Colditz - The Canteen Tunnel Part Two

Map of Colditz Castle - War 44

Continued from previous post
 

Pat Reid’s plan after he exited the tunnel and climbed on to the grass patch was to:

• Edge along in the dark next to the castle walls (specific areas around the castle were lit up at night by floodlights)
• Climb down the retaining wall via knotted sheets which the POW’s had prepared in advance.
• Pass the guards sleeping quarters undetected
•  Scale the 12 foot wall which was covered with barbed wire and surrounded the castle park.

The two main problems were:

• Getting past a sentry who was posted around 40 yards away and would spot any movement.
• Dealing with barbed wire on top of the castle park wall quickly enough without being seen.

Reid decided that as Germans sometimes passed along the sentry’s eye line after dark; any movement seen by the guard might not arouse immediate suspicion. The barbed wire around the castle park could be dealt with, providing there was ample time to carry out the work and the location had minimal risk of being seen.

In the canteen  - John Watton

Work began on the tunnel under the canteen (positioned in the south east corner of the castle yard) and the men worked for a short spell during the night hours. Reid’s team had a lookout positioned in one of their rooms to signal if anyone came into the vicinity of the canteen whilst work was in progress. A stooge also watched the courtyard and lawn area from the canteen window. When the shift ended and diggers came out of the tunnel, the drain cover was always ‘sealed’ around the edges again to disguise any obvious traces of removal. 
 
During the excavations, an escape attempt by Polish Air Force Lieutenants Waclaw. Gassowski and Waclaw Gorecki interfered with Reid’s plans. It is likely that their Polish Senior Officer was not fully aware of what they were doing. At that time in Colditz, the various nationalities of POW were not working collectively. It is certain that some individuals or small groups planned their own breakout attempts with little or no consultation process. Efforts were made amongst the senior officers to adopt a more coordinated approach.

Reid’s team were not working on the night that the two Poles gained access to the canteen and started to saw through bars on the outside of the window. The work inevitably generated noise and the men had no lookout system in place. They were soon caught. As a result, the Germans put an extra padlock on the door and positioned a floodlight so it lit up the whole lawn and all of the prison windows opening on to it. The Polish action had drawn unwelcome attention to the canteen area.

A disturbance occurred on the night of 22 March 1941 which further heightened the German’s state of vigilance. They had been holding a party during the evening and the noise was keeping British orderlies (batmen to the British officers) who slept nearby awake. Private Solly Goldman, the batman to British Senior officer Lieutenant-Colonel Guy German, began barracking a sentry through a window. A volley of shots came back and the result was a squad of camp guards entering the British quarters. They discovered that some of the officers were missing. Captains Dick Howe, Rupert Barry and Pat Reid were in the tunnel whilst Lieutenants Peter Storie-Pugh and Geoffrey Wardle were in the canteen above it acting as their lookouts.

Captains Rupert Barry 2nd left, Pat Reid & Dick Howe - strijbewski.nl

An alert for the missing men went out, a general Appell for the whole camp was called. The POWs lined up in the yard while lengthy searches were carried out. Around 2.00am Wardle barely had time to warn the tunnellers that a search party was approaching before the Germans entered the canteen. He had dropped into the shaft with Storie-Pugh just in time to avoid being seen. The searchers checked the room and tried unsuccessfully to lift the manhole cover. Pat Reid was hanging on to it from underneath, fingers wedged in a lip around the cover. The guards moved on to other searches and the prisoners who were still lined up outside were not dismissed until around 3.45am.



Lt Peter
Storie-Pugh

This was a close call and Reid (still with the others in the tunnel) decided a false wall should be built immediately. Food, civilian clothing, maps, rucksacks and other escape aids could be hidden behind it, in addition to concealing any clues of work in progress. Reid described how they did it:

 
‘In a few hours we had constructed a forbidding looking false wall with stones from the original wall which had been demolished, jointed with clay from under the lawn and coated with dust wherever the joints showed.’
 
At 5am when the castle had quietened, the men sneaked back to their beds unseen, securing padlocks and relocking doors on the way. During the night, the Germans had carried out identity checks against the whole camp. Howe, Reid, Barry, Storie-Pugh and Wardle were missing and recorded as escaped. An OKW message was sent to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (supreme command of the Armed Forces) which triggered procedures and searches for escaped POWs.
 
It was not difficult to predict the German reaction at morning Appell when the ‘escaped’ officers were accounted for in the usual way and refused to say where they had been. The OKW message had to be withdrawn much to the embarrassment and frustration of the Camp Kommandant who was reprimanded.
 
