The Abbeville Boys

Chapter 15: France Falls

      By June of 1940 the battle for France was over. Kurt had six victories and was promoted to Captain. The Jagdgeschwader was relaxing. It was good to have down time. They needed to enjoy it. This restful period would be the last they would have. After several weeks of puttering around the planes working on them and having nightly drinking parties a staff car drove onto the airfield. General Prust got out with another officer and went to talk to the squadron commander. Prust came back out to his staff car without the other officer and left.

      The squadron commander came out with the new officer and everyone gathered around. He said, “Gentlemen, this is the new commander, Adolf Galland.” All the men knew who he was. He was a famous ace who had shot down over sixty enemy fighters. He was known as a hands on officer. He flew many missions with the squad. Galland stood there a minute looking at everyone, “Boys, we’ve been reassigned to Abbeville, France. We’ll fly there immediately. Our new base will be an airfield just north of the town square. Abbeville is in northwestern France on the channel in between Normandy and Le Havra. We leave in the morning.”

      Galland walked off and the pilots started talking. They were excited, going to a city with modern conveniences. Kurt’s first thought was there could be a phone there. They continued to party through the night. Kurt sat drinking with Eberhart, “We’re dominating on all fronts. At this rate the war will be over quickly.”

      Eberhart smiled, “We’ll be invading England soon. Calais is only forty kilometers (25 miles) from England. Abbeville is a little further down so it’s probably seventy kilometers. We’ll start bombing them which means we’ll do bomber escorts.”

      Kurt asked him, “Have you ever done bomber escorts. Is it like escorting Stukas?”

      “I did level bomber escorts in Spain. It’s different. They must fly straight and level, so you’ve got to protect them. The Stukas at least have some maneuverability when they dive. Anyway, we’ll see a lot of action soon.”

      Kurt lay in his bed and thought the whole experience had been a lark. The Luftwaffe had taken down any enemy they met. England would be no different. The Luftwaffe is supreme and will rule Europe. The spitfire fighter did concern him, however.  

      Joseph was beaten down but slowly adapting to concentration camp life. He was a young strong man and needed by the Nazis for slave labor. It was tough but he was hardening to it. There was still talk of escape, but none of the plans sounded feasible, and he decided to stay out of it until there was something that made sense. More men tried to escape and were killed. The Nazis paraded their bodies and burned them.

      Joseph was transferred to building construction within the compound. He worked on new buildings for Jews brought into the camp. He still worked hard for fourteen hours but the SS didn’t have as many Jews killed. They wanted the work done and didn’t want to pay for the labor to do it themselves. The workers were monitored closely by the SS. Things were starting to relax a little after Daniel’s escape and talk continued about getting out of there.

      One night the old man who brought him meals came to his bunk. Joseph sat up, “What’s happening?’

      “We have a uniform for a German Oberst (Colonel). One of the prisoners has been working on it. It’s perfect. If you’re willing, you can escape in it.”

      Joseph was interested, “How would it work.”

      “You’ll come back here after the day’s work. At eleven fifty five you’ll leave the barracks. You don’t want to be seen. They change the guards at midnight and they’re a little disorganized. Walk to the motor pool and hot wire a vehicle. You know how to how wire a car, right?”

       Joseph said, “I don’t like it. I’m not going to do it. They catch everything here. No one has escaped except maybe Daniel. We’re not even sure about that.”

       The old man looked at him, “I don’t blame you. They’re coming for us. I promise. The allies will be here.” He got up and left as Joseph thought about the opportunity he had passed up.

       Several days later they attempted the escape with another Jewish prisoner, Arnold Newburg. He was well liked among the prisoners but was thin and weak. He needed to get out. They had a small diversion at the south end of the barracks. The guards who were listening ran down there. Arnold walked out north towards the motor pool in the Oberst uniform. He was told how to hotwire a field car. They told Arnold to act arrogantly. He was an SS officer. He drove up to the gate and the guards opened the gates as he demanded. He left the compound and headed south to Switzerland. That’s the last time the prisoners heard of him.

      Several days later Arnold’s body was brought back to the compound. It was paraded up and down the barracks rows and laid in the center of the camp. The commandant came out and assembled everyone. The Oberst walked up to a prisoner and shot him in the head. He then announced that anyone trying to escape would be killed along with ten prisoners.

      The SS guards stood there and shot nine other men. The men became anxious and started to move towards the guards. There was machine gun fire. The men stopped but were looking for ways out.

      Joseph was glad he didn’t try to escape but wondered if he should’ve tried something. He needed to get word to Kurt but didn’t know how. The prisoners continued to plan escapes, but Joseph wanted no part of it. The whole thing seemed useless. His morale was falling, but he still listened to the different plans.