Rumours: The Memoir of a British POW in WWII by Charles Mayhead

Author:Charles Mayhead
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press
Published: 2004-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

And all I said was, “Nichts verstehen” (“I don’t understand”). He didn’t stop, so I shouted, “Nichts verstehen!!” I went back to finishing what I was doing, went on washing, realizing that my guard knew what I was doing and I didn’t have to have anyone else’s permission. I knew I was okay. This guy didn’t say anything else to me, just stood there, so I thought I’d got rid of him. But I hadn’t. As I washed, suddenly, Pow! I got this punch, full force, right on my ear. He sent me clean across the room and I went down in a lump. He’d knocked me silly when I wasn’t expecting it. My ear was bleeding and I was just lying in the corner of the latrine, humiliated and in pain. I was angry, just saw red. I don’t know how I got up or how I recovered. All I know is I found myself on my feet and I knew I had to get back at him. These guys were used to being bullies and I'm sure he expected me to just lie there and take it.

I should have done the sensible thing and gone to my vorarbeiter and said, “That man hit me.” Just that. I should have told him right away. Not that he would have dealt with it, but at least I’d have done the reasonable thing. But I didn't have the brains. If someone had come around and taken care of the situation, that would have done it. But that wouldn't have been enough for me. I had to do more. Simple as that. I had this thing in my head, and I wasn't alone in this, this sense that no one should treat me like that. But I couldn’t get away with any retaliation. That much I knew. I felt I was better than the Germans who were guarding us, though, and certainly better than this man who hit me, whoever he was. That’s how it was with me then. I couldn't take much more. It wasn't heroics on my part, just anger, stupidity.

So I shot across the latrine as soon as I recovered and I attacked him. I nearly killed him. My anger was so great that I would have killed him if I'd not been stopped. And I could have, I'm sure. I really wasn’t that strong. We weren’t being fed well. But I hit him, right in the face. Bang! Smashed his nose. He was bleeding. But I wasn’t satisfied. I hit him again and again, couldn't stop. He was in a bad way. He shouted for help, screamed. The others, the several guards, came in and pulled me away from the guy I was beating on. I immediately broke away from the guards all and ran off. I can’t explain the guards, what they were thinking. All I could think of was getting away. So I took off running. They never shot at me, never even came directly after me.

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