Stalag Luft 111 - Senior Officer & 'X'

Stalag Luft 111 had close to the perfect template for an escape organisation in an Allied POW camp in Europe during WW2. (See flowchart in previous post)

Situated in Sagan Silesia, 100 miles south-east of Berlin, it was deep in occupied territory and was considered an ideal location to become the main POW camp for British and American Air Force officers. Contrary to the compact self-contained portrayal in The Great Escape film, it was in reality a very large camp. As the air war over Europe intensified, larger numbers of aircraft were shot down and the count of aircrew being taken prisoner crept up. In the early stages, Germany had not fully envisaged a concentrated Allied bombing strategy nor its consequences; hence the building and subsequent expansion of Stalag Luft 111.

 
Initially the camp had two compounds holding 2,500 officers, which expanded to six with 10,000 officers and their orderlies. At its peak, the total distance around the outer perimeter fence was alleged to be five miles and NCO’s were transferred into their own camp because of the increasing numbers of officers arriving.
 
Despite the huge numbers of POWs in Stalag Luft 111, it was well run by the prisoners within the confines placed upon them by their German captors and the escape organisation reflected this. One advantage of the size of the camp was in concealing activities in progress, especially forgery, carpentry and tailoring. Guards and German personnel in smaller camps were at such close quarters with their prisoners, that any clandestine work was difficult to undertake without discovery.
 
The Senior British or American Officer in the camp was the head of the prisoners and direct liaison with the Camp Commandant. The Senior Officer (SO) also had the final say on all escape attempts, as once a plan had been discussed at Escape Committee level (headed by ‘X’) it was ultimately decided by the SO. The SO could sometimes merely be a figurehead regarding escape matters, with the main work being handled by ‘X’ and his organisation. This was the largely the case at with Group Captain Herbert Massey who became SO at Stalag Luft 111.
 
It is important to remember that whilst virtually all POWs would be willing to assist with escape attempts in varying degrees, only around one third were seriously interested in breaking out themselves. One third of men simply preferred to sit out the war and finish their education, whilst others were happy to do nothing except read, exercise and sit around.

Squadron Leader Roger Bushell

Just after Squadron Leader Roger Bushell arrived at Stalag Luft 111 in October 1942, he took over the role of ‘X’. Wing Commander Harry Day of RAF 57 Squadron (k/a ‘Wings’ Day) the main lead behind escape operations and Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Buckley of the Fleet Air Arm had been transferred with other prisoners to another camp at Schubin in Poland due to overcrowding soon after Bushell arrived.  It was no surprise Buckley and Day had been selected; both having previously escaped from secure locations on a number of occasions. They were also good proactive organisers and already had operations at Sagan 111 in full swing.  Buckley had the role of ‘X’ (the term was used to help security and provide anonymity from the Germans) and both men left a solid escape structure in place when they moved on.

Wing Commander Harry 'Wings' Day - IWM

Believed to be Group Captain Herbert Massey
 at Stalag Luft 111 in 1943 - pt of orig photo-
Graham Brett

Group Captain Herbert Massey, an injured veteran from both World Wars had already arrived and assumed the role of Camp SO before Day and the others departed. He was the highest ranking officer, but had taken a step back, allowing Day’s escape operation work to continue much as before. Massey became more of a figurehead on escape matters, whilst still retaining the final word as SO. Camp Intelligence Officer and ‘X’ were the two heads below the SO. The whole escape organisation branched off them.

Next week:

 
Camp Intelligence
 
Sources:
 

The Great Escape – Paul Brickhill

National Archives

MI9 Escape and Evasion 1939-1945 – M.R.D. Foot & J.M.Langley

 

©Keith Morley

 

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Stalug Luft 111 - The Escape Organisation

Stalag Luft 111 - IWM

Stalag Luft 111 is arguably the most well-known Allied POW camp of World War 2. Its association with The Great Escape is the primary reason for this, but it also has a well-documented history from official files, diaries, memoirs and eyewitness accounts.

 

The camp was heavily guarded, well secured and located deep in occupied territory, which made it very difficult for escapers to reach safety once they had had broken out. The sandy soil below ground level made cave-ins a frequent possibility during tunnelling attempts and the earth was a different colour to that of the compound. One positive was that initial digging although still difficult, could be quicker and less labour intensive because of the constitution of the soil.

 

These fundamental issues have been covered in literature and film and they did not deter tunnelling attempts. Between sixty and seventy were attempted in the camp during the war, the other famous one being ‘The Wooden Horse’ escape with Eric Williams, Oliver Philpott and Codner.  A three hundred foot tunnel, plus a hundred footer for sand and storage was also dug, which the Germans discovered in October 1942. Three Flight Lieutenants dug their way out in the summer of 1942 soon after the camp opened, managing to escape and reach the port of Stettin (boats from neutral Sweden docked there) before being caught.

 

Stalag Luft 111 was a huge camp and much larger than most. It had a good escape organisation under Lieutenant Commander James Buckley, but in November 1942, he and other known 'trouble makers' were sent by the Germans to Oflag XXIB in an effort to deter and disrupt further attempts to break out of the camp. Squadron Leader Roger Bushell who had arrived at the camp only weeks earlier became ‘ Big X’ the head of all escape matters. It was Bushell who hatched the plan for a mass escape and was instrumental in racking up the infrastructure to implement it.

