SBS, page 24
‘Well, you did bloody well, both of you. And bloody well too to find your way here. We’ve had a bit of a night too. Captain Wilson’s men at the other two airfields did their job. And well too. But they were run down by the enemy and badly shot up. Their boat’s gone too. The captain’s going to take our boat and he wants us all to go with him.’
Knox spoke up: ‘We canny do that, sir. What about Mister Hunter and the others? We canny just leave them.’
‘No, Knox. I think you’re right. We can’t just leave them. I’m going to stay on the island and see if we can’t get them out. There must still be a chance.’
Martin spoke: ‘Then we’ll stay too, sir.’
Woods shook his head. He had already made up his mind. ‘Sorry, Harry. Not you. I’m sending you off with Captain Wilson. You and your document and your camera and that head of yours, with all its memories. You’re off to Cairo. And you’d better get out of those Jerry togs. Sarn’t Knox, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d rather like to have you here with me. And the same goes for you. Get your own battledress back on.’
Knox smiled and nodded. ‘Of course, sir. I’ve never been happier tae obey an order.’
13
Woods and Knox watched Wilson and his men, and Martin with them, as they made their way down the hillside and into the gloom. It was shortly after 3am when they left and the dawn would soon be ready to rise, over in the east, away to their left. The birds would not start their chorus for another hour, but the morning insects were already replacing those of the night with their own distinctive chirruping and clicking.
Woods counted them lucky so far. Whether it was to do with the fact that the successful attacks had come in the west of the island, or whether there really was truth in the belief that the Germans avoided the chapel because it was haunted, there had been no sign of any patrols from Heraklion in their vicinity as yet and whatever the reason, by Woods’s reckoning, they might have an hour or so to get closer to the base and see if there was any evidence of what on earth had happened to Hunter, Duffy, Phelps and Russell. It would be damn dangerous, as by the time they got there it would almost be light and their journey away would make them horribly visible. But Woods could not think of any alternative. They simply had to get closer to the camp.
He had asked Wilson to hold on for one day, when he arrived at the caique and, reluctantly, he had agreed. Although Woods realised that he might change his mind at any time and they might all be left marooned with no transport and no means of communication with which to effect any form of rescue.
Knox spoke: ‘Think Martin will make it back, sir?’
‘He’ll have a bloody good try, Sarn’t. And he’s got more chance with Captain Wilson than he has with us. That’s for sure.’
He walked with Knox back into the church, where Fletcher and White were busy in the darkness, checking their weapons and packing their haversacks.
Woods spoke in a whisper: ‘White, you almost done?’
‘Yes, sir. Pretty much, I think.’
‘Right, get yourself out there on stag. We’ll be leaving in fifteen, but I don’t want any unwelcome surprises at this stage.’
‘Roger that, sir.’
White, Sten gun in his hand, made his way outside and Knox made the last checks to his own weapons and the straps on his kit.
As he was doing so he spoke to Woods, who was standing nearby: ‘Sir, can I ask you a question?’
‘Go ahead, Sarn’t. I’m all ears.’
‘Would you have left Mr Hunter?’
‘Sorry? No, of course not.’
‘It’s just that, well, me and the lads, we knew that the two of you didn’t see eye to eye over something and we didn’t think that there was any… well, any love lost between you.’
Woods looked at him. Shook his head. ‘Sarn’t Knox. If you think I’m fool enough to allow some petty differences come between me and the life of a brother officer and a man I count as a friend, then you’re very much mistaken. That is not what I do. I intend to do whatever I can to save Mister Hunter, if it’s not too late already. But we don’t have much time.’
Knox was about to say something when there was a noise from White. A softly whispered cry of: ‘Sir, sir. Quick.’
Woods and Knox, followed closely by Fletcher, moved to the door and what they saw there made them stop in their tracks.
Lennie Russell looked terrible. His face was covered in dust that had caked into the blood from the cuts he had taken, falling more times than he could remember in the darkness in the olive groves on his climb from the airbase to the church. How he had accomplished the distance, not even he knew, but Russell had simply followed his nose and now here he was. Among friends.
