World War II “Wooden Horse” led to vault freedom, writes Jackie Loos
ONE of South Africa’s unsung World War II heroes participated in two of the best-remembered breakouts from German POW camps: the “Wooden Horse” incident and the “Great Escape”. Although born in London in 1919, Rupert John Stevens (known as John) moved to Cape Town as a child. He matriculated at SACS in 1936 and joined the United Tobacco Company. He began part-time flight training in 1938 and passed out just before the outbreak of war.
He joined the SAAF in 1939 and was posted to 12 Squadron, which saw service in North Africa. In November 1941, aged 22, he was piloting a Martin Maryland medium bomber over a German airfield near Derna, Libya, when flak ruptured his fuel tank. Stevens strove to reach Tobruk, but his stricken plane crash-landed on the airfield at Bardia, which was in enemy hands, killing the navigator. Stevens was severely wounded and he and his injured gunners were patched up in a German hospital before being sent to POW camps.
The battered pilot arrived at Stalag Luft III at Sagan (now part of Poland) with a serious limp which he was determined to rectify by means of exercise. His small group of fitness freaks met regularly each morning, no matter how severe the weather, earning a reputation for eccentricity. In 1943 he assumed the role of gym instructor in a clever escape plan.
Having built a hollow wooden vaulting horse which could conceal up to three prisoners, the gymnasts obtained permission to carry it outside each day to practice in the open near the boundary fence. During vaulting sessions the hidden men tunnelled energetically beneath the horse, closing the entrance minutes before the allotted time expired. Numerous wooden shoring planks and small sacks of sand were carried in and out daily
The undernourished gymnasts soon grew weary of jumping, but were encouraged to persevere by Stevens, who was known as “the fanatical physical jerks wallah” in the camp. The ruse was spectacularly successful and the three prisoners who escaped eventually reached home.
Buoyed by this positive outcome, Stevens managed to get a transfer to the new North Compound at Sagan, where he participated in the Great Escape. This involved a very much longer and deeper tunnel nicknamed Harry. It started under a stove in Hut 104, dropped down about 8.5m and ran for 102m toward the woods beyond the camp perimeter.
The original plan was for 200 Allied airmen to escape, the top 30 ranked according to suitability. The rest drew lots. Stevens and another SAAF German-speaker, Lieutenant Johannes Gouws, were apparently among the first 10 on the list. Gouws (or “Gamat” as he was known to his friends in 40 Squadron) was an Afrikaner fighter pilot from the Orange Free State.
The South Africans, both aged 24, planned to abscond together.
More next week…