Behind Enemy Lines

by Hosker, Griff

  "What is in here, Sergeant Major?"

  "Every map I could lay my hands on." I picked out a petrol company's map. It was pre war. He shrugged, "I thought that the towns wouldn't change and they have the roads on. The others I managed to requisition."

  "That is excellent."

  Major Foster came out of his office, "Has the Sergeant Major told you his news, Lieutenant?"

  "I was just about to, sir. I have been appointed to this camp as training officer. My days of going behind the lines are over. My gimpy leg stops that. Me and Daddy Grant will stay here as permanent residents." He grinned, "Mrs Bailey is letting me have Bert Grimsdale's old room. She is a good cook, you know."

  "I know. Has she forgiven you yet then?"

  "Forgiven me?"

  "You know when we brought the E-boat back?"

  "Water under the bridge. We are the best of friends now."

  I was happy. She would have company which would not be going into harm's way and Reg would have someone his own age with whom to talk. It almost made me believe in some sort of higher being ordaining our lives.

  It did not take long for us to be ready for sea. When we reached the S-88 I saw that they had fitted the radar array. It did not look as bad as I had expected. Lieutenant Jorgenson stood at the top of the gangplank. "Welcome to the 'Lucky Lady'." I cocked my head to one side. "The lads thought she should have a name and S-88 didn't seem to do justice to our venture. If you and your lads go aft Leading Seaman Leslie will get them squared away."

  When they had gone Alan pointed to the array. "We compromised. We haven't got the range we should have. This just covers thirty miles from the boat but it doesn't get in the way and doesn't spoil our profile. We have to fool Jerry, you know."

  "It looks fine."

  "And we can get it down in a hurry if we have to."

  Bill appeared, "All squared away, sir."

  "Right let's see what this little beauty will do then."

  We went sedately down the Carrick roads and we passed the entrance to the harbour at Falmouth. We headed gently along the coast towards Land's End. From there on it was a wild coast. We flew the white ensign from our stern. As an added precaution we had informed Coastal Command of our route. As soon as we passed Land's End and headed north east Alan opened her up. Even I was taken aback by the acceleration.

  He grinned at me, "Faster than when you had her?" I nodded. "It needed a good service and the fuel the Germans used was piss poor. In fact our engineer thought it was German piss! We have good fuel, a retuned engine and we cleared the weed from the hull. We are getting ten knots more than when you sailed her."

  We soon found the spot we had decided was similar to Dieppe. There was a tiny fishing port at Porth. Although smaller than Dieppe, the land to the east and west were similar to that at Dieppe. We sailed in close to inspect the depth. I noticed a seaman at the bows. He had an old lead weight with grease around it. He dropped it into the water to ascertain the depth. It had been a method used since the days of sailing ships. Although old fashioned, it worked. Our draught was four feet ten inches. That was too deep for Fletcher and Crowe. The radio they carried would be under water.

  "Right, Tom. We will experiment here. Have one of your lads at the bows with Smith the man with the lead."

  "Hewitt, go to the bow and be ready to jump into the sea on my command."

  The Norwegian Lieutenant shrugged. "If we ground her we all go over the side to free her but we have to know the grounding point." He cupped his hands, "Smith, call out the depth. Let me know when it is five feet!"

  He edged us in.

  Smith shouted, "Five feet, sir."

  "Let's push a little further eh? And again, Smith."

  "Four feet six."

  We went a little further and felt a judder; we had touched bottom. He backed out enough so that we had movement. He nodded to me. I shouted, "In you go Hewitt!"

  He jumped in and I saw that the water came up to his waist. That was no good. The radio might be damaged. I went forrard. "Scouse, come with me." My radio operator came to the bows. "Could you get out of the way Smith I want to try something." He obliged. "Right Scouse when we land we have to get off at the sharp end! Your radio will get wet."

  "I could carry it in front of me sir and hold it over my head."

  "That is a good idea but let's try this. Run along the deck and see how far you can get from the boat." I turned, "Sergeant Poulson, chuck me a Bergen!" When it arrived I gave the Bergen to Fletcher. "Try it with this."

