On 1 August at about 0400 there was a big explosion, followed by artillery fire nearby. The Germans were trying to evacuate stuff along the highway near the camp, and our artillery opened up on the RJ. Several shells dropped in the Stalag. We stayed in our trenches all that morning. At 12 noon our planes came over. About 2000 that evening we were told by a Frenchman that the town was surrounded and that the Mayor of RENNES had asked the Germans to surrender, to spare the civilians and the patients in the seven hospitals.
At 2200 all 600 of use were ordered out and lined up, each with a blanket. We were given a piece of bread and told we were to be evacuated. However, we stayed there waiting for transport until 0200. At 0100 a plane came over and the guards hid, but we were not strafed. Finally at 0200 we left on foot, walked about 4 miles to a wood outside the city, where we found a train of 20-25 cars waiting, heavily camouflaged with boughs. There were approximately 80 guards with us.
At 0400 an engine arrived and we pulled out. Artillery fire around the city and frequent explosions were audible, with pinkish flares going off. Six or eight shells fell near us. The EM were packed in 50 to a car. In my car there were 25 officers, 3 French war correspondents who had been captured, and 5 badly wounded G.I.’s who could not walk. We had no water, but at stops the French generally brought us cider, and we were let off to go to the latrine.
We made a long and roundabout trip during the next three days, frequently being held up by bridges that had been destroyed, or by the threat of strafing by our planes. We only made 125 miles or so in the whole time, and were continually backing and filling. We would get to some place, find we could not go through, and back up 15 or 20 miles, the start down some other line. We went to St. Nazaire, where the engineer ran off with the engine, because he knew the U.S. troops were near and hoped we might be rescued if the train was delayed. We could hear the guns of Gen. PATTON’s army. However, they got 14
another engine and we went on to NANTES. Shortly after, at 0400 on the night of 4 August were attacked by the Maquis. There was MG (machine gun) fire and a big battle for half an hour, but two more coaches full of Luftwaffe personnel had been added at NANTES, and after a while the train went on. The French were afraid to fire at the cars we were in. Major HEARNE and I, as senior officers, were afraid we might be taken as hostages if this went on.
Next morning we pulled into ANGERS. We went out on the bridge hear just as U.S. planes came over, but they did not do a thing to us. Later in the marshalling yards, the same thing happened, but we pulled out just before the bombs began to fall. This sort of thing went on all the time we were on the train….On the 5th we noticed that another engine had been hitched on the rear of the train….In the meantime, a Frenchman had given us a bottle of cloudy cider at LE LION D’ANGERS, and in it we found a small file. We decided to work on the bolts of the door on the side of the train away from the one where the guards were. We cut around the bolt heads, prised (pried) the boards back, and loosened the whole fastening on this side of the car. By 2300 that night we were ready to make a break.
….Major HEARNE jumped first, then the three Frenchmen….I was scared but found I had gone and done it (jumped) almost before I knew.