Cheating The Gestapo

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 308, 28 December 1940, Page 3 (Supplement)

Cheating The Gestapo

By Haywood Lawson

ONE day recently a man walked into the entrance hall of a house in a well-known London square and asked at the reception desk to see a man who is a member of the Czechoslovakian Government in London. He had just arrived from Czechoslovakia. Six weeks previously he had set out on the world's most difficult and dangerous journey from a famous town in Czechoslovakia. That country has been tightly in the grip of Germany for well over a year. The German Army guards it, the Gestapo has spread its net over it. But this man had escaped and reached London. Notable "Escape Story" His journey will one day rank with the best of the secret service stories of this war. Six weeks of nerve-racking suspense, of meticulously careful planning, of constant danger. Six weeks to do a journey that in peace time took only a day or so, a journey of a few dred miles by air. I know this man's name, I know the town from whence he came, but I cannot tell you just how he made that hazardous trip. The details are a secret, closely kept against the allseoing eyes and ears of the Gestapo, the secret police of Hitler. The fact remains that this man did succeed in wriggling through the net of the Gestapo. Nor is he the only one to accomplish it. From several of the hemmed-in and overrun countries of Europe men are finding their way to London, there to continue the fight against Nazi Germany. The stories of how they beat the Gestapo cannot yet be told in full, because obviously that would reveal the precious secrets of their routes and methods. But I can tell you that the Czechs and the Norwegians, and other of our Allies in London, are still in close touch with their homelands. They receive news, they know what happens, they learn what the Germans are doing. " Behind this under-cover information service lies a well-planned secret system.

Ears and eyes inside Europe are noting odd scraps of information which are passed from hand to hand, right through the countries fringe Germany and her conquered territories until they reach London. The Czechs in particular maintain several organisations in their country whose purpose is the outwitting of the Gestapo. Czechs Secret Methods Czechoslovakia has a reputation for skill at this sort of undercover work. In the last war the Czech patriots built up such a powerful secret movement that they were able to throw off the Austrian and German yoke and, at the end of the ■war, to set up their independent State. Germany has not forgotten that, as a Czech told me, there were too many books written about their methods in the last war, so that the Gestapo was alert to most of the tricks. Xew ideas had to be discovered, and they have been discovered. They are working well today. In South-East Europe, through the Balkans, into Africa, along the Mediterranean shores, the secret routes lie. There are many frontiers to be crossed by a man trying to escape. Long journeys by train, on the roads, across rivers and seas. And everywhere* are the agents of the Gestapo and the spies of Germany. Hut there are also good "friends of Britain and the Allies in those countries, men and women willing to risk their lives in helping the man who is courageous enough to undertake the long journey to freedom. They are skilful in disguise, adept at languages, cool and resourceful these Czechs who elude the German net. They must steel their nerves when at the frontiers comes the close inspection of passport* and visas. They must beware of talking with too affable strangers. Bluff, bribery and sheer nerve play their part in the adventure. Don't forget that the Gestapo has built up a system of terror, blackmail and corruption over Europe. But the Gestapo itself can be bribed and corrupted, and it can be bluffed! The other day three Czechoslovakian aviators proved again that the Gestapo can be beaten. They arrived in Bombay, on the west coast of India! They had' travelled all the way from their native country to British India in order to offer their services to the Allied cause. To-day they are all in the R.A.F. Their journey took months. Look at the map, and imagine the route these men took through South-East Europe, across Asia Minor, down to the Persian Gulf and across to Bombay. Thousands of miles, with little money and only their quick wits and determination to help them.. They travelled in trains that wandered across countries. They took passage in small steamers that called at all manner of Near-Eastern ports. Step by step they made their way. These adventurers wander far in theiT efforts to escape. Thus, in Palestine to-day, you will find numbers of Czechs who have escaped from their own country and succeeded in reaching British soil after long and incredibly adventurous journeys.

