The Escape Line

Thursday, 28 August 2014

The Biberach Tunnel Break - Part Two

Biberach Camp pictured later during the war - Guernseybiberach.com

Continued from previous post:

Lieutenant Michael Duncan was stuck fast between two boulders in the escape tunnel. He had led and driven this project, spending more time excavating soil, and shoring up the workings than any of the other diggers on the team. Panic set in as Duncan found he was unable to move forwards or backwards. He recalled:

‘…but at last I calmed down and by careful wriggling got free.’

The Biberach tunnel was less than half the width and height of The Great
Escape tunnel shown in this sketch - prisonerofwar.org.uk

It would be natural to assume that all 26 prospective escapers had been involved in the digging or tunnel project at some stage. This was not the case. The original team consisted of 10 men who formed the digging party. As the tunnel was very narrow, only limited numbers could work in it at any one time. At the beginning, there was room for only one person and throughout the project there was only one digger at the face. As the tunnel progressed, they had a small chain of support coming from behind. It was decided that personnel on the team not involved in the digging work at any given time would act as ‘stooges’ (look outs).

Soil from the tunnel was stored in the roof space of the hut. The heat was so excessive in that space that a team of men had to take it in turns working short stints. An additional four POW’s joined the group to work solely on the stowing operation. They did not dig in the tunnel, as this work was too exacting on top of what they were already doing. The stowing group functioned as a three man operation, with the fourth acting as lookout or general support whilst not engaged in the physical work:

Man One would collect the cardboard box containing the soil, which had already been passed up into the hut from below. He passed the box to Man Two standing on top of a locker.

Man Two would pass the box up to Man Three who was waiting in the roof space to spread and store the earth.

When the tunnel was finished, the team waited for a suitable cloud covered or moonless night. It was then that Duncan suddenly remembered an agreement made at the beginning of the project which had been forgotten.

They had obtained permission from the Escape Committee to start their tunnel whilst another was already under way. The agreement had been that whoever completed first must then allow the men working on the other tunnel to leave in line before them. Looking back at events, this seemed a strange arrangement. Duncan’s co-leader, Temporary Captain Barry O’Sullivan advocated that they should not be held to that agreement as their team had started work after the other tunnel project and yet still completed first.

Duncan went to the head of the Escape Committee.

‘We’re all ready to go sir, as soon as we get a decent night. You’re not going to hold us to our promise to let the others go first are you?’

‘I must’ said the Head. ‘I gave them my word. But I’ll have a talk with them.’

The Biberach tunnellers worked from underneath the location of a stove in
hut 6 - prisonerofwar.org.uk

The other tunnel was nowhere near completion and a compromise was reached. Duncan’s party had increased over time to nineteen, but one of those was in the camp hospital and not fit enough to take part in the escape. The Head advised that if Duncan was ready he could go, but would have to take the ten leaders of the other tunnel project with him. Duncan suggested that once his team were out, anyone could make use of the tunnel. The head was unmoved.

‘I don’t think that’s wise. If too many try to get out, someone’s sure to be spotted and that’ll spoil the chances for everyone. …I think twenty five should be the maximum number. If they leave at five minute intervals, it’ll take just over two hours to get them all out – say two and a half to allow for accidents. That’ll give them a chance to get clear by daylight.’

Duncan queried that if ten of the other team were included in this number, it would mean three of his own men would miss out on the escape, which was unfair. He suggested that the number be increased to twenty six, as there was no little chance of the other tunnel being completed before all of the POWs were transferred to a new camp, which was imminent.

This must have been bitterly disappointing for Duncan and the men. They had worked so hard as a team and had completed before the other tunnel. They now faced the prospect of two of their own not being able to leave. Duncan had also envisaged larger numbers escaping by way of other POWs using the tunnel after their party had exited. He could however see the head of the Escape Committee’s logic.

The next problem was how to arrive at the two POWs who would not be going. Drawing lots amongst the whole team was unfair as some had completed huge amounts of work and would then run an equal chance of not being selected. Conversely, to select a given number of men from within which the lots would be drawn was equally unjust. A secret ballot amongst the whole team was taken where everyone voted on the two who should be excluded. The lot fell on a member of the guard party and one of the men who stowed the soil. They were given the bad news and told they would become members of the other tunnelling party and leave by that exit once it was completed. In reality this seemed an empty compensation which was unlikely to materialise.

