Page 128

By the time we were ready to move the snow was almost gone. This was an awful blow for us with sledges. Well we moved off again on the 1st Feb. We soon realized that sledges were not practical & most people abandoned theirs within the 1st kilo. I stuck to mine, for I figured it was easier. We were told we were going to SPRENGBURG in two stages 18 the first & 8 the second. Well I finally abandoned my sledge after about 13 kilos & lumped the rest. We finally reached GAUSTEIN at 7 in the morning of the 2nd where we got into another barn which was like heaven - lovely & warm with bags of hay, but we had to be on the march at eleven again! At eleven we were off again, finally reaching SPRENGBURG. We marched into some German Barracks & settled down in garages - very tired. We got some barley soup & having filled up I prepared to get washed & clean & then intended to visit some friends of mine of the East Compound who had joined up - when the order came that we were moving on at 4 o'clock to the train. That has been the trouble you never know how long you have before you must move on.

So we packed hastily & marched off again. This time we learnt we had 4 kilos to do. We reached the train at dark & after some waiting we finally climbed in cattle trucks 40 to a truck. This is a very close fit & only by cunning arrangement & lying on ones side can it be done.

At midnight the train started off. We knew now that we were going to BREMEN to a Milag.

The journey went through HOHENBOLNA 0500 hrs RUHLAND 1000 hrs, PLESSA 1150 FALKENBERG 1300 HRS TORGAU 1520 HRS where we crossed the ELOE