tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2737903099642089452.post5195200036050710258..comments2024-03-12T13:28:53.733+00:00Comments on The Escape Line: The Guides - Part SevenKeithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15204149912245253542noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2737903099642089452.post-75129740461839318492012-12-07T09:54:59.690+00:002012-12-07T09:54:59.690+00:00Thanks for your reply Helen. Interesting that you ...Thanks for your reply Helen. Interesting that you have picked up on 'The Ghost Train.' It is a fascinating sequence of events that escalated because of the Allied push across Belgium. With liberation of Brussels only days away the railway workers and resistance rallied to try and stop the operation. Comete's direct involvement was probably only as far as having prisoners on the train, but they would have had contacts in the right circles. Looking down the prisoner list on the train I see operator Henri Maca's name there. <br /><br />Links are below to two very detailed accounts <br /><br />http://wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com/prisoners-of-the-phantom-train-le-train-fantome-of-1-3-sept-1944/photographs-of-the-train-2/<br />http://www.conscript-heroes.com/escapelines/EEIE-Articles/Art-17-Ghost-Train.htm<br />Keithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15204149912245253542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2737903099642089452.post-45714672155243575992012-12-06T23:29:32.261+00:002012-12-06T23:29:32.261+00:00More snippets of risky train journeys in this shar...More snippets of risky train journeys in this sharp snapshot by Keith which was as engaging as ever. I shall now tell the story of the train which never arrived in Germany thanks to the Comete line.<br />St. Gilles, the main prison in Brussels, kept more than 1,000 prisoners of war. The German commander of Belgium, SS Gen. Richard Jungclaus, ordered the prisoners be sent to Germany. On Sept. 1, 1944, the Gestapo crammed a line of 20 cattle cars, later dubbed the Nazi Ghost Train, with hundreds of Belgian prisoners of war, captured Allied airmen, and other enemies of the Nazi cause. The train was bound for camps in Germany. In fact, the train never got far beyond the Brussels rail station. <br />At first, engine trouble and unorganized rail employees caused the train not to move from the station. When the assistant stationmaster arrived at the station that morning, he discovered what was happening and ordered that the train be stopped. A rail worker conveyed a message to the captured airmen packed into one of the cattle cars that they would not be heading to Germany, but they would be freed. Switches were disconnected. A train engineer, who was working for the resistance, threw himself off the train. The oil pump was ripped out. The water supply was sabotaged. Train tracks were destroyed by explosives. Railway workers did everything in their power to ensure that the train did not make it to Germany. The train did not get far. The train was diverted to another town overnight after the Germans were convinced by railworkers that the engine needed more water. As the train sat still in Muizen for two days, diplomats from neutral countries became involved and pleaded with the SS General to return the train to Brussels. He refused. After the neutral nations threatened that German hospital trains carrying wounded German soldiers would be destroyed, Jungclaus finally gave in and sent the train to Brussels. The train returned to Brussels Grande Ile Station to find out many hours later that Brussels had been liberated by the British. The train's doors were cautiously forced open, releasing civilian prisoners first, following the airmen, who disappeared into the city, free from the Germans.<br />“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.”<br />(Walter Elliot.)<br />Saddle-up for the next post as we take to our bicycles to continue evasion………<br /><br />Helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13304115337328075135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2737903099642089452.post-14554175233757251142012-12-06T12:39:18.866+00:002012-12-06T12:39:18.866+00:00Wow, fantastic 'stories' they always say t...Wow, fantastic 'stories' they always say the truth is better than fiction. Again, brave men and women. Sallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14090018804016223955noreply@blogger.com