'Soldiers Progress'
Not being on duty that
weekend, Brian and myself donned our civvies and made
for the local bus station.
Here we boarded a bus on route to a small German town
a few miles away. On arrival,
leaving the vehicle we made the usual tour
of the bars and taverns,
starting with a drink at the Station Inn and eventually
settling down in another, further
into town.
During the evening it became
apparent that the room above was hosting a wedding
reception as the um pa pa beat
of the music spread through the ceiling and down the
stairs, its regular rhythms
guiding the waiters back and fore, carrying drinks for
the guests who frequently
passed by, for the toilets situated below. Jock
and
a few more of our
friends arrived and joined us at the table and as the evening
drew
on our banter became
louder. One of the family, on passing, hearing we
were British
invited us to join the
party above and without further prompting did just that.
We soon become imbued with the
atmosphere as the party spirit took over with the
boom boom of the music even
louder now, in-between bouts
of whirling around the
room with
some fine German wenches, pausing occasionally to sample the sauerkraut
and frankfurter sausages. But as the fun drew to a close
and the guests began to
depart we realized that the last
bus might have gone. So
crashing down the backstairs
Brian opened a door to a
storeroom which he thought
was an exit and spied two bicycles
inside. It seemed that providence had brought these
upon us and in our merry state
foolishly wheeled them out and
started peddling towards
camp.
Broken clouds were passing
across the moon, which peeked out now and again
showing
up bare trees and newly
ploughed fields. A shower began to
stream down and Brian
complained that his foot was
slipping off the pedal and perhaps it might be an idea to
ditch the bikes. Just off the
verge of the road a van was parked near a cottage, so we left
the bikes and
crept up to the van, pulled back the
door and got inside. Brian started to
fiddle with the switches,
turning the lights on and off.
''Don't do that you'll wake
someone up'' l exclaimed. Then whirr
whirr as he found
the ignition and the
motor turned a few times.
Suddenly
a light went on in the cottage, Brian jerked up in fear and mumbled a warning
then slid his door open and scurried
away into the night. Myself being on the cottage side
wasn't so lucky for as l emerged, a man pointing a pistol arrived at the side of the bonnet.
Putting my hands up slowly l blurted out '' English--English, just waiting till it stopped
raining'' Hoping he
understood the lingo, but no comment, just a motion with the gun for
me to get into a saloon car
nearby. I opened my door, waited until he got in his side, then
slammed mine shut and tore off
into the darkness, my heart pounding, thinking l would get
a bullet any second.
I found myself running along a
pathway which led to an old wood yard, with a large
iron gate blocking the way. Like
a fox over a fence l cleared it in seconds continuing
into some woods which came out
at the back of the fields. The moon flipped out and
lit up the road in the
distance, heading towards camp, so l put my head down and
hurried on.
It was fortunate l did because
the German furious at being tricked was now driving
up and down the road, swinging
the headlight beams across the fields. He must have
caught site of my shadow,
because the car slid to a halt, he got out and sent two shots
in my direction, they zoomed
overhead as l disappeared into a copse which led out
to a country lane. He knowing
where it led started to speed to the area as l began to
run down the lane. Looking up,
l saw a path running along a steep bank and leapt onto
it, quickly gaining height, the car
catching my progress in
its beam and arriving with
a screech. At the top some hay bales had been stacked for
winter feed and as l saw
him looking up, put my
shoulder against one and sent
it tumbling down. I watched it
split up, covering him and the
car, which dampened any further chase on his part.
It seemed l had shaken off my
pursuer and arrived safe back at camp.
Next morning Brian and l met
up and swapped stories about the night before. He had
also managed to escape capture
and while we were congratulating ourselves another
mate came in the room and said
''Have you heard about Jock, MPs picked him up
last night'' He went on to
relate how Jock while walking along the main road had thumbed
down a car and been very
surprised to be forced inside at gun point by an irate German,
then whisked off to the local
Police Station, then passed on to the army patrol.
Needless to say he had
revealed who was present the previous night and it wasn't long
before we were hauled up in
front of the CO and punished for the
mischief caused.
Next 'The Phantom
Plates'
NEXT
STORY '2 Cans