The manhole cover in the canteen was removed and the tunnel searched. Nothing unusual was found. The ‘escapers’ were eventually charged with ‘being absent from quarters and for attempting to tunnel out of the camp from the church.’  (Tools and the beginnings of a tunnel had been discovered in there) The sentence was seven days solitary confinement (Stubenarrest)

Canteen Tunnel Entrance - War44

With the tunnel still undiscovered the escape was still technically alive, despite a failed attempt by two Frenchmen Lieutenant Andre Boucheron and Jacques Charve to cut through the bars on the canteen window in the same way as the Polish effort. The next day, the Germans posted a sentry permanently on a route which included the grass lawn by the canteen window. He passed by at short intervals (around one minute) and often stood directly over the tunnel without any idea of what was underneath.
 
All weak spots had been covered by the enemy. Work to continue lengthening the tunnel would be discovered because the sentry’s beat and positioning had been revised. In its current state, the project was now high risk and little work was done during the time that a string of unrelated escapes were attempted by other POW’s including Frenchman Alain le Ray who made the first Home Run from Colditz (see previous posts).
 
The Germans had developed an obvious interest in the British canteen. Hauptmann Reinhold Eggers (Lager (Duty) Officer 3 in Colditz) recorded:

‘…the British canteen at Colditz, still the object of our suspicions and still the month of May.’

 
Just as the project appeared dead; an unexpected opportunity arose. A German guard had been approached by a civilian prisoner Howard Gee*. The guard agreed to look the other way for ten minutes on a specific night after a prearranged signal. Gee was an excellent German speaker and had bribed him before to smuggle provisions into the castle. The guard’s fee this time was 500 Reich marks, (100 in advance and 400 dropped out of a window at a notified location an hour after the ten minutes had passed.) This was a significant of money from the POW’s ‘bank’ previously built up by paper money hidden inside items in aid parcels sent to POWs (see previous posts) and currency smuggled in by incoming POWs.

*Gee was a civilian orderly in Colditz, but had experienced an unusual route to capture as he was a civilian volunteer who joined the British contingent who were to fight with the Finnish Army during the Russo-Finnish War in Finland 1940. The British wore ammo boots and carried Lee Enfield rifles, but were not an official military regiment. They never fired a shot as Finland and Russia signed an armistice before they could join the Finns. Gee arrived in Oslo two hours after the Germans had captured it and was later arrested along with the rest of the contingent and treated as a POW.

Howard Gee

May 29^th was the date set for the escape after evening Appell at 9pm. The first party of twelve men wore adapted ‘civilian’ clothes under their uniforms and had the required maps and home made compasses etc. The tunnel shaft was ready, with little further distance added to the overall length. Pat Reid had the collapsible tray he made, in position under the grass surface of the lawn.
 
After Appell a lookout and the twelve men got into the canteen. About an hour later the bribed sentry was seen in position and Reid gave him the signal to turn the other way. He described what happened next:

‘I cut round the collapsible tray I had inserted above the vertical shaft and then heaved it upwards, muddy water streaming on to my face. The windows of the German Kommandantur  (command) building loomed above me. The whole area was brilliantly lit by a floodlight only ten yards away. I climbed out on to the grass and Rupert Barry immediately behind me started to follow. My shadow was cast on the wall…and at that moment I noticed a second shadow beside my own. It held a revolver. I yelled to Rupert to get back as a voice behind me shouted ‘hände hoch hände hoch.’ I turned to face a German Officer levelling his pistol at me.’

Reid's Exit Point - war44

It is interesting to see the same course of events through a German viewpoint. The tension and focus on both sides must have been electric. Reinhold Eggers recorded that:

‘a sentry reported he’d been offered 700 marks to keep his eyes shut some night to be specified while on duty at guard post no 9 outside the canteen….700 marks was a lot of money. How on earth had the POWs got hold of it? We held a security meeting. The money was obviously being smuggled in. How, we found later.’ (amount of the bribe differs from Reid’s version)

 
The sentry was told to continue with the charade and report developments. He did exactly this and the Germans made their preparations.
 
Although they had been tipped off, the precise details of the escape were unknown. Eggers’ mind-set and worries are well illustrated in his notes:
 
‘The canteen. Somewhere near there they were going to break out, but where? From below? Impossible. The inside drain cover in the canteen floor was sealed. From above? Not in the searchlights. Would they fuse the lights and come down a rope in the dark. Would they get out of the canteen by one of the windows? The guard had been assured that there would be no traces after the escape, so he couldn’t possibly be suspected. How were they going to get out? We thought and talked and felt very foolish. That we should have to wait on the prisoners for a line of action.’

The Germans decided that the 29th May was the most likely night for the breakout because:

• The sentry had received 100 marks as the first part of his bribe
• It was the Thursday evening before Whitsun. Staff would be going on leave; there was a chance that things might unconsciously relax.                                       
• On the 27^th, the guard maintained that he had been told ‘From now on keep your head down when on duty.’

After evening Appell, as darkness came, all Lager officers and a posse of guards waited in a room in the Kommandantur building where the north east corner backed on to the canteen corner in the prisoners’ yard. Eggers described their next move:

‘The door on to the grass terrace outside this damned canteen was on our side of the join in the two yards. We unlocked it quietly. An NCO and ten men were held ready in the guardroom outside the prisoners’ gate, at the end of the approach yard. A phone call to our internal exchange would rush them to any part of the castle we specified.’

