it. He scurried away and disappeared across the other side. He had not been seen. I waved for Harry to follow him. He was half way across when I heard a German shout, "Halt!" And then, in English, "Hands up Tommy!"
Harry briefly glanced in my direction and I nodded. I was still hidden. Unless they turned around they would not see me. The two sentries made the mistake of walking together towards Harry. He raised his hands. I saw that he still held his Tommy gun in his right hand. Their rifles were pointed directly at him. I knew that Polly would have them covered but it would be a disaster if he were to use his gun. I silently stepped out behind them and had my gun pressed into the back of one of them before they knew.
"One false move and I blow a hole in your back! Drop your guns!" I poked my gun hard and one dropped his rifle, followed by the other one. "Poulson get out here!"
As soon as Polly appeared with his Thompson they raised their hands. Harry immediately took out his cord. I said, "Put your hands behind your backs." While my two men trussed them up and took their grenades I looked around for somewhere to hide them. There was a sentry box to one side and a motor bike and sidecar combination. "Stick them in the sentry box. Gag them with something." The motor cycle had given me an idea. "Fetch their helmets!"
When they returned I said, "Harry, can you get the motor bike going?"
"I think so Sarge. Why?"
"We are going to drive through Vannes. Two of us can wear the helmets. In the dark we might be mistaken for Jerries. Polly, you are lighter than me. You get on the back of the bike." I took one helmet and I gave the other to Harry. I jammed Harry's Bergen into the sidecar. It was a tight fit but I managed it. "Harry, just keep going straight. Don't turn right! That will take us into Vannes. Once we get into the country we will stop and study the map."
The German motorcycle seemed inordinately loud as he started it. He looked at me and I nodded. We headed west. The Germans had made the headlights a bare slit. It made visibility poor and our speed was reduced. It was on
ly later I realised that this meant we did not attract attention. I kept my Luger in my hand for the only people on the streets were the Germans. The curfew kept the French indoors. I relaxed a little and ran the map through my head. To the south of us, our left, there were no ports and no boats. We had another twenty miles to go until we reached Plouharnel or Carnac; both were close to each other. I guessed, at this speed, we would reach one of them in under an hour.
It was not to be for we were spotted at Ploeren; it was a few miles short of Carnac. It was a small village and perhaps the two sentries were bored. They heard us coming and stepped into the road. One held a lantern and the other had his rifle in his hands. "You had better slow down, Lowe, but be ready to go as soon as I give the word. Polly keep your head tucked in."
We slowed and I saw that the rifle was not levelled at us but hung loosely in the sentry's right hand.
"Halt!"
I kept the Luger hidden but pointed at them. I said, "What is the problem? We have a message to take to Lorient."
We were just six feet from them and the man with the light approached. I saw suspicion on his face. He saw Polly. "Why are there three of you on this..." He did not finish the sentence for his light showed Harry's brown tunic. "Fritz, they are Tommies!"
The man with the rifle was the danger and I fired two shots at him as he raised his weapon. He was less than ten feet away and I could not miss. The man with the light had a dilemma. He had no weapon and rather than using his light as one which we would have done he panicked. I swung the Luger around and said, "Do not throw your life away my friend. Raise your hands. Give me the light." He did so. "Polly tie him up." I had no idea what sort of garrison the town contained but the two shots would have woken them. "Take his boots." I threw the light to the ground and it shattered covering the road in broken glass.
As Poulson remounted I said, "Have your Colt ready."
I holstered my Luger and drew my Thompson. Harry roared off down the road. We had to be ready for anything. I saw, in the dark ahead, the shadows of another small village. A light appeared. "Lowe turn off your headlight."
"I might as well. It is bloody useless." As soon as he did the road ahead became just a black mass. Luckily the road was relatively straight. I peered into the darkness and saw, by the light ahead, that there were Germans and they were attempting to put a barrier across the road. There were just six of them. "Straight through. Poulson, you take the Germans on the left."
Perhaps they recognised the motorcycle and the German helmet in the dark but they hesitated. I gave a short burst when we were twenty yards away and they dived for cover. I heard the bark of Polly's Colt. As we passed them I reached for a grenade, pulled the pin and threw it high over my shoulder. "Grenade!" Gowland accelerated and I felt the force as we leapt down the road. The explosion behind was accompanied by the shouts of injured men. We passed a crossroads and kept heading west. I suddenly realised that the road was now heading south and I could smell the sea. There were many inlets hereabout. "Lowe, Stop! Turn around and go back to the crossroads. We need to head north." The road south would trap us on the wrong side of the inlet.
"But you said...!"
"Just do it." I had to think quickly for seconds would now be vital if we were to escape this trap.
I readied another grenade in case we needed it. When he struck the crossroads we headed north. The road twisted and turned but after a mile we, thankfully, struck a main road heading east to west.
"Turn left!" The alarm would have been given. I had no doubt that the telephone lines were humming. There would be roadblocks ahead. We needed to make some miles and then get off the road. The question was, would we be allowed the time? I looked behind and I could neither see nor hear any sign of pursuit. They had radios and telephones. They did not need to pursue. They could just tighten the net around us.
Chapter 14
A mile and a half after we had joined the larger road I saw a wood to one side of the road. "Lowe, find a track into the wood. We need to hide up."
This time he obeyed instantly and we turned down a forester's track. Just inside I said, "Stop here and turn the motorcycle around." I needed time to find our bearings.