  He held it before him and ran. He jumped high and landed some eight feet from the bows. He stumbled a little but kept his balance. Hewitt helped him to steady himself. I saw that the water came to his knees and the Bergen remained dry.

  "That is the way we will do it. Crowe will go before you, Scouse, and steady you in case you fall."

  With that problem solved we perfected our landing technique. I went in first followed by Sergeant Poulson. The last three were the two men with the radio and Lance Sergeant Gowland, now returned and fit. When we had done it ten times in daylight we waited until dark and did it five more times.

  As we headed back through the dark, we were well pleased. We knew we could land and we were a well oiled team. The sailors and my commandos got on well. We worked hard each day getting to the ship, the landing and, most importantly, each other. Three days later we felt we were ready to go. Major Foster gave us the go ahead. Before we left he told us that the Canadians would be the troops making the assault but that there would be paratroopers with them.

  We slipped out of our berth in the early afternoon. We would sail along the coast and make the dash for Dieppe after dark. We would conserve fuel during daylight hours but make better time at night. The liaison set up by my father meant that we had air support during daylight. At night there would be a flight of Bristol Blenheims close at hand but we would need to summon them by radio. We would not be alone.

  The two teams had gelled well. As we headed along the coast I joined Alan and Leading Seaman Leslie who was the coxswain. Bill smiled, "You know sir, she feels like she is desperate to run. This tootling along at thirty knots makes her seem like an old lady. She is keen to run."

  Alan Jorgenson nodded, "I know what you mean. Don't worry, Killick, we will let her have her head tonight."

  "That's grand, sir."

  "Alan, our radios only have a range of ten miles. We should never be more than a mile or so from the coast but if you are out to sea..."

  "Don't worry. After we drop you back off then we will head for Newhaven and lie up there during the day. We will be on station the moment it is dark. I guarantee that we will be within five miles of you at all times."

  "Good."

  We had planned on one night to explore the southern side. Alan would pick us up and then drop us at the northern side the second night. It meant we did not have to risk crossing the town. I remembered when we had raided close to Calais and lost two men when we had had to go into the outskirts. We would not need to do that this time.

  When the order came to darken ship we went below to prepare for our raid. The men repacked their Bergens so that nothing was omitted. They put in their food and camouflage nets at the bottom of the bags. They would be the least necessary. Then the grenades, toggle ropes, bolas and spare ammunition. Finally they put in their maps. I had had the men make their own copies of the maps of the area. They needed to know the roads and main features. They would all amend their own maps when we found emplacements, wires, mine field, sentries and machine gun posts. We had lost too many men when we had attacked St. Nazaire and that was before the attack had even begun. Everything else went on their webbing belts. I was the only one with the silencer on the Colt. I was the experiment. We had tried it on the range and it appeared to work. There was just the slightest of puffs when I used it. I also had a second holster for my Luger. I risked losing it from my battledress.

  The last thing we did was to black up. We all checked each other's bags.
Fletcher did not have a Bergen. He carried the radio. Crow had doubled up with his equipment. The two of them were the heaviest laden of any of us. Lowe and Gowland had the demolition charges although we had no plans to use them. They were for emergencies only.

  There was a voice pipe in the cabin and I heard Bill Leslie's voice. "Thirty minutes from landfall."

  "Lights out lads."

  We turned out the lights and slipped up on deck. I glanced in at the shelter they had erected around the radar. "Anything?"

  "No, sir, quiet as the grave."

  I returned to the bridge. I saw that we had slowed down as we approached the French coast. Aerial photography had identified a huge gun emplacement at the top of the cliffs by Vasterival. We would begin our search to the east of the guns close to Quiberville and then head towards the edge of Dieppe. When we had explored the western side of the town we would hide up for the day in the woods which lay just a mile from the town. We had contemplated doing it one night but it was too risky. We might rush things. This way we could give one report to Alan and if the second half of the operation ended in failure the message would still get back to base.