As Duncan reached the end of the tunnel and the final shored up exit point, he had been forced to accept the way things were. The whole focus now was on pushing through the last few inches of grass and breaking out for freedom.

To be continued

Sources and Additional Reading

Underground From Posen - Michael Duncan Highly recommended read

Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

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Monday, 18 August 2014

The Biberach Tunnel Break - Part One

Oflag Vb - www.prisonerof war.org.uk

At 8.45 pm on September 13th 1941 the POWs planning to escape from Oflag Vb, Biberach met in hut 6. Recent nights had seen a full moon with clear skies and almost floodlight visibility. This ruled out any possibility of a breakout, but towards the evening of the 13^th a strong breeze had started to bluster around the camp. Thick black clouds gathered and now the men mulled over whether this would be the night to make their move.

An escape tunnel had been completed a few days before this, after months of work. Only the last nine inches of earth to the surface remained at the exit end. The men had shored up this part with a one inch thick piece of plank, but a neighbouring farmer had decided to cut a second crop of hay in the field near to the camp, including the edge where the final section of the tunnel was situated. Initially, this suited the men, as the swathes of grass would give extra cover when they moved across open ground and any cut areas would make crawling easier.

Diagram of Oflag Vb - M Duncan.

A problem arose on the morning of the 13^thas heavy wagons were brought in to move the hay. These regularly trundled over the roof of the tunnel and the men watched anxiously from behind the wire. With the mountains of neutral Switzerland visible and only 68 miles away, these were tense times. Months of careful planning and work would be lost if the tunnel collapsed.

The entire operation had been a magnificent achievement. Oflag Vb was originally built as a barracks and consisted of long low brick huts built around a parade ground. At one end was an extra open space for exercise purposes and the whole area was surrounded by a standard double fence of thick barbed wire, ten feet high with a six foot gap between the two fences, filled with short lengths of the same type of wire. This created an impenetrable perimeter; although the construction was overcome with ladders in another camp (see earlier post on the Warburg Wire Job).

At every corner or bend in the fence, a raised sentry tower with machine gun and searchlight was strategically positioned. Three feet inside the main wire was a low single length of thin wire which was the closest that POWs were allowed to venture in terms of the perimeter. Anyone stepping over the wire risked being shot. At night, guards with dogs constantly patrolled around the fence.

A road ran parallel with the outer barbed wire fencing and beyond this was a six foot rising bank where at the top the ground continued up less severely on to a crest. The POWs decided to tunnel down, before gradually angling upwards beyond the crest, as this would conceal any exit from the camp searchlights. The disadvantage was the lack of a proper view beyond the crest.

The team decided this had to be the night. For the 26 escapers, everything rested on a getaway during the hours of darkness. (See earlier post ‘Long Tunnel Schemes Part Two’ on 03 January 2014 for a general account of the tunnel and breakout.) Scheme leader, organiser and main digger Lieutenant Michael Duncan, 4^th Battalion Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry entered the tunnel for the last time at 9.15 pm.

One foot nine inches by one foot six inches were the absolute minimum dimensions which tunnellers could realistically hope to work in. The Biberach tunnel ran for around 145 feet with these measurements, apart from:

‘The Rocks’ - a gap of only a foot between two immovable boulders.

‘The Depression’ – where the floor sank into a short recess at the point where full boxes of earth were pulled back.

‘The Cathedral’ – a spot where Temporary Captain Barry O’Sullivan, (fresh from a stay in the camp hospital due to blood poisoning) had been over enthusiastic with his digging and unknowingly carved a small dome in the roof as he excavated with a poker.

‘The Chamber’ – a ‘room’ wide enough for a man to turn around and high enough for a man to achieve a sitting position. This became a ‘half way house’ and control area for tunnel work.

Diagram showing tunnel points, path and trajectory - M Duncan

Diggers had usually worn only vest and pants when working in the passage. Duncan now faced a problem. With all his clothes on, it was a tight fit. Dragging his kit behind him (tied to his foot) he reached ‘The Rocks’ and described what happened next:

‘I came to the Rocks and there I stuck. My kit prevented me from going backwards and I apparently could not go forwards. I was beyond the range of The Chamber light, and in the dark, I sweated in uncontrollable panic. For a moment I was in absolute terror and seemed to be suffocating…’

To be continued

Sources and Additional Reading

Underground From Posen - Michael Duncan Highly recommended read
Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

