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| Schubin |
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| Schubin/ Oflag 64 pictured today |
In the final post on the Asselin Tunnel at Oflag XX1B, I
have selected a cross section of the remaining escapers who made the break. Some
of the notes are brief but they are a typical snapshot of what happened to the
rest of the men who made it out of the camp.
Selection and Order of Personnel for the Escape
1) Eddie Asselin and his team of diggers, earth-dispersers
and the three men amongst his stooges who took it in turns to sit on the
lavatory seat which was used to enter the tunnel.
2) Officials in the camp X Organisation (see previous posts
how X functioned)
3) Ten per cent of the Senior British Officer’s (SBO)reserve
chosen from the administration, entertainment, education and other socially
important sectors of the camp.
Escapers who were German speakers, or those who knew a
language of one of the occupied countries (so they could masquerade as foreign
workers) stood a better chance of surviving checks and not arousing suspicion
when travelling on trains. Their forged papers would often fit into an escape
plan and mirror their cover story. The men needed to look and act the part, so
also had to wear clothes which did not seem out of place. Once a break of this
size was discovered, a massive search operation and extra checks were
instigated all over German occupied territories, so the odds were still
massively stacked against even the most ‘credible’ of escapers.
The rest of the fugitives would inevitably be the ‘hard
arsers’ who travelled on foot across country, often at night then hiding up in
the day. They took their chances and tried to make use of any transportation
they could.
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| Flt Lt Aiden Crawley |
Flt Lt Aiden Crawley
His involvement with camp security and intelligence had
earned him a place in the tunnel. Crawley ’s plan
was to head west by train. He had a forged letter on headed notepaper from
Krupps the German industrial firm, identifying him as a travelling executive.
He had sufficient bluff and knowledge of German to back it up and passed
through numerous identity and document checks. He was eventually caught on the
Austrian border between Munich and Innsbruck
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| PO Peter Stevens |
PO Peter Stevens
Jewish and born in Germany he had fled from the Nazis with his
family. Stevens changed his name but had remained a fluent German speaker as it
was his first language. He also headed west, but got caught up in the massive
search operation and was arrested.
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| PO Tony Barber - The Late Rt Hon Lord Barber |
PO Tony Barber
He had been a pilot on a reconnaissance unit when his
aircraft ran out of fuel and ditched near Mount St Jean France. Barber spoke
some Danish and had false papers as a worker from Denmark for cover. The plan
was to make for occupied Denmark with a view to getting to Sweden. He was
picked up by the Gestapo after a few days.
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| PO Wilf Wise -Yorks Post |
PO Wilfred Wise and Squadron Leader Paddy
Barthropp
In October 1941 Wilf Wise of RAF 12 Squadron was one of only
two survivors from a Wellington
After making some headway on foot the next day, they crept
into a farmer’s barn to hide for the night. An elderly couple came out from the
farmhouse and gave them hot tea and bread before the men moved quickly on. The
couple were clearly terrified of being discovered aiding escapees, as they
would have been immediately shot.
The men had a difficult time the following day walking
through a forest plantation. They managed to stay out of sight and spent a cold
uncomfortable night in a deserted Polish graveyard. Barthropp was suffering
from a foot problem which had slowed them down, but the next day they reached a
railway line and this time jumped aboard a slow moving freight train where they
shared a box with two nervous untethered horses.
The train arrived at Hohensalza, a pro-Nazi town. Through
the slats of the wagon Wise could see the station was busy with passengers,
German soldiers and civilians. Shunting had started, so the two men decided to stay
hidden where they were. Time passed and it became clear their wagon had been
left alone in the middle of the platform after the rest of the train had been
removed. There was no choice but to try and slip out and get away. They were quickly
spotted and surrounded by armed guards.
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| Hohensalza station where the escapers were captured |
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| S Ldr Dudley Craig |
Wing Commander Harry ‘Wings’ Day and Squadron Leader Dudley Craig
‘Wings’ got stuck in the narrow exit of the tunnel due to the previous escapers failing to clear away any earth which had been pushed down when scrambling out of the opening. He was last out and as Senior British Officer would certainly be held responsible for the tunnel break by the Camp Commandant. ‘Wings’ decided he may as well have a run for his money and join in. As one of the ‘hard arsers’ making his way on foot with Dudley Craig, the plan was to hide out in the day and travel by night, keeping out of sight as best as they could. Carrying two empty cigarette cartons with a few Polish phrases scribbled on, such as ‘we are escaped British prisoners of war please help us’, they crawled across the potato field separately and reached cover in the trees. The railway line was their destination as the plan was to travel south to a town around eighty miles away on the main Posen-Warsaw line. A Polish prisoner in the camp had given them an address of some relations living there.
