Another Escape Remembered -ANZAC DAY 2021

 

With Anzac Day 2021 approaching, I write about another not so famous escape by some not so famous Aussies but still heroic in their own right. My interest in this began with a report to officials by Captain Mark Strelley Fryar of England who had escaped many times and most recently was one of the 24 who escaped on 19th March 1918 from Schweidnitz POW camp. He was recaptured and for his part in this escape, Fryar received a transfer to Holzminden POW camp, solitary confinement and a court-martial hearing. Here he met Couston and Fenton.

Part of the military code was that you were expected to escape whether English, NZ, Aussie or Canadian. Fryar’s report from the Officer’s Camp at Holzminden was about the random shooting of two Aussies, Lt Alexander Wallace Couston 10th Battalion AIF and 2^nd Lt Cyril Boyd Fenton RFC. It seemed he created quite a stir. He’s not writing his report to condemn the men but as a condemnation of the behaviour of the Germans during the men’s escape.

Lt Alec Couston

Coustan  b 19 June 1893 Launceston, Tasmania had started his work with experience as a telephone mechanic and had enlisted in Adelaide in September 1914. He began his war experience at Gallipoli on 27 May 1915 and joined the AFC on 5 May 1917 after asking for a course of instruction in aviation. He became a Lieutenant on 15 August 1917 was reported to be missing in action on 22 February 1918 and reported to be in German hands. 

Red Cross request for bread

He ended up in Holzminden Pow camp. His escape partner was Cyril Boyd Fenton, a young bank clerk from Terang, Ballarat Victoria. Born in 1897 Fenton had started in the AIF and then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in September 1916 Fenton had met with a serious accident involving a fall of 100 feet and remained in hospital for seven months. One message sent to those at home was “Cyril Conscious Recovery Probable”. He resumed duty in March 1918 but only 12 days into March he was a prisoner of war- a guest of the Germans. 

 

Cyril Boyd Fenton Flying Accident

The men were buoyed by the escape of the 29 from Holzminden on 24 July 1918 and planned their escape. In the attempted escape by Fenton and Coustan on 30 September 1918 Coustan was shot and wounded without challenge. For his trouble Coustan received a bullet wound that had its entrance through the lower lip and exit right of the mandible which fractured his jaw and eventually required splinting. His second injury was a flesh wound to the arm.

The escape attempt was described in this article in the Herald, Melbourne 18/12/1918.

Report of the Holzminden shooting - Melbourne Herald 18/12/1918

 

Fryar and others were appalled at this cruel deed. The Commandant of the Camp, Commandant Niemeyer was reported to be very vindictive to the soldiers.  

The senior British Office Commander Bingham VC was denied avenues of communication to the German War Office and to representatives in Neutral Holland.  Captain Fryar put in his own report on the shooting on 11^th October. 

Fryar's report on the shooting 11/10/1918

 

Lt Eric Fulton also wrote about the attempt in his memoir several years later.

“About this time a man concealed himself, toward evening under the parcels room intending at night to cut a way through the wires of the ‘verboten zone’ and get away. He got through the first barrier and was engaged upon the outer one when a guard who had been bribed to let him through shot him point blank in the face.  He was a mess. Months later he returned with a wired-up jaw and a remodelled face. Nice man that guard. I sometimes wonder just how a man like that sees himself.”

The men were repatriated back to Australia after Armistice.  Couston arrived in Australia on 13/5/1919 and was terminated due to medical unfitness in May 1920. He was mentioned in dispatches on 16 December 1919 for various services whilst in captivity and noted accordingly in the official records of the Air Ministry. He married Gertrude Evelyn Nichols on 25 July 1920 in Sydney and had one child Herbert Wallace Couston 1923-1997. Couston returned to assist in the World War II effort. He died on the 13th of April 1968 in Pasadena, Mitcham City, South Australia.

 

Unfortunately for Fenton, life back in Australia was short. Little is known about him. He died on 21 January 1922 age 22. 

 

 

LEST WE FORGET     

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM     

ANZAC DAY 2021

 

 

Three pairs of escapees ………. Stories of Lt George Carman Atkins, Captain Frank Neville Hudson and Lt Henry Kramm Bush

 

 

...... continuing our stories of the men but saving the best bits for the book  by Robyn Ford

It was generally agreed by the prisoners that it was hopeless to try breaking out alone. The Schweidnitz POWs agreed to leave the tunnel and travel in pairs. A previous story tells of Harker, Fryar, Copeland and Rickards

On the night of March 19, 1918 Harker partnered with Lt George Carman Atkins, Fryar partnered with Lt Henry Kramm Bush and Captain Frank Neville Hudson left with Rickards.

