T
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1949.
Continuing the extracts from 'THE__WOODEN HORSE,'
the most astonishing escape story of all time
HUNTED BY ARMED GUARDS AND DOGS
We search for a ship and are discovered:
Close escape
in the dark: First contact with the ‘Underground"
Having escaped by tunnel from their prison camp in Silesia, Peter Howard and John Clinton reach Stettin after three days' train travelling. It is late October, 1943, and they are disguised as French workers.
by ERIC WILLIAMS, M.C.
the 'Peter Howard' of the story. John Clinton lo In real life Michael Codner, M.C.
THAT
night in They were asked to show their
nolice
to be In permission Stettin they slept in a
Stettin, John showed the forged muddy air-raid shelter form giving them permission to in a garden. Next morning travel they took their first look at the docks, but meutral shipping.
KAW
no
Most of the bigger ships lay moored away from the qunyside.
"This isn't what I expreted," Peter sold. He realised then that he had not really thought
of the escape beyond the rail-
why.
He had always thought of the docks us being the objective, Now they were there, and the difficulties were just beginning,
"We must work out a plan," Peter said. "We want to get to Sweden. The unly way is to meet sailors and arrange with them to get us in a ship."
for his The proprietor asked
Lisen money in advance. And they were free to go to their room.
While Jolin washed, Peter
toolt out a map.
"It's the Freibaven dock we *
Railway station
DOCKS
STETTIN, town
and dock area
wart." he said, "There's where, sentry until they were right on the Swedish ships will be. The top of hime lock we were in this morning was all wrong."
The Frelhaven was protected by an 18ft, barbed wire fence, There were are lamps over the wire and armed guards at the gales. The place looked like a prison camp.
They walked slowly round the outside. Suddenly John caught Peter by the arm,.
the
FREIHAVEN DOCK surrounded by barbed wire
French prison camp
Rajherwerder coaling station
fis
It was easy getting in
Two officers gave a perfunc- timp. They had no difficulty tory "Tell Itler!" as they en-
the but to Then they stopped dead. He in finding
which tered. Thoy made straight for. and the table where Peter and John was standing looking at them. they had been directed,
Peler felt whispered, now they "Walk on.
were standing in a were sitting. John and walked on, ignoring the room full of Frenchmen and stomach contract. sentry,
smelling again the oclor of
officers But the
were not captivity..
looking for them. They wern and a colonel and a major, both carried black brief-cases.
"Italtr"
They stopped.
"Papers, please."
They took out their wallets and handed him the papers.
He looked at hem. He was middle-nged, and looked stupid. Apparently satisfed, he hand-
There was n silence when they came in. A sudden silence, and then a resuming of the conver- sution in a lower key.
John's contact of the morn-
the English-speaking
were Frenchman.
"Look- Swedish ship!" "We'll get on board tonight," John said. "We'll come backed back their wallets. He said i was there. He went out to They walked along the quays, after dark and climb aboard.", something in German and John And
then they "I don't like it" Peter said, replied. And looking at the men working.
There were Polish workers "I'd much rather try to get hold past him. with the yellow "P" on a of one of the crew ashore." brassard, Ükrainians and They spent the afternoon at Lithuanians with "OST" sten- the cinema. Peter snl there cilled on their clothes, and scores dreading the coming adventure. of Frenchmen wearing ur assori- ment of military uniform. All were under armed guard,
A SHIP
Bound for Sweden
S they walked along they
men, stooping, thin and weary, their feet tied in rags and the tattered remnants of Kreen their from uniform hanging backs.
A came to a group of haggard
Peter knew them to be Rus- alans. These men were barely alive.
So long as they kept on the move Peter and John felt safes enough in this polyglot crowd.
"Let's have a word with one
of them," Poler sald,
That evening, ore at a time, they climbed the fence, taking their feet slowly from the wire to stop it twanging.
