Tales from Colditz Castle

Diary from Martin Schädlich

Thomas Schädlich, Wolfgang Ansorge

• Publisher: Verlag Schädlich
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9783958497061
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

History of the Prisoner of War camp Oflag IV CThis book records life and events in the Colditz POW camp during the years of 1940 to 1943 based on the authentic recollections and diaries found by the publisher. No claim is made that these documents present a complete picture, and no interpretation of the recorded events is attempted. On the whole the book speaks for itself Additionally, the supplementary information and the reproduction of authentic materials will enable the reader to form his own opinion about the POW camp. To the best knowledge of the publisher this is the first comprehensive publication about Oflag IV C issued in Germany. This book is based lergely on the recollections of Staff-Sergeant Gebhardt (nicknamed "Mussolini") and of some former German Guards. The largest part of the book consists of the complete un-edited reproduction of the diary kept by Corporal Martin Schädlich and last the recollections of Serving in foreign interests of Swiss protecting power by Rudolf E. Denzler

The Diary of Martin Schaedlich

18.03.41

2 French Officers (Cazamayou and Paillie) caught while working in an approx 5m deep shaft. Obgef. Schaedlich hears tapping noises, follows these and notices a man bending down quickly in order not to be seen. Sch. jumps to the spot and catches a man in underpants and workman’s jacket in a small room behind the kellerhaus staircase. A rope is leading upwards! Schaedlich pulls his revolver and threatens to shoot immediately should the prisoner leave this room. Schaedlich goes to the window and calls a corporal to assist him. During this time, 2 men are in the room. It is found that one man had been digging in the shaft 5m below and the rubble was hoisted with the rope to the 4^th floor. Jemmy bars etc. were found. Weeks of work!

08.05.41

Palliasses are being loaded from F214. Orderlies are carrying these down the stairs past the English Quarters and are putting them onto the camp horse cart. The sentry notices that one palliasse is very heavy. Loose, the Quartermaster, reaches into this palliasse and feels a human face. Staff Sergeant Gebhardt is called, and the English Lt. Hyde-Thomson is pulled out of the palliasse. The driver of the camp cart reports that there was also a heavy palliasse on his previous load. Immediate roll call. Although the numbers tally, it is noticed that the “Scotlander” Lt. Allan is missing. Obviously he has escaped in the palliasse, to the Arnold Bowling Alley. Tracker dogs and patrols are sent out, also by horse cart. No luck! He got away.

09.05.41

On the 5^th May, 2 Polish Lieutenants, Chmiel and Surmanowicz, are caught by St. Serg. Gebhardt, while trying to break through the gable of Room F316 into the German quarters, and taken to the arrest cell. Both go on hunger strike and refuse all food. Surmanowicz smashed his eating utensils into small splinters and is totally uncooperative. On 9^th May both escape from their cell and are caught on the Schlobach hill. With the help of some of their comrades, 3 doors were broken open and the bolts of the cell door were pushed back - there were no signs of force.

28 bed sheets were knotted together to make this rope for an escape attempt from the attic above the officers’ mess down to the Haingasse in town.

As at that time we did not yet have a sentry in the courtyard it would have been easy for them to get assistance. It was only necessary for those involved to work as quietly as possible so that the sentry at the gate did not notice anything. From the scratch marks we deduce that one of them was noisted with a rope from the roof of the cell block to a ledge between the 2^nd and 3^rd floor from where he jumped onto the adjoining mess roof. From there he climbed through a window without bars into the attic above the mess and he then hauled the second man up through another attic window without bars.

On May 9^th after the spotlights had been switched off, a guard heard scraping noises coming from a dormitory window. He saw a rope hanging from the window and a man jumped from the end of it. A sentry was alerted who fired two shots after the man running in the direction of Haingasse. The two escapers were soon caught. They made a 25m long rope from 28 bedcovers and dropped this from the attic above the mess to the garden. A very courageous escape!

13.05.41

The Polish Lt. Just has escaped from cell 7 (gate) with the help of the English Lt. Hyde-Thomson. Both wire grilles between the cell and the oven had been cut through with scissors and a rope made from bedcovers had been used to get from the ante-room through an unbarred window into the garden. A very easy escape route!

17.05.41

Two French engineers, Lt. Moura and Boutelier are caught “working” in the witches walk of the kitchen house.

21.05.41

At night an English orderly makes himself very obvious at one of the windows and a sentry fires at him. Full search of the English quarters reveals that 5 beds are empty and 5 officers missing. Very noisy “Sonderappell” (by Rittmeister Aurich). At the morning roll call, all are present. We found that “work” had been carried out in the chapel, behind the altar.