 

Other camps had a basic front end organisation of a Senior Officer and Escape Committee and something of the ‘setup below, but the escape organisation of Stalag Luft 111 under Bushell was remarkable and took on new levels. It is best illustrated in the flow chart below, which has been constructed from original documents (National Archives) and literary sources.

 

It must also be remembered that the personnel instrumental in organising and operating ‘the model’ were skilled military officers with time to think about things over the long days and nights. A number were habitual escapers; already in the mind-set and were an invaluable asset.

 

A series of short posts will extract and examine component parts of the organisation, how it fitted together, who was involved and in some instances what happened. On the full model, the Senior British/American Officer was the figurehead and point of contact with the German camp hierarchy. He had the final word on main issues around escape matters. The two leads immediately below him were the Camp Intelligence Officer and Big X - everything initially came through there.

 

Sources

National Archives WO 208 series

MI9 Escape & Evasion 1939-1945 M. R. D. Foot & J.M. Langley

 

©Keith Morley

 



Priests and the Evaders - Part Four

Rev Donald Caskie

The Reverend Donald Caskie and the Seamen's Mission

The Reverend Donald Caskie had been Minister of a Scottish Kirk in Paris, since leaving St Andrews Gretna in 1935 and was well known there for expressing anti-Nazi sentiments from the pulpit. In May 1940 he made hasty preparations to leave his church. France lay on the verge of capitulation and the British Expeditionary Force was in ruins on the beaches of Dunkirk. After making one last visit to the aged members of his congregation who could not escape with him, Caskie joined the columns of refugees and personnel travelling south away from the advancing German Army. It was a slow and dangerous journey with the haphazard columns being exposed to regular attack by Stuka dive bombers and shelling. France was slipping to defeat and the French government relocated to Bordeaux on 10 June to avoid capture. In the chaos of war Caskie found himself amongst a diverse band of humanity including: 
 
Civilian refugees

French, Polish, Belgian and Dutch troops who had avoided capture in their own battles against the Nazis.

Convicts who had escaped from bombed prisons or been left behind when the guards deserted before the arrival of the enemy.

Frenchmen trying to stay one step ahead of the invader by avoiding the inevitable German forced labour drafts to mines, factories and farms

Men and women who knew they would be on the Nazis Wanted list.

Jews desperate to escape the Occupied and Vichy Zones of France.

British troops separated from their units during the mass retreat to Dunkirk. 

 
Each harboured their own threads of hope, ranging from climbing the Pyrenees into neutral Spain or getting a boat out of Marseille, to making for North Africa, the Middle East or the Americas.

 

Caskie eventually arrived in the densely populated back streets of Marseille, before the French-German Armistice had been signed. The place was disorganised, politically in limbo and a world away from the life around escape and evasion which would develop as the war progressed. The unfolding Marseille situation would be key in forming the shape of escape and evasion in the town and the very earliest seeds of the Pat O’Leary Escape line.

The old port was a cosmopolitan place with different quarters and cultures from its international trade. Displaced British servicemen had arrived there by hitching on trains and trekking south across country. The remnants of the British Expeditionary Force were trickling in for months after Dunkirk. Men without documents or ration cards, struggling into the town weary and hungry. The early arrivals still found refreshment at the main railway station Gare St Charles, where a government funded canteen operated for a while, being manned continuously by Red Cross volunteers.

 

Marseille 1939

Some servicemen had obtained second hand civilian clothes on their journey and walked the streets, relying on charity and hiding at night to sleep rough. It was a difficult time because anti-British feeling ran high in some quarters. The evacuation at Dunkirk had gone ahead and the French felt betrayed by the British. In the days before the Armistice whilst France was still fighting, the radio and press news were fortunately unreliable which added to the confusion, making it easier for the soldiers to be absorbed into the Marseille back streets.  

 
Apart from the humanitarian angle of aiding the soldiers, Caskie spotted amongst the chaos that with increasing numbers of men arriving with no one to feed or organise them, it would be only a matter of time before the French surrender came and they would be picked up, imprisoned or sent to POW camps under the new regime.
 
He mustered support from the experienced Mr Dean a British Consul in Nice and approached the local police to see what could be done about the problem of the number of stranded British ‘nationals.’ (Although the Armistice had been signed by this time, British civilian nationals were still allowed to leave France.) The local police were in the very early stages of trying to cope with a new Vichy government, plus the Malice (paramilitary body of Fascist Frenchmen.) The traditional Gendarme had already been relegated to more menial work such as traffic duties/ minor offences and they faced a totally different style of policing. Unsure of their ground, the police referred Caskie to the Special Branch who with similar difficulties tried to sidestep the issue by offering to arrange his passage home. He refused as there was important work to be done.
 
It was therefore carefully suggested by the authorities that Caskie might wish to reopen the old Seamen’s Mission building in Marseille at 46, Rue de Forbin. This was on the proviso that his activities would be watched closely, no military personnel would be hiding there and he could expect raids on the premises with no prior warning.



Seamens Mission Marseille - C Long

 

Caskie took up the challenge and when he arrived to take possession of the Mission, three sailors were already waiting outside. The word must already have spread via the underground networks of town and the American Consul who under international law had taken on responsibility for British affairs after the Armistice.

