Part 7: Lecture by 2nd Lt Jock Tullis MC RFC on 23rd March 1921

Holzminden

On arrival there, we were greeted by this gentleman in a very hearty manner, he saying how glad he was to see us etc. etc., and that if we wished to escape we were just to give him 48 hours' notice and he would arrange it. 

It was on meeting this Neimeyer for the first time that I was struck by the extraordinary likeness to his brother at Clausthal. He spoke pretty good English and prided himself in his knowledge of English idioms. One amusing story is told of him that during a heated argument with the senior British Officer he wound up by saying "You think I know nothing, but I know damn a11". Roars of laughter from the assembled officers.

When changing from one camp to another in Germany, we were always searched on leaving the old camp and also on entering the new camp. After I read my maps which were worth more than their weight in gold to me, I had to devise some hiding place where they would not be easily spotted by the Hun but at the same time it must be a place where I could lay my hands on them at a moment's notice, in fact, it had to be a hiding place that I could carry about with me in case I moved from the camp. Train journeys were always a very favourable opportunity of making a bolt for it especially if the journey was an all-night one, for although there was usually one German to one Britisher in each compartment, they usually fell asleep some time or other and if you were watchful and ready, a minute need not elapse until you were on the footboard of the train and these trains travelled so slowly that one could almost jump from them without injury at any moment.

I have already mentioned that it was our custom when travelling to carry sufficient food for the journey as we never knew how long these would last, having only an imperfect knowledge of the country. I usually carried my food in a cardboard box about 12" long by 9 broad and 6” deep, so decided to try the experiment of a false bottom. I spent a great deal of time on this, and care, and when finished I was satisfied that it would never be spotted unless by a Hun that was looking specially for such a thing. I may say that this box successfully passed no less than four searches without being spotted. My compass I simply carried in my pocket and when being searched I slipped it under my tongue which will give you some idea of its size, it being little bigger than a sixpenny piece, but one of the most accurate and beautifully made instruments I have seen. On one search the Hun who was examining me went the length of making me open my mouth and never spotted it. 1 could even speak fairly well with it. 

We hadn't been many days in Holzminden until we learned that some great scheme for escape was on foot and the word "Tunnel” was breathed in our ear. 

It is a very difficult job for me to explain the situation, working and management, but with the assistance of a rough sketch I have drawn out I hope to give you a fair idea of the sometimes almost insurmountable difficulties that were successfully overcome by the small party of plucky officers who were running the tunnel.

The building from which the tunnel started was known as B. House and was a building about 200' long x 90' broad x 50’ high, having basement cellars running along its whole length. At the eastern end of the building there was built on to it a small house underneath which was a cellar having a flight of steps leading down from the ground level at the back of the building. The Huns had played into our hands in so much that they had wired up this staircase, making such a good job of it that it would be impossible for any of us to come up, and what was far more to the point, impossible for any of them to get down without spending a day or so in clearing away the wire. From the outside or eastern wall some 20' below the ground level to the wall encircling the camp would be about 10' and to the spot aimed at by the tunnel party, a cornfield another 40'. 

A sentry was posted inside the wall and another outside as well. I have mentioned that the only means of ingress to this cellar was by an outside sunken stair. Inside the building and built on to the western wall of the cellar was another staircase leading from the top to the bottom of the main building and down which the Huns used to page every day on their way to the cells and storerooms in the basement. One bright officer suddenly thought that under the stair down which we passed there must be a space and if one could get underneath they would be at the wall of the cellar to get through which would be no very difficult job. They decided to investigate and started operations on a wooden partition on the left-hand side of the stair. 

A very fine saw was obtained with which they sawed down between the dovetails of two of the boards making such a neat job of it, that unless it was very closely looked into one would not notice it had been tampered with. Once the sawing was done the boards were slipped out, the fellows went inside and the boards were put back into position again. Inside they discovered to their delight that there was a big space underneath the stairs and that they could easily get at the western wall of the cellar the bricks of which were removed and a steel plate thick burned through with acid obtained by bribery, and they were inside the big cellar. The tunnel was started at the eastern wall low down on the floor level and all the earth that was brought out of the tunnel was stacked round the walls of the cellar. You will be able to gain some idea of the quantity of earth that had to be brought out when I tell you the dimensions of the cellar were roughly 30’ long x 20’ broad x 6' high and on the tunnel being finished this cellar was full to the ceiling, a narrow passage only being left to get along to the tunnel.

