Escape March 1945

It would great to view the items you have collected.
I think there are many who would also be interested.

Could you let me know when and where to look when you
have them posted?

Thanks
Tom

Well, finally got around to scanning in the pics etc. I was sure I had some more somewhere. If I find them I’ll post them. Meanwhile, check out the new thread for the pictures.

Upate..

OK here’s the latest..

I spoke at length with my Dad this morning.

My Dad has read Herbert Williams book Come Out. Wherever You Are
from cover to cover. He absolutley insists that the Royal Navy
captured some of the escapees at sea…well out of sight of land.
An event not mentioned in the narrative.

He recalls that while there were prisoners at large,
all officers were issued side arms, and that at night
all servicable aircraft had their engines disabled by removing a vital ignition
component (rotor maybe?) as a precaution against theft.

As a pilot he recalls distinctly having to orbit the stolen vessel until ships arrived to take the escaped prisoners into custody. Dad says that the sight of numerous Navy ships converging on his location from all directions and from below the visible horizon is not easiily forgotton. Apparently it was quite an impressive sight as seen from the air.

Perhaps Royal Navy records might shed some light on this omission.
Any ideas about how I might locate offical records of this particluar event?

Thanks
Tom

Tom, as I recall the internees may well have been earlier on in the war but the circumstances are very similar, including their apprehension. I’ll have to delve into my files to be sure.

I’ll also dig out the photos I took. I’ve got a copy of the book I mentioned, “Island Camp”, published by Susan M Hawthorne and Bryntaeg Comprehensive School. It’s probably long out of print – it was published in 1989 originally. There’s a copy available on Abebooks website – $42.00 plus shipping!!!! Wish I’d bought a few copies now!

Dean

more…Wales again

I have just spoken to my Dad on the phone and he insists that the escapees where from the prison in Wales and that they were definitlely “at sea”, out of site of land when they were discovered.

His log book shows that he took off from Fairwood Common on the afternoon of march 12 to relieve the orbiting aircraft and then kept station to provide a “homing signal” for the Royal Navy until they arrived.

The puzzle seems to linger.

???
Tom

Aha!

Tom, are you sure that the escapees were POW’s from Island Camp? A group of several internees from the Isle of Man were rounded up in almost exactly the same manner you described. Any more info?

It sounds as if this might be the answer.
Any thoughts about where I might look for more information?

Thanks
Tom

Fantatstic!

It would great to view the items you have collected.
I think there are many who would also be interested.

Could you let me know when and where to look when you
have them posted?

Thanks
Tom

I have seen the BBC account of the March escape and I have just finished reading the book Come Out Wherever You Are about this escape.

The odd thing about it is that my Dad insists that some of the escapees where rounded up at sea..headed for Ireland…in a stolen tug (or tender).

Apparently they were discovered by search aircraft and finally apprehended by the Royal Navy (March 12 1945).

This event does not appear to be mentioned in either the book or the TV documentary.

Can anyone shed some light on this puzzle ???

Thanks,

Tom

Tom, are you sure that the escapees were POW’s from Island Camp? A group of several internees from the Isle of Man were rounded up in almost exactly the same manner you described. Any more info?

Island Camp, Bridgend

I lived in Bridgend for a few months in 1990 and visited the camp on a number of occasions as a young lad of 19! I have a fair few pictures of the camp, the murals (of which there were loads), the “hidden” mud from the tunnels etc. If anyone is interested I’ll dig them out and post them here. I also have a book which was written by the 5th/6th form pupils of a local school which is quite detailed and interesting. It’s softback and about 60-80 pages long with a number of biographies of well-known inmates such as Gerd Von Rundstedt etc. and a reasonable account of the escape as told by guards and escapees. If I get a chance, I’ll post the stuff up over the weekend.

As some of the murals have swasticas on them as well as a few artful nudes, can I be assured by our moderators that there will be no problem posting the pics here? Don’t want to cause offence and all that. 🙂

Dean

update

I have seen the BBC account of the March escape and I have just finished reading the book Come Out Wherever You Are about this escape.

The odd thing about it is that my Dad insists that some of the escapees where rounded up at sea..headed for Ireland…in a stolen tug (or tender).

Apparently they were discovered by search aircraft and finally apprehended by the Royal Navy (March 12 1945).

This event does not appear to be mentioned in either the book or the TV documentary.

Can anyone shed some light on this puzzle ???

Thanks,

Tom

More info..

Thanks for all the help.., I have yet to find any information about those escapees who stole a small ship from the harbour.