 
The sailors helped him put up a notice above his door ‘NOW OPEN TO BRITISH CIVILIANS AND SEAMEN ONLY’ and the Mission was operational by mid-July 1940. The priest hired beds and blankets with what money he possessed and simply opened the place up, welcoming his visitors in a straightforward Christian way. Those who were fit enough he set to work helping to clean the rest of the building, the men received care and food and also had visits from a Doctor (Rodachani see later). Caskie managed to obtain English reading material, packs of cards, dart boards and even billiard tables. It soon became a destination for evaders, initially in civilian clothes, then others began arriving still in their uniform.
 
By the time Caskie was operational, the old fort of Saint Jean in Marseille had been utilised by the Vichy administration as a temporary prison to hold officers and men from all three British services. Officers were allowed out ‘on parole’ and providing they returned to the fort weekly when ration cards were issued, they were free to move around outside the prison.  Consequently it was common to see commissioned ranks in uniform walking around the town, and many lodged there, selling or negotiating deals with their ration cards as food was scarce.



Fort Saint Jean - J P Dalbera

 

The fort was not designed as a prison and escape attempts soon began. In the town, Captain Freddie Fitch (working with Lt William Sillar ) had already taken charge of escape and evasion matters there. He was active in organising and getting men across the Pyrenees to Spain where they could make for Gibraltar. Details around Caskie’s initial involvement in any escape operation (ad hoc or otherwise) are sketchy and most of the source material comes from Caskie himself. In the author’s view, there must have been some early contact between him and Fitch, either directly or indirectly through third parties in order for the evaders in the Mission to be able to move on with some sort of plan after their stay.

 
The Mission was an ideal place to the fugitives. It had a tough construction with robust fittings and good washing facilities. The need for the occupants inside to reduce movement and camouflage any sound became unnecessary, the frequent use of the lavatory/pulling of bath plugs was not a problem as in many safe houses. There was no need to conceal the increase in refuse either. The big difficulties were:
 
Security of the Mission - Best Described as Low

Little attempt seems to have been made externally to conceal activities. When a knock at the door came, Caskie would check up and down the street and usher the callers in.

 
Obtaining Civilian Clothes and Documentation for Evaders

These were acquired from various sources including the Arab quarter of Marseille, British civilians and other locals. The effect of the new Vichy authority was being felt already, raising pro-British sympathies again amongst some areas of the population. Caskie’s role as a priest also appealed to charitable instincts. He tried to keep a bank of surplus clothes in the Mission, hiding them under piles of coal in the basement.

The American Consul acting under international law became responsible for dealing with British affairs after the Armistice. Replacing ‘lost’ identity documents was one of his duties.

 
Hiding Evaders Who Were Still in Uniform and Without Appropriate Documentation

Evaders in uniform and with no appropriate documentation were briefed where to hide in the Mission should a visit or raid by the authorities occur. A series of concealed places existed, under floorboards, behind cleverly disguised doors or alcoves/false walls , all of which could be made available immediately.

 
Lack of Food

There were constant shortages and most evaders had no ration cards. Those who did, went to food queues. Caskie went out at 4.00am daily. He gradually built up a good relationship with the Greek and Cypriot merchants of the Vieux port.

 
Disposal of Uniforms

The uniforms were parcelled and weighted, then taken out at night to the docks area and carefully lowered into the deeper water where the ship came and went. This created more wash and movement.

 
The Vichy Observations of Arrivals and Departures and the Raids

The French authorities were watching the mission and initially appeared to do nothing. They began to carry out regular raids most mornings around 6.00am and it has been suggested that if further unscheduled searches were to take place, the Mission often knew in advance. As time went on the operation tightened, but one theory was that the French were convinced because of the blatantly obvious nature of the operation that it was a cover for something much bigger, so they held off, as the raids never produced anything.   



Captain Ian Garrow


In October 1940 Captain Ian Garrow a ‘South African born Scotsman’ arrived at the Saint Jean fort. He had been a POW at Monferran-Savès near L'Isle-Jourdain and was soon on parole in Marseille building up his own experience and contacts. When Captain Fitch made his own move for Spain in December 1940, a good framework for escape and evasion was in already in place with Captains Leslie Wilkins, Charles Murchie and Ian Garrow continuing the work. These men began to work with a Canadian civilian Tom Kenny and a number of local Marseille residents including Louis Nouveau and Dr Georges Rodocanachi (visited the Mission to treat the men staying there) who operated their own safe houses. Donald Caskie had built up a liaison with these players and continued his vital role of running the Mission until his eventual arrest in April 1942.

Sources

Safe Houses Are Dangerous - Helen Long
Thanks to Keith Janes for information and a fresh look on Garrow, Fitch and the early days etc. For a full account and recommended reading visit:
http://www.conscript-heroes.com/Art50-Ian-Garrow-960.html


©Keith Morley

Priests and the Evaders - Part Three

During World War Two, some priests in occupied Western Europe chose the dangers of escape or intelligence work to fight for the cause, clearly knowing the consequences of discovery or betrayal. 

Many were arrested and deported or executed. When trawling back through information to track the movements and fate of these patriots through prisons and camps; the sparse matter of fact details become instantly striking. Often confined to just arrival, departure and death dates these are illustrative of the organised clinical regime the patriots were fighting against, and the mass dehumanisation process of offenders that the Nazis operated. The men featured in this post are shown only as a gallery of brief illustrations in one tragic aspect of the war. 


