the nearby Allied landings of Operation Dragoon earlier that morning, Union II bumped into a convoy of a dozen trucks transporting troops of the 15th Alpine Reserve battalion in the neighbouring village of Centron. Spotting the American jeeps, the convoy promptly disgorged several hundred troops to give battle.
The Americans split up into two parties, to facilitate exfiltration under fire. The Air Corps captain and the French officer were wounded; two others managed to escape by swimming across the ice-cold River Isère against a strong current. Ortiz ordered the two sergeants with him to make a run for it, leaving him to cover their getaway. They refused to leave him.
With the inhabitants of Centron pleading with him to surrender because Montgirod had been burned to the ground in reprisals after the mission’s confrontation there the previous day, Ortiz made a difficult decision. In his own words:
Since [our] activities were well-known to the Germans, there was no reason to hope that we would be treated as ordinary POWs. I had been involved in dangerous activities for many years and was ready for my number to turn up. Sergeant Bodnar was next to me and I explained to him what I intended to do. He looked me in the eye and said, ‘Major, we are marines. What you think is right goes for me too.’ 10
Ortiz called out in German several times that he wanted to surrender and then walked towards the encircling forces with machine-gun rounds hitting the ground by his feet until he was face to face with the commanding major, who agreed to accept the surrender and not take reprisals on the villagers. When only two more marines and the wounded men appeared from cover, he could not believe that so few men had held off a battalion and ordered every house in the village to be searched from cellar to loft before finally accepting that there were no more Americans in Centron. Ortiz seized the psychological advantage as the two uninjured sergeants were being disarmed by calling them to attention and ordering them to divulge only names, ranks and serial numbers as required under the Geneva Convention. Impressed by this show of discipline at a moment that should have been demoralising for the marines, their captors showed more respect.
Locked up in Marlag/Milag Nord POW camp for officers at Westertimke near Bremen, Ortiz was ordered by the senior naval officer, a Royal Navy captain, to desist from trying to escape because of the problems his attempts caused for the other prisoners. The troublesome Marine Corps major then constituted himself the senior American POW, announcing that he would set his own rules for escape and everything else. On 10 April 1945 orders were given to evacuate the camp and move the prisoners farther away from the approaching Allied spearheads. Ortiz and three others took advantage of the confusion when the marching column of prisoners was strafed by a marauding RAF Spitfire to escape into the woods. Ortiz later reported:
We spent ten days hiding, roving at night, blundering into enemy positions, hoping to find our way into British lines. Luck was with us. Once we were discovered but managed to get away, and several other times we narrowly escaped detection … By the seventh night, we had returned near our camp. I made a reconnaissance of Marlag. There seemed to be only a token guard and prisoners of war appeared to have assumed virtual control of the compounds. 11
By then, the escapers were in bad physical shape. On the tenth day after their escape, the four men decided it was better to chance their luck inside the camp, rather than starve to death outside. They walked back through the main gate, with the guards taking no notice, and were given a rousing welcome by a reception committee that included three men from the surrender at Centron. On 29 April, the British 7th Guards Division liberated the camp and Ortiz and his men immediately volunteered to take up arms again in the drive, as they thought, to Berlin.
The Americans split up into two parties, to facilitate exfiltration under fire. The Air Corps captain and the French officer were wounded; two others managed to escape by swimming across the ice-cold River Isère against a strong current. Ortiz ordered the two sergeants with him to make a run for it, leaving him to cover their getaway. They refused to leave him.
With the inhabitants of Centron pleading with him to surrender because Montgirod had been burned to the ground in reprisals after the mission’s confrontation there the previous day, Ortiz made a difficult decision. In his own words:
Since [our] activities were well-known to the Germans, there was no reason to hope that we would be treated as ordinary POWs. I had been involved in dangerous activities for many years and was ready for my number to turn up. Sergeant Bodnar was next to me and I explained to him what I intended to do. He looked me in the eye and said, ‘Major, we are marines. What you think is right goes for me too.’ 10
Ortiz called out in German several times that he wanted to surrender and then walked towards the encircling forces with machine-gun rounds hitting the ground by his feet until he was face to face with the commanding major, who agreed to accept the surrender and not take reprisals on the villagers. When only two more marines and the wounded men appeared from cover, he could not believe that so few men had held off a battalion and ordered every house in the village to be searched from cellar to loft before finally accepting that there were no more Americans in Centron. Ortiz seized the psychological advantage as the two uninjured sergeants were being disarmed by calling them to attention and ordering them to divulge only names, ranks and serial numbers as required under the Geneva Convention. Impressed by this show of discipline at a moment that should have been demoralising for the marines, their captors showed more respect.
Locked up in Marlag/Milag Nord POW camp for officers at Westertimke near Bremen, Ortiz was ordered by the senior naval officer, a Royal Navy captain, to desist from trying to escape because of the problems his attempts caused for the other prisoners. The troublesome Marine Corps major then constituted himself the senior American POW, announcing that he would set his own rules for escape and everything else. On 10 April 1945 orders were given to evacuate the camp and move the prisoners farther away from the approaching Allied spearheads. Ortiz and three others took advantage of the confusion when the marching column of prisoners was strafed by a marauding RAF Spitfire to escape into the woods. Ortiz later reported:
We spent ten days hiding, roving at night, blundering into enemy positions, hoping to find our way into British lines. Luck was with us. Once we were discovered but managed to get away, and several other times we narrowly escaped detection … By the seventh night, we had returned near our camp. I made a reconnaissance of Marlag. There seemed to be only a token guard and prisoners of war appeared to have assumed virtual control of the compounds. 11
By then, the escapers were in bad physical shape. On the tenth day after their escape, the four men decided it was better to chance their luck inside the camp, rather than starve to death outside. They walked back through the main gate, with the guards taking no notice, and were given a rousing welcome by a reception committee that included three men from the surrender at Centron. On 29 April, the British 7th Guards Division liberated the camp and Ortiz and his men immediately volunteered to take up arms again in the drive, as they thought, to Berlin.
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