If Britain Had Fallen by Norman Longmate Read Free Book Online Page A

Germans detained since the start of the war. To at least one family, living in Londonderry in Northern Ireland, the realisation that they were now technically ‘enemy aliens’ came as an appalling shock.
     
    When Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940, my parents were already in this country for thirty years. We, the family, were all born here…. It was a shock to us, to be declared enemy aliens, to be awakened at 6 am on the morning of 11 June, by a dozen or more policemen, who told my father, regretfully, that they had come to detain him, my brother and a young relative who lived with us. We were called from our beds and came down to find the place surrounded by policemen. We were in the catering business, cafés, ice cream and fish and chip saloons. Each door was guarded by a policeman, the back gates were similarly guarded, while others swarmed over the house and cafés, searching for ‘enemy’ signs. You can imagine our bewilderment, my mother’s distress, our tears as we watched my father, brother and cousin being led away by police escort to the barracks. Shortly afterwards the phone started ringing, my sisters in other towns told us of our uncles and various friends who had also been detained. By this time, the news had spread all over the city. ‘The Italians have been arrested’, and as we opened our shops that morning we did not know what to expect. But we were soon to find out. People who walked past stared in, some even stood and jeered, and I saw several who spat in our doorway. Our hearts were heavy as we noticed that none of our usual customers came in. One young office junior, who came every morning for milk and biscuits for the office across the way, and paid at the end of each week, told us sheepishly that they would not want anything else after this weekend…. I answered him sharply that he need not wait until the end of the week to finish with us, he could finish right now…. It was painful indeed to stand in our empty cafés, to watch our one-time customers outside, warning others not to go into ‘enemy’ shops. For some weeks this upheaval in our lives continued, our houses were searched, our car and radio confiscated; we were suspect…. Customers of years’ standing, whom my parents had seen growing from childhood to manhood, ignored us and forbade others to come into our cafés…. And we were lucky that we did not get our windows smashed, as happened in many other places. 1
     
    Since no one liked to admit that they had been beaten by orthodox means, the myth that the defeat of Belgium, Holland and France had been due to mysterious and underhand tactics was readily accepted, and between May and September 1940 tales of the achievements of the dreaded ‘fifth column’ of traitors, lurking undetected within the garrison like wolves in sheep’s clothing, or soon to be dropped by parachute in a variety of cunning disguises, spread from mouth to mouth The vice-admiral in command of Dover warned the Admiralty on 31 May that there were indications of numerous acts of sabotage and fifth-column activity’, though the only overt sign was ‘second-hand cars purchased at fantastic prices and left at various parking places’, the supposed spies apparently being too honest simply to steal a car if they needed one. Five days later the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, soon to be replaced, warned a conference of LDV commanders: ‘We have got examples of where there have been people quite definitely preparing aerodromes in this country…. We want to know from you what is going on. Is there anything peculiar happening ? Are there any peculiar people ?’ Apart from a few harmless bird-watchers, holiday-makers sketching beauty-spots, and over-eager aircraft-spotters, lurking near aerodromes, all of whom were detained at various times, no ‘peculiar people’ were forthcoming, but the hunt for them continued. One schoolmistress, on holiday in a Dorset village, assisted the local mounted Home Guard