ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE
When we had been a few days at the fort, and had had time for a good
look round, Room 45 formed themselves into an escaping club. That is to
say, our ideas and discoveries would be common property. If possible, we
would all escape together; but if the way out was only for two or three,
the rest would help those selected to go to the best of their ability.
It was universally agreed that Fort 9 was the toughest proposition that
any of us had yet struck. The difficulty was not so much the material
obstacles, but the suspicious nature of the Germans.
Medlicott and Oliphant, as the most experienced prison-breakers, came to
the conclusion that it was absolutely necessary to have more accurate
knowledge of the numbers, positions, and movements of the sentries on
the ramparts and round the moat at night than we already possessed. For
this purpose it was decided that one of us must spend a night out. It
was no job to be undertaken lightly. It meant a fifteen-hours' wait on a
freezing night. For the first three and the last three hours of this
time it would be almost impossible to move a muscle without discovery.
And discovery meant a very excellent chance of being stuck with a
bayonet. Besides this, there were two _Appells_ to be "faked"--the
_Appell_ just before sunset and the early morning one. There was no
_Appell_ at 9 o'clock in those days. Our rooms were separated from one
another by 3-foot thick walls, but in these walls were archways leading
from one room to the other. These archways were blocked up by boarding,
and formed recesses in each room which were usually employed as
hanging-cupboards for clothes, coats, etc. Under cover of these we cut a
couple of planks out of the wooden barrier and made a hole so a man
could slip through quickly from one room to the other. These planks
could be put back quickly, and it would have needed a pretty close
examination to have discovered where the board was cut, once pictures
had been pasted over the cracks and coats had been hung up in front.
There was some difficulty at first in obtaining the necessary tools for
the work. The first plank we cut through with a heated table-knife, but
for the second one we managed to steal a saw from the German carpenter
who was doing some work in one of the rooms, and return it before he
missed it. It must not be forgotten that there was absolutely no privacy
in the fort, and that a sentry passed the window and probably stared
into the room every minute or two. A special watch had to be kept for
him, and you had to be prepared at any moment to look as if you were
doing something quite innocent. Room 43 was inhabited by Frenchmen, but
as usual in Fort 9 they were quite willing to help us. We practiced the
trick many times till every one was perfect in his part. The rehearsals
were most amusing. One of us pretended to be Abel doing _Appell_. First
he tapped at the door of 43 and counted the men in the room, shut the
door and walked about 7 paces to the next door, tapped and entered.
Between the time Abel shut one door till the time he opened the next,
six to eight seconds elapsed. During those seconds it was necessary for
the Frenchman to slip through the hole, put on a British warm (we lived
in coats in the cold weather), and pretend to be Oliphant. Abel knew
every man by sight in every room; but, as long as he saw the requisite
number of officers in each room, he did not often bother to examine
their faces. After we had done it successfully, several other rooms
adopted the method, and the "faking" was done a very large number of
times before the Germans discovered it four months later.
The early morning _Appell_ was really easier. For several mornings the
fellow in the bed nearest the hole made a habit of covering his face
with the bed-clothes. Abel soon got used to seeing him like that, and,
if he saw him breathing or moving, did not bother to pull the clothes
off his face. The Frenchman had simply to run from his bed, bolt through
the hole and into the bed in our room, cover up his face, and go through
the motions of breathing and moving his legs sufficiently but without
overdoing it. All this had been practiced carefully beforehand. We had,
of course, enormous fun over these preparations, stealing the saw and
cutting the planks, pretending to be Abel doing _Appell_, and all the
time dodging the sentry at the window. This sort of amusement may seem
childish, but it was the only thing which made life tolerable at Fort 9.
We cast lots as to which one of us was to sleep out. It fell to
Oliphant. I own I breathed a sigh of relief, as I did not relish the
job. The next thing to do was to hide him outside on the ramparts. The
place was selected with great care, and was behind one of the traverses
up on the ramparts on the south side, for our idea was for some or all
of us to hide up there and swim the moat on the south side one dark
night. Medlicott and Milne dug a grave for him, whilst Fairweather and I
kept watch. Just before the _Appell_ bell went we buried him and covered
him with sods and grass. Of course he was very warmly clad, but he had a
pretty beastly night in front of him, as it was freezing at the time. It
was about 4.30 p.m. when he was covered up, and he would not get back to
our room and comparative warmth till 8.15 next morning, when the doors
were opened. The evening _Appell_ went off splendidly, but the night was
brighter than we had hoped, and we were rather anxious about him.
