The Escape Line

Monday, 30 March 2015

Colditz Part Three - The First Home Run (1)

Colditz Castle

At the afternoon parade of 12th April 1941 the French Senior Officer advised the Germans in Colditz that one of his own officers was missing. Following the usual searches, there was no alternative but to check the faces of every POW against the camp identity cards. Lageroffizier Hauptmann Paul Priem brought in dogs to search the castle, as he was convinced that the missing man was still hiding out somewhere within Colditz.

The protocol of a senior officer notifying his captors of the absence of one of his own subordinates might seem strange when compared to actions in other camps as the war progressed. Life for the German security officers was often made difficult at Appels when headcounts were made. Various dodges and schemes were implemented by the prisoners to confuse the process and any absence of personnel would be left for the Germans to discover for themselves. But in April 1941, there were some POWS in Colditz who did feel that despite their captivity and restrictions, they were at least recognised as officers by their captors and the guards treated them with respect. The war had been on for less than eighteen months and such military courtesies may have been easier to accept and follow at that juncture.

Hauptmann Paul Priem

Checking the faces on camp identity cards against the actual prisoners was not an easy process. The photographs were over a year old. In many instances, moustaches had become beards or vice-versa, whilst other men were clean shaven again. In view of the notification from the French, the Germans sensibly began their reconciliation work with those records. When they reached the letter ‘L’ it was discovered that Lieutenant Alain Le Ray was the missing POW. He had only arrived at Colditz on 24 February of that year and his early feelings at being incarcerated inside the fortress were clear.

‘I observed my surroundings, an exercise which gave me not the slightest glimmer of hope of escaping. After a fortnight I felt ill with frustration. My sense of powerlessness so overwhelmed me, I was almost prepared to jump from one of the towers, and was determined to attempt the impossible, even if it led nowhere…. our lack of freedom became more evident than at any other prison I had been in.’

Alain Le Ray was no ordinary man. Serving as a company commander with the Chasseurs Alpins, the army's elite mountain infantry unit, he had been taken prisoner in June 1940. A tough resourceful escaper, he survived five days of freedom in the middle of a Baltic winter after getting clear of Oflag 11D at Jastrow near the coast east of Stettin. He was recaptured on 24 January 1941 at Bingerbruck some 600 miles away and at one point had dug a snow hole to survive.

Lieutenant Alain le Ray - IWM

Le Ray was part of the French team digging a tunnel inside the clock tower at Colditz, although he was not present when Lieutenants Bernard Cazamayou and Paillie were discovered. (see previous post) His mood at the time concerning escape was clear:

"Night after night I did my shift with the tunnel team. And I was happy to do it, to keep solidarity with my mates; but it was very hard work, and frustrating because progress was so slow. Who knows if it could survive without being discovered? I knew that tunnelling did not suit me, I was getting too impatient. What I wanted was something quick that I could execute alone."

Lone escapers could be a problem to other more coordinated projects. The single escaper often operated in secret and alone; always looking out for an opportunity to make a split second break. When Alain Le Ray was considering his options, escape plans were not being shared amongst the different nationalities of POW in Colditz. Many did not reveal their plans to fellow POWs until the last moment. Secrecy was vital to success. Secrecy from:

The Germans

Those who might steal the idea or claim it was theirs

A possible informant (‘stool pigeon’)

The danger of informants was topical amongst the POWs . On 27 March, twenty seven Polish POWs had been ordered without notice to pack and parade for transfer to another camp. All of them were determined escapers, but it was felt amongst the Polish contingent that such a discriminatory selection could not have been made without a tip off from an informant. (Later discovered to be a Polish kitchen officer who had actually championed the thought to British POW Padre Ellison Platt)

It is not surprising that many escape plans remained secret. Some of those discussed formally amongst the different nationalities of POWs encountered further problems. The Polish contingent laid claim to many new schemes on the basis that they had already thought of them, as they were incarcerated in Colditz before the others arrived and therefore claimed priority.

French officers at Colditz - Wikipedia

Le Ray had only been in Colditz for a matter of weeks, so it is unlikely that he would have been involved in the politics surrounding escape protocol; especially as this had not yet materialised into a definitive shape. It did not take him long to find a weakness and seize the opportunity for a way out . The Germans never discovered how he did it. Le Ray took up the story:

‘My examination of the walls and roofs remained disappointing as the castle was surrounded by steep precipices to the north and west. To the east, the slopes were gentler, but there were double rows of barbed wire along the guard’s cat-walks.

