Chapter 17
Franz von Werra
Franz von Werra was born to upper class Swiss parents who were in fact paupers. So poor that they decided to sell both he and his sister to an aristocratic German family.
Both children attended excellent schools and were brought up as well-bred German children. At the age of eighteen Franz joined the Luftwaffe. Regarded by some as arrogant others regarded him as personable and highly intelligent. One officer recalled Franz as ‘an honest and pleasant young man; a bit of a showman with a wonderful imagination, but a reliable and honest chap.’
Battle of Britain was at its height in September 1940; Franz von Werra was flying his Me109 over England close to Love’s Farm in Kent. Workers on the farm attending their crops heard a burst of gunfire from the nearby anti aircraft battery. They looked up only to see a German fighter came into view flying low over the farm. The planes wheels were not extended, it was obvious the fighter was about to make a crash landing in a field a quarter of a mile away. This was how Franz von Werra came to Britain. He was soon placed under arrest and taken to Headquarters, Kent County Constabulary, in Maidstone. That evening, von Werra was handed over to the Army, who escorted him to Maidstone Barracks. In the morning an officer and two armed guards arrived and transported him to the London District Prisoner of War Cage. He was interrogated until the late afternoon then ordered back into the truck and taken to Cockfosters in London where he was questioned for the next two weeks.
Von Werra was transferred to a Prisoner of War camp, Grizedale Hall in the Lake District, Cumbria.
Franz knew that it would only be a matter of time before Germany invaded Britain but he was still determined to escape. After about ten days in the camp Franz approached the “escape committee” with a plan for his escape, the plan was approved.
Part of the camp’s daily routine was to take the prisoners outside through the village of Satterthwaite and beyond. Along the way was High Bowkerstead corner, where the party was always brought to a halt. Von Werra’s plan was simply to make a run for it at that corner whilst a subtle diversion taking place to distract the attention of the guards.
At 2pm on Monday 7th October, von Werra and twenty-three of his fellow officers departed the camp for their walk. Their escort consisted ten armed guards including one officer. An officer being present was unusual, the supervision was normally left to two NCO’s; one of whom was mounted on a horse. All decisions relating to the walk were therefore left to the mounted NCO. The senior POW, Lieutenant Colonel Hauptmann Pohle, sensed that the presence of the officer might create a little confusion to the accepted command structure. As the party drew near to the gate, Pohle called ahead to the NCO to lead the men southwards towards Satterthwaite. The NCO thinking that the order had come from his own officer, naturally obeyed.
The country roads around this area were usually deserted the odd motorcar or bicycle might come by occasionally but not very often.
The POW party arrived at High Bowkerstead corner only to find to their amazement a horse and cart approaching. The group stopped to let the old greengrocer pass by at a very slow pace. They had arrived at the stone wall where von Werra was planning to make his escape. The original plan was for one of the prisoners to approach the horse and give it a pat but as he moved forward to do so he was ordered back into line. Von Werner quickly changed his plan and when the horse and cart eventually passed the group he quickly climbed the wall and rolled over into the field. He departed unnoticed as his fell prisoners formed a human shield in front of the wall to hide him.
The guards had no idea what had happened.
The Cumbrian landscape is amongst the most difficult terrains in England and it was unseasonably wet and cold for October. All over Cumbria were located hoggarths; small buildings made of stone used for farmyard storage.
When the guards realised that von Werra had escaped they notified the local farmers to keep a look out for him particularly in their hoggarths, as they knew the escapee would seek warmth and shelter at some stage.
The Home Guard were given the task of inspecting the hoggarths on a nightly basis On the night of the 10th October in pouring rain two members of the Home Guard, approached a hoggarth in the vicinity of Broughton Mills and noticed that its lock had been forced. A light was shone inside and there crouching in the far corner was freshly shaven though gaunt von Werra. The home guard placed him under arrest and led down the hill. His hands were tied behind his back with cord held on tightly by one of the guards. As they reached the road at the bottom of the hill von Werra dragged his arms to the right pulling the guard off balance. Freeing his right arm he hit out at the guard knocking him to the ground. Wrenching his arms apart, von Werra’s restraints came loose and he ran back up the hill and into woodland. The two old guards pursued him but had no chance of catching him, they gave up and returned home quite dejected.
