244255 WO. William Charles Percival Martin Royal Air Force 39 Squadron from:Canterbury The following are the first few paragraphs of a book written by Bill Martin.
Spring 1945 The Long March. A long ragged column of men plodded wearily eastwards across the Heath of Luneberg. It was early spring of 1945 and the weather was unusually kind and generous. Apart from a few streaks of cirrus, the sky was incredibly blue. A warm breeze fanned their faces as they struggled on.
Two days ago, half a dozen of these columns had left the prison camp at Fallingbostel, each one taking a different route but all heading in the same general direction, away from the war front, which was moving with mercurial speed as the shattered remnants of the German divisions fell back.
Since leaving the Stalag the men had not been issued with any food, they had depended on coming across earth-covered mounds of potatoes or mangold-wurzels. Since these comprised their staple diet for years a few more days or weeks was not going to do much harm. And so, they lived off the land like hordes of locusts.
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