"PRETTY TOUGH"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 124, 27 May 1940, Page 8

"PRETTY TOUGH"

STORIES FROM FRONT

FIGHTING PARACHUTISTS

A COCKNEY'S BAG

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

LONDON, May 25

Hand-to-hand fighting in Belgium, parachutists dressed as women, and ruthless attacks on children are subjects vividly described by wounded members of the British Expeditionary Force on their arrival in England as stretcher cases. Here are typical stories: \ 1 A Newcastle man who suffered a bayonet wound in the knee at Louvain, Belgium (where the British heavily repulsed a German attack On May 15) said: "It was hot enough with German parachuters coming down all round carrying tommy guns and doing a lot of sniping. The best part was to see the Germans running away. "We were bombed fro,m one hospital to another for a fortnight," he added. "Before I reached the ship I saw the wreckage of a hospital train which the Germans dhad bombed to pieces.. It made my blood boil to see German planes diving on ruined Belgian villages, machine-gunning the " terrified children who ran screaming for shelter." A Surrey man said: "It was pretty tough with the main enemy in front and parachutists coming down from the clouds behind. We turried our Bren gun on one cluster and a score of Germans were dead before they reached the ground. At least a dozen were dressed as women. They used tommy guns against everyone in sight." (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 25. The following story was told by a British officer who returned from France today:—"l was standing on a road near the French coast two days ago, when a German aeroplane came over and out of it jumped five parachutists. I suddenly noticed at my side ai private soldier with a Bren gun. He had an unlighted cigarette in his mouth and he was obviously a Cockney by the way he spoke. _ "He looked up at the parachutists and seemed to gauge the speed at which they were falling. He produced a box of matches from a pocket and quite calmly lit the cigarette and then, with a twist of his tongue, put it in a corner of his mouth. Lifting his gun into position, he said, "Blimey! This is just my cup of tea,' and, taking aim, he fired.

"The parachutists fell at distances ranging from 30 to 100-yards from us, and not one of them ever moved again. His final comment was, 'Nice work when you can get it.' He then sat down on the side of the road and finished his cigarette."