 

Lt George Carman Atkins 1896 to 1975

 

Lt George Carman Atkins

Atkins was a Canadian from Ontario Canada. He was the son of Reverend Thomas James Atkins and commenced his career as a banker. He signed his attestation on 8/2/1915. His initial attempt to signup was thwarted after 3 1/2 months because he did not have his guardian’s consent. Determinately he waited and then in October 1916 he enlisted in the RFC Special Reserve. He proceeded overseas fought in the Battle of Messines which occurred around 7 June to 14 June 1917.

 On 19 July 1917 Atkins was lost (missing) while patrolling in a Nieuport Scout. His record shows him arriving at Karlsruhe POW Camp in the company of fellow tunneller George Augustus Avey. later he was Limburg with Avey and later at Freiburg with Lindsay and Avey before their transfer to Schweidnitz. Atkins made several escape attempts over his time held captive.

During the tunnel escape and he was entombed and was saved by the gallant effort of the English Air Force man George Harker who was small enough to crawl through the collapsed tunnel and bring him to safety.

 

Part of the report about Harker and Atkin's (sic) escape
and the aftermath

Atkins too, was mentioned in the ‘escapes’ Gazette of the 11th December 1919 for valuable services whilst in captivity. 

We dont often see the medals earned by these men. This is typical of the medals and buttons worn by Atkins post war. 

He married Mary Edington Boyd in May 1921 having returned to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in 1919. They had two children.  Sadly, his youngest son was Killed in Action in Canada in World War II. 

Captain Frank Neville Hudson 1897 to 1922

Frank who was born in Kent was initially part of the Buffs East Kent Regiment.  but completed his track flight training. By November 1915. He became part of the Royal Flying Corps. Called ‘Babe” because of his age, Hudson was a Royal Flying Corp ace.  

Captain Frank Neville Hudson

 

He was wounded in action in France in 1916 having been forced to land in a crippled BE 2C after engine damage from a Fokker attack. This action earned the 18 year old a Military Cross.

Report of his Bravery in the London Gazette 30th March 1916

 

Later he was wounded again on 13 July1917. He received a headwound from shrapnel on a reconnaissance mission. He and others were recorded in communiqués on 26 September 27th of September and 14 November for brave performance.

Later he was posted to the Squadron 54 which was flying with Sopwith Pups and was credited with 6 aerial victories.

 

When his plane was shot down between Bruges and Ostend by a German Jaspa 20  he crash landed on enemy territory and was taken as a POW.    

As with the others he was taken to Karlsruhe POW camp. He also passed though Linberg, Triers (where he met Rickards) and where he was one of the signatories in Rickard’s Skizzen note book. subsequently to Schweidnitz with Rickards a few weeks before the tunnel escape.  Despite this short stay he was one of the 24 escapees through the tunnel with Rickards as his partner. Upon recapture he was sent with the others to Holzminden for court martial and punishment by the Germans.

After the war he was mentioned in reports for valuable services “conspicuous gallantry and skill” whilst in captivity. After repatriation back to England in December 1918 he stayed with the RAF and was posted to Number 6 Squadron in the Middle East- Baghdad East flying Bristol F 26 fighters which were reconnaissance aircraft.

When he crashed and died at age 24 after only 6 years flying, he had survived several crash landings, POW camps, an escape and the 1919 influenza until his luck run out. He is buried in Ma’asker Al Rachid RAF cemetery just outside of Baghdad. He never married- he was too busy having adventures.

 

Lt Henry Kramm Bush 1896 to 1980

Lt Henry Kramm Bush

 

At the beginning of the war Henry served in RAMC for 10 months with the 16th General Hospital in France. He had enlisted as a private whilst being under age after growing up in St Johns South East Lewisham.

 He returned to England and took a commission in the 20th Battalion Royal Rifle Corps Kings Liverpool in December 1915. Having a German background Henry had a special skill useful in the fighting which was the ability to speak German. He was engaged to listen to German discussions in the trenches at night. It was a risky task and he had to remain very flat to avoid being seen especially when Germans resorted to using star shells to illuminate the enemy area.

