I
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1947.
SECRET AGENT
I am betrayed and given ice torture
44 escape through a sewer
WILL tell you the story
of how the escape organisa-
which I was chief-planned and carried out the first mass ea- cape of the war.
"Pat" had organised auch a number of breakaways from St. Hippolyte de Fort, near Nimes, that the Germans de elded to move all prisoners to La Turbie, on the Italian bor- der.
To free men from this prison meant a journey of 250 miles across Occupied Europe before the prisoners even reached the escape zone on the beaches near Perpignan, or the sheltor of the Pyrenees
A number of the prisoners were on the point of being re- patriated to Britain via a neu- tral country when Paris was hombed for the first time, and as a reprisal, the men were sent to La Turbie:
DRUGGED Guards Among them was Squadron. Leader Whitney Straight.
Whitney Straight had been wounded in action, and on ar- rival at La Turbie mannged to persunde the prison doctor that he was in need of medical at tention.
So he was sent lo Nice military hospital promptly escaped by drug ging the guards and passed into our hand",
most He gave me
valuable in- formation about the prison layout at La Turbie, and it was perfectly ob- vious from this that no escape could be planned without some help from Inside,
But the position of the prison wng ep encouragement,
It stood on a hill and I discovered that the ma'n sewer pipe which was just large enough for a man to crawl through-came out on the
Email burk of a
stream near the foot of the hill.
If the prisoners could tunnel their way down into the sewer they had An escape route.
PRIEST AIDS
The next step was to make contart with the senior oficer in the camp.
He was Squadron-Leader Higgin- I contacted him through 1 son.
who Polish priest
was a regular visitor to the prison.
Higginson set to work with others, und four weeks Juter the tunnel connection with the swer was com- piric.
by.... Lieut.-Com.
PATRICK O'LEARY, G.C., D.S.O., RN.
The hirst cscape was on a small reate, and 'n reailly a rehearsal for the larger exploft to follow,
Higginson, with six other men gut enfely away.
HID IN TEA HOUSE
We hid them in Monte Carlo at # Scotch tea house run by Mrs Englishwoman to Trenchard, an whom many British and American pilots owed their freedom,
With the second, and much larger, escape sow imminent I radioed Lon.
I was informed by return that a British warship had been standing by the appointed rendezvous an that one of her boats had approached the bench.
I could only surmise that they had gon: to the wrong place, and ex- plained the fix we were in.
NAVY TO RESCUE
The Admiralty wasted no time, They instructed a worship to make
miles off the French coast,
don and arranged to have a ship nick at full speed for a position three the men up from the beaches near
Perpiman.
This meant an overland trip from La Turble, but we estimated that by in al-Into splitting the party-36 Bix groups we could get them cross country by night; hide them by day; and assemble them at a lonely beach bungalow on the tght arranged for the ship's visit,
I had six men at the sewer out fall, but stead of 30 prisoners 30 emerged.
TOO STOUT
The only unlucky man was a pilet named Moll, who was so stout that the gaps he couldn't get through that barred the mwer exit,
He had to be left, and was still try- through when the na to wriggle pollte rounded him up.
We did not get the whole 58 as far as the beaches. The French police and the Gestapo were everywhere, and 14 of the prison breakers were unlucky,
But we did get 44 safely across all of them dressed as country, elvilians and carrying complete sols of false identity papera.
We had the use of a small bun- galow near the beach, and tiere the 44 assembled on the appointed night for embarkation.
I hid myself in the sand dunes and hour -2 nm. French time- at zero gave the signal, the green flashes, But there was no answer, and at wn we were still waiting. dawn we
The same thing happened the next Bight,
ght, and again on the third night I cannot describe the
had been kept waiting on edge so long.
་
I raced back to Perpignan.
There was no mistake this time. Before dawn every man had bon taken off the beaches and put safely aboard a British destroyer.
now My own run of luck was
Without coming to
end. an warning, the owners af en bolel in Toulouse, one of our most useful hiding places, were arrested.
I was still wondering what to do when a man named Uhlmann came to see me.
My torturers saw that they were wasting their Ume, so they foreca hot coffee and cogne between iny teeth and then left me for an hour.
I would gladly have drunk a pint of it. but my Jawn' soomed almost locked, and it was hours before they would move freely anxi without pain.
Then two Gestapo guards set about beating me up.
I recovered conscioumess about eight o'clock next morning and an- other day'n'beating followed. Then I was flung into solitary confincmen!
A GREAT IDEA
The only thing I wanted to do was to lie in a clupor and let the hours roll by. And yet I knew that if I went on just refusing to talk I would almost certainly be beaten to death.
HAD to think up some way of Lalking without giving away end nelual scrap of information.
Then I had the great idea, an idea with all the simplicity of genius.
-
POCKET CARTOON [byOSBERT LANCASTER
13
***C'mon, Cedric this
where you shout your line about the kilden iɛoçream Darlours "ol your Young days and no modern child knowing what really good ice-cream tasted like."
