Colditz Part Three - The First Home Run (2)

Continued from last week:

'…no one had succeeded in escaping from the castle. The prisoners had tried tunnelling, hiding the spoil in the attics, and climbing the walls, but always in vain. They were caught and caught again to be punished and threatened, so I decided to do it alone.'

Le Ray planned to escape through the park (see previous post) and kept the project to himself until the day of the escape.  He had made up another civilian looking suit ‘much better than those I had made before.’

The plan was to make the breakout attempt over Easter. When the POWS went out of the castle gate to make their walk down to the park, it was necessary to first thread their way along a small path.  They passed a large house on the right known to the men as the Terrace House.  At the corner of this building there was a slight curve in the path.  Le Ray noticed on one occasion when he was walking to the park that a door to the basement of the house was half open. This single observation formed the basis around which he built his escape thinking.    

‘Now the curve in the path by the corner of the Terrace House was of tremendous importance as I realised that if the marching column were to close in to the house, there was a moment, as a result of the curve when the accompanying guards could not observe the park walkers at once.’

The 11^th April was a day for the park walk and Le Ray decided that the signs were good for an escape attempt. The weather was excellent with clear skies and spring sunshine and it was Good Friday. The number of people about might be less than usual.   Le Ray described his feelings.

‘The hills showed the return of spring and the light blue sky was like a promise of joy. The river Mulde was brown and almost in flood as it raced its winding course. I looked at the forest and beyond to the horizon, but as I was still looking from behind the iron bars of my prison window, I hoped that this look would be the last one from my captivity.’

By 14.30 hours he was ready. The men would be assembling in ten minutes for the park walk. Le Ray was wearing his uniform as normal.  At first glance, nothing looked different or out of place. Underneath the trousers were concealed white stockings, and he had a thin cardigan on beneath a thick chestnut-brown pullover. On top, his wide khaki greatcoat masked a small parcel of baggage which made him look to the keen eye marginally fatter.  He added:

‘Three of my friends had been let into my secret*, together with our doctor (I had to ask him how to insert my creeper – a tube filled with money – into my alimentary canal.’

*It is unlikely that Le Ray had shared the finer points of his escape plan with his friends. He would have advised them of the attempt and given them enough information to be able to carry out a diversion if required.  

The POWs assembled and as per usual the guards counted them inside the inner courtyard and then outside before they marched down to the park where they were counted again.  Le Ray’s first obstacle was keeping his slightly more bulky appearance unnoticed by the guards. He had taken a calculated risk and his thinking on this is clear.

‘…the Germans had opened the wicket gate and we began to pass through, one at a time, while we were counted twice. As I went through the wicket, my ‘luggage’ was not noticed by the guard commander in charge of the walk, a sergeant with a scarred face who counted us automatically. As with all professional jailers, he could count prisoners and be quite certain his figures were correct, even though his mind could be on other things. These mechanical precautions did not alarm me in the least, as I knew it would not be too difficult to confuse such an arbitrary count should there be a prisoner short.’



The Path to the Park - War 44.com

The column began to move and a squad of guards took up position around the POWs. There was no one about except the guards and POWs.
‘At 3.0pm we passed the Terrace House and I noticed that the little door in the basement was still open. This looked good.’

The problem was the number of guards positioned along the sides of the column. An escape attempt looked too dangerous. As the POW’s were marched down towards the park, Le Ray began to question the practicality and risks of his scheme. He would have been aware of the articles of the Geneva Convention around escape attempts and that he could be shot whilst trying to escape.

It is interesting to examine his mind-set and how he arrived at the decision to continue with his attempt. Le Ray was an accomplished athlete and skier and tried to see his situation as if he was an athlete who had signed up for a contest in an arena. Looking at his current predicament, he had barely started the game and was already looking for a way out of the contest. There was still time in the day and he resolved to continue, even if this attempt was only the first of a series. He gives a further clue as to his temperament:

‘Perhaps I am like one of those musicians who refuse to play because the air is damp or because the position of the piano is not exactly right. Sometimes I felt like this on the sports field when competing in the long jump – imagining I had started on the wrong foot, I would stop and begin the run again.’

There was a barbed wire enclosure in the park and the POWs spent an hour walking around it. Three of the men knew that if the opportunity was right, Le Ray would attempt his escape. When exercise time was up, the POWs were ordered to form a column for counting. The march back to the castle began and he decided that he would make his attempt as they passed the Terrace House.

‘I threw my coat over my back and marched on the left hand side of the column with my friend Tournon* beside me. As we walked up the path Tournon whispered 

“Now?”

“Impossible! No chance yet.” I said.'

(*Le Ray had escaped with Lieutenant André Tournon from Oflag 11D at Jastrow on the Baltic coast in January of that year.)

Present Day View of the Pathway - virtualcolditz.com
(recommended visit)

The two men were walking in the third rank behind colonels and other senior officers.  One of Le Ray’s friends was in the front rank and the other who was positioned near the German sergeant had agreed to start a diversion and if necessary attempt to turn away the sergeant’s gun if he tried to fire.

As the column crossed the bridge over a brook, Tournon had whispered to the senior French officer Colonel Le Brigant to discreetly slow the march of the column down. They were walking up a steep path, so this was not unnatural if done carefully. The colonel had no idea about the plan, but willingly complied.  About a hundred metres from the Terrace House, Tournon whispered again and received the same reply form Le Ray. Timing and position were vital for the attempt to stand any chance. He described what happened next.

‘The guard at the head of the column was still looking ahead. I watched the guard on our flank. We were now close to the house. Another guard was ten metres behind me. I should have five seconds to act.

 “This is it!" I whispered to Tournon, who without turning, warned those around him to take no notice of anything, but to keep marching normally.’

Le Ray dived out of the column, jumping down to a grass slope where he fell on to his hands and knees.  Recovering quickly, he managed to get up immediately and take two more jumps to reach a hiding place  behind the small cellar door.  

‘For some seconds my universe was upside down. Little by little my awareness returned. Where was I? In a vaulted cellar stored with beds and straw mattresses.’

There was no time to think. He had to get out of the cellar immediately and try to reach the barbed wire fence where it joined the wall at the edge of the park enclosure. The headcount at the wicket gate was imminent. If it revealed the party was a man short, Le Ray had already worked out he had no more than two minutes to make his escape. The odds were stacked against him. In addition to being totally reliant on the creation of a diversion to mask the missing man from the guards, he had to make his way through the park and get over the wall without being seen. That was just the beginning. He was still close to the castle, had very little money, no papers and was over 780 kilometres from Switzerland.

Next week - The  Journey

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

(All of the above 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 for it 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 (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

 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 for it appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.
  

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

 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 for it appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

 

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

 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 for it appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

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

 
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 for it appear on this site, please message me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed