British Paratrooper vs Fallschirmjäger by David Greentree

Author:David Greentree
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: British Paratrooper Versus Fallschirmjäger
ISBN: 9781472804754
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

… had been watching and plotting all enemy movement … there seemed to be one place where there was considerably less than elsewhere. Very fortunately this was in the direction we wanted to go, being on the route into the hills leading to Furna. The Germans, although originally encircling us, were now rather more concentrated on the eastern side with their rear towards Tunis. (Frost 1980: 96)

One German machine-gun position had been stationed along the intended withdrawal route – west, then north through the hayricks – but at 1600 moved after firing a number of bursts at the farm.

Frost’s plan was for groups to pass through battalion HQ and form up in a long column with the men at its head ready to make an assault. When he blew his horn ‘we would all stream past the farmhouse door, through the cactus and over the hill’. He recalled how ‘heavy fire had already forced our picket off the high ground above the farm … and a burning building was producing smoke and embers which were not only distracting to the defenders, but were also making quite an effective smokescreen for an enemy attack’ (Frost 1980: 97). When ‘towards dusk the enemy became very bold and a party with two officers [one being Ismer] approached within 5 yards of the cactus hedge surrounding the orchard … they were killed with grenades and Sten fire … this furore drew attention to the fact that the enemy were much too close for comfort’ (Frost, quoted in Peatling 2004: 70). Frost decided that ‘in the breathing space thus given, it was time for us to go’ (Frost 1980: 97).

The escape from the farm was assisted by Rendell’s platoon, which repelled a German probe near where the retreat was conducted. This provided only a temporary respite for Rendell, who soon after ‘heard the whine of mortar bombs falling very close. My sole recollection is of a ghastly smell of sulphur’ (quoted in Peatling 2004: 80). He was wounded by the blast and soon captured, as the Germans occupied the farm immediately after Frost’s withdrawal was complete. During the retreat ‘the first parties came out at a gallop and were directed towards a large haystack which had been selected as a landmark … the leading parties met no opposition’ (Frost 1980: 97), but once clear of the farm it was difficult to collect everyone in the dark. The wounded were straggling and the column broke up. Frost sounded his horn to signal a rendezvous but only 110 of 200 were collected – mostly from A and HQ Companies. Charteris had not returned so Furna was dropped as a destination and replaced by Medjez-el-Bab. At midnight a halt was made for one hour. At 0300 on Thursday 3 December, Frost’s column stumbled into the other ahead of him under Capt Vernon, and at 0500 a farm was used for a short sleep and breakfast was served by a French hostess. Locals provided the news of an approaching German column on the look-out for them so a hasty evacuation was made.

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