The Diggers of Colditz by Jack Champ

Author:Jack Champ
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia

6

Some Intrepid Internationals

WITHIN A FEW WEEKS of our arrival at Colditz the French, Poles, and the remainder of the Dutch contingent left. But the French had left us a legacy; they had been working on a scheme to use the underground drains as a means of escape. Frank Weldon paid us a visit and asked if we would be interested in joining a party from Eichstätt to work on it. We said we would, and asked what it entailed. Apparently it was considered possible that a tunnel could be dug from the drain in the courtyard across to another drain, the existence of which was known, and this might go clear to the outside of the castle. It was quite a long shot, but worth a look.

A few days later I found myself in the drain with Weldon. It was dirty, stinking work, and I was not sorry when the time came to surface. I only went down that drain three times, and a few weeks later, after it was firmly established that the plan was not feasible, the scheme was abandoned. This rather forlorn effort was my only attempt at any form of escaping from Colditz.

With the departure of the other Nationals from Colditz we were moved over to the west wing of the castle, which was to be our home for the remainder of our time there.

Located on the second floor, we had quite good facilities. We even had a separate room in which to eat, as well as a separate kitchen with a large stove. Here the three of us joined up with Douggie Moir (Royal Tank Regiment), Bruce MacAskie (Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment), Mike Wittet (Royal Scots), Alan McCall (Cameron Highlanders) and Micky Farr (Durham Light Infantry). The eight of us, including Mark and Rex, messed together for the next eighteen months – quite a feat in Colditz, where petty disagreements usually caused a mess to break up after only a few months.

* * *

Despite our experience of earlier prison camps there was obviously a lot we had to learn about life within the walls of Colditz. The ancient castle undoubtedly had a long and involved history, but most of our interest involved finding ways of getting beyond those forbidding walls. As a topic of conversation, it beat griping about meagre rations, cold showers and constant searches. Therefore it was not too long before we were being treated to sessions of entertaining stories concerning earlier attempts by the departing Frenchmen and other nationals to break out from the supposedly ‘escape-proof’ fortress prison. Some were brilliantly conceived and executed while others ended in dismal failure. A few proved to be amazingly successful.

The first person to escape and make it all the way home was French Lieutenant Alain LeRay. In April 1941, as a group of French prisoners were being marched back into the castle from an outside exercise area, LeRay hurriedly concealed himself in a doorway at the base of a building known as the terraced house.

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