Pat Reid 1940-42 & Dick Howe 1942-45
Pat (L) next to Dick (R), taken outside Colditz Chapel, in 1940.
Pat Reid, Capt., Royal Army Reserve Corps.
Captured 27th May 1940. Sent to Laufen, Oflag VIIC, where he arrived on June 5th 1940. He escaped via a tunnel, along with Rupert Barry and Peter Allen on September 5th, was re-captured on September 10th and spent an additonal month in solitary before being eventually returned to Laufen. A week later (allowing time to pass on vital information to other prisoners!) he was sent, with an hours notice, to Colditz where he arrived on November 10th 1940. Pat Reid acted as Escape Officer 1940-42. His place was taken by his fellow Laufen ‘escaper’, Dick Howe, in April 1942. On 15th October 1942 Reid escaped from Colditz and made a successful home run - reaching Switzerland where he remained for the rest of the war. Details of the escape can be found under the “Escape Section”.
Pat Reid photographed in his escape attire taken in the grounds of the British Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland shortly after his arrival.
Dick H.Howe Capt., Royal Tank Regiment.
Captured at Calais on 26th May 1940. Also sent to Laufen, Oflag VIIC, and escaped via the same tunnel as Pat Reid, a day later, on September 6th along with Harry Elliott and Kenneth Lockwood. The three were re-caught about sixty-three miles away, on the road to Switzerland, after eight days of freedom. Transferred, along with Reid and the others to Colditz arriving on November 10th.
“For over three years Dick Howe was in charge of all escaping; Colonel Guy German’s choice of him was justified for with the exception of Airey Neave, all the British who escaped and made a home run did so during his term of office. He worked under four senior British officers: Guy German, ‘Daddy’ Stayner, Tubby Broomhall (for a very short period) and Willlie Todd. He made a deal with Guy German that he would not escape himself until ten British Officers had made home runs. It was a sort of benevolent dictatorship, aided by such sterling characters as ‘Lulu’ Lawton (his first mate), Kenneth Lockwood (in charge of all money and maps), ‘Bush’ Parker (the ace lock picker), Rex Harrison (the chief tailor), ‘Checko’ Chaloupka (bribery & corruption), Ralph Holroyd (photography), Grismond Davies-Scourfield (the chief stooge), Jacques Houard (the nom-de-plume used by one of the world’s leading stamp forgers in peace-time) and many others who were continually on call for a variety of activities.”
‘Colditz Recaptured’ by Reinhold Eggers
“It is doubtful if anybody in Germany knew more about the escaping business than this officer, under whose guidance and direction eight officers not only got out of IVC but managed to successfully reach Switzerland or some other neutral country.
Throughout the piece he operated a secret wireless set which enabled us to follow the BBC news daily.
This is a particularly commendable achievement when one considers the special nature of the camp - guards always on duty in the courtyard, “Snoops”, (specially trained patrols) usually on the prowl in the buildings, wholesale snap searches laid on without warning, when everybody would be turned out and everything tipped out - and when one further bears in mind that the Germans were almost certain that we did have a wireless and bent every energy to find it.
The photograph was taken the day of the liberation by Capt. Michael Burn MC with a camera he had purchased from the Germans for cigarettes.”
‘Detour’ by Lt. JER Wood, MC.