Liberty Was Sweet In The War Prisons

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 9 (Supplement)

Liberty Was Sweet In The War Prisons

WHAT memories of stirring deeds, of the sweetness of liberty, and of living dangerously are recalled by the report of a reunion of twenty-nine officers who escaped from the Holzminden war prisoners' camp, Germany, in 1918. Of the 8000 British officers taken by the enemy in the Great War, only fifty succeeded in getting back to Britain.

ByR. C. C. Dunn

Practically every captured officer believed it his duty to escape if possible, and a great number of them did get away from the camps. Most were recaptured before reaching neutral or friendly territory. They plotted and planned mainly to keep their reason. Usually, however, they were generally too closely guarded actually to get away, although at times remarkable ingenuity was displayed by officers' relations in England in getting maps and compasses through to the prisoners.

7 n>o British officers ivho managed to escape into Holland, photographed on the Dutch frontier on April 17, 1918. On the left is Captain Beverley Robinson and on the right is Captain Duncan GrincllMilne, R.F.C. The two Dutch girls befriended them.

Exciting Tales Are Told of Escape Attempts in 1914-18, But Only Fifty in 8000 Succeeded.

Two of the most notorious camps were Holzminden and Clausthal —the former under Hauptmann Karl Niemeyer, the latter under Niemeyer's brother, known generally as the "Niemeyer twins." ° When the Holzminden escape occurred in 1918 Karl Niemeyer telephoned his brother to warn him, and a search of the Clausthal camp was made, revealing a tunnel which would have been completed in another three weeks. Some clothing found in the tunnel was seized in the hope that the tunnellers would be identified, but the tunnelling committee turned burglars during the night and managed to recover the gear, leaving the Germans completely at a loss as to who the diggers were. Captain Donaldson, his officers, and military officers from the Australian steamer Matunga, sunk by the Wolf, were in this prison at the time and suffered harsh reprisals inflicted by Niemeyer, or "Old Harry" as he was known. A hoax perpetuated by the officers in Fort 9, Ingoldstadt, takes some beating for sheer audacity." The German commandant was given to outbursts of rage on the slightest provocation (he later became mentally afflicted). In his office near the door was a large iron-bound chest, in which were locked compasses, maps and other gear seized from the prisoners. It was decided to get possession of this chest, and the only time it could be done was in daylight while the commandant was there. A number of French and Russian officers went into the office, and in a few moments they had worked up a blazing argument; others crowded into the room and added to the din, tt*e while a specially detailed party rushed in, grabbed the chest, and decamped to the next room with it. Immediately it was burst open, the contents dumped on the floor; while some were hiding their property, others broke up the chest, the pieces of which were carried to other rooms and dropped into the stoves ther&. The argument having died down, the commandant discovered the loss of the chest; bells went and the prisoners were all ordered to their rooms, where, amid roars of laughter, the Germans searched for the large chest in rooms where there was no possible hidijg place for it. In less than five minutes from the theft no trace remained of the chest qr contents. One officer at Ingoldstadt had arranged a simple code with his parents in case of his capture, and was able to communicate with them, asking for plans and compasses to be sent to him. The plans were baked in cakes, and as he bad gained a certain amount of friendship with the oeaichers they handed them over without probing. Compasses came across i bottles of prunes, anchovy paste and so on. A little later the commandant of Fort 9 appealed to Berlin for detectives to search the camp for equipment, and from the moment they entered the fort they were escorted by the officers. The search began, and soon a certain amount of stuff was found, to be listed by one of the detectives. The prUonera inaiated

"Adolf, if you kiss me now I shall scream for help." "But nobody could hear you here." "Then why are you lvailing?"

on helping with the search. When a heap was placed on a table it was soon tipped over. Most of the gear immediately disappeared. A grey felt hat was listed no fewer than three times, being found in various places and stolen again immediately. The detectives moved from room to room followed by "their host of assisants; equipment round in one room would be purloined from them in the next. By evening they were nearly driven mad, and at last it was time for them to go. Arriving at the guardhouse near the mala gates to the fort they were unable to leave, for some of the officers had picked their pockets, removing their identification and police papers. Then, to add in«ult to injury, as they finally got through the gates, one poor wretch had a card pinned to his coat-tails bearing the legend, "You know my methods, Watson." On one occasion an attempt was to be made at escape by charging along a narrow path and smashing the lock of a barred gate with a battering ram. The escape started well, but as the prisoners neared the gate at good speed the first man, who was to guide the ram against the lock, missed it in the darkness and took the full force of the charge with his face against the framework. His yell of agony roused the sentries and there was a frantic scuttling to get to cover. _At Strohen camp some prisoners decided on making a German uniform and equipment. Among other things they manufactured a marvellous German rifle, which now is in the War Museum in

