ESCAPE OF PRISONERS FOILED

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 250, 20 July 1942, Page 4

ESCAPE OF PRISONERS FOILED

Tunnels Dug Under Camp AXIS INTERNEES IN AUSTRALIA (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, July 19. Six tunnels measuring in all between 400 and 500 feet, were part of a large underground scheme by which German and Italian prisoners of war in a Victorian internment camp have been attempting for about three months to make their escape. It is believed that the six tunnels were planned to lead to a central tunnel which would emerge outside the camp. Revealing this, a military spokesman said yesterday .that every attempt to escape from the actual compound had been frustrated, an’d no prisoner had escaped by tunnelling. The largest tunnel, discovered on June 30, was 240 ft. long, two feet six inches wide, and in places six feet high. Its base was 14ft. below the earth’s surface. It is estimated that the tunnel took between two and three months to construct. It was electrically lit, an’d substantially timbered. Shafts leading to it were cut through the wooden floors of the huts. The mouth of one of these shafts was concealed by a hut stove. Another tunnel was hidden by a box containing sporting gear. Earth taken from the tunnels was spread round huts, gardens and pathways. Forty policemen, all trained searchers, were sent to the camp; The prisoners formed up into a square and sang the Horst Wessel song, and other German national anthems. They jeered at the police and derisively waved a large swastika flag made out of discarded clothes. The police discovered large quantities of civilian clothing, much of it still carrying the price tags of a Melbourne emporium. The discovery of the tunnels is believed to have foiled a large-scale attempt to break out. Batons were found which presumably were intended to be used for attacking the guards.