Hauptmann Reinhold Eggers

As Eggers recorded, ‘the stage was set’. The camp floodlights came on and everyone watched and waited.
 
‘But what should we watch? Where to focus? We blinked at every sound. Our eyes watered under the strain….Suddenly came a movement on the grass…Now we could focus. A line appeared – a break. A patch of grass started to move upward. Lager officer 1 made a sign, ‘wait!’ A square of turf rose straight up out of the ground held by a wooden frame, with legs which now showed themselves. Then a man’s hands and arms followed, pushing at the turf and frame by the legs. Then the frame was stood aside and up came British Captain Reid.’
 
A phone call followed and the guard occupied the canteen immediately. Two Polish and ten British officers were caught in the tunnel, including the British Senior Officer Guy German. It was an absolute steal for the camp staff and their first big success. The foiled escapers had money, civilian clothes, passes and 150lbs of provisions (Red Cross food of tins chocolate and biscuits) which were all confiscated.  The guard kept his 100 marks, received extra leave and the War Service Cross.

British Senior Officer
Colonel Guy German

Security was tightened as a result, with sentries changed at irregular times and not returned to the same post in order to break the rhythm. This was ‘advantage Germany’, but the game was only just beginning.
 
Sources

Colditz the Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MC

Colditz The German Viewpoint - Reinhold Eggers

(Both are recommended reads)

Author's Notes

IWM recorded interview with Howard Gee

 

©Keith Morley

 

THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish it to appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

 

 

Colditz - The Canteen Tunnel Part One

Captain Pat Reid pictured in Colditz - strijdbewski.nl 

Once Pat Reid arrived in Colditz he began looking at options for escape. It was every officer’s duty to try and reach home. At the very least, he would strive to hamper the enemy by tying up their resources in preventing a POW breakout and searching for him when he got away from the castle.
 
The initial steer was to concentrate on areas of Colditz  which the British did not use (There were still unoccupied areas and empty rooms at that time). Pat’s skill around picking locks soon progressed beyond basic levels following instruction from Polish Lieutenant ‘Miki’ Surmanovicz (see previous two posts), but it was the escape possibilities around the drains which caught his attention.
 
A room dubbed as ‘the canteen’ by the POW’s had a manhole cover which required investigation. The canteen was in reality no more than a shop where the POWs were able to buy basic items such as razor blades etc. Working under the supervision of a German Feldwebel, Captain Kenneth Lockwood had already ensconced himself in the room as ‘assistant manager’ and accountant. This action had initially nothing to do with generating any escape opportunities. Lockwood had a background with figures as he worked on the London Stock exchange before the outbreak of war. The maintenance of simple accounts helped pass the time and occupy him in an area he had an affinity with. His regular presence in the shop became a useful tool for creating distractions.

Captain Kenneth Lockwood
-strijdbewski.nl

 

The shop had a counter, with the manhole cover positioned in front on the buyer’s side. The problem facing Pat Reid was how to lift the cover and inspect what was underneath without being seen by the Feldwebel. A table had been positioned under the only window in the room and this was used for writing by Lockwood and the Feldwebel. It was a convenient distance and angle away from the counter. Reid spotted that if a few people stood behind the counter, Lockwood could draw the German to the table on the pretext of some accounting matter. It might then be possible to raise the manhole cover and check what was below.

 
The diversion worked and Reid recorded that ‘it was comparatively simple to tackle the manhole cover.’ An initial inspection revealed that there were tunnels leading in two directions, one connecting with a tunnel he had already noticed in the castle yard, and another leading out under the floor by the window. A second check revealed that this route was around 18 yards long and built with a curve. A pile of large stones and mortar blocked the way through.
 
A check of the outside location near the shop window suggested that the tunnel passed under a grass lawn which was on the same level as the floor inside the shop building. The grass butted up to the German section of the Castle. A stone balustrade was positioned at the outer edge of the lawn, and then a retaining wall which had about a 25 foot drop to the road below. This led down the valley containing the POW’s football area. After that, the last obstacle would be the 12 foot wall of the castle park and the barbed wire on top (see post on Alain Le Ray’s escape). If the canteen tunnel did run up towards  the 25 foot wall; Reid had already decided there were possibilities.  If he could tunnel upwards and emerge through the grass; an escape route was waiting.  
 
But even if the tunnel did follow the right direction, the problems facing Reid and his men were considerable. The planning and work required to even remotely stand a chance of escaping without discovery was considerable. It is a fine testament of the spirit, ingenuity and persistence of these men, that they attempted the plan. It should also be remembered that whilst Reid was looking at his project, there were other escape schemes being considered and in progress by the other POWs within Colditz. Escape attempts had already been made, and Alain le Ray had succeeded in making the first Home Run (see earlier post)

Line of the canteen tunnel. The red line runs alongside the actual tunnel route which is shown by a dotted track - virtualcolditz.com

The tunnel line passed under the canteen and came out beneath the eastern ramparts of the Castle, so specific work could be targeted. 
 
