Old Comrades
We three couldn't help chuckling to ourselves as we stole away into the darkness. We had plans to proceed southwards as fast as possible, maybe hitching a ride on a train if such were available. We hoped to reach Czecho-Slovakia, where we knew there would be partisans, as that was the shortest route to any country where we thought help would be available.
In retrospect, we were badly prepared. We had made-up civilian clothing of a fashion, no decent maps, and only a strong sense of direction to assist us. We quickly found that we had made a very bad omission. Our filled water-bottles, lying on the bunks next to us, had been left behind! We had nothing to drink, and after a few hours of marching in the pitch dark, we were very thirsty. An added problem for me was that I found myself limping very badly. My right foot hurt, and the pain was between my toes where I had stored the escape compass. As soon as possible I pulled off my boot and sock. There was the little metal housing of the compass, and there was the little compass needle sticking into my skin. There also was a nice collection of glass fragments from the compass casing, clinging to the sides of my toes! What a relief to get rid of them. We found that the compass worked fine without its top, but we had to be careful not to lose the needle.
We holed up shortly before dawn in a thicket well away from the roads, and spent a little time eating a meagre breakfast from our escape rations. Then we slept, passably well. When we awoke it had been raining. We were fortunate that our hidey-hole was quite well-protected and we were not very wet.
As night fell we moved off again, and were very relieved on finding the nearest road that it was tarmac and that puddles had formed on the uneven surface. We were able to slake our thirst by lying prone and sucking up water from the road. Very sweet it tasted, too!
We continued to make our way south, and found some old bottles in which we could store water, that we took from the side of a country house with an outside tap. However, we set the inmate's dog barking fiercely, and we hurriedly retreated before an alarm was raised. Soon we were crossing open country with water courses running through it. They were man-made, and appeared to be irrigation ditches which were quite wide. It was a dark night, and what we could see of the landscape was forbidding. The pockets of pine trees loomed through the darkness, and we were unable to find a bridge or any likely crossing point over the channel, which was about 7 or 8 feet wide.
We knew we would have to jump or wade across the channel, and we weren't sure how deep was the water. George examined the bank carefully on our side, and measured the distance by eye as well as he could in the darkness. He walked back some distance, while Fred and I watched keenly. Then George took a fast run at the bank and launched himself.
For a moment I thought he would make the opposite side, but one foot touched the water, and in a moment he was lying in three or four feet of water. Fred and I were most unkind, and collapsed with laughter. George waded, spluttering and swearing, to the far side. I decided discretion was in order, and having seen the depth of the water I waded in up to my middle, followed by Fred. We were now wet, but poor George was the wettest, having gone in full length.
It was now necessary to dry out somewhere, although brisk walking got rid of some of the excess moisture! We broke into a barn the following morning, just as the eastern sky was lightening, and buried ourselves in the plentiful hay we found, after having another frugal breakfast. Wet or not, I slept like a top.