The First Great Escape - Part 3

… At the same time, the German officer on guard was looking in that direction and must have seen the white flag. However he turned and walked the other way as if nothing had happened. To this day we don’t know why the guard did this. Maybe he genuinely didn't seen the flag or more likely, he was one the guards who had been bribed and was helping the prisoners. If this was the case he would want to help the prisoners for as long as possible to ensure he still got a supply of food for himself and his family.

They couldn't tunnel the further distant to reach the point of exist, it was harvest time and the escape needed to take place as soon as possible. The stakes where high. They could be on their way back home within a month, possibly with a hero’s welcome and maybe even going back to the front line to help fight again. However it was more likely that they would be captured and could either be sent back to the camp and punished or could even be shot.  The only possible exit route they could take would be under the cover of darkness, running through a few rows of beans.

On the 23rd July 1918 at 10pm the escape began. Lieutenant Walter Butler was first on the list to escape and see if the coast was clear for the rest. In the tunnel he went along with a bread knife to bread ground. It took a hour but eventually, Walter saw the light, climbed out of the tunnel and ran. By 11.30 the first eleven prisoners had escaped through the tunnel and were swimming across the river Visa. It had previously been decided that those who had put the post work into the escape such as the trio that had planned it, would be higher on the list and therefore had a greater chance of escaping. 

By 4.30am 29 officers of the 83 total on the escape list had crawled out of the tunnel. Just as the thirtieth prisoner was nearing the exist, the tunnel caved in. Behind him were three more prisoners which he needed to tell to move back so that they could exist. However with out the noise and dust doing so was difficult and they began to suffocate. Eventually it was understood what needed to happen and the last two to enter the tunnel slowly made their way back to the entrance. However by 6am, there were still two prisoners stuck in the tunnel. They would have to stay there whilst the others went back to the barracks ready for morning inspection. 

After the inspection, the prisoners returned to the entrance of the tunnel and helped to get the two trapped prisoners out. They had no option but to return to the barracks, unable to escape. They carried on as usual in the hope to not raise suspicion so that those that had escaped would have a chance to succeed.

In fact the camp guards were so oblivious to what had happened that it wasn't until later that day, when some angry farmers turned up at the camp gates because their crops had been trampled on, that the alarm was raised. The exist point was found straight away and the prisoners were told to dig up the tunnel.  A large man hunt was launched and a reward given to any prisoner found and brought back. School children were given the day off to help look for them. 

However, the escapees had been on the run since before 4.30am when the tunnel had collapsed and should have had plenty of time to vacate the nearby area so long as they went in the right direction. They had split up into groups of two or three as twenty-nine men walking the streets would have been obvious.  Within days, nineteen of the escapees had been captured, brought back to camp to face trial and be placed in solitary confinement.

Yet there were still ten escapees where still on the run. Probably one of the most ingenious stories of the escape was the story used by the original trio - Blain, Kennard & Gray. One of them spoke excellent German, one spoke moderate German and one didn't speak any German. They decided their best option was to stick together and to deter the locals from who they really were, they came up with a story…

… The escapee that spoke no German was ’mentally insane’ and the other two had been tasked with taking him to a mental hospital. This was at a time when mental health causes where unknown and many people feared that you could catch insanity. This meant that once the story had been explained, people tried to stay out of the way and they were able to pass through towns and villages without further questions. They created a small act whereby the ’lunatic’ would have a fit and be screaming, whilst the other two would pin him down and give him a tablet, which would then make the ’lunatic’ calm down so they could carry on their journey. 

Three weeks after the escape had taken place the last of the prisoners not captured reached Britain to a well deserved heroes welcome. They had beaten the odds and managed to outwit the Germans. This was The First Great Escape.