Father Vincent Mercier

Father Vincent Mercier was thirty four and involved with the Comete Escape Line. Key operator Michou Dumon headed the Ugeux-Dumon cell in Belgium in 1943 and Father Mercier became active inside a sub-section of this known as ‘Lhoneux.’  Evaders were sheltered in the Putte Kapellen area of Antwerp before being moved south to the main assembly points in Brussels. January 1944 saw Mercier become a victim of the Comete Line’s collapse when he was arrested by the Gestapo, interrogated and tortured. Eventually transported to Theresienstadt concentration camp, Mercier died on 15 May 1945 soon after liberation by the Russians.

Putte Kapellan

Theresienstadt concentration camp  Czecholslovakia

 

Father Joseph Peeters - Philippe Hamoir Esneux

Father Joseph Peeters had been a priest since April 1920 and a pastor at Comblain-au-Pont in Belgium from 1933. He became involved in a range of resistance activities including moving aircrew evaders, espionage, supplying forged documents and assisting other networks.  Arrested on 1 December 1942 he was imprisoned in St Leonard in Liege until 17 December 1942 and then Saint Gilles Brussels. Sentenced to death by Feldkriegsgericht (German war Court sitting at the Palais de Liège) on 1 June 1943 he was shot at The Citadel of Liege at 6.00am on 31 August 1943.  

Block 24 Citadelle de Liege For Those Condemned to Death - maison de souvenir.be

Commemorative Stained Glass Window at Camblain au Pont



Georges Moussiaux

Pastor of Limont Georges Moussiaux worked in the network ‘Clarence’ which was the largest intelligence gathering operation in Belgium. Other priests were also active in the same organisation, but did not shelter or transport evaders. On 8 July 1942 Moussiaux was arrested and incarcerated at St Leonard prison Liège, then later deported to Bochum. A familiar pattern followed with transfers to further camps and prisons, until he died on 3 May 1945.

Abbé Julien Joseph LePlat 

A member of ‘Group Jam’ Abbé  Julien Joseph LePlat was pastor at Heer sur Meuse and involved in aiding evaders when he was arrested on 7 January 1944. Sent to the horrors of Buchenwald, the priest died on 17 September 1944, six weeks after sustaining wounds in a bombing raid. 


Heer sur Meuse

 

Abbot Jules Grandjean

 

Abbot Jules Grandjean was arrested on 15 May 1942 at Willerzie where he been a pastor since 1936. His involvement with moving evaders through a thick forest area on the Franco/Belgian border into the unoccupied zone had been discovered by the Germans. Imprisonment followed in St Gilles for fifteen months, before deportation on 28 August 1943 to Essen and subsequent camps at Munster, Cassel and finally Hamein. At Hamein, he was sentenced to forced labour and transferred to Brieg, Gross - Strelitz, and finally in May 1944 to Gross - Rosen. Grandjean died near Gross-Rosen on February 11, 1945 during the forced March of prisoners to Dora.

Additional Sources 

The US Medal of Freedom Awarded to Belgians for Services During WW2 – Peter Verstraeten

US NARA Files

©Keith Morley

Priests and the Evaders - Part Two

St Thomas Aquinas - Paris

In last week’s post, RAF Warrant Officer Herbert Spiller’s account illustrated one man’s experiences of the vital part which priests could play in aiding Allied evaders and escapers. It is easy to move on with the evader and forget what faced the men left behind, who had risked everything. The hard facts around priests who were discovered and arrested put things into perspective.

Abbé Robert Beauvais of St Thomas Aquinas Church Paris was a key operator in the Comete Escape Line from November 1942- March 1944. Awarded the US Medal of Freedom (Bronze Palm) his citation of 16 October 1946 read:

‘He distinguished himself by his great courage, determination and intelligence in the performance of hazardous missions. Until his arrest and subsequent deportation to Germany, he assisted directly in the evasion of twenty six Allied Airmen and through his outstanding devotion to the Allied cause contributed materially to the success of the war effort, meriting the esteem and gratitude of the United Nations.’

The American MIS – X Report in connection with the award is self-explanatory:

‘Abbé Beauvais, although already active in general resistance work, began his evasion activity in November 1942. He was hiding an Allied flyer in his home and in his efforts to find a safe means by which to evacuate him, came into contact with the Comete network. From this time until his arrest 15 months later, he devoted all of his time to the dangerous task of repatriating fallen airmen.
In the beginning, Abbé Beauvais’ chief activity was sheltering evaders whom he had received from various key workers in the organisation. He hid the men in his home for varying lengths of time, providing them with food, civilian clothing and false identity papers. When escaping fliers were brought to him, he in his turn gave them to the leaders of the group for escort to the Spanish frontier. His apartment was one of the principle letter-boxes in Paris for the organisation, and was often chosen for the important meetings of the leaders of the line.

Abbé Beauvais’ activity became more and more extensive as he participated in all of the branches of clandestine escape work. In January 1944, after the arrest of the line, Comete was completely disorganised. Despite this severe blow, L’ Abbé Beauvais decided to create a new network which ould continue to aid Allied evaders. In order to do this, it was necessary for him to set up a totally different group of agents and helpers for he feared that the Gestapo might have knowledge of former members. He appointed convoyers, made new contacts for forged identity papers and made arrangements with important French resistance movements so that evaders would be recuperated and sent to him.

