(16) Fishing trips

With the war almost over, I stayed with the Americans billeted by the river Zik. I acted as their “speaker” for their operations to root out Nazi sympathisers, and liberate and collect POWs.

I learned a lot about the Americans in that time, particularly what great sportsmen they were. Their need to shoot and hunt was satisfied, but they needed the fishing as well. The absence of any fishing tackle was not seen as a disadvantage by my American friends, they devised a number of “novel” methods of catching fish.

One favourite involved overhead electric power cables. They would rig up connections from the cables and lower them in to the river. The resulting electric current in the water was enough to stun the fish and bring them to the surface. All that was left to do then was to scoop them up and throw them on the barbecue.

A more effective and dramatic, but rather less popular method with the MPs, involved tossing a live hand grenade in to the river. The effect was the same as the electric current but far quicker. Using this method, we caught fish by the box full, but the MPs got upset, because each time we did it they assumed that the camp was under attack.

Not all the Americans were interested in fishing, nor are their stories as humorous. I remember one little American soldier, he seemed like a quiet type. One evening asked me.

“Can you get me a date with a local girl?”

Close to us was the barrack with the Ukrainian girls. This was before the bombing took it out and killed most of them. They lived in desperate poverty in appalling conditions. I knew one quite well, and wanted to help her. Americans always had lots of cigarettes, money and chocolate and I was sure she’d be on to a good thing. I told her of this young American who was looking for a girlfriend. She liked the idea,

“Yes please, bring him here,” She said.

I brought the American, introduced them, and left them in the cellar of the barracks.

About two hours later I’d not seen either of them, so I thought I’d better go and see what had happened.

I went down to the cellar and saw the girl in the corner of the cellar, lying abused, bleeding and crying. She was in a terrible state. I had to call the ambulance to take her to hospital.

I never saw that American again, and I felt disgusted by what he did. I learned my lesson, as I know know that this sort of thing happened a lot during this time. Girls did things for money or food with no thought for the consequences. Venereal diseases were common amongst soldiers.

To try and control this, I remember with the British forces, we were given tablets to control our urges, but many of the troops pretended to take them and spat them out.

I was careful, and more interested in business and trying to make enough money to get to England to get involved in such things. I did my share of black market dealing, I must admit!