News-Info-Alerts

Re: The Many Escapes of Frank Gatland

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: April 24, 2003

"POW kept busy planning escape
By SARAH ALLELY

Manurewa resident Frank Gatland was too busy trying to escape prison to get bored.

Mr Gatland, who was taken prisoner by the Germans in World War II, made five escape attempts - all of them unsuccessful.

He corrects the perception that boredom was a major factor in prisoner of war (POW) camps, explaining that although there were a few listless souls most found plenty to do, including planning the great escape.

Mr Gatland's story began on November 28, 1942, when the aircraft he was flying was shot down over France.

He spent 10 days on the run attempting to walk to Switzerland, experiencing the kindness of countless strangers, until one Frenchman panicked and turned the New Zealander in.

He was taken to a notorious Gestapo prison in Paris, called Fresnes, before being moved to another interrogation camp.

"They got as much information out of us as they could and then sent us on to a permanent camp. They wanted to establish where the air force bases were."

Mr Gatland was eventually taken to a permanent POW camp in German-occupied Poland, called Stalag VIIIB.

As an airman, Mr Gatland was trained in the art of escape and felt obliged to try to put his knowledge into action.

The "normal" route was to tunnel out of the camps, but when he and other POWs tried this the Germans were on to them and greeted them at the other side.

His first successful foray into the outside world took Mr Gatland across Czechoslovakia, but he describes this 10-day jaunt as more of a holiday than a serious escape attempt.

The pilot from Papakura, now 86, endured two and a half years as a POW, staying in various camps and prisons.

Working parties sent out on labouring jobs provided the best opportunity for escape, but airmen were banned from these groups because of their reputation for escaping.

So the practice of "swop-overs" was born, where army men in the working parties would swap their identity with an airman to assist their escape.

This method got Mr Gatland as far as a boat heading for Sweden. Even though he was caught before the vessel set sail, he describes this two-day exit as his most successful attempt.

He says being taken back to the POW camp after being on the run was even a little comforting: "It was a bit like coming home. There was a bit of tension when you escaped."

Now living in Manurewa, Mr Gatland was one of 598 New Zealand airmen taken as POW's during WWII, and one of 9000 Kiwis in total.

He has compiled extensive memoirs of his experience, a "living" project which he continually adds to, saving his story for generations to come and going some way towards answering his grandchildren's questions. "