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Hammond and Lister
This page first posted 02 March 2025
On 13 December 1942, two RN submariners, 36-year-old ERA Frederick Hammond, and 32-year-old ERA Donald Lister, escaped from Stalag VIIIB (Lamsdorf).
ERA Frederick William Edmund Hammond (1023) from Burton-on-Trent, who joined the Royal Navy in November 1931, was serving on board HM Submarine Shark when, on 5 July 1940, they were bombed by enemy aircraft off Stavanger (Norway), and “compelled to surface”. Three men were killed and about 20 wounded, and the surviving crew were eventually taken off the submarine by seaplane and small boats.
Hammond was held at a number of German POW camps: Stalag IXC (Bad Sulza) until February 1941, then the Marlag (Marinelager – for Royal Navy prisoners) at Sandbostal until June, Marlag at Westertimke until July, and Stalag VIIIB (Lamsdorf) until September when he was transferred to Oflag IVB (Colditz). On 1 November 1942, he was returned to Lamsdorf, where he joined a working party at the Breslau Gas Works. Hammond says that he escaped from Sandbostel on 6 April 1942, along with ERA Lister and ERA Johnstone but after separating from Lister, he and Johnstone were caught and returned to spend 21 days in the cells.
ERA Donald Lister (1024) from Wolverhampton, who joined the Royal Navy in December 1933, was serving on board HM Submarine Seal when, on in the morning of 5 May 1940, in the Kattegat, they were bombed by enemy aircraft. They proceeded submerged but that evening, an explosion shook the boat and water began to enter. The following morning, despite knowing there were enemy vessels in the area, they were forced to surface, sustaining further damage from enemy aircraft. An enemy trawler took the crew off, and the submarine was towed into Frederikshavn (Denmark).
The crew were taken to Kiel, and a fort outside the town for interrogation, and on 1 June, Lister (and presumably others), was taken to Stalag XXA (Thorn). In January, he was transferred to Sandbostel, and in June (like Hammond), to Westertimke, Lamsdorf, Colditz and back to Lamsdorf in October 1942.
Hammond describes their escape from Sandbostel in some detail, exiting through a 240 foot tunnel that had taken five and half months to complete. Hammond had eight days of freedom, and got as far as Hamburg before being stopped by a policeman and returned to the camp to spend 21 days in the cells.
In June 1943, the entire naval camp at Sandbostel was moved to Westertimke, and a month later, 17 men that the Germans suspected of being “engaged in escape activities” were moved to Lamsdorf. A month later, the same group (14 officers and 3 ERAs) were moved to Colditz. Hammond says the inclusion of him and Lister being sent with the officers was a mistake (by the Germans) and they used their time to obtain all the escape information and equipment they could (including money and forged papers) before admitting they were not officers (they were actually Naval Petty Officers), and being returned to Lamsdorf.
As highly skilled and resourceful technicians, the two submariners would have been welcomed by the Escape Committee at Colditz but escape from there was always going to be very difficult. Instead, they decided they would do better if they could be sent back to a camp for other ranks (ORs), where they hoped to be employed as labourers. The Escape Officer agreed, and identity papers showing them as Flemish workers employed on reparations were forged, money acquired, clothing adaptable for civilian wear collected, and the route to Switzerland memorised. Once that was done, the Senior British Officer (SBO) complained to the German authorities that officers such as himself should not be expected to associate with men like them, and asked that they be sent elsewhere. (from research by Hugh Reynolds)
Back at Lamsdorf, they found the entire compound, about 2,000 men, were shackled every day, only released for meals, and with a day off every two weeks. Eventually an unnamed Sergeant Major in the Grenadier Guards managed to get permission for Hammond and Lister to join a work party at the Breslau Gas Works.
Hammond and Lister escaped from the Breslau Gas Works on 13 December 1942 by simply climbing over a wall, along with a Pte Topping and Rifleman Nisbeth, both of whom soon separated from them. The two submariners used the papers, clothes, money and accessories they had acquired at Colditz (Hammond wearing a black macintosh and green trilby hat, with food, shaving kit, towel, an RAF compass and rice-paper map all carried in a leather briefcase) to take a series of trains to Tuttlingen, from where they walked to cross the Swiss frontier at Ramsen at 0010 hrs on 18 December.
