Breakout (Combined Operations Book 7)

by Griff Hosker

  The work on the vehicles was finished with a whole day to spare. That meant we could go through everything in detail before we left on the next night. I knew that the Germans would be using the roads and two more Kübelwagen might not be noticed. I had made a sketch map and the men all copied it. Lieutenant Ross had arranged for us to cross over at the sector guarded by the Canadians. They would open fire, using blanks of course, as we headed towards the German lines. We hoped that the Germans would believe that we had escaped by the skin of our teeth.

  "All of you have a few words of German but let Lance Corporal Wilkinson and I do all the talking. The papers we have are for the 342nd Division. They are hard lads and were based in Caen. We say we had been hiding out trying to get back. Emerson and Fletcher will be bandaged as though they have head wounds." I smiled, "Your German is awful! The less you speak the better!"

  Sergeant Poulson said, "Scouse's English isn't much better sir!"

  They laughed and it eased the tension.

  I pointed to the map on the wall. "You all have your own copies. I hope you remembered to leave off the names. If you are captured just eat them."

  I used my Commando dagger to point out the pertinent features. "Our main target, as you can see, is the dump. I have flown over it. There is a small track leading off the main road to get to it. It is heavily churned up which means heavy lorries have been using it. The dump itself is invisible from the air. The only way I knew it was there was by the guards and sandbags. They have a couple of half tracks there. We will drive up and use the silenced Colts to eliminate the sentries. I don't know exactly where the pumping station is but when we are on the ground we will have a better idea. Wilkinson, Shepherd and Private Beaumont will be in charge of the demolitions and the rest of us will stand guard. Private Beaumont?"

  "We use a failsafe system sir. We use two sets of explosives and two sets of timers. It is unlikely that both will fail. You said ten minutes?"

  "Yes. As you can see from the map we don't want to risk going through Trun. The road to the first bridge over the La Dives river is quiet. We drive there and set the charges."

  "Sir, doesn't it make more sense to have one team setting the explosives on the bridge while the dump is being destroyed?"

  "We can't take a chance, Joe. The main target is the dump. However, you are right about the two targets. While your team blows up that bridge I will take the other and we will blow the second bridge at Guêprei."

  Sergeant Poulson said, "I know I am not going on this sir but I see a fairly major flaw in this plan."

  I did not tell him that I already knew it. I let him explain. "Go on Sergeant."

  "Well sir, it seems to me that you are burning all your bridges, quite literally. How do you get back?"

  I nodded, "Quite right. To the west of the forest there is a road which heads north west. It is not a large road but it is straight. When I flew back I didn't see any signs of military there. Of course the front is fluid and there may be soldiers and units I failed to see. After we have set the charges we rendezvous in the forest where the road heads south west."

  "Doesn't that lead to Falaise sir?"

  "It does indeed, Lieutenant Ross, but we will have turned off before then."

  Bill Hay nodded, "Seems fairly straight forward sir. If we leave after dark we have a good chance of travelling back in daylight. That might be a bit tricky eh, sir."

  "That, Lance Sergeant Hay, is the problem. We either lay up during the day and travel back at night which just increases the risk of being caught or we cross early in the day."

  Corporal Fletcher nodded, "Anyway sir we never know what problems are going to happen. We might have to lay up anyway. For me the plan is sound as a pound, sir!"

  I shook my head, "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Corporal Fletcher. Fortunately this is neither a democracy nor a debating club. We go with my plan."

  I had not put him out and he grinned, "Great by me, sir!"

  Sergeant Poulson and Lieutenant Ross went, the next day, to liaise with the Canadians who would be making it look as though we were Germans. I had the rest of the men practise their German. It stopped them worrying about the mission and would, in the long run, help us. I would be in the Kübelwagen we had taken from the French black marketeer. Fred Emerson was happy to be driving the vehicle he had repaired. Lance Sergeant Hewitt would drive ours leaving me to use the silenced Colt, if necessary, and to do the talking. Just before we left I had the men take out any papers which might be used by Jerry. It was second nature to us now but Lance Corporal Wilkinson was new. He just had one letter with him but it was from his young lady. We left it on the boat.

