There were other attempts to escape Schweidnitz POW camp. In fact, multiple escapes from all the POW camps and from trains on route were common. Even officers eligible for internment to in Holland considered it wiser to escape with the hope of returning to their Army or Royal Air Corps contingent to fight for another day.
One such fellow who escaped from Schweidnitz came to a bitter sweet end. He packed a lot in from his escape on 1st March 1918 to his death on 30th May 1918. His escape partner was another notorious escaper, - Captain Jocelyn Lee Hardy who wrote a semi-autobiographical book called “I Escape” . I am referring to Captain William Crawshay Loder-Symonds who was of the Wiltshire Regiment.
Loder-Symonds received his Commission in 1908. He was originally taken prisoner when he was captured and wounded with a gunshot wound to the leg in Caudry on 26 August 1914. He had arrived in Schweidnitz via Cambrai and Munster Hospital, Halle, Torgau, Burg and Mainz. After an aborted attempt to escape, he was sent to Freiburg POW camp
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| Captain William Crawshay Loder-Symonds |
In February 1917, he again escaped and travelled to Ashen by train where he was recaptured after spending three weeks of hell in a civil prison. He escaped again and returned to the civil prison and then the Burg POW camp for a stint of imprisonment before a trial at Madgeburg prison for attempting to bribe a guard when he was re-captured.
His POW exit interview shows he was a man of attitude giving as good as he got . After a short stint at Holzminden he was sent to Freiburg in October 1917 where he escaped again and made it to the Swiss frontier back at Freiburg. He got seven days imprisonment for having civilian clothes, seven days for possessing money and 14 days for escaping on 23 December 1917
Finally, he was sent to Schweidnitz POW camp as far from the Swiss border as possible. He was there about the same time as our men most of whom arrived around December /January. He being captured so early was well and truly eligible for interment in Holland. He had refused to give his parole in a desperate attempt to return to the fighting.
In his War Office interview, he spoke quite favourably of Schweidnitz talked of the English trying to acquire a football field for 150 marks per month and the "parole walks” in the local surrounds. He speaks of the theatre built by merchant seamen and the insect ridden bedroom furniture.
He was court martialled again and given 24 days imprisonment. He had befriended the Merchant Marine skippers who wore civilian clothes. This mufti would be handy and willingly supplied in an escape attempt. Loder-Symonds was a popular man who was desperate to escape once more. He had befriended Captain Jocelyn Lee Hardy.
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| Captain Jocelyn Lee Hardy |
Hardy of the 1st Connaught Rangers had been a POW since being captured in Maroillers on 27th August 1814. He had escaped 4 times and Hardy 6 times previously. Although the two men knew that the tunnel was being dug, they did not believe, it was near completion. In one last daring bid for freedom Loder-Symonds and Hardy made their move on 1st March 1918. They had both been prisoners for about 3 ½ years.
400 miles later they had escaped and avoided detection despite the numerous placards offering a 500-mark reward for their apprehension. As they crossed the wire boundaries at night, they tore their clothes to ribbons.
Approaching a sentry on the Dutch side, he directed them to “the nearest inn where they received a most hearty welcome and obtained food and the loan of clothes. ” Farrington Advertiser 23rd March 1918.
For Loder-Symonds’ parents, his injury and capture was cause for much heartache as three of the five brothers had given their lives for the country during the war.
He had to complete the customary Statement as to the circumstances of his capture and his POW experience. After consideration by the War Office his file is noted as “exonerated” entitling him to his medals.
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| Part of Loder-Symond's Prisoner Statement referring to Schweidnitz |
His return home was a town celebration. Loder-Symonds arrived at his home on March 14, 1918 at Hinton Manor near Farrington Berkshire England. He was received back home with much pomp and ceremony by the locals for an emotional welcome. He was received by the King at Buckingham Palace!
Of the 5 Loder- Symonds brothers who served, only one survived. Their sister died as a passenger aboard Galway Castle when it was torpedoed by German U-boat U82 on 12 September 1918. Such tragedy for the family.
That other colourful character, Hardy returned to the war via the 2nd Inniskilling Fusiliers. He finished the war with a Gunshot Wound and a leg amputation which saw him back in England again just before Armistice. He received a Distinguished Service Medal and a Military Cross for his efforts. His story is documented in ‘I Escape’ . He died 30th May 1958 in Hammersmith, London.
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| Hardy's semi autobiographical book "I Escape!" |