When they reached the quay the Swedish ship had gone. It was dark and they had to use a torch to read the names on the ships. Suddenly they saw
ships, sud lyde them
a
Peter saw it first, "Look out, we've been seen!" And he ran towards the sea end of the quay.
There
whistle and shouting, and lights flashed out in front of them.
was n
Peter caught John's arm and between two turned sharply warehouses, where they crouch. barrels. Then ed behind some
What did he sny? Peter asked.
"He seemed bloody suspicious. He asked what all the shouting was about, and I told him some. one had fallen in the sea.
to
Peler felt resentment all Around him, but they stood, indifference, until simulating the English-speaking French man came to take them to his
room.
more
"Ife seemed amused. I think
The men here were we'd better get out of here."
They walked back the polite. They stood when John fence Climbing quickly and and Peter entered, and offered silently, they got down safely on them coffee and black German
ran, two bread. the other side and
blocks before they felt it was safe enough to stop and talk.
"So much for the docks!" Peter said.
"We were just unlucky." "Unlucky be damned! We were lucky not to be shoL"
A FRIEND Plan to meet
to see John they heard the sudden yelping PETER woke
stunding fully dressed, n of dogs.
over down
his beret pulled
"Hell, we've had it now!"
I've told you before, I don't John gripped Peter by the eyes like to talk to tisan. They'll arm and nodded towards their know I'm not one of them by my left. A German soldier with a Peter asked. accent. 11's dangerous:"-
"We shan't get anywhere un-
-storm-luntern-was-passing-them.
"Let's cut away."
They came.
less we take some sort of risk." out from behind the barrels.
Peter said. "Pick on one that's walking on his own and asle
len."
"Ask him what?"
"Just ask him if he can tell you where to stay for the night," "All right" Jolu said. "But I don't like "
They went down one of quiet roads
accosted und Frenchman.
Suddenly there was a guttural
"Halt!"
behind
them, They
"Where are you
"I'm noi--I've been.' "Where?""
Koing?"
"Down to the docks." "What on earth for?" "Well. I got down to
the
started running, expecting all the French comp just as they were time to hear the rifle crack and all streaming out to work. feel the impact of the bullet.
There were more shouts and
the dogs yelped again.
the
LAY HIDDEN
A
For 12 hours
There was a quick exchange of fast-sounding French and the Frenchman pointed down the rond.
"What asked.
"I think he guessed what we are," said John. "He gave me an address-the Hotel Schobel. He advised me not to stay there more than two days, because. If you do, they have to send your papers in to the police."
"O.K.,"
"Peter Bull. "let's Eu
did he say?" Peter
there.
The
out to be Frenchman turned the camp barber. He told them that the French were delighted that the English prisoners had escaped; they would have liked to help but there were the Germans.
English speaking
What do we do now? Peter thought. Do we stand up when they get here? Do we speak to them? Do we "Hell tier"
Is it done for foreign workers to cat at the some table as German officers? And he went on enting his brend.
The Gerinus sat down at the table. The colonel ordered colten and began to talks to the major.
The major opened his briet- caso and took out a bundle of papers. He put on a pair of rimless spectacles and begun to explain the papers.
and John looked at Peter raised his eyebrows. They rose without speaking and left the hotel.
'SCARED THEM' Two Frenchmen
AFTER trying severni dock- side cafes, they went into one that the French barber had told them was run by a Com- muust.
It was full of seamen drink- Ing beer.
They would be shot if they were caught. It was too bad. When John asked the barber whether he could make a con- tact among the Swedish sallors, he replied that he himself did not work in the docks.
Peter sat watching twa But he had friends there and Frenchmen in the opposite cor ho would find out from them. He sounded confident, but there was an atmosphere of fear..
It seemed to Peter that the French were anxious to get rid of them. They finally gave it and walked up as hopeless, back towards the town.