  We had two military police motor cycles as our escorts but, as there was still a blackout and a curfew, we hoped we would not be noticed. Unless there was a German spy with a transmitter we would be safe. Our radio was in the back seat with Corporal Fletcher. There was not a great deal of space.

  When we reached the jump off point the two motor cycles left us. We were just a hundred yards from the last houses and ahead of us lay hedge lined fields and the German front lines. A Canadian Major grinned when he saw us. "A good job you warned us. I would have taken you for Germans."

  I smiled and, clicking my heels together, said in German, "That is good because we are Germans!"

  He laughed, "Damned good!"

  "By the way I wanted to thank your chaps for letting us have these weapons. I told them I would tell you."

  "They mentioned it. As soon as they said you were Commandos I knew what to expect." He turned as a camouflaged sergeant and private came from the darkness. "Well McCormack?"

  "There is a machine gun post four hundred yards up the road sir. I don't think the road is mined."

  I nodded, "We will soon find out. "Well no point in hanging around. Thanks for your help Major and hopefully we will see you soon. Lieutenant Ross, Sergeant Poulson, have the kettle on ready eh?" I sat down. "Fletcher, start to play dead! Well Lance Sergeant, we might as well go. No lights and put your foot down. Don't stop unless I tell you to."

  "Jawohl!"

  He started the engine and began to drive. The Major shouted, "Open fire!"

  All hell broke loose. They had rifles and machine guns chattering away. All of them were firing in the air so that there was no chance of them hitting us. They even took the opportunity of sending a grenade from a grenade launcher away to our right. In the back seat Private Beaumont fired his Mauser rifle in the air. It had a different sound to ours. Ahead of us I saw tracer as the Germans fired. Then the Major fired a flare high into the sky. It was a calculated move. We wanted them to see us. The sight of two Kübelwagen filled with Germans might make them hesitate. We just needed to be beyond their front line and then we would disappear. The firing from the Germans stopped and I saw the machine gun as we passed it. Then the Lance Sergeant stood on the brakes. There was a moveable barbed wire barrier before us.

  A Waffen SS sergeant stepped out of the dark with a submachine aimed at us. Fletcher managed a moan. I said, "Thank God we have made it. Do you have a doctor? Schwarz here has been hit!"

  "Where the hell have you come from? I thought the last of our boys escaped four days ago."

  I nodded, "We broke down and had to hide up in a warehouse. We were lucky but we lost four men when they found us. We had to run for it. Have you a doctor?"

  Lance Corporal Wilkinson shouted from the second vehicle, "Sergeant, Private Muller is in a bad way."

  The Sergeant pointed, "The nearest is in Trun. It is twenty miles down the road."

  "Then we had better hurry. Schwarz is a brave man."

  The Sergeant shouted, "Move the barrier and then watch out. Those Canadians might take advantage of the situation."

  As soon as the barrier was moved Hewitt put the accelerator to the floor. The French mechanics had done a first rate job and we sped into the night. The first part of our operation had been successful. Would we have as much luck for the rest of it?

 
; Chapter 6

  We made good time for the first ten miles and then we ran into traffic. It was all coming the other way. The roads were so narrow in places that we barely squeezed past the tanks and lorries heading to the front. It slowed us up. However each time the road was clear Hewitt put his foot down and we tried to make up the lost time. Once we had passed through the tiny hamlet of Le Marais-la-Chapelle I motioned for Hewitt to slow down. We were under two miles away from our target and I was looking for somewhere to stop before we reached the dump. We were helped by the petrol bowser coming towards us which had dimmed lights and turned off the road towards the dump. I jumped out. Bill Hay followed me from the second. We did not say a word. The rest of the team knew the plan.

  Bill and I darted through the hedgerow. It was thinner on the ground than it looked from the air. Once through I saw the camouflage netting which was strung over the concrete. There looked to be concrete domes stretching as far as we could see in the limited light. We went back through the hedgerow and made our way along the outside. When we reached the intersection we dropped to our knees and I took out the silenced Colt. I peered around the side. There, two hundred yards from us, was the sandbagged entrance to the dump. The German petrol bowser was reversing in through the entrance. The attention of the sentries was on the vehicle. They were using torches to help guide the driver in. Moving in the shadow of the hedge made it easy for us. German efficiency was working against them. They had hidden the dump from the air and in doing so had provided us with cover.