In March 1944 he had grouped approximately 50 escapers in Paris, and since an attempt at evacuation through the beaches in Brittany had failed, was about to undertake their repatriation through Spain. However the group had been penetrated by an enemy counter-evasion agent and he was betrayed to the Gestapo. Abbé Beauvais was arrested and interned in Fresnes until August 1944 when he was deported to Buchenwald and subsequently Dachau. After suffering great privations and harsh treatment he was repatriated to France in May 1945.’

Beauvais’ mother Marguerite and his sister Renee were also involved with him in aiding Allied airmen. They were arrested and deported to Germany, where they died in captivity in January and April 1945 respectively. 

S/Sgt Alfred Buinicky was a ball turret gunner in a B17 Flying Fortress from 358 Bomber Squadron on a mission to Amiens/Gilsy, France when the aircraft was shot down on 31 August 1943.  He reached Paris and was sheltered in Abbé Beauvais’ apartment along with American flyers Lieutenants Francis Harkins and Andrew Lindsay, plus RAF Flt Lieutenant Ian Covington.

Buinicky and crew. He is 4th left Back Row

 

Lt Andrew Lindsay recovering from facial burns - 303bg

 

Lt Francis Harkins

 

Keeping records of flyers names for administrative purposes was a highly risky business, as not only did the helper put themselves at risk, but they also could endanger the airmen they had assisted. The Abbé used an interesting method of concealing the details of these specific airmen. Light switches at the time had screw top lids (see below). When turned over, the internal side of the top was covered with an insulation material that formed a ring. He wrote on the surface of the material, turned it over to face inwards, so that if the top was unscrewed the writing would still not be visible. It survived the war undiscovered. Note the names below.
Harkins successfully crossed the Pyrenees on 18 September 1943, whilst on 24 November 1943 Buinicky along with RAF Flt Sgt James Bruce was arrested almost at the French/Spanish border. The two men were stopped by German soldiers; Bruce’s French was not very good, although it was better than the Germans, who had been recently stationed on the Turkish border. Buinicky spoke no French, so was unable to answer any of their questions. Lindsay and Covington were later in evading, as they did not cross the mountains until 6 January 1944.

 

Father Hendrikus ‘Henri’  Van Oostayen codename ‘Parrain’ worked with main operator Aline ‘Michou’  Dumon on the Comete Line. He was a Jesuit and former colonial missionary teacher at St John Berchmans College in Brussels. Under constant risk, he continued operating in 1943 and 1944, despite the line being breached on a number of occasions, and was also reported to have been involved in the concealment of Jews in Brussels. The Gestapo arrested him on 25 July 1944 and he was interrogated and tortured before being sent to Mauthausen, Oranienberg and then Bergen-Belsen where he died on April 19, 1945, just a few days before the Allies liberated the concentration camp.

 

Abbé Georges Goffinet

 

Abbé Georges Goffinet was another priest who took a non- violent path of resistance against the Nazis. Born on 15 December 1905 he was proactive from a young age, becoming involved in the JOC "Jeunesses Ouvrières Chrétiennes" (Christian Workers' Youth) and the "Oeuvres Sociales" (Social Works).  Ordained as a priest in 1931, his last post was pastor in the Belgian village of Musson, close to the border with France.

Musson Village- Goffinet's church in the background 

 

Goffinet began to move evaders and unfortunately on one operation came into contact with the traitor Prosper Dezitter (see earlier post on ‘The Traitors.’)  This resulted in his arrest on 30 July 1943 at a hotel whilst escorting a party of airmen. He was imprisoned in Fort Du Hâ on August 11, 1943 and a succession of prisons and camps followed.  In November 1943 he was transferred to the St. Leonard prison in Liege, (where his brother saw him last on March 8, 1944) and then deported to labour camps Gross Strelitz (lime quarry) on 16 May 1944 and Gros Rosen on 10 October 1944. It is difficult to fully comprehend how Goffinet must have felt at that point after fourteen months of captivity and harsh conditions, knowing the end was not yet in sight and he faced the prospect of being worked into the ground on minimal rations. His faith, courage and conviction must have sustained him, and he would have tried to help others - the war would take time to do the rest. 

As the Allies advanced across Europe on both fronts in 1945, he was put on transport to Dora for four days along with other prisoners to avoid the Russians. This would have been by train with captives crammed into cattle wagons. Further moves followed as the prisoners were regularly herded away from the American advance. On 13 April 1945 with the retreat still on, SS soldiers gunned down Goffinet and around twenty other prisoners and burned the bodies. It was a tragic end.

For most evaders, capture resulted in a POW camp and treatment under the Geneva Convention. For the priests who became involved in resistance and escape line work, discovery and arrest meant imprisonment, interrogation, torture and deportation to a concentration or labour camp, where many died.

Sources:

Grateful thanks to Philippe Connart & Eduoard Reniere for links and information on the priests

US File and MIS – X Report for Beauvais

303rdbg.com

POW Liberation Report – James Bruce

US & RAF Evasion Reports

Priests and the Evaders – Part One

Herbert Spiller

Spiller - Photo for false ID

 
During the Second World War, a number of priests in occupied Europe became involved with escape and evasion. Some were active in the escape lines, whilst others gave ad hoc help to Allied airmen and army personnel on the run.

Escape lectures given to servicemen highlighted men of the cloth as being potential sources of shelter and aid. Traitors such as Jacques Desoubrie (see posts on The Traitors) also sought out the priests for different reasons. The priest could be an ideal starting point for a traitor to discover information on an escape line, or begin a strategy of infiltration as a ‘helper.’
 