  We moved to the huge foredeck and waited. Alan slowed the ship down as much as he dared and Bill edged it in. The leadsman did not shout but when his hand went up we knew that we had arrived. I slipped over the side and the water came up to my waist. I rushed to the shore and carried on across the sand. Kneeling I cocked my Thompson and scanned ahead of me. The cliffs rose to my left, dark and menacing. I saw two pill boxes guarding the entrance to the beach where the River Saane flowed. I slipped my Thompson over my shoulder and took out my silenced Colt. I waved Sergeant Poulson forward and we ran to the pillbox on our left. I saw no machine gun snout protruding from its mouth and I slipped around the back. It was, mercifully, empty. Even in the dark the concrete looked bright. This was a newly built defence. We had been lucky; they had yet to man it.

  I stepped out and saw that we had all landed. The E-Boat could be barely seen as the captain took it back to Newhaven. We moved along the bank of the Saane. We saw no one. After half a mile or so I turned to head up the slope towards the hamlet of Blancmesnil. The houses were silent. I doubted that they were occupied; the Germans would not risk civilians this close to their guns. Once we had passed them I halted. The guns were to the left of us. I spread the men out in a sweep line and we headed through the woods toward the guns. Unlike the pillboxes, these would be defended. That I knew for certain.

  It was a well defended site. I saw a flak tower and some way behind it the gun emplacements. I led my handful of men along the line of defences, using the tree cover and the ditch alongside the road. We had to find a way down to the beach for that was where we would be picked up by Lieutenant Jorgenson. The guns were huge and there were six of them. They would make mincemeat of any ship foolish enough to attack the town. I smelled smoke and dropped to the ground. Two Germans walked along the rear of the guns. They were chatting about a bar in Dieppe which had friendly girls who were happy to collaborate with German soldiers. They were looking forward to their day off the next day. They passed us and headed along the far side of the guns.

  I gambled that they would take longer to patrol the perimeter than it would take us to find the beach. A good commando was always ready to find his way out of trouble as fast as he got into it. As the ground descended I saw a barn which looked abandoned. It was on the edge of the woods. I stored that information and we went down the gully which led to the beach. There were obstacles at the beach. They were intended to deter, rather than to stop. We could get passed them whenever we chose. We quickly returned to the barn and then headed towards Dieppe.

  The woods gave us cover and we moved quickly. I was acutely aware of the time. We had been right to use two nights to complete the work. Although we needed to check out the cliffs the town was the priority. I decided I would explore the cliffs during daylight. We stuck to the road which twisted down the slope towards the hamlet of Pourville-sur-mer. This was almost on the edge of Dieppe. By my estimate we were but a mile from the port. Thankfully the Germans had not defended Pourville-sur-mer. That was worrying. They would only do that if they thought this western flank was secure.

  I left the road. Suddenly we came upon a double ring of barbed wire. It had no gaps. For us it was not a problem; we laid our Bergens across it and walked over the path we had made. For an attacking force it would be a barrier which would slow them up and allow the Germans to cut down any attackers.

  Once passed the obstacle we moved cautiously through the woods and over the scrubby heath land. Even in the dark we recognised the castle of Dieppe. Although it had medieval stone walls it would not stand up to pounding by bombers. However I could see, even in the black of night, a flag fluttering from its top. The Germans were using it. I guessed it would be a control centre. I halted the patrol. I pointed to Sergeant Poulson and then to my right. He nodded and took Hewitt and Groves with him. I pointed to Lance Sergeant Gowland and pointed to my left. He tapped Groves and they headed away into the night.

  I led the rest towards the town. We were moving across fields and so had to watch our footing. I heard a movement as we approached a hedgerow and I held up my hand to halt us. I wriggled beneath the hedge and saw that we were just thirty yards from the German defences and they looked to be formidable. Even in the dark I saw that they had many flak guns on the cliff top and it bristled with machine guns. This was the strong point. I consigned the picture to my memory and then led my men back to the rendezvous point. We waited for half an hour for the others to join us. This was the worrying time. We would know they had been discovered if we heard gun fire. They appeared simultaneously. I saw that we had an hour before dawn. Already the sky was becoming lighter.

