Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy by Patrick Dalzel-job

Author:Patrick Dalzel-job
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783033065
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-05-21T16:00:00+00:00

Norwegian coaster passing Patrick’s lair on the evening of 19 October 1943.

Stavenes from Patrick’s lair on Kjærviknes, at 13.20 on 19 October, 1943.

German convoy, 13.20 on 16 October 1943.

German convoy passing and coming to anchor in Askvold at 17.20 on 16 October 1943.

Returning to Lerwick, Shetland on Nor. MTB 626 on the morning of 20 October 1943.

A dozen sheep took fright and clattered away over the rocks as I passed the marsh, and looking through a cleft in the hills I saw a large motor fishing-boat lying to her moorings in the bay beyond. She would be lying off the village of Hovik, which was out of sight; these signs of comparative civilization seemed somehow incongruous to me, and vaguely disturbing.

The weather cleared as the sun rose, and the wind fell to a gentle breeze. I found shelter beside a bright and cheerful stream of clear water that tumbled into the lake under the mountain, and here I cooked my breakfast of tea and porridge. A few birch trees grew by the lake, and the morning air was alive with the cheerful splashing of streams and waterfalls. Larch trees on the islands in the lake glowed golden in the sunrise, making a peaceful scene, but the glen above me was steep, with much growth of rough heather and furze among the rocks.

Rested and well fed, I shouldered my heavy pack again and started up the valley. I had hoped to reach a gully at the head of the glen before any people from the village came my way, but the going got worse as I went higher. I decided reluctantly to lighten my load by leaving my sleeping bag and some of my food in the valley, and I hid these things under a rock, taking the sensible precaution of noting three compass bearings – two of hill tops and one of an arm of the lake.

By 10.00, I was well above the valley and in rock-climbing country, which was hazardous with the weight I still had to carry – not far short of seventy pounds. I was edging my way with some difficulty around a steep, rock-faced spur, when I suddenly heard human voices. I fell behind the partial cover of a boulder, and the figure of a boy appeared on the sky-line just above the spot where I had eaten breakfast. The boy was followed by a man, and the two of them went down together into the valley and the glen below me, where they seemed to be pursuing a large, brown animal which looked like a bear when seen from above (perhaps it was a sheep); I watched them all the time through my binoculars, and the boy looked often in my direction; but it was quite impossible for me to decide whether or not I had been seen.

I did not move again until the valley was empty, and I had then gone no more than a hundred yards when two other men came suddenly over

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