The natural focus of a church and pastoral duties could bring priests into contact with evaders, escape line operators and also the Resistance. The clergy were taking a terrible risk becoming involved. Some paid the ultimate price for their bravery in sheltering and assisting evaders, but equally others were not sympathetic to the Allied cause. The facts and human stories around priests and evaders make interesting reading, especially those in Belgium and France. In the first of a series of posts, the evasion of RAF Warrant Officer Herbert Spiller in late 1942 illustrates how an airman might attempt to seek assistance from the clergy and how they could help or betray an evader.
 
Tired, hungry and struggling with chest and back pain caused on landing after parachuting from his Halifax aircraft, Spiller had managed to reach the edge of the town of St Dizier. The place was full of Germans and he needed the sanctuary of a church to attempt to get help:
 
‘Half running, I went through an alley…and a few yards away saw a large church standing back a little from the road past it. Brushing past a number of people who managed to get in my way as I frantically made for a refuge, I eventually stood catching my breath before the heavy wooden door of the church….The door swung open quickly and quietly to disclose the backs of several German soldiers who turned inquisitively, curious as to the reason for the door opening.

In a fraction of a second I decided to bluff it out, to have moved backwards would, I think, have been fatal to my chances. I moved forward and they parted to let me through into part of the entrance way which still had a few standing places. I knew sufficient about the Catholic faith to cross myself immediately and lowered my head a little to keep anonymity. The church was full to bursting…’

Spiller had walked in near to the end of a service. Priest, officials and a choir soon began a procession around the church towards the main entrance where he was standing. He described the next sequence of events:

 

Eglise St Martin de Gigny St Dizier

‘I am completely at a loss to describe what came over me at that point; probably some innate prehistoric instinct for survival. Whatever it was, it prompted me to push my way through the rows of people to the front and as the last of the choir boys passed before me I joined the procession behind them. No one made any sound of dissent or disapproval and I continued to follow with bowed head. No doubt I was the subject of conversation between worshippers as they left the church…All I knew was that I was desperate and that the situation had called for desperate measures.’

 
He followed the procession through the transept into a room filled with lockers. The choirboys were discarding their cassocks, and in their high spirits neither the priest nor the boys noticed he was there. He takes up the story again:
 
‘In fact it wasn’t until a number of the boys had left that I was able to touch the priest’s arm and draw him aside. He looked doubtful and apprehensive and taken aback that there was someone other than the procession in the room. He looked even worse when I trotted out my parrot phrase in a hoarse whisper:

‘Je suis an aviateur Anglais. Je  suis tombé par parachute près de Ligny-en-Barrois. J’ai besoin d’assistance.’

Placing his hand over my mouth his eyes entreated for silence, but he saw also my poor physical appearance and with grave care led me by the arm to a long wooden bench. Quickly he was amongst the remaining choirboys cajoling and good-naturedly pushing them from the room. Fixing me eventually with a penetrating gaze he came towards me bubbling over with rapid French phrases obviously asking me what in heaven’s name I was doing there.’

 
The priest realised that Spiller was injured and in trouble, so he made sure the airman wouldn’t faint and fall over and fetched water. After a while he helped him to his feet, up a flight of stairs and down a long corridor:
 
‘The priest pointed at one of the doors leading off. ‘Monsieur L’ Abbé’  he explained, but it wasn’t until the door had opened to reveal an aged and venerable priest sitting in an armchair that I understood the term. This must be the chief, I thought.

The priest sat me on a side chair and went over to have a deep and agitated conversation with the Abbé’, who then rose and came towards me.

‘Good evening my son.’ His warm with a heavy French inflexion, trickled into my ears and he picked up my hands and held them with tenderness. ‘I speak some English’, he said. Can I help you?’

 
The Abbé’ and the priest (Father Pascal) did help Spiller that night. He was assisted in bathing, then dressing in pyjamas. After a meal, a doctor friend arrived to diagnose and strap up a cracked rib. These were dangerous times as the Abbé explained to Spiller:
 
‘He made it quite clear that I must leave the church the next morning, they were running grave risks in harbouring me, and ran equally as large risks if I were to be caught in due course and made to tell who had given me assistance. They did, however, want to make perfectly sure that I was capable of making my own way and that I had sufficient clothing and food for the immediate future.’
 
The next morning he was given breakfast and food in a cardboard box with string and a flat bottle of cold coffee for the journey. The Abbé explained that all the workmen used them and he would blend in:
 
‘Now’ the Abbé said. ‘You go to Gare de l ‘Est (Paris) from St Dizier. You must have a return ticket….Father Pascal will go with you to the station.’

I nodded and looked at my chronometer, just after 4am or maybe 5am in this part of France. The Abbé smiled back. ‘Now go’ he commanded  ‘God be with you.’

 

St Dizier Railway Station

 

Father Pascal left Spiller outside St Dizier railways station after making sure that the train was running and reminding him to ask for ‘Aller et retour.’ (return ticket to avoid suspicion. Spiller had a good supply of French notes in his airman’s money wallet.) It was likely that these priests had no previous involvement with any organised escape line or evaders. They were reacting as many did to an unexpected situation. Circumstances such as this sometimes led to further involvement in escape line work.

