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Leslie dawdled his way up the hill, water pails hoisted across his shoulders. Reaching the cottage, he was taken aback to see Lisa chatting with Harry the Bum. Noticing Les, Lisa smiled. True to his nickname, Harry was finishing a cigarette and gestured to Les for another. Les was reluctant to pass a cigarette to this shady character, but Lisa’s smile eased his concerns. ‘Hello, Leslie, this is my cousin, Anton,’ she said.1 Les wasn’t surprised they had got his name so wrong and passed him a cigarette.
Anton lit it up and inhaled deeply. ‘I hear you want to meet some Partisans?’ he said.
Les was almost breathless.
‘I’m meeting three tomorrow, a short distance from here. Please come if you wish.’
As Anton continued chatting to Lisa, Leslie was left with tea and his thoughts. He’d have to tell Ralph that evening.
Back at the camp, Leslie pulled Ralph aside for a walk inside the wire and told him the story. Ralph had to work very hard to keep his cool and not attract attention.
Leslie made the rendezvous the next day without issue and met Anton and three Partisan fighters in the woods near the cottage. Each Partisan was almost a human armoury, wrapped in bullet loops and grenades. One held a small, odd-looking gun Les had never seen before: a Sten submachine gun, courtesy of a British airdrop. Les thought the Partisans resembled operetta bandits from The Maid of the Mountains.2 The trio explained that in a few weeks the Partisans would move into the area in strength. When that happened, a Partisan force would come to the railway and rescue the whole crew.3 Anton had most likely been sent at Lindsay and 4th Zone HQ’s behest to put this plan into motion.
‘We’ll be ready,’ Leslie declared. In an instant, the plan had gone from Leslie and Ralph escaping to the entire railway crew.
There would be major logistical problems. Corn and fruit were ripening all over the country, so they might have enough food to survive on, but living off the land for survival and fuelling potentially strenuous marches or a long winter in hiding were very different matters. The best hope was that the Partisans would be able to provide some food. Leslie and Ralph weren’t relying on this. If it were to be a rescue, then everyone would be breaking out, no matter what, and they needed supplies and co-conspirators. They both wanted to bring their best friends, Andy and Kit, in on the scheme, but they knew that once they had done so it would be impossible to keep the secret from the rest of their section. They decided to bring in Griff, Bob, Phil, and Len too.
To start with the response from the other six was lukewarm, but the frequent air raids and mounting German losses helped them warm to the plan.4 However, Leslie and Ralph kept their companions in the dark about the Partisan raid: as far as the other six knew, it’d be them alone escaping.5 Most likely this was for security. If word got out that eight of them were trying to escape, their fellows might not take issue. But a full rescue – that would cause problems. A cosy life had been built here, and many would be unhappy to go on the run with dangerous ‘bandits’. So, under a shroud of secrecy, the eight set to work. To ensure supplies, each man would have to smuggle food on site. The Crow could withdraw food from The Combine for special projects, which took some creative accounting. For Ralph and Len, the plan entailed resigning their posts to get places on the railway crew. This in turn meant Ralph would no longer control The Combine. Soon getting supplies would require creative signouts from the storeroom.
First, though, Ralph had someone he needed to protect. He took an almighty gamble. He marched out of the camp and off to Gross’s office. He could feel his heartbeat and the rhythmic thumping of his boots on the ground. Standing at the door of the Kommandoführer’s office, he gave two sharp knocks.
‘Come in, please, Herr Vertrauensmann. Have a seat.’
Ralph sat down, doing his best to appear calm. In truth, sweat was pouring off him. He inhaled and looked hard at Gross. ‘Herr Kommandoführer, I intend to resign as Vertrauensmann, and I believe you should leave too. You have been with us four times longer than any of your predecessors. You should seek a transfer. It’s only fair you should find new pastures.’
Gross’s jaw dropped, disbelief transparent. ‘Why? Why resign? Why should I leave? For what possible reason?’ He lowered his voice. ‘We’ve got a wonderful thing here; here we can sit out the war.’
Ralph took a moment to compose himself. Gross’s case was compelling. Whatever came out of Ralph’s mouth now had better be good. ‘Herr Kommandoführer, if we try to hold on to our good thing for too long, it will go bad. Circumstances will change, and things will sour. This cannot last forever. I wish not to jeopardize the respect we have developed.’
Gross was silent, processing what Ralph had just said. They watched each other across the table; Ralph used all his willpower to seem at ease. Unteroffizier Johann Gross looked at him from behind his glasses, the gears turning. He knows, Ralph thought; he knows – please take the hint.
‘Thank you, Herr Vertrauensmann. I will do as you suggest.’6
Ralph left the office without another word. It wasn’t until he was back in the barracks that he felt he was breathing again. Les returned to hear that Gross was out of the picture, but seemed less than thrilled at the risk Ralph had taken without consultation. Ralph wasn’t fazed. Matters of camp and Kommandoführer were his domain – why shouldn’t he take decisive action? He felt he had had no other choice. That week a group of Wehrmacht officers attempted to assassinate and overthrow Hitler. They failed, but paranoia was rife, and the SS were wreaking bloody vengeance. If the entire camp vanished, Ralph expected Herr Kommandoführer would face execution.