There was some anxiety also about the morning _Appell_, as we could not
be quite certain which way Abel would take the _Appell_, up or down the
passage: that is to say, which room, 42 or 43, would he come to first?
It made all the difference to our arrangements. By careful listening we
found out which way he was coming, and when he poked our substitute, who
groaned and moved in the oft-rehearsed manner, we nearly killed
ourselves with suppressed laughter.
About an hour afterwards, just as we were going out to cover his
retreat, Oliphant suddenly walked in, very cold and hungry but otherwise
cheerful. He had had quite a successful night, and had gained pretty
well all the information we wished for. The bright moon had prevented
him from crawling about very much, but he had seen enough for us to
realize that it would be a pretty difficult job to get through the
sentries and swim the moat even on a dark night.
Although we temporarily abandoned this scheme, owing in the first place
to the difficulties which we only realized after Oliphant's expedition,
and secondly because "faking" _Appell_ was a very chancy business for
more than two people, we nevertheless made the most careful preparations
to escape at the first possible opportunity. Several schemes were
broached. One of these schemes I always considered a good one. In the
low and flat country in which the fort was situated very thick fogs used
to come down quite suddenly. As soon as it became foggy all the
prisoners had to come into the fort and the doors of the courtyards were
shut. Our idea was either to wait outside carefully hidden when the
order was given to come in, or to have some method of getting into the
courtyard in foggy weather; in either case we thought it would not have
been a difficult business to cross the narrow moat on the north side
during a fog in the day time. At night time there were sentries in the
courtyards and on the ramparts, as well as three in front of our
windows. In the day time there were none in the courtyards or on the
ramparts, and only one in front of our windows. The difficulty was to
get into the courtyards after we had been locked up. I climbed up a
ventilator several times to see if it were not possible to cut our way
out there, but the more one went into the details the more difficult it
seemed.
In the meantime we went on with our preparations: map-copying (which was
Fairweather's department), rations and equipment (of which Medlicott and
Oliphant were in charge), intelligence department as to movements of
sentries and habits of Huns (which was my job). Boots, socks, grease,
home-made ruecksacks, concentrated food and the correct amount of meat
and biscuits for a ten days' march, maps, compasses, the route to
follow, and numerous other details were carefully prepared, and the
material hidden. We thought that it was unlikely that a larger party
than four would be able to go, and Medlicott, Oliphant, Fairweather, and
myself were selected to be the first party to try if anything turned up.
The next bit of excitement was the escape of Kicq and party. This
happened when we had been in the fort about a month. Early on Kicq had
left Room 45 and gone into a French room, 41. One afternoon he asked me
if I would help him to escape, which I agreed to do. His idea was to
dress up as a German N.C.O., and with six Frenchmen and a Belgian named
Callens to bluff themselves out of the main gate at about 6.30 in the
evening. The scheme seemed to me almost impossible--but Kicq was
enthusiastic about it, and persuaded me that it would probably come off,
if only because it was so improbable that any one would attempt such a
thing. There were three sentries and three gates and a guardhouse to
pass, and the real danger was that, if they passed the first sentry and
gate and were stopped in front of the second, they would be caught in
the outer courtyard at the tender mercy of two angry sentries, and in my
opinion would stand an excellent chance of being stuck with a bayonet.
However, Kicq realized that as well as I did; and, as it is for every
man to judge the risks he cares to take, I promised to do my part, which
was quite simple.
About 6 p.m. I went into Room 41, and there they were all dressing up
and painting their faces, etc., as if for private theatricals. Kicq was
excellent as a German Unteroffizier. He had made a very passable
pork-pie cap, of which the badge in front is very easy to imitate by
painted paper. He had a dark overcoat on to which bright buttons, which
would pass in the dark as German buttons, had been sewn, and he had a
worn-out pair of German boots which had been given to one of the
orderlies by a German. Some of the others had on the typical red
trousers--but any sort of nondescript costume will do for a French
orderly. They were timed to go as soon after 6.30 p.m. as the road was
clear, and it was my job to give the signal. I was pleased to be able to
report that I had never seen the sentry, who was on duty at the main
gate, before, and it was most unlikely that he knew any of their faces.