The Germans in Colditz, respecting the Geneva Convention, let us out in the castle grounds from time to time to walk around in a wooded park surrounded on three sides by a fence of barbed wire and on one side by a wall. But it was such a nuisance to get ready for the park walk – assembling in the courtyard, being counted and recounted - that many of the prisoners could not be bothered to go.

Apart from the wired off section reserved for prisoners, the park was not particularly well guarded. On the other hand, the castle guards could survey the whole area including the path down to it. For the walk, our guards counted us twice in the inner courtyard before we left. Then again after arrival in the park and the same on the way back. This was done although the walk down took us only four minutes. In spite of these precautions, I felt that this was a weak spot in the castle’s defences, and made my plans accordingly.’

Engineering the escape was only a fraction of the operation. Le Ray would at the very least need clothes which would pass as a civilian, money and an escape route once he was clear of the castle.

Next week - How Le Ray Escaped

Sources and Additional Reading

Colditz The Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MCColditz The German Viewpoint - Reinhold EggersPremière à Colditz Alain le Ray
Escape From Colditz Sixteen First Hand Accounts - Reinhold Eggers
Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

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Monday, 23 March 2015

Colditz Part Two - The First Escape

The early spring of 1941 saw a first escape by prisoners of war from Colditz, although it occurred outside of the perimeter walls of the castle. Two Polish Officers managed to get clear of Konigswartha hospital near Bautzen (30 miles north east of Dresden). Lieutenants Ryszard Bednarski and Juste had succeeded in convincing the camp doctor that there was a need for hospitalisation. The exact medical problem is not known, but abdominal or gall bladder issues may have been faked, as these could display the most severe symptoms and be amongst the most difficult to disprove by a general examination. A similar ruse was used in Colditz during August of the same year by fellow Pole Lieutenant Kroner.

Other escape plans were already well underway before the two Poles made their move. Wet clothing was found in the British senior quarters and the lock into the shower baths had been picked. The Germans replaced it and a few days later on 19 February the head of a broken off home-made key was found in the lock.

Some schemes when discovered, potentially jeopardised ongoing projects and in one case indirectly assisted it. Corporal Georg Schaedich known to the French as La Fouine (the Ferret) and to British POWs as ‘Dixon Hawke’ discovered Lieutenants officers Cazaumayou and Paille at the bottom of a ten foot hole they had dug below the clock tower to the north west corner of the yard. A piece of bed frame had been used for the excavations and the men had fixed up a hoist to haul the rubble up inside the tower ready for disposal in the attic.

Corporal Georg Schaedich -
colditzoflagivc

The noise had given them away, resulting in Hauptmann Lange, the German security officer bricking up doors at all levels which led to the tower. This would have significant consequences later, as the Frenchmen merely constructed a secret entrance to the tower under the roof of the castle and were then able to descend inside unobserved and recommence their tunnel work.

Hauptmann Lange -
colditzoflagivc

Conversely, Two Polish Air Force Lieutenants, observer Waclaw Gassowski and pilot Waclaw Gorecki got into the canteen one evening and were caught trying to cut through the bars outside the window. They had taken few precautions against discovery as there were no stooges in operation (lookouts to warn of approach or distract the sentry) and no signalling system to warn in advance of the approach of a guard.

A more far reaching problem was that the escape attempt crossed over an existing project by the British who were digging a tunnel under a manhole cover in the canteen. The result was that a large floodlight was installed outside, lighting up the whole lawn and castle windows on that side of the building. The British and Polish senior officers attempted to coordinate their efforts better and similar arrangements were made with the French, although that system of liaison did encounter some communication problems.

On 5 April 1941 Bednarski and Just were escorted to the hospital in Konigswartha ready for surgery the following day. They escaped that evening and split up. Lieutenant Just boarded a goods train but discovered it was travelling the wrong way. He jumped off safely before managing to get on another train returning back in the direction of Bautzen. He felt certain someone had seen him trying to climb on. If he gambled and remained on the train, the risks of capture were high if the authorities had been alerted. He decided to risk jumping off a second time. It was a disaster as he struck his head on the ground and lay unconscious all night in the rain. The next day there was little choice but to give himself up because of the extent of his injuries.

Lieutenant Bednarski managed to reach the Resistance in Cracow in Poland where it was alleged the Gestapo picked him up. He was returned to Colditz a year later and was subsequently accused by the Poles there of being a spy and a traitor. A court martial was conducted by them and a Pole who was at the trial, later reported that the guilty Bednarski was to be thrown out of a high window to simulate an accident. Information from the trial suggested that Bednarski had been working for the Germans for some time before he escaped and reached Cracow. In an earlier spell of captivity in Oflag V11 at Murnau he had been ordered by the Germans to simulate an escape so that a despatch to Colditz could be engineered. He was accused of not being a Polish officer, not being in the Polish Army and informing on earlier escape attempts as the Germans had clearly been tipped off.