  I turned and led them back through the woods towards Pourville-sur-mer. We crossed the barbed wire, this time at a different point. I hoped our route would not be noticed. To my horror I saw movement ahead. There were people up and about. Farmers were heading for cow byres and others were moving around in their homes; I saw the lights and smelled the smoke. We skirted the hamlet. It ate up valuable dark and we had to move both swiftly and silently until we were beyond the houses. We had half a mile to go and a road to cross but the sun had made it lighter. We had little choice. I chose a section of the road which twisted above and below us. One by one we darted across and made the safety of the trees and scrub. I waved Sergeant Poulson forward to find a camp for the day. Once more we had been lucky.

  Polly was experienced enough to find the perfect place for us to lie up. It was a dell in a wood. There were plenty of bushes and low stubby trees around to break up the profile of the camp we would erect. We were far enough from a path to avoid casual visitors. If someone found us they would be looking for us. Harry and George scouted the perimeter while the rest of us used our netting to make us even harder to spot.

  I took out my maps and marked on them all that I had seen. When the perimeter was established I waved over my NCOs. "Mark on my map what you found and then copy my information on to yours."

  I went to detail the sentries. We would need two on watch at all times. The rest of the section ate, drank and then made a nest. We had a long day in May to wait. When I returned to my two NCOs they had finished.

  "The guns don't look daunting but the town is a fortress, sir."

  I nodded, "I will take Hewitt out this afternoon. He is the quietest of the men and he can use a bola. I am keen to scout the cliffs and see if I can see the seaward defences against infantry. We will get our heads down now. Polly, you take charge."

  "Right sir."

  I found Hewitt. He was using branches to make a hide. "You get your head down now. No guard duty for you. We will have a Recce this afternoon."

  "Right sir."

  I took out my net and rolling in it, settled myself under an elder bush. I was asleep instantly.

  My internal body clock awoke me. Even without looking at my watch the sun told m
e that it was afternoon. I rolled from my netting and immediately packed it. We had to be ready to move quickly if danger threatened. I saw George and Scouse on watch. I joined them and ate some rations and drank some water. "Report."

  "Quite as the grave, sir. A flight of 190s flew over and that has been about it. I think they were just watching the coast. We have heard a little bit of noise from the guns. I heard a klaxon and I am guessing they were practising."

  "Right. I will wake Hewitt. I want to see what the cliff is like and to get a little closer to the guns. If we are discovered tell Poulson to take charge and get the men back to the boat. If we are spotted or captured then abort the second part of the operation."

  "Right sir." He paused, "But if you could manage it, don't get caught eh sir? Mrs Bailey would blame us!"

  I shook Hewitt awake. "Get some food and water. When you are ready fetch your bola and your Colt. We are going for a Recce."

  "I am ready now, sir!"

  "There is no rush. Food, water, pee, then you are ready!"

  "Sir."

  I went to my Bergen and took out my binoculars. They would come in handy.

  Despite my words he rushed his food. I waved him forward and we headed towards the cliffs. We went right to Gorge de Moutiers. This was a narrow gully which led to the beach. It struck me as an easy way down to the shore. As we made our way towards the cliffs we used every piece of cover we could. I could do this with the two of us but the whole section would have been a liability. We saw no one. I went to the cliffs first. We crawled the last thirty yards so that we were not silhouetted against the sky. It was depressing when we reached the edge. The cliffs were sheer. They could be scaled but it would take a great deal of time and require the highest levels of skill. We back off and returned to the gorge.

  I saw the open sea. This was the back passage to the guns. We made our way down. Sand had blown in and it was soft. That appeared to be the only obstacle. Then I saw the barbed wire at the end. That was my first warning. I looked carefully and, as we scanned the beach I saw the real danger. The beach had been mined. There was no warning sign but the wind had whipped the sand from one of the mines close to the barrier and I saw the evil detonator sticking out of the sand. We could not use this beach.