Typical German Guard Tower |
The plan for leaving the tunnel stipulated that each man
should go out at five minute intervals. This would minimise the amount of
movement visible from the towers, searchlights and guards patrolling the
perimeter fence with their dogs. It also gave each man a chance to get away in
the event of the person following being discovered. No more than two personnel
would be moving across the open ground at any one time.
‘4.5 lb of chocolate,
2.5lb of cheese, 1lb German ration biscuits, 1.5lb mixed dry oatmeal, glucose
and a water bottle.’
Red Cross Parcel - Daily Telegraph |
The final exit order from the tunnel was decided by
drawing lots. Each one related to a pair of escapers, whether or not they would
be travelling together once the break was made. The only predetermined
positioning was that of Duncan who exited first, followed by Temporary Captain
Barry O’Sullivan. Neither of the two men wanted this, as despite the amount of
work they had carried out in leading, planning, digging and shoring the tunnel
project, they sought no privilege. The rest of the party insisted that the two
men went first and O’Sullivan was adamant that It is strange that that some escapers had never set foot in the tunnel before the night of the breakout because they were members of the other tunnel project which had not yet been completed (see previous post). Also certain POW’s had been solely involved in other areas of the ‘end to end’ process:
Passing up soil into the hut from the tunnel entry shaft (This
had usually been excavated at the tunnel face and ‘trollied’ down in half a biscuit
tin mounted on wheels.)
Lifting the cardboard box containing soil up to a POW standing on a
locker, who would then pass it to the man inside the roof space for stowing.
Acting as a lookout or stooge and assisting with the rapid
cover up operation in the hut in the event of a guard, ferret or search party approaching.
‘As soon as I had made a small hole the cold night air gushed in…and the rain which had started to fall splashed on my face.’
He described what happened as he made his move:
‘I wormed my way out and lying flat, I crawled away from the hole. After a few yards I stopped, spread my camouflage net over me and looked around to get my bearings.’
The tunnel had exited right on top of the crest of an incline which had blocked the view from inside the camp as to the state of the ground beyond. The terrain was open and level rather than the decline that the escapers had predicted.
Tunnel Exit as photographed in 1981 (larger than the original) - www.prisonerofwar.co.uk |
Opening the tunnel exit had taken more out of him than he realised. His arms were weakened and crawling became very slow and painful.
He realised that it was the glow from a luminous watch and a further figure crawled past him. The five minute interval plan had clearly been ignored.
Eventually he reached the cover of a ditch and some bushes. Standing up to get some bearings, he calculated that he had strayed further to the left than planned which had cost valuable time. It was doubtful that O’Sullivan would wait for long at their rendezvous point, so
‘Suddenly I felt myself falling and as I hit the bottom a sharp pain stabbed at my left ankle and knee. …I found that I had fallen down a large and deep irrigation ditch.’
To be continued
Sources and Additional Reading
Underground From Posen - Michael Duncan Highly recommended read
Author's Notes
©Keith Morley
Underground From Posen - Michael Duncan Highly recommended read
Author's Notes
©Keith Morley
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Making an opening just with a knife or your bare hands, no wonder his arms felt weak when he eventually crawled out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Sally. I couldn't believe how long it took for him to break through. 2 hours! What must it have been like for the rest of the escapers (the other 3 waiting in the tunnel and the rest in the hut keyed up and ready to go), knowing that every minute lost in the darkness was a minute less for them to get as far away from the camp as possible.
DeleteTunnelling as a means of escape, must have been a frightening if not terrifying experience, something we can only imagine. I expect for POW, it was something to focus on, a means of hope, and something to strive for, rather than to sit by a do nothing.
ReplyDeleteInteresting Keith, I've been out of action on the blog for a while, but will attempt to drop by more often again now.
Thanks Maria. Good to see you back again. This particular story was so good that I decided to serialise it. 'Underground From Posen' written by Michael Duncan is such a good first hand account of a tunnel escape that I felt I had to cover it. I hope that by doing this, some of the readers will try and get a copy of the book which is long out of print but still available via some second hand bookshops. For those into POWs and escape its a great read and the book also has a first hand account of The Gloucester's stand at Cassel in 1940, which Duncan was involved in.
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