  We made it to within thirty feet of the sandbags. There was just one half track now and the fuel bowser. We crouched in the bottom of the hedge. I saw the bowser as it backed down a slight slope. I wondered if it would disappear altogether but the cab remained visible. I saw the driver switch off the engine and get out. His assistant disappeared down the slope. Then we heard the whine of a motor. The driver came over to speak to the sentries who were close enough for us to hear. We were also able to count them. There were four sentries.

  "You are going to be busy later. Another regiment of tanks has arrived in Flers and they are dry as a bone. More tankers are coming!"

  The sergeant in charge laughed sardonically, "Well they better hurry or the Tommies will have them. They love to catch easy targets like tankers on the road."

  "They are just an hour behind me. There will not be a problem."

  "There will, my friend. You will need another fifteen minutes before you are fuelled. It is a thirty minute turnaround. The only way we can service a large number is if they arrive as soon as it is dark."

  "You had better tell them at headquarters."

  He laughed again, "The Generals are changed on a daily basis. My orders come from a Colonel in Falaise!"

  I hoped that Hewitt and Wilkinson would have the sense to wait until the petrol tanker had left. If not then we were in trouble.

  The sergeant was wrong. They managed to fill the tanker in ten minutes. It struggled to get up the rise and then passed us as it headed for the road. The sentries took the opportunity to light up now that the danger of igniting fuel had passed. The sound of the bowser could still be heard when tour two Kübelwagens appeared. I pointed to the two men on my left and Bill nodded. He would take those two out. I would deal with the sergeant and the other. What we did not know was who manned the pumps.

  The Sergeant angrily stubbed out his cigarette, "What do you want?"

  Joe pointed to the back seat, "We have a wounded man here."

  "What do you think we are, a damned hospital? This is a restricted area. Push off!"

  As soon as Joe stood we both fired. Corporal Fletcher's gun came up as well and he fired two silenced shots. The four men that Bill and I had aimed at fell dead. They had been less than thirty feet away. It was harder to miss than to hit. We stood and ran to look down the slope. There were two dead soldiers lying at the foot of the slope. Fletcher had hit them. I could now see the pumps. They were well below the level of the road.

  "Hewitt, Emerson get the vehicles turned around. Private Beaumont, Shepherd, do your stuff." The rest of us dragged the bodies away from the sandbags. We quickly took their papers and weapons. "Bill, booby trap the half track."

  "We should take it, sir. Handy vehicle."

  "It will slow us down."

  "Lance Corporal Wilkinson take Corporal Fletcher and get back up the road. There are more petrol tankers coming. Stop them and tell them there is a fuel leak and they will have to wait!"

  "Right sir."

  I went down the slope. Shepherd was already setting charges to the pumps. "Where is Private Beaumont?"

  "He went down there to the tanks."

  I walked down the slope. It was eerily empty. The camouflage netting worked. I had seen nothing from the air. I found Private Beaumont. He was standing on top of one of the concrete domes. "Can we do anything with them?"

  "They are well designed, sir. But there is a chance. They have a metal inspection hatch on the top. It would have to be a direct hit on the actual top to blow them. We can rig something there and hope for a chain reaction."

  "We have less than an hour."

  "Then we will just have to set charges on two. Send Ken down when he has finished, sir."

  "Don't hang about will you?"

  "If we make a mistake, sir, then we will just kill us and hardly damage the dump. We have to do this right."

  I nodded and ran back, "Shepherd take the rest of the explosives and join Private Beaumont."

  The others had finished. Joe and Scouse were at the main road and the rest were waiting in the Kübelwagens. "It will take time. As soon as Private Beaumont and Shepherd arrive drive like the devil is behind us."

  I quickly reloaded my Colt. I had only fired two bullets but two bullets could be the difference between life and death. That done I ran to the crossroads. "Anything?"

