Don't Look Back

by Keith Morley

Don’t Look Back is an intimate account from the Second World War told with the frankness and innocence of a 22-year-old RAF wireless operator from a Lancaster bomber. Alone and lost in Nazi occupied Europe during late 1943, he is catapulted into a dangerous world of the Resistance, the Comet Escape Line and the men and women who risked everything in their fight against the Nazis. It is the start of a nightmare which pushes him to the limit of endurance.Keith Morley writes a compelling and human story which transcends the reserve and modest underplay present in many personal memoirs and accounts of the period.This gripping memoir will appeal to anyone interested in true accounts of wartime escape and evasion.

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Reviews

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ronald Morley, from Leicester, was a wireless operator on the Lancaster bomber aircraft when it was shot down over occupied territory in Belgium on November 3rd, 1943.He had been stationed with the 29 Operational Training Unit at RAF North Luffenham before moving onto the bombers.Some of the crew died but Ronald parachuted out and survived.He sheltered in a barn overnight and was taken in by the Belgian resistance which engineered his escape.He travelled through Belgium, France and walked over the Pyrenees to Spain before getting a boat home from Gibraltar on a route known as the Comet Line,before being flown home in a Dakota aircraft.The Comet Line (French: Réseau Comète; 1941–1944) was a Resistance organization in occupied Belgium and France in WWII.The Comet Line helped Allied soldiers and airmen shot down over occupied Belgium evade capture by Germans and return to Great Britain. The Comet Line began in Brussels, where the airmen were fed, clothed, given false identity papers, and hidden in attics, cellars, and people's homes. A network of volunteers then escorted them south through occupied France into neutral Spain and home via British-controlled Gibraltar.The motto of the Comet Line was "Pugna Quin Percutias," which means "fight without arms," as the organisation did not undertake armed or violent resistance to the German occupation.The Comet Line received financial assistance from MI9, a British intelligence agency dedicated to the rescue of Allied prisoners of war and service members from behind enemy lines, but maintained its operational independence.For the Allies, the rescue of downed airmen by the Comet and other escape lines had a practical as well as a humanitarian objective.Training new and replacement of air crews was expensive and time-consuming.Rescuing airmen downed in occupied Europe and returning them to duty was a priority.A typical Comet Line route was from Brussels or Lille to Paris and then via Tours, Bordeaux, Bayonne, over the Pyrenees to San Sebastián in Spain. From there evaders travelled to Bilbao, Madrid and Gibraltar.Andrée de Jongh (aka Dédée and Postman),was the Line co-creator and leader.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the true account of a British Airman who had to avoid capture in Europe after being shot down from a Lancaster.

As the reader you follow the airman as he is sheltered and passed on between helpers to get him home, and you really feel like you are there, waiting with baited breath as helpers hide him from knocks on the door, or patrols in the street. You wonder what happens next after each page, uncertain as to how on earth he will ever escape. You witness the bravery and dedication of the helpers as they assist the escapers, you see the sacrifices they make, often going without, so that they can give to the escapers.

The description the author uses to set the scenes is very vivid, you feel like you are there one step behind the airman, holding your breath, wondering if you too, will get home, get food, get sleep.

It is a very well written and researched account and I will be recommending this to friends.

[Jennifer L Klump · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't Look Back book review, highly recommended

This author provides an up close detailed account of the difficulties and terror of escaping through occupied Europe and then Spain during WWII. It is a well deserved tribute to his father's service and sacrifice. And, a heartfelt tribute to members of the resistance who risked their lives and the lives of their families. The writing style is unusually creative and avoids using the typical cliches many authors employ. Highly recommended.