| I was a soldier with the pioneers. My unit was defeated by the Russians and I escaped over Danzig till Schwerin. There, I met a former comrade at the military hospital. He thought to know that from our unit approx. 80 percent died. Then, a new battalion was set up and some time later the war was over. The British interned us in Heide, Schleswig Holstein. Later, we marched to the camp in Friedrichskoog. There were 3 camps and we lived in halls were vegetable was stored in earlier days. The halls still can be viewed today. We were allowed to move freely in a circle of 12 km around the camp. New prisoners arrived from Denmark and Norway. Already in June, the first dismissals started. The dismissal-HQ was in Marne. Pioneers and mine-seekers of the navy were excluded of the dismissals. End of July, I was ordered to an transportation westward for mine clearing. Supposedly, it should go to Aachen. A German officer told us that each escape-attempt get punished with 2 years of forced labor at least. Nevertheless, I had no desire to blow up with a mine and I jumped from the train in Borken. I was not the only one who tried to flee on the trip since the British guards had no desire to use the escapers for target practice. From Borken, I marched to Ahaus and there, I found a ride home. It was on August 4, 1945 I was back with my family again. |