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| Gnesen one of 'Wings & Craig's planned destinations - Prussian Poland.com |
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| 'Wings' Day with his cat Ersatz - S Smith |
‘Wings’ and Craig were discovered hiding in a hay loft by
a group of friendly Polish farmworkers who gave them some of their sandwiches. A few
hours later they were taken to a farmhouse by more locals who gave them
four fried eggs each. That night they reached the railway yard at Zinn having
walked across marshes before tramping along the sleepers of a railway track.
They were hoping to sneak aboard a goods train, but the yard was too brightly
lit and heavily guarded.
There was no choice but to continue footslogging across country. By this time ‘Wings’ was struggling
as he had been suffering from jaundice, a frequent problem within the camp. The
escape took on a dreamlike quality for him which faded in and out of focus as
he walked along. Just after dawn on the second morning they met a blond haired
boy of around twelve. They showed him the phrases written on their cigarette
cartons and he directed them enthusiastically to the nearby farm buildings.
By now ‘Wings’ was exhausted, soaked in a cold sweat and
shaking profusely. The jaundice had overtaken him, but he was able to struggle up the ladder to a
hayloft and crash into a fitful sleep. The men were woken by two German
soldiers probing the straw with fixed bayonets. Down in the farmyard around a
dozen armed farmers were waiting. The nearby village was one of the few heavily
pro-German areas in the vicinity and the boy, a member of the Hitler Youth had
immediately alerted the authorities.
The Late Escape
At around seven o’ clock on the morning after the escape,
the first prisoners awake took a circuit around the camp for a discreet look
around, as all was still quiet and appel was not yet due. The tunnel still remained
undiscovered, so a quick thinking South African, Squadron Leader Don Gericke
slipped back to his barrack, uncovered his own stock of escape kit and was out
and across the field dressed as a civilian worker. He managed to get clear of
the camp without the alarm being raised.
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| Schubin Camp. The hospital is in the background - IWM |
The Ghosts
Ten other POWs had volunteered to hide in the attic in the
main building of the camp ‘The White House’, so the Germans would think they
were looking for more escapers. It was a room that was rarely opened and if
they could gain access and remain undetected until the camp was evacuated which
was thought to be imminent they might be able to get away once everyone had
left. (Information about the transfer of prisoners to another camp was already
known to POW intelligence and hastened the date for the Asselin tunnel escape -
see previous post) After evening appel
on the day of the escape the men were successfully smuggled in and kept
supplied with food and water. They were finally discovered after a month in
hiding during which time the Germans had been looking for them all over Europe .
Result
On the morning after the escape the
2 had got out inside the sewage wagon
33 were tunnel escapers (plus Squadron Leader Don Gericke
the following morning)
10 were ‘ghosts’ hiding in The White House
The tunnel escapers were all recaptured within two weeks and returned to the camp for ‘solitary’ in the cooler except:
Jorgen Thalbitzer and Jimmy Buckley who were drowned making
the short crossing to Sweden from Denmark via a two man canoe.
Czech airman Otakar ‘Otto’ Černy who made a planned rendez-vous
with the two sewage wagon escapers Squadron Leader Morris and another Czech
airman Jozef Bryks (see previous post). Morris was quickly recaptured but Bryks
and Černy reached Warsaw and were not arrested until 2 June 1943.
In early April the prisoners were evacuated to Sagan and Oflag XX1B was closed. The camp had been riddled with tunnels and plagued by escape attempts. The Wehrmacht came out of the Asselin affair badly. With the air war producing ever increasing numbers of Allied flyers being taken prisoner, the Schubin POWs were handed back to the Luftwaffe at Sagan and many took part in the Great Escape there.
Sources and Additional Reading
Wings Day – Sydney Smith
Escape From Germany 1939-45 – Aiden Crawley
Moonless Night – B A ‘Jimmy’ James
Under the Wire -
William Ash
Prisoner of War –
Charles Rollings
Escape, Evasion and Revenge - Marc Stevens See review http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol12/no4/page92-eng.asp
Escape, Evasion and Revenge - Marc Stevens See review http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol12/no4/page92-eng.asp
Author’s notes
©Keith Morley
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