Shot from the Sky by Cathryn J. Prince

Author:Cathryn J. Prince [Prince, Cathryn J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612513478
Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Even today, with full knowledge of the camps and the harsh penalties meted out to those who tried to escape, some in Switzerland still contend that the government winked at American escape attempts. At the time a popular saying in Switzerland was: “For six days a week Switzerland works for Nazi Germany, while on the seventh it prays for an Allied victory.”

Nothing could have been further from the truth. The authorities took strong measures to prevent the fliers from breaking out the moment they entered Switzerland.

On arriving at the internment camp, airmen were forbidden to leave their quarters for two weeks save for meals and one hour of exercise a day under armed guard. After the quarantine period ended they could roam the village streets, within limits. But those who ventured past the posted limits risked being shot by the Swiss guards.

Although the guards were supposed to call “Halt” three times before firing, some internees wounded by Swiss gunfire reported that the command and the firing occurred simultaneously. First Lt. George D. Telford of the 44th Bomb Group reported that when he tried to escape, the Swiss soldier shouted “Halt” and fired without waiting to see if he did.11 The bullet pierced Telford’s left leg just above the ankle. Fortunately, it was a clean wound and no bones were broken.

First Lt. Francis L. Coune, who escaped with Telford, witnessed the shooting. “As we were running, a Swiss guard stepped out of the bushes and hollered halt and fired at us. Lt. Telford was hit in the left leg but we were already on the French side of the road and near the wire, so all three of us tried for the wire. We all got tangled in the wire and got scratched up some but the Swiss guard couldn’t get us as we were then on the French side. We bandaged Telford’s leg and hiked across the fields to a road.”12

Brigadier General Legge of the U.S. legation in Bern, not generally a favorite among the internees, sent a memo to Colonel Divisionnaire Dollfuss of the Swiss Internment Service trying to put a stop to the practice.13 Apparently a Colonel Rudolph had issued the order for Swiss guards to fire on American personnel attempting to escape after the first—not third—order to halt. Although Dollfuss indicated to Legge that Rudolph did not have the authority to issue such an order, U.S. camp commanders confirmed that such orders had been issued verbally at each camp. Legge eventually succeeded in having the order to shoot on first “Halt” rescinded.

Airmen apprehended while trying to escape were first imprisoned in city or town jails similar to medieval dungeons in structure and style. After a military tribunal, if one was convened, the escapee then found himself on a train bound for one of three penitentiary camps: Les Diablerets, Hünenberg, or Wauwilermoos. In most of the penitentiary camps the Swiss guards confiscated the shoes of the Americans each night to impede nighttime escapes—even in the middle of the winter.

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