大象传媒

This story was 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 has been added to the site with his relatives' permission. They fully understand the site's terms and conditions.
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We believed (and hoped) that the sentry would be unable to see us when the lights were dimmed. What was worrying was the sentry to our right, only some five yards away. It was essential that he would move away from his box before any escape could be attempted. Several minutes passed, then I saw the sentry move away from his box and away from our position. I gave the signal for the lights to be dimmed. Now that the moment for action was here, I didn鈥檛 feel too good.

The lights dimmed, the man in the cookhouse who had been ordered to make as much noise as possible, began to sing in a loud raucous voice: 鈥淩oll Out The Barrel.鈥� To the accompaniment of a muttered, 鈥淕ood luck,鈥� from the camp leader, we quickly wriggled forward to the first obstacle. It was a barbed wire fence about 6鈥� high with wire criss-crossing up and down and tightly drawn.
My heart was thumping like a steam hammer and I could already feel the perspiration in the palms of my hands. But I hadn鈥檛 much time to think of these things, I had a job to do. My partner was already starting to part the cross wires. In a moment, I was by his side. Holding the wire cutters firmly in both hands, I seized one of the down wires at its base. Exerting all of my strength, I tried to snap it in two. It was tougher than I expected and I had to work the clippers back and forth before it quickly parted. Quickly, I tackled a second and third. Time was slipping away; my partner had the two pieces of wood in place and at last, there was room for a man to crawl through, or was there? In my opinion, there wasn鈥檛. But 鈥榳asn鈥檛鈥� is a word written all over the English Dictionary to be crossed out and substituted by the word, 鈥榳as鈥�. In any case. We hadn鈥檛 time to barter; the operation seemed to have taken us ages and there were still two more fences to tackle. I held the bottom cross wires in place while my partner, using his heels for propulsion, wriggled through on his back. When he was through, I began to duplicate the manoeuvre and was going great guns when something brought me up with a sudden jerk. A barb in the ground wires had caught in the belt of my overalls and was holding me. My partner was soon at my assistance and in a short time, I was through. He then removed the two pieces of wood and began to fix the wires so that they wouldn鈥檛 appear to have been disturbed.

At the second fence, there was a little more light as I was almost directly under the arc lamps dimly shining down from above. I began to tackle one of the down wires and was pleased to hear the sound of voices at this stage; a voice I knew well, talking to one of the sentries. It was the Greek. The second fence was more difficult than the first for it would be necessary to cut through four down wires and an unknown number on the curtain net beyond. It was a race against time and I expected the lights to come on at any moment. But there was no retreat now; we either got through the fence or 鈥� I didn鈥檛 care to think about it. I got through the first wire and I was about to tackle another, when my friend touched me on the shoulder, whispering, 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 time. It鈥檒l take too long. There鈥檚 only one way now and that鈥檚 over the top.鈥� With that, he stood up against the side of the fence. I did likewise, and saw, not 15 yards away, the Italian sentry in conversation with the Greek. Our scheme was now hair brained; it was sheer madness. It鈥檚 not done, it had never been done. If the lights came on when we were at the top of that fence, we鈥檇 be knocked off like a couple of coconuts. My partner was going up the side of the fence like a monkey. I began to follow suit and for a moment, I saw my friend silhouetted against the dim arc light overhead. Then he was gone. Now, going up the side of a barbed wire fence is a simple operation when in ordinary attire, but with every pocket filled to capacity, a water bottle in one hand and a pair of cutters in the other, it鈥檚 far from simple. However, in less than no time, I was at the top of that fence. I didn鈥檛 waste any time there either. Lowering myself onto the curtain net, I began to descend. The curtain net is difficult to describe; it was made of close meshed barbed wire, fastened about 2鈥� from the top of the outer main fence. My colleague was already at ground level awaiting my arrival. He guided me level to the ground, then, crawling at top speed beside him, I headed for a building that was under construction. When we reached it, we slipped into the first doorway. I breathed a sigh of relief. Escaping from there outside the prison may be difficult, but escaping from inside has its compensations. The building was of course, in darkness, but we picked our way along the walls towards the opposite end. When we arrived there, we slipped out. The policeman in the cookhouse, now ably assisted by the camp leader and others, had changed to opera and was yelling away: 鈥淎 Lonely Vagabond Am I.鈥�

Reaching the camp boundary, we put on some speed, putting some distance between us and the prison. Like a couple of pursued hares, we streaked up the hillside away from the camp, then down into a valley and on towards another hill.

