More About the Escape from Schweidnitz POW Camp

Schweidnitz POW Camp 1918

  

Since I wrote of the six Aussie and New Zealand POWs in my Anzac Day tribute Blog link I’ve been introduced to the rest of our “international“ research team- all relatives of the tunnel escapees at  Schweidnitz POW camp. Several others want to be kept in the loop and are eagerly supplying their own bits of memorabilia.

 Ruve from New Zealand, is the granddaughter of George Tarn Harker, John and Gail from Canada are the grandchildren of Arthur Harold Madill Copeland and James from England, is the nephew of Aubrey Robert Maxwell Rickards. My relative of course is Mark Strelley Fryar a third cousin. We have been helped along by an historian, Roger who has previously looked into the story and done some pretty decent research.

A rapidly growing collection of records, memoirs and stories are making our POWs come alive and we’ve started to see how their previous experiences make them candidates for escape. For example, Mark was a serial escapee.

The POW camp held Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and British officers some from infantry and many who had been shot down. The life in the camp is dreary and they long for food parcels. Days are long. They are frustrated that others are fighting in the war without them and that they have let others down. These men are officers of the British forces. They are smart and often have a mechanical or hands-on backgrounds.  It’s a long time between letters and Red Cross parcels. Boredom and being housed with others who are multiple escapees lets their minds tick along with ideas of escape….

 In addition, building on experiences of fellow POWs, they acquire skills in making saws and rubber stamps, forging papers, clothing alteration and generally how to outsmart the Germans with elaborate escape plans. Precision planning was required.

 The story continues with our team member’s stories of 4 more POWs….

 

Lieutenant George Tarn Harker 1894- 1983 (Contributed to by Ruve Baker)

When George Tarn Harker was born in April 1894 in Nutfield, Surrey, England, his father, Henry, was 33 and his mother, Marianne, was 22. Tarn had an older sister Mabel born Sept 1892. They had a younger brother, John Gordon Harker born in January 1898. John served in WW1 and died on September 28, 1918, in France at the age of 20, and was buried in Pas-de-Calais, France.

George Tarn Harker 1915

  Tarn originally began his war service in the Honorary Artillery Company. His first overseas posting was to France in 1914. During leave he applied to the Royal Flying Corps as pilots were desperately needed and after six weeks training in England Second Lt Harker returned to the front in April 1917. By 23 June 1917, while returning from attacking balloons he was shot down over Belgium 10 miles behind enemy lines. His engine was shot in the benzene tank which forced a landing behind the first and second line of German trenches near Dovai. Tarn’s short memoir of his time as a POW was recorded by his wife before his death in 1983.

So important to record memories before it's too late

 

 He was taken to Schweidnitz POW camp.  Being an officer, he was afforded freedom to do at will provided he attended roll call in the morning and afternoon.  He was one of the instigators of digging the tunnel using a spoon and a shuttle of mugs to carry the dirt. 

 On 19^th March 1918 Tarn made his escape with Atkins and 22 others. He had escaped through the tunnel. Lt. Atkins was entombed by the tunnel collapse after the first 23 went through. He was saved by the gallant effort of an Air Force POW Lt. Harker, who was small enough to crawl through the collapsed tunnel and bring Lt. Atkins to safety. They travelled in pairs with the intention of escaping through Austria to Switzerland, travelling part of the journey on foot and part by goods train.

 This is from a report by Mark Strelley Fryar “They took the following route :- SCHWEIDNITZ to CHARLOTTEN BRUN, over very hilly ground across the frontier.” “They travelled via :- JOHANNESBURG, JOSEPH STADT, BRANEAU, NACHOD,KONIGRATZ. “ "Lieutenant Harker was caught here and taken to a men’s camp at PARDUBITZ, where Lieutenant Athius(Sic)  joined him. They declared themselves to be officers, but the authorities would not believe them, as they were in civilian clothes, and told them they would have to remain where they were until they received confirmation from Schweidnitz, which would probably take about three weeks.”

 “Whilst at this camp they were told by Frenchmen in the camp that the French working on commandos & c. in southern Germany were going across the frontier in twos and threes because of the better treatment they received. There was plenty of food in the camp and the ‘Checks’ in the district were friendly towards the Allies. The camp was fairly easy to escape from so they decided to try and go back to Germany when they heard they were going to be detained. They escaped and recrossed the frontier and had to give themselves up at GORLITZ owing to running short of food.”

 They planned to travel in pairs and after being captured once, escaped again to return from Austria to Germany. They gave themselves up. So, after three weeks on the run they were taken prisoner again. Like the others Tarn was sent into Holzminden POW until Armistice and their repatriation to England.