Friday, 8 August 2014

Oflag XX1B - A Home Run Part Two

Szubin Rail Station Pictured Present day

In continuation from last week’s post - late on 16 December 1942, RAF POW Philip Wareing made his third trip under guard to the Szubin railway station to collect supplies off a train (four escorts to every party of ten POW’s). In a staged accident, one of his fellow POW orderlies dropped a load of bread creating a diversion. The guards were momentarily distracted and Wareing slipped between the lorry that had transported the POWs to the station and a goods wagon. In the fading light he crawled under the wagon, rolled across to the other side, then raced over two sets of tracks and platforms. As he made a run for it, the lorry driver, who was a German soldier, started up his engine, which drowned out any warning shouts from station or public personnel on the other side on the wagon. The guards were unaware of what had happened.

If Wareing could get away undetected from the station and reach the woods and marshes outside Szubin he could hide up before making his next move. The odds were slim, as once his absence was discovered, searches would begin, with the entire area being put on alert. But he had one thing in his favour - darkness was closing in. He managed to sneak out of the station without attracting attention, and night fell as he left the village to make for the woods.

In his pockets Wareing carried the day’s ration of hard tack biscuits plus items from Red Cross parcels - a small lump of cheese, Horlicks tablets, sugar and a piece of chewing gum.

Standard Hard Tac Biscuit

He hid overnight in the wood, trying to get some rest in the intense cold. The distance to Bromberg (now Bydgoszcz) was around 24 kilometres, and at 09.30 the next morning he set out to make the journey on foot. It passed without significant incident apart from the effects of cold. In the town he managed to find a bicycle which had been left unattended. Walking casually along, he pushed it for a few yards, then rode off heading north in the general direction of Danzig.

Bromberg Streets in 1940 - fotopolska.eu

It is interesting how the lure of freedom shortened distances in the mind of the escaper. Wareing had a working knowledge of the area through camp intelligence and maps (see previous posts on how this operated). He had already walked 24 kilometres, and the journey ahead of him to Danzig was 166 kilometres. Travelling by public transport was to be avoided where possible because of checks and heightened security. He would cycle in the direction of Graudenz (now Grudziadz) on the Vistula river and look for a ship flying the Swedish flag. 71 kilometres to Graudenz was a significant distance and the worn out machine had an uncomfortably hard saddle. Frequent dismounts were necessary on hilly sections and he had not reached his destination by nightfall. The moonlight was sufficient for him to continue travelling and Wareing took a chance, crossing a guarded bridge over the Vistula.

Grudsiadsz - fotopolska.eu

At 08.00 hours on 18 December, he reached Graudenz. It was light and he cycled towards the docks to find a Swedish ship. With hindsight, the odds of finding a neutral vessel on an inland river port such as Graudenz were remote, but had to be investigated. There were none. Wareing needed to leave the dock area immediately. Anyone acting suspiciously would be stopped and questioned. There was no possibility of waiting around or loitering on the streets. He decided to cycle over to the railway station and look for a train to Danzig. Travel on this route was extremely risky as it led to a major port and would be closely monitored. For an escaper who was cold, tired and hungry, with a long distance to cover on a rickety old bicycle, this was the next best option. Nothing showed up on the departure boards. There was no choice but to retrace his route back to the guarded bridge over the river and get on to the Danzig road. Wareing knew that neither he nor the bicycle would stand up to the journey.

Grudsiasdz Rail Station - pomorska.pl

For an escaper or evader there were often watershed moments which shaped the pathway to either freedom or capture. Wareing soon spotted a man propping a pristine looking bicycle on a stand and seized the moment. The man had walked away leaving it unattended. There was no going back. Ignoring the risk of being seen and apprehended, the escaper took the new bicycle and rode off back in the direction of the Vistula bridge, leaving the boneshaker in its place. He crossed back over unchallenged whilst the guards were deep in conversation with two Germans in uniform.

It was still light when he saw a milk churn beside a farm gate and paused to take a drink. After snatching some sleep in a haystack, the journey restarted at 04.00 hours the following morning and continued throughout the day. He spent the night in an empty unfurnished house, narrowly missing the torch beam of a caretaker who was checking the premises.

The bicycle held up well. Despite surviving on minimal rations, Wareing reached Danzig the following day. He slipped into the docks without being stopped by police or troops and spotted a Swedish ship being loaded with coal. Abandoning his bicycle, he hid by a timber pile before walking straight up the gangplank as if a member of the crew. Personnel on the ship seemed occupied with loading up the cargo and no one noticed him. Wareing found his way down into the hold unchallenged.