Instantly, Woods abandoned his timings and after taking Russell inside, sat him down and in the growing light of dawn, gave him a few sips of the retsina that Woods had left in the bottle. Russell coughed and then drank, gratefully. After a few minutes he regained some sort of composure.
Woods placed a hand on his back. ‘Well done, Russell. Jolly well done. Were you followed?’
‘Not as far as I could tell, sir. They all seemed to be going off towards the west.’
‘That’s very good news. Very good news indeed. But how on earth did you get out?’
‘You won’t believe this, sir, but they took me for a Jerry and put me in a patrol. We all went out and I was dead lucky. The bloke next to me twisted his ankle so I volunteered to take him back and then I got him off in the other direction and, er, just got shot of him. Then I legged it back here.’
‘Good man.’
Russell looked at him in the eyes. ‘Duffy’s dead, sir. Shot by the Jerries. Almost cut in two he was. Point-blank. It was horrible.’
‘Poor devil.’
‘But Mister Hunter’s still alive, sir. And Phelpsy. At least they were when I left. God knows now, though. Bloody SS have got them both.’
Woods started, ‘The SS? In Heraklion? Good God.’
‘Yes, sir. We weren’t told anything about that, were we? But they’re here alright. There’s this colonel. Big bloke. Didn’t get his name. And I suppose he might have about a company strength with him. Bastards. It was them that shot poor Duffy. He was already a prisoner. Unarmed. Evil bloody bastards.’
‘They shot him in cold blood?’
‘He went for one of them. One of the SS. Punches his lights out, sir. But then the other one just swings round and lets him have it with his machine gun. Point-blank, like I said, sir.’
Woods shook his head. ‘We’ve got to try to get them out.’
‘But how, sir? What can we do? There’s hundreds of bloody Jerries in there. SS and all.’
‘Well, we can at least try. Will you come with us, Russell? You know the lie of the land. We could really use your help.’
‘Well, I don’t see how but, you just try to stop me.’
‘Good man. Well, you’d better get your kit changed pretty sharpish. We need to leave here just as soon as we can. And we’ll have to be damned careful. It’s almost light and we can’t wait for nightfall. Time is everything now. We might be too late.’
Fletcher shook his head. ‘Sir. If I may, I’ve got to say something. I know I shouldn’t. This is madness. What chance do we have?’
Woods looked at him and nodded. ‘You’re right of course, Fletcher. But I was forced to leave a man behind before. Not so long ago. And I’m not prepared to do it again.’
Fletcher nodded, but said nothing more.
Russell swapped his German tunic for his own battledress top and the kepi for his regimental beret and was ready within a few minutes.
‘Good riddance to all that. I never felt happy in it.’
Fletcher quipped, ‘Oh I don’t know, Squirrel. I think it sort of suited you. After all you can speak the lingo.’
White joined in, ‘Course he can. Learnt it off a Jerry countess. Didn’t you, Squirrel? Your lady friend taught you how to spick Deutsch pretty well, didn’t she? What else did she teach you? A few of her old tricks, eh?’
Russell smiled at him sarcastically. ‘More than you’ll ever know, Chalky.’
Fletcher grinned. ‘Don’t need any tricks, me, see. That’s what all the ladies say. It’s all in the quality of the equipment see. All about the gear.’
They yelled abuse at him. Woods spoke: ‘That’s enough. Pipe down all of you and let’s get a move on.’
They set off in the direction of Heraklion airfield, with Russell leading the way down the rough path up which he had come, and, as it was now daylight, they stopped to take cover every hundred yards. It was very slow progress and Woods began to wonder if he had made the right decision. They had just made one of their pauses reconnoitring around them for any sign of the enemy, when, from a dense group of olive trees over to their left, Grigori suddenly appeared. He was running, bent over and as he neared Woods they could see that he was in a state of great agitation, and signalling for them to wait. They didn’t move, and when he did reach them they could see that he was smiling.
