ADVENTURES IN ITALY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 4, 6 January 1944, Page 6

ADVENTURES IN ITALY

PRISONERS' TREK

WELLINGTONIANS RETURN

The escape of three New Zealand officers from a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy meant tlie' bridging of a gap of something like 450 miles before they reached ths invading, Allies. It was a long and hazardous task, entailing considerable risk, and hardship, but after six weeks of adventure, involving canny and at times daring manoeuvring, the trio reached their objective —the-Eighth'.Army. Recently two of those officers, bpth . Wellingtonians, were reunited with their' relatives, the other having gone.'to .-England.

The two Wellington officers are Lieut.-Colonel C. D. A. George, of Karori, and Captain D. Gerard, of Northland, and with them in their escapade in Italy was Flight Lieutenant R. D. Campbell, of Opunake. Obtaining civilian clothing they masqueraded as Italians, and in this guise they profited greatly by the fact that Captain Gerard, who had been for long in enemy hands, had quite a good knowledge of the Italian language, and spoke it very well. The. avoiding of towns and roads also contributed to the success of their venture, as did the aid which they received from time to time by Italians, many of whom'regarded them as of the same brandIt was from the1 Modena camp, where there were quite a large number of New Zealanders as well as many South Africans/that the three New Zealand officers escaped. The break had to be made through a German guard, the Germans having entered the camp when the armistice with Itaty was an" nounced. It was at the moment when a German guardsman, armed with a tommy-gun, was changing a clip that the escapade began. Throwing bags of food over the barbed wire, the escapees dived after them, and, with the guardsman unable to fire at them in those precious moments, they ran for over' two miles. A maize patch then

afforded a place of hiding, as it also did for sopie Italian deserters, who were bent upon getting to Rome. While in hiding there they changed into Italian peasant clothes. UNCOMFORTABLE RIDING. A train packed with Italians' helped them on part of their journey. It was anything but comfortable travelling, Captain Gerard finding a place on the roof -and Lieutenant-Colonel George on a gangway, with Flight Lieutenant Campbell on a" buffer. Still, it was something to be taken nearer their objective. A further "lift" took them to a point somewhere about the middle of Italy, and then followed their crosscountry trekking. Odd jobs were done on the way, such as picking grapes and tramping grapes in wine-presses. Some; stages of their journey were long, and always there was the task/of getting through the German lines undetected. It took them eight hours to cover the last two miles through the : German lines. Fighting was going on, and it was possible, that the Germans had their attention so fully occupied in that direction that they did not notice the escapees. IN GERMAN BOOTS. The journey meant hard wear, and on the way Lieutenant-Colonel George and the air officer needed new boots. These came by a "steal" from the Germans, an Italian being persuaded to undertake that job. Others who helped them on the way included a

woman, whose generous supply of food was supplemented by 1000 lira, and cigars, while equally welcome was the 8.8.C. news. The Biferno River had to be crossed on the way to safety, and when they had waded across they duly celebrated by eating the ration chocolate which had been carefully nursed by Lieutenant-Colonel George. Their troubles, however, were not quite over. They had to meet a challenge when the Eighth Army was reached. "Don't shoot; we are British!" they shouted, and, the sentry satisfying himself that his observation that they looked like prisoners of war was correct, they readily accepted the handful of cigarettes proffered by the challenger.