Bush became a POW  after a particularly tough battle. He had lost nearly 40 man and was returning alone with another man.  In dense fog he inadvertently walked into enemy territory. Thus he was captured.

Bush wrote home that at Gutersloh POW camp he was courteously treated.  His request from home was for foodstuffs to be sent.  He arrived at Schweidnitz POW camp on 19 January 1918 with Asquith and Burrows, two fellow escapees. Subsequent to his escape on 19^th March 1918 with Captain Fryar he spent the rest of the war in Holzminden. 

Part of a report about the escape of Lt Bush and Captain Fryar

 The 1939 register shows him living with his wife Doris who he married in 1921 and working for a wholesale druggist. I suspect this was the family business. This register taken at the beginning of World War II shows he was an ARP warden part time and a company secretary. He died in Worthing on 28 July 1980.

 

A bit of excitement for our team

We’ve been discovered…………….. by some Polish historians who have a website to promote their town. Schweidnitz POW camp originally on German land is now part of  Poland. It turns out they had started writing about the POW camp in their township of lower Silensia for their website in 2019. Later they discovered my Schweidnitz POW blogs written during 2020 and were able to put faces to the escapees.

A comment wishing to contact us went unnoticed (sorry). Coincidentally when Gail and John were checking details about the escape it prompted a search with different parameters and turned up the Polish website Swidnica Historical Portal.  We wondered who had our information and some of our photos.   Contact was made.  Andrzej Dobkiewicz who is passionate about their local area is a local historian and Editor in Chief of  the website. His group of historians are keen to disseminate the history of the city and the region. He’s also written about the POW escape  “The Sensational Escape of the English” in January 2019 in the Odkrywca Monthly.

Our transglobal group of volunteers has suddenly got valuable insiders interested in helping with inside information on the site, its history and its current use. Thank goodness our new friends at have more English than we have Polish language skills. #TranslationGoogleIsOurFriend

Suddenly spurred on by Andrzej’s comments that it “could become the canvas of a good sensational film” our team held long distance crisis meetings to ensure that out our years of research were protected to an extent. Luckily, Andrzej was quite understanding of our position and has even offered to help in exchange for information for his website.

Andrzej has provided us with fresh files -some things we haven’t seen before and offers of help when the spring melts the snow. We are hoping he can access German newspapers and other archives when they reopen after Covid and see the prisoner’s experience from the German locals’ experience. He explained that as the area was used in World War II also, little information has survived after the Nazi rule. Some critical monuments, structures and cemetery have been lost.

Schweidnitz camp then and now 2021  (new photo courtesy of Andrzej Dobkiewicz)

 

Funnily enough, a local postcard from 1918 was issued by the local Germans.  A large escape such as this had caused some stir. Many had been covertly helping the prisoners and there was lots of local admiration for the courage of the 24 Schweidnitz escapees on that March night in 1918.

A  scan of the postcard was supplied by Richard Townsley, the  grandson of Austin Benyon also a “guest “ of the POW camp.  The  postcard translated says “Eight metre long tunnel which ends at the Promenaden Kaffe which the English officers who escaped from March 19-20 1918 made and used to escape.”  The location of the escape hole near the Promenade Café  (now demolished) may be a bone of contention but you have to admire the enterprise of the locals in taking advantage of the adversity in the area and making some money. The POWs were always writing home to their families. Andrzej also holds  a copy of the post card. 

Postcard Commemorating the Escape  supplied by Richard Townsend grandson of Austin Benyon POW

 

Andrzej’s website will soon have a version of Gail’s recent Escape story. Here are links his two previous website posts.

http://historia-swidnica.pl/sensacyjna-ucieczka-anglikow-cz-1/ (Sensational Escape of the English)

http://historia-swidnica.pl/swinie-na-drodze-do-wolnosci/    (Pigs on the Road to Freedom)

We are a long way off from producing a book let alone getting a film deal-  LOL- but it has spurred us on.  There’s plenty more to investigate yet. One day we hope to visit the town, tour the site and pay our humble respects.  Perhaps we’ll be on the way back from the Oscars if not before. #StillHaveLotsToDoIn2021

Here’s to a continuing partnership with the Swidnica Historical Portal.

 

Please contact us if you have any information about the POWs in Schweidnitz.or Swidnicki Portal Historyczny

Copyright 2021