  "A little bit of traffic, sir, but no tankers."

  "Good. You did well, Lance Corporal. I was impressed with the way you handled the German sergeant."

  He shook his head, "Sir, your whole team is the best I have ever seen. I thought our brigade was good but..."

  I nodded, "We won't be long. Keep a sharp watch!"

  I was beginning to worry. It was forty minutes since the tanker driver had said his colleagues were an hour behind. I saw that Emerson and Hewitt were ready behind the wheel. Bill Hay was watching the hedges as though a Waffen S.S. battalion might emerge. Emerson said, nervously, "So far so good eh sir?"

  "Thanks for the work on the vehicles, Fred. They are a credit to you."

  "I like working on cars, sir. When this is over I reckon I might open a garage. If that greasy Frog can do it then why not me?"

  Private Beaumont and Shepherd came racing up. Private Beaumont nodded, "Fifteen minute fuses, sir. I reckon we should shift."

  "Right lads, all aboard!"

  I jumped in and Hewitt floored it. They raced to the crossroads. Joe Wilkinson pointed down the road, "Sir, lights! It is the tankers!"

  "It is too late to worry now! Follow us!"

  We raced down the road. It did not matter now if we made noise. It was four minutes since the fuses had been set. They could not be disarmed but we now had the pressure of getting to the two bridges. We only had a few more minutes on the road before we would turn off. Our turn off almost came too soon and Hewitt screeched the wheel as we spun onto the narrow lane between the high hedges. We had just over a mile and half until we rattled over the metal bridge. As Hewitt screeched to a halt an enormous explosion lit up the sky. It seemed to ripple and grow as the flames rose higher. The blast passed over us and we felt the concussion even at a distance of two miles. We even felt the ground shake as though there had been an earthquake. More explosions followed as the fire spread to other tanks. The air was filled with the smell of burning petrol. I wondered how much of it we had destroyed. There was no time for self congratulation.

  I pointed to the bridge and then held up my thumb. Lance Corporal Wilkins
on held up his thumb. I turned to the Lance Sergeant, "Right John, we are on the last leg!"

  We did not make such good time as we raced along the narrow lane. The forest seemed to be within touching distance. Hewitt had to drive carefully. A puncture could be disastrous. I noticed the road we would take later as we passed it. Guêprei was tiny. I counted four houses and all were well away from the bridge. That was good. I could hear the explosions from the north of us. The loop in the road had brought us around so that we were just a mile or two from it. The fact that no one had come from their homes showed that they were used to explosions in the night. The smell of burning fuel was wafted to us on the night breeze. I gambled on the fact that the Germans would be mystified as to the origins of the sabotage. Until they heard the sound of these two bridges being blown they might look elsewhere for us.

  "Hewitt turn it around when the lads have set the explosives. Scouse, help Private Beaumont. I will keep watch." I walked back to the houses. I saw a flicker of a curtain. I stood in front of the doors. Eventually one of the doors opened and an old man stood there. He saw my uniform and his eyes widened.

  I spoke French, "We are British soldiers and we are going to blow the bridge. If you stay indoors you will be safe. You will not be harmed."

  He grinned, "The British and the Americans are coming?"

  "Eventually. If the Germans asked tell them that you heard the explosion and that was the first you knew."

  He nodded and held out his hand, "Thank you!" He shook my hand and closed the door.

  I heard a whistle and ran back to the bridge."All set sir. Ten minutes."

  "It will be just the bridge won't it Private Beaumont?"

  He shook his head, "Sir, are you doubting me? I promise you they will feel a slight breeze and that is all!"

  I didn't believe that it would be as gentle as that but I trusted my young genius. "Right Hewitt, back to the rendezvous."

  Even as we headed west we saw and heard the explosion from the other bridge. When ours went, as Sergeant Poulson had said, all our bridges would be blown. The other Kübelwagen was waiting for us at the road junction. Even as we pulled up there was the double crack as the carefully placed charges blew up the piers holding the bridge. Private Beaumont knew his business. He had used just enough explosives to destroy the bridge and no more.