ESCAPE FROM NAZIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24327, 18 June 1940, Page 7

ESCAPE FROM NAZIS

BRITISH SOLDIERS PICKED UP BY VESSEL (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, June 16. Four British soldiers who escaped to England after being taken prisoner by the Germans in Belgium told their experiences to-night. They had been ordered to erect a barrier on a road to check the advancing Germans, but after, an hour’s fight with German tanks they were unable to hold their own and were eventually taken prisoner. After eight days they managed to get past the guard and hid in a wood for four days. Then they obtained civilian clothing from a friencuy peasant, who woke them.up one morning in a barn where they had staggered to sleep. They finally reached a village on the coast. A boat was found for them, and in the words of one; “ Some girls provided us with food and a bag full of corks to plug the boat if we were machine-gunned. We rowed throughout the night. At 4 o'clock in the morning a German aeroplane passed over but failed to observe us. We pulled out hardest. Our hands are still blistered from the experience. Eventually we saw a British vessel andshouted: ‘We are English soldiers.’ At first the captain appeared to doubt us. but we managed to convince him and were taken on board. We had been rowing for eight hours before we were picked up.”