He spoke to Woods: ‘Sir, sir. I have news. Very, very important news.’
‘Yes?’
‘They are still alive. Your two men.’
‘Hunter and Phelps? What? You’re sure?’
‘Yes, sir. I am sure. Very sure and now the Germans are moving them. Moving your men.’
‘Moving them? Where to?’
‘To Hania. To the general commandant. The SS colonel wants glory for himself. Then…’ He wiped his fingers across his throat. ‘Then, kaput.’
Woods understood. ‘So what you’re saying is that we have one chance. One opportunity to rescue the two of them before they’re killed and that chance is when they’re moved from the camp.’ He paused. ‘Well, one chance is better than none at all. This is great news. Thank you, Grigori. Our next problem is how the hell four men are going to ambush a heavily armed prisoner escort?’
Grigori smiled again. ‘Oh we have thought of that. We can help you. We have already thought of it.’
‘We? Who’s we? The andartes?’
Grigori nodded. ‘Yes, boss. Yes. The andartes and Kapitan Ffinch.’
Ffinch. That was a stroke of luck. Woods had wondered if two Effs would be involved.
‘Where is Captain Ffinch? I need to talk to him.’
‘Yes, sir. He’s coming to talk to you. He has made a plan.’
‘He has?’
‘Yes. A most clever plan.’
*
Ffinch arrived half an hour later, looking very pleased with himself.
‘It’s true, Woods. The Germans are going to move your friends in two days’ time, in the evening. So now there’s no need for you to go down to the base. We’re going to ambush the convoy and get them out. We’ve already found a spot. It’s a narrow stretch of the road near a place called Anoyeia.’
He pulled a battered map from his pocket and spread it out on the ground before them, pointing his finger to where a group of buildings was indicated. ‘You see, it’s here. Where the road is cut into the side of a ridge, following the contours of the hill. Above the road there’s a sheer bluff, and the whole thing’s packed full of trees. You still have the explosives you brought with you, don’t you?’
‘Yes, we’ve got tons of the stuff. Its back at your cave, with Miller. Too much of all that kit really, if you ask me. Bloody annoying. I could never really see why we brought it all.’
Ffinch smiled at him. ‘Well now we really do need it and that’s no lie. I’ll send a runner right now to fetch the TNT. They can bring it up by mule, with your man Miller. It’ll take a full day, so if you give the say-so, I’ll get it started now.’
Woods nodded. ‘Go ahead. Sounds like the best plan anyone’s come up with so far. There’s only one thing. Our explosives man’s dead. Caught and killed down there in the camp.’
‘I say. That is bad news. Poor chap. But don’t worry. I can manage the detonators, timings and all that myself. My stock in trade, don’t you know? What we have to do now is move west and sit up for a bit in the hills below Anoyeia. We don’t have a great deal of time.’
He called over Grigori and spoke to him in Greek. The partisan nodded then looked across at Woods and waved farewell before darting away into the hills, heading south. Ffinch explained, ‘We have a system of runners d’you see? To communicate messages more quickly. Word will get back to Paddy’s cave by nightfall and they will come tomorrow. It’s about fifteen miles.’
‘What about us? My men. Where do we go now?’
‘Well may you ask, Captain. We need to head west, towards Anoyeia, but on a lower track. It’s cross-country but not quite in the high mountains. About ten miles. The best thing is that we’ll be on a system of goat tracks that the Germans never use. Quite close to where we plan to attack the column there are a number of caves. We can hide up there.’
‘It must be jolly useful, having all these caves.’
‘Yes, I’ll say it is. Island could have been made for fighting a guerrilla war. So, once we’ve done the job and rescued your men, well it’s really a straight walk south from the caves to the sea. To where your boat is. Of course, you have to go high first. Up into the real mountains. But you’ll all manage that. You’re all fit. Anyway. There’s no time to lose. We should get going west. Come on.’
Ffinch stood up, folded up his map and tucking it away, began to walk away from the track they had been following. Woods signalled to the others and, turning, they followed his lead, as he went after Ffinch.
