大象传媒

Submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bill Ross of the 鈥楢ction Desk 鈥� Sheffield鈥� Team on behalf of Ralph Corps (deceased), and added to the site with his relatives' permission. They fully understand the site's terms and conditions.
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The first prison of war camp in which I lived was in Gravina in Italy. It was divided into four sections, each to hold 2,000 men. Those lucky enough to have a bed found that they were built of wood and were designed to hold two men in the top bunk and two below; each barrack room held 48 men. It was tantamount to living in a beeline. The water supply to the camp would fail to function for days on end, as a result, the place would become disgusting.

The fences outside the camp were patrolled by sentries, posted every forty metres or so. The Canalimieni (police) were under a separate command and were feared more by the Italians than by the British and colonial prisoners. In fact, the Canalimieni at that time were very closely related to the Gestapo and sometimes used similar methods. Quarters were frequently searched; the storage of food was prohibited. The possession of knives, compasses, wire cutters, no matter how crude, was also prohibited. Anything that may assist an escape such as civilian clothing or shoes, if found, were confiscated by the police.

The food supply was very meagre, hardly enough for a child to live on, let alone a man. A typical day鈥檚 food consisted of: bread鈥︹��.200 grams, cheese鈥︹��..40 grams and rice or macaroni鈥︹��..60 grams. In addition to this, each man was allowed one teaspoonful of olive oil and one teaspoonful of sugar. On Saturdays, each man was allowed a small meat portion.

In the camp, men were allowed to write a letter or a card every ten days, but when they had been written, they were censored by the Italians. Any that were deemed 鈥榥ot suitable鈥�, were confiscated.

A small number of privates were allowed out of the camp on working parties; for such work they received an extra 200 grams of bread per day.

I arrived at the camp in July 1942 and after a few days of feeling my way around, I became acquainted with a Pilot W.O. of the R.A.F. He had been shot down a year or so previously. He attracted my attention by the fact that he always appeared on parade without a hat. I later discovered that by so doing, he was not compelled to salute the Italian Officer in charge of the parade. Eventually, he turned out to be the best friend I ever had in a P.O.W. camp

Things in the camp began to improve, owing to a lack of co-operation on the part of the Italian Prison Authorities. The food rations didn鈥檛 improve, but the Red Cross parcels began to arrive and soon, every man was receiving a parcel every ten days or so. Prisoners were very grateful to the British and Colonial Red Cross. The distribution of the parcels was an event looked forward to by all.

Unfortunately, my friend contracted Malaria in August of that year and owing to a lack of medicines, he had frequent attacks. Malaria in the camps was more the rule than the exception. About this time, the camp leader was transferred to another camp and a new leader was selected. He was a Warrant Officer of the East Yorkshire Regiment. He was only a small man, but he certainly found a way to move the Italians. From somewhere, he obtained a copy of the Geneva Convention relating to prisoners of war, and from then onwards, he made himself a general nuisance to the authorities. It wasn鈥檛 long before every prisoner had a mattress and a bed to sleep on. Previously, about 80% of the men had been sleeping on the stone floor.

With a little co-operation, we were able to purchase musical instruments and so, the sector orchestra took its place in the camp. For the show and theatre performance, we made the costumes and wigs ourselves. According to the seasons, basketball teams representing the various regiments from different groups were 鈥榓t it鈥� from sunrise to sunset.

For the studiously minded, classes were started with such topics as languages, history, law etc. being taught. While the teachers took care of our mental alertness, the body was not forgotten. Regular P.T. classes took place and so long as the Red Cross parcels continued to arrive, there were always plenty of pupils.

By now, the Italian Authorities had become more co-operative. My friend and I were employed on camp welfare. I was in charge of the British Camp Police, something that earned me the name, 鈥楾he Sleuth鈥�.