At dawn police and soldiers sealed off the area and began combing the country side with the aid of blood hounds; they found no trace of the German escapee.
The search team gave up their pursuit and retired to the local pub for some well earned refreshment. There was a shout coming from outside ‘Tally ho’ ‘Tally ho’ this was the call when a fox had been found. They raced outside to find old Joe Blakely who told them he spotted the German walking along the side of a wall about half a mile away.
By the time the search party had got to this position, von Werra had of course had disappeared. Surveying the scene one of the search team suddenly noticed some movement in the damp grass not twenty yards away. He ran to the spot and almost stood on top of von Werra who was lying on his back with his body submerged under the mud only his face was visible. He was handcuffed and returned to Grizedale Hall, where the Camp Commandant sentenced him to twenty-one days in solitary confinement. However, he did not complete this sentence. On 3rd November two days before he was due to be released he was informed that he was to be transferred to another camp.
Von Werra arrived at the Hayes Camp, in Swanwick, Derbyshire. Here he renewed his acquaintance with Major Fanelsa who had helped von Werra to escape from Grizedale Hall; he was now the Camp Leader at the Hayes. Franz allocated to the “Garden House” and soon involved himself with a group of would-be escapers. The group consisted of von Werra, his Austrian friend Lieutenant Wagner, Major Heinz Cramer, Lieutenant Walter Manhard and two other prisoners by the name of Willhelm and Malischewski. They called themselves “The Swanwick Construction Company.” The objective of the company was to dig an escape tunnel.
In the north wing of the garden house they found a disused room, this is where they would start digging The tunnel was designed to be thirteen metres long and would pass beneath two security fences including the lane that lay between them. The exit emerged in a small patch of waste ground. There were a few trees and bushes offering some cover. The concept was presented to Major Fanelsa but he was not supportive. Despite his opposition the group started work on 17th November 1940.
The tunnelling team worked relentlessly particularly von Werra and his friend Walter Manhard. They achieved good progress through the clay soil however; it was difficult disposing the soil. They stored it in the roof space and even in the latrines but the sheer volume extracted from the dig meant they needed to find an alternative solution.
Fortunately, Manhard discovered a hole two feet in diameter beneath a stone slab at the front of the Garden House. Six feet beneath this they could see water. It turned out to be a large tank built for holding rainwater. This would be ideal for disposing the remainder of the soil. On 17th December 1940, the tunnel had been completed.
The employees of the Swanwick Construction Company prepared to depart. Forgers at the camp had provided the five escapers with props and papers whilst Willhelm had obtained some British money by selling a ring to one of the guards. At 8.15pm 20th December shortly after final roll call von Werra wearing a beret and pyjamas over the top of his flying suit made his way into the tunnel and began to work on creating the exit hole.
As anti-aircraft guns opened up on German bombers over Derby, the camp choir burst out into song even louder than usual. “Muss i den, muss i den, zum Stadteli hinaus” (I must away into the great wide world) was the song. Von Werra was suitably amused.
Once out of the tunnel von Werra, Cramer, and Manhard had to lie low in the meadow next to the camp as civilians from the surrounding area were walking up and down the path. Once all was clear the five escapers went their separate ways with a pledge to meet up again in Berlin.
Manhard and Cramer stayed together. Their intention was to walk to Somercotes and then catch a bus to Nottingham. From there they planned to get to the East Coast.
Unfortunately they lost their way and Cramer was captured. He was in the process of stealing a policeman’s bicycle. Manhard proceeded alone catching a bus to Sheffield where he was captured. Willhelm and Wagner were found on the outskirts of Manchester hiding in the back of a lorry.
Von Werra remained alone having concocted a cavalier escape plan. He removed his pyjamas and was now in his flying suit. His intention was to pass himself off as a Dutch pilot serving with the RAF. This would allow him to enter an airbase and steal a plane. Whilst imprisoned in the camp he read as many English papers as possible, he felt comfortable with current events and was sure he could conduct a serious conversation with anyone he happened to meet while on his mission. Conscious of the fact that British bombers flew at night von Werra hid until 3am. Approaching a railway station he discovered a train sitting at the platform. He approached the driver and introduced himself as a member of the Royal Dutch Air Force serving with the RAF. Franz claimed he had been on a bombing raid that night and was shot down crash landing nearby. The driver agreed to help him get to the nearest RAF base.