 Tarn and his family lived at Mercers Farm in Nutfield, Surrey, UK and were farmers. Tarn, together with his parents, Henry and Marianne, departed England on 13 August 1926 and immigrated to New Zealand. They settled on a dairy and beef farm in the Otorohanga County. Tarn's fiancé, Enid Gabrielle (nee Wood) arrived in New Zealand in 1927 and married Tarn a couple of days later. Enid was 24 years old. Tarn and Enid had four children during their marriage. Tarn's mother, Marianne died in 1931 aged 58yrs. His father, Henry died 28 years later in 1959 at the age of 98yrs. 

 Tarn developed his dairy and beef farm and when he was 40 years old, sold the farm to his two sons - Peter and Graham, who continued farming in partnership. Tarn enjoyed tender to their large garden and grew amazing vegetables in his garden plot. Tarn's passion was fishing mainly in the Kawhia Harbour. Tarn died on January 14, 1983, in Te Awamutu, New Zealand at the age of 88 years.

George Tarn Harker in RFC uniform

 

Lieutenant Arthur Harold Madill Copeland 1889-1984 (Written by John and Gail Copeland)

Arthur Harold Madill Copeland was born in Winnipeg, Canada on August 27, 1889. He was the middle of three children; his sister the eldest and a younger brother. He was twenty-six when he enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1915. At first, he was rejected because he didn’t weigh enough, however, he knew a major who was able to get him a commission and he accepted. He trained, drilled and passed his exams with flying colours. He started out with the Canadian Army Service Corp and then took a mechanical transport course.

Arthur Harold Madill Copeland

 On December 31, 1915, he sailed from Canada to England. The British were short of truck drivers and Arthur was selected to be a driver. He picked up new recruits and delivered them to Whitley Camp in the beautiful Surrey, England countryside. It was there where many new recruits received their initial military training. When his training was completed, he was sent to France with the Motor Transport unit and while there, in March 1916, he contracted red measles and had to spend some time in the hospital. In April 1916 he switched to the Third Ammunition Corp. where he drove supplies and ammunition close to the front lines. Men on foot carried them into battle. In mid- summer of 1916, after talking to members of the air force, he decided he’d like to join the air force as well. He went for an interview while in France and lied about having machine gun training. On Aug. 26, 1916, he joined the R.F.C. - 25th Squadron as an observer. This squadron was a Reconnaissance and Bombing unit. It soon became apparent that he lacked the machine gun experience so he was sent for a one-week training course. Pilots were given estimates of six to eight weeks to live while on active duty. The pilot that Arthur Copeland was teamed up with had had a total of six flying hours under his belt.

 On October 10, 1916, as part of the 25th Squadron was returning from a bombing raid, they saw what appeared to be a German observation balloon. Since no German planes were sighted, one plane decided to get rid of the sausage.

 Here is what happened in Copeland’s own words "...we were ordered to bomb Oppy. Two flights, or sections, detailed for this raid. Both Hayne (Moreton Hayne, his pilot) and I were scheduled to go in first section...dropped bombs on the marshalling yard and turned back for home when the leader of the section, Capt. C. H. Dixon, saw a German balloon and went to strafe it; both FE's (25 Squadron flew FE2b aircraft) followed him. Richtofen's (Fighter Ace, Manfred, also known as The Red Baron) squadron were up top in the sun. Three of them came down on us. I was sitting on the usual petrol can working the front Lewis which immediately jammed, so I stood on the can end, got up to work the second Lewis. I fired several bursts at an EA (enemy aircraft) which had made a pass and got several bursts at him; then, this gun also jammed. While I was trying to clear second jam, a plane dived from behind and above and fired a burst which killed Hayne and hit me in the left knee and left arm. The dead pilot immediately fell forward on the stick and the FE started to dive fairly steeply in wide controlled circles. I couldn't get into the back seat as the pilot was slumped forward on the controls, but managed to push the limp body back and pull the 'joystick' back. Realizing the aircraft could land in the town of Vitry, I pushed the stick forward to reach the ground before this occurred...pulled back stick, levelled off to complete stall, pulled up nose, dropped 20 feet and did a pancake landing! I couldn't move and waited until the pilot of the German machine landed and shook hands. He said, "you hit me with one burst!"

 Through the reading of many historical documents, it is believed that Baron Von Richthofen fired the first shots but had to veer off to avoid a plane on his tail. The credit for the downed plane was given to Fritz Gustav Kosmahl.