I stood about opposite the packet office, and Abel came along the
passage and went in. Looking through the keyhole I saw that he was busy
in there near the door and might come out at any moment. I reported
this, and the whole party came and stood in the dark turning of the
passage by the bathroom, from where they could watch me peering through
the packet office keyhole. At last I saw Abel sit down at his table and
begin writing, so I gave the signal. Immediately a whole troop of French
orderlies, carrying mattresses, blankets, and bedding on their heads,
came clattering down the passage, laughing and talking to one another in
French. A German N.C.O. was among them, and as he went along he collided
with a German-speaking Russian, a great friend of ours known as Charley,
who naturally cursed his eyes out in German. Kicq took no notice, but
going just ahead of his orderlies he cursed the sentry at the main gate
for not opening the door more quickly for them, and stood aside counting
them as they went out. One fellow came running down the passage a bit
after the others--Kicq waited for him and then went out after them, and
the door closed.
I waited most anxiously for any noise which would show that things had
gone wrong. But after ten minutes it seemed certain that they had got
clear away.
After half an hour of subdued rejoicing in the fort, for by that time
the story had gone round, we suddenly heard an awful commotion among the
Huns. The guards were turning out at the double, clutching their rifles
amid a regular pandemonium of shouts and orders, and the roar of the
Commandant could be heard above the tumult. We turned out into the
passages to see the fun. The C.O. was raving like a maniac. The minute
he caught sight of us laughing at him he brandished his fists and
shouted at us to go to our rooms. Oliphant and I started to argue that
the bell had not gone and therefore we need not go to our rooms, but he
told off a sentry, who drove us back at the point of the bayonet,
Oliphant protesting in his worst German, "Sie duerfen nicht so sprechen
mit ein English Offizier."
We cheered like mad and sang the Marseillaise and "On les aura"--in
fact, celebrated the occasion to the best of our ability.
What happened as soon as the party got outside the first door, Kicq told
me afterwards. The second obstacle they had to pass was the gate which
barred the roadway over the moat. This the sentry opened for them
without a word, whilst Kicq trod on his toes to distract his attention.
As they passed the guardhouse in the outer court several men came out
and shouted at them, but they were unarmed, and Kicq & Co. paid no
attention. The outer gate consists of a double door which they knew
would pull open without being unlocked, once the bar was removed. They
got the bar off and tore open the gate, and found a sentry waiting for
them with a rifle and fixed bayonet outside. "Wer kommt dann hier?" said
he. Kicq was out first, and holding up his hand said, "Ruhig, einer ist
los!" (Be quiet, a prisoner has got away), and rushed past him into the
darkness. Without giving the sentry time to recover his wits, the rest
pushed past, throwing their mattresses, etc., on the ground at his feet,
and disappeared. Kicq and Decugis went on together for a bit, thinking
that the rest must have been held up and expecting to hear shots. Then
they saw other figures moving near them in the darkness and thought at
first they were Germans searching, but found they were the rest of the
party. It was not for some minutes afterwards that the alarm was given;
but the whole party, after nearly running into a sentry on a neighboring
fort, managed to get away from their pursuers. After a terribly hard
eleven days' march they were all caught near the frontier. It was in the
middle of winter, and they suffered most dreadfully from cold and bad
feet. All of them, with the exception of Kicq and Callens, had gone out
(according to English ideas of escaping) very badly prepared for such a
journey at that time of year. They had quite insufficient food (though
they had opportunities of carrying out any amount), insufficient socks,
grease, and numerous other things. They also lost their way rather badly
the first two nights. Then Kicq took charge, and the latter part of the
journey they went by the same route which Buckley and I afterwards
followed. None of them had thought of going into proper training, and to
have reached the frontier under such conditions was a wonderful feat of
endurance. They were in a terrible condition when they were caught. When
within 70 kilometres of the frontier, just north of Stockach, they
separated, the Frenchmen going on together and making a forced march of
60 kilometres in one night, and the Belgians coming on in their own
time. Both parties were caught on the same day and about the same time;
the Frenchmen because they got into a country close to the frontier
where they could find no decent place to lie up, and, as there was a
light fall of snow, their tracks were traced. The Belgians were caught
in a very unlucky manner. Their hiding-place was excellent, but on a
Sunday the Germans usually go out shooting, and a shooting party came
on them. A dog came up and sniffed at them, and then an old German with
a gun stared into the bush and said, "Es ist ein Fuchs" (It's a fox).
They soon found it was not a fox, and Kicq and Callens were hauled out.
