Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 22, 2021 22:36:50 GMT 12
IN BELGIUM WITH THE ALLIES
CONDITIONS DESCRIBED BY N.Z. AIRMAN
PEOPLE’S RESISTANCE TO GERMAN RULE
A description of conditions in Belgium soon after the entry of Allied forces is contained in a letter received by Mr and Mrs E. Hitchcock, of Christchurch, from their youngest son. Flight Lieutenant E. H. Hitchcock. R.N.Z.A.F. Flight Lieutenant Hitchcock wrote from a Belgian normal school which until four weeks before the date of his letter (October 3), had housed a Luftwaffe training school.
“I have just returned from an evening with M. le Senateur. We have been talking all evening on light topics, but just occasionally the small things of great importance slip in,” wrote Flight Lieutenant Hitchcock. “At 9 p.m. they would all slip off to hear the B.B.C. news, in spite of the fact that there was a German officer in the house —that discovery or denunciation meant confiscation or imprisonment. Their car was not commandeered by the Germans, only because it was aged and unworkable. They speak of anxiety with which they awaited the invasion, and the faith they had in the Allies. They speak of the mixed feeling they had when Allied aeroplanes had to bomb their town and possibly ruin their homes.
“Another family we visit are most delightful people—cheery and laughing. Two months ago Jaqueline (the daughter) was buried beneath a pile of debris, and rescued from the wrecked building fortunately with but minor wounds. They say to us; ‘We did not mind—it was necessary for victory'"
German Officers’ Tactics
“And they tell of the night when, after a denunciation, two German officers searched the house, and having found nothing, sat and just looked at Madame for two whole hours. The agony as they sat and waited for the doorbell—that might mean arrest, imprisonment, forced labour, or death.
"To-day. visiting another town, we gave a lift to a smartly dressed woman, rather grudgingly I fear, noting how much more smartly she was dressed than the average austerity dressed Englishman. Later we found that her husband had been shot for helping a British airman to escape!
“In the Cafe X. amid the brightest lights and sweetest music I have heard for years, with smartly dressed girls and cheerful faces—one is rather halted when, in casual conversation, they mention that but four weeks ago the Germans were selecting at random 25 civilians to be shot for each German. And amid all this, Madame, of one family, was carefully learning English; —to speak to the liberators! Some faith, some courage! . .
“And so life proceeds, in incredible surroundings that have become commonplace, and after world-shaking happenings we continue our own apparently calm and usual existence. Food is a trifle short at the moment, but we probably eat just about as much as is really good for us! Locally bags of fruit are available —tomatoes at 11 francs a kilo (say 7d per lb); grapes at about the same price, apples at half that—pears and peaches at about 2d each!
“The locals are really short of tea, coffee, and butter, but they will probably be O.K. when the Government is fully in action again.”
PRESS, 29 NOVEMBER 1944
CONDITIONS DESCRIBED BY N.Z. AIRMAN
PEOPLE’S RESISTANCE TO GERMAN RULE
A description of conditions in Belgium soon after the entry of Allied forces is contained in a letter received by Mr and Mrs E. Hitchcock, of Christchurch, from their youngest son. Flight Lieutenant E. H. Hitchcock. R.N.Z.A.F. Flight Lieutenant Hitchcock wrote from a Belgian normal school which until four weeks before the date of his letter (October 3), had housed a Luftwaffe training school.
“I have just returned from an evening with M. le Senateur. We have been talking all evening on light topics, but just occasionally the small things of great importance slip in,” wrote Flight Lieutenant Hitchcock. “At 9 p.m. they would all slip off to hear the B.B.C. news, in spite of the fact that there was a German officer in the house —that discovery or denunciation meant confiscation or imprisonment. Their car was not commandeered by the Germans, only because it was aged and unworkable. They speak of anxiety with which they awaited the invasion, and the faith they had in the Allies. They speak of the mixed feeling they had when Allied aeroplanes had to bomb their town and possibly ruin their homes.
“Another family we visit are most delightful people—cheery and laughing. Two months ago Jaqueline (the daughter) was buried beneath a pile of debris, and rescued from the wrecked building fortunately with but minor wounds. They say to us; ‘We did not mind—it was necessary for victory'"
German Officers’ Tactics
“And they tell of the night when, after a denunciation, two German officers searched the house, and having found nothing, sat and just looked at Madame for two whole hours. The agony as they sat and waited for the doorbell—that might mean arrest, imprisonment, forced labour, or death.
"To-day. visiting another town, we gave a lift to a smartly dressed woman, rather grudgingly I fear, noting how much more smartly she was dressed than the average austerity dressed Englishman. Later we found that her husband had been shot for helping a British airman to escape!
“In the Cafe X. amid the brightest lights and sweetest music I have heard for years, with smartly dressed girls and cheerful faces—one is rather halted when, in casual conversation, they mention that but four weeks ago the Germans were selecting at random 25 civilians to be shot for each German. And amid all this, Madame, of one family, was carefully learning English; —to speak to the liberators! Some faith, some courage! . .
“And so life proceeds, in incredible surroundings that have become commonplace, and after world-shaking happenings we continue our own apparently calm and usual existence. Food is a trifle short at the moment, but we probably eat just about as much as is really good for us! Locally bags of fruit are available —tomatoes at 11 francs a kilo (say 7d per lb); grapes at about the same price, apples at half that—pears and peaches at about 2d each!
“The locals are really short of tea, coffee, and butter, but they will probably be O.K. when the Government is fully in action again.”
PRESS, 29 NOVEMBER 1944