A few weeks ago two young Czechs arrived in London to join the Czech forces. Their escape was a triumph of determination and risk. In Czechoslovakia they had been compelled by the stringent new Nazi labour laws to go to work in Germany. They were almost in the position of slaves, compelled to work at the bidding of their Nazi masters and dragged away from their homes. These two Czechs made up their minds to escape, and hit upon a plan. They applied for permission to get jobs as seamen in the port of Hamburg. They were banking, they said later, on the British Navy doing its job for them. They knew that the Germans were trying to slip small ships past the British patrols, to join the invasion fleets along the Belgian, French and Dutch coasts. "If we are on one of those ships it stands a good chance of being captured or sunk by the British Navy. Then we may he rescued and taken "to England, where we can declare ourselves," they said. The plan worked. Creeping along the coast, the German ship was torpedoed by a British submarine. A British destroyer picked up the survivors, including the two Czechs. When they reached England they got into touch with the Czech authorities here, and to-day they are in the army. One day we shall be able to hear all the stories like these. The one, for example, about the group of disbanded Czech soldiers early in the war joined a circus as an orchestra. Most of them had been in their regimental band and could play various instruments, so that part was easy. The men who could not play any instrument were signed on as porters and instrument carriers. The circus travelled through Europe, and the Czechs diligently played under the "big top" every night. For weeks they travelled before their chance arrived. Then the circus company was booked to perform in Norway. Safely in Norwegian territory before the invasion of that country the orchestra terminated its contract and took ship for England. The players are now practising on Bren guns waiting for the day when they can pay off a" few old scores. Internal Organisation A gallant company of adventurers are the men who beat the Gestapo. But inside Europe are men and women, who are giving that organisation a headache ill less spectacular but equally useful ways. The Czech who arrived in London recently brought heartening news from his native country. He told how the people there are defying the Gestapo to keep in touch with the struggle for freedom. They do it by radio. The Gestapo have made it an offence to listen to the broadcasts from London, but the loyal Czechs continue to listen to every British broadcast in their language from this country. Secret radio sets are carefully hidden. Elaborate precautions are taken so that nobody shall hear, sets are tuned down to a whisper, but the message comes through. Then by an underground system the news is spread far and wide throughout Czechoslovakia. Brave people take down

the bulletins and pass them from hand to hand. In homes, cafes, taverns, the news is passed on. It travels swiftly from town to town, even to the small villages. When Dr. Benes addresses his people from London he is assured of a vast audience, and he knows that his words will reach the ears of his loyal compatriots wherever they may be. In London the Czechoslovakia?! authorities learn of the effect of these broadcasts. They look upon them as one of their grtatest weapons, for the truth they tell is seeping through Europe, to undermine the pyramid of lies built up by Goebbele. In Holland, too, a country where the German military and Gestapo have clamped a stranglehold on the whole country, the Dutch people still listen to London. In London I talked with a man who one month before was in Norway. A year ago that sentence would not in any way be remarkable, but remember that Norway has been under the German heel since April, and few people succeed hi escaping. This man got out of the country and across to England by a route and a method which would thrill and astonish you. It would also astonish, in a quite different way, the Gestapo. I obviously cannot tell you how it was done, but his account of his adventure was wonderful to listen to.

This Norwegian patriot is the man who was said to have "the best known voice in Norway." He was for seven years the chief announcer of a big Norwegian radio station. He was the Stuart Hibberd of Norway, giving out all the important news. The people of the country knew his voice and trusted him. One month ago the well-laid plans for his escape matured and were swiftly and dramatically carried out. And here is the important thing about this man's escape: every day he talks to Norway from London, on the Norwegian news* bulletins of the 8.8.C. Once more the voice that Norwegian folk trusted is talking to them. Not telling them the twisted facts and lying distortions of the Goebbels-run Press or Norwegian radio, but telling them the truth, and all Norway listens. In London the news and information arrives, by secret and round-about routes, showing how the Gestapo is being defeated. One of Hitler's first steps when he invaded Norway was to seize the Press and radio. Then the Gestapo got to work to try to prevent, the Norwegians from listening to London. But they* have failed. So inside Europe we have our allies— ordinary folk who refuse to bow the knee to Nazi overlords. They are defying the Gestapo every day to carry on the fight for freedom. We shall hear more from them.