MANY EXPLOITS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25301, 7 September 1945, Page 9

MANY EXPLOITS

fIOVING WAR PRISONER SERIES OF ESCAPES "CIVILIAN" IN VIENNA .Although hp was captured over four .years ago, Private K. G. Poulson. of ij£aitaia, who arrived in Auckland yesiterday morning with a draft of repatriated prisoners of war, enjoyed more than the prescribed amount of freedom through his own efforts. He made three scapes from the Germans and one from .{Jugoslav guerillas and during one period of liberty he lived as a civilian fa Vienna. Apart from a wound in the arm received from a German guard's bayonet, he is little the worse for his varied exploits. Private I'oulson, who has three brothers in the services, left New Zenland "ith the Second Kohelon. He was captured in Greece in April, 1911, and a nightmare journey in crowded cattle trucks eventually took him to Austria, gp wa.s put to work on a farm and 'although he was well treated by the family who employed him, he decided to make for the Swiss border. Caught Near Border Earlv in 19-12 he and a fellow-prisoner talked "it' their farms and began a £OO-mile trek to the west. Luck favoured them for three weeks, but they •jrere caught- on n goods train only three jniles from the Swiss border. After 21 days in solitary confinement. Private Poulson was taken to an Austrian town near the Yugoslav border, where he worked in a flourmill, His Czech employers treated him as a member of the family, but after about eight months the New Zealander and an Australian set off into tho Alps. Austrian soldiers helped them and fed them as they made their way through the enemy lines into Yugoslavia. Unpleasant Stay With Guerillas Within a few days they were with Yugoslav guerillas,, but in a very short time they were convinced that life in the enemy camp was far more comfortable. According to Private Poulson, the guerillas and their Russian officers treated them little better than they would Germans and about two months after their arrival the two men escaped back to their old captors. Another 21 days' solitary confinement was served and then Private Poulson tras sent back to his old calling on a farm about 200 miles from Vienna. Life again was fairly comfortable, but the New Zealander was still restless. His opportunity came when a person who flourished on the Vienna black market lent a sympathetic ear. The outcome was that he was supplied with a good suit of civilian clothes, a forged passport and a first-class rail ticket to Vienna. Delights of Vienna Life in the capital was bettor even than Private Poulson expected. He was provided with good living quarters by Sis helpers, and although he had to remain under cover during the day he enjoyed the tourist's share of night life. The New Zealander knew that the delights of Vienna were bound to come to an end, and he was philosophical when German soldiers came to arrest him. A court-martial awaited him when he was handed over to tho authorities and a long, broad scar on his left arm, the result of a bayonet wound, is a lifelong reminder of' the incident. Final freedom came when the town in which Private Poulson was quartered was freed j by the Russians. Fie set off to get back to Vienna, now in Allied hands. He commandeered a German staff ear and travelled several hundred miles in state to his old haunt, acquiring petrol on the way from Allied soldiers. After six weeks in Vienna, ho was flown to Italy and then he travelled by ship to join repatriated New Zealanders in England.