Missing The Boat: War Stories of Thomas Alan Dirkin

69 carried and put on sledges and pulled. Fortunately for myself I was very strong and healthy, and managed to get along alright. We marched from Gogolin towards the northwest, through Oppeln, and then turned north nearly to Grunberg. We were harassed all the time by Russian bomber and fighter planes, and then we turned south and marched back along the river Weisse, and then down through Sargan and Bunzlau, and from there to a place near Bautzen in Saxony. We stayed in Bautzen for a few days, and then we went from there to a place near Dresden on the night of the very heavy bombing raid. This was the worst air raid I have ever seen We then went to a place across the river Elbe called Konigstein. Here we stayed three weeks, with the Russian troops on one side of us, and the American troops on the other, and at one time we were under the trommelfeur 8 of the artillery. We then left Konigstein and set off towards the Czechoslovakian border. On this day the sun was shining brilliantly, and there were no clouds in the sky and it was warm. This was about the first of May. We had been marching a little way when Russian bomber planes bombed the road. When these had gone we continued and about half an hour later American fighter planes strafed us for over an hour, and many of our men fell 9 . We went on again and turned towards Aussig, and once again we were caught by British bombing planes in a rocky gorge where there was no cover for protection, and a German munition convoy was also on the road. Here again things were very very bad, but I still managed to live. We went on a little way, but practically every kilometer American and Russian fighter planes were machine-gunning us, and the German troops on the march, and till late at night until it went dark our lives were not worth very much. I decided that night to escape, and at midnight I threw away everything that was absolutely necessary, and crawled away into the darkness. I travelled many hours, until I reached a little village five kilometers from Aussig, and here I saw some amazing sights. The roads were packed with German troops and vehicles and burnt out tanks and lorries. Horses and dead soldiers lay thick upon the road. The German soldiers took no notice of me 10 , and I armed myself, which was easy as there were so many machine pistols and ammunition lying about. Further down the road I discovered a German lorry filled with bottles of Russian vodka. I took two or three of these bottles and made my way into a wood by the side of the road where I drank myself to sleep. When I awoke many hours later I was still a little drunk. I made my way into a village nearby, and everything was quiet and nobody seemed to be about. I went to the house of the burgomaster and told him that I had been a British prisoner of war. He was very nasty to me 11 , and it needed a little persuasion with the machine gun to make him give me food. Some hours later I found another four Englishmen hiding in the village. Shortly afterwards Russian troops appeared on the hillside two or three kilometers away. We were then mixed up in the thick of the battle, but held our place in a cellar until the Russian tanks advanced over us and we were able to come out and say we were Englishmen.