STORY OF BREAK-OUT

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 4, 29 September 1944, Page 5

STORY OF BREAK-OUT

Silent March Through German Lines (Received September 28, 7 p.m.) LONDON, September 27. One of the most glorious battles of the war is now over, and the survivors of the British airborne forces can sleep soundly for the first time for eight days and nights, states a representative of the combined Press with the airborne forces who on Monday received orders to break out of their forest citadel west of Arnhem, cross the Rhine, and join up with the British Second Army on the south bank. “Our commander decided against a com certed assault on the Germans round us, he says. “He decided that we should split into little groups of 10 or 20 men and 'start out along different routes at two-minute intervals during the night and ■ try to walk right through the German lines. t . . “Cheeky patrols earlier went out and tied pieces of white parachute tape to trees in order to mark the paths. The British Second Army meanwhile lain down a shattering box barrage all afternoon in order to hinder the Germans from realizing what was- afoot. “The first party went off at 10 p.m. Packets of sulphanilamide and morphia were distributed to the men before they left. We tore up our blankets and wrapped them round our boots to muffle the sound of our feet among the trees. The password was ‘John Bull.’ If we became separated each man was to make his way by compass till he reached the river. Parties’ Experiences. “A major in charge of our party led the way. He linked the party by getting everyone to hold the tail of the paratrooper smock on the man ahead, so our column had an absurd resemblance, to some children’s game. It was half light when we set out in the glow of fires from burning houses round us. We were lucky, as we went through an enemy pocket without hearing a shot except for a stray sniper’s bullet. Another party met a machinegun with a fixed line of fire aoross their path. Another group had to silence a bunch of Germans with Stcn fire and hand grenades. Another group was forced to wait till a German had finished an evening stroll across their pathway. rWe all got through without the enemy realizing that anything was occurring beyond normal night patrolling. “The worst part was waiting for two hours at the riverside til] our turn came for the assault boats to ferry us across The Germans, though not yet definitely suspicious, were inquisitive and kept sending up flares. We lay shivering on the field in our boat queue with a cold rain drizzling down. Machineguns were occasionally spattering and bullets were tweaking through the grass. Final Self-Sacrifice. “Our actual crossing was quiet, but soon afterward the Germans seemed to guess what was going on and they mortared and shelled heavily aloug the shallow river banks. Men whose turn for a place in the boats had come after hours of waiting insisted on staying under fire n little longer to let wounded men go first. Of course, any wounded left behind were automatically prisoners, so many of the men who were sick or limping left their beds to take a chance with the escape parties going over the river, •'The epic stand of the British airborne forces was ended as it was fought—with honour, high courage and selfless sacrifice. “What of the spirit of these men as they trudged through the wet night to the billets where they are now sunk in sodden sleep? You can best judge by the name they chose for the night's break-out. It had the same objective as they always bad. and they still mean to get in there. They call it ‘operation Berlin.’ ” GERMANS’ CLAIMS LONDON, September 27. Today’s German High Command communique states that the losses inflicted on the Allies' airborne division in the Arnhem area comprise 6-15(1 prisoners,-in-cluding 17H0 wounded, and over 1900 killed. Thirty anti-tank guns, 250 mortars, and 1000 gliders are said to have been destroyed and 100 planes shot down.