I didn’t see the TV production. Did anyone see it?
Was there any mention of the harbour incident?

Any idea of whom I might contact for more details?

Thanks
Tom

More information

Any idea about where the book can be obtained?

The title is

German POWs’ great escape revisited

Robin Turner, The Western Mail

It doesn’t seem to be available in Canada.

Thanks
Tom

I wondered that myself Daz – and they must have eaten a heck of a lot of condensed milk too!

Just read a bit of the story that was posted up – how the sh*t do you steal a table from a canteen without anyone noticing?! 😮

I believe the remains of the camp are still there and are now somesort of museum.

I agree with Dave – and this is one story I’d never heard before 🙂

At this late stage of the war I don’t think there was much in the way of punishment metered out, a couple days solitary at the most.

What an amazing story. There is definately a feature film in this. There is so much written about Allies escaping from German camps but you seldom come across anything of the other side doing the same thing, even if it were unsuccessful in the end.

I wonder if the recaptured prisoners were punished for the escape. At least they were not executed like many of those recaptured in the ‘other’ Great Escape.

I think there is a website about this, there was certainly a TV programme about it in the past 12 months.

Here you go, it was a channel 4 programme

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/heads/footnotes/greatescapes.html

German POWs’ great escape revisited

Robin Turner, The Western Mail

A bit more info

A NEW book by a Welsh author has detailed one of the most dramatic escape stories of World War II.

The “Great Escape” by 67 German POWs from Island Farm Camp in Bridgend was ended with a rugby tackle in Swansea.

A former Wales Youth trialist saw the last escapee walking along a road at Glais and tackled him to the ground.

The citizens’ arrest brought to an end the escape and the manhunt which followed for many days after the Germans tunnelled their way out of the Bridgend camp in March, 1945.

In the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the breakout, Aberystwyth-born journalist Herbert Williams, now living in Fairwater, Cardiff, has turned the dramatic events into a book.

Come out Wherever You Are (Gomer, £7.99) takes a close look at the prisoners who dug the 60ft escape tunnel and the hunt for them which galvanised the whole of Wales.

Even Girl Guides organised searches of woodland for the escaped POWs.

All the escapees were eventually recaptured with the most successful in terms of distance from the camp being two men who were caught near Southampton docks.

A group of other Germans were arrested near Birmingham Airport where they had planned to steal a plane to fly home.

The escape tunnel was cleverly engineered under the supervision of prisoners skilled in mining techniques.

It was shored up with props made from sawn-up tables stolen from the camp canteen.

A string of condensed milk tins served as an air line for the tunnellers with a primitive fan stuck into a bucket.

The escapees showed ingenuity when they left the perimeter of Island Farm.

Four men posed as Norwegian engineers to account for their accents and fashioned car keys out of nails.

They had planned to start a car they had seen regularly parked outside the prison camp but when they reached it the battery was flat.

Author Mr Williams, a former BBC producer and South Wales Echo feature writer, said, “Claiming to be Norwegians they cheekily asked some guards coming back to the camp after a night on the beer for some help.

“The guards helped them jump start the car and they roared off.

“These were the men that were captured near Birmingham Airport.

“Although their audacity helped them get out of Wales there was too much publicity generated by their escape and they were picked up as soon as they neared the airfield at Birmingham.”

The Germans in the camp were a mixture of those pleased to be out of the war and hardline SS stormtroopers.

On one occasion two naval officers who aired their doubts about Hitler were so badly beaten up by fellow POWs they had to be taken to Bridgend General Hospital for treatment.

When the escape took place, Britain’s national newspapers gave it front-page coverage for days.

The publicity meant everyone in Wales and in the border areas was on the lookout.

Mr Williams, 72, said, “There is evidence that Boy Scouts and even Girl Guides formed themselves into search groups.

“Anyone who looked in the least bit suspicious was stopped and questioned and because of their German accents it did not take long before all the POWs were recaptured.

“Probably the last escapee on the run was the man who laid low in Glais on the outskirts of Swansea.

“A man who had been involved in trials for the Welsh youth rugby team before the war showed a good turn of speed by running after the man after challenging him.

“He tackled him to the ground and the police arrived from Swansea.

“I remember the district reporter for the South Wales Echo in Bridgend telling me about the escape and I became so interested I decided to turn it into a book.”

I’ll have to ask him..I’m not sure if he was posted to a squadron at that time.

All I ‘m sure about is that he was with 10 Group at Fairwood Common.

Let me check into it.

Tom

What squadron was your father with when this happened?