I took the torch from the Bergen and shone it inside the sidecar so that no light spilled. I wanted to be able to read the map and find out exactly where we were. We were beyond the map in my head. The other two manhandled the bike so that it was facing the way he had come into the wood. I wanted a speedy exit. "Come here, you two, in case anything happens to me." They peered at the map. "That last village was called Plougemelen. A mile or so up the road is Auray. Once we have passed Auray then we can choose our route to get to the coast. We have to get to Auray now as fast as we can. When we hit the town take the first major road to the left that you can." I jabbed a finger at the map. "That should be here."
"Righto, Sarge."
"Fresh magazine Polly, and keep a grenade handy. Lowe give me a couple of yours. I am almost out." He handed me two Mills bombs.
Just then we heard a Kubelwagen as it headed along the road in the direction of Auray.
"Quick, follow that German. We might be able to sneak through behind them."
As we set off I knew it was a gamble but a calculated one. The Kubelwagen would be ahead of us. Their attention would be on the road in front of them. I hoped that if they did see us they would assume we were men sent to help them. I had Gowland use the headlights; it would make them less suspicious of us. We caught up with it and when we were about two hundred yards behind I told Gowland to maintain that distance. A Kubelwagen is noisy and I doubted that they would look behind. I saw the houses and buildings of Auray in the distance. I could see lights and saw that we had another bridge to cross and another roadblock to pass."They will open the road block for them. When you see it open then give it all the power you have Lowe!"
"Sarge!"
We were at one end of the bridge when the Kubelwagen slowed and they opened the barrier to let it through. When they heard the sound of the motorcycle they turned. Without lights to see us clearly we would appear as two Germans in a motorcycle combination. However I saw one suspicious sergeant holding his rifle at high port. He was ready.
"Go!"
I had a grenade in my lap but I first fired a long burst at the sergeant. He fell to the side and the others dived for cover. It was a tight fit. Polly hit a soldier who fell across the road. I threw my grenade into the Kubelwagen as the motorcycle ran over the stricken soldier. I turned and emptied my magazine. I saw the Kubelwagen lit up by the exploding grenade. They would be going nowhere in a hurry. It took a few moments for the stunned Germans to react and by then we had disappeared into the dark. The shots they fired were blind.
We passed one left turn almost immediately but that was no good. They would know we had taken it because of the change in engine noise. We kept going and were rewarded, a half mile later by a second smaller one. It was narrow and even the motorcycle appeared too large for it. I hoped that it would be devoid of Germans. For the first time that long night our luck held. We saw no one and we heard no sounds of pursuit. Dawn was less than a couple of hours away. The Luftwaffe would have spotter aeroplanes up and then our goose would be cooked. I planned on being at our destination by then and lay up until we could reconnoitre the area.
As we raced along I began to feel more confident. Suddenly Harry jammed the brakes on and we squealed to a halt. There was a river ahead. I jumped out and said, "Harry turn it around." I stepped into the narrow channel. I could ford it but not the motor cycle. I took a decision. "We have had it with the bike. Hide it, grab your bags and follow me."
I slung my Bergen and headed across the river. It was not wide but it came almost to my thighs at one point. I waded ashore on the other side and made my way through the trees. It was another wood. I heard nothing and, while I waited for the others I risked the map and the torch. I used the inside of the bag to hide the light. I worked out that we had just crossed the Ruisseau
de Gouyanzeur. We had been lucky. Had we hit it another fifty yards downstream we would not have been able to cross. Harry and Polly joined me, "A shame about the bike, Sarge."
"Don't worry about it." I pointed into the Bergen where the map was illuminated by the torch. "I think we are here about a mile and half from the first little port. We can be there before dawn and see what there is there. Polly, you take the lead. Head south and west."
"Sarge."
I brought up the rear. In the distance I could hear the sound of trucks and other vehicles. Occasionally, as I turned, I saw flashes of light. They were using lights to search for us. They were not close and appeared more like the lights of fireflies. We were not out of the woods yet, literally.
After half an hour of tramping through, first woods and then fields, we saw houses. This had to be Carnac. Poulson stopped and I ran forward. It was still dark but we needed to find somewhere close to the harbour. This was the smallest of the ports I had seen. I hoped for a fishing boat to take us home. Once again I gambled. We ran along the lanes towards the sea which I could now smell. It would be light in an hour and false dawn was behind us. The road began to descend towards the beach and the harbour. I saw figures in the distance heading up towards us. I led my men to the left and we ducked into a track between two houses. They looked like fishermen's cottages and, as we hid against the wall I felt the chimney. It was warm. The people were up and about.
I waved my arm and we moved along the back of the houses. There was no fence but they used the backs for vegetable gardens. We ran along them. We emerged on a road above the harbour. I could see the fishing boats. There were eight of them and they were heading out to sea. The tide was coming in. We had missed them by minutes. I did not want to risk moving back through the houses and so I looked for somewhere for us to hide close to the harbour. It was not a crazy idea for I saw the last of those who had helped to launch the boats, heading up to the village. There would soon be no one left in the harbour. We could hide there until the fishing boats returned. When the road was empty I led them down to the circular harbour. It was small. I reckoned it could hold no more than twelve fishing boats at most. There were tables covered with a roof. That would be where they would land and sell their fish or perhaps sort it. The only other buildings were what looked like somewhere they sold things in the summer months, a vending hut, and the other was a large hut which had a flagpole. Possibly something to do with a harbour master.
Behind Enemy Lines Page 17