The Senior Polish and British Officers are likely to have seen Camp Kommandant Oberstleutnant Schmidt, informed him of the trial and conviction and requested that Bednarski be removed immediately because the Senior Polish Officer would be unable to guarantee his safety.

It is surprising that if Bednarski was not in the Polish Army he did not arouse suspicion before, as the Poles had been the first prisoners at Colditz and even if he was a later arrival, any cover story would need to have been well researched and rehearsed. These men lived in very close proximity to each other and had huge amounts of time on their hands. (His name does not appear on the historical list of POWs for Murnau.)

Murnau Oflag V11 - encyklopedia.pwn.pl

Alternatively, if Bednarski was going to escape, what purpose would that serve for the Germans unless they hoped he would lead them either alone or with Lieutenant Just to any underground network or escape lines. It seems strange that the Gestapo returned him to Colditz after such a considerable amount of time had elapsed. The Polish POWs were bound to view this with intense suspicion. The Gestapo may have decided that his value was over and dumped any potential problem back on to the camp Kommandant.

The Germans removed Bednarski immediately from Colditz, but what is significant is that after the war Colonel Mozdyniewicz (secretly chief of the Polish Resistance movement within the German prison camps and ‘in touch’ with the Home Front from Colditz) saw him by chance in a city street in Poland. He immediately informed the public prosecutor. Benarski later committed suicide.

Colonel Mieczyslaw Mozdyniewicz (2nd right) - Commons Wikimedia

Sources and Additional Reading

Colditz The Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MC

Colditz The German Viewpoint - Reinhold Eggers

Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

Monday, 12 January 2015

Colditz Part One - The Camp Organisation

The Escape Organisation in Colditz Sonderlager IVC contained the same broad based threads as many Allied POW camps, especially those of the classic template put together in Stalag Luft 111 as illustrated here. There were inevitable differences according to the type of camp, personnel and geography, but it is interesting to look at how an Allied escape organisation generally followed the same lines.

Earlier posts have covered the structure and workings of a typical escape organisation within Allied POW camps in occupied Europe during World War 2, especially Stalag Luft 111. But each camp presented its own set of challenges and variance. Colditz castle was unique. It towered above the village, was built on the edge of a cliff and jutted out over the River Mulde at a merger with a tributary stream. The outside walls were an average of seven feet thick, and the inner courtyard of the castle was about two hundred and fifty feet above the river level. The castle rooms where the POWs were housed were a further sixty feet above the courtyard.

Colditz - Wikipedia

Colditz was nothing like one of Goering’s purpose built 'model' POW camps which appeared later in the war with their wooden huts flanked by searchlight towers on stilts, electric fences, barbed wire and guards. It was an ancient medieval castle situated in the middle of a triangle formed by the three cities of Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz. Right in the heart of the German Reich it was four hundred miles from any frontier not directly under Nazi control. Deemed escape-proof by the Germans, Colditz was the only camp where the number of guards exceeded the prisoners. Allied Officers who had made repeated escape attempts from other POW camps were sent there for the duration of the war.

Even for the habitual escaper, seeing Colditz from a distance for the first time must have seemed daunting. This type of POW would already be sizing up the geography and sketching in first impressions of a new camp with a view to breaking out. Once off the train, the castle was immediately visible. POW and escaper Major Pat Reid summed it up perfectly:

"Almost upon leaving the station we saw looming above us our future prison: beautiful, serene, majestic, and yet forbidding enough to make our hearts sink into our boots. It towered above us, dominating the whole village; a magnificent Castle built on the edge of a cliff.... We marched slowly up the steep and narrow cobbled streets from the station towards the Castle...Entering the main arched gateway, we crossed a causeway astride what had once been a deep, wide moat and passed under a second cavernous archway whose oaken doors swung open and closed ominously behind us with the clanging of heavy iron bars in true mediaeval fashion. We were then in a courtyard about forty-five yards square, with some grass lawns and flower-beds surrounded on all four sides with buildings six stories high. This was the Kommandantur or garrison area. We were then escorted farther; through a third cavernous archway with formidable doors, up an inclined cobbled coachway for about fifty yards, then turning sharp right, through a fourth and last archway with its normal complement of heavy oak and iron work into the 'Sanctum Sanctorum', the inner courtyard. This was a cobbled space about thirty yards by forty yards, surrounded on its four sides by buildings whose roof ridges must have been ninety feet above the cobbles. Little sun could ever penetrate here! It was an unspeakably grisly place...."

