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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

British POW's & Escape


Andrew Hesketh

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Andrew,

Presume you got the last file sent as it has not been returned.

Andy

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Andy - you've spent a week sending me this bit by bit without ever letting on how irritating it must have become!! Massive, massive thanks. It's quite humbling just how many people on this forum, like yourself, are so willing to put themselves out to benefit others. Thanks again. :D

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Andrew,

Glad you eventually got it all Andrew. Hope the articles answered your original question and were of use.

Andy

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Hi Andy,

Tend to agree there do seem to be a lot of us Andys/Andrews about.

Andy

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  • 1 month later...

Andrew Hesketh,

Another great "escape" book is "Guests of the Unspeakable" by T W White. Great stories about captivity with the Turks.

Steve Drew

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  • 4 months later...
Guest chrishebbron

There was mention earlier about the apparent reluctance of soldiers to escape from German PoW camps in World War I.

I recall someone mentioning their surprise at this, especially as the camp was only about 70 miles from the Dutch border.

One aspect that may not be common knowledge is that there was a German soldier positioned about every 100yds all around the Dutch border, together with bright lights which were put on a night. Of course, quite a lot of Allied troops managed to get through, but the chances of capture/wounding/death were very high and somewhat discouraging, to say the least.

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Arnold Chadwick, a young man from Toronto, escaped twice. Sadly, he died in July 1917. Here's an article about one of his escapes.

I've also profiled his full story - here.

post-6-1103402630.jpg

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As for WWI escapes vs. WW2 - it does seem that in WW2 it was more of a mission and somewhat expected. The WWI escapes seemed to be told to avoid working, but there doesn't seem to be the determination on the part of every man to escape. There were however many who did try to escape.

Another interesting escape was that of Lt. Pat O'Brien, an American who came to Canada to train for the RFC. His book "Outwitting the Hun" documents his escape. I tried to track down more about Lt. O'Brien, and discovered he committed suicide after the war.

The book is quite interesting as he has a number of close calls, and goes through a lot of tense experiences during his escape.

One thing that I've wanted to follow up on is that he carried with him a drawing of the exact burial place of a friend who was shot down by the Germans. He managed to keep it dry as he swam through a number of canals and it was reported in the newspaper that he delivered this map to his friend's parents.

When I looked up the friend's records (Flt. Lt. Paul H. Raney) he has no known grave.

post-6-1103403383.jpg

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Fourth Canadian Mounted Rifles men - also escape - and produce another book!

Out of the Jaws of Hun Land - The Stories of Corporal Fred McMullen Sniper and Private Jack Evans Bomber - Canadian Soldiers. Illust. G. P. Putnams Sons, 1918.

post-6-1103403615.jpg

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  • 9 months later...

I am not sure the Holzminden Camp was only for Officers.

My ancestor, a Brit living in Antwerp, was arrested in 1915 whilst trying to escape to the Netherlands from where he wanted to go to England and was sent as a civilian prisoner to Holzminden POW Camp.

He was there until the end of the war.

Maybe there was a Military and a Non-Military section in the camp?

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Hi,

Try this site for a description of Holzminden plus photographs.

prisonniers-de-guerre-1914-1918.chez.tiscali.fr

Babel fish will work eventually and make it readable in English

The camp appears to have been the place where the civilian internees were sent after being rounded up plus officers and other ranks, ie a real mixture.

Doug

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