Outwitting the Hun: My Escape from a German Prison CampO'Brien, Pat
History
Outwitting the Hun: My Escape from a German Prison Camp
O'Brien, Pat
Prisoner-of-war escapes; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
The same German officer who brought me the photograph also drew a map
for me of the exact spot where Raney was buried in Flanders. I guarded
it carefully all through my subsequent adventures and finally turned it
over to his father and mother when I visited them in Toronto to perform
the hardest and saddest duty I have ever been called upon to execute--to
confirm to them in person the tidings of poor Paul's death.
The other British pilot who fell was also from my squadron and a man I
knew well--Lieutenant Keith, of Australia. I had given him a picture of
myself only a few hours before I started on my own disastrous flight.
He was one of the star pilots of our squadron and had been in many a
desperate battle before, but this time the odds were too great for
him. He put up a wonderful fight and he gave as much as he took.
[Illustration: LIEUT. PAUL H. RANEY OF TORONTO AND LIEUT. PAT O'BRIEN
(Raney was killed in action before the eyes of O'Brien, who was a
prisoner of war. This picture, found on the body of Raney when he fell
behind the German lines, was handed to O'Brien to identify the victim.)]
The next two days passed without incident and I was then taken to the
Intelligence Department of the German Flying Corps, which was located
about an hour from the hospital. There I was kept two days, during which
time they put a thousand and one questions to me. While I was there I
turned over to them the message I had written in the hospital and asked
them to have one of their fliers drop it on our side of the line.
They asked me where I would like it dropped, thinking perhaps I would
give my aerodrome away, but when I smiled and shook my head they did not
insist upon an answer.
"I'll drop it over ----," declared one of them, naming my aerodrome,
which revealed to me that their flying corps is as efficient as other
branches of the service in the matter of obtaining valuable information.
And right here I want to say that the more I came to know of the enemy
the more keenly I realized what a difficult task we're going to have
to lick him. In all my subsequent experience the fact that there is a
heap of fight left in the Huns still was thoroughly brought home to me.
We shall win the war eventually, if we don't slow up too soon in the
mistaken idea that the Huns are ready to lie down.
The flying officers who questioned me were extremely anxious to find out
all they could about the part America is going to play in the war, but
they evidently came to the conclusion that America hadn't taken me very
deeply into her confidence, judging from the information they got, or
failed to get, from me.
At any rate, they gave me up as a bad job and I was ordered to the
officers' prison at Courtrai, Belgium.
V
THE PRISON-CAMP AT COURTRAI
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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