Naturally, in such camps, there is always talk of escape and we (my friend and I) discussed the chances of success. The only neutral country that could be reached overland was Switzerland and to do that, it would be necessary to traverse the full length of Italy, a distance of some 600 miles. Many schemes were proposed and rejected, and after hearing of many unsuccessful attempts, we rejected the idea. As my friend put it, 鈥淭o escape from the camp is not enough, one must also escape from those outside.鈥�

One day, we were speaking with a South African pilot, when it came to light that he had some experience with J.U.52 German Transport Planes. Shortly, my friend had the South African making a sketch of the planes and of the starting system, the controls and details about every conceivable subject in which pilots are interested. When my friend returned to our room, he said, 鈥淗ave you ever been to Brindisi?鈥� Well, it so happened that I had so I replied, 鈥淵es, why?鈥� 鈥淒id you see any planes around there?鈥� he asked. 鈥淣aturally, 鈥� I replied, 鈥淛erry transport.鈥� It suddenly dawned on me what he was driving at. 鈥淚 know there are plenty of difficulties,鈥� he continued, but this idea definitely has a chance of success.鈥� Then followed a rough idea of the plan that was forming in his mind. But it didn鈥檛 take me long to place a list of difficulties before him. He would not be discouraged however, to every obstacle, he had a panacea.

No mention had been made of the actual escape from the camp, but that same evening, a plan was formulated. It consisted of getting to Brindisi and stealing a plane. More easily said than done; Brindisi was about 100 kilometres away. We had no compass and the only maps available were very poor and unreliable. Aerodromes are difficult places to tackle. The odds are stacked against the prisoners once they are outside the camp. When one considers the problems of language added to the greatest bugbear of all, the khaki uniform, the difficulties become clear. We knew it would be far from easy, but my friend said that we would be fools not to try. 鈥淭he scheme has more chance of success than any others I鈥檝e heard of,鈥� he said. I agreed, so we continued with our plans.

We began to save food from the Red Cross parcels; items such as chocolate, sugar, biscuits and raisins were placed on one side. It meant denying ourselves much of the food, but it had to be done. A week later, we received a parcel from home, which contained 6 pounds of chocolate, which was put safely away. A few days later, I acquired a compass, a very simple device. We hid it from the Italian police, but we were worried when the quarters were searched, but they never found it. By February, we calculated that we had stored enough food to last for 10 鈥� 12 days. Looking back now, I doubt that such an amount would sustain me for 48 hours, but owing to prison diets, our stomachs had contracted substantially. Yet, we were both fairly fit and had taken part in much exercise, with the escape in view.

Our planning continued and we explored the sector from end to end. There wasn鈥檛 a single point that appeared to offer any likelihood of an escape. One could not approach the fences so one could only view them at a distance of about 3 yards. Every 30 yards or so was a board upon which was written, 鈥淭o pass this notice is to invite sudden death.鈥� There were lamps surrounding the camps, making the fences a blaze of light. Prospects were not looking good.

Frequently, during the past six weeks or so, the Italians were having problems with the lighting; sometimes the lights would go out or become very dim for a few minutes at a time. My friend decided to try to get the same results with dud bulbs etc., inside the warrant Officers鈥� quarters. It didn鈥檛 happen; the lights were all on a direct circuit and all attempts to fuse it failed. My friend wasn鈥檛 deterred however, in fact, it fuelled his incentive further. It had previously been discovered that electricity came into their camp via a cable that extended over the cookhouse and then went directly to the sleeping quarters. A bulb shone over the doorway for about 10 years. My colleague got to work and the first fruits of his work were seen when the bulb outside our quarters suddenly ceased to function. He had acquired some rubber gloves, a home made ladder and a school table, with which he was seen working industriously on the mains cabling. Obviously, all of this was done inside the building behind closed doors. The Warrant Officers had to be involved and they gave their assistance whilst the cabling was being prepared. They kept watch for the Italian Police patrols. Not being an electrician, the most I could do was to stand on the table and hold the ladder in position. Soon everything was ready and my friend had the two wires bared. I was unprepared for what followed; a shower of sparks and a loud crackling noise. The cable became hot and my friend had to release the wires because of the heat. We quickly removed the ladder in case of enquiries; the door which had previously been locked, was opened and a wild looking Warrant Officer thrust his head inside and said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a success, all the lights in the camp went dim, but cover the windows next time. It looked like a fireworks display from outside.鈥�

We went outside to talk things over; the sentries continued patrolling in their usual manner, thinking, no doubt, that the failure of the lighting system had been because of the usual stoppage at the power station. The following day, our luck continued. For many weeks, we had been trying to beg, borrow or steal two pairs of overalls from Armoured Corps men, but had had no luck so far. The previous night however, I had mentioned this to a South African W.O. and he had said that he would see what he could do. He was as good as his word; the following morning, my friend and I were in possession of a pair of overalls. We intended to wear them over the battledress as a camouflage and they would also withstand a lot of rain.

