The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Black painted steel wirecutters. The handles are partly encased in deteriorating black rubber. Part of the manufacturer's name '...TER' is visible beside the rubber.
Acquired by 2875 Private John Richard Cash, of 19 Battalion, AIF, for an escape attempt from Holzminden Prisoner of War Camp in July 1918. He exchanged food from his Red Cross parcels with German civilians in return for the wirecutters, a map and photographic equipment with which to produce copies of the map for each potential escapee. Cash, a Sydney photographer, enlisted on 18 February 1916 in the reinforcements to 56 Battalion but was re-assigned to 19 Battalion on his arrival in France. He was listed as missing on 3 May 1917, during the Battle of Bullecourt. Several witnesses claimed that they had seen him die, but in fact he had been badly wounded in the shoulder and partially buried in a shell hole. Rescued and captured by German soldiers, Cash spent the next sixteen weeks in German hospitals near Hanover and Celle before being discharged to Soltan Barrack 30 at Lager 1. In November 1917 he was moved to Holzminden Prisoner of War Camp. In June 1918 he recorded in a postcard to his family that the Germans had issued him with a new set of false teeth. Although some prisoners made a successful escape from Holzminden in July 1918, Cash was not among them. He was repatriated to Hull, in England, on 17 December 1918 and returned to Australia on 25 March 1919.
The simplest method of reproduction used by prisoners was tracing or copying maps from originals. This was the most common method used in World War I, and was also used in The Second World War. A pri
The exposed escape tunnel leading from the Holzminden Prisoner of War (POW) Camp, in Germany; some POWs made a successful escape from the camp in July 1918. The photographer, 2875 Private John Richard
Outdoor portrait of Kapitan (Captain) Niemeyer, the German Commandant of Holzminden Prisoner of War (POW) Camp, Holzminden, Germany. The photographer, 2875 Private John Richard Cash, 19th Battalion, e
Two German guards inspect an exposed section of an escape tunnel leading from the Holzminden Prisoner of War (POW) Camp. Dug by Allied escapees, the tunnel was used by some POWs to make a successful e
Group portrait of unidentified British, Australian and New Zealand prisoners in front of a building at Holzminden Prisoner of War (POW) Camp, in Germany. Those prisoners wearing wings on their tunics
A section of a map of Germany made to help Allied Prisoners of War (POW) to escape in July 1918 from Holzminden POW Camp in Germany to the Dutch border. The sections of map were sewn into the clothing
A section of a map of Germany made to help Allied Prisoners of War (POW) to escape in July 1918 from Holzminden POW Camp in Germany to the Dutch border. The sections of map were sewn into the clothing