 Arthur was taken to a hospital in Vitry. It was two months before he was located and reported to be a POW. He spent time in several different camps and by late fall of 1917, he was imprisoned at Schweidnitz. This is where he made his first escape. Initially he was part of a group of eight who decided to dig a tunnel starting from a hole in the barracks floor and ending up outside the fence. In the end, twenty-four men left through that tunnel on the night of March 19, 1918. Arthur was recaptured and spent two weeks in solitary confinement. On April 16, he and the other re-captured escapees were sent by train to the Holzminden POW camp. Arthur and one of his buddies decided to try another escape and asked the guard if they could open a window to let some fresh air into the train car. Later, when the guard fell asleep, the two of them jumped out the window to freedom. They managed to avoid capture for two weeks until they reached a bridge across a river. They were four or five miles from the Dutch border. They watched many people cross the bridge without being stopped so they set across. There was a sentry on the other side who had been hidden and they were stopped, detained and ended up in Holtzminden anyway. They were court martialled and spent the rest of the war there.

Part of a letter back to Hilda- he talks of "barbedwireitis"

During Copeland’s time as a POW, he regularly wrote and received correspondence from his future wife, Hilda Reeve Lailey. They married April 28, 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is unknown whether they were just friends before he went to war or more than that. From the tone of their letters it appears that they were not romantically involved until after the war. In Dec 1918, after the camp closed, he wrote home and said he was “full of emotion and thoughts of the future.”

 Arthur had three sons and his eldest fought in World War II with the Canadian Army. His middle son followed in his footsteps and trained with the RAF to be a pilot. He received his wings just as the war was coming to a close and they no longer needed pilots overseas.

In 1921, after the war, Arthur worked for Laidlaw Lumber Company in Toronto, as their accountant. He rose to General Manager and V.P. and retired at age 70. At that time, he went to work as an accountant for his youngest son who had started his own retail business called Copeland Lumber. He worked there until he was 90. He commuted by train every day and during a local transit strike, in his early 80’s, he hitch-hiked from his house to the train depot, for several weeks.

Arthur is on the left

During the Second World War, there was a critical need for planes–and for trained young men to fly them. The Air Cadet League was established in 1941, to train young men for overseas service. Arthur was involved with training the Air Cadets in Toronto with the Mosquito Squadron.

According to his son, Don Copeland, Arthur was quiet, patient, laid back, tolerant and optimistic. He loved nature and fly fishing. Every year he would go into the remote, densely wooded areas north of Toronto to fish. He would often fly in by small float plane, sometimes taking his sons with him. The war for him was left far behind.

 He died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on October 18, 1984, at the age of ninety-five.

 

 

Wing Commander Aubrey Robert Maxwell Rickards 1898-1937 (from extracts from the archives and memoir of Rickards supplied by James Offer)

When World War I broke out Rickards was an agriculture student at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He enlisted in 1915 when he was 17 and trained as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps before being sent to France March 1917 for his two-week career as a pilot!

Rickards was the much older brother of team member James’s mother Stella. After landing in France in March 1917 the Second Lieutenant an “exceptionally courageous young pilot” was wounded in action. When he’s captured Major MJ Christie of the 100 Squadron RFC writes in a letter to his mother “I feel sure our enemy will treat him well and with the respect he richly deserves.”

After he was shot down, he became a German POW for the rest of the war until his release in 1918.

He described the prison….

“The Prison Schweidnitz is about 25 Km SW of Breslau on the river Weistritz. The prison itself was situated on the site of an old fortress on the west side of the town, the fort being on high ground with a moat running partly around it. The fort had been converted into a workhouse before the war, and in 1917 it was made into a prison for British Officers. Upon the North and East was the town, and on the South, and West was the moat and a river. Round the prison itself was a high wall which was covered with barbed wire, on the inner side of the wall was a neutral zone, which we called “no man’s land”. Round this zone sentries were posted, in addition to sentries in the crows’ nests, which were built upon the wall, there were four wooden huts, one stone building and a wooden Church. Officers lived in huts except W1, which was Hun headquarters. In the stone building was a dining room and living quarters for 120 officers, and not to be forgotten the cells and guard room. The Church was only used for one service on Sundays by the kind permission of the Hun. Besides these buildings there were the kitchens, bath house, rubbish house, and gate hut, but there was a little space in which to take exercise, and in this space fruit trees were growing. (I did not see any fruit).”

A sketch of the escape route and the infamous pigpen

He was one of the 24 escapees who planned the tunnel escape from Schweidnitz after attempts at two other tunnels. He escaped 10^th and partnered with Captain Frank (Neville) Hudson MC. Rickards tells us that there were 48 helpers seeking to escape. The working parties went first. The 25th man got stuck and in the efforts in pulling him back they caused the very small tunnel to fall in.

