guards an overall view of the camp and enabled them to spot any unauthorised movement by the inmates. Between the ‘Goon’ towers, as the prisoners called them, guards patrolled day and night.
It was to this camp that Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams and Captain Michael Codner came. Williams and Codner had been inmates of another prisoner of war camp and had escaped, but had been recaptured in Poland. They immediately started to make plans to escape again, as most of the other inmates did, but soon realised that this camp was not going to be an easy one from which to gain freedom.
The location of the barracks in relation to the outer perimeter wire made the idea of tunnelling out of the question. A number of tunnels had been tried and failed, but if they could find a way of making a tunnel shorter, then it would be feasible. Ideas for escape were always welcome and would be given consideration by the escape committee. If they merited further investigation then plans would be put into action to see if they were feasible or not. Most were dismissed out of hand because they were either too complicated or too bizarre. There were also the ‘ferrets’ – German soldiers who constantly searched the camp looking for clues that might lead them to an escape attempt. At night they would even climb over the perimeter wire so as to enter the camp without anyone knowing. Then they would look and listen for any information that might help them. Some even had a sense of humour and would report to the ‘duty pilot’ as they left. This was a prisoner whose job it was to watch the main gate constantly and report who went in and who went out.
Then one of the major tunnels that were being started in the washhouse was discovered. It was an ingenious idea because the washhouse was in constant use and watch could be kept on the guards without attracting attention. A section of the brick floor had been removed and a shaft dug. The lid to the tunnel consisted of a wooden frame with bricks attached that could be placed over the hole at a moment’s notice. It was during constant searching about by the ‘Ferrets’ that it was discovered after the prisoners had dug a tunnel some 40ft towards the wire.
It was Eric Williams who came up with the idea of a ‘Trojan Horse’. His plan was to build a vaulting horse 4ft 6in high with sloping sides down to a base 5ft long and 3ft wide. The top would be padded with bedding, and there would be four slots in the sides, which were constructed from Red Cross tea chests, and which enabled two poles to be inserted to carry it out into the compound.
The idea was that the ‘horse’ would be carried out into the compound and placed at a predetermined spot. Inside the horse would be one of the inmates who would then start burrowing down. There would be a rota of ‘diggers’ and they would dig down to a depth of 5ft and then dig a further 70ft to beyond the wire. The German guards, conscious of anything out of the usual, looked upon the project with deep mistrust. After all, every one of the prisoners was a known escapee from other prisoner of war camps, and so it was felt it was in their nature to try and escape.
The escape committee met and after a long and detailed discussion decided to give it a try. A lot had to be considered, after all, what were they to do with the earth that was removed from the tunnel? Arrangements had to be made to disperse the soil in such a way that it wouldn’t be spotted by the guards. Dumping it under the barracks was out of the question, as the guards made regular examination of the ground beneath the barracks, and they would soon spot any additional sandy soil deposited there.
Eric Williams and Michael Codner set to work ‘acquiring’ the tools required to build the horse. The materials for building the horse came from the partially finished shower block that the Germans had been in the process of constructing for the past eighteen months. During the night, guards with
It was to this camp that Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams and Captain Michael Codner came. Williams and Codner had been inmates of another prisoner of war camp and had escaped, but had been recaptured in Poland. They immediately started to make plans to escape again, as most of the other inmates did, but soon realised that this camp was not going to be an easy one from which to gain freedom.
The location of the barracks in relation to the outer perimeter wire made the idea of tunnelling out of the question. A number of tunnels had been tried and failed, but if they could find a way of making a tunnel shorter, then it would be feasible. Ideas for escape were always welcome and would be given consideration by the escape committee. If they merited further investigation then plans would be put into action to see if they were feasible or not. Most were dismissed out of hand because they were either too complicated or too bizarre. There were also the ‘ferrets’ – German soldiers who constantly searched the camp looking for clues that might lead them to an escape attempt. At night they would even climb over the perimeter wire so as to enter the camp without anyone knowing. Then they would look and listen for any information that might help them. Some even had a sense of humour and would report to the ‘duty pilot’ as they left. This was a prisoner whose job it was to watch the main gate constantly and report who went in and who went out.
Then one of the major tunnels that were being started in the washhouse was discovered. It was an ingenious idea because the washhouse was in constant use and watch could be kept on the guards without attracting attention. A section of the brick floor had been removed and a shaft dug. The lid to the tunnel consisted of a wooden frame with bricks attached that could be placed over the hole at a moment’s notice. It was during constant searching about by the ‘Ferrets’ that it was discovered after the prisoners had dug a tunnel some 40ft towards the wire.
It was Eric Williams who came up with the idea of a ‘Trojan Horse’. His plan was to build a vaulting horse 4ft 6in high with sloping sides down to a base 5ft long and 3ft wide. The top would be padded with bedding, and there would be four slots in the sides, which were constructed from Red Cross tea chests, and which enabled two poles to be inserted to carry it out into the compound.
The idea was that the ‘horse’ would be carried out into the compound and placed at a predetermined spot. Inside the horse would be one of the inmates who would then start burrowing down. There would be a rota of ‘diggers’ and they would dig down to a depth of 5ft and then dig a further 70ft to beyond the wire. The German guards, conscious of anything out of the usual, looked upon the project with deep mistrust. After all, every one of the prisoners was a known escapee from other prisoner of war camps, and so it was felt it was in their nature to try and escape.
The escape committee met and after a long and detailed discussion decided to give it a try. A lot had to be considered, after all, what were they to do with the earth that was removed from the tunnel? Arrangements had to be made to disperse the soil in such a way that it wouldn’t be spotted by the guards. Dumping it under the barracks was out of the question, as the guards made regular examination of the ground beneath the barracks, and they would soon spot any additional sandy soil deposited there.
Eric Williams and Michael Codner set to work ‘acquiring’ the tools required to build the horse. The materials for building the horse came from the partially finished shower block that the Germans had been in the process of constructing for the past eighteen months. During the night, guards with
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