Berlin. One of them dressed as a sentry and marched a party of four orderlies out of the camp, but when they were passing the last sentry he recognised one of them as a notorious es caper and insisted that the bogus sentry march them back into camp. Only then did the sentry recognise that the bayonet and ammunition pouch looked queer. He turned out the guard, but the prisoners bolted for cover. This escapade earned them all several month* of solitary confinement. Many of those who escaped vera at large for comparatively long periods— up to a month—and -frequently it was only ill-luck that stopped them getting away. One officer only had a 50ft road to cross into Holland when he was stopped by a sentry. Ingenuity was the rule in every escape deserving" a greater reward than usually received. Among the inmates of Fort 9, In<»oldetadt, in May, 1917, was Ma jo? A. J Evans, of the Royil Flying Corps. He had made numerous attempts to escape but had always been recaptured. At last came a chance when it was decided to send the prisoners to Zorndorf. Thev were put into a train, six British officers, including Evans, being in one compartment, with a sentry in a corner seat near the corridor. The train reached Nurnburg, staying two hours Dclore moving on again

"Moneyj or your lifeP" "Clear out quickly. I have influenza."

♦ * +

It was now nearly dark and Evans, with another officer named Buckley, made up his mind to decamp from the train if the opportunity came. These were the only two who could speak German, so the' others promised to assist in every possible way. The two were sitting near the window when the train slowed down; so, saying they were going to eat, everyone stood up to get their packs down from the racks, obscuring the window from the view of the sentry near the corridor. Quick as a flash Evans pushed down the window. Both Englishmen escaped out into the darkness. Then began an amazing trek of 250 miles to the Swiss border. It took them 18 nights of marching before they crossed the frontier just to the west-of Lake Constance at a little village named Barzheim. Their feelings at finally escaping may well be imagined. Evans returned to the Royal Flying Corps, but as it was the practice not to allow escaped prisoners to return to the front on which they were captured, he went out to Palestine in command of a bomber squadron. In Aftoch, 1918, he had the illluck to be forced down near Kerak through an air lock in the petrol line. A Bristol fighter followed him down to land, although Evans waved it away. Its undercarriage was smashed and both machines had to be destroyed. This machine was manned by two Australians —Captain R. A. Austin, M.C., and Lieutenant O. M. Lee, M.C., both of No. 1 Squadron.

The three atrmen surrendered to some evil-looking Arabs, who handed them over to some Turkish officers. Evans was sent to Afion-Kara-Hissar by way of Constantinople. While he was there ha received a number of maps of the track to Smyrna sent from England in postcards, but these were not treed. Eventually he bribed his way by train to Smyrna, whence he voyaged to Alexandria. Lieutenant Colonel X. W. White, Minister for Customs, also escaped from Constantinople to Odessa, where he was able to get to Varna and so to Salonika. All in all, British prisoners were jrenerally more than a handful for their captors in the war.

INSPECTOR PLAYFAIR Solves the Death of Sir Ralph Faryngle. PLAYFAIR suspects Samcutt. His pose as an old Oxford friend of Faryngle's did not seem convincing to the inspector, who already had formed the opinion that Samcutt was trying to saddle Mee'ston with the crime. When Samcutt referred to Christ Church College (a solecism of which no Oxford man would be capable) Playfair knew that Samcutt was a liar. His leading question regarding Queen's effectivelv trapped Samcutt. The latter, of course, had not been at Queen's, and had never told Meeston anything—but what had Meeston said to Playfair? Samcutt could not tell. By contradicting Playfair, he would (he thought) open the door to further inquiries, which would certainly expose his shady past. As it was. of course. Playfair already knew that Samcutt w«s an impostor. Further investigation proved him to be a man with a known criminal record, and eventually he confessed to the murder. It was "he who had stolen Meetton'# automatic with the idea of planting the crime on hia "friend."