P.O.W. ESCAPE STORY
LIFE WITHOUT LADIES. By Major C. N. ARMSTRONG, M.C. and Bar. Whitecombe & Tombs Ltd. [DURING the early phase of his life as a prisoner-of-war, Major Armstrong had much to be thankful for; He slept between warm blankets on an orthodox bed, ate regularly, if at first inadequately, and received considerable freedom of action from his Italian guards whom he describes as "kindly souls," He had the solace of books and the services of an ordefly, and although the first consignments of Red Cross parcels were somewhat slow in arriving, when they did come they came regularly. The army manuals say, "It is your duty to escape." Looking out across the wire at the bare Italian countryside and the rugged mountains beyond, Major Armstrong must have wondered what escape had to offer. Between him and safety there lay the possibility of a bullet as he made his escape attempt and, if he. succeeded, of days of fugitive life, trying to sleep by day and tramping by night, with little possibility of: sufficient food to help him along. Apart from the punishment -he knew would await him if he were brought back there would surely be reprisals of some sort against his comrades in the camp and a new and harsher staff would mean less. opportunity for the others to escape. But the end of the war was far away and he felt there was something, if only a little, he could do to help speed victory along. "The ‘call of the hills," he says, "became a challenge-a challenge that daily grew more insistent until it became a personal question between me and my pride that I should answer."
How he answered that challenge he goes on to tell. Many escapees have put their stories into print, but Major Armstrong’s experiences are as interesting to hear about as any of them. His is not a polished literary style, and his choice of titles is, I think, by no means a happy one, but he writes simply and thinks first of what he has to say rather than how to say it.
J.M.D
H.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 424, 8 August 1947, Page 12
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354P.O.W. ESCAPE STORY New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 424, 8 August 1947, Page 12
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