CHAPTER 1 9 EVADERS AND PRISONER S O aircrew flying from English or Middle East bases the possibilit y T of falling into enemy hands was a continual danger. After 1940 , with air operations conducted principally over areas held by Germany an d Italy, every flight contained the seed of disaster, whether from enemy gun or fighter defences, adverse meteorological conditions, human erro r in navigation or airmanship, mechanical failure, or petrol shortage. Fre- quently, in dire straits, a captain of aircraft was forced to make the har d choice of ordering his crew to parachute into enemy territory or o f attempting to struggle back to base with the last and vital part of th e journey necessarily over the unrelenting sea . It is a measure of the resolution of British airmen that where any slim possibility existed the harder choice was taken, even though very frequently it ended in failure. Pilot Officer R. H. Middleton, Flight Sergeant A. McK. McDonald, Flying Officer A . W. R. Triggs and many others brought their crew s safely back to fight again by renouncing immediate safety at - the cost of freedom, but many Australians, in common with comrades of other Allied nations, perished in attempting the same achievement . Even though forced to abandon their aircraft over hostile territory , airmen were still not without hope if they reached the ground uninjured . The vast majority of R .A.A.F. men serving in England between 194 1 and 1945 operated with Bomber Command on night-bombing sorties , and when an aircraft was set afire, or exploded, or became uncontrollable a varying degree of opportunity was afforded for crew members to escape from their doomed aircraft. Normally the pilot gave the order to abandon aircraft, himself leaving last, but frequently, particularly when the inter - communication system was damaged, it was a matter for individual judgment, and indeed there were cases of premature departure as wel l as undue delay in parachuting from a badly-hit aircraft. Except when direct shell-hits caused heavy casualties in mid-air, or damaged the para- chutes, the majority of men who escaped from aircraft which wer e still on a relatively even keel reached the ground safely, despite occasiona l small-arms fire in defended areas. Often, however, a badly-crippled bomber would plummet out of control permitting few if any to bale out . Circum- stances, even during a single night's operations, varied from the orderly departure of all members to extreme cases when all perished, or a sol e survivor woke up in a German farm-yard after the explosion which totally destroyed his aircraft had apparently not only thrown him clear but als o operated his parachute control . Those who reached the ground alive were inevitably fairly widel y scattered and schemes for combined evasion were impracticable, even i f they had been wise. Unless the descent was made in open or inaccessibl e country, the majority of parachuting airmen were quickly met and arrested (R .A .A .F . ) Sqn Ldr B . Eaton (foreground) welcomes hack F-Sgt A . H . Collier (in civilian attire ) on his return to No . 3 Squadron after being forced down in enemy territory near Manfredonia, Italy, on 17th September 1943 . Collier evaded German forces for nine days before reaching Allied lines . Others in the group are, left to right : F-O's B . Birchfield , N . G . McKernan and R . C . Dent ; P-O E. Hankey ; F-O C. F . C. Forsstrom . Soon afterward s Hankey also was shot down and rejoined his unit on 19th October after similarly evadin g the enemy . (R .A .A .F Prisoners of war at Oflag VA Weinsberg presenting Grouse in June . Amateur theatrical s played a large part in combating the boredom of prisoner-of-war life . Prisoners of war inside a typical but at Stalag 357, Fallingbostel, Germany, in April 1945 , after the area had been overrun h} units of the Second British Army . R .4 . f Before taking off for .luvincourt on 6th May 1945 to pick up Allied and Australian prisoner s of war, ground staff of No . 463 Squadron at Waddington suitably decorate the Lancaste r "V" for Victor . 1941-45 ESCAPE ORGANISATIONS 467 by enemy troops, auxiliaries or policemen, but frequently one or more individuals had the opportunity to elude the searchers and embark on a n attempt to escape . During the first four years of the war these attempts normally ended in final capture when the airman was physically and mentally exhausted and had failed to secure local help, but, althoug h the odds were extremely heavy, a proportion of evaders managed to reach England again . The chances of success rose immeasurably with the emergence in Holland, Belgium and France of escape organisations in which patriotism , politics, and mercenary ends all had their part. These organisations had confidential reporters in most areas of