Danzig 1940 - gamek.pl

Port of Danzig - zegluga.wroclaw.pl

Cranes were dumping more coal around him until the hold was three quarters full. Some Russian POWs under German guard came aboard to trim the cargo. Wareing was spotted by one of the Russians, but after saying quietly ‘ Angliski pilot’ he was left alone.

Gothenburg 1940

A two hour routine search of the ship began in the early morning of 21 December before it was allowed to sail at 09.00 hours. The stowaway remained in the hold for two days before venturing on deck. He was immediately seen by a member of the crew who returned him to the hold. For the following two days of the voyage Wareing survived on bread and water brought to him by the sailors. The captain was eventually informed and upon arrival at Gothenburg handed him over to the Swedish police , who notified the British Consul. A full set of decent clothes was provided and he stayed at Police Headquarters, being allowed out in the day until a member of the British Embassy took him to Stockholm on 28 December. On 5 January 1943 he was flown back to Scotland. For his display of initiative, resourcefulness and courage he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Sources and Additional Reading

Home Run - Richard Townshend Bickers
Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

Friday, 1 August 2014

Oflag XX1B - A Home Run Part One

RAF Kenley 18 Aug 1940 from a Luftwaffe bomber

Three months before the Asselin Tunnel breakout, Oflag XX1B had its first successful home run. Sergeant Philip Wareing became the only pilot shot down over France during the Battle of Britain to escape from a prison camp and make his way back to Britain.
Wareing had joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in early 1939 and was posted to 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron which moved to Kenley on 19 August 1940. The squadron was equipped with Spitfires and on 22 August Wareing shot down his first enemy aircraft. On the evening of the 25th he was scrambled for his third operational sortie of the day to intercept a hundred bombers and escorting fighters which had attacked Dover and the Thames estuary.

616 Squadron scramble at Kenley in late August 1940

Hurricanes and Spitfires met the raiders mid channel. Wareing shot and damaged a Messerschmitt 109 which he chased back towards France. Not realising how close he was to the French coast, his Spitfire came into the range of enemy flak defences and was badly damaged forcing him to bale out. He landed near to Calais Marek aerodrome and was quickly surrounded by German troops.

Sergeant Philip Wareing standing far right

By the time he was transferred to Oflag XX1B POW camp (Szubin) in September 1942 Wareing had been in captivity for over two years. A short spell in Goring’s ‘model camp’ at Stalag Luft 111 Sagan from April 1942 had made his mind up to look for a change of scene and fresh opportunities for escaping. Oflag XX1B was a camp for officers, but as Wareing was an NCO he was not eligible for transfer. He solved this problem by volunteering as an orderly to the officers and was accepted.

Part of the camp was a former school, with the Army and RAF NCOs being housed separately from the officers in the converted stables. Living conditions throughout Oflag XX1B were basic (see previous posts) and the prisoners started to look for ways of escape. From reports and first-hand accounts, Wareing seems to have acted with no involvement in any of the officer’s schemes. There was always the division of rank and separate accommodation which kept a distance between the men. It was a natural evolution for the NCO’s to work with each other. One certainty was that any plan hatched would have been submitted and authorised by the Camp Escape Committee (see previous posts on a typical camp escape organisation).
Wareing quickly learned from other prisoners that many Polish civilians harboured such a hatred of the Nazis that they were prepared to risk everything for the Allied cause. For the ‘would be’ escaper this was a vital piece of the jigsaw, both inside and outside of the wire.

Entrance to Szubin Camp

He equipped himself ready to take a chance with any snap opportunity which arose. To pass his clothes off as civilian, he had loosened the stitching around the pockets of his tunic, pilot wings and sergeant’s chevrons, so they could be quickly torn off. He had already changed his blue trousers to an old pair of khaki Army ones and also wore Army boots which he had acquired. Some old RAF trousers had been cut up to make a cap, and carefully hidden in his pockets were shaving kit, a comb and mirror along with a homemade compass and three maps which had been drawn in the camp. Wareham always tried to carry these items with him.

The orderlies were regularly taken out of camp to the railway station under heavy guard to collect rations, coal and Red Cross parcels. The ratio of one escort to every two POWs meant that there was little chance of making a break, but with model behaviour by the orderlies the number was reduced to four guards against every ten prisoners. The time taken to achieve this relaxation was used wisely, with intelligence gathering by the POWs when at the railway station and travelling to and from the camp. Work practices and observations of the guards were discreetly noted and examined for weaknesses and potential escape opportunities.