 
Frederick Hammond left Switzerland on 2 November 1943, his departure organised by SIS station chief Victor Farrell, and accompanied by Marie-Louise “Françoise” Dissard.
Hammond had been staying at Montreaux but on 1 November 1943, was told he was going on an engineering course. He went to Berne, where he met Colonel Wheeler (ex-Italy) and Major Fryer (Second Military Attaché) at the station, who told him he was going to England. The following morning, Hammond was interviewed by the Military Attaché, Colonel Henry Cartright, and then travelled to Geneva and the British Consulate, where Vic Farrell introduced him to Françoise.
Françoise and Hammond were taken to the border by Swiss soldiers, and then walked to Annemasse, and the house of a Captain at the French Customs Post, where they stayed that night (2-3 Nov). Next morning, the Captain and a gendarme escort took Hammond to the station, where he joined Françoise on the train, travelling first-class to Toulouse. They arrived in Toulouse at about mid-day on 4 November, and went to Françoise's home (assume at 12 rue Paul Meriel) where they were joined by a Frenchman travelling as a French-Canadian, and known as Patrick Gilbert. Hammond and Gilbert stayed with Françoise until 10 November when Françoise took them by train to Perpignan.
They travelled (first-class again) via Narbonne, and at Perpignan, waited in a park until four-thirty that afternoon when a guide came to collect Hammond and Gilbert. They set off straight away, walking until one-thirty the following morning (11 Nov), when they stopped at a farm. They stayed at the farm until seven that evening when two new guides led them across the mountains before passing them on to another man, a Frenchman that Hammond says had escaped from Germany. They crossed into Spain at about five o'clock on the morning of 12 November, and their guide left them about a kilometre from the border to walk down to Agullana (about 8 kms south of Le Perthus). At Agullana, Hammond posted a letter to the Consulate General in Barcelona notifying him of their arrival, and then, as advised before leaving Switzerland, the two men reported to the Spanish police.
Neither man had any identification papers, which might explain why, after a night at a hotel, they were taken to a cell at the police station at Figueras. After the weekend they were moved to the civilian prison, where their heads were shaved and they were inoculated. They did see a representative from the British Consulate but on 20 November were transferred, in a party of 20, to the prison at Gerona, and on 12 December, to the concentration camp at Miranda del Ebro.
Hammond and Gilbert were held at Miranda until 21 January 1944, when they were taken to Madrid, and then on 31 January, to Gibraltar. Hammond left Gibraltar by air to Whitchurch on 4 February 1944.
 
Donald Lister left Switzerland on 8 January 1944, in a party of eight, led by Sqn/Ldr Fletcher Taylor (1787). The other members of the party were Sgt Richard Brown (1782), Sgt Stanley Eyre (1783), Sgt Hugh Colhoun (1786), F/Lt George Lambert (1785), 2/Lt Ralph Bruce (EX-224) and 2/Lt John Carah (EX-231).
Lister (like Brown, and Eyre) defers to Taylor's report for their account of the journey from Switzerland, which I have used with additional information from the two American reports.
Taylor says that during his stay in Switzerland, he had been in charge of the RAF personnel at Arosa until the arrival of W/Cdr (Peter) Bragg from Italy at about the end of November 1943.
On the morning of 31 December 1943, Captain Reid of the MA's office in Berne telephoned to say that Taylor was to report to the Legation in Berne with Lt/Cdr Stephens (both Capt Patrick R Reid RASC (995) and Lt/Cdr William L Stephens RNVR (997) had escaped from Colditz in October 1942). On reporting to Reid, the two men were given new clothes, and that afternoon, travelled to Geneva with ERA Lister, Sgt Brown, Sgt Eyre, Sgt Colhoun, F/Lt Lambert and two Americans, Lt Bruce (EX-224) and Lt Carah (EX-231), and reported to Vic Farrell at the Consulate, who was organising their journey.
They left the Consulate at about ten o'clock that night, driven to the frontier in a van with a Swiss policeman. It was late when they arrived, and Stephens, who was in charge of the party, decided they should not try and cross into France but instead, return to Geneva – where they spent the night in a hotel. Next morning, Stephens reported to Vic Farrell that he had a leg injury, and Farrell decided he should not travel. Taylor says he hoped to leave later that day, and stayed in Geneva while the others returned to Berne but on 2 January, he also went back to Berne.