29.05.41

We have known for some days that a mass escape is being planned. The English have bribed a German guard who reported this. We have made quite a few preparations for the safe reception of the escapers. In the evening at about 8 o’clock an English Officer crawls out of the ground outside the wall outside the camp canteen window. He is caught immediately and the canteen is “secured” by us. We drag a further 12 men from the tunnel under the canteen. Furthermore, we find in this tunnel - which existed before - a large quantity of tinned food, civilian clothing made by the prisoners and much other material. Obgef. Schaedlich searches the English quarters and finds neatly cut floorboards, and below these a piece of paper with the message “Leck mich am Arsch” (kiss my arse).

Some names of the refugees are known, there were the English Officers Capt. Elliot, Lt. Col. German, Capt. Howe, Capt. Lockwood, Capt. Reid, Lt. Story-Pugh, Lt. Wardle and the Polish Officers Capt. Lados and Lt. Mikusinski.

Exit of the tunnel under the canteen window

31.05.41

The “Scotlander” Allan who escaped on 8^th May is returned. He got as far as Vienna during his escape but had to surrender to the police there because he was so hungry. “Well, here I am again” he said very sadly - then he had to be de-loused!

09.06.41

Phone call from the Grossbothen railway station. They have just caught a POW, probably an Officer. We tell them that nobody is missing from Oflag IV C, but we will nevertheless come and pick him up.

When the car arrives, the French Lt. Mairesse-Lebrun, the Olympic horseman, climbs out in civilian clothing. He could only have got away at around 10 in the morning, and must have walked straight to Grossbothen station. Here he wanted to buy a railway ticket for which he produced a 50 mark note from the inflation time. This made him suspicious and he was immediately arrested. Under his civilian clothing he was still wearing his uniform. We did not find out how he had escaped from the castle.

18.06.41

A POW escaped during a walk in the park. The patrol car catches him near Tanndorf. It is the French Lt. Odry. He claims to have had 40 marks which he threw into the ditch when the car approached him.

20.06.41

The Polish Lt. Just who escaped on 13.05. is returned to the camp. He had got as far as Wuerttemberg (South Germany) and told us that he had often been helped in Southern Germany by communist sympathisers. He had pretended to be a Ukrainian and many Germans had asked him when Russia would at last declare war on Germany.

21.06.41

The Polish Lt. Bednarski, who escaped from the hospital, is returned. He had got as far as Krakow where he was arrested by the Gestapo. While they held him he got little to eat but many beatings.

22.06.41

As of today, Germany is at war with Russia. The POWs are very pleased about this! After the evening appell they start shouting “Heil Moscow” and sing the “Internationale” The noise is getting louder and they start a whistling concert. Because of this threatening behaviour, Cap. Puepcke orders the guards to get ready to fire. Suddenly two empty beer bottles are thrown from the Polish quarters on the second floor of the Cellar House, at the guards. The first physical attack! As punishment, all sort of stringent measures are introduced from the next day. The Polish Lt. Surmanowicz reports that it was he who threw the bottles. The court martial in Leipzig demands the death penalty for him, but gets only 4 years “Zuchthaus” (a much harder type of prison).

25.06.41

The French Lt. Boule is caught in the German Courtyard dressed as a woman. He is wearing a skirt and a hat from blanket cloth, a striped blouse and lady’s lace-ups and stockings. During the walk to the park, one of the POWs drops his watch, many POWs bend down to pick it up and at that moment a “woman” sneaks from their ranks. Hauptmann Kunze was watching from the window, recognises the disguise and arranges Boule’s arrest.

26.06.41

Lance Corporal Schaedlich finds 2 blankets under the floorboards of the English quarters.

28.06.41

The French Lt. Koltz is doing his morning exercises in the yard and Obgef. Schaedlich notices that he has blue hands - he must have been dyeing something. Schaedlich stops Koltz and asks him to show his hands. Koltz discontinues his exercises and appears at the appell with clean hands. During the appell a washing bowl with dyed clothing - jacket, cap, tie, are found under Koltz’s bed and confiscated. A few hours later Lt. Koltz accuses Schaedlich of theft and receives a warning.

The French Lt. Boule tried to walk out of the camp disguised as a woman

02.07.41

During exercise in the park the French Lt. Mairesse-Lebrun (on his l...

Table of contents

• Tales from Colditz Castle
• Inhaltsverzeichnis
• Introduction
• Colditz Castle – Colditz Town
• Setting up the OFLAG IV C POW Camp
• A Camp for the “Naughty Boys”
• The Diary of Georg Martin Schädlich
• Half Century later
• Summary of Escape Attempts
• Recollections of Rudolf E. Denzler – Swiss Protecting Power representative