SECRET SERVICE AGENT

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24743, 7 December 1945, Page 6

SECRET SERVICE AGENT

Ashburton Woman's Experience

HELPED ALLIES ESCAPE FROM GREECE From ambulance' driver to secret service worker, sentenced to death imprisoned for two years, and released before the execution could be carried out, is the unususl story of Mrs C Ownsworth, a Greek, who is now living. a * Ashburton. Formerly Mme. Nim Karvella, daughter of a general in the Greek Army, who is now in hospital in Greece, after being woundfjjjft ! h fu rece - nt fi g htin S. Mrs Owns-' worth is the wife of Mr Charles Owns- ° was a mem ber of the 2nd

Recently Mrs Ownsworth appro'achS? the secretary (Mr E. J. Daniel) of tne_ Ashburton Returned Services' Association, of which she is a member, on the subject of royalties paid by the British Government for helping prisoners to escape, and her case is being taken up with the Army authorities During an interview with a reporter from "The Press" at Ashburton, Mrs Ownsworth related her experiences in helping a large number of New Zealand and other Allied soldiers to escape from Greece after the evacuation in 1941.

Two months. before the war with Italy, Mrs Ownsworth, who had her own car, was. given lessons in ambulance work and later was engaged in transporting military and# civilian casualties near the Albanian frontier. She returned to Athens, where she took up secret service work. Under the leadership of an English Jew, who had had special training for some years, a band of six secret service personnel established their headquarters at her house some time after the German occupation. The lesder, who spoke seven languages fluently, travelled among the Germans in various disguises collecting information for sabotage purposes and to aid soldiers to escape. In spite of a warning over the German radio that any person caught helping soldiers to escape from the country would be shot immediately, they all carried on.

Escape by Submarine Given directions about the location of troops hiding in the country round Athens, .Mrs Ownsworth used to drive out at night and pick them up, bringing them back to a place of concealment in the city. On one occasion she drove for .150 miles tp pick up an Australian pilot who had been badly wounded and shot down. He had been given first-aid by the villagers, and she was able to convey him safely'to her home, where he remained for three months. When he recovered, he was able .to use his knowledge of radio and the locality to aid bands of men tp escape by submarine. He got away himself eventually by the same method. . Both British and Greek submarines were employed. The captain of one, a Scot, had lived in Greece before the war and had many narrow escapes. A rendezvous was arranged by radio, and the men, dressed as fishermen t would go "fishing" in parties of 2Q in small rowing boats at night. The submarine would pick up the -parties which had been gathered from several different hiding places. Hundreds of Prisoners Helped

. Mrs Ownsworth estimated that the organisation based .in her house was responsible for the escape of hundreds of Allied soldiers—mostly British, New Zealand, Australian, and Greek. Driving one of the few civilian cars left oh the roads—because the occupation forces thought it was a German staff car—she had some dangerous missions. r ' ' One night she was detailed to collect a group of officers over the Corinth Canal. The traffic bridge had been bombed, and the Germans had erected a'pontoon bridge, which was guarded by about six sentries. As this was the only method of crossing the canal she was forced to recross it on the way back about midnight arid.did not stop when hailed by the guards. When they opened fire with a machine-gun the Germans hit the car, wounding Mrs Ownsworth in five places, but she did not stop. Two of the three officers in the car were also hit, one being badly wounded in the chest. This necessitated, his being sent aboard a submarine as soon as possible for hospital treatment in Egypt. The. car, which was riddled with bullet holes, was hidden in a shed, where it was repaired and repainted. Captured by Germans On. November. 9, 1941, about two months after this incident, 1 Mrs Ownsworth returned to her house in Athens to find it occupied by several members of the Gestapo. They arrested her and at once began questioning her about the activities of the organisation which had been giving them so Imuch. trouble. The house was ransacked, but the rest of the band had vanished. They were never caught. In an endeavour to wioe out the organisation the Germans" shot Mrs Ownsworth's mother and brother. Sentenced to Death | After a trial by two military courts Mrs Ownsworth was convicted, sentenced to death, and sent to a gaol in Greece to await execution. Even this did not prevent her from helping with escape activities. Although still suffering from- wounds and sickness, she managed to circulate messages and information among her fellow-prisoners and, with the help of nuns, communicate with • the outside world before she was placed in solitary confinement. When the authorities learned of this work they shioned the Greek prisoners to Italy, Mrs Ownsworth being sent to Tirani, about 50 miles from Bari.

She had not been executed because her sentence had not been confirmed in Rome, which,, it transnired, was a piece of good fortune. With the invasion of Sicily and Italy by the Allies, internal communications collapsed, and her sentence never received official confirmation. She was set free by a New Zealand major on October 16, 1943, about two years after her capture. Met Husband in Italy Mrs Ownsworth met- her husband, who was working on the prisoner of war sub-commission,, soon after her release. She left for Egypt to take up ambulance driving for UNRRA and sbout a year later was joined by Mr Ownsworth, the couple being married in Cairo, Before arriving in New Zealand on September 30 of this year Mrs Ownsworth made a trip back to Greece after the liberation of the i country. At her house she found letters she had written to her sister while in prison about two years previously, which had just arrived. They hsd neyer been posted by the Italians. She came to live at Ashburton some weeks ago. Gratitude for the hospitality shown since her arrival in New Zealand was expressed by Mrs Ownsworth, who said that, in spite of the fact that she ■ found life here quiet, she was enjoy-i ing it. .