Szubin railway station pictured present day

Late on 16 December 1942, Wareing made his third trip to the station since the new guarding arrangements had been implemented. He had a plan. In a staged accident, one of his fellow orderlies dropped a load of bread he was carrying, creating a diversion. It was time for Wareing to make his move.

To be continued..

Sources and Additional Reading

Home Run - Richard Townshend Bickers
Moonless Night - B A 'Jimmy' James
Under the Wire - William Ash
Author's Notes

©Keith Morley

Friday, 18 April 2014

The Asselin Escape - The Aftermath

The Tunnels at Oflag would have been similar to this picture of one of the Great Escape Tunnels - USAF Academy

The morning after the Asselin tunnel breakout, the usual body of German soldiers marched with fixed bayonets into the compound of POW camp Oflag XX1B. They separated into the various barrack blocks, unlocking the doors with their usual vocal ‘Raus, raus.’

The POWs knew that appel later that morning was certain to take a different turn to the usual routine. The more experienced men fortified their usual breakfast of three thin slices of black bread with what additional food they could muster before stuffing their pockets with other provisions. Fully dressed against the weather and chill, they were ready to stand outside all day once the headcount did not match. Barrack blocks and the whole camp would be searched until the means of escape was discovered.

The kriegies decided to line up for appel in rows of four instead of five. Hauptmann Schultz* (described as a ‘little Czech fascist’ in some accounts) marched up the hill as he did every morning. The POWs knew that from a distance everything would look normal. There were long lines of prisoners, with each one nearly the length of the barrack hut behind where they stood.

When Schultz ordered the head count, it rapidly became clear that something was amiss.

‘There are too many ‘he said to the acting Senior British Officer (Substantive SBO ‘Wings’ Day had departed via the tunnel)

‘How is this? You know we count in fives. We always count in fives. Why have you put your men in fours?’

The SBO paused, looked back at the rows for a moment and replied ‘Well, there seemed more of them that way.’

Prisoners erupted in a wave of laughter and cheers. Schultz must have sent for the Camp Commandant, an almost mythical figure to the POW’s as his dealings were confined to their SBO ‘Wings’ Day and he was rarely seen in the compound. A thin figure in cavalry breeches and a long flowing cloak walked stiffly into the compound, ‘like an ancient crow, his cloak held tightly across his narrow chest.’**

POWs on the Parade Ground at Oflag V1b

The men were right to stock up with food, as they remained outside for hours whilst every hut was searched. A guard searching around the outside of the camp in the potato field discovered the tunnel exit, so the Germans sent a Russian prisoner at bayonet point into the hole with a rope tied around his waist for fear of cave ins or booby traps. It was a total surprise to them when he emerged from inside one of the latrines.

The escape resulted in the prompt arrival of the SD (Sicherheitsdienst, the intelligence arm of the Gestapo).They took over the running of the camp for a month during which time all staff were interrogated and the Commandant plus Schultz were removed for court martial. Prisoners were regularly turned out of huts which were then searched and ransacked. Additional snap appels took place without warning at all hours. Once the camp bugle sounded, prisoners had to stop whatever they were doing and assemble outside the barrack blocks. During the immediate period after the Asselin escape, there were nights when POWs were woken up five or six times and whilst they were being counted outside, the ferrets would search the barracks, toilets, cookhouse and the washhouses for evidence of more tunnelling activities which might have been hastily covered because of the sudden roll call.

SD Sicherheitsdienst -Germanicinternational.com

SD Sicherheitsdienst pictured in Poland

The searches were not without their lighter moments though. In one hut a barrel of home brewed beer was discovered. Instead of destroying it, the SD asked how much it was for a glass. Lieutenant Commander H H ‘Bungie’ Bracken a naval pilot charged them fifty pfennigs each and the money went straight in to the escape fund. A POW being caught with German currency automatically received a long spell in solitary, but the visiting Germans seemed more than happy to form a queue and hand over their money. There was an extra twist to the tale, as one SD officer sat holding court on the barrel totally unaware that it had a false bottom concealing most of the forged papers and maps in the compound. POWs observed that the SD could rummage and ransack huts, but unlike the ferrets they had little idea of what they were looking for.