The Wuertembergers treated them very well indeed, and said they were
almost sorry they had captured them, as they had made such a sporting
effort, or words to that effect. They were escorted back to the fort by
a very decent Wuertemberg officer, who was furious with the Commandant
when he laughed and jeered at them for being recaptured. "Well," said
Kicq in excellent German to the Commandant, "if you leave all the gates
open, how are prisoners to know that they are not allowed to go out that
way?" The Wuertemberg officer remarked, as he said good-bye to them
outside, that "the Prussians were brutes, but the Bavarians were swine."
Which remark seems to me very much to the point. All the party, with the
exception of a very young Frenchman called La Croix, had painful and
swollen feet, and all without exception were ravenously hungry for a
week or more after they had been returned to prison. One of them retired
to hospital for several weeks, and I believe that there was a danger at
one time that he would lose his feet owing to frost-bite. However, they
healed in time.
As far as I remember they received no special punishment for this
escape. They probably got five days' "jug," each, but, as I have
explained before, this was a mere farce. Each of the three sentries whom
they had passed got three months--and I don't imagine that was any
farce at all for the unfortunate sentries.
During the spell of fine weather which we had before the winter set in,
Medlicott and Buckley joined forces and made an attempt to escape by a
method which, in my opinion, was as unpleasant and risky as any which
was attempted in Fort 9. With the help of the Commandant de Goys they
persuaded some French orderlies to wheel them out concealed in the muck
and rubbish boxes. We buried them one afternoon beneath potato peel and
muck of every description, heaved the boxes on to a hand-cart, and then
from the top of the ramparts watched four orderlies escorted by a sentry
wheel them out to the rubbish-heap about 200 yards from the fort. In the
boxes they were lying on sacking, so that when the box was upset the
sacking would fall over them. We saw the first box upset apparently
successfully, but as they were about to deal with the second, which
contained Medlicott, there was a pause. The sentry unslung his rifle,
and it was obvious to us that they had been discovered. Buckley's
account of what happened was as follows:--
"At about 4.45 Medlicott and I proceeded to where the boxes stood, and
after some of the rubbish had been taken out we were thrust into its
place by the willing hands of Evans, Milne, Fairweather, and Oliphant,
and covered up again with rubbish. In due course the orderlies arrived,
the boxes were loaded on to the cart, and the 'procession' started. All
seemed to be going extremely well as far as I could judge from my
uncomfortable position; the sentry was picked up at the guardhouse, and
I heard with joy the gate of the fort being unlocked to let the party
out. The orderlies stopped the cart at the rubbish-heap (or rather some
hundred yards short of it, as we found out afterwards, our combined
weight having made farther progress in the snow impossible), and started
to unload the box in which I was concealed. As instructed, they unloaded
us as far away from the sentry as possible. I felt my box taken off the
cart and turned over. I lay still, and seemed to be well covered with
rubbish and to be unnoticed. I heard Medlicott's box unloaded alongside
of me, but just as this was being completed I felt some one tugging at
the Burberry I was wearing, a corner of which was showing from under the
rubbish.
"It had been arranged previously that if either of us was discovered the
one discovered first was to give himself up at once and endeavor to
conceal the presence of the other. I lay still for a few seconds, but as
the tugging continued, I concluded the game was up and I stood up,
literally covered in sackcloth and ashes. I must have looked a fairly
awe-inspiring sight, and I evidently caused some alarm in the noble
breast of a German civilian who had come to hunt the rubbish heap for
scraps of food and clothing, and who evidently thought he had discovered
a gold mine in the shape of a Burberry which he had been trying to pull
off my back for the last few minutes. Anyway, he retired with some speed
to a safe distance! The sentry, who up to the time of my getting up had
noticed nothing wrong, at this point began to perform rifle exercise in
the close proximity of my person, and generally to behave in an excited
and dangerous manner. Then followed for the next few minutes the
unpleasant and, alas! far too frequent experience of staring down the
muzzle of a German rifle, held as it seemed with remarkable steadiness
in spite of the excitement of the man behind it. The guard, whose
attention had been attracted by the combined shouts of the civilian and
the sentry, next appeared on the scene at the double. They were cold,
hungry, and excited, to say the least of it.
