WWI SPECIAL: The story of a daring escape by German POWs in Llandudno

Discussion in 'Prewar' started by Red Goblin, Jul 30, 2014.

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  1. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    Just thought I'd share this tale from the North Wales Pioneer today:
    WWI SPECIAL: The story of a daring escape by German POWs in Llandudno

    I'm intrigued how they made 1st contact in those pre-pocket-radio days - help from local sympathisers/agents ?

    Cheers,
    Steve

    PS: To save you the bother of looking it up - Llansannan
     
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  2. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    Steve

    It looks as though you might find more information about this escape and the sentences received at the subsequent Court Martial in the file FO 383/65 at the National Archives

    John
     
  3. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

  4. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day red goblin.sm.yesterday,01:36pm.re:ww1 special,the story of a daring escape by german pows,in Llandudno.a very interesting post,they were well organized.and they certainly had a local helping them.and how did they organize the radio contact with a u,boat.again i say.a local.(a sleeper as they called spies in waiting)i cannot say much for our navy,to let a u,boat come and go in the manner it did.great post,all prisoners of war try to escape.britich,or german.thank you for posting.regards bernard85
     
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  5. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    Thanks Bernard but it seems the truth was far more mundane - all basically organised by post under the noses of our censors. Here's a show & tell of what I've pieced together ...

    The most definitive version of this story seems to be in Ivor Wynne Jones' book 'Llandudno : queen of the Welsh resorts' - currently in its 2008 3rd edition. This is echoed by:
    * An IWM copy of Jones' research (U-boat rendezvous Llandudno (79 / 1917))
    * The local war museum (U-boat off Llandudno | the home front museum)
    * Geoff Steen's 2012 booklet 'Facts, legends & myths about Llandudno' (790KB PDF here)

    Then I found 4 contemporary newspaper articles - noting that the escape took place in August and not April as misreported by Ms Price above:
    * Fri 27 Aug - Llangollen Advertiser p7
    * Sat 28 Aug - London Standard p4 (no image to quote so I tidied up their OCR)
    * Thu 2 Sep - Flintshire Observer p3
    * Fri 3 Sep - Abergavenny Chronicle p6
    Finally, effectively answering my contact query, are the 4th & 5th posts in this 2007 thread (uboat.net - Passengers in a U-27 class boat):
    Steve
     
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  6. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day red goblin,sm yesterday,10:42pm.re:daring escape.#5.thank you for your informative reply.regards bernard85
     
  7. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    The Daily Post's take on the story posted yesterday ...
    Steve
     
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  8. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    A related story posted yesterday ...
    (NB: linked article additionally has a non-shareable 2'44" video clip attached ...)
    Steve
     
  9. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    ... and German World War I POW who gave Iron Cross to Llandudno baby became senior Nazi - Daily Post
    Steve
     
  10. Lindele

    Lindele formerly HA96

    Steve,
    I guess Herman Tholens place of birth was Leer in Ostfriesland near Emden in Niedersachsen some 225km away from Hannover, the capital of Niedersachsen. If he passed away in Luebeck in 1967, the best way to double check on that may be the Town Luebeck and e.g. the archives. Do you want me to check that? The name Tholens is pretty popular in Ostfriesland and thereabouts. A few hundred are listed in the local telephone directory.

    Stefan.
     

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