The Asselin breakout had a ripple effect on all existing tunnelling projects taking place in the camp. Whatever stage of completion, they were all now in danger of discovery. Continuing work with a Gestapo presence, heightened security and snap appels made discovery more likely. Two main projects were well under way when Eddie Asselin led the escapers out on the night of 5 March 1943:

1) A large tunnel run by Squadron Leader David ‘Dim’ Strong and Flight Lieutenant ‘Dickie’ Edge had gone out beneath the night latrine at the end of the block near the west wire. It was shored and had electric lighting tapped from the camp’s mains supply.

Squadron Leader David ‘Dim’ Strong pictured after the war

Shaft Entrance to 'Harry' in the Great Escape. Strong's entrance shaft
would have been much more shallow & not as wide, but had the same
principle of shoring up the sides with boards

2) An earlier project, abandoned because of flooding had been restarted. Behind the hospital was a cookhouse where the POWs got hot water in the morning. Four large boilers were standing in a row on an apron of concrete against the farthest wall of the room. The fourth boiler was not used and underneath it a narrow trapdoor had been made (concrete set on a shallow wooden tray). The fit was exact and to reach it the tunnellers had to slide under the small gap beneath boiler and floor.

The entrance hole was around two feet square with a rough wooden ladder fixed to the side of the shaft. At the bottom, an oblong chamber measuring around six feet by four had been excavated and led into the main tunnel working. Under the light of a fat lamp, a man was pumping air concertina style into the shaft via a modified old kitbag and metal tins pushed together which created improvised pipework. Walls and ceiling and the mouth of the tunnel were solid wood with bedboards jammed together, but the floor remained thick clay sludge.

Once the chamber, the excavation had no wooden supports. Water ran down or dripped from the ceiling and sides. Tunnellers took their own fat lamps to the face and worked in a clammy cold. To reach there, they had to negotiate another ladder after crawling for around fifteen feet. This dropped down another six feet to the main working. Their reasoning was that if the entrance, chamber and first level of the workings were discovered, the Germans would only fill that section in, and the diggers could sink another shaft further along to link up with deeper section.

Work at the Tunnel Face - F/L Kenyon (T Kilminster)

Initial work concentrated on strengthening, shoring and repairing damage to the tunnel before they could start digging again towards the wire. When excavations restarted at the face, clay soil was hauled back up the tunnel through the gluey substance on the floor via a toboggan pulled with rope made from thinly plated sisal string obtained from the Red Cross parcels. It was then smuggled back to the barrack block in water jugs, jam tins or packed into small bags made from shirts and underclothes. Some of these bags were taken to the latrines whilst suspended by a piece of string and hanging around the men’s necks under their coats. The contents were then disposed of in the normal way. The rest of the bags got hidden under bunks and in the short interval between dusk and lock up the men buried the clay in the ground outside the huts. The whole end to end process was painstakingly slow work.

Some of the methods and thinking used by the POWs would later be used in The Great Escape at Sagan Stalag Luft 111. As with the Asselin tunnel, because of intelligence received about possible closure and evacuation of the camp, work had also been stepped up on the other projects. It must have been frustrating for the men involved on the Cookhouse and West Wire digs during the period of SD presence and heightened security. Any work became severely restricted and although the exact date for camp closure was not known, the POWs knew the clock was still ticking down.

The SD left after a month and with time running out, efforts on the tunnels reached maximum. Dim Strong’s project had escaped detection and was almost complete. It had reached a hundred and ten feet in length and sixty feet beyond the wire. Whether sheer fatigue and urgency may have been the reason for a careless error is not known, but a guard spotted one of the final boxes of soil being sneaked through a hut window. The barrack was searched and the tunnel found.
Work continued under the cookhouse with a shift system of diggers tunnelling flat out during the day. Completion was imminent and a provisional date had been set for the breakout when news came through that the camp was to be completely evacuated within forty eight hours. There was insufficient time to finish the job – a case of so near but so far. The prisoners were to be transferred in four purges – their destination Sagan Stalag Luft 111. The Great Escape took place a little over 11 months later.

*Referred to as Mueller in The Tunnel by Eric Williams

** The Tunnel

Sources and Additional Reading

Moonless Night – B A ‘Jimmy’ James

Under the Wire - William Ash

Prisoner of War – Charles Rollings

The Tunnel - Eric Williams

Author’s notes

©Keith Morley

Thursday, 10 April 2014

Out of the Tunnel - The Asselin Escapers Part Four

Schubin

Schubin/ Oflag 64 pictured today

In the final post on the Asselin Tunnel at Oflag XX1B, I have selected a cross section of the remaining escapers who made the break. Some of the notes are brief but they are a typical snapshot of what happened to the rest of the men who made it out of the camp.

