The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
CAPTAIN O L E MOLL ROSS MM, OFFICER COMMANDING GENERAL DETAILS DEPOT, BRIGHTON (RIGHT), LISTENS TO NX6214 DRIVER C. W. CROUCHER (LEFT) AND TX10376 DRIVER K. H. GRIFFIN, BOTH OF 6TH AUSTRALIAN DIVISIONAL AUSTRALIAN ARMY SERVICE CORPS, ATTACHED TO 2/1ST AUSTRALIAN FIELD AMBULANCE, TELL THE STORY OF THEIR ESCAPES FROM TWO GERMAN PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS. THEY ESCAPED FROM CRETE ON AN INVASION BARGE AND LANDED ON A SMALL ISLAND APPROXIMATELY 50 MILES SOUTH OF CRETE. AFTER HIDING FOR FOUR DAYS IN CAVES ON THE ISLAND, THEY WERE TAKEN PRISONER BY THE CREW OF A GERMAN FLYING BOAT WHICH LANDED ON THE COAST. LATER THEY WERE PLACED IN A POW CAMP AT WOLFSBURG, AUSTRIA, STALAG XVIIIa, FROM WHICH THEY ESCAPED BY CUTTING THE WIRE WITH WIRE-CUTTERS PROVIDED BY FRENCH SYMPATHISERS OUTSIDE THE CAMP. AFTER BEING HIDDEN BY THE FRENCH IN ROUEN IN FRANCE FOR TWO WEEKS, THEY CROSSED INTO (THEN) UNOCCUPIED FRANCE WITH THE INTENTION OF LATER CROSSING INTO SPAIN; BUT WHEN THEY WERE WITHIN TWO KILOMETRES OF THE BORDER THEY WERE CAPTURED BY VICHY FRENCH POLICE AND HANDED BACK TO THE GERMANS. THEY WERE PLACED IN A MILITARY INTERNMENT CAMP AT ST HIPPOLYT DU FORT IN VICHY FRANCE FOR SIX WEEKS AND THEN REMOVED TO A POW CAMP IN AN OLD FORT BETWEEN NICE AND MONTE CARLO. ESCAPE FROM THIS FORT BY NIGHT WAS IMPOSSIBLE, AS ALL THE PRISONERS WERE LOCKED UP EACH NIGHT WITH AN ARMED GUARD ON THE DOORS; BUT AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS THE MEN ESCAPED BY DIGGING A TUNNEL INTO THE MOAT SURROUNDING THE FORT. IN THIS ESCAPE THEY WERE AIDED BY A POLISH PRIEST WHO VISITED THE POW CAMP REGULARLY. THEY MADE THEIR WAY TO NICE, WHERE THEY WERE HIDDEN FOR A WEEK, AND FROM THERE THEY WENT TO A SMALL TOWN ON THE SOUTHERN COAST OF FRANCE NEAR THE SPANISH BORDER. AT THIS TOWN THEY MADE CONTACT WITH GIBRALTAR; SEVERAL DAYS LATER A CUTTER DISGUISED AS A FISHING BOAT TOOK THEM TO GIBRALTAR, FROM WHERE THEY FLEW TO ENGLAND. THEY REACHED AUSTRALIA BY SHIP A FEW DAYS BEFORE BEING PHOTOGRAPHED.
Postcard sent from No. 1 POW Camp Thailand by Gunner White (118 Field Regiment) to his wife in England. Gunner White and 2 Australian POWs (Bill Clements and David Evans) escaped to Vietnam 2 weeks be
Two allied airmen playing chess in Chevreuse with a Frenchwoman whose family hid them for two weeks after they were shot down. Left to right: Colette Kalmanson, Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) Philip J Lam
A handwritten account by Lieutenant Howard Jacups AAMC entitled "Escape from Singapore, Singapore to Sydney, 43 days". The manuscript describes Jacups' escape from Singapore in February 1942 aboard th
Portrait of Warrant Officer (WO) Thomas A. (Tom) Malcolm RAAF, an observer flying with 463 (Lancaster) Squadron RAAF. WO Malcolm, of Hawthorn, Vic, was shot down on 24 June 1944 while on a 112 aircra
Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX38584 Gunner (Gnr) Wally Crease, 2/15th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery. He was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sand
Ciboure, France. August 1946. Colleagues who had been part of the Comet escape route sit on the grass in a field, the Pyrenees Mountains in the background. This route was used by 288 Allied airmen and