Work Required Within the Tunnel
 
Break through the rocks and mortar blocking the tunnel and remove debris.
 
Once it is reached, cut through the foundations of the retaining wall near to the outer edge of the lawn, and dispose of the rubble.
 
Work at night for around 2-3 hours after lights out.
 
To minimise noise problems and the chance of discovery, coordinate work when the night sentries are furthest away on their beat from the tunnelling area. A detailed system of lookouts will be required to ensure this is implemented and the tunnellers are warned in good time as the sentries approach on their beat.
 
Estimated time to completion

3 months.
 
Getting Access to the Tunnel
 
This must be done at night as it is the only time that entry can be realistically gained and work carried out on a regular basis without discovery.
 
A key has been made from a piece of iron which was part of one the POW beds. It opens the canteen door.
 
Open the entrance door to the staircase where the POWs are held by picking the lock.
 
Cross the courtyard (about 30 feet) to the canteen door, keeping to the shadows and avoiding any sentries.
 
Open the canteen door with the false key and once inside close it behind.
 
Scale the high wooden partition which separates the canteen room from a camp office. There is a door but this has a German style Yale lock which is to date, tamper proof.
 
Once the tunnel has reached the appropriate point outside, make a vertical shaft which will bring the tunnel up to the grass.

Reinforce the top with a trap door just below the surface.

 
Pat Reid’s thinking around this whole project is fascinating and he was now ready to start work.
 
Continued next week

 

Sources

Colditz the Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MC

The Colditz Story - Major P R Reid MBE MC

Colditz The German Viewpoint - Reinhold Eggers

(All are highly recommended reads)

Author's Notes

virtualcolditz.com

 

©Keith Morley

 

THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish it to appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

 

Colditz - Poles, Locks and Bed Sheets Part Two

Colditz Castle - war 44

Reid had received word that the escape was to take place that night (11^th May 1941) and the invitation to join the Polish officers at the rendezvous point in the courtyard at 23.00 was still open. However good Miki’s skills were with locks, it is hardly surprising that no one took up his offer and a curious small audience of POWs were watching from their windows when the clock struck eleven.      
In the darkness, Pat Reid spotted the door to the cells corridor open slowly. At exactly 23.00 two dark figures edged out into the courtyard. Continued from last post

From a window high up in the Polish quarters, a rope was lowered made of sheets knotted together. A bundle containing the men's escape kit, clothes and rucksack was tied to the bottom. The two figures began to climb the rope, one following the other until they reached a narrow ledge around forty feet up.

 

The floodlights in the courtyard were not turned on. Miki and Chmiel stood in deep shadow on the ledge, backs pressed flat against the wall. It was no more than four inches wide and a fall could be fatal. They held of the rope which was still hanging from one of the windows above them and began to edge along a few inches at a time. The distance to a section of guttering on the eaves of the German guardhouse roof was about ten yards. The men could see little in the dark, but had calculated the move to perfection.

The next phase of the plan was to climb up to the roof whilst still keeping hold of the long rope of sheets. They reached the top and clambered through a skylight out of sight. The lights in the courtyard stayed off and the men were in the attic of the German guardhouse. Chmiel quickly drew up the slack on the rope before giving it a sharp tug. This was the signal for the men in the Polish quarters to untie and let go of the other end. Seconds slipped by as Chmiel carefully pulled and reeled the rope in. The attic had a small window which they selected for the next part of the escape. The problem was the sheer drop outside of about a hundred and twenty feet which continued down the face of the cliff upon which the castle was built. 
 

Bed sheets lowered from attic window - War 44

Undaunted, they secured and lowered the rope out of the window and down the guardhouse wall. The men climbed out and slowly began their descent. It is difficult to comprehend them placing their lives on a string of bedsheets knotted together. Any fall or break in the ‘rope’ would have been fatal. They descended carefully past the guardhouse window - there was about a hundred feet to go. The Poles had made one fatal mistake. Miki wore plimsolls for the climb and descent, whilst Chmiel had a heavier style of boot. These made a noise as they scraped against the wall on the descent. It was loud enough to wake up the duty officer asleep in the guard house. He opened the window and instantly spotted the rope dangling alongside. A dark figure was hanging only a few yards below.

The duty officer drew his pistol and shouted ‘ Hände hoch’ (hands up). With a hundred feet to the ground and both Poles clinging on to a rope, that would be as a difficult manoeuvre. When there was no response, the officer called out the guard. The escape attempt was at an end. At 5.30 am the bell rang and the whole camp was turned out for a snap appel. Two questions remained unanswered and the Germans never found the evidence or the answers:
 
How did Miki get out of his cell?