Selection and Order of Personnel for the Escape

1) Eddie Asselin and his team of diggers, earth-dispersers and the three men amongst his stooges who took it in turns to sit on the lavatory seat which was used to enter the tunnel.

2) Officials in the camp X Organisation (see previous posts how X functioned)

3) Ten per cent of the Senior British Officer’s (SBO)reserve chosen from the administration, entertainment, education and other socially important sectors of the camp.

Escapers who were German speakers, or those who knew a language of one of the occupied countries (so they could masquerade as foreign workers) stood a better chance of surviving checks and not arousing suspicion when travelling on trains. Their forged papers would often fit into an escape plan and mirror their cover story. The men needed to look and act the part, so also had to wear clothes which did not seem out of place. Once a break of this size was discovered, a massive search operation and extra checks were instigated all over German occupied territories, so the odds were still massively stacked against even the most ‘credible’ of escapers.

The rest of the fugitives would inevitably be the ‘hard arsers’ who travelled on foot across country, often at night then hiding up in the day. They took their chances and tried to make use of any transportation they could.

Flt Lt Aiden Crawley

His involvement with camp security and intelligence had earned him a place in the tunnel. Crawley’s plan was to head west by train. He had a forged letter on headed notepaper from Krupps the German industrial firm, identifying him as a travelling executive. He had sufficient bluff and knowledge of German to back it up and passed through numerous identity and document checks. He was eventually caught on the Austrian border between Munich and Innsbruck.

PO Peter Stevens

Jewish and born in Germany he had fled from the Nazis with his family. Stevens changed his name but had remained a fluent German speaker as it was his first language. He also headed west, but got caught up in the massive search operation and was arrested.

PO Tony Barber -
The Late Rt Hon Lord Barber

PO Tony Barber

He had been a pilot on a reconnaissance unit when his aircraft ran out of fuel and ditched near Mount St Jean France. Barber spoke some Danish and had false papers as a worker from Denmark for cover. The plan was to make for occupied Denmark with a view to getting to Sweden. He was picked up by the Gestapo after a few days.

PO Wilf Wise -Yorks Post

PO Wilfred Wise and Squadron Leader Paddy Barthropp

In October 1941 Wilf Wise of RAF 12 Squadron was one of only two survivors from a Wellington bomber when he crawled out of the stricken aircraft after engine failure had forced it to crash land into a Dutch sand dune. He was a good German speaker and was one of the early exits from the tunnel behind Paddy Barthropp. The two men were travelling on foot and aimed to make for the railway line where they planned to jump on a goods train as it passed. It was a thin strategy and they spent a cold night trying to catch some sleep in a quarry.

After making some headway on foot the next day, they crept into a farmer’s barn to hide for the night. An elderly couple came out from the farmhouse and gave them hot tea and bread before the men moved quickly on. The couple were clearly terrified of being discovered aiding escapees, as they would have been immediately shot.

The men had a difficult time the following day walking through a forest plantation. They managed to stay out of sight and spent a cold uncomfortable night in a deserted Polish graveyard. Barthropp was suffering from a foot problem which had slowed them down, but the next day they reached a railway line and this time jumped aboard a slow moving freight train where they shared a box with two nervous untethered horses.

The train arrived at Hohensalza, a pro-Nazi town. Through the slats of the wagon Wise could see the station was busy with passengers, German soldiers and civilians. Shunting had started, so the two men decided to stay hidden where they were. Time passed and it became clear their wagon had been left alone in the middle of the platform after the rest of the train had been removed. There was no choice but to try and slip out and get away. They were quickly spotted and surrounded by armed guards.

Hohensalza station where the escapers were captured

S Ldr Dudley Craig

Wing Commander Harry ‘Wings’ Day and Squadron Leader Dudley Craig

‘Wings’ got stuck in the narrow exit of the tunnel due to the previous escapers failing to clear away any earth which had been pushed down when scrambling out of the opening. He was last out and as Senior British Officer would certainly be held responsible for the tunnel break by the Camp Commandant. ‘Wings’ decided he may as well have a run for his money and join in. As one of the ‘hard arsers’ making his way on foot with Dudley Craig, the plan was to hide out in the day and travel by night, keeping out of sight as best as they could. Carrying two empty cigarette cartons with a few Polish phrases scribbled on, such as ‘we are escaped British prisoners of war please help us’, they crawled across the potato field separately and reached cover in the trees. The railway line was their destination as the plan was to travel south to a town around eighty miles away on the main Posen-Warsaw line. A Polish prisoner in the camp had given them an address of some relations living there.