Great care had to be taken when working below to let those working know when any of the Huns were coming, so that they could stop work until the danger had passed. A number of our fellows were always sitting about outside reading books etc., and on the approach of any German the signal was given to a man at one of the windows who by means of a string passing down through the floor, gave those in the cellar the signal to stop work, carry on or come up.

During the nine months that it took to make this tunnel, this system worked perfectly and with the help of our own orderlies in the basement of whose quarters the tunnel started, the work went on apace.

Four officers went down after morning roll-call and worked till three or four in the afternoon, when work ceased for the day.

As they had to go through the orderlies entrance, they had to change into orderlies clothes and at a given signal from an orderly always on guard at their door, walked along and entered the building, went downstairs, slipped out the boards and got into the cellar where was kept some old clothes for working in. The tools used were anything in the shape of iron chisels, coal shovels etc., that we could lay hands on. One man worked at the face of the tunnel, loosening the soil which was of a loose rocky nature, giving some people to believe that the river Weser which flows about a mile away must at one time have flowed round where the camp was situated. When the man at the tunnel face had loosened a quantity of earth, he filled it into a round basin to which was attached ropes to pull the loaded basin back to the tunnel mouth where it was emptied and then pulled back to the tunnel head once more. 

The tunnel was just large enough to admit a man's body lying flat, there being no headroom to admit crawling on hands and knees so you will understand how hard it must have been for a man to work in this uncomfortable position when there was barely enough room for the loaded basin to pass the man's body. It was considered a good day's work if a foot of progress was made. The basin had soon to be abandoned for the tunnel took innumerable twists and turns to avoid rock so that sacks had to be used and dragged back by a man put foremost lying flat on his chest. The workers changed rounds every hour, the two inside the tunnel coming out and the other two who were stacking the earth going in.

Very soon air became a hard problem to solve. You can easily understand that in a cellar with neither windows or doors the air would very soon become foul. AB the tunnel lengthened, an air pump wag made, something after the shape of a village blacksmith's bellows to which lengths of pipes made of twisted wire, covered with canvas were attached, having for their joints, Colgate's shaving tins which, as the male members of my audience will know, have a screw on the lid, but even with this, which at the best was far from perfect as the air got out all along the pipes I have known the air to be so foul at the tunnel head that if a match were struck it would only glow a dull red, and a candle would not think of burning. The fellows working had sometimes to be dragged out by their comrades in a state of collapse and with a head like a dozen hives of bees. Still the great work went on nearer and nearer to completion.

Sometimes we had bad scares and thought it must only be a question of minutes until the whole thing was discovered by the Huns. There were some 500 British officers in this camp everyone of whom knew of the tunnel it says a good deal for them that the tunnel went undiscovered to the end. Once or twice it was a near go, especially on one occasion when a newly captured Padre in the hearing of two of the German interpreters asked another officer what he knew about the tunnel. One orderley we were not too sure of who used to receive presents of wine from Neimeyer in the hope that he would give him information in return.

This orderley got very drunk one night shortly before the completion of the tunnel and fell downstairs, fracturing his skull, accidentally of course, so that was another danger removed!

Finding Position of Tunnel

The aim of the tunnellers was a cornfield about 40 yards outside the camp wall but they found they could not reach it before the corn would be cut, so a nearer mark was chosen in the shape of a tall row of green beans giving sufficient cover for a man to crawl away. The exact position of the tunnel was next noted by working up to near the surface where a small hole was made, through which was pushed a fine French fencing rapier having a small piece of white paper attached to the end. A man from one of the top windows of the house was able to spot this and from then until the rapier disappeared behind the beans this mark was used.

At last the great day dawned, August 25th, 1918 on the night of which the attempt was to be made. A round hole was made in the floor where the tunnel ended and the roof scooped away to within an inch or two of the surface across which was stretched a piece of packsheet so that last of the roof could fall into this and be lowered into the hole in the floor, leaving a free passage out.

I must here leave the tunnel and say a few words about our preparations for the long journey of 120 miles which we calculated would take us from 14 to 15 days walking.

As everybody in the camp knew of the tunnel and were one and all keen to be allowed a chance to get out, a Tunnel Committee was formed, who decided that after the originators of the Tunnel, preference should be given to     officers who had escaped before and who had refused to go to Holland on the Neutral Country exchange which was an agreement that after 18 months captivity officers of both countries should be allowed to proceed to Holland where they would have to remain until the end of the war.