in a special camp where the Abwehr (German Army Intelligence) hoped to persuade Irish-born British servicemen to switch sides. The special prisoners were mostly kept in demarcated compounds within their concentration camps, separated from the main prisoner population. They were held as Nacht und Nebel (‘Night and Fog’) prisoners, that is, prisoners whose existence was to be kept secret. Although for most of the time they were treated more favourably than regular concentration camp prisoners, they were always in danger of execution, a fate some did not escape.
The chapters in Part II are set in Dachau, where different groups of special prisoners were assembled in separate compounds. They were a diverse group in terms of nationality, background and political orientation; notable hostages are introduced in these chapters. Among them were a number of high-ranking German officials who had been suspected of plotting against Hitler. Part III tells the story of their journey into the Alps, eventually arriving in the South Tyrol. The final chapter of this section deals with the attempts of the hostages to free themselves from their SS guards, who were believed to have been under orders to murder some or all of them. Part IV details the travails of the group after they found themselves stranded in a frozen hotel high in the Dolomites.
It is a true story involving some exceptional men and women, many of whom displayed great courage and perseverance. It was not always, however, a harmonious collective, for there were conflicts within the group and among them were a few mavericks and villains. These include a number of fascinating individuals whose background story are told in five addenda. Some are revealed to have led extraordinary double lives involving deception and treachery. Addendum III recounts the love story of Count Alexander von Stauffenberg and Fey von Hassell, two prisoners of kin who joined the hostages on their journey into the Alps.
THE CAST
The following is a summary profile of the members of the hostage group and associated characters who will feature in a number of chapters.
Austrian
Kurt von Schuschnigg was Chancellor of Austria until the Anschluss. He was voluntarily accompanied in captivity by his wife Vera. Their child, Maria (known as ‘Sissi’), was born in captivity. He was arrested for his opposition to union with Germany.
British Military Contingent
Captain Peter Churchill was an intelligence officer with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) who was captured in France while assisting the French Resistance. He had fallen in love with his courtier, Odette Sansom, who was arrested alongside him. In the hope of saving both of their lives he pretended to be a relative of Winston Churchill, and that he and Odette were married.
Lieutenant Colonel Jack Churchill was known as ‘Fighting Jack’ or ‘Mad Jack’. He was a commando renowned for going into battle with a Scottish broad sword, a longbow and a set of bagpipes. He was captured in Yugoslavia in 1944 while leading a group of partisans and fellow British commandos in battle against the Germans who believed, wrongly, that he was related to the British Prime Minister.
Sergeant Thomas Cushing liked to be known as ‘Red’ – due to the colour of his hair, not his politics. As with all members of the Irish group, he was captured after Dunkirk in 1940. He was among a small group detained in a special Irish camp who volunteered for training by the Germans for sabotage missions. He had previously been in the US army.
Wing-Commander Harry Day was generally known as ‘Wings’. Day was captured while leading an RAF squadron on a mission in 1939. As a senior British officer he led numerous escape attempts, including what became known as The Great Escape, following which fifty of his comrades were executed.
Major Johnnie Dodge was an American-born officer of the British army who was related, through his mother’s second marriage, to Winston Churchill.
Flight Lieutenant Sydney Dowse was captured after being shot down in 1941. Alongside Harry Day, he was a serial escaper and a survivor of The Great Escape.
Squadron Leader Hugh Falconer was an SOE agent captured in Tunis during a covert operation. He joined some of the British group during their journey to Dachau.
Flight Lieutenant Bertram James was known as ‘Jimmy’. James was another survivor of The Great Escape who was reunited with some of his colleagues in Sachsenhausen.
Lieutenant Colonel John McGrath was an Irish First World War Veteran, recalled to the colours in 1939. Up until then he had been manager of the Theatre Royal in Dublin. After a period in an officers’ POW camp, he acted as senior officer in a camp established by the Abwehr in the hope of winning Irish recruits for anti-British espionage and sabotage. McGrath secretly set about sabotaging the project.
Private Patrick O’Brien volunteered or pretended to work for the Germans while in the Irish camp.
Captain Sigismund Payne Best was a Secret Service officer kidnapped by the Germans in the Netherlands, in what became known as the Venlo Incident.
Gunner John Spence worked for a German propaganda radio station beamed at Ireland. He joined the other Irish in Sachsenhausen, where he came under suspicion of being an informer.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Stevens worked for MI6 and was captured, along with Payne Best, in Venlo on the Dutch–German frontier. The two were probably the earliest British spies captured by the Germans during the war.
Corporal Andrew Walsh was trained by the Germans, like Cushing and O’Brien, to undertake sabotage missions until it became clear that he planned to double-cross them.
French
Léon Blum was a former French Premier and leader of the Socialist part. He was accompanied by his wife Jeanne who voluntarily joined him in detention. He had been put on trial by the collaborationist Vichy government before being taken into captivity in Germany.
Monsignor Gabriel Piguet was arrested by the Gestapo for sheltering a wanted priest. The Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, he had also arranged for Jewish children to be hidden in a school in his diocese.
Flight Lieutenant Ray Van Wymeersch was a member of the Free French Air Force under the command of the RAF. He joined the other RAF continent in the Sachsenhausen after being recaptured following The Great Escape.
Prince Xavier de Bourbon lived in France most of his life and fought with the Belgium and French armies. A Spanish aristocrat, he was the Carlist pretender to the Spanish throne.
Italian
Mario Badoglio was the son of Marshal Pietro Badoglio. His father was the head of the Italian Armed Forces and Prime Minister for a period after the overthrow of Mussolini.
Colonel Davide Ferrero was the founder of an Italian partisan group. Ferrero was arrested by the Germans and detained in Dachau.
General Sante Garibaldi was a grandson of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the renowned Italian liberator. Sante took up residence in France where he linked up with the French Resistance, resulting in his arrest by the Gestapo in 1943.
Tullio Tamburini was Chief of Police in Mussolini’s Italian Social Republic prior to his arrest and detention in Dachau.
Greek
General Alexandros Papagos was Commander in Chief of the Green Army. He was accompanied in detention by members of his former high command and two orderlies.
German Military Prisoners
Colonel