Von Werra requested the use of a telephone to ring the RAF base so they could dispatch a car to pick him up and take him back to the airbase. He was informed he would have to wait until the booking clerk arrived at 6.00am, as he was the only one with a public phone. When Eaton, the booking clerk, arrived he was not happy with von Werra’s story he decided to contact the police. Franz used his charm to convince Eaton of his authenticity and permitted him to call to RAF Hucknall, and arrange for a car to come and collect him. The police, however, arrived first. They questioned von Werra but again he was able to convince them that his story was true The RAF staff car arrived and took Franz back to the base; so far his scheme was going to plan or so he thought.
Squadron Leader Boniface, the duty officer, greeted him that morning. Boniface was suspicious of von Werra’s story and asked to see his identity disc. Von Werra was confident that the forged disc would pass muster however, when presented, it had faded badly. Von Werra made the excuse he needed to visit the toilet he took the opportunity to run back to the base entrance where he had seen hangers. He hoped to find a suitable plane to hijack. All the planes seemed to be waiting for major repairs none were suitable for his purposes. He climbed a security fence and found a number of Hurricanes, he approached a mechanic with the story that Wing Commander Boniface had ordered him to take the plane for a test flight.
The mechanic gave Franz a quick explanation of the controls and went to fetch the trolley-accumulator to start the engine.
While he was gone, Squadron Leader Boniface appeared alongside the aircraft with a revolver aimed at von Werra’s head. That was to be end of this escape! Von Werra received fourteen days in solitary confinement.
The British decided that all German POWs should be transported to Canada in January 1941.
Von Werner and another twelve hundred and fifty German prisoners set sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Franz did not stop fantasising about how he would escape from the ship but the reality was he landed in Halifax still a POW.
Loaded onto a train the prisoners were heading for a camp on the north shore of Lake Superior, Ontario.
Franz, yet again, decided he would attempt another escape. He figured the route they were taking would take them close to the border with the United States, which was still neutral at that point in time.
The plan was reasonably simple he would climb through the carriage’s window and cross the border. The problem he had was the windows had iced over and with no tools it would be very difficult to remove it. He used his body warmth and others in the carriage also leant their warmth to defrost the ice. Eventually the window was clear.
Although they had managed to de-ice the window the space available would mean von Werra would have to squeeze through headfirst; a daunting prospect!
Franz readied himself as the train had just departed from a station and hadn’t yet picked up full speed. A fellow prisoner got to his feet and held up a blanket as if he was folding it. Von Werner pushed himself out the window and landed in the snow unharmed. He found himself in Smiths Falls about thirty miles from the St Lawrence River, which formed the border with the United States.
It wasn’t until the following afternoon that his absence noted by the guards.
He was able to obtain a map from a gas station and discovered his closest point to the St Lawrence was a town called Prescott, he walked two mile down river and decided to cross. The river had become ice. Halfway across he realised that the river was flowing there was noway he could make it across. He returned to the shore and found a dingy he dragged it the rivers edge and rowed across; he was now in neutral territory.
He immediately headed towards the town of Ogdensburg. He found a policeman and handed himself in. Von Werra convinced the police he was a German officer and a POW, they handed him over the immigration authorities. He was charged with entering the United States illegally and was in real fear of being handed back to the Canadians. He was permitted to contact the German Consul in New York and as a result received a significant amount of press. He became a celebrity recounting his exaggerated stories to all who would listen. While Franz was enjoying the good life in New York both Britain and Canada were negotiating for his return. In April 1941 the British and Canadians had negotiated von Werra’s return. There was one small problem; von Werra was now in Berlin! He had escaped through Mexico then Brazil caught a ship to Barcelona then Rome and finally Berlin. All under the authorities noses!
Hitler awarded him the Iron Cross
Returning to military service, von Werra was posted to the Russian Front and then flew fighter patrols over the North Sea. On the 25th October 1941, von Werra was flying a routine patrol from Holland when his engine failed and his plane disappeared.
No trace of either aircraft or pilot was ever found.