A Special Duty by Jennifer Elkin

Author:Jennifer Elkin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781781482650
Publisher: Grosvenor House Publishing
Published: 2014-03-17T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

RESCUED BY PARTISANS

All RAF crew were briefed on, and knew, the official evasion procedure: to conceal lifesaving equipment and move away from the crash site using woods and ditches for cover; lie low for three days; live off escape rations, and then seek help from isolated farmhouses or individuals. Tom and Charlie had been handicapped by injury and loss of boots, which forced them to seek help quickly, but their actions were in line with advice. This adherence to correct procedure together with a lot of luck had successfully delivered them into partisan hands. I say ‘luck’ because Eddie and Hap had also followed evasion procedure, and yet they were now prisoners of war. Walter came down very close to a forced labour camp, which is probably why he heard whistles, but he walked away from immediate danger and eventually got the opportunity to ask for partisan help, as did Patrick and Jim, who stuck closely to advice and eventually sought help from an outlying farmstead. It had only been a couple of weeks since Brotherton-Ratcliffe had given a talk to the men about his own successful evasion in enemy territory, which would have been fresh in their minds. However no amount of advice can adequately prepare a man for the trauma of being in an aircraft one minute, and on the ground in an alien landscape the next. The mental and physical strain of those first days on the run was acute, and it showed. Unshaven and in shock, Tom limping badly, they were a pathetic sight in their wet, mud-spattered battledress, but their youth and good manners aroused compassion in the people they met. The villagers of Tarnogora could not have been prepared for seven Allied airmen dropping from the skies into their midst, but this was a BCh stronghold, with a number of active partisan soldiers among the men of the village and, being a small, close-knit community, the network was in place to handle such an emergency.

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