Soldiers Tales: the Ardennes Offensive

Chapter 2 from Hun’s Corner

A Road from Rheindahlen to North Camp

A road connected these two military towns, and both at the beginning of the road as at its end were houses for the British military. A question arose as to which end was the starting point and which was the destination. The road passed through the Eifel, the Ardennes and on through Belgium to Dover. Conversely, it passed from North Camp and on to Dover castle. Sarge understood this, and decided that the destination must, therefore, be Dover, and consequently he drew up his order of march.

Light Tower Church


Adieu Eifel Land

The sky was beset with heavy clouds when we set forth from a wooded area near the imperial city of Aachen. As no rain had as yet fallen, we proceeded along dry, narrow roads south-west through the hilly terrain of the Eifel, and then on through the Ardennes, certain that no prying aircraft from distant lands would detect our column. We traversed the river Meuse and headed on towards the city of Brussels, where people spoke both Flemish and French.

Ardennes Offensive

After refuelling our tanks and acquiring fresh water and coffee, we drove on westwards and, as by now the sun had appeared, people were lining the roads and waving to us. We assumed they had heard of our arrival on the wireless and had turned out to greet us, and so we waved back at them.

Above our heads we noticed what at first appeared to be large flocks of migratory birds also heading west, but on closer scrutiny we saw they were squadrons of Junkers 87, the formidable Stukas known for their characteristic siren sound. Later we were to see these same formations flying back east, only to see them reappear some time later heading west again.

From Aachen to Dover

Our column had advanced to a crossroads with one signpost indicating the road to Paris, the other to England. The commander of the first company consulted his Michelin Guide de France and turned left for Paris. But Sarge, who commanded our unit, which was at the rear, gave orders to turn right and so we headed for Dunkirk. It was approaching evening, the stars were coming out, and eventually the sky became dark.

It was eleven o'clock at night when we rolled into the town of Dunkirk. Quite a lot of dust had settled onto the armour plating of our vehicles during the long ride and I dare say it was hard to distinguish our panzers from those around us parked on the beach. Anyway, we noticed a ship waiting at the quay and, after pulling up and leaving our vehicles next to a sand dune, we embarked. Sarge did the talking and we just followed him in goose line as we marched up the ship's boarding plank.

There were many different soldiers on board. Some wore khaki uniform, others had French helmets on their head, then there were those from Flanders and yet others from as far as Amsterdam. The uniforms and the spoken languages varied, and so we blended in and no-one really noticed or even cared to enquire. They were very tired and mostly just wanted a good night's sleep on the deck.

Sarge found a place for us to starboard from where we could see flares and fireworks illuminating the horizon as we left the coast behind. During the crossing he told all the men of our company that on arrival in England we would be greeted with an early-morning breakfast and then we would make our ascent.

You see yonder hill?, he said, pointing to a cliff in the shape of an A near Dover. Not far away are army barracks, but you can't see them from the sea because they're located under the ground.

Once we had arrived and disembarked, he said: For now we're just going up there and back to see how far it is. When this darn war is over, he continued, we'll raise the English Flag over the hilltop.

Keep in touch with Hun’s Corner in order to see how Sarge marched up Military Hill with a company of soldiers and then marched down again … only to return to the top of the hill to bring an almighty end to the City of Babylon!

Esto es ... haw haw haw ...

Our previous chapter: Arrival of a Sentence

Our next chapter is: Walking to Arnhem.


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