The country was rough and stony, difficult to walk along, a problem compounded by the fact that our eyes were not adjusted to the darkness. To our relief, the worst was passed and we were out of the range of the searchlights now. Feeling safe from any immediate danger, we stopped to check our course. I looked at my watch; it was only 10.45. The country over the first half had been rough and difficult. We were both blowing from exertion.

According to our maps, there should have been a railway line a few kilometres ahead and it was essential that we put this line to our rear as soon as possible. Railways in Italy came under Military control. If any alarm had been raised, the sentries guarding the railways would be unusually alert 鈥� hence our hurry to cross the line. A little while later, after checking our compass, we arrived at the top of a small rise. Looking down, we saw the railway; a farmhouse was a short way off to our left. We listened for a while, heard nothing unusual and then proceeded downwards towards the track. A dog at the farm began to bark. Reaching the line, we strode over the signal wires and across the line. Only a few hundred yards further, we encountered a main road. For a few moments, we listened attentively, then moved silently across, climbed a wall into a field and continued our journey. The country was still hilly, but the ground was now firm and for the next two hours, we pushed on with all speed. When we were near roads, the same procedure was always adopted: Stop! Look! Listen! And then move across as silently as possible. We were making good time, although I noticed that neither of us was as fit as we thought we were. However, enthusiasm was running high and we kept pushing on. At 1.30, we stopped and took a rest. The sweat was pouring out of me and I could see that my partner was in a similar position.

After recovering a little of our strength, we began talking about the escape and it was then that I noticed that half of my store of figs was missing. I decided to put the remainder out of danger, so we divided them up equally between us. And we ate them as we continued our conversation. We were satisfied with our progress. So far, there had been few roads to negotiate and few walls to climb. We had seen no one since laving the camp, not even a vehicle.

After we had rested for some 20 minutes, we decided to move on. I noticed the sky became lighter as the night wore on and after 2 a.m., we were able to use the stars as a guide and did not have to check our course by compass as much. By keeping our left shoulders to the Pole Star, a more or less direct course east could be maintained. The countryside was changing, more land was under cultivation. There were more walls to climb and vineyards to go through. Houses and other buildings became more numerous, therefore our rate of progress began to slow down. Nevertheless, we continued to press on and didn鈥檛 take any rest until dawn. 4 a.m. went by almost unnoticed. Climbing walls and ploughing through vineyards was beginning to take its toll on our energy. We were losing our strength rapidly. Through this vineyard and over a wall across a cart track, over another wall, through a ploughed field, over another wall and down a hillside and over yet another wall. And so it went on with the obstacles becoming more numerous.

Dawn came at last, we were both exhausted. Being the first night of our ordeal, we had come across the countryside with all fire and speed. Now we were beginning to feel the effects of too much enthusiasm and were ready to quit. But we needed to find a place to hide out in for the day. All such things had been thought out in the prison camp. It had to be far away from any habitation and to give good cover should it rain. It was easily worked out on paper, but here, we were going from field to field, vineyard to vineyard without seeing anything that offered any likelihood of a hiding place. Another 20 minutes would bring daylight; something had to be done quickly. We didn鈥檛 want to be seen in the country in the daylight. Climbing a wall, we entered a wheat field and saw a roadway some 80 yards ahead. The rumble of a cart was heard away to our left. We put on speed to cross the road. As we approached, we noticed, slightly to our right, a large drain, which would, in the rainy season, convey water from our side of the road to the other. The cart was getting nearer, without any delay, we dived into the pipe. It was dry inside and it would make a good hiding place if it didn鈥檛 rain and providing no one came to work in the fields. The cart rumbled by overhead. That was the last thing I heard for some hours. I awoke, shivering and aching in every limb. There wasn鈥檛 much room in the pipe for a man of my proportions, a fact which very forcibly, impressed itself on me when I made violent contact with the 鈥榬oof鈥�. I swore, yes, it鈥檚 not too much to say that I swore. That crack on the head did much to restore 100% consciousness. My friend, sitting near the opening of the drain to gain a little benefit from the morning sun, grieved at my discomfort. 鈥淢orning Sleuth,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 suppose you鈥檙e feeling as I did when I woke up. Cement pipes don鈥檛 make the best of shelters do they?鈥� He immediately added, 鈥淚t鈥檚 9 o鈥檆lock, shall we order breakfast?鈥� Nothing would have given me greater pleasure and I implied that I thought it was a really good idea.