Stephens remained in Switzerland until 5 June 1944 when he and Sgt Edwin Worsdale RAF (2016) crossed into France near Annemasse. They took a bus some forty kilometres south to Annecy where they met Philippe (Jean Bregi) from Françoise Dissard's organisation, and Bregi took them to Françoise in Toulouse. They crossed the Pyrenees into Spain on 14 June 1944. See Article.
On 8 January, the whole party (except Stephens) returned to Geneva, with Taylor now in command. Bruce reports that each man was given an identity card and 70,000 French francs, and equipped with a gun and a knife, except the two Americans who had already bought their own guns in Switzerland (all the weapons were handed over to the organisation before the party crossed into Spain). They were taken to the frontier and crossed near Soral before walking to Viry, where they waited at a house until a young Frenchman arrived with a lorry and drove them to Frangy. At Frangy, they went to the home of Mme Marguerite Avons, where the party split with Lister, Eyre and the two Americans going some eight kilometres into the mountains to stay with Charles Clement Blanc (aka Lambert), his wife Laurence, mother and three daughters at Aux Daines Farm, Chaument.
Taylor reports that two guides they were hoping to meet had been “chased by the Gestapo” and that the organisation had been “blown up”. On 11 January, Clement Blanc went to Perpignan but when he returned three days later, he told the evaders they should stay in Frangy for a few more days. Clement then went to Lyon, and found the organisation was still “broken”, and on 24 January, went back to Perpignan from where he contacted Vic Farrell in Geneva, who told him arrangements had been made for the evaders to be moved on 26 January. He also told Blanc that two of his guides had been arrested while trying to reach Geneva, and because it was feared that Blanc may have been compromised, Lister and Eyre were taken to stay with a priest in Frangy, and the two Americans to the family of Mme Blanc's brother, also in Frangy.
Clement Blanc returned to Frangy on 25 January, and the evaders left for Perpignan the following day (Bruce says 2 February). They were taken by taxi, intending to go to Seyssel but found the road to be “controlled” and so went to Pyriment (query), a little NW of Seyssel instead, walking part of the way. After a meal at the station restaurant (assume at Seyssel), they went south by train to Culoz, where they took an express train for Lyon and Narbonne, where they changed for Perpignan.
They arrived at Perpignan on the morning of 27 January (Bruce and Carah say Thursday 3 February), and the party were split into small groups, each with an organisation member – Taylor, Lister, Lambert and Brown staying with a French woman teacher (Bruce says that he and Carah stayed with Suzanne Dedreu, a teacher at the university, while Carah says they were taken by a girl they met on the train who left the two Englishmen (Eyre and Colhoun) at a hotel and took the rest of the group to stay at her home).
Oliver Clutton-Brock, in his book “RAF Evaders”, says the hotel in Perpignan was the Hotel du Centre, and that it was Joseph Marsal (who worked with the Burgundy network) that organised their provisions and guides. Marsal then took the group to rendezvous with Catalan guide Joseph Ferrusola, and the two men led the group into the mountains.
On the night of 29 January (Carah says 5 February), the whole party were handed over to two Spanish guides, and taken south along paths, keeping to the seaward side of the main road and railway line. Taylor reports they crossed the river Tech without incident, and then crossed to the western side of the road and railway, and spent the rest of the day (30 Jan) hiding on the mountainside. That evening, they resumed walking (Carah says their route took them between Ceret and Arles-sur-Tech) and crossed into Spain (Bruce says at midnight on Sunday, 5 February while Carah says in the early morning of 7 February).
The guides took the party to “a place” just across the border where they stayed until morning. Taylor reports that whilst there, a guide arrived with a party of Spaniards from France, and that Mme Avon's son Serge recognised him as the man who was supposedly drowned during an earlier crossing attempt with Lt George Millar (1716) - see “They came from Burgundy”.
During the night of 31 January (sic), the party walked about half way to Figueras, and spent the day (1 Feb) in the bush. Food and oranges were brought to them by a man who took all their documentation and money, including the British emergency certificates issued in Switzerland. This same man then went to the British Consulate in Barcelona and reported their presence in Spain. That night, they carried on south of Figueras and slept in the hayloft of a barn. The following evening (2 Feb), Taylor, Lister, Lambert and Carah were taken a short way by passenger train, then by goods train, to a freight yard. They then walked to a farmhouse near Barcelona, and on to the city (and the British Consulate) the following day, where they joined the rest of the party (Brown, Eyre, Colhoun and Bruce) who had travelled direct by passenger train (Bruce says his group boarded a train at 0630 on Friday (10 Feb) and rode directly to Barcelona).