"Having failed to convince my sentry that I was alone and that there was
nobody under the other heap of rubbish, I warned Medlicott of the
guard's approach and advised him to get up. This he did, and was at once
set upon by the oncoming Landsturm, who really looked as if they meant
to do him in. After a considerable show of hate, in which I received a
hefty clout over the knee with the butt of a rifle, we were marched back
to the fort. A wild and disorderly scene followed between Medlicott, the
German Commandant, and myself, of which I have a very vivid
recollection. It ended by my being ejected by force from the
Commandant's office, but not before both Medlicott and I had either
concealed our valuable maps and compasses or had passed them unobserved
into the hands of the willing friends who had come to see the fun."
Soon after the recapture of Kicq and party, the moat froze over, and
though the Germans for several days were able to keep it broken by going
round in a boat every day, they at last had to give it up. It was rather
hard to get any conclusive proof as to whether the ice would bear or
not, but one evening, after testing the ice with stones, we decided that
if there was a frost that night we, that is to say, Oliphant,
Medlicott, Milne, Fairweather, Wilkin, and myself, would run over the
south rampart and across the ice just before the evening _Appell_. We
made complete preparations, and every one had ten days' rations and
everything else necessary for a march in winter to the frontier.
However, it never came off, as at morning _Appell_ next day the
Commandant informed us that the doors into the inner courtyards would
not be opened again until the moat thawed. This was rather a blow,
because I felt sure that if we had only had the courage to try, the ice
would have borne us the evening before.
About this time, or perhaps rather earlier, there were one or two
attempts to escape on the way to the dentist. Du Sellier and another
Frenchman and Fairweather were all booked to go one afternoon to the
dentist at Ingolstadt. They went under escort, and if they could delay
matters so as to return in the darkness it would be the simplest thing
in the world to get away. However, they made an awful mess of things,
and though they came back in the dark, owing to good procrastination by
Fairweather, only Du Sellier got away, and the other Frenchmen knocked
up the sentry's rifle as he fired. This was a badly managed business, as
all three men ought to have been able to escape from a single sentry in
the dark. Du Sellier did not get very far, as the weather was very cold
and he was insufficiently prepared. Being alone too was a great
handicap. His feet got very bad and he had practically to give himself
up, or at any rate to take quite absurd risks after being three or four
days out, and was recaptured. The real risks were taken by Fairweather
and the other Frenchman, and I don't quite know how they failed to get
"done in" by an enraged sentry.
Another rather ingenious but still more unsuccessful attempt was made on
the way to the dentist by Frenchmen. The idea was to go into one of
those large round urinals which are fairly common in French and German
towns. Inside they did a very rapid change, put on false beards,
spectacles, etc., and walked out at the other end. Unfortunately the
sentry recognized them.
In what I have written and intend to write it must not be imagined that
I am giving an exhaustive account of all that happened at Fort 9. I can
give a fairly detailed account of the main incidents of my own prison
career, but even this is not chronologically correct. Otherwise, I can
only note a certain number of incidents and stories which will help to
illustrate the sort of life we led in this prison. Most of these
incidents have to do with escaping or attempting to escape. But it must
not be imagined that this is the only thing we ever did or thought
about. It was our work, so to speak. Just as at the front, whilst
fighting is the main business, soldiers nevertheless manage to amuse
themselves pretty well behind the line in rest billets by sports,
gambling, sing-songs, and dinners, so with us, whilst escaping was the
main object in life, a large part of our time was taken up with lessons
in languages, most vigorous games of hockey and tennis, poker and
bridge, cooking and eating food, dancing and music, reading the German
papers and discussing the war news (we were pretty good at reading
between the lines), and attending lectures which were given nearly
every night on subjects varying from aviation to Victor Hugo.
After a week or so of hard frost a thaw set in, the ice melted on the
moat, and we were again let out into the courtyards. Hockey started once
more, and we had some very good games. Some time before this Oliphant's
sentence had come through, and he was sent off to Wesel for six months'
imprisonment in a fortress; as a punishment, I believe, for attempting
to escape, and for things incidental to escaping, such as cutting wire
and having maps and other forbidden articles in his possession. When it
started to freeze again, I thought of the last time and determined not
to miss another opportunity. One morning after testing the ice by
throwing stones from the top of the bank I determined to make the
attempt that evening. The _Appell_ bell went about 5 p.m., and about
5.30 it became dark. My idea was to start as the _Appell_ bell went,
believing that they would not be able to catch us before the darkness
came down. We had to run down a steep bank on to the ice, about 40 yards
across the ice, and then 200 yards or so through one or two trees before
we could put a cottage between ourselves and the sentries. There was
certain to be some shooting, but we reckoned that the sentries' hands
would be very cold, as at 5 p.m. they would have been at their posts for
just two hours, and they were armed with old French rifles, which they
handled very badly.