How did he pick the lock on Chmiel’s door and the one at the entrance of the cell corridor to the courtyard?

Miki’s cell had a heavy wooden door which was fixed to the outside. There were two hinges. A thick metal bar was attached to the door and padlocked to the outside wall on the opposite side of the hinges. The door overlapped the wall at the top, in addition to both sides. At the bottom it fitted close to the passage floor. On the inside of the cell, the foot of the door was concealed by a wooden strip.

Blurred picture of the cell door

The first task was to carefully dismantle the bed and stool in his cell. There were parts to be used for leverage and support against the door. Miki had managed to hide his lock picking tools undetected and first needed to remove the wooden strip at the bottom of the door. He managed this and then levered the hinge side of the door upwards so that it came off the vertical hinge posts attached to the wall. He replaced the wooden strip, moved into the corridor and picked the lock of Chmiel’s cell. The men worked together to put back the door to Miki’s cell, reassemble the parts used from the stool and bed and lock up both cells. The whole process took about two hours, leaving no visible evidence of any disturbance to the fittings or furniture. It seemed as if both men had simply ‘ghosted’ their way out of the cells.


The Cell

The lock on the door to the courtyard was easily picked and there was time to spare before the men’s 23.00 hours exit. Struggling for ideas as to how Miki and Chmiel had managed to get out of the punishment cells, the Germans posted a sentry in the courtyard during hours of darkness. The castle floodlights were also switched full on unless there was an air raid warning in progress. This new strategy created further obstacles and challenges for the POW’s in future escape plans, but it was not long before another Frenchman made a successful breakout.

Sources

Colditz The Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MC

The Colditz Story - Major P R Reid MBE MC

Colditz the German Viewpoint - Reinhold Eggers

(All are recommended reads)

Author's Notes

 

©Keith Morley

THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish it to appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

 

 

 

Colditz - Poles, Locks and Bed Sheets Part One

A few days after the failed Allan escape (see previous post) two Polish officers made their attempt. Lieutenant Mikolaj ‘Miki’ Surmanowicz and Second Lieutenant Mieczyslaw Chmiel had devised a bizarre escape plan which was dependant on them first being placed in solitary confinement in the punishment cells.

When examining the courage and fortitude shown by the Polish nation during the war and the help they gave to Allied POWs in camps at great risk to themselves and their families, it is not surprising that Surmanowicz and Chmiel would attempt a plan so offbeat and dangerous and with only a small chance of success.

Lageroffrizier Reinhold Eggers makes an interesting observation from the German viewpoint about how the Colditz POWs presented themselves. This gives an indication of where the Poles sat in his estimation. When looking back at the history of events in the castle; it also gives a few clues as to how a POW’s own nationality, culture and behaviour could decant into his escape plans and strategies.

 ‘In March (1941) we were presented with sixty Dutch officers, many from the East Indies of mixed blood. They had no orderlies of their own, but kept their quarters clean themselves. Their discipline was faultless, their behaviour on parade exemplary, by which as we shall see they were able to profit. They dressed smartly at all times too. The Poles behaved similarly, though they had not the uniforms for a smart appearance.

But the French and the British! On parade in pyjamas, unshaven, slopping about in clogs and slippers, smoking, reading books, wearing the first assortment of garments that came to hand when they got out of bed, just asking to be ridiculed. They insisted on distinguishing between “parades” as on the King’s birthday, when they turned out unrecognisably smart and the daily “roll-calls” we held to count them. Very quickly we saw through what was only superficially slipshod, though sometimes they all behaved wholeheartedly like urchins.’

Polish POWs at Colditz - thememoryproject

Surmanowicz and Chmiel planned to commit an offence which would result in them being taken to the punishment cells and placed in solitary confinement. They decided that hiding in a locked up attic in the Saalhauss would be quickest. The Saalhauss was in a wing of the castle which housed the Senior POW Officers. There were regular checks and the Germans were sure to find them. The plan worked and the men were marched off to the cells.

Major Pat Reid described ‘Miki’ Surmanowicz as ‘The most daredevil Polish officer at Colditz among a bunch of daredevils.’ Miki was an expert lock picker and this formed the pivotal start of his plan. His heavily padlocked and barred cell had a single small window high up which looked out over the castle courtyard,( if the occupant could climb up the cell wall to see through it.) Mietek Chmiel was in the cell next door. A South African, Flight Lieutenant George Skelton who had arrived at Colditz the day before was also in the block and within earshot. He had been taken straight to the cells.

Flight Lieutenant George Skelton
- aircrew remembrance society

Miki and Pat Reid had developed a solid friendship in Colditz and his craft of lock-picking tips had been passed on to the Englishman. A few adventurous souls in the British contingent were aware of the plan to escape and none had taken up the offer to join in because of the risks.