ERA Donald Lister (1024) left Gibraltar on 23 February 1944 by air to Whitchurch, arriving there the same day. Sqn/Ldr Fletcher Taylor (1787), Sgt Richard Brown (1782), Sgt Stanley Eyre (1783), Sgt Hugh Colhoun (1786) and F/Lt George Lambert (1785) also left Gibraltar on 23 February 1944 but by overnight flight to Whitchurch. 2/Lt Ralph Bruce (EX-224) left Gibraltar by C-47 to Casablanca, then a C-54 to Florida, arriving in Miami on 23 February 1944. 2/Lt John Carah (EX-231) left Gibraltar on 29 February 1944 by air to Casablanca and leaving next day for Washington DC, arriving there on the morning of 2 March 1944.
S/Ldr Fletcher Vaughan Taylor RCAF (1787), from Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, was the 23-year-old pilot of 420 Sqn Wellington HE550, which was returning from Karlsruhe in the early hours of 14 April 1943 when they were attacked by a Ju88. With the bomber on fire, Taylor (who had only joined the squadron three days earlier) gave to order for his crew to bale out.
Taylor landed near Villers-le-Sec (Aisne, Picardy), buried his parachute and flying gear, put a brown sweater on over his battle-dress, and starting walking south-east. As it began to get light, Taylor was at the top of a hill, where he used his knife to dig a hole to hide in for the rest of the day. At dusk, he walked on, this time south-west to ford the river Oise, crossing the Canal de l'Oise at a set of locks. By dawn, had reached Sery-les-Mesieres, where he sheltered in a small lean-to hut in a field. That evening, he walked on to Anguilcourt-le-Sart, arriving at about midnight. He told two boys in the street who he was, and they took him to their home, a farm in the village where Taylor was given a meal, and a map torn from the back of a calendar. Taylor spent the next few hours sleeping in a barn, and then moved to a nearby wood, where he stayed for the rest of day (17 Apr).
Taylor carried on walking to Soissons, where he was sheltered for four days on a farm before his host took him by taxi to Laon, where he bought Taylor a rail ticket to Dijon. From there, Taylor walked to Dole where he found help, including a man who volunteered to take him to Switzerland.
On 28 April, Taylor was taken by train to Pontarlier, then by bus to Les Hopiteaux-Vieux, where he spent the night in a hotel. Next day, Taylor's guide took him on foot to a point near the frontier, which he crossed alone (he says near Auberson), and was promptly arrested by a Swiss soldier.
Sgt Richard Brown (1782) from Gateshead, was the 21-year-old navigator of 207 Sqn Lancaster W4172 (Wood), which was returning from Munich in the early hours of 10 March 1943, and over Saarbrucken when they were attacked by fighters. With the bomber on fire, pilot F/Sgt Ivor Wood gave to order for his crew to bale out.
Brown landed in some woods near Avancon (Ardennes), hid his parachute in a ditch and started walking south-west until reaching the village of Bazancourt. He saw a German motorcycle patrol pass by, and as it was getting light, approached a young Frenchman on the road. Brown spoke enough French to explain who he was, and the man took him back to his house. Brown was given food, and allowed to stay for the rest of the day. That evening, wearing a donated coat over his uniform, Brown set off walking once more, this time heading south.
Over the next couple of days, Brown walked on to Mery-sur Seine, where he received help from a gendarme called Paul. After spending the night in the village with some friends of Paul, Brown was given civilian clothes, and Paul and his friend took him by train to Troyes. He was given an address in Maiche (Doubs, and less than 10 kms from the Swiss border), and detailed instructions on how to get there.
From Troyes, Brown took the Paris-Cologne train as far as Belfort, where he changed for Baume-les-Dames, arriving there at about 0700 hrs on 14 March. From Baume, he walked the 35 kms to Maiche, finally arriving there at ten o'clock that night.