Exploring the fences, we decided on a place immediately to the rear of the cookhouse and within easy call of our sleeping quarters. It so happened that between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., control of the cookhouse came under my direction. During these hours, camp police were in charge. We fixed the date for our escape for the 3rd of March, three days hence. There were many other things to learn during the preparation period. I learned from my friend how planes were ground hitched and how to release a plane from its holdings; how to boost the engines and many other jobs which would be my tasks, if we were to reach that aerodrome.

All biscuits were pounded into flour, then mixed with oatmeal, sugar and raisins, then placed into food bags. Maps had been made of the country between Gravina and Brindisi. For many hours during the evenings, we watched the routine of the police patrols and we got to know what time the sentries on fence duty were relieved. Every evening, two men with an arc lamp made tours of the fences. This was done at staggered times; there was no regular system, but we did notice that they would inspect the fences 10 to 12 minutes before the sentries were changed over at 10 p.m. We took all of these things into consideration and calculated that the best time for escape would be after 10 p.m. and before 10.40.

On the morning of the 1st of March, my companion and I were absent from check parade. Showing sickness, we remained in our quarters. This procedure was adopted on the 2nd and 3rd of March, thus giving the Italians the impression that we were really sick. In the meantime, it had been decided that the escape should be covered up and for this purpose, two dummies were to be made from old clothing. The dummies would be placed in our respective beds. If the escape was successful and there were no gaps left in the fence, the Italians would have no reason to inspect our beds too closely; more especially now because we were both sick men. In order to avoid leaving no visible gaps in the fence, we intended only to cut the minimum number of down wires in the fence and as near to the ground as possible. Two pieces of wood, each about 18鈥� long had been prepared, and with these, it was intended to hold the cross wires in position until we were safely through the gap. Then when the wood was removed, the cross wires would again fall into position, thus leaving little or no signs of having been tampered with. The warrant Officers left behind could be relied upon to play their part.

At about 6 p.m. on the fateful day, I sent for three of the camp policemen and put before them the plan for escape. They could be trusted and were pleased to lend a helping hand, but one of them, an ex Derby County constable, was to await a signal from me when the opportune moment arrived, then go with full speed to the Warrant Officers鈥� Sleeping Quarters. There, a Sergeant Observer of the R.A.F., receiving the tip from the policeman, would douse the lights and keep them doused as long as was humanly possible. Another camp policeman, a sergeant in the Royal Scots Guards, who spoke a little Italian, was to see that the Italian Police Patrols did not come near the cookhouse during the time our escape was being made. A third camp policeman was to remain in the cookhouse and make as much noise as possible in order to mask any noise we were making at the fence. But to complete our plan, a Greek acquaintance who spoke excellent Italian was brought into the scheme. He agreed to keep the sentry into conversation and away from his box when the lights were dimmed.

At 8 p.m. both prisoners concerned ate a good meal and just after 9 p.m. commenced to dress. Every pocket on our battledress was stuffed with items that would be useful to an escaped prisoner. Lying on my bed were about 2 pounds of dried figs, which had cost me two weeks wages. I didn鈥檛 intend to leave them behind, so, opening the breast of my overall as far as I could, I tucked them inside and fastened the buttons. I now felt like a balloon and no doubt, I looked like one too. Although I could walk all right, respiration was difficult. However, once outside the camp, it would be easy to readjust the food bags, but to negotiate the fence, it would be essential that both arms would be free.

We sat down to wait; 10 p.m. came round all too soon for me and as the seconds ticked away, I began to get a strange feeling in my stomach. A few minutes after 10 p.m., we received the signal to proceed. After seizing a pair of wire cutters and a water bottle from my bed, I followed my companion out of the room. Together we entered the cookhouse where the lights had already been switched off, but some light filtered through the windows from the arc lamps outside. Our camp leader was there; he told us that the men with the mobile arc lamp had already passed and were now far away on their rounds of the camp. The door, at the rear of the cookhouse giving access to the fence, was already open. The fence was ablaze with light A bundle of chopped wood had been placed outside the door, thus shielding us from the view of the sentries. On the other side of the fence and to the left of our position was an Italian machine gun post. The weapon had a field of fire directly down the middle of the fences and towards us.

Other parts to this story can be found at:

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Pt 3鈥︹��..
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Pt 8鈥︹��..
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Pt 9鈥︹��.
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