German-occupied territory an d frequently made contact with and gave shelter to evaders before the y could be apprehended . Gradually a number of safe routes across national boundaries and military security lines were built up so that an airma n could be passed from one hiding place to another until he reached neutral territory. There were times when the German Gestapo police agents infiltrated into these organisations, but link by link they were replaced an d the "underground railway " never entirely ceased to operate. During 1944 , with the universal acceptance that the Allied attempt to liberate Europ e would be launched that year, more and more people, especially in France , were willing to risk death by harbouring airmen in their homes . By this time the men usually remained hidden or employed in areas lightly occupied by the enemy until they were able to rejoin the invading ground forces. During 1944 relatively few attempted the additional hazards o f trying to cross heavily-guarded frontiers to seek a speedier liberty . Australians were by no means especially fitted for the delicate an d often dangerous task of evasion, for few had language qualification s or any close conception of the day-by-day habits of Europeans. Never- theless many Australian airmen, because of their generally high degre e of acuteness and careful mental preparation during their training an d squadron life, were not unprepared when any opportunity presented itsel f to avoid capture . Australians, as did most airmen, carried compasses , emergency food, miniature tools, and even maps and appropriate currency , hidden in their flying-clothing . All had been instructed concerning their rights under International Law and their duties as military personnel . Some had evolved ready-made schemes for altering or camouflaging thei r uniforms so that they would pass as civilian garb and yet retain, in a n emergency, undoubted proof of their military status so as to protec t the wearer from any danger of being shot as a spy . Suitable phrase book s for simple needs were studied, but many Australians preferred not t o attempt conversation and to meet dangerous encounters by simulating idiocy, shell-shock or muteness . One very determined and hitherto suc- cessful attempt at evasion was ended when a R.A.A.F. pilot attempte d in Holland to buy a rail ticket to Hertogenbosch ; place names generally caused much difficulty to Australians, their pronunciation falling strangely on continental ears . Another R .A.A.F. airman put himself happily int o the hands of a man who said "Jet" when asked if he were "Dutch?", only 468 EVADERS AND PRISONERS 1941-42 to be led straight to the police station by the German who had thought he was saying "Deutsche?" and wished to surrender. Often the Australians best endowed naturally and best trained for successful evasion had n o chance, falling immediately into the hands of enemy detachments, but despite this more than 150 R .A.A.F. men, mostly in ones but occasionall y in groups, evaded capture in northern Europe and either reached neutra l countries or regained Allied lines during the campaign of 1944-45 . In view of the difficulties involved, this ratio of one successful evasion t o every seven R.A.A.F. survivors who passed into prisoner-of-war camp s reflects the strong purpose of the individuals . All the early R .A.A.F. escapes were made through Spain to Gibraltar , for those evaders attempting to reach Switzerland were practically al l rounded up by efficient German police or frontier guards . The journey to Spain which, from Holland, involved crossing up to five policed frontier s and a trip of more than 650 miles, culminating in exhausting mountaineer- ing in the Pyrenees, was a tremendous undertaking for a single traveller , but the route lay mostly among rebellious or apathetic civilians and national authorities who would occasionally turn a blind eye even if they woul d give no positive help. Thus Sergeant A . C. Roberts of No. 452 Squadron, one of the first E.A.T.S. volunteers, when shot down near St Omer o n 11th July 1941, was able to travel by bicycle and train southwards, and , although interned by the French at St Hippolyte after slipping acros s the line of demarcation into unoccupied France on 29th July, found i t relatively simple to escape three weeks later, join a small party waiting to cross the Pyrenees, and thus reach Gibraltar . Roberts returned t o Britain by sea early in October 1941 . By this time a second Australian , Sergeant Christensen' of No . 101 Squadron R .A.F., shot down on 11th September while returning from Turin, was moving steadily southwards through France towards Marseilles, the headquarters of Spanish politica l exiles and smugglers who were always willing to provide guides for th e Pyrenees crossing .