Escape to Freedom: An Airman's Tale of Capture, Escape and Evasion by Tony Johnson

Author:Tony Johnson [Johnson, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027100: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781783379101
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2009-04-18T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

V2 ROCKET TESTING AT PEENEMÜNDE

A very talented drama society was formed in the camp and it provided popular entertainment by staging many of the successful West End plays. There were a few budding Kriegie actors even before the air force obtained their services, Donald Pleasance and Peter Butterworth being but two who improved their thespian skills by entertaining fellow Kriegies, and would play to a much wider audience in the postwar years.

The theatre stood alone in the Lager used for sport and parades. When a show was running, the final curtain was run down to enable appell to be completed and everybody was locked in the barrack blocks before dark. As with the boxing contests, the goons were always in attendance and occupied the front seats, tending to patronize the shows rather than to pop into Barth town during their leisure hours. Barth was reputed to have the highest incidence of venereal disease in the Third Reich, and Kriegies applauded the prostitutes and brothel keepers in our neighbouring town for their wonderful contribution to the war effort and trusted they would keep up the good work.

One morning following a show, Hauptmann von Miller addressed the parade to tell it that two foolish Kriegies had been caught trying to escape during the night. That they had not been shot in the attempt was an act of providence and as a punishment they would serve a long period of solitary confinement in the cooler. Even as von Miller was speaking, the two Kriegies concerned, ‘Butch’ Reynolds and his combine partner, ‘Burglar’ Bill, could be seen in the Vorlager waving and yelling to us from their cell windows. We gave them a loud cheer as the goon officer was trying to make the point that anyone attempting to escape in the future took the risk of being shot on sight.

‘Burglar’ was yet another soldier who had at sometime or other changed identities, but was now trying to get out of a cage when he could have dodged away from an outside working party. He was from the East End of London, and insisted that he was a burglar by profession in civvie street and this was not his first time in prison. One had only to look at ‘Burglar’ to know he was telling the truth.

When they were released from the cooler, ‘Butch’ gave the following account of the incident. During the stage show the intrepid pair managed to conceal themselves in drums of lime in the theatre storeroom. The drums were large and were almost empty of the lime used as a disinfectant in the camp latrines. They waited until the theatre emptied and the parade had been counted and dismissed before they emerged from their hiding places. It got dark and the camp settled down. There was a logical explanation as to why the drums were not checked by the goons. They must have considered that no one but a madman would hide in a drum of caustic powder and they were probably right in this instance.

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