The idea was simple. Miki would get out of his barred and locked cell, open Chmiel’s door and then unlock the main door to the cell corridor, which opened on to the courtyard. At this point both men would be standing in the main part of the prison; the same as the rest of the POWs in Colditz had access to. Part two of the escape plan could then be implemented.

Reid had received word that the escape was to take place that night (11th May 1941) and the invitation to join the Polish officers at the rendezvous point in the courtyard at 23.00 was still open. However good Miki’s skills were with locks, it is hardly surprising that no one took up his offer and a curious small audience of POWs were watching from their windows when the clock struck eleven. In the darkness, Pat Reid spotted the door leading to the cells open slowly. At exactly 23.00 two dark figures edged out into the courtyard.

Continued next week

Sources

Colditz The Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MC

The Colditz Story - Major P R Reid MBE MC

Colditz The German Viewpoint - Reinhold Eggers

(All are recommended reads)

Author's Notes


©Keith Morley


THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish it to appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed. 
 

Colditz - The Peter Allan Escape

 

The Germans never discovered how Alain Le Ray escaped from Colditz (see previous 3 posts). When serious questioning came from higher authority, there were no definitive answers. After the staff had received a severe dressing down from camp commandant Oberst Max Schmidt, Lageroffrizier  Reinhold Eggers reported:

 
‘Generalkommando Dresden came into the affair. Their Abwehrstelle 4 (Security 4) asked “when did the prisoner escape, how did he get out, what clothes did he wear?”  We didn’t know…. The OKW in Berlin (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) wanted to know. How did the officer escape? Who was responsible, had he been punished – and how? What had we done to stop similar escapes in future? We couldn’t answer all of this….We assumed that Le Ray had climbed up on the roof and down a lightening conductor on the outer walls of the buildings, out of sight of the sentries somewhere. We wired up parts of the roof and chimneys. We rigged up more and stronger searchlights.’

Oberst Max Schmidt

The exit point for Le Ray’s escape and how he intended to lose the guards on the way to the park walk had been well planned. How and when he would reach the barbed wire fence and outer wall of the park from his hiding place was much more down to chance and grabbing any opportunity. During April and May 1941, the British contingent of POWs were applying serious efforts to their canteen tunnel project, but on 10 May a perfect example of simply seizing the moment (like Le Ray) occurred, when an opportunity presented itself without warning.  

At that time, Colditz still had a number of floors which were empty of occupants. Some of the POWs had become expert in picking locks. The Pole Michal ‘Miki’ Surmanowitz had passed on his craft to Major Pat Reid. Miki’s skill would soon help his own escape attempt. Lageroffrizier  Reinhold Eggers reported:

‘Had the prisoners made keys to unlock the doors at the foot of their staircases that we locked each night? It became more and more evident as time went on, that no lock at all in Colditz really served its purpose. We kept finding people in what should have been locked-off rooms, from which bit by bit we noticed all the light fittings disappear. Blankets vanished from the attics. Nothing was safe.’

 

The Germans decided to move all unused equipment and furniture out of the empty rooms to stop the theft of materials which might be utilised for escaping by the POW’s. Eggers noted:

 
‘Naturally they turned this operation to their own advantage.’   

Around 10.am on 10 May, a group of French army POW’s arrived at the castle in a lorry. They were set to work carrying down dozens of straw prison mattresses from an attic store and loading them on to the lorry. The British acted immediately. Lieutenant Peter Allan of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders was small, light and spoke German well. The intention was to push him inside one of the POW’s own mattresses, sew it up and then try to persuade one of the French soldiers to carry the mattress and load it on to the lorry. It would have been obvious to him what he was lugging into the courtyard, but there was no time for the British to deliberate. After some persuasion by Pat Reid, the Frenchman carried the mattress with Allen inside  and stacked it in the lorry. As the vehicle disappeared out of the castle the POWs must have scarcely been able to believe their luck.

Colditz POWS. Lieutenant Peter Allan is second right

For Peter Allan, it must have been stifling and claustrophobic trapped inside the mattress. There was no air, and pressure from the rest of the pile and the presence of French soldiers and their guards squashed into the back of the lorry tested any man’s resolve. Allan was now totally reliant on a short journey and his mattress being carried out to its new storage location without anyone raising the alarm. He had no idea where he would finish up, but a ‘best guess’ put the town and some storage building as being likely.

This escape is a typical example of opportunism, taking calculated risks and worrying about the consequences later. Such was the mindset of a POW desperate to get home or at least tie up enemy resources to cause maximum disruption.  

The mattresses were dumped in either a skittle alley in the town or deserted house. Eggers says a skittle alley, Pat Reid states a deserted house and Allan mentions ‘somewhere in Colditz’. What is important is that Allan was able to make a small cut through the mattress to let in air and then wait for a period of sustained quiet. After a few hours he cut himself out, opened the window of the room, climbed through into a small garden and made his way to the road.