BY THE
WAY
by Beachcomber
WE who care terribly about
deplore the shocking way in which the exclamation mark is being abused nowadays. (These 11.1 are exclamation marks.)
And I had it just in time for I was hauled out of my celi, packed into a prison van, and taken from Tou
There was a time when an ex- louse to Marseilles for on-the-spot clamation mark would be used
mark an ex- Interrogation by another Gestapo solely and properly chief.
clamation. Almost perfect specimens
this elegantly
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Before you start interrogating are "Tushi" and "Druti" and "What THE WEBSTER RECORD CHANGER me." I told him, "just let me say hol" Now, however,
I don't want to be beaten to fashioned
fashioned symbol is increasingly this death, so I've decided to talk.
attention, tu employed to attamet emphasise, to denote surprise, and read: knows what, We "But there's something I must ex-goodness
off!" or "Oklahomal" He was the Haison with Roger le plain to you." I went on. " you "His hat blew
It seems to me that literature in Paris know, this organisation was begun our Legionnaire,
on British lines--and that means racing DOWNHILL like a man on workers,
emphasis on security.
a bicycle with NO BRAKES! ! ! ! ! ! action.) (Next week: The Apostrophe in
one
nt
Uhlmann arranged a meeting be- tween Legionnaire and me in a Toulouse cafe.
We found le Legionnaire looking somewhat nervous, and we had a couple of drinks together,
GESTAPO TRAP
Just as I began to question him 1 felt cold steel press.ng at the nape of my neck. The Gestapo had overtaken me..
I was taken to their headquarters and stripped,
The searchers even found the tiny phial of potassium cyanide sewn into the hem of my jacket.
I was then stood against a wall with my hands over my head for began. I told them nothing
"So it's useless asking me hundreds of questions about our agents all over France--because I only know a Interruption handful of them-between 15 and 20 altogether,'
"That is reasonable." he remarked.
NOT CAUGHT OUT
In more than a fortnight of ques toning which usually began atļ light in the morning and ended at
not midnight—I was
caught out once,
on the title t
the
TH
TRUDGING happily round
Trust The People Exhibition, Mrs. Grasshopper spotted the poster message: "Lord Woolton wants you She said to her but dear, husband: Lord Woolton wants me on the telo- phone." Then she picked up one the three ristruments through which listeners can hear Lord Woolton's recorded speech.
I described minutely the agents 1! by ello," she called. "This 19....
pretended to know, but difference.
1
Lif...well...
1... yes, I know, but...of with one out
well, personally...1...I... This finished, she replaced the re- My descriptions were the exact ceiver and trotted back to Mr. Grasshopper. "I'm sorry I had to cpposite of the facts.
a man was tall I said he was leave you, dear," she said, "but I short; if fat, thin; If bearded, clean was talking to Lord Woolton on the
telephone."
of the 44 men who appointment five hours. Then the interrogation shavent it dark, blond und so 01.
I told them I had already carried out half a dozen of these operations without a hitch, and that there must
been some breakdown some
have
where.
As we could not possibly go on, hiding 44 men in one small bungalow tor long. I made for Marseilles and rudlord London,
MATTERS OF THE MOMENT
By "Candidus”
After it I was carried to a large refrigerator in one corner room, lifted in, and the door slammed,
of the
"We'll come and have a look at you in a few hours' time," said one. of my guards.
A painful, tingling sensation begun to creep over me as the blood, almosi literally, began lo freeze velus-
in my
And it all proved ridiculously easy, for I had only to picture the man in my mind and then describe him in reverse.
BEATINGS CEASE
All the answers
Roughly, describes our feelings
40
EGRET tinged with sadness. Thal, through about I gave details about scores of the day news came meeting places and appiled just our favourite Inquiry bureau closing down. For we were among their the same pilnciple.
inost enthusiastic clients. Many a morning we oulled up to ask them What (for example) had happened
our braces? And a low musical. nily: would
instant In the 15 days of questioning the voice.
reply
knob Germans get enough out of me to "They're compile
door, silly. Once, when sitting in St. James's Park, a stray Dalmatian dog sprang We a. Ot up and had
in our lap. immediately, and rang the bureau were advised to give the animal a promide tablet and then shut it in a dark, cool room all by itself.
* ̈75-paze“ dossier -on the bathrooming from ne
I will never forget the nightmares ramifications of our organisation- and about the only true statement in it was that describing me as the former chief.
I had then. I was running away before an avalanche of snow, and the faster I ran the closer and big- ger it became towering over me and threatening at every moment engult me.
SLOWLY THAWED
I realised someone was speaking to. me, though the valce. inundea
miles uwas.
