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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Prisoner of war (POW)

by tessie

Contributed by听
tessie
People in story:听
my Grandad
Location of story:听
Colditz
Background to story:听
Army
Article ID:听
A1967691
Contributed on:听
04 November 2003

my grandad was very young when he joined the army in 1937. but very quickly he was captured by the enemy and was put in a camp, he didnt stay here for long because he escaped, he escaped from every prisoner of war camp he went to, once even before he got there, by jumping off the train. but eventually he was caught so many times he was sent to colditz. he was there from 1941 to 1945 he attemped an escape in the winter of 1943. his escape plan was to hide under a coat of rubbish, when they were on there daily walk he noticed that there was a blindspot on a corner where neither the front or the back officer could see them, so he decided that as he had a very large old army coat that covered his whole body, he would use this as camouflage to look like a pile of rubbish against the wall. He sewed onto it old food and pieces of ripped clothes and most importantly garlic, the garlic was used to make sure the guard dogs didnt sniff him out and dogs hate the smell of it.He made his coat/rubbish heap in the same room as the famous Colditz glider was being made, he sat in the corner someties helping when an extra pair of hands were needed. On escape day it all went perfectly, he got to the spot where he was going to hide, and flung himself to the side of he wall and threw the coat overhim, when the guard walked passed the dog sniffed at him but went on, he stayed untill the coast was clear and then ran for his life. He made it about 5 miles away until some passing officers asked him for his papers which weren't correct, also having the news of a prisoner had escaped he was taken back the colditz where he stayed until the end of the war. It was also the last attempt at an escape before the castle was liberated. My grandad is still alive and kicking today he is 83 years old and recently went to see the reproduction model of the gilder succesfully fly at Lasham Airfield.

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British Army Category
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