"So much for the
Freneli," "They're a dead
"I tasted on to a chap who Peter sald.
was alone. I asked him where
loss,"
that It
the Swedish boats were berth- ed, and he confirmed
IN
the Frelhaven. I asked him where the
Swedish allers go
In the evening. and he said
DUNNING hard, they came to either a house in Kleine Oder or the cates down raised some in Inches above the Grosse Lastacia Strasse, level of the ground. John dived
a chap in their under it, and F'eter followed, panting, panting so that he felt camp who speaks English. He his chest would burst.
safd if we go along there to- They lay listening. The sound night he'll have him there to
a concrete railway platform Strasse
"There's
of volees grew fainter, and Anni- neet us."
ly ceased altogether.
They lay under the platform
All thut afternoon they ex-
the for an hour and a half. Then blored the cafes round they came out. "Let's make our docks. way towards the fence." Peter suggested.
'HEIL' Shock at table
they TEXT morning
went down to the dining-room of the hotel.
A waitress brought a pot of coffee and two cups.
There was an old lady at the next table and on the far side of the room an elderly couple were studying the paper. At the centre table was a middle-aged man who look ed like a commercial traveller writing in an exercise book.
Peter relaxed and sat back
morning
und ner. They were young.
vital com- Jooked warm and pared to the Germans around- them.
Uranium found near Dartmoor jail
By CHAPMAN PINCHER
DARTMOOR. Out
at
Vixen Tor, a strangely weathered granite outcrop,
I struck uranium. Four milles to the east, Prince town Guol.scubs this barren moorland.
It is the first reported strike of the atomic metal on Dart- moor, according to the Govern- 'ment's Geological Survey."
I made the find in a one-day test of intricate equipment being supplied to miners prospecting for uranium in the Empire.
A thousand feet up at the tor's foot-where quarrymen have binsted into the granite-my
£00 worth of Instrumenta began. to reglater atomic rays.
The strength of the rays in- creased rapidly as I picked my way towards the red rock face,
Then I saw the enuse--a slant- In sulphur-yellow seam of uranium ore. Even water drip- ping from it was radioactive,
I chose Dartinoor for my pros pecting because its thinly soiled surface is uderlaid by the type of rock mast likely to bear uranlum-granite, forced from the carth's molien 1erior.
GEIGER
ICOUNTER
FURARION
BEARING
ROCK
LEAD TO
...BATTERY
VIXEN TOR
up
-
WIVES SOMETIMES
OBJECT TO LIFE INSURANCE
"The cheque that pays the bills."
WIDOWS
NEVER
DO
Why not make the neces sary arrangement now, with the Manufacturera · Life In- suranco to replace your earn- ing power, with sufficient monthly income to provide the necessities of life. for.. your family.
Please use coupon for full details
THE
MANUFACTURERS
INSURANCE
HEAD OFFICE
LIFE
COMPANY
(Established 1007) TORONTO, CANADA ASSETS EXCEED £90,000,000
Hong Kong, Windsor House. Tel. 34156-57. E. J. R. Mitchell.
Manager for South China:
Let me have Family Income Policy details without obligation
Arc
Address
Name
DEPI
SINCERES
STORE
SPRING TIME IS
SPORT TIME
GET YOUR SPORT EQUIPMENT
FROM OUR CHOICE RANGE
TO MENTION A FEW-
Slazenger & Dunlop Tennis Rackets
Sykes Badminton Rackets -
Sykes Cricket Outfits
D
- PROSPECTOR-PINCHER -A sulphur-yellow team.
Before setting out, I was taught how to use the sensitive prospecting gear devised by London research team, led by Major Arnold Groves,
D
Zig Zag Foot Balls
a
"They
They sat with their heads close together. I wonder what they'
about, y're talking
Peter thought.
"Just look at those two frogs behind you," lie sald.
John looked round.
do look a bit furtive, I think Il saunter over and have ม word with them."
CLICK, CLICK_
#
It consists of:—
He
walked
over, ordered beer, and talked for a few minutes. When he returned, he said; "I scared them out of their lives. They were planning to stow away In a Swedish ship, and I asked them if they could put me in touch
with
A Geiger counter-a black rectangular box containing electronic
which instruments pick up and count the highly penetrating gamma rays 'given off by uranium minerals.
