A GREAT STORY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 233, 4 November 1940, Page 3

A GREAT STORY

HIGHLANDERS PLAY HIDE AND SEEK WITH THE GERMAN ARMY Two twenty year old Scots Tommies, the only two who have escaped since 6,000 British troops were captured a'c St. Valery in the retreat from the Somrne, arrived in London yesterday. For twcnty-onc days they dodged the Germans,, ti swelled by night, sleeping by day, often starving— and missing cap Lure every day by luck and their own daring. They went to France with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders long before Hitler's blitzkrieg started, but fell, back from the Sommo in five days and took up positions to cover the evacuation of the British troops. "We could have held out, but the French let us down," they said. "When the French surrendered we were then only 6000 strong. "We had to lay down our arms too, not because Ave could not fight on—we all wanted to—but because we had-no more food or ammunition. "So the Germans just walked In and herded us into a field —the whole 6000 —just like cattle." Then the boys told how they escaped. "That day we were' formed up and made to march, as we thought, towards Belgium. As avc marched the Germans gaurded the road with arm oured ears and infantry armed with Tommy guns. After we had trudged for eight miles we had a whispered talk and decided to make a break for it, "On an agreed sign avc broke from the main column, and in the general mix up we managed to slip into a French peasant's house which .Avas empty. ' "After the troops had passed we managed to crawl out of the back of the house into some woods. ' So Tired. "Wc were so tired Ave just lay down and slept. When it got dark we crept out. No one Avas about. We knew it was no use trying to work our way back by the way Ave came. The roads Avere thick Avith anti-aircraft guns, machine gun posts and armoured cars. "So Ave started on a cross-country detour, skipping the roads as much as Ave could. "When Ave started avc had no food, guns, or any idea of Avhere Ave Avere going. We knew the gamble we were taking. But it Avas worth it. "It took us twenty-olie days to get back to the coast. We had no food for the first four days. That made six days altogether, because we had had none for two days before we Avere captured. "On the fourth day of our escape we found a bottle of rum in an abandoned lorry. Then avc came to a potato field, and dug up a lew potatoes Avith our jack knives —the only equipment Ave had.

"That meal of rum and raw pota- J toes Avas ilke a banquet. But Ave kept most of the rum, for Ave lcneAV it Avoukl have to last us a long time. "Next night Ave came to a big house. We decided it Avas a German headquarters, because; there Avere lots of thick telephone cables leading to it. "It Avas dark then, and before Ave had a chance to get Ave Avalkcd right into a German sentry. He Avas sound asleep, Avith his rifle at his side. He did not waken. "We decided to go on rather than go back. It would save time, and Ave had made a vow never to turn back, "About 200 yards past the headquarters Ave look shelter in a house that Ave thought Avas unoccupied. Its shutters Happed in the Avind and the doors Avere Avide open. "Luckily Ave didn't stay doAvnstairs. After a search of the house in the "darkness avc slept in the attic <>r-. a double bed. In the morning voices woke us up. They Avere German. "two soldiers who apparently had ieen out all night had returned to .fieep, A\ e crawled under our bed ind. Availed ior the worst. But the duns had .beds downstairs inid they (ucked in. "We waited all day. ijot daring lo s-iovo or cougti. In the evening they went out —\\;e watched, them from a window. "As Ave crept downstairs Ave saw a loaf left tey the Nazis. Heavens,. lioav Ave Avanted it,? But discretion v/on and avc left it and crawled into some woods. 'Then diseretinv lost. We Avere so hungry-— Ave had [ eaten only the raAV potatoes in s; v t

days—that avc decided to go back. We scrounged the loaf and it tasted to us better than a slap-up dinner. "And so avc Avent on—always at night, ahvavs hiding or sleeping dining the daj r . Food Left. "Just as avc Avere becoming very weak, wc had some luck. We arrived at a large mansion. It Avas derelict, but in the kitchen avc found tinned meat left by some French officers, scraps of bread, butter, sugar and rice. "No one seemed to be about, so avc lived, like lords in the mansion —but slept in a Avood near by. ' „ "At night Ave heard coavs mooing, and Ave crept out Avith jugs. The cows Avere tethered and feeding in a Held, We had ten pints in one night, and made rice pudding on the anthracite cooker. "There Avcrc potatoes in the garden, too. So we had some good solid meals. Every night for four nights Ave milked those coavs. "Then, fit again, avc made for the coast. We Avere only two miles from port. "We spent many nights looking for a boat to cross the Channels At last avc found one, a 20-.foot French fishing smack lying in a riA*cr. "Four more days Avere spent getting, stores from the mansion aboard the boat, and then avc had to Avail another four for a suitable tide. "Luckily avc both knew how to sail a boat, and Ave charted our [ course by the stars and the sun." Dark and Stormy. It Avas a stormy, dark night when the tAvo twenty year old priA T ates started, on their final dash out of harbour. "We Avere challenged at the moi*lh of the harbour. Machine gun bursts folloAved us. but Ave kept at our oars until avc Avere too exhausted to carry on. Somehow Ave got the mast up and put our boat under sail. "The Aveather Avas kind. But by eight next morning the Avind had got stronger and ripped our saiis. We patched them up. Neither of lis felt too good and Ave Avere both on the point of collapse. "We took turns at the Avheel while the other slept on deck. We Avere shipping too much Avater to sleep beloAV. "Bj' six o'clock that eA'ening we sighted Ehgland, the best sight avc had had since January when Ave first Avent to France. "Three British. A r essels Avere sweeping along the coast. The last of these sighted us and came across at full speed. "We couldn't speak. We just looked at each other and grabbed hands."