CHAPTER 10 - A DOGS CHANCE/THE WOODPECKER SONG.
“Freedom has a thousand charms to show,
When you enlist in Her Majesties forces you become subject to a long list of rules and regulations and they are strictly enforced. Should you be unfortunate enough to be captured by the enemy, those rules are still applicable, in fact, more are added. Your allegiance still has to be observed without question. The additional rule is that it is your duty to try and escape. The second rule is you harass the enemy and this includes sabotage. The third rule is that you always try to undermine the morale of the opposing forces. I always found that the urge to escape was inherent in most POWs and to demonstrate this I will relate two separate incidents the first of which I have called: |
Pte. Joseph Hutt |
A DOGS CHANCE
We were housed in a stalag in Silesia. It was a very remote area but a factory had been built there and people, slave labour mostly, had been sent there. A small village was formed with barrack room accommodation. There were soon over 300 of us in the stalag and we were split into working parties. The stalag was some distance from the factory so every morning we were marched to the factory in groups known as “commandos”. There was a guard with us all the time we were out of the stalag. Only a few people were excused, mainly the sick. In charge of us was a Scottish sergeant major, very strict but quite fair. It was winter and there was about two inches of snow on the ground. One day a friend and I decided to make an escape attempt. We consulted the sergeant major as was our duty and although he felt our chances were slim he gave the attempt his blessing. He made sure we were given extra rations out of a food store kept especially for such attempts.
We laid our plans accordingly and on the due morning we informed the sergeant major and he put the wheels on motion. It was still snowing and that formed part of the plan. We were smuggled out of the camp with the work parties. This was made possible by the fact that we had both reported sick that day. We had wrapped around us two blankets from our beds but they were of such poor quality we were not quite sure they would do the trick. We left the stalag and started on the long road to the factory. Our guard was less than enthusiastic or he would surely have noticed that his twenty strong party had actually swelled to twenty-two. All around us stretched the fields covered in a white blanket of snow. We stopped for a rest along the way but although twenty-two men stopped only twenty started away again. My pal and I crouched in a ditch until the coast was clear. We knew what direction we should take and started off across the fields. We had to make haste because, in our plan, time was of the essence. It started snowing even harder and the going was really tough. However, the conditions were working in our favour since the continuing snow blotted out our footsteps. We were listening intently all the while and sure enough soon heard the siren. This was the signal from the factory that the work party had arrived intact. Next there would be a roll call back at the stalag so that it would soon be apparent that two POWs were missing. This meant that search parties would soon be despatched, so we now put the next part of plan into action. We found a small bush whose branches were festooned with snow. Being careful not to disturb the bush itself we laid out two of the blankets and lay on them, covering ourselves with the other two. How long we lay there I simply do not know but I remember that it was quite warm snuggled up under those blankets. I think it was difficulty with our breathing that led us believe our plan was working. Cautiously we lifted up the top blankets and found that the snow had completely covered us. We then made some vent holes in the sides and could see that our tracks had been completely obliterated. It was time to lie still and wait.
We both heard them at the same time, the guttural voices of Germans. I peeped through one of the vent holes and could see the Germans spread out across the field obviously looking for our tracks. My friend whispered that it was the same on his side so we lay there scarcely daring to breathe. The voices grew louder and I could actually see the jackboots of a German soldier close by. Now was the crucial time and it seemed an eternity until the voices started to grow fainter. Through the peephole I could see that the German had passed by on the other side of the bush and was now some yards away. Our choice of bush had been a good one. Suddenly behind us we heard someone bark out a sharp order and we saw the Germans stop and turn around. Would we be lucky again? Indeed we were for the Germans again skirted around the other side of the bush. They got into formation and were marched away. It seemed obvious to us that the search had been abandoned.
We knew we had to be very cautious and lay without moving for another half hour or so. Outside it was deathly quiet and through the peepholes we could see nothing. I whispered to my friend that I would take a quick look to assess the situation. I lifted a corner of the blanket and suddenly heard a slight movement. I started with alarm as I found myself staring at a gleaming row of teeth and there staring at me was a dog. I could feel its hot fetid breath and saw the fur starting to rise on its back in an alarming manner. I could also see another dog just sitting there panting. I lowered the blanket and whispered the news to my colleague. I asked him to try his side. He quickly dropped the blanket again – same story! The dogs began barking excitedly. At one stage the volume of the barking seemed to be decreasing but as soon as we lifted the blanket we were confronted with a snarling dog. I know it sounds silly to let dogs dominate you in this way but we felt that these dogs would actually kill us if we made the wrong move. The Germans confirmed later that was indeed so.