Incarcerated in a castle with its warren of corridors, rooms, floors and staircases, the ‘would be’ escaper’s mind was stretched to new limits. Most escape attempts quickly failed, yet despite the high security, obstacles, barbed wire and guards, at least 130 men got out during the course of the war. 16 of these made successful 'home runs' from within Colditz castle and grounds, 11 escaped whilst outside the castle and a number of officers were also repatriated due to illness (faked or genuine) including insanity. The total number of successful escapers is still marginally open to debate depending on what is classed as an escape.

Colditz POWs at Appell - armyweb.cz

Much had been written about Colditz, but in a series of short posts, many of the breakouts and unsuccessful attempts will be examined again. Personal accounts and analysis of some successful ‘home runs’ will also be looked at in future posts. In escape and evasion, it is the human stories which paint real colour on to the canvas. That canvas must never be allowed to deteriorate or be put into storage and forgotten.

Sources and Additional Reading

Colditz The Full Story – Major P R Reid MBE MC
MI9 Escape and Evasion 1939-1945 - M.R.D. Foot & J. M. Langley (Recommended read on MI9)
Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

Thursday, 1 January 2015

The Biberach Tunnel Break - Part Six

Continued from previous post

Duncan set out the next night and soon encountered difficulties. His home-made compass was not accurate enough to take meaningful bearings and this coincided with the map being sketchy around the current section of the journey. There were numerous forest tracks leading off in the same direction, but no physical point of reference as to which one to take. Some paths soon veered away on the map from the direction he needed to go. He recorded in the diary:

‘Eventually I hit a track which led to a road going to Neuhausen.’

This was an important marker. Duncan knew that although Neuhausen did not show up on his small map, it was close to the town of Tuttlingen which was noted on the larger map he carried. Although the place was some way off course for him, it would form a clear reference point for recovering his bearings. He recorded

‘…I shall presumably be able to find my way. The trouble so far has been that we have marched at least two miles for every one advanced; which in my present state I can’t afford to do.’

He reckoned that at least this strategy had been better than spending days walking around lost in the forests, but his physical condition and injured leg were deteriorating. Time was running out and there are hints in the notes which show how his resolve was being tested to the limit. The Swiss border remained relatively close, but with the terrain, his rate of travel, poor physical condition and sketchy navigation it must have seemed miles away. Duncan’s notes are clear enough.

‘My food won’t last out …and I shall get pneumonia or something lying about in these damp cold forests in the early hours of the morning – that’s the time at which one is most tempted to pack the whole thing up.’

Tuttlingen - panoramio.com

He lay up all day in the undergrowth of the forest, narrowly avoiding discovery by children who were with adults gathering sticks. The sounds of church bells in Tuttlingen drifted over. After dark he moved on aided by two shorter sticks instead of a long pole. Navigation around the outside of the town involved some difficult and dangerous terrain in the dark. At one point Duncan stopped inches from an area of thick blackness which he suddenly realised was a precipice. Working his way to lower ground he finally reached a road and hid in a deep ditch from people passing.

Tuttlingen 1940 - delcampe.net

‘It seemed as though there had been some sort of party as everyone sounded in very cheerful mood and one party of girls went by singing a song very beautifully.'

The footsteps died away and Duncan climbed out of the ditch, crashing straight into a man who had approached unheard. He must have worn rubber soled shoes as no sound had been heard. The man was caught unawares and fell straight into the ditch. Fortunately mist from the nearby river had thickened across the road. Duncan hurried into it, trying to clear as much distance as possible. He lay down after a while listening for sounds of being followed. Any satisfaction in getting away quickly soon disappeared. Despite his own ragged state, the notes provide a glimpse into the instinctive thinking of an escaper,

‘I was patting myself on the back when an awful thought struck me. I hadn’t been so clever after all in tipping him into a ditch…he would certainly report to the Police as soon as he reached Tuttlingen and any moment now they would be after me with dogs. With some idea of putting them off the scent I dashed into the river, waded in and walked in the water for some considerable distance.’

He heard no sound or indication of pursuit, so Duncan decided that maybe the man was drunk. Tuttlingen was left behind without further incident and following a more accurate route he managed to travel the next three nights without discovery. This was despite having to walk through a village and finding himself trapped down a cul-de-sac and having to dodge German guards in charge of a group of French POWs. In his unshaven, dishevelled and filthy state he could not afford to be seen, so exited through the unlocked front door of a house and hurried out of the back.

