An army lorry full of German soldiers (The Evader) Great Escape Stones Collected and Introduced by ERIC WILLIAMS MC Author of The Wooden Horse TJie Heirloom Library WEIDENFELD AND NICOLSON 7 CORK STREET, LONDON W.I Introduction and Editorial Notes 1958 toy Eric William* BOOKS BY ERIC WILLIAMS The Tunnel The Wooden Horse The Escapers Complete and Free MUMTBD IM GKBAT BRITAIM IM I I POINT JftABKBILVIIIJB BY JARltOZJD AMD 0OMB LTD, Contents <jY 1. T^ Will to be Free 9 2. The Evader 19 3. The Helper 33 4. Condemned to Death 53 9 5. The 'Bulgarian Naval Officer 71 6. Escape from Colditz Castle 94 7. Crossing the Border 120 8. Escape from Hospital 145 9. The Land of You-Never-Know 162 10. Jump for Freedom 182 1 1 . Through Enemy Lines 200 12. Escape in Korea 215 13. Through the Iron Curtain 240 OCT 20 1959 Colour Plates An army lorry full of German soldiers Frontispiece facing page Stopping the trams and searching civilians 32 I took the hint . clicking my heels and saying, 9 'Heil Hitler 65 5 'Why do you not salute? 96 Walking with our help for twenty yards 129 Our door burst open, and three soldiers rushed in 1 60 c Then: JumpP shouted Lieby, and I jumped 193 9 I said, 'Tovarich! pointing delightedly at a coloured picture of Stalin on the wall 2 24 Acknowledgements I am indebted to the following for their permission to use copyright material: Messrs Hoddcr & Stoughton Ltd for the extract from Evader by T. D. G. Teare (THE EVADER) Messrs Ernest Benn Ltd for the extract from Rendezvous 127; the Diary ofMadame Brusselmans MBE transcribed by Denis Hornsey DFC (THE HELPER) Messrs Dobson Books Ltd for the extract from Escape from Montluc by Andri Devigny (CONDEMNED TO DEATH) Messrs Hollis & Carter Ltd for the extract from A Prisoner's Progress by David James (THE 'BULGARIAN* NAVAL OFFICER) Messrs Hoddcr & Stoughton Ltd for the extract from They Have Their Exits by Aircy Neave (ESCAPE FROM COLDITZ CASTLE) Messrs William Heinemann Ltd for the extract from Horned Pigeon by George Millar (CROSSING THE BORDER) Messrs William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd for the extract from Return Ticket by Anthony Dcanc-Drummond (ESCAPE FROM HOSPITAL) Messrs Allan Wingate for the extract from Dare to be Free by W. B. Thomas (THE LAND OF YOU-NEVER-KNOW) Allan N. Medd Esq. for the extract from The Long Walk Home by Peter Medd, originally published by MessrsJohn Lehmann Ltd (JUMP FOR FREEDQM) Messrs Burton Publishing Company for the extract from We Fought for Freedom by Winton K. Sexton (THROUGH ENEMY LINES) Messrs Frederick Muller Ltd for the extract from The Edge of the Sword by Captain Anthony Farrar-Hocklcy DSO, MC (ESCAPE IN KOREA) Messrs William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd for the extract from / am Fifteen and I do not want to Die by Christine Arnothy (THROUGH THE IRON CURTAIN) CHAPTER ONE The Will to be Free SINCE THE END of the Second World War many first-class escape books have been published. My problem in making this collection has been not to find twelve exciting stories but to decide which to use. To shorten the list I determined: (a) Each escaper must tell his own story for only from first- hand accounts can the reader learn what it was truly like to be that man in that situation at that time; and (b) Each escaper must have been ultimately successful I admit I have broken rule (b). To stick to it slavishly I should have to exclude the man who is perhaps the most invincible escaper in the book. I am confident that if the Korean War, in which he was taken prisoner, had lasted only a little longer, Captain Anthony Farrar-Hockley would somehow have got back to his own lines. Not all these escapes are from actual imprisonment Denys Tearc, shot down over France, successfully evaded the Germans and is technically an *evader\ Afadame Brusselmans was never caught, but she spent four years dodging the dreaded Gestapo in Brussels. And the young Hungarian girl, Christine Araothy, in breaking through the Iron Curtain, escaped not from a prison but from a whole country in captivity. You will find here stories of escape by subterfuge, in disguise, by cutting barbed wire, climbing from windows, breaking through doors, jumping from trains in fact twelve escape stories show- ing twelve men and women escaping in twelve different ways. I chose my twelve and then discovered that I had not included a 9 10 GREAT ESCAPE STORIES tunnel It is an extraordinary truth that tunnels, the moist popular means of getting out of a prison camp, were not often successful Beneath