Brown spent two days at Maiche, and on the third day, his unnamed host and a friend who had agreed to take Wood to Switzerland, took him by car, a few kilometres north-east to Trevillers. That evening, the friend took Brown to some woods south of Fuesse, where he left him to make his way eastwards to the frontier, which he crossed later that day (18 Mar), reaching the Swiss village of Souby. Brown was sitting at the side of the road when a Swiss customs officer stopped and arrested him.
Sgt Stanley Herbert Eyre (1783) from Liverpool, was the 27-year-old flight engineer of 207 Sqn Lancaster L7547 (Whyte) which was returning from Milan in the early hours of 15 February 1943 when first the port outer engine, and then whole wing, caught fire. After putting the aircraft into a dive to try and extinguish the flames, F/Sgt Whyte ordered his crew to bale out.
Eyre simply says he landed near Saint-Brisson (Nievre, Burgundy), and after burying his parachute and flying kit, set off walking. Two hours later he met his New Zealand pilot, F/Sgt John H F Whyte (1768), and Eyre defers to Whyte for details of their journey to Switzerland.
Whyte also landed near Saint-Brisson, and hid his parachute and flying kit before setting off walking. After meeting his flight engineer Eyre, the two men spent the rest of the night in some woods.
In the morning, they met a Spaniard burning charcoal. He took them to an unnamed Frenchman who took them the outskirts of Saint-Brisson, where the two airmen were sheltered for the next three days with Mme Barat. On 18 February, Mme Barat's son-in-law took them about 10 kms north of the village of Saint-Léger-Vauban and the Abbaye Sainte-Marie-de-la-Pierre-qui-Vire, where Abbe Dom Fulbert gave them ID cards, civilian clothes and a supply of food. Three days later, they were taken by truck to Avallon where they stayed with Abbe Bernard Ferrand at the Roman Catholic Presbytery – Whyte commenting that Ferand appeared to be an active member of an escape organisation. Two days later, they were taken by truck, south to Autun (Saone-et-Loir) before taking bicycles out of the truck, and cycling with their guide to Paray-le-Monial.
As arranged by the priest at Avallon, they spent the night at Paray-le-Monial with a young girl who worked for the French Red Cross. Next day, an elderly man took them by train to Lyon, where they spent the night in a garage. The following morning, the same elderly man took them on to Annecy, and a convent there. They were met by a young priest who gave them bicycles, and took them to Faverges, where they spent the night with another priest. Next day, they were taken a few kilometres south to the Abbe de Tamie but the abbot refused to help them, and a young Frenchman who was at the abbey, took them back to Faverges, and a cafe. While they were in the cafe, a man entered, spoke to the proprietor and then came over to them. He was Joseph Simon, an agent for the Royal Insurance Company, and he took the two airmen back to his house. After a week with Mr Simon, the cafe proprietor arranged for them to be taken by car to Annecy, where they stayed with the district agent of the Royal Insurance Company. Two days later, they were taken to a place close to Saint-Julien-en-Genevois in a lorry. They were met by a woman with a pronounced American accent, who told them her mother was in a German camp near Paris. At about midnight, the woman took Whyte and Eyre across the border into Switzerland.
The two airmen spent the rest of that night in a stable, while their guide went to Geneva. The following afternoon, a car arrived (arranged by Victor Farrell) to take them to Geneva. Next day (either 4 or 5 March), they were taken to the Legation in Berne.
Whyte left Switzerland on about 24 November 1943, following a similar route to Hammond, except that he was taken to meet Françoise Dissard at Annemasse.
F/Sgt Hugh Colhoun (1786) from Londonderry, Northern Ireland was the 22-year-old navigator of 101 Sqn Wellington X3391 (Harper) which was on the way to Mannheim on the evening of 28 August 1942 when they developed “engine trouble”, and F/Lt F J C Harper made a forced landing in a field about 30 miles NW of Mannheim, near Rudesheim. The aircraft almost immediately caught fire, and the crew threw their flying gear into the flames, before setting off in pairs to try and evade capture.
Colhoun paired up with second pilot W/O James Rutherford Dixon (LIB/1572) and the two men set off walking south-west towards the French border. After spending twelve days, walking by night and hiding during the day, they crossed the border somewhere between Saarbrucken and Saarlouis, and once across, were sheltered for a day and night by Armande Esch at La Ferme de Rinance near Boulay-Moselle (Colhoun says they were sheltered for two days at Fouligny but Dixon gives the name and address). On their fifteenth day of evading, they approached a French worker, who told them to follow him. The man led them to a barn where he tried to trap them. Colhoun says that he realised his intentions immediately, forced the door open and pushed past the man to make his escape but Dixon failed to follow him.