Daytime weather had improved with hot days, but the nights were cold and damp as a thick mist came down. Duncan had to rely on his hearing to detect any danger. The countryside became more open and places to hide during daylight hours were more difficult to find. Flies became a problem as their constant buzzing prevented him from listening out properly for signs of danger. The nearest miss came on the night of 23^rd September when he had been forced to risk a section of travel by road. It was a watershed moment which shaped his psyche for the rest of the journey.

German Soldiers - Wikipedia

‘About midnight I decided to have a rest and look at the map. I had just got under a bush, got the map out and was looking for a match when, without lights and without a sound, a cycle patrol passed without seeing me. Had they been fifteen seconds earlier or later, I must have been caught. Evidently my ‘guardian angel’ is still with me.’

After such a narrow escape, travel returned to cross country again. This proved more difficult as the terrain had become more broken. Fields were lined by deep irrigation ditches and there were few bridges to cross them. Following a struggle through thick 'jungle' near Achdorf an exhausted Duncan recorded:

‘I can’t have done more than 2 miles last night and rations are running short. Cheese and biscuits were finished days ago. My daily ration is now 1oz of chocolate and one matchboxful of mixed oatmeal and glucose, eked out with apples and turnips. I’ve only four ounces of chocolate left, but luckily there’s still an occasional apple to be found, though mostly cookers. Thank goodness it keeps fine. This morning two magpies nearly settled on me – a good omen?’

Perhaps it was. Reading the words over seventy three years later, the spirit and fortitude of the time still shines through. Finding himself surrounded by red lights the following evening Duncan realised he had stumbled into a night fighter landing ground, but managed to slip away into the night without being spotted.

Achdorf - Commons Wikimedia.org

On the 26^th September he knew the frontier had to be close. Consuming the last of his rations (including triple his normal intake of oatmeal) he would attempt to cross that night after dark. Problems started when he became doubled up with acute stomach ache and was forced to spend the night ‘in a shed of musty hay, where I was violently sick.’ A day passed as he tried to recover and the daylight was used discreetly to check his surroundings. The countryside looked wrong and was not what he expected of the frontier area. A check of the map showed an error of around four miles and he realised that the house below his hiding place was in fact a police station where motor cyclists left at half hour intervals. This would be to patrol the frontier roads.

Once it was dark, Duncan removed his heavy outer clothes down to his shirt, trousers and boots:

‘concealing them with my water bottle and other kit, so as to be lighter, in case at the frontier I should have to run for my life. My watch, as always, I carried in a little waterproof bag tied around my neck.’

Making his way around the edges of a succession of woods he reached a hedge bordering the road. The moon was up and a thin mist hung over the landscape. A railway line was just visible beyond the road and Duncan knew that the river behind the tracks formed the frontier. He waited. The sound of a motor cycle drifted over the still night. A police patrol passed and after a final check up and down the road he hurried across, running over the railway before lying down to scan the area again and listen.

German Motorcyclist - modernleathers.com

‘In front of me I saw an open field…I decided that at this stage speed was the answer, so getting up I ran as fast as I could until I reached a quickset hedge beyond which was the river. There I hesitated. If I forced a way through I was bound to make a noise, whereas if I moved about looking for a gap, I might bump into a sentry. The unmistakable click of a rifle bolt away to my left soon decided me, and forcing my way through the hedge I waded across the river. On the far bank I lay and rested.’

Something felt wrong. Duncan listened. He could hear someone moving about close by and the gurgle of running water was coming from in front as well as behind him. There was second river. He might not be across the frontier.

‘Getting to my feet, I dashed across the strip of land and swam across the second river, which I was later to discover was the frontier.’

Duncan had actually crossed the border near to Scheitheim. He climbed the thickly covered pine hill in front and came to a track. Somewhere to the right a clock struck one and following the sound he reached a small village. As he wandered around looking for a sign, a light went on above him and the window opened. Duncan described what happened next in such a matter of fact way:

‘Ja’ said a man’s voice…Eventually in pidgin German I asked ‘’Ist hierdie Schweiz?’

‘Oui’ came back the answer in French. ‘C’est la Suisse.

…’Je suis English Offizier’ I said.’

Scheitheim - Wikipedia

He was invited in, given soap, a razor and towel and led to the bathroom. His description of how he looked paints a lasting picture in the mind of the reader and omits the huge amount of weight he had lost from an already undernourished body.

