HE WON HIS BET

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 284, 1 December 1942, Page 3

HE WON HIS BET

THRILLING ESCAPE

New Zealander's Long Trek

In Morocco

Special Correspondent N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright

Rec. 2 p.m.

LONDON, Nov. 30.

Life was dull at Aumale internment camp, in French North Africa, rhere had been no attempts to escape since the guards fired their rifles at one man while he was attempting to get away and other prisoners flung empty bottles in an attempt to divert the fire—which , they did by attracting it to themselves. Bored with inactivity. Sergeant C. Belcher, of Amberley', Canterbury, bet an Englishman, a member of the crew with whom he baled out when forced down in a bomber, that he would escape. "I have 200 francs here to say that you won't," said the Englishman. "Okay," replied the New Zealander. It is as good as mine." Belcher had carried out a tour of operations as a navigator and had observed too many people who had known about other attempted escapes. He therefore confined his helpers to a party of three. He took a small compass, a water bottle, a loaf of bread, a cooking pot and some money, but unfortunately no map was available. He arranged his bed to appear as if he was sleeping in it. Dived Into a Hollow Just before lights out he arranged to be one of three walking up and down outside the quarters. Then quickly he dived into a hollow while another man took his place, strolling up and down. A guard came up and planted himself a few feet from the hole, forcing Belcher to crouch there for two hours until the guard was changed, when the New Zealander moved slightly closer to the barbed wire, where he had previously made the hole. He had to lie there another two hours. Once the guard shone a torch seemingly in his face, but did not notice him. When the guard was rechanged Belcher clambered up a drainpipe towards a rooftop, walked along the top of a wall until he reached a telegraph post, and slid down it. Belcher was out, but he now had to reach Meliila, a Mediterranean port in Spanish Morocco. He travelled 200 miles in a fortnight and reached Novi, where he was still 300 miles from Meliila. Adventures With Arabs Belcher had been an omnibus driver in Christchurch before he joined up, but had previously worked on his father's sheep farm. He was a seasoned deer stalker. This now proved him in good stead. He guided himself by the stars and kept off the roads, using mountain tracks. Arabs chased him with lanterns all one night. He soon ate up ' all of his bread, so he stole grapes ; and pumpkins, making soup from 1 the latter in his cooking pot. '■

Once an Arab chased him with a shotgun while he was attempting to get. grapes. He sometimes bought bread from Arabs to eke out his meagre rations. Travelling mo.-ily at night, he often jumped on buses as they were reaching hilltops. He walked through at least nine tunnels, one three miles long. Sometimes rain poured down heavily and he feit very lonely, his thoughts often going to New Zealand. , . , Then came an incident which forced him to give up. Tired, he sat down to wash his feet in a stream, then found shelter under some bushes, where he gratefully smoked one of the last of his cigarettes. It j was so pleasant and warm and he ' was so weary that he dropped off to sleep. He woke up with a start to find that an Arab had stolen his boots and waterbottle. There was no alternative but to walk six miles on a bitumen road in his bare feet to an Arab village, where he bought a pair of Arab shoes. He began to get very, thirsty and soon bad water gave him dysentery, but he reached the sea at a town named Churchill. Lying Oil Beach Two Days Belcher lay for two days on a beach hoping to recover, but still felt very ill, and therefore decided to give himself up to the French police at Novi. two miles distant. They treated him as a spy and flung him into a bare cell without attention. they interrogated him, attempting to find out details of where Wellington bomber aircraft engines were made. They were very angry when he refused to give information. He was next taken to Algiers, from where, handcuffed and chained, he returned to Aumale. He was then sentenced to a month's solitary confinement, while all of the other prisoners were confined to barracks for eight days. Belcher finished his solitary confinement at Laghouat camp, and was later sent to hospital. His escape is regarded as the best of all escapes by Britishers interned in French North Africa. 'And what about the 200 francs?" Sergeant Belcher was asked. "I have not collected them yet," said Belcher, "but I am going to'stay with my English pal during leave, when we will spend the winnings. He is one of the best."

"And then?" he was asked. "I guess I'll apply to do another tour of operations," he replied.