Colhoun carried on walking alone, getting occasional help along the way, until finally crossing into Switzerland at Boncourt (Jura) on 14 October 1942.
F/Lt George Frank Lambert (1785) from Melton Constable in Norfolk, was the 23-year-old pilot of 35 Sqn Halifax DT806 which was on the way to Frankfurt, and over Luxembourg in the early hours of 11 April 1943 when they were attacked by a fighter. With the bomber on fire, Lambert ordered his crew to bale out.
Lambert landed in the middle of a wood, buried his parachute and flying gear, and started walking – Lambert had no idea where he was, and thinking he might be in Germany, headed west towards France, avoiding any contacts. He spent the next four days walking by night and hiding during the day.
On about 15 April, Lambert was spotted by a man who turned out to be Russian. Lambert explained who he was and the man brought him bread, meat and some milk. He also told Lambert that the town he could see ahead was the French town of Sedan. Lambert turned south at this point, heading for Switzerland. At Stenly on about 17 April, a farmer advised him to take a train from Montmedy, which Lambert did the following morning, using money from his escape kit to buy a ticket to Nancy. Next day, he continued by train to Belfort, then walked out of the town, heading SE towards the Swiss border at Delle.
Just before Froidefontaine, Lambert had to cross a bridge, guarded by two French civilians with rifles. He says he tried to avoid them, and then to convince them he was Polish but finally had to admit to being an evading airman. The younger of the two men (no name given) took Lambert to wait in a field, returning later to take him to his house in Froidefontaine. Lambert stayed the night and following day, and the man and his father gave him food and detailed instructions on how to cross the Swiss border. Lambert set off walking again the night of 20 April, and crossed the frontier, which was marked with stones (like milestones), about a kilometre from a railway line. He didn't see any guards until allowing himself to be arrested on the road from Delle to Porrentruy.
2/Lt Ralf Bruce (EX-224) from Harrisburg, Illinois, was the 26-year-old pilot of 92BG/407BS B-17 42-29725 Hi-Lo Jack which was on the way to Romilly-sur-Seine on 3 September 1943 when it was attacked by fighters and abandoned to crash near Aulnoy (Seine-et-Marne).
Once the rest of his crew had left the ship, Bruce turned on the automatic pilot, destroyed the secret papers, and jumped out, opening his parachute immediately, at about 10,000 feet. He landed in a field about one and a half miles from the village of Villenoy, five miles south of Meux (Seine-et-Marne), at about nine o'clock in the morning, and was met by a Frenchman on a bicycle. The first question asked was whether he was English or American, which despite his lack of French, Bruce was able to answer easily enough. Then about fifteen men and women who had watched his descent, came running across the field – and his onward journey was arranged.
A man named Andre Barbillon took Bruce to a wooded area and told him to wait there until eight that evening when he would return. At about two o'clock, two French boys “stumbled across” Bruce, and agreed to bring him maps, food and some linament for the ankle Bruce had sprained on landing. At eight o'clock as promised, Andre Barbillon returned by bicycle, bringing his wife and some old clothes for Bruce to change into. Bruce took Andre's bicycle and followed his wife back to their house in Villenoy, and Bruce spent that night with a neighbour. Next day, a neighbouring farmer brought Bruce some civilian clothes, and then went to Paris with Bruce's escape photos try and get him some identification papers. He failed with the papers but did bring back money and instructions for taking Bruce to the capital.
On 6 September, Bruce and his host (not clear if this was Andre or his neighbour) cycled to Esbly where Bruce was passed on to two men, Jacques Adam and David Haricot, who took Bruce by train to Paris. Bruce stayed in Paris for four days, three at his helper's home and one day at his office, where he (not clear who this was) was engaged in black market activities.
On 10 September, Bruce and his helpers took a train to Annercy, arriving there at 1400 hrs the following day, where his helpers contacted Edouard Peccoud, and Bruce went to his home that Friday evening. On the evening of the following Monday, a messenger brought news that the Gestapo were going to search the homes of all French ex-officers, and Bruce was quickly moved to a neighbour. Bruce was then moved to another house on the Tuesday, and next morning was told that plans to get him to Switzerland were complete. At one o'clock that day, a French girl called Colette arrived in a car, and drove Bruce to a farmhouse about a mile from the Swiss border, where they stayed until evening.
