Free Twenty Days in the Reich by Tim Scott Page A

the open doors.
    At long last, frozen, aching and weary, we disembarked at the small wayside station at Ohle. Adolf, whom we often admired afterwards for the speed with which he got things organised, led us into a small waiting room in nice time to make ourselves comfortable on the floor before a largeproportion of the rest of the passengers discovered that the main waiting room was ‘kaput’.
    When this waiting room eventually began to fill up, we wondered how many more people would try to get in. As it was, I could never remember seeing so many men, women and children trying to secure rest in such a confined space. Setting aside any question of the smell, it was in some ways a blessing, because with the addition of the fire, we did manage to keep a semblance of warmth, which enabled us to snatch a fitful sleep.

Adolf Takes a Chance
    T he night seemed long and uncomfortable and when we all awoke for the last time and stretched our legs, we found the fire was out, and that the morning was extremely cold and misty A brief spell outside the waiting room soon brought us back in again for what warmth it provided; after the fresh air, the aroma inside was quite indescribable. In these circumstances and with as much appetite as we could muster, we broke our fast with the usual bread and margarine, it not being our turn for cheese.
    It was now Thursday 22 March and we realised that it was a full week since we had left our base, on the ill-fated expedition. We were still given to occasional reminiscing as to why it had been necessary for us to bale out and whether all the other boys had been comparatively fortunate in their experiences so far, as we had been. Jack, by this time, had reached the stage of being confidentthat he had seen six other parachutes in the air besides his own, but as has been mentioned before, we were quite accustomed to applying a considerable discount to his figures.
    At about 7 p.m., we left the waiting room and boarded a train that Karl said would take us two stations further down the line. It proved to be the same train as on the previous night, and we were pushed into the same draughty guard’s van, with the same boxes of ammunition to serve as seats. We reflected hopefully, that if all the ammunition intended for the defence of Berlin was proceeding on its way as rapidly as this lot, then the chances of the city making a long last stand, could not be considered too rosy.
    We alighted at Plettenberg, the reason why we could proceed no further being at once obvious: the extreme devastation of the entire station and practically the whole of the nearby permanent way and rolling stock. Once again, anticipating trouble from the civilians, we clung close to Karl and Adolf as we made our way from the station and up into the centre of the town.
    Our fears were not unfounded and, it was obvious that we could not spend the time at the side of the road. It was necessary to obtain a lift in the direction in which Adolf said we ought to go. However, this route appeared to lead us back in exactly the direction whence we had come. It was true, as a subsequent study of the map showed, and it became apparent afterwards thata ride of about 15 miles was needed in order to save about 10 miles on the road.
    We walked as briskly as possible out of the town and eventually joined the valley of the Lenne in almost exactly the same spot as we had made our turning off to Arnsberg on the previous Monday. We had no idea of this, of course. As a matter of fact, we were quite excited when we saw ‘Arnsberg’ on the signpost, away to our left, because it meant that we were well west of that town and therefore nearer to our own lines than we had been at any time previously. The possibility of escape was never far from the front of our minds and I could tell that the rest of the boys placed a great deal of faith in me, as navigator, to try and keep something like a mental idea of our position in relation to the situation of our own