Five Frontiers to Freedom by Morphew Derek & Morphew Jeffery

Author:Morphew, Derek & Morphew, Jeffery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Derek Morphew Publishing
Published: 2011-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

With another whisky firmly gripped in my hand, I was shown into a splendid bathroom. Next to the bath was a spacious low table covered with everything I might conceivably need, all neatly laid out: shaving set, brush and comb, new tooth brush and paste, sponge, nail scissors and file and even a pumice stone. A plate of very succulent sandwiches was soon added to this array. Jeeves further produced aspirins to alleviate my numerous aches and pains.

What a bath! How I revelled in the hot water even though it made the scratches all over my body, including some bad ones I had sustained while wriggling through the wire, sting sharply. As for the sandwiches, no written word can describe them adequately. Sheer joy.

But still I ached in all my bones.

Meanwhile Jeeves not only cooked our supper but brushed and ironed my clothes and shined my shoes, which used to be boots, so that when I dressed for dinner I felt just fine. We enjoyed what was to me a fantastic feast, with steak and vegetables as the main course —all washed down with more whisky.

The consul had arranged for me to travel by train to Berne after dinner. Jeeves would accompany me until the ticket examiner had dealt with my ticket, then he would get off and catch another train back to Lugano, leaving me on my own. They said that once my ticket had been punched no other official would be likely to trouble me.

I nevertheless worried over the possibility of being apprehended by the Swiss because I had learned in Lugano that the penalty for being caught as an illegal immigrant was 10 to 15 days in jail, but that their jails were good, with ample food, so that even being arrested would not be disastrous. The 10 to 15 days was the time required to wade through the diplomatic red tape: the Swiss would, by using the correct channels, protest to Britain about my being in Switzerland illegally, then the British, in their turn, would make representations for my release.

I was told there were Swiss internment camps containing British and French soldiers who had sought refuge there after the collapse of France. They had been interned because they had arrived in uniform, whereas several British POWs who had escaped from Germany but had arrived in mufti were living the lives of relatively free men. However, they had all done their short stretch in jail, having either been caught by the Swiss or having handed themselves over to them as the two New Zealanders, Hargest and Miles, did when they arrived from Italy four weeks after me, thus bringing to three the number of escapes to Switzerland from Mussolini’s Italy. The fact that I was the only one who steered clear of even the Swiss authorities gave me added satisfaction.

After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943 under Marshal Badoglio, the prison gates were opened and many POWs made for the hills and managed to reach Switzerland but, because of a confusion of orders and information, many stayed in camps.

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