the crew, for you have no pilot here with you, you must have been flying in a Lancaster?’
Politely I pointed out that the question was one that could not be answered. With a shrug, this officer, whom we liked the least of all, gave up the argument.
They all knew that we were going to Frankfurt, and told us that it was a very fine camp, and that we should meet many of our comrades there. We remembered vaguely having been told this before!
At last the party broke up, we were led back to the ignominy of our cell, and crawled on to our beds to snatch the final hour of sleep before it was time to go. I didn’t sleep anymore and it seemed an awfully long time before our old corporal came in. He was cursing pretty freely as though something had gone wrong with the arrangements, as indeed did appear to be the case, as it was now after 3 a.m. Hurriedly, we were made to collect our rations, and without further ado, were bundled out into the dim moonlight of the early March morning.
Karl and Adolf
T he morning was bitterly cold, and we all felt very stiff and shivery as we made our way down to the now familiar main roadway towards the gate at which we had entered on Monday evening. There was a sentry on duty at the gate and standing beside him was a little old man in the uniform of the German civil police, who we soon learnt was to act as yet another guard for us.
There was a brief exchange of formalities and then the old man made us fall in in two ranks, and we were marched off down the street. Hardly a word was spoken as we strode along, but I do remember thinking how ridiculously easy it would be to overpower the old man. Without doing anything beyond rendering him ineffective for a few hours, we could have made off into the night. We had the full advantage then, over our other projected escapes, in that we were now equipped with enough food to last several days, but against that was the problem of Diffy’s physical condition. The poor chap was obviously in no state to cope with the hardship and strainthat must inevitably ensue. It was equally futile to suppose that we could ‘fix’ our guard and leave Diffy roaming around all night while we made good our departure.
Another good chance of escape therefore had to be turned down. It was not very long before we were back in the town of Werl and had made our way to the railway station. We were taken into the entrance hall, but although there were several people waiting around, the place was in complete and total darkness. The policeman did the only thing possible, and led us outside again. For all he knew we could have wandered off, one at a time in the inky blackness within, and he would have been none the wiser!
Whilst we were standing outside, our guard started to make a little conversation. We discovered that he had a passable knowledge of English, a fact which was to make things easier in the days that we spent in his company. He told us that he was not a Nazi, and that as long as we behaved ourselves, he would look after us (and by this time we were well aware that we should need looking after) and we should be well treated. In response to our enquiry, he told us that the distance to Frankfurt was about 150 miles, and that it would take about two days. We were still innocent enough to wonder how it could possibly take as long as that!
Our walk had warmed us up, but we were beginning to get awfully cold again. As soon as athin shaft of light coming from under the door indicated that someone at last had organised a bit of illumination within, we were allowed to return indoors. The waiting room had been bombed, we learnt, and we resigned ourselves to what developed into a long and weary wait. We made ourselves as comfortable as possible leaning against the walls or sitting on the floor of the entrance hall. During our wait the party was reinforced by what appeared to be the very much overdue arrival of a second guard, a particularly dirty and uncouth-looking
Politely I pointed out that the question was one that could not be answered. With a shrug, this officer, whom we liked the least of all, gave up the argument.
They all knew that we were going to Frankfurt, and told us that it was a very fine camp, and that we should meet many of our comrades there. We remembered vaguely having been told this before!
At last the party broke up, we were led back to the ignominy of our cell, and crawled on to our beds to snatch the final hour of sleep before it was time to go. I didn’t sleep anymore and it seemed an awfully long time before our old corporal came in. He was cursing pretty freely as though something had gone wrong with the arrangements, as indeed did appear to be the case, as it was now after 3 a.m. Hurriedly, we were made to collect our rations, and without further ado, were bundled out into the dim moonlight of the early March morning.
Karl and Adolf
T he morning was bitterly cold, and we all felt very stiff and shivery as we made our way down to the now familiar main roadway towards the gate at which we had entered on Monday evening. There was a sentry on duty at the gate and standing beside him was a little old man in the uniform of the German civil police, who we soon learnt was to act as yet another guard for us.
There was a brief exchange of formalities and then the old man made us fall in in two ranks, and we were marched off down the street. Hardly a word was spoken as we strode along, but I do remember thinking how ridiculously easy it would be to overpower the old man. Without doing anything beyond rendering him ineffective for a few hours, we could have made off into the night. We had the full advantage then, over our other projected escapes, in that we were now equipped with enough food to last several days, but against that was the problem of Diffy’s physical condition. The poor chap was obviously in no state to cope with the hardship and strainthat must inevitably ensue. It was equally futile to suppose that we could ‘fix’ our guard and leave Diffy roaming around all night while we made good our departure.
Another good chance of escape therefore had to be turned down. It was not very long before we were back in the town of Werl and had made our way to the railway station. We were taken into the entrance hall, but although there were several people waiting around, the place was in complete and total darkness. The policeman did the only thing possible, and led us outside again. For all he knew we could have wandered off, one at a time in the inky blackness within, and he would have been none the wiser!
Whilst we were standing outside, our guard started to make a little conversation. We discovered that he had a passable knowledge of English, a fact which was to make things easier in the days that we spent in his company. He told us that he was not a Nazi, and that as long as we behaved ourselves, he would look after us (and by this time we were well aware that we should need looking after) and we should be well treated. In response to our enquiry, he told us that the distance to Frankfurt was about 150 miles, and that it would take about two days. We were still innocent enough to wonder how it could possibly take as long as that!
Our walk had warmed us up, but we were beginning to get awfully cold again. As soon as athin shaft of light coming from under the door indicated that someone at last had organised a bit of illumination within, we were allowed to return indoors. The waiting room had been bombed, we learnt, and we resigned ourselves to what developed into a long and weary wait. We made ourselves as comfortable as possible leaning against the walls or sitting on the floor of the entrance hall. During our wait the party was reinforced by what appeared to be the very much overdue arrival of a second guard, a particularly dirty and uncouth-looking
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