‘My face was black with lichen from the trees and from it stared a pair of sunken bloodshot eyes. I had a week’s growth of beard and my hair was matted and full of sticks.’

Duncan’s host was the mayor who after a meal arranged for him to be taken to the local police. They looked after him well for the night. The next morning Duncan was taken by train to Schaffhausen and then on to the hotel Schwanen where he was reunited with O’Sullivan (who initially failed to recognise his friend). They were taken to Berne and handed over to the British Military Attache.

Schaffhausen - nostalgiephoto.ch

Two other POW’s from the Biberach breakout had reached Switzerland and placed under the same umbrella. (More on their stories in later posts) Angus Rowan-Hamilton had been in charge of the five officers who were co-opted for guard duties and Hugh Woollatt was one of the ten officers from the first tunnel attempt which had not reached completion. They had joined Duncan’s breakout attempt in line with an original agreement which came into effect with whichever tunnel was completed first (see previous post).

The men lived very comfortably in Switzerland (although they were effectively interned with restrictions) until the following year when the first to leave were Duncan and Rowan-Hamilton. With no prior warning they were called to Geneva and given Czech identity cards and instructions for leaving the country that were to be memorised.

Both men were taken to a cemetery on the outskirts of the city and directed to cross under the wire, before walking towards Annemasse in France where they would be met and passed to various contacts who would take them to Marseille.

Annemasse 1940 - annemasse.fr

In Marseille they were joined by two commandos who had evaded from the St Nazaire raid and a Dutchman. Led by a guide the five men crossed the Pyrenees and were taken to the British consulate in Barcelona before being repatriated. (more on the journey from Geneva and the commandos in future posts)

Sources and Additional Reading

Underground From Posen - Michael Duncan (Highly recommended read)

Conscript Heroes – Keith Janes

http://www.conscript-heroes.com/escapelines/EEIE-Articles/Art-16-Escapers-from-Germany.htm

Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

Monday, 15 December 2014

The Biberach Tunnel Break - Part Five

German Patrols on bicycles would have been looking for the escapers - perthvintagecycles.com

Duncan recorded on September 15 1941 that the previous night ‘was as bad as any I could remember, made worse by the pouring rain.’ His diary of the escape kept whilst on the run provides a fascinating factual account and has brushstrokes of detail which are often missed from work written after events took place. Many of the problems encountered by the two men were typical of a cross country escaper during the war, although the search and ‘lockdown’ by the Nazis did not seem to have quite the same trawl and intensity as in the years which followed.

Hitler Youth would be engaged on search duties - historyplace.com

The men left their hide in the forest at 19.00 to continue a strategy of travelling at night and lying low during the day. The sole soon came off O’Sullivan’s shoe resulting in a stop every few minutes to tie it back on with a mackintosh belt and a piece of string. Duncan describes them at the time as being ‘a pretty crippled pair.’ Open to the elements, physically exhausted and with wet clothing and poor footwear, it is easy for us today to totally underestimate the sheer hardship and mental battle experienced by these men, despite the tough and menial existence in a POW camp, which would have afforded them some resilience.

The fine balance between keeping going and giving up was constantly tested, and examples and hints of this percolate through Duncan’s narrative. The problems with O’Sullivan’s shoe and deteriorating mobility of the men forced them to deviate from their plan and take the risk of using roads. The dishevelled limping pair would be instantly recognisable and the Saulgau road which was their objective would almost certainly be guarded at some points. The men’s luck held as they only ‘actually saw one motor cyclist and one cyclist’. After deviating north and then west, they hid in a forest for the night. Duncan’s words need no qualification:

‘We are both worn out, absolutely drenched and rather miserable and I for one am beginning to wonder how long I shall be able to stick it. The wood is soaking and there is nowhere dry to lie down, so we are lying on my sodden coat and huddling together to try and keep warm.’ They made a rough shelter of fir branches which made minimal difference. Duncan’s mental state at this low point was quite stark. ‘All last night I was convinced that there were three of us instead of two.’

He describes how when they restarted after a stop, he found himself waiting for the third person. It was only after O’Sullivan asked what he was doing, that after some thought he realised there was no one else there. Duncan recorded that after this point he felt the ‘third presence’ to varying degrees throughout his escape journey. Whether this is a spiritual phenomenon or simply a human state borne out of physical and mental exhaustion is debatable. Other fugitives have reported similar experiences.

