|
While we were unloading our Tank-Recovery, 'Muck' decided he would take a swim, so in he went. After much confusion, we managed to get him back on the dock and into some dry clothes. I always did say that it was too cold in January to go swimming. The ride from Le Havre to Totes was slow and interesting. It was here that we first saw the ruins and devastation of war.
At Totes we had some minor repair work to do which kept us busy for a short time. 'Doughbelly' managed to scare up some Calvados, which was a new kind of a drink to us. I think someone put the wrong label on a bottle of raw turpentine, for that is what it tasted like. Our billets were good, but none of us stayed long enough to enjoy them.
The day we left Totes, everybody was feeling good and it started to snow in blizzard style. The roads were covered with a coat of ice and the falling snow did not help us any in our travelling. We had only gone a short distance when we came upon one of Hq. Co. light tanks overturned in a ditch. By this time it was really snowing and the traffic was heavy and continuous. Our only answer was to go through a field so that we could set the tank back on its tracks and get it rolling again. This didn't appeal to us very much because we were all of the opinion that the field had been mined. The job remained to be done, so off we went through the field. It was only a matter of a half hour and we were back on the road again, towing the tank.
The snow was still falling hard late that afternoon and it made travelling quite difficult. We had gone about twenty miles and then decided that it would be best to find a suitable building to work in and repair the damages. Capt. Anderson found a large barn where we could work and we started
|
making repairs. It was late in the afternoon when we completed the work, so we went up in the hay loft and bedded down for the night. The family of an adjoining farmhouse came over with a large bowl of heated liquor (what it was no-one knows) and gave it to us. We drank it and retired to our respective suites in the hay loft.
The next morning we arose early and started once more on our way. It had been snowing all night and by this time travelling was almost impossible. Our steel tracks acted as sleigh runners on the icy roads. The light tank could make better progress than we could, so Ca.pt. Anderson proceeded on ahead of us. The outfit was already one day ahead and travelling at a steady pace. The only information we had was that we were to go to the vicinity of Reims.
I'll never forget that ride and neither will the fellows with me. Our average speed was three mile~ per hour, at your own risk. "Blackie" never did like the fenders on the tank and I still say that he hit every tree he could to knock them off.
Along one stretch of the road, the snow and ice had melted away and it looked like it was going to be good driving. I was at the controls at the time and I came around a corner at a moderate rate of speed. After I had cleared the corner and gone a short ways, old 'Satan' started her sliding again. This time I went off the road and pulled up alongside of a brick wall adjoining a house. 'Butterfly' pulled his steel helmet down over his shoulders to avoid falling bricks and Emary ducked under the floor. I missed the house and we continued on.
|