As with the other escapees he was recaptured but not before, four of them out of the 24 managed to escape from the train while on their way to Holzminden, Lt. Copeland, Lt. Holley, Lt. French and Lt. Rickards, were the four who escaped from the train. All were eventually transferred to Holzminden for a stint in solitary confinement and to wait until Armistice and Repatriation to England.

Rickard’s legacy from his POW days is the survival of the sketchbook/autograph book capturing snippets of captive life.  It’s titled Skizzen which is a German word meaning sketches. His book is full of about 80 drawings, autographs, addresses and photos including those contributed by fellow prisoners. Eight of the prisoners who escaped with him are immortalised and there is an incredibly detailed sketch of the men’s’ tunnel and escape plan. After all the effort to get into the clear they came out in the middle of a pig pen! Not content with chasing up the POWs who escaped with Rickards, James is trying to find the whole 80 contributors to the Skizzen sketchbook.  In addition, Rickards left a detailed memoir of the escape attempts, preparations and recapture.

Another sketch and autographs from the Skizzen  book

 

After the war he got into a permanent RAF commission. He married Anna Buhler in 1929 and had two children.  Rising from Flying Officer to Flight Lieutenant, Squadron Leader and Wing Commander he had a distinguished military reputation particularly in the Middle East. He’s described as having “modest charm and unpretentious matter”.

He was awarded the Air Force Cross in recognition of his work in locating two missing men in Transjordan and was made an Officer of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his work as an Intelligence Officer in the Aden Protectorate. His other post-war work entailed flying instruction, surveying and mapping, intelligence work and was Official advisor to the Sultan of Makalia.

Wing Commander Aubrey Robert Maxwell Rickards known affectionately as “the Flying Lawrence” was one of a party of three killed when their plane overturned when landing in Khor Gharim on 30 October 1937. He had been working as a liaison officer in the Middle East and had a wealth of experience there.  So ended the life of this interesting man. He was re-buried at the Christian Cemetery, Muscat, in May 1998.

 

Captain Mark Strelley Fryar 1892-1931

I wrote about Mark in a previous blog before I found out about the Schweidnitz escape so I’ll include a little bit more that I’ve found since. Mark's Blog

 

   

Mark Strelley Fryar

Mark the only son of Mark Fryar and Louisa Strelley was a career soldier. He trained in the OTC at Malvern College.  Part of the recently renamed Sherwood Foresters, Mark became Missing in action after the horrific events on the Somme on 1 July 1916. Mark’s mother received a telegram on August 1 saying that Fryar was a POW at Gulersloh Germany.

In a statement made at the end of the war Mark described his capture and then concluded with his POW and escape history. During his incarceration he was promoted to Captain.

“I attempted to escape from Schwarmstedt in May 1917 but got caught outside the camp and did 30 days cells and was sent to Fort Zorndorf, Custrin for 7 months.

On March 19th 1918 I escape from Schweidnitz, Silicien and got 78 kilos and was caught taking the train. I was court-martialled for mutiny for going through a tunnel this was not done till(?) Sept 27th 1918 and given 6 months after the war. I was held back awaiting this ___ 4 months from exchange to Holland. For the same escape they court-martialled me for forgery for making passports in order to help me escaping. ___ close proceedings of this __. I was fined 150 Marks. I had already done 47 days cells for the escape.” Bush had escaped with Fryar from Schweidnitz.

His war experiences did not help him when he tried to return to his father‘s business at the coal mine with all its blasting and confined spaces. A letter in April 1919 informs him that his statement regarding the circumstances of his capture by the enemy and been investigated and it was considered no blame at all on him in the matter.

 With the rumours around his capture and German court-martial persisting after the war he was known to drank a little too much. I guess this would today be treated as PTSD. In 1931 Mark had visited some friends at the pub and collided with the car on his push bike on his way home. He was killed instantly by a slither of glass which severed his artery. He survived the Great War only to succumb in such an accident. He was buried with Military Honours at Denby.

Officers of the Sherwood Foresters

 

The search continues…..  Information arrives in the inbox daily, a chance Google yields results, photos are unearthed which lead to further investigation. Stories of all the others are in the pipeline. If you know someone who was in Schweidnitz POW camp in WWI or indeed one of the 24 escapees please Contact our group.

A blog dedicated to the Schweidnitz research right through to repatriation now exists at 

https://schweidnitzpowcampwwi.blogspot.com/