 

Gare de L'Est  1940

Once he arrived in Paris, Spiller’s strategy was very basic. Head for the Eiffel Tower and then on to the district of Montparnasse on the other side of the River Seine as it was away from the administrative centre of Paris and had a reputation of being friendly to foreigners. This indirectly triggered what happened next:
 
‘…I had a good distance to go yet…Feeling a little tired I kept an eye out for a church which I could enter and rest for a while.’
 

He found one.  ‘an imposing church, high towered like a cathedral with a huge wooden door open as if beckoning people to mount the stone steps to worship.’’

He sat in one of the pews in the huge church. There was a row of confessionals with low doors and heavy blue curtains, a few people were praying silently. He decided to try and seek assistance by ‘confessing his sins’ and entered the first confessional box. A flap opened in the wooden wall and after the priest had spoken, Spiller identified himself in his rehearsed French as an RAF flyer and asked for help, but he felt something was wrong:

 
‘He was very distant in his manner and in some strange way aroused my suspicion. I didn’t like the situation I was in, especially when he made reference to ‘L’Ambassade Brittanique’. ‘Restez la’ the priest said and disappeared from sight out of a back door.’
 

Spiller decided to leave the church and made his way to a side door which was open. Without being conspicuous, from here he could see any new arrivals in the square and if they were making for the church.

 
‘I saw a large open car drawing up at the far end of the church and two men in long raincoats and soft hats getting out. It was too much of a coincidence.’
 
He left, taking a series of turns off the backstreets to get away.

What must have passed through the young man’s mind? He would continue his strategy of trying to reach Montparnasse - and what then? As he walked the streets, it seemed a vague hope. The abject loneliness, fear, hunger, thirst and fatigue would chip away at his morale. He managed to get some rest and shelter in a cinema, and later in isolation on the edge of a park ate the food given to him by the Abbé in St Dizier.

Exhaustion began to overtake him and after crossing the River Seine he began to doubt whether he would find a resting place before dark:

 
‘ I tried a few more left turns and right turns…as if in answer to my doubts or was it a prayer, I walked into the Square de Felix Faure and saw the little church in its centre. I stood and looked at it and hung my head for a moment. There was little point in going on. This was where I was going to have to trust to luck. The door of the church was closed but not locked and I raised the latch and quietly entered. …I decided to search for a priest and walked the length of the church without success. Someone came through the main door, prompting me to sit in the front pew and wait. I bent myself as if in prayer and kept my eyes half open so that I could see what was happening….I felt an overpowering desire to relax and rest. The mental picture of the inside of the church slipped away and I disappeared into a dark void.’  

Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Grenelle where Spiller got help 

Spiller felt a gentle rocking which brought him to. A priest was bending over him and the airman began to recite his parrot phrases again. The priest placed a hand over his mouth for a moment, and then helped him up, motioning towards the side door.
 
In the quiet of the vestry Abbé Dufour introduced himself and began to ask questions in English. He wanted to know everything about the journey, sometimes interjecting for more simple explanations. After providing a meal on a tray the Abbe said:
 
‘Help yourself. I will be back later with some friends of mine. He noticed my questioning frown and added, it’s alright. They are not police.’
 
When he returned later with Jules and Marcel (not likely to be their real names), they were introduced as members of an organisation who might be able to help. Military questions followed (see last week’s post The Questionnaires) Spiller was into an escape line.

 

In next week’s post – The names, faces and some hard facts about the priests.

 

Sources

Ticket To Freedom – H J Spiller (recommended read)

IS9 Evasion Report

 ©Keith Morley

He Flew Back By Lysander

Sergeant John Tweed - Mrs J Tweed

Sergeant John Tweed took off from RAF Tempsford at 22.35 on 12 May 1943 in an eight man crew on board Halifax BB313 NF-M. Operation Roach which included supplies drops to the French Resistance was another SOE mission for RAF 138 (Special Duties Squadron). Homebound the aircraft was hit by light flak and a fire quickly spread on board. The pilot gave the order to abandon aircraft, and it crash landed in open country south west of Troyes in France before some of the crew could bale out.  
 
Those left in the aircraft had no time to prepare themselves and were badly thrown around before the aircraft came to a stop. Some were in worse shape than others. Tweed had sprained his ankles, injured a hand and he had a deep gash in his leg. The crew immediately faced the same problems as any airmen making a forced landing in enemy territory. They had to destroy anything of importance inside the aircraft and if physically able, get away from the crash area immediately.

Crashed  Halifax Bomber

Fire continued to burn through the aircraft and Tweed managed to help free the injured from the wreckage. No one had been killed, and it was time for anyone fit enough to leave. He limped slowly across the countryside, every step was agony and progress desperately slow. A nearby field of corn would keep him out of view for the night, but he knew the burning aircraft was still too close. The choices had been made for him. He was in no fit state to go any further.  Searches would begin at first light, so his best chance was to rest up and make a decision then.   
 
The dawn came. All remained quiet through the morning. Passing foot and occasional motor traffic looked routine. There was no sign of military vehicles arriving, enemy soldiers with dogs or discovery by the locals. Tweed decided to gamble on remaining undiscovered if he stayed put.  His injuries must have been the deciding factor in arriving at this decision. His ankles and leg were not up to walking and an injured man limping painfully about in daylight was a sure way to attract attention.
 
One thing did occur to him. Although it was not a welcome thought, it might inadvertently help him. Halifax BB313 NF-M carried a crew of eight instead of the usual seven. If the remaining men had been captured, the Germans would be likely to cease search operations in the crash area. Tweed resolved to hide in the field until after dark, then attempt to stand up and find help.   
 