At 20.00 on September 16 the diary notation began ‘very bad’. They left their hide at 20.00 moving west through pine forest in the direction of Hohentingen and Hausen, eventually reaching a large river which they assumed to be the Danube. After following the line for about two miles they struck south and reached the main road which ran parallel with the river. The time was noted as 02.30 and estimated distance covered 20 kilometres. Tired and fully visible under a bright moon, it was not surprising that Duncan favoured moving towards a wood on the horizon and hiding out for the rest of the night. O’Sullivan was typically insistent they pressed on. The diary recorded that he had no sole on one of his shoes and his solution for being restricted and lost, as they were at this point was to ‘go faster.’

Terrain around Hohentingen - wikipedia

They walked a good way down the main road without being spotted. There were no road signs to get their bearings, but at 03.30 O’Sullivan agreed that that they should look for shelter. Traffic would soon be using the main road and they must stay out of sight during daylight hours. The pair walked south west crossing a railway line and heading uphill for a solitary wood in the distance. It was the first of a string of apple orchards and hills. The first group of trees was near a large town and the rest were too sparse for hiding out.

The night temperature had dropped to below freezing. Sodden clothes and wet feet were slowing them down. Duncan described their feet as ‘rapidly becoming lumps of ice.’ After an hour of walking they saw a thicker wood on the horizon and decided to make for it.

‘On the way we came to a small river, which we waded, then a wider river which we waded and finally a third river at which we gave up and lay down totally exhausted under a bush where frozen as we were, we went to sleep.’

At first light the men could see the whole countryside covered in a thick frost.

‘Our clothes had frozen stiff on us and we decided that we must either give up or move, so we waded the third river and continued to the wood which we eventually reached.’

It is incredible that neither man developed pneumonia, nor suffered the effects of exposure. If they did, Duncan never mentioned it. Outside the shelter of the thick wood, the sun shone and the temperature began to rise. Neither of them could leave their hiding place in the thickest part of the wood for risk of discovery. Duncan recorded that there were people working in the fields just below and they were forced to lie shivering in wet clothes in the cold and damp. Their hands were so cracked that it was agony to get anything out of their pockets.

Early picture of Krauchenwies - commonswikimedia.org

The weather improved overnight, and walking along by the railway the men reached Krauchenwies. Duncan twisted his knee again which severely affected his walking. They were forced to struggle up to the top of a hill and rest in a fir wood with a clearing in the middle. In the sunshine their clothes began to dry. Duncan wrote that they were a mass of aches and pains and looked like a couple of tramps, but apart from his boots which he kept wet on purpose to stop them going hard, they began to feel warmer for the first time. He added ‘I’m afraid Barry has a very poor opinion of my powers of endurance. For the last two nights he has walked barefoot. It must be agony at times, but he keeps going at a tremendous pace.’

O’Sullivan must have been impervious to pain, but on September 18 the foot started to seize up. Despite this, Duncan with his injured leg was still unable to keep up. Three times they were nearly seen by cyclists and managed to take cover. Much of the journey continued through pine forests but there were stints along roads where as Duncan wrote ‘watchfulness and good luck saved us.’

Sipplingen on the shore of Lake Constance. This may be what Duncan refers to as Lipplingen - Wikipedia

What he wrote next shaped the rest of the journey and gives the reader a further glimpse of O’Sullivan’s single focus and Duncan’s own inner mental state and dogged determination.

‘At about 03.00 my leg finally seized up and as we were passing a forest hut full of hay, we climbed in for three hours sleep. Poor Barry is trying had to be patient but he doesn’t understand the word and at last has agreed to go on and leave me – much against his will. So at 07.00 this morning, we split, Barry going on through the forest to try to find Lipplingen, before dark, while I made myself a hide in the woods to rest my leg. I’ve at least a week’s food left, especially if I keep on finding apples, and, if I can keep up seven or eight kilometres a night, I shall just about do it. I must say one feels rather lost being alone in the middle of the forest and it will be probably worse at night. However no doubt I shall manage.’

Final part next week

Sources and Additional Reading

Underground From Posen - Michael Duncan Highly recommended read and it is much more than one man's escape story. A detailed account of the Glosters' stand at Cassel in 1940 is well documented.

Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

The Biberach Tunnel Break - Part Four

Shutterstock.com

Duncan’s leg was painful, but at least he could stand and walk. The other side of the ditch was almost vertical and he struggled to climb out of it. T/Captain Barry O’Sullivan would already be at the rendezvous by now and growing impatient. Time was vital and every delay meant less distance between the escapers and camp before the alarm was raised. As Duncan scrambled out and limped towards the meeting place, he must have speculated on the leg injury and cursed his carelessness in allowing the fall to happen. Most of the journey would be on foot. A leg or foot injury was every escaper’s nightmare.

