UNDER LUCKY STAR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14634, 18 June 1918, Page 6

UNDER LUCKY STAR.

"AUSSIES" ESCAPE FROM HUNS.

HAIR-RAISING ADVENTURES.

ICY-COLD WATER, LIVE WIRE, AND MINE.

FREMANTLE, June 5.

Forced to surrender to Huns in a cellar from which there was no exit except under the fire of the German guns, taken prisoner, and removed 50 miles behind the lines to concentration camps, and escaping from their captors and returning to British territory all within a few weeks, is the record of three Australian boys who recently returned to the Commonwealth.

One of the trio was Private Bert Thompson, of Fremantle. "It was a, pitch-dark night when we made our escape," he said. "We set off at a run in thie direction' of the frontier, which we thought was about 50 miles away. After travelling some eight miles we came to a canal about 100 yards wide. The bridge was lifted, so we commandeered a ooat and started for the other side. On nearing the opposite bank a senttry challenged us, but the darkness saw us out of our momentary difficulty. "From there we continued across country, encountering bogs and swamps, which sometimes made us turn back for miles and strike new routes. Just before daylight we came to a farmhouse barn, in which we hid for the day. V ALIVE Alii RIGHT. " 'Scobty' .Faulkiner and Jack Macintosh, both Queenslanders, were my companions. We kept on like this for three days, hiding in the daytime, and travelling after sunset. We lived on cabbages and turnips, and any other such luxuries wo found. "On the third night we encountered a chain of sentries, and judged rightly that we were near the border. Here we found! ourselves up against the electric fence, which runs from the coast to Antwerp, and is most . zealously guarded. We spent some time in watchi ing the movements of the sentries, who were posted every hundred yards along the fence, and were assisted in their guard by searchlights, which illuminated the level country. "We crawled about 150 yards, and when close up to the fenoe Scotty touched the wire to" see if it was charged. It was alive all right. The contact knocked him sprawling. His cap fell off, and. coming into contact with the wires, made a blaze. "It was an anxious moment until the flare went out, and we lay there expecting anything. Fortunately the sentries were put off the alert by the fact that the wind frequently blew dry leaves from the trees up against the fence and' started local fires. AN ANXIOUS MOMENT. "We decided that the fence was impregnable, except by tunnelling,- and that we could not undertake without a spade. So we returned to the farmhouse, about a mile from the fence, and rested' in a high barn. We lived there for seven days, carrying out each night reconnoitring excursions to the fence to ascertain the movements of the sentries. "We learned that when the sentries were changed they gave each other a password. On one occasion the sign was and on the night we got through it was Tatber appropriately 'Australia.' "We procured a, digging instrument, and) by alternately digging and hiding, we made our tunnel, and were in Hoi land. We made for the sea-coast, and en route came across a hospitable Dutchman, who provided us with money, and gave us full directions as to how to get to Rotterdam. "We spent a fortnight in Holland, and then left in a convoy for liondon. Ours was the leading ship, but for some reason another vessel was sent to displace her. She. had no sooner taken the van than she struck a mine and went down in. eight minutes. That shows again that we travelled under a lucky star." IN RECORD TIME. The camp from which the Australians escaped was at Termonde, east of Ghent. , ' After getting clear they encountered a maze of canals, and frequently had to wade waist deep in icycold water. , While at Termonde a bogus New Zealand officer attempted to fraternise with them, and questioned' them regarding the routes of transports. But they did not respond. A bogus Tommy was more successful. He spoke perfect English, and induced them to reveal an earlier plan of escape. Even with that information in possession of their captors, they succeeded in eluding their guards and regaining their freedom in record time.