A six-volt battery, which
Swedish sailors. They, thought I was a mem-
12 ber of the Gestapo. They've been trying to stow away for powers the counter. six months.
Money their 3 Special attachments for de-
was the
difficulty.
tailed examination of radio- "They said a pal of theirs active ores. As it grew dark it became
raved up forty marks, which more difficult. After tumbling on the seat. They found the Hotel Schobel,
prite arked by a full une
of
He glanced casually towards Swedish sallor, and the fellow quarry German large old-fashioned and shabby. They followed the railway, into
decided that it the door and stiffened sudden took it and handed him over to They were greeted by the pro- walking softly on the sleepers, soldiers they
Yes. There was an are
was time to go to the lamp *prietor, a stout German.
French ly as he saw German military the Germans." he had a double rooin.
points, but they failed to see a camp.
uniforms in. the foyer.
BERLIN
15
BRAC
TRAVEL
Berlin
RAILWAY
over
BERLIN
SPECIAL WELCOME
FOR FOREIGN MINISTERS
”......OH,WELL, IT'S JUST AN IDEA„....
World Copyright. Dy arrangement with Herning diandard,
"Where do they try to stow away?"
"Reiherverder coating sta tion. They've got passes. They know a chap who works down there.
tho About 100 yards from
turned on the counter until it clicked at 00 counts minute. This was the "back- ground count," caused by the mysterious cosmic rays which continually strike the earth from some unknown source in space.
Then I entered the quarry, raced "Apparently they worked al-
Immediately the counter
than 80 clicks ternate day
up to more and night shifts and when he's on nights he lets
minute. At the uranium-bearing them have his pass during the mineral called autunite, it regis- scam, which I recognised as a
tered more than 100.
a
"I wonder if we could get hold of one of the passes.
"I've fixed that. They're go-
1 chipped off fragmenta 'for more detailed examination. The ng to bring a couple along to- radioactivity was unmistakable. morrow. I thought perhaps you The counter registered 130 clicks could fake a couple of them a minute.
They don't look very elaborate aftalrs.
up.
That afternoon they changed thefr hotel, Anding another room after inquiries at several enfes.
This was the fifth day their freedom and they were
AND THEN RICHES?
Only a thorough survey by mining expert can decide whe- other the Vixen Tor uranium will bo worth working. Somewhere running short of money and deeper in the granite there may
tood,
Wartn
Although they wore
even be a deposit of pitch-blende the rich black uranium cro clothing they were Blways
from which autunkio is formed cold; the cold came from Inby gradual Weathering. cido, it was a coldness that only food would warm.
The constant stain was be. ginning to tell on their nerves. They found themselves arguing over the most obvious decl sions.
NEXT WEEK Stowaways
London Expresa Bervice
But my one day'a prospecting convinced me that in the vast granlie. masses of Devon, North Wales, Scotland, and the Lake District there must be hundreds of undiscovered pockets of radio-! active minerals.
Some of these may well-prove, rich enough to be worth" £300
ton to the Government.
-{London Ezpters Nurutca),
Laceless Basket Balls
Sandow Steel Chest Expanders
•
Kingston Roller Skates
10.
"Victory" Ping Pong Sets
0
"Bike" Supporters
"Portia" Eye Shades
THE SINCERE CO., LTD.
*
FOR THE GIRL
WHO MARRIED DEAN
OLD DAD
COMPACTS by Elgin American
Fay Mother the compliment of a thrilling new.. Elgin American compact--and witch her glowi
Elgin American's exquisite designing, fine jewelry
finish, and famous precision detailing will give her
pride a beautiful lift. The perfecs gilt, Obtainable at all Loading Stores, Sole Agents:
REUBEN IMPORT EXPORT CO. LTD. 513-17 China Bldg..
Tol. 22837
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.