.
p
Not one former member of "Pat" was rounded up as a result of my re- elations-but the Gormans seimed,
happy, and I received no more They once even told us who we beatings
were and why. Of course, we al Then, in April 1043, I was trans-ways naked to be put, through to ferred to Freanes Prison, near Milly, their senior girl. Paris, where I spent four months
centration
Neue-Brenni, camp near. Saarbrucken. -
From
portant Neue-Brenn we were event. sent to ually to the extermination camp at Mauthausen, near Linz, in Aus rin, where we stayed until released by the Allied Armies,
prɔ-
the
their
before being moved on to a con- Poets' strike bulletin
AM asked to
give undue minence to the following im
"When statement: Pucts' Amilated Federation met last nigh to discuss plans for coming strike, Shop Steward Gregori Flack, who led the Pastoral Section, was ejected for smacking the Chair- woman's face. This incident brose when she charged Flook with having only une foot in serious poetry and curd the o her in the greetings
WHEN 1 pointed out some deed an ever-recurring tople in
Then 1 become aware of Wlia' re- fact that it
frigerator door opening. An electric time ago that the Colony's Hongkong, and the
should be is surely significant re was glowing.
SQ
was put in front development was seriously re- and of some Importance. No writer of it and hud another hour of acuta tarded owing to the octopus likes to refer continually to the
pain as my Umba slowly thawed. like grip applied by the Ser- same subject, but until this Colony and much adopts the methods and systems vices on valuable needed building sites within the in force throughout the world, od-
verse comment must continue.. city and 'Kowloon areas, I was accused of exaggerating by re- What still puzzles me is (and I ferring to hundreds of acres so do not apologise for referring to held. I now admit that there the point again) that although
I dropped #deways in the chair. the Ardernes. there, are many deaths from rand was a little unintentional exag- accidents (almost daily), inquests water now dripping from my thaw- geration. (Actually, there are
ing hair. are the exception rather only 154 acres occupied)
I would say at a guess that The enlightening pians oublished less than five percent of road deaths In the S. C. M. Post on Thursday are subject to a coroner's Inquiry. revent beyond any dispute how much
Hongkong is handicapped by
+
rule,
than the
Services centrally located occupe- a report of the Saluries Com- tion. Whether in terms of hard mission has been sent to the cash or merely building sites, there
Set Secretary of State for the Colonles,
is no doubt that, tremendous assetr
are being wasted, and this state of although whether the cover
WOS
marked Urgent Top Priority" 1
sffairs should no longer be tolera cannot say
ted. Not only does the Colony need. There is no doubt that there is very
evory square foot of land for deve-
but diveminent requires widespread distress, Ifj Hongkong to
Copment,
especially among Government day, funds for the solution of many urgent servants, owing to the absurdly In- adequate scalo of pay. The result is
cription
grip", I find ment employees are endeavouring to that the dictionary defines "octopus" secure positions with
Some relax to my des- that from all departments, Govern-
commercial
an organisation or influence firms, and the result naturally tends inving for extended pawers" for "to reduce emciency...
"barri,'
Ste pastim!
•
The Anti-TB organisation is trying THE 'settlement of the Tramways to Impress upon the public how I labour problem without having dreads is scourge affects thousands to recourse to a striite reflects credit of the Colony'a inhabitants, and il is
It is especially safe to say that many more
this very moment falling victims to
on all concerned.
are att
gratifying to know that Hongkong this foul disease oving, to the fact Possesses a Labour Office which pro-
that they are compelled to huddle up vides not only a common meeting closer than over together, becauad
Is obviously their liablilty to moot the inflated but which naged and staffed by civil servants
with those great nitributes cost of living with the relativo pit- lence, tact and
If a few of our officials would ne There are two sides to avery, our company one of their humble glast
and it takes a mediator
(whether he be policeman, clerk or profound knowledge of human frailty once boy) when the day food
understanding.
of
tances received."
-
to be abió: to unite the diametrically bought take note of the quanuly, opposed, by discovering compro quntly and price; investigate his mise acceptable to bolasides. I take
rent; discuss such things 48 shoc off my hat.
pairs (now ones and impossible) clothes and necessities; put the total inst that monthly wage, the spati bf human pity might be kindled and romething done.
DURIN
URING the last week, only of the main topics has been traffic accidents and penalties. It is in
"What do you know about Pal?" it asked.
Now I am about to pick up, once more, the threads of life as a very ordinary doctor in a small town in
THE END
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ORDER HITS publication suspended since February
NEWSPAPER
sald negotiations are going on to request reconsideration of the ban. The paper pointed out that it is not a new publication but is resuming because of financial dificulties then. was understood that the editorial staff of the Wen Wei Pao, recently suspended by the Garrison-Com- mander's Headquarters for publica- The promoters of the Kuolion of "innccurate" military news, Min Wu Pao word ordered town to operate the Kuo Min Wu Pao. stop preparing for publication city nuthorlifes, however, dented by the Shanghai city author-that was the reason for the order. ties a few days ago
They asserted that the publication
It was explained that the order of paper was unnecessary since there Was Irsued in line with the ouster- are so many newspapers already in Ly" measures which prohibit the Shanghai,, At present, there
ara to uppearance of any nejy newspapers morning papers in Shanghai, Includ or periodicals within the hext 12 ing three English language papers, months in order to conserve news-and two, Russian papers. There are print, detta VS EN NAARE |wven evening papers, Including one The management of the paper English languago paper; and one confirmed receipt of the order hut Russian.