Suddenly the barking started again in earnest and we heard the sound of voices. The blankets were thrown to one side and there were six German soldiers with rifles pointed at us. We were ordered to our feet and marched back to the stalag with a feeling of great ignominy.
With hindsight I realise that it was a stupid attempt. We were at least two hundred miles from the nearest neutral territory and would have to endure bitter weather by day and night in addition to which we had precious few provisions. We were none too popular with our fellow POWs either because some privileges had been taken away but the sergeant major was very sympathetic toward us. I did not agree with him when he reminded that he had told us that we did not have a “cat in hells chance”. It was more a case of not having a dog’s chance I told him.
The second incident I have called:
THE WOODPECKER SONG
I always listen with affection to the Woodpecker Song for it brings back sweet memories for me.
The tide was turning now. After the initial successes in Russia Hitler was now on the receiving end and this was proving too much for the Wehrmacht. His armies were being attacked from the East and the West and were in retreat. On our secret radio we heard the news but of course could show no signs of jubilation. We began to have hopes of being released but these were soon dashed. There was a corridor between the Allies and the Russians but with the V2 in mind the Germans were loath to let us go.
The result was that we were herded together and began that infamous Lamsdorf march. There were so many incidents on that march, frostbite, rampant dysentery but I will concentrate on just one, the one most important to me. We had suffered many privations and had crossed a mountain range when our guard told us that we were now in Czechoslovakia. The country was German occupied but Czech partisans were continually harassing them. There were great feelings of nostalgia on this particular morning for the countryside and the weather were so like England. Here we were, a long line of POWs walking dejectedly down a country lane. Suddenly the order came to halt. It turned out to be one of the short rest periods we were allowed, which I suspect, were as much for the German’s benefit as ours. The Germans ushered us to the side of the road where there was a hedge running alongside in front of a shallow ditch. We sat down on the grass in order to rest our weary limbs. We could not believe our ears when we suddenly heard a woman’s voice say,
“Don’t look round – do you want to escape?”
The message was delivered in broken English but the meaning was perfectly clear. The voice continued,
“If you do scratch your left ear with your right hand”
I was one of the first to do just that. Then the voice said.
“In a few minutes your friends to your left will start a quarrel. The guards will go to investigate. Then you will hear someone whistling the Woodpecker Song and something will happen. Do not be afraid and do not resist.”
Suddenly a quarrel broke out to our left and surely enough the guards rushed over to break it up. Then I heard someone whistling the Woodpeckers Song and suddenly I was grabbed by the shoulders and was forcibly dragged through the hedge. At first I startled but remembered the instruction, “do not resist”. As I looked up I was lying in ditch, deeper than the one at the side of the road and crouching alongside me were three men and a girl. The girl put her fingers to her lips demanding silence. Beside me was another prisoner I knew as Tim.
The girl then beckoned and whispered, “Follow us.”
Suddenly we were scurrying, bent double, along the ditch. After about one hundred yards we came to another hedge running at right angles. We turned along the hedge and followed the ditch. I was now getting very breathless but we soon reached a large barn like building. The door was ajar and we went in. Then things began to move very quickly. Out tattered uniforms were taken from us and we soon dressed in some equally tattered civilian clothes. I remember my army issue spoon dropping from my uniform. It had my army number engraved on it and I assumed this was why I had been allowed to retain it. It was picked up and placed on the table.
There was a large store in the one corner of the building and our discarded clothes, including shoes were bundled in and the door banged shut. Then some boards were removed from the rear of the building and we were ushered through with the girl following us. She told us we must hurry since the S S made regular patrols around the building. I suddenly thought of my spoon with my army number on it and felt very alarmed. Suddenly we were in a field were men were working. A tool was thrust into our hands, which looked like a kind of hoe, and we simply copied what the other men were doing. After what seemed an age the girl pointed into the distance and we saw the column from which we had escaped making its way over a hill. She seemed very relieved and for the next couple of hours we worked alongside the men in the fields.
The men talked a lot but of course we could not understand a word of it. I was very glad of Tim’s company because although the girl had disappeared at least I had someone to talk to. I will not go into all the details but that night we taken and smuggled into a small village. There we were hidden in a cellar and two days later were taken into the hills and handed over to the partisans who took us into their hands. There were many incidents after that but we had taken our first steps to freedom and home.
Even now I think of those brave people who helped us, particularly the three men and a girl. They knew what was in store for them if they had been caught and I can only offer up my silent thanks and hopes that things turned out all right for them.
I still think of them every time I hear the “Woodpeckers Song.”