PoW goes on the run and gets back home
Winter escape into forest
A PoW who escaped from the Germans and trekked almost 150 miles to safety was back home in Bannockburn 100 years ago this week.
L/Cpl Thomas Hanlin, Royal Warwickshires and formerly Highland Cyclists Battalion, was wounded and taken prisoner at Armentieres on July 18, 1916.
He spent five months in hospital recovering from wounds before being deported to Prussia to work on a farm during the winter months.
Because of his injuries, he was returned to a camp in Dulmen Lager, Westphalia, but after some months there he was sent on another work placement.
It was while there, on September 29, 1917, he made his escape accompanied by two Australian PoWs .
They arrived at the border with Holland, after walking 140 miles over nine nights – hiding in woods and travelling after dark to avoid detection.
The Observer said: “There were many obstacles to be overcome on the road, the rivers being the worst and the three sometimes had to go the long way round to get to bridges as one of the Australians couldn’t swim. Owing to fatigue, the other two were unable to help him cross.”
Nearing the frontier, they tramped 12 hours through the Black Forest and narrowly avoided detection.
“As they lay in hiding a German woodcutter commenced work about 30 yards away and they had to lie in a cramped position, frightened to move for fear of making a noise,” said the paper.
“The least sound would have given them away, so they did not attempt to move or even eat anything. It was a relief when the woodcutter finished his work, as it seemed like an eternity of waiting.”
They lived on the turnips and carrots they could pick up on the way, and in the last five nights on the run rain fell continuously and they had to live shivering in the woods waiting for darkness and longing to be on the move.
However, the wet weather turned out to be “a good friend” as it kept the German border guards under cover and the three soldiers were able to cross into Holland without being stopped.
L/Cpl Hanlin lived at Nicol Cottage, Bannockburn, and before the war was a miner with the Alloa Coal Company. He joined his unit at the outbreak of war.
He was at the time of writing on two months leave but he had already given valuable information to the British military authorities about his twoyear incarceration.