Stalag-Luft III, the 'escape-proof camp built by the Germans especially to hold Allied aircrew, over one hundred tunnels were dug. Yet although many prisoners got outside the camp by this means only six tunncllers were lucky enough to get dean away. I think the main reasons why tunnels failed were: i. The difficulty of disposing of the excavated earth; il The length of time taken to dig one makes the danger of discovery proportionately greater; and iii. The tunnels themselves were usually too big, involving too many people. When one broke, the Germans panicked at the thought of so many enemies at large and called out all police, troops, Home Guard and Hitler Youth to search for the escapers. When I was a prisoner I used to assess the chances of any tunnel in inverse proportion to the number of men who were engaged in its construction. On the other hand, tunnels were popular because: i. The escaper can choose his own time to leave and his well departure can be unhurried and prepared ; ii. He can leave the camp ready dressed as a foreign worker, merchant seaman or whomever he has decided to imper- sonate on his journey; iii. He can take as much luggage as he can cany which usually means food carefully hoarded from his share of the Red Cross parcels; iv. He can seal the exit after him and his absence will not be immediately noticed; and v. A number of prisoners can escape at the same time. To give my readers an idea of what tunnelling was like, here is an extract from one of my own books called The Tunnel, which describes my attempts to evade capture and my first escape attempt Peter (myself) and John (Michael Codncr, MC, with THE WILL TO BE FREE II whom I eventually escaped from Stalag-Luft III through the Wooden Horse tunnel) have served their apprenticeship as 'stooges', keeping cave for other escapcrs. They have been invited to dig. 'The scene in the central cookhouse reminded Peter of the setting for a modern ballet. The four boilers, like enormous witches' cauldrons, stood side by side on an apron of concrete against the farthest wall. Beneath the end boiler, now dead, was the narrow entrance to the tunnel, open; and by its side lay the trapdoor made from concrete in a shallow wooden tray. In each of the side walls small high windows threw their spotlights on to the figures of the orderlies, who tended the boilers, and the early shift of tunnellcrs, who had just come to the surface. The tunnellers were dressed in woollen undervests and long pants, patched like harlequins, bright yellow from the puddled clay. On their heads they wore woollen caps or handkerchiefs knotted at the corners and, dancer-like, they wore no shoes. Tyson, already in his tunnelling clothes, was waiting for them. "Hurry up, chaps," he said. Teter and John quickly took off their outer clothing and joined the new shift, who were waiting to go below. It was cold and they shivered as Tyson slid under the boiler and, after much grunting and straining, disappeared from view. Peter, following, found a hole in the floor about two feet square. There was a rough ladder fixed to the side of the shaft, at the bottom of which the flickering rays of a lamp showed Tyson's legs as he crawled out of sight. Presently his face appeared where his legs had been. "Go easy down the ladder," he said. 'At the bottom of the shaft was a square chamber about six feet by four in which a man crouched, working a crude concertina- like air pump made from a canvas kit-bag. By his side the goon lamp cast its lurid glow across his sweating face as he swung to the rhythm of the creaking pump. The walk and ceilings of the chamber and the mouth of the tunnel which opened from it were 12 GREAT ESCAPE STORIES of solid wood, bedboards jammed together side by side; but the floor was liquid clay. Tyson was crouching half in and half out of the tunnel In his hands he had two smoking lamps, one of which he passed to Peter. "Follow me!" He spoke in a whisper, as though he could be heard through twelve feet of solid earth. 'The tunnel, once they had left the chamber, was no longer lined with wood. The walls and ceiling dripped with water which gathered in long puddles on the floor and, as he wriggled after Tyson into the blackness, Peter felt this water soak through his woollen vest and the cold grip him with its icy fingers. 'After crawling for about fifteen feet the light in front stopped moving, and when Peter caught up with it he found Tyson crouching over a hole in the tunnel floor, about three feet from where it came to an abrupt end.