KNOTTINGLEY SOLDIER'S LUCKY ESCAPE

Pontefract and Castleford Express, 19 January 1945

A military observer serving with our Forces overseas sends the following:

"I was certainly lucky to come out of that situation alive", said Private J. Miller of 8 Hogarth, Knottingley, referring to a dramatic incident on the Western Front in which he was recently involved.

"It happened'' said Miller, "when another soldier and myself were sent up to a house about 400 yards in front of our forward section positions, which for some days now we had been using as a listening post. Each evening two men would keep watch from the building throughout the night, returning to our own lines at first light the following morning. Hitherto, no evidence of any enemy activity in the area of the house had been either seen or heard by those who had gone out previously."

"There was an heavy mist on the afternoon when we set off to take our turn in the listening post; for this reason we couldn't be certain whether perhaps our eyes weren't playing us tricks when we were about 100 yards before reaching the house, we imagined that we saw two figures move across the path some way in front of us. We halted a few minutes and then, neither seeing or hearing anything further, went on once more. Two minutes later the shape of the building loomed out of the mist. Everything was completely still until we were just about to enter the front door when a machine pistol suddenly blazes at us, fired by a 'Boche' standing in the passage not more than a few feet away."

"My mate was wounded in the thigh. It was my lucky day; for the bullets missed me altogether. We hurriedly got into the ditch at the side of the road and returned their fire. We then crawled down the ditch for about 100 yards until out of sight of the house when we were able to continue on foot. I then assisted the wounded man back to our lines."

Pontefract and Castleford Express, 19 January 1945

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