Breakfast rations were provided by my friend and after studying them for a while, he gave me a biscuit and a piece of chocolate plus a small portion of O.B.S.R. That鈥檚 an abbreviation for: oatmeal, biscuit flour, sugar and raisins. He took an equal portion himself and began eating his biscuit. 鈥淗ey, just a minute!鈥� I exclaimed when he showed no signs of increasing the amount, 鈥渟urely there鈥檚 more. Is this my rightful share and just ration?鈥� I waited expectantly. My friend stopped eating and handed me the ration orders. He did not bother to reply. My face fell as I examined the orders. There had been no mistake. According to the slip of paper in my hand, we were to eat three times per day: at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and at 6 p.m. I handed the slip back to my friend and made no remark. After the snack (I haven鈥檛 the heart to call it breakfast), I decided to take a look outside. Taking care this time to keep my head down, I wriggled to the opposite end of the drain and so went into the sunshine. Everything was quiet. Satisfying myself that there was no one working outside in the near vicinity, and that the nearest house was some 200 yards away, I lay down in the sun. The road, which was a minor one, appeared to be little used.

My friend, as I had expected, soon poked his head outside the burrow. We talked a little about the escape and of the night to come. The homemade maps were produced and we tried to work out our present position. It was a hopeless task and after about 15 minutes鈥� calculation and study, we both gave it up in disgust. For the remainder of the morning, we drained away the time by sitting in the sun and only twice did we have to move back into the drain when carts passed on the roadway. 1 p.m. found us having another light meal, it was the same as the one we had at 9 a.m. and did nothing to satisfy my appetite. Immediately after the meal, we decided to try to get a little more sleep. But that drain wasn鈥檛 made for such a thing. There was a continual blast of cold air blowing through the place, wiping out all thoughts of sleep. Back we went into the sun, yet it seemed to me that we hadn鈥檛 been there many minutes when we were compelled to settle back into the drain for safety.

A party of men and women peasants had come into the wheat field. For some minutes, we watched them working. Luckily, they commenced working in a far off corner of the field, but it prevented us from going out into the sun again. The opposite end of the drain was in full view of the farmhouse, so, as was natural, we remained in our hideout. The slow hours ebbed away and the sun began to go down in the sky. The people in the field ceased working at about 8 p.m. It was just what I鈥檇 been waiting for. Outside, I walked around to loosen up my joints. Just before the sun disappeared over the horizon, we partook of another meal. On this occasion however, there was an extra portion of O.B.S.R., which we licked out of the palms of our hands as I had seen children doing with sherbet.

At 7 p.m., we were on our way. The darkness of the night had not completely descended and we could see in the distance, our first objective, a large hill, two or three kilometres away. The going was heavy and our progress was slow. Still, we were not in as much of a hurry as the previous night. The air was cool and fresh, ideal for walking, and some time later, reaching the crest of our first objective, we stopped to check our course. Yes! We were going alright, but we wanted to be a little more over to the left 鈥� towards that building on the hillside over there.

Advancing into a valley, we moved onwards towards our next objective. More stars began to illuminate the sky and we adopted the same procedure as on the previous night, using the Pole Star as a guide when there was no outstanding object to use as a compass. We were still in open country with plenty of walking to be done. However, by this time, a little experience was showing results and we could now go up and down walls like lizards. Halts were made at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., and after midnight, we kept our eyes open for water because our canteen was empty. We felt certain that we should either come to a river or perhaps a well before morning.

Other parts to this story can be found at:
Pt 1鈥︹��.
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Pt 3鈥︹��..
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Pt 4鈥︹��..
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Pt 5鈥︹��..
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Pt 6鈥︹��..
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Pt 7鈥︹��..
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Pt 8鈥︹��..
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Pt 9鈥︹��.
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