Wilkin agreed to come with me, and Kicq, when he heard what was up, said
he would like to come too. He had always a surprising faith in me. He
had scarcely recovered from his last escape, but although he was not
very fit, he was, or would have been, a great asset to the party, as he
knew the way. This was especially valuable as our maps at that time were
only copies of copies, and consequently not very accurate. The plan was
to carry out ruecksacks and other equipment nearly to the top of the
south bank and hide behind one of the traverses just under the path.
From there we should be hidden from the prying eyes of the sentry on the
center "caponniere." The 5 p.m. _Appell_ bell was the signal for two
parties, one headed by Major Gaskell and one by Captain Unett,[3] to
distract the attention of the two sentries by throwing stones on to the
ice. We would then seize our opportunity and rush down the bank, and we
hoped to be most of the way across the ice before the firing began.
The question which really was causing us some anxiety was, "Would the
ice bear?" I felt confident it would. Wilkin said he was beastily
frightened, but he had made up his mind to come and he would go through
with it. Kicq said that, if I thought it would bear, he was quite
content, and I really believe that the matter did not worry him in the
least. It would have been a very unpleasant business if the ice had
broken, as, with the heavy clothes we had on, I doubt if we could have
got out again. Still, any one who lets his mind dwell too much on what
may happen will never escape from any prison in Germany.
Our equipment was pretty complete. I had very thick underclothes, two
sweaters, a thick leather flying coat and a tunic, and socks over my
boots so as not to slip when running across the ice. The others were
dressed much the same, except that Kicq had a cap which had been stolen
by Oliphant from the Commandant. He said it might come in useful in
impersonating a German N.C.O. conducting two English prisoners.
In our ruecksacks we had ample rations for a ten days' march and enough
solidified alcohol for at least one hot meal per diem. We managed to get
our bags and coats up into the jumping-off place without being seen by
the sentry and without much difficulty. I remember walking across the
courtyard about 4.30 with Gilliland, picking up stones for him to throw
at the ice. I think he was more nervous about it than we were: as is
often the case, this sort of thing is more of a strain on the nerves for
the onlookers than for those actually taking part. We were all in our
places and in our kit, with our sacks on our backs, a few minutes before
five. Whilst we were waiting for the bell to go, there were several
prisoners walking up and down the path in front of us, along the top of
the rampart. Of course they took absolutely no notice of us, except one
Frenchman who spoke to us without looking round and assured us that the
ice would not bear--a cheerful thing to say under the circumstances.
"Mais oui, vous allez voir," we answered.
It was a bad five minutes waiting there. Then the bell went, and almost
immediately I heard laughter and shouting and the noise of stones
falling on the ice. Then we jumped up and bolted over the path and down
the slope. I was slightly ahead of the other two, and when I got to the
bottom of the steep bank I gave a little jump on to the ice, hoping it
would break at the edge rather than in the middle if it were going to
break at all. But it bore all right, and I shuffled across at a good
speed. About half-way over I heard repeated and furious yells of "Halt!"
followed soon afterwards by a fair amount of shooting, but I have no
idea how many shots were fired. I was soon up the bank on the far side,
through a few scattered trees, and over the frozen stream by a plank
bridge. Then I looked back. The others were only just clambering up the
bank from the moat and were a good 100 yards behind me. What had
happened was this. I had made a small jump on to the ice, thus avoiding
the rotten edge. The other two did not, but stepped carefully on to the
edge, which broke under their weight and they fell flat on their faces.
For the moment they were unable to extricate themselves. Wilkin says he
got somehow upside down and his heavy ruecksack came over his head so
that he was quite unable to move. Then Kicq got himself free and pulled
out Wilkin. At first he thought of beating a retreat up the bank again,
believing naturally that the ice would not bear, but then he saw me
three parts of the way across and heard the sentries shooting apparently
at me, so he and Wilkin, keeping a bit separated so as not to offer too
large a target, ran across after me. The sentry in the center, who had
been well attracted by Gaskell and the stone-throwing party, only caught
sight of me when I was well on the ice, but then he started yelling
"Halt!" and loading his rifle as fast as possible. He then ran to the
edge of his "caponniere" and dropping on one knee fired and missed.