Gnesen one of 'Wings & Craig's planned destinations - Prussian
Poland.com

'Wings' Day with his cat Ersatz - S Smith

‘Wings’ and Craig were discovered hiding in a hay loft by a group of friendly Polish farmworkers who gave them some of their sandwiches. A few hours later they were taken to a farmhouse by more locals who gave them four fried eggs each. That night they reached the railway yard at Zinn having walked across marshes before tramping along the sleepers of a railway track. They were hoping to sneak aboard a goods train, but the yard was too brightly lit and heavily guarded.

There was no choice but to continue footslogging across country. By this time ‘Wings’ was struggling as he had been suffering from jaundice, a frequent problem within the camp. The escape took on a dreamlike quality for him which faded in and out of focus as he walked along. Just after dawn on the second morning they met a blond haired boy of around twelve. They showed him the phrases written on their cigarette cartons and he directed them enthusiastically to the nearby farm buildings.

By now ‘Wings’ was exhausted, soaked in a cold sweat and shaking profusely. The jaundice had overtaken him, but he was able to struggle up the ladder to a hayloft and crash into a fitful sleep. The men were woken by two German soldiers probing the straw with fixed bayonets. Down in the farmyard around a dozen armed farmers were waiting. The nearby village was one of the few heavily pro-German areas in the vicinity and the boy, a member of the Hitler Youth had immediately alerted the authorities.

The Late Escape

At around seven o’ clock on the morning after the escape, the first prisoners awake took a circuit around the camp for a discreet look around, as all was still quiet and appel was not yet due. The tunnel still remained undiscovered, so a quick thinking South African, Squadron Leader Don Gericke slipped back to his barrack, uncovered his own stock of escape kit and was out and across the field dressed as a civilian worker. He managed to get clear of the camp without the alarm being raised.

Schubin Camp. The hospital is in the background - IWM

The Ghosts

Ten other POWs had volunteered to hide in the attic in the main building of the camp ‘The White House’, so the Germans would think they were looking for more escapers. It was a room that was rarely opened and if they could gain access and remain undetected until the camp was evacuated which was thought to be imminent they might be able to get away once everyone had left. (Information about the transfer of prisoners to another camp was already known to POW intelligence and hastened the date for the Asselin tunnel escape - see previous post) After evening appel on the day of the escape the men were successfully smuggled in and kept supplied with food and water. They were finally discovered after a month in hiding during which time the Germans had been looking for them all over Europe.

Result

On the morning after the escape the Camp Commandant was 46 men short:

2 had got out inside the sewage wagon

33 were tunnel escapers (plus Squadron Leader Don Gericke the following morning)

10 were ‘ghosts’ hiding in The White House

The tunnel escapers were all recaptured within two weeks and returned to the camp for ‘solitary’ in the cooler except:

Jorgen Thalbitzer and Jimmy Buckley who were drowned making the short crossing to Sweden from Denmark via a two man canoe.

Czech airman Otakar ‘Otto’ Černy who made a planned rendez-vous with the two sewage wagon escapers Squadron Leader Morris and another Czech airman Jozef Bryks (see previous post). Morris was quickly recaptured but Bryks and Černy reached Warsaw and were not arrested until 2 June 1943.

In early April the prisoners were evacuated to Sagan and Oflag XX1B was closed. The camp had been riddled with tunnels and plagued by escape attempts. The Wehrmacht came out of the Asselin affair badly. With the air war producing ever increasing numbers of Allied flyers being taken prisoner, the Schubin POWs were handed back to the Luftwaffe at Sagan and many took part in the Great Escape there.

Sources and Additional Reading

Wings Day – Sydney Smith

Escape From Germany 1939-45 – Aiden Crawley

Moonless Night – B A ‘Jimmy’ James

Under the Wire - William Ash

Prisoner of War – Charles Rollings

Escape, Evasion and Revenge - Marc Stevens See review http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol12/no4/page92-eng.asp

Author’s notes

©Keith Morley