 
It should be remembered that most POWs in Colditz who were focused on escaping held small amounts of Reich marks. They and other incoming POWs had often managed to smuggle them in when arriving, or the money was hidden inside the early welfare parcels. At this stage of the war, only small amounts were obtained from guards by surreptitious means such as bribery, blackmail or ‘selling’ items, although the practice was going on. The POWs also had some form of clothing which had been adapted to not look conspicuous once outside of the castle. It was reported that Peter Allan being small and slight had dressed himself up in a Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) uniform.  
 

He had limited escape rations, passable clothing and some money. Because of his excellent German, Allan was able to get some lifts along the way to Stuttgart, but there is no doubt that he walked a good part of that journey. Initially it looked as if he was making for the Swiss border, but his plan clearly changed when he reached Stuttgart. His tired physical state may have contributed to him turning east and travelling to Vienna. Reports stated that once there, an exhausted Allan approached the US consulate for help in reaching Budapest and neutral Hungary. The United States was still neutral and there were German staff working in the embassy. This put the consul in a difficult position. It was clearly too difficult and help was refused. Allan went into a park and fell asleep on a bench. When he awoke in the morning, he found his legs were paralysed with cramp. Exhausted and starving he managed to crawl to a nearby house and was taken to hospital where he gave himself up. The Vienna police telephoned Colditz and the escape attempt was over.



Stuttgart - zvad.com

 

Vienna

Allan was returned to Colditz on 31 May 1941 and managed to limp under escort straight to the cells for a spell of solitary confinement  For the other British POWs it must have been a blow to morale as they were convinced that after 23 days ‘no news was good news’ and he had made it to safety. But April and May were just the beginning of the escaping season and for the Germans in Colditz, it would be a long summer and autumn.  

 

Sources

Colditz The Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MC

Colditz The German Viewpoint - Reinhold Eggers

(Both are recommended reads)

Author's Notes

 

©Keith Morley

 

THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish it to appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Colditz Part Three - The First Home Run (3)

French POWs at Colditz 

Continued from last week’s post...  Alain Le Ray had to act immediately. Hidden from the outside, he only had a few seconds to get out of the cellar. In less than two minutes the guards would discover he was missing.  The translation of Le Ray’s account from French to English loses nothing of ’the moment’ and puts the reader right in there with him as he makes his next move. The ingenuity in his plan to quickly change his appearance is  interesting:

‘Still trembling with shock, I turned up the lower parts of my false blue trousers, so that they looked like plus-fours, revealing at the same time my white stockings with their decorative garters. I took off my pullover and my linen waistcoat. This changed my appearance in such a way that it would be improbable that I should be recognised.  Indeed, I looked elegant enough, with the collar of my open blue shirt falling down on my cardigan; my cap with buckle and flap and a small suitcase completed the picture of a German traveller.’
(The small ‘suitcase’ was concealed under his clothes, which explains Le Ray’s earlier reference to him appearing to look larger than usual. See previous post)

The change took round a minute. Now he had to get out and hurry to the walls of the park without arousing suspicion. It was not long before something went wrong.

‘I had already planned what to do….I crossed the flagstones of the cellar, out through the door and up the grass slope in a single jump. I felt weightless as I reached the path.  There was no one to be seen. Quickly, quickly, but no, I must not show haste. Somebody may be looking down from the castle.’ 

Le Ray was facing the dilemma that confronted every escaper and evader. His nerves were stretched to breaking point, his heart pounding and mouth dry. Every physical movement felt strained and unnatural. He recorded that he felt weightless.  These were classic symptoms. From now on, it would come down to whether he was a good poker player, could think on his feet and act naturally? 

‘There in the park were three Germans playing football inside the barbed wire enclosure. There was nothing for me to do but return to my cellar hiding place.’

There is certain inevitability about what he says next, but that is quickly replaced by a resilience and capacity for organised logical thought.  Maybe there was still a chance. Le Ray thought it out, and he had few choices to consider.  

‘This time my excitement had gone. I knew that within moments an armed group of soldiers might break in and catch me. If I should try to escape, they would undoubtedly shoot. I was becoming desperate. But my reason calmed my fears. I realised I must have enough patience to wait until dawn, when the park would be empty.  My faith in doing this lay in my friend Tournon, who I believed would succeed in causing a diversion at the count. The German guards trusted their own counting efficiency and disliked having to report any irregularity for which they were responsible. If the count could be fixed, I should win some hours of respite, at least until the evening appel of 6pm.’

André Tournon started a fight with one of the POWs just as the count was about to begin. The absence was not noticed and he succeeded in buying some time.  For Le Ray hiding in the cellar, the seconds and minutes must have felt like an eternity as he waited for the inevitable sounds of the alarm being raised. After a few minutes, through the partly open cellar door he saw three German officers pass by with an Alsatian dog.

Hanging around any longer would not improve his chances. He waited for a few more minutes and decided to try again. It was important to get out of the cellar and escape in the daylight if possible, as the 6pm appel was likely to reveal his absence . If he could get as far away as possible from the camp, there was a slim chance of reaching Switzerland.     