Cold fingers, abuse, and perhaps a few stones too, which were hurled at
him by the gang on the pathway just above his head, did not help to
steady his aim. After one or two shots his rifle jammed. Yells and
cheers from the spectators. He tore at the bolt, cursing and swearing,
and then put up his rifle at the crowd of jeering prisoners above him.
But they could see that the bolt had not gone home and only yelled the
more. The other sentry had started firing by this time, but he was out
of sight of the prisoners in the fort, and Unett and Milne, who had been
distracting his attention (Unett said the sentry nearly shot him once),
ran off to prove an alibi. I don't know how many shots were fired
altogether. Not a large number, as owing to the appearance of some
civilians they stopped firing when once Kicq and Wilkin had got well on
to the far bank of the moat. When I was half-way across the space
between the moat and the cottage, I saw on the main road on my left a
large four-horse wagon with a knot of gesticulating men in civilian
clothes. We learnt afterwards that they were carters from a munition
factory in the neighborhood, and were fairly strong and healthy fellows.
They were only about 150 yards away, and started after us led by a
fellow with a cart-whip. The going was very heavy, as there were two or
three inches of snow and heavy plough underneath, so we made slow
progress, as we were carrying a lot of weight in clothes and food. They
quickly overtook me, and the fellow who was leading slashed me across
the shoulders with his whip. I turned and rushed at him, but he ran out
of my reach. The rest of them then came round and I began to see that
the game was up, especially as at that moment I saw some armed soldiers
coming on bicycles along the road from the fort.
The next thing to do was to avoid being shot on recapture. I stood
still, whilst they all snarled round me, and beckoning the smallest man
said to him in German, "Come here and I will give myself up to you." The
fellow with the whip immediately came forward. "Not to you, you
Schweinhund," I said; "you hit me with that whip." The little fellow was
quite pleased, as I think there is 100 marks reward for the recapture of
an officer, and caught hold of my coat tails, and we started off towards
the fort. Wilkin had given himself up to two or three others by this
time, but I saw that Kicq was trying to sneak off without being noticed
while the mob was occupied with us. However, a few seconds later they
saw him. Two or three gave chase, and he was brought in soon after us.
We had not gone more than a few steps towards the fort when I saw the
_Feldwebel_ running across the snow towards us. He came up in a furious
rage, cursing us and brandishing a revolver. We waved him aside and told
him not to make such a fuss, as it was all over now, and he soon calmed
down. Some soldiers then came up and marched us in, the Frenchmen
cheering us as we came through the gate. Before we came to the fort we
had to cross a bridge over the stream; and, as we walked along, I tore
up my map and dropped it into the stream. I forgot to say that Kicq,
when he went off by himself just before being taken, had managed to get
rid of the Commandant's hat by stuffing it down a hole. As Kicq crossed
the bridge he took out his map to throw it into the water, but was seen
by his guard, a horrid little fellow who used to help with the clerical
work in the bureau. Kicq dropped the map, and a scuffle ensued. Kicq got
much the best of this and kicked the map into the stream.
There was quite an amusing scene in the bureau. We all of us had to take
off most of our clothes and be searched. I had nothing I could hide, but
both Kicq and Wilkin had compasses, which they smuggled through with
great skill. Kicq had his hidden in the lining of his greatcoat, and
Wilkin kept his in his handkerchief, which he pulled out of his pocket
and waved to show there was nothing in it, at the same time holding the
compass, and then put it back into his pocket. All our foodstuffs and
clothes were returned to us, with the exception of my black flying-coat.
I complained about this, and appealed to a German general who come round
to inspect the fort a few days later, and it was returned to me, but was
eventually confiscated when I tried to escape in it a week or two later.
We had several tins of solidified alcohol with us for smokeless cooking
purposes. These were taken, though we protested. For all the things
taken off us we were given receipts by the Germans and told, rather
ironically, that we could have them back at the end of the war.
Just as we were going out I saw my tin of solidified alcohol, which was
valuable stuff (we used to manufacture it in the fort from paraffin and
soap), standing almost within my reach, and very nearly managed to
pocket it as I went out. However, I found Decugis outside, and explained
to him the position of the tin, and suggested that he should take in
one or two pals, have a row in there, and steal it back for me. This is
the sort of expedition that the Frenchmen loved and were absolute
masters at. Within ten minutes I had my solid alcohol back all right and
kept my receipt for it as well.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 3: Captain Unett had been sent to Fort 9 as a punishment for
escaping from Clausthal.]