As Woods was trying to assimilate all the information with which Ffinch had just bombarded him, it occurred to him that there was one piece of the complex jigsaw puzzle that did not fit. Their boat. Their only means of escape. If they were to have to wait for two days until the attack and then march across the White Mountains down to the sea, they would most likely not reach the Rosetta for at least four days. And Wilson was headed there right now with instructions to wait for them for just one day.
The only thing that he could do would be to somehow get word to Gorringe letting him know about the planned attack and giving him their schedule. Then surely he would wait. And Wilson would wait, wouldn’t he?
*
Hunter and Phelps were waiting for the end. They had been left in the cells for the best part of a day and neither man now expected that he would see another dawn. Hunter’s fingers were still throbbing with pain, and he wondered whether one or more might have been broken by the guard. His head wound had sealed itself up, but he was now nursing a dreadful headache. His back too felt badly bruised and was horribly sore.
Phelps looked dreadful. It wasn’t just the physical injuries he had suffered: the mental trauma seemed to have no respite. Perhaps death would be a happy release for the poor bugger, thought Hunter, lost as he was in his own inner nightmare world.
The sound of marching, jackbooted footsteps came from down the hall and stopped abruptly outside their cell. Then the door opened and Hilmann entered. ‘Ah. How are you both? I hope you slept well.’
He sounded more like the genial host of a country house party than a sadistic Nazi. Hunter glared at him but said nothing.
‘We are going to get you cleaned up and try to address those nasty wounds.’
Hunter looked at Phelps and shook his head in despair and disbelief. He turned to Hilmann. ‘May I ask why you would want to bother to do that? Why not just kill us now? That’s what you’re going to do anyway, isn’t it?’
Hilmann laughed. ‘Of course it is, Lieutenant. But first we have something else to do with you.’
Oh good God, thought Hunter, what fresh torture was this?
Hilmann continued, ‘The general commandant of the island, General Müller has expressed a desire to meet the men responsible for the murder of so many of his own men and so much destruction. He has asked that we take you to see him in his headquarters at Hania.’
‘You must be joking.’
Hilmann shook his head and laughed. ‘No, Lieutenant. This is no joke. I am deadly serious. But the general cannot see you in this state. He does not want to meet men covered in blood, looking like savages. So I have instructed my medical orderlies to treat your wounds and make you look somewhat more respectable than the criminals you truly are.
‘We will take you there by truck. In two days’ time. That will give you plenty of time to look better. It’s only a shame that we can’t let you have your own uniforms back. If only you had brought them with you. Nonetheless, I will introduce you personally to the general and when he has spoken to you enough and learnt anything else he wants to know, then we will truly have a great day. The world and the Cretan population will see exactly how we deal with so called “commandos”.’ He spat the word out.
‘A public execution in fact,’ Hunter commented.
‘Yes. And what an occasion. What a celebration. It’s just a pity that you won’t be able to take part in the festivities.’
‘You’re obscene.’
‘Oh, I doubt it very much. At least I wouldn’t describe myself as such. But I’d rather be “obscene” than dead, Lieutenant. I’ll send the medical orderlies in soon. Please do your best to cooperate with them. I’d hate to have to hurt you again.’
*
It took Woods and his men four hours’ hard marching to reach the caves above Anoyeia. Ffinch led the way and every hundred yards or so he would turn and make sure that the others were alright and still following. They arrived as the evening was coming in and Woods was surprised to see that they were far from alone. An entire platoon of andartes had arrived at the caves earlier that day to take part in the attack. Their commander was a surly, thick-set man in his forties named Yanni. He seemed to have unquestioning respect of every man in his platoon.
Ffinch introduced them and they shared a glass of raki together. Then Ffinch took Woods aside and explained what they intended to do. ‘The plan is to isolate the column. It’s how the andartes like to do things and this is really their show.’ He had drawn a sketch plan of the area and made a copy, which he gave to Woods.