‘For the second time I went quietly down to the park. There was no one there now, but eyes might be watching me from the windows of the Terrace House (see previous post) where a watcher could have followed my every step. I went to the small bridge over the brook and hid for a while in some bushes and ferns. Should anyone see me there, it would be quite clear what I was up to, so I hurried to a fallen tree lying across the brook; a few more steps and I had reached the other bank and was near the barbed wire fence which surrounded the ground of the park wall, near where the soldiers had played football about twenty minutes before.’   

He managed to reach a point where the barbed wire fence joined the wall. Le Ray said it felt like ‘the whole park was an immense eye watching me.’  He grabbed the upper strands of wire and put his foot on the end of one of the wooden wire supports fastened to the wall. This gave him the leverage and height to stretch out his hands. Although he had no actual sight of the top of the wall, he managed with difficulty to feel out and then cling to the rounded top.  His rubber shoes were able to find a brief foothold on the wall and he managed to swing himself on to the top of the wall without being seen and drop down the other side which was clear of the castle grounds.

Alain Le Ray in later life - enmemoiredelaresistance

The next move was to try and catch a train away from Colditz. He had very little money and had concealed it in a tiny tube in his ‘alimentary canal’. Little imagination is required to work out where the tube had been hidden.  Despite this he managed to travel as far as Nuremburg. What happened next was a surprise, but it is worth noting that his actions did not fall outside of the code of conduct relating to The Geneva Convention:
‘I was tired and stiff with the cold. I badly needed money and a coat, so I decided to commit a brutal act of robbery with violence against a German civilian. My victim, chosen carefully, resisted me at first, but I was successful in striking him with two well-aimed blows with my fist, which left him dazed on the ground.'

Le Ray justifies this action on the grounds that he was acting in self-defence under conditions of warfare, as he could have been shot at any time because he was escaping.  It might seem a callous and desperate act to pick on an innocent civilian, but the countries were in conflict. The pedestrian would have had no second thoughts about reporting Le Ray.  Additionally, the POW on the run with a tangible chance of freedom would push out all reasonable boundaries short of taking up arms.

The mind-set and mentality of an Allied POW at that time of the war also needs to be put alongside the terms of the Geneva Convention and how this was interpreted in law.  Theft whilst on the run was considered a perfectly legitimate act whilst escaping.  POWs could also carry false papers, give false information to the Police and commit a number of other crimes for which a German civilian would have been punished or even executed. The recaptured prisoner would only receive a period of solitary confinement on bread and water rations in the cells of his prison camp. It must be remembered though that he still ran the risk of being shot whilst escaping. *

Nuremburg 1940 - nbg-mil-com.de

Le Ray successfully took the coat and money and avoided arrest. He pressed on and despite his underplaying of the dangers reached the Swiss border without any further incidents of note:

‘From now on, my voyage became a pleasure trip. I went through Stuttgart – Tuttlingen – Singen. On the evening of the Easter Monday, I was only ten kilometres from the Swiss frontier, near Schaffausen. During the Monday night, I made my way through woodland paths to Gottmadingen, the last station before frontier and customs-control, where I waited hidden in the bushes.’

Schaffausen 1940 - nostalgie-foto.ch



Gottmadingen - panoramio.com

A train passed at about 11.00pm and the locomotive stopped about  five metres in front of him for the train to be searched.
‘When the doors were shut again, I crept up to the engine, and when the engine driver gave the signal to start, I sprang on to the locomotive between its headlights where I hid. The driver opened the throttle and the train roared through the fresh air of the spring night. Five minutes later we passed the red lights of the enemy guard post, on and under a bridge and then into Switzerland.’

Alain Le Ray had made it to a neutral country and achieved the first ‘home run’ from Colditz. On the very last part of his journey, right when he was on the brink of freedom; he had staked everything on not being spotted behind the glare from the locomotives headlights.    

Inside Colditz, once the absence was discovered the Germans tightened security, but they never worked out how and where Le Ray had escaped. 

*Article 50 of the Geneva Convention stated that a prisoner could be punished for an attempt to escape, but only with a disciplinary punishment and not by a court martial. It was generally accepted that crimes against property also fell under the disciplinary umbrella, but for cases of murder and wounding, a court martial would be justified. As per Article 54, the limit for a normal disciplinary punishment after arrest was set at 30 days. In practice it often ran for up to 14 days. At Colditz they usually gave out sentences of up to a fortnight. If it was believed a more severe disciplinary punishment was appropriate, they had to appeal to the General at Dresden. The maximum he could give was 30 days. 

Sources

Colditz the Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MC

Colditz the German Viewpoint - Reinhold Eggers

Première à Colditz - Alain le Ray

Escape From Colditz - Sixteen First Hand Accounts - Reinhold Eggers

(The above are all recommended reads)

Author's Notes

 
©Keith Morley

 THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish  it to appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.