EVACUATED BY NAVY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24715, 18 September 1941, Page 8

EVACUATED BY NAVY

BELGIANS ON SPITZBERGEN ESCAPED FROM INTERNMENT RUGBY, Sept. 15. Three Belgians have told in London how they escaped from Germany into Russia and were evacuated from Spitzbergen by the Royal Navy in the recent raid. British prisoners who had also escaped . from Germany to Russia and who were taken to Moscow from their internment camp were instrumental in obtaining the release of these Belgians. The Belgians all escaped singly from Germany over the Russian frontier and the story of one is typical of the experiences of the others. Captured.in June, 1940, he, with a party of Belgian prisoners of war, had marched every inch of the way from Belgium into Holland, en route for internment in Germany. During the march a German officer shot dead a Belgian who was physically incapable of continuing. Once in Germany, the Belgian said, he was forced to work sweeping the roads and breaking stones. At last he was moved to a farm in Memel territory, 15 miles from the RussianGerman frontier. „He finally escaped at the end of April, 1941, and after two days, during which he forded rivers, crawled through barbed wire and doflged sentries, he reached Soviet territory.

The Belgians all say they were treated most kindly by the Russians, although the guard kept over them was very strict.