POW diaries - Captain Percival Lowe, item 160

• November 19, 2017 02:55:14 Paivi Tenhunen

  73.  ... top right of page

  
  

  Once you could get into the drain, which was boarded over.

  
  

   ... vertical line on left hand margin with  ... ly 4'

  
  

  There was plenty of room to get along it unseen. The main difficulty was

  Hindenburg as finally a string of people would walk out

  under his nose. As a matter of fact when the tunnel was

  nearing completion, Hindenburg knew of it. I think he

  thought there was an enormous rat at work. Any way when he

  was let loose he dashed to the spot in the drain where the

  mouth would have ultimately have been & began to tear at

  the boards & dig. It was real fine to see the sentry

  violently kicking him for destroying Kaiserlich  ... German word for imperial property. It

  took two doses of kicking this treatment before he gave it up. We started

  work early in August by cutting a hole in the floor of

  the English Room in the Hut. This was hidden in the

  room by a mat which I had constructed during the winter

  Underneath we hid our artistic talents. I will say they it

  was good did us credit. New workmen on the job could never

  find their way back alone. The trap door was so well camoflaged. In the end the Germans

  searched for a trap door, and found two but not the

  right one. The shaft of the tunnel was nearly the length

  of the building from the way down. This also defeated

  the enemy. Underneath the hub where we were working, there was about a 2' space between

  the floor & the earth. The Germans had 3 doors by

  which they could go in under the building. These

  they used by night. It was quite easy for us to tell

  when any door had been lifted. We worked every day,

  & all day by reliefs, & then covered up the mouth

  of the shaft with boards on these earth so that it

  was exactly like the surrounding ground. We also

  laid many traps to see if things were found out. At

  first it would have been very hard to discover but

  by & bye the stuff out of the mine got beyond all

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • Revert to this revision
• July 7, 2017 04:04:29 Denise Ravenhill

  73.  ... top right of page

  
  

  Once you could get into the drain, which was boarded over.

  
  

   ... vertical line on left hand margin with  ... ly 4'

  
  

  There was plenty of room to get along it unseen. The main difficulty was

  Hindenburg as finally a string of people would walk out

  under his nose. As a matter of fact when the tunnel was

  nearing completion, Hindenburg knew of it. I think he

  thought there was an enormous rat at work. Any way when he

  was let loose he dashed to the spot in the drain where the

  mouth would have ultimately have been & began to tear at

  the boards & dig. It was real fine to see the sentry

  violently kicking him for destroying Kaiserlich  ... German word for imperial property. It

  took two  dons of kicking this treatment before he gave it up. We started

  work early in August by cutting a hole in the floor of

  the English Room in the Hut. This was hidden in the

  room by a mat which I had constructed during the winter

  Underneath we hid our artistic talents. I will say they it

  was good did us credit. New workmen on the job could never

  find their way back alone. The trap door was so well camoflaged. In the end the Germans

  searched for a trap door, and found two but not the

  right one. The shaft of the tunnel was nearly the length

  of the building from the way down. This also defeated

  the enemy. Underneath the hub where we were working, there was about a 2' space between

  the floor & the earth. The Germans had 3 doors by

  which they could go in under the building. These

  they used by night. It was quite easy for us to tell

  when any door had been lifted. We worked every day,

  & all day by reliefs, & then covered up the mouth

  of the shaft with boards on these earth so that it

  was exactly like the surrounding ground. We also

  laid many traps to see if things were found out. At

  first it would have been very hard to discover but

  by & bye the stuff out of the mine got beyond all

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • Revert to this revision
  • Show revision
  • Compare to current version
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• July 7, 2017 03:56:57 Denise Ravenhill

  73.  ... top right of page

  
  

  Once you could get into the drain, which was boarded over.

  
  

  There was plenty of room to get along it unseen. The main difficulty was

  Hindenburg as finally a string of people would walk out

  under his nose. As a matter of fact when the tunnel was

  nearing completion, Hindenburg knew of it. I think he

  thought there was an enormous rat at work. Any way when he

  was let loose he asked to the spot in the drain when the

  mouth would have ultimately have been & began to tear at

  the boards & dig. It was real fine to see the sentry

  violently kicking him for destroying Kaiserlich  ... German word for imperial property. It

  took two  dons of kicking this treatment before he gave it up. We started

  work early in August by cutting a hole in the floor of

  the English Room in the Hut. This was hidden in the

  room by a mat which I had constructed during the winter

  Underneath we hid our artistic talents. I will say it they

  was good did us credit. New workmen on the job could never

  find their way back alone. The trap door was so well camoflaged. In the end the Germans

  searched for a trap door, and found two but not the

  right one. The shaft of the runnel was nearly the length

  of the building from the way down. This also defeated

  the enemy. Underneath the hub where we were working, there was about a 2' space between

  the floor & the earth. The Germans had 3 doors by

  which they could go in under the building. These

  they used by night. It was quite easy for us to tell

  when any door had been lifted. We worked every day,

  & all day by reliefs, & then covered up the mouth

  of the shaft with boards on these earth so that it

  was exactly like the surrounding ground. We also

  laid many traps to see if things were found out. At

  first it would have been very hard to discover but

  by & bye the stuff out of the mine got beyond all

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • Revert to this revision
  • Show revision
  • Compare to current version
  • Compare to previous version
• July 7, 2017 03:54:59 Denise Ravenhill

  73.  ... top right of page

  
  

  Once you could get into the drain, which was boarded over.

  
  

  There was plenty of room to get along it unseen. The main difficulty was

  Hindenburg as finally a string of people would walk out

  under his nose. As a matter of fact when the tunnel was

  nearing completion, Hindenburg knew of it. I think he

  thought there was an enormous rat at work. Any way when he

  was let loose he asked to the spot in the drain when the

  mouth would have ultimately have been & began to tear at

  the boards & dig. It was real fine to see the sentry

  violently kicking him for destroying Kaiserlich  ... German word for imperial property. It

  took two  dons of kicking this treatment before he gave it up. We started

  work early in August by cutting a hole in the floor of

  the English Room in the Hut. This was hidden in the

  room by a mat which I had constructed during the winter

  Underneath we hid our artistic talents. I will say it they

  was good did us credit. New workmen on the job could never

  find their way back alone. The trap door was so well camoflaged. In the end the Germans

  searched for a trap door, and found two but not the

  right one. The shaft of the runnel was nearly the length

  of the building from the way down. This also defeated

  the enemy. Underneath the hub where we were working, there was about a 2' space between

  the floor & the earth. The Germans had 3 doors by

  which they could go in under the building. These

  they used by night. It was quite easy for us to tell

  when any door had been lifted. We worked e

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • Revert to this revision
  • Show revision
  • Compare to current version
  • Compare to previous version

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