European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

From Naples we were flown to Tunisia in a Ju52.

It flew close to sea level – it never went higher.

A few machines of that group were brought down.

They all died a wretched death drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.

There was no way of rescuing them.

When we came to Tunisia they said at the airport: “What do you want here?”

Many people or many soldiers were heading back.

Higher units – Rommel and these were here, too.

That was in March. Around the beginning of April – the Rommel-army had pulled back quite a bit –

arouse this mood between us, too.

Our sergeant, a confirmed Nazi, said:

“Don’t you think it will be the way it was in 1918!

Whoever steps out of line here, will be bumped off at once.”

He tried to get control straight away.

We were in some barracks in Tunis.

There we had to guard the gates.

The ones who had been moved for disciplinary reasons were graded for that, and so we were there, as well.

In Kairouan the front came to a deadlock.

We thought: ‘Well, if the Americans come further, we will hand over the barracks.

We will be able to prevent an opposition somehow.’