The gamble worked. Three days later, Gross had organized his transfer and departed. He met Herr Vertrauensmann for the last time by the camp gate. Gross had been the best friend the prisoners could ever have. Kind and cunning, he had made sure his charges’ internment was as comfortable as that of any prisoners in the Reich. He had actually worked against his regime, aiding and abetting a highly successful black-market racket right under his superiors’ noses. Herr Kommandoführer had also found the courage to stand up for the prisoners against both the Abwehr and SD. In turn the prisoners had made him relatively rich – to amass more wealth than any Unteroffizier could hope to see. Ralph and Gross had always addressed each other by the formal German Sie – Johann Gross had always been Herr Kommandoführer, and Ralph Churches, Herr Vertrauensmann – but now Johann used the intimate Du.7 ‘Good luck, Ralph. Please take care.’
Ralph took Johann’s outstretched hand with both of his own. ‘I will, Johann, likewise to you.’
Then Johann Gross, a great friend and ally, departed.
Now Ralph had to resign as Vertrauensmann without arousing suspicion. Everyone knew The Crow liked being in charge, was fond of rash action, and asking others if they were game after the fact.
The new Kommandoführer was an officious hard-arse, closer to the ‘screaming skulls’ of old, and described by one prisoner as ‘gun happy’.8 For Sunday parade, Ralph prepared a speech he hoped would make Shakespeare blush. He would hit his usual talking points – lack of discipline, poor presentation – but then he’d add the stress of working with the new Kommandoführer, working himself up until he seemed on the edge of exploding. He knew that would sell it. The crew assembled. Many were out of uniform, unshaven, and wearing homemade shorts and casual shirts.
‘Right, fellas, there are a few things I want to talk about today . . .’ Ralph began. ‘The army sends you a brand-new uniform every year, a beautiful pure wool uniform, and you go slobbing off to work. Not like British soldiers, but like ragtag bums with homemade shorts. For heaven’s sake, walk out there with pride! You can wear that stuff under your uniform and strip down on the worksite!9 I’m grateful that you put your trust in me, and I thank you for that, but I’m through. We’ve lost our camp commandant, and I have to deal with this new bastard. I’ve had a gutful. I want to get out into the fresh air. You’ll have to elect a new Man of Confidence.’
His bewildered comrades duly elected a new representative, Robert Shuttleworth, an Englishman with decent German and no enthusiasm for the job who agreed out of a sense of duty.10 ‘Eggy’ Len resigned as the camp carpenter, to be replaced by another Len, Leonard Hewlett, the star of the Christmas revue’s ‘Green Eyes’ duet.11
The next Monday, Ralph and ‘Eggy’ joined the railway crew on the commute for the first time. Many marched off in shirts and shorts, expecting a hot day of work. By contrast, the escape eight dressed in full British battledress. Each brought a rucksack with tinned food and biscuits, and when they went off to pee found somewhere in the undergrowth to stash it. More tins were added each day until they could escape. Only Ralph and Leslie knew this would have to be shared by the whole crew. The pair prepared an indignant rant should they be challenged by the guards, a variation on the theme of insufficient rations for such hard work, but it was their fellow prisoners who were more likely to notice the unusual behaviour. The Crow had made a fuss about the last escape, berating his fellows for risking reprisals and a loss of privilege with their escape. He hoped it hadn’t set a precedent; before that, the attitude had usually been, ‘Your business, not mine.’ The guards didn’t challenge the food but were hardest to convince on the resignation. ‘You bloody Englishmen,’ Gustl had remarked to Ralph as they headed out. ‘We’ll never understand you.’12
On the railway, the heat of the day rose. Ralph stripped down to the shorts underneath his battledress. He had his escape supplies in a small army haversack. It was waterproofed to the best of his ability and stowed within a larger homemade rucksack.13
On every tea run, meanwhile, Les grew more nervous about Lisa. She had given them a chance, and he hoped her life would not be endangered because of it. Succeed or fail, Leslie knew his visits would be over. Most likely, he’d never see her again. He would miss Lisa, Stanko, and Mitsi.
The days were not without their drama. While bathing in the Drava, Eric Edwards was caught in a current. A poor swimmer, he only survived thanks to rescue by Andy Hamilton.14 As for Anton, there was no sign of him or the Partisans. Days of waiting turned to weeks. Ralph began entertaining ideas of escaping anyway. The Balkans were on fire from Slovenia to the Black Sea as the Germans retreated on all fronts – if an air raid didn’t strike the prisoners in Maribor, they’d be evacuated deeper into the Reich. If that trip resembled the transfer from Corinth, many would die.
Ralph’s fears were to come to pass for others in the coming weeks; the rations for all prisoners would be halved. A further month on, all camps would be put under the authority of the SS, and then, in winter, the prisoners would be sent on brutal forced marches into Germany, conducted in much the same way as in Greece, with little to no provision of food or water. Temperatures were freezing, and many died.15
Late in August, the conspirators’ anxieties eased and then rose again. The whole railway crew were given a day off because a bomb had gone off on the line.16 That meant the Partisans were nearby – but what if today was the day for escape, and the would-be rescuers arrived to the site empty? Should Ralph, Leslie, and the others break for it and hope to catch up with them? They decided that would be too risky and waited it out. Nevertheless, Ralph ended a letter to Ronte in July with ‘look to see me with the birds of spring’.
A few days later, their prayers were answered. As Les made his way up the hill to the well, Anton emerged from the trees. He said two words before departing: ‘Stand by.’17