Chapter 6

Eliza thought Mrs. Smyth must spend her every waking hour baking. She seemed to pour forth an endless stream of cakes, tarts, flans and pies, in between batches of biscuits and Scottish muffins. The pantry was stacked with preserves of every kind as well as chow chows and chutneys and homemade sauces.

Indeed, it seemed that this corner of Scotland remained untouched by war, if you ignore the shortage of young men.

The backbone of the regular British army came from areas such as Strathclyde. Regulars that were almost all now lying somewhere in Belgium and France. Villages, such as Galston were now devoid of their able-bodied menfolk and in every second cottage lived a widow.

The abundant agricultural resources of the area were almost entirely worked by women. Now, however, slowly being supplemented by German prisoners of war.

Someone at the Ministry of Farm Production, alarmed at the shortage of agricultural labour came to the conclusion that there was thousands of idle POW's sitting around with time on their hands. Able-bodied men at that.

For the most part, prisoners were only too happy to get out of their camps for a bit of healthy work. Any thing to change the daily view of barbed wire and guards.

The Naval POW camp at Galston was for enlisted men. The Officers were held elsewhere. The men at Galston believed it was so the Officers could be better treated and it was rumoured that they enjoyed Cognac and a daily ration of Cigars.

Enlisted men were expected to do manual work, while the Officers weren't expected to get their hands dirty. An Officer was an Officer despite what side they were on.

The men at Galston were mostly U-boat crews, with a smattering of the Hochseeflotte. (Germany's main battle fleet.)

Kimi was disappointed that none of the SMS Wiesbaden's crew was lodged there. He still held out hope that his Father may have survived. Alas, there were none. There were plenty of men from the light forces, though, Destroyers and Light Cruisers and a few from the SMS Blucher, the Armoured Cruiser demolished at Dogger Bank.

Indeed the tattered cap legends read like a memorial to the famous ships that fought, and were defeated by the Royal Navy. SMS Scharnhorst, SMS Elbing, SMS Emden the famous raider finally hunted down and destroyed off the Cocos/ Keeling islands in the Indian ocean. SMS Koln, SMS Karlsruhe caught up the Rufiji River in East Africa. SMS Dresden, SMS Berlin scuttled off Tierra del Fuego after the Falklands and the armed Hamburg-Amerika liner SMS Cap Trafalgar sunk in the South Atlantic by the more heavily armed Cunard liner HMS Carpathia, which was set on fire.

They all had heard of the Spartakist revolt in Berlin, the mutiny of the fleet and the raising of the red flag over some of its best units. News came of food riots, arrests and demonstrations. It all disturbed and demoralised them. The war was coming to a close but few had any idea what they would be going back to.

Kimi knew his shipmates were gone, indeed most of the Nordenham flotilla was destroyed. L70's sister ship, the L71 still existed and some that didn't take part in the ill-fated attack were left, but many of their more experienced crewmen had been drafted into the assaulting ships. The Airship Service never recovered from the loss of these personnel.

In France, the Marne battle had petered out and the 'Schturmstaffeln' (Storm Units) with their 'Bergmann' submachine guns had been driven back to their previous positions, and beyond. The big American infantry brigades had put victory beyond Germany's reach.

Warrant Officer Jock Smyth approached Kimi as he paraded one morning for assignment.

"Kasemann," he bellowed, "step out!"

The two U-boat men on either side of him seem to shrink away a little as Kimi jumped forward in a brisk step.

"You're assigned to me! Fall in! I have work in the village for you."

This was not unexpected, as he was nearly always required to work, either in the bicycle shop or the motor garage.

"There's a couple of tractors for you today, Kimi lad, and a motor lorry that's broken an axle," the WO said as they passed the disinterested guards, "I think it'll need a bit of welding up. That should take you all day. I'll send your lunch over to you."

"Will Mrs. Smyth be making it?" Kimi asked.

"Aye, venison pie, she made. From the Laird's estate I don't doubt. Generous to a fault, the Laird."

"Do you mean a deer broke its leg near the highway again?"

"Now lad, I won't hear that kind of talk," said the WO, grinning.

They arrived at the garage and Kimi looked over the work he had to do. The two tractors both had engine problems and then there was that blasted lorry. He decided to work on the tractors first.

The Fordson appeared to have dropped a valve, the McCormack a simple ignition problem. He started work on the latter.

Although he was supposed to have a guard, the WO disappeared. Probably to have 'a dram or 3' at the local tavern, he supposed. Kimi liked to work alone and he liked the little garage. The arrangement suited him fine.

Later, in the office of Colonel Monroe, camp commandant, Jock Smyth was giving the Colonel a brown parcel.

"You'll get caught one of these days, Jock. You're too damn clever for your own good," the Colonel told him.

"Oh leave off Andy, you'd be no stranger to a moonlit hunt, yourself."

"Ah well, I was a bit younger in those days, Jock. This is no game for an old buzzard like you! Y'know the old boy wouldn't be above filling your arse with birdshot."

"Aye, but I can still skip like a young buck when I have to, and the old Laird's aim is not what it was. I can give the venison to the cook for the Huns if your conscience is troubling you."

"No, no. That's all right. I won't trouble you to walk all that way back to camp."

"Now, there's just one favour I want to ask, a little one."

"Jock!"

"A very little one, COLONEL Monroe... sir," the WO leaned closer.

"What would you be after?"

"Well you know the village has been without a mechanic for quite some time. Ever since Jimmy Lauchlan joined up. Y'know he went down in the Invincible?"

"Yes, of course I know. What is your point, Jock?"

"Well I know this young lad..."

Back at the garage, Kimi had completed the work on the tractors by lunchtime. He was eagerly waiting for Mrs. Smyth to deliver his lunch. Mrs. Smyth's lunches were one of the better perks of the job.

Right on schedule, around noon there was a knock on the door. Kimi was in the back, washing up and called for Mrs. Smyth to come on in.

Instead of the WO's wife's Scottish accent he was answered by a different voice with all too familiar home-counties vowels.

"Kimi, is that you?"

Kimi rushed out of the little washroom, his hands dripping with soapsuds, to find the shocked face of his Eliza before him.