Impression sketch
of three German escapees, hoping to signal submarine - by Jamie.
With almost six
months passed,
From a spring
escape for detainees
Of Germany - being
fellows Andler
And Leben - came
renewed attempts.
With Wales chosen
as a place,
That might fox
captured Germans,
Two more officers’
believed
They might escape
Llansannan confines.
Their ambitious plan being to meet
Up with a German submarine rescue,
Off the Great Orme - a limestone
Headland on the North Welsh coast.
The prisoner's objective, where a
Serpent shape mass dips into the sea -
Close to the town of Llandudno -
At a twenty distance miles to freedom.
Amid the first interned at Dyffryn Aled,
Lieutenant-Commander Hermann Tholens -
Acting in the
battle of Heligoland -
Had been caught
by a British Destroyer.
Commander of the
sunken cruiser
Mainz,
Tholens been drifting an hour
In the cold North
Sea, rescued
And taken to
Chathams Naval Hospital.
During captivity
in North Wales he was
Joined by
Captain Heinrich von Henning;
Both schemed with their cell mate,
Captain Wolff-Dietrich Baron von Helldorf.
Long in the planning, the idea had begun
During a prisoner exchange, in December
1914 - then a message reached the
Commander in Chief of German Submarines.
The submarine was to rendezvous
Off North Wales, by the Great Orme, to meet
Helldorf, Henning and Tholens - a final
Date and confirmation made by coded letters.
Mid August saw the planned operation
happen, as the three men managed to prize
Open the bared windows - sounds
Being drowned by a prisoner's gramophone.
In steps of Andler and Leben, the three
Germans easily avoided sentries and lights,
To stroll as civilians out the front
Gates - walking through the night to Llandudno.
Soon after dawn they passed
A training field of Tommy soldiers taking drill -
Yet to be missed at morning
Roll call, hungry escapees purchased a cafe meal.
At sea, submarine U38, under
Command of Max Valentiner, had left base,
Wilhelmshaven on 4 August -
To reach west coast of Scotland and Ireland.
On way Targeting merchant ships
In the Irish Seas, before silently reaching
Point 50 miles off the Orme -
On 13 August 1915, in the cool evening air.
Having hidden for the day
Of 14 August the Germans at dusk,
Emerged, to reach Ormes
Lighthouse and edge a way down cliffs.
The U38 edged closer
Into land, to expect a signal - but
Unable to reach the beach,
The escapees failed in their task.
The plan was still possible,
As the arrangements were for three
Nights - when submarine
Would approach the allotted position.
Back in the hide of brambles,
The three German officers sought
To sleep for the day - until
Another dusk attempt made success.
At the foot of the Orme,
They used a torch in a circular
Continual wave - but no
Reply came from the dark waters.
In a final attempt, in gathering
Driftwood, the men built a fire - waving
A burning log to make signals
In darkness; yet still no submarine came.
Disappointed, the three
Believed that the vessel would not
Then come - in reality
The submarine lay at a short distance.
A limestone buttress had
Blocked their views of each other -
Now the officers decided
Not to wait, instead to leave Llandudno.
The three escapees split
Up to make seperate ways to London -
Walking off alone, Tholens
Bought cigarettes finding rest in a cafe.
After coffee and cake,
Tholens walked onto Tudno Hotel,
To be seen by a police
Constable, who asked for his identity.
For reasons of dejection
And hunger, maybe, he declared
Himself as a German
Escapee, requesting he be arrested.
Then Llandudno went
Into lock-down, as a search was taken
To find the other two -
Believing them to be at the railway station.
Their descriptions did
Not match any man at the station -
Next at Colwyn Bay,
Was decision to halt the London train.
The searched train
Gave no result
- in fact the two
Were still in Llandudno,
trying to gain a car at Silver Motors.
The idea quickly failed
As the staff attempted to engage
In conversations -
The men left, still in Llandudno.
The day faded into rainy
Evening when a cab driver, on way
To get a fare, stopped by
Two soaking men on North Parade.
Alfred Davies asked them
If they needed a cab - on climbing in
They asked in broken
English, to be taken to 'the colonel.'
Obligingly, he drove them
To Gloddaeth Street and headquarters
Of the London Welsh
Battalion - where they were arrested.
27 August saw the three
Escapees in Military Court, Chester Castle.
Captain Tholens in guilty
Plea, stating indignity of being handcuffed.
More suited to dangerous
Criminals, this degraded an officer of war -
Additionally Captain Henning,
Who had also surrendered, admitted guilt.
Henning told that his being
Guarded against escape, by an officer
In company of three soldiers
With fixed bayonets was quite enough.
He shared belief that
Also being cuffed, should not be done
To an army or navy officer;
That rules of English army were wrong.
Lastly Officer Helldorff,
In his plea of guilt, also had decided
To give himself up, knowing
The impossibility to escape England.
All three shared complaints
Of being transported in handcuffs -
To reinforce fact that they,
As officers, had duty to try an escape.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Trial of German Officers - Escape from Prisoners'
Camp. The Daily Telegraph, [online]
28
August. P.8. Col 6. Available
at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11812558/Daily-Telegraph-August-28-1915.html
[Accessed: 29 August 2015].
Source: File: The
Home Front Museum. The Great (Orme) Escape! [online] Available at: <https://homefrontmuseum.wordpress.com/tag/ww1/> [Accessed: 29 August 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago -
Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 29 August 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Wales
