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.

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

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