Once night fell, it became clear that walking even short distances would remain a problem. He would almost certainly be picked up if he wasn’t sheltered quickly. He knew some key choices had to be made, as becoming a POW without doing everything possible to evade was simply not an option.
Tweed chewed a caffeine tablet from his escape kit to give himself a lift and struggled off towards the nearest village which was just visible.  Pommereau merged into the blackout, but there was one house showing a light, so he stayed in the shadows and hobbled towards it. He edged along a wall to a window where the light was showing and heard the call of an ‘Ici Londres’ radio broadcast. Listening to this station was strictly forbidden, as it came from the Free French in London and the news contained coded messages.
 
A house not properly observing blackout might be a good starting point to seek help, although in the countryside of Southern France, there were isolated lapses which did not automatically signify anti German attitudes. Tweed knocked on the door. Hurried activity followed and the radio went silent. A woman holding a small boy answered and looked straight at the pilot’s wings on his battledress. Tweed had not removed any insignia from his uniform as advised in his evasion training and he was hurried into the room that contained the radio. A group of men sat in silence looking at him.
 
Monsieur Charton was the husband of the woman answering the door. The couple ran a farm and set about attending to Tweed’s injuries as best they could. The other men left and he was fed before being hidden in a partly derelict farm building used by some of the workers. Madame Charton brought him food twice a day and she altered his RAF battledress to resemble the dress of a local labourer.
 
The routine remained unchanged until a had week passed, then a villager arrived to ask a series of detailed questions (see last week’s post The Questions). The next day his injuries were treated by the local doctor and Tweed was left to rest up. During this time, the information he had given was thoroughly examined to ensure that he was not a German ‘plant.’ Unknown to Tweed he was right in the middle of the local Goelette Resistance Group who were controlling each move of his shelter, right down to the doctor visiting. Primary or secondary radio contact with London would be a virtual certainty and when Tweed’s identity details were verified via radio, the Resistance would decide on the validity of the rest of the information.
 
Three further weeks passed before Tweed began his journey. He was moved to a safe house in the town of Troyes where a photograph was taken for his false identity card. That evening further questioning took place. An Englishman arrived (unknown to Tweed, a member of SOE supporting the local Resistance movement) and he drilled down to find out more about Tweed before letting him move on to another safe house for the night. The next afternoon Pierre Malsant, the leader of the Goelette Resistance Group took him to a café in a small village west of Troyes to await the next part of the plan. He stayed in an upstairs room for three weeks apart from being allowed downstairs for a time in the evenings to exercise, courtesy of the café’s owners Monsieur and Madame Bourgeois.

Troyes

Whilst in hiding, Tweed was visited by a young Frenchman attempting to escape to England. The pair decided they could reach the Pyrenees via Biarritz and the Frenchman would reconnoitre the route. Unfortunately he was arrested by the Geheime Feldpolizei ruling out any further attempts that way.
 
The Resistance decided to route Tweed via Paris. Although Malsant fronted the operation, it is likely SOE had a hand in the new strategy. French guide Sam Chevalier escorted the airman to the capital and gave Tweed shelter for two days before taking him to the home of Monsieur Henri Boucher and his wife where the airman hid for eight weeks.
 
For the evader placed in this situation, it paid to remain vigilant, although as per their training, they were expected to follow instructions given to them by the Resistance. It is unlikely that Tweed knew the full extent of who he was involved with the details of what would happen until the last moment. It made sense to work on a ‘need to know’ basis in exactly the same way as the escape lines and other resistance organisations.   
 
It may have come as no surprise that ‘The Englishman’ Tweed had met in Troyes, turned up at the safe house address. What may have surprised him was the hour deadline to prepare for the next move in his evasion.
 
‘The Englishman’ took Tweed to a café where the handover to Pierre Piot took place. Piot worked for the Swiss Red Cross which provided an ideal blind for carrying out work helping evaders. He was able to shelter Tweed in his flat in Rue Montmartre for a week before a sudden move instigated by ‘the Englishman’ came early in the morning of 17 September. The pair travelled out of Paris by train and arrived at a country station near Angers and met their contact who advised that ‘the reception’ would be that evening. The two men were escorted to a farm where four other travellers were waiting.


Captain Ben Cowburn - SOE

‘The Englishman’ revealed his identity as Captain Ben Cowburn, leader of the SOE ‘Tinker Circuit’ supporting the Resistance in the Troyes area of France. A rendezvous with an aircraft would take place that night. The group set off just after twelve and waited in a field under cover of darkness.

Lysander - Caz Caswell

At the sound of an aircraft engine, the recognition signal was flashed by torch and a Lysander guided in by two lines of torches. In typical style for this kind of operation, the engine on the aircraft remained running  whilst three passengers got out, messages and parcels were exchanged and three members of the party who had bicycled to the location somehow jammed themselves into rear cockpit which was designed to take one person. As soon as the aircraft became airborne another Lysander came in and Tweed and two others were soon on their way back to RAF Tangmere. It had taken him four months and five days to get home. From the crew of eight in the Halifax, Sergeants W Marshal and J T Hutchinson also managed to evade capture and make it back, the rest became POWs.

Sources:

 

Shot Down and On The Run  - Air Commodore Graham Pitchfork

IS9 Files

Bomber Command Losses 1943 - W R Chorley

 

©Keith Morley