‘Heinrich, Heinrich, where the hell are you?’ (As neither man spoke German, O’Sullivan called out his fellow escaper’s agreed code name {See earlier post} ). Duncan recounted what happened next.

‘I’m terribly sorry Barry. . I fell down a ditch and damaged my leg. You’d better go on by yourself and I’ll follow in my own time. I’ll make it alright, slowly.’

O’Sullivan ignored this. ‘We must get cracking’ he said leading off into the forest. ‘Half the others have gone already.’ Duncan limped after him.

The agreed plan between the two men was to journey entirely on foot, keeping away from all contact with others if possible. Trains or any other form of public transport were to be avoided as neither man spoke German. They had agreed to travel their prearranged route together for the first three days and then go their own ways. This largely fitted into the overall strategy of all twenty six escapers. They had chosen their own routes into Switzerland to avoid the whole party travelling in exactly the same direction. The paths varied, ranging from travelling around the east of Lake Constance or east of Schaffhausen, to moving west. Some were making for points as far away as Basle.

Schaffhausen - nostalgie-foto.ch

Lake Constance - present day

‘We’ll go north for the first night’ said O’Sullivan. ‘They’ll be expecting us to go south, so if we go in the opposite direction, we’ll fox them. Then we can turn west and finally south. It’ll make the journey a lot longer, but I think it’ll be worth it….we must move in the dark and avoid contacts.’

They hurried along the forest tracks for the first two hours, reaching the road from Biberach to Attenweiler . O’Sullivan always strode on ahead and the psyche of the two men is well illustrated during the early stages of their escape. Duncan observed that his travelling partner had a formula if he were not quite sure of where he was. ‘We must keep cracking on old boy. We can get our direction tomorrow.’

Attenweiler - panoramio.com

O'Sullivan had shown numerous instances in the past of his desire to forge on first and let the rest take care of itself. A typical example was during the tunnel excavations, when in the middle of August he returned from a spell in the camp hospital and as Duncan noted at the time:

' breathing fury at being kept away from the work so long and determined to do twice as much as anyone else.'

On the first occasion O'Sullivan went down the tunnel, large amounts of earth came back in double quick time. It was only after he was finally persuaded to come out for the next man to take over that his over zealous digging with a poker was discovered. O'Sullivan had lost direction and hollowed out a large dome in the roof of the tunnel. This became known by the diggers as 'The Cathedral' (see Part One)

As the two men journeyed, Duncan seemed to assume a more cautious, ordered and less hopeful approach. At this stage he was prepared to let O’Sullivan take the lead.

‘I had decided to keep a diary of our wanderings with the rather pessimistic idea that, if we were captured, the information on the country might be useful to subsequent escapists. To start with, it was concerned mostly with comments on roads, types of country and water points, but as time went on and I gained confidence, it became more and more of a narrative.’

The escapers needed to achieve maximum distance from the camp before daylight, whichever route they had chosen. Although it had been agreed to avoid all roads and to travel across country at night, both men were sure that taking the highway in the direction of Attenweiler was worth risking under cover of darkness as the breakout was unlikely to have been discovered yet. The road was also lined with apple trees which helped add to their rations.

By 04.30 Duncan was exhausted and struggling with the pain in his leg, but O’Sullivan insisted on continuing for a further hour before hiding up in a wood for the day. Although the date was 14 September, the weather had already started to deteriorate, with temperatures dropping at night. Description from the diary gives a vivid picture of how uncomfortable conditions were for the escapers. They lay all day in a spruce wood, lying in wet clothes on a bed of branches and surrounded by a camouflage screen. The damp had ruled out any chance of drying the clothes and during the afternoon a group of men and boys had beaten their way through the wood. Pestered by mosquitoes, the escapers lay still and were left unsure whether the party had worked their way through to flush out game or were searching for escaped POWs. Fortunately the dogs had been left outside and the pair remained undiscovered. In a single sentence in his diary Duncan’s thoughts encapsulate the mind of a POW fresh on the run:

‘It’s almost impossible to believe we’re free – if only for the moment.’

To be continued

Sources and Additional Reading

Underground From Posen - Michael Duncan (Highly recommended read)

Author's Notes

* I would like add some photographs of any of the 26 men from the Biberach Tunnel escape. If anyone can help on this, I would hugely grateful if they could contact me.

©Keith Morley