At dusk, Bruce and Colette crawled under the mesh-wire fence that formed the border, and Colette took Bruce to a Swiss guard, who took them both to his commanding officer. Bruce reports that the girl was connected to the Swiss Intelligence Service, for whom she was carrying messages, and they were both taken to the Swiss Intelligence Service in Geneva, where Bruce was interrogated by the authorities.
2/Lt John Marshall Carah (EX-231) from Maryville, California was the 22-year-old co-pilot of 381BG/533BS B-17 42-29928 (Ballinger) which was on the way to Le Mans on 4 July 1943 when it was hit by flak over Laval which took out one engine and the oxygen supply. They dropped out of formation and were heading back north when the aircraft was attacked by fighters and abandoned to crash near La Coulonche (Orne).
Carah left the aircraft at about 7,000 feet and delayed opening his parachute until about 1,000 feet. He landed in an orchard, between a pair of apple trees, and after leaving his parachute, Mae West and flying boots, ran to the nearby Forest of Bagnoles (foret des Andaines, Bagnoles de l'Orne). He buried his tie and insignia, and then used his compass to set off walking towards Spain. His report says that having landed at about 1320 hrs, he then walked through the forest until 1630 hrs, when he came to a farmhouse. The people at the house gave him some food and wine, showed him where he was on his silk map and gave directions for Spain. Carah traded his leather jacket for an old civilian coat, and set off walking once more.
About two hours later, Carah came to some farm buildings. The farmers were afraid to keep him there but called an elderly neighbour who took Carah back to his house. The neighbour gave Carah a pair of trousers and a shirt, and then took him to several farms in the district to see if he could find anyone to help Carah. They finally arrived at the small village of Chapelle-Moche (now La Chapelle D'Andaine) where the maire's son spoke some English.
Carah stayed overnight with a garage owner, and the following morning, was taken about two and a half kilometres out of town to a farmhouse, where he was sheltered for a week. Carah says that when a local man was captured and killed for housing an American, he was moved to Lassay (Lassay-les-Chateau) where he was met by gendarmes who took him to stay with the Breteau family (Mme Vve Louis Breteau, Fermier, Le Moulineau, Lassay, Mayenne), where he joined 2/Lt Reynold Lasher, who had been at the Breteau farmhouse for a month. They were given identity cards and work certificates, and told it would be impossible for them to get to Spain but their helpers would take them to Switzerland.
On 4 or 5 August, the two Americans were taken by a charcoal-burning moving van to Mayenne, and then on to Laval, where they and their guide took a train to Paris. It's not clear from Carah's report whether their guide was still with them when they went by Metro across town to catch an overnight train (Lasher says a Catholic sister bought their tickets) to Besancon. They walked through the town to contact another organisation member who instructed them to take a bus to a small village (name unknown), where they stayed two days before being driven in a small truck to Morteau (Doubs). In Morteau, a man took them to his home, about one kilometre from the Swiss border. That night (8 Aug) a young guide took them into the mountains, and the two Americans crossed into Switzerland on the morning of 9 August 1943, passing between the Swiss towns of Les Chaux de Fonds and Le Locle.
Carah and Lasher walked about ten kilometres along the road to Bern before flagging down a truck which took them to Neuchatel. From there, they took a taxi to Bern, where they contacted the Military Attaché.
2/Lt Reynold P Lasher (EX-428) from San Jose, California, was the 21-year-old co-pilot of B-17 42-29389 (Watson), which was returning from Rennes on 29 May 1943, and out over the English Channel, when they collided with an out-of-control enemy fighter. Lasher and pilot 1/Lt Cody Watson (#62) turned their aircraft back over land, and Watson ordered his crew to bail out.
Lasher left Switzerland on 8 July 1944 (despite a directive from Washington saying that all Americans in Switzerland at that time should remain there), crossing into France with 1/Lt Dan E Coffee (EX-429) and O- 1/Lt Edward L Griffin (EX-430) – but that's another story ...

My grateful thanks to Hugh Reynolds for the additional information on Hammond and Lister (and submariners in general), and to Warren Carah for his help with the American reports.