August 19, 2025 • 14 mins
Delve into the gripping true story of M. C. Simmons, a Canadian soldier who found himself at the mercy of the German Army during the tumultuous early days of World War I. This narrative chronicles his harrowing sixteen months as a prisoner of war, detailing his interactions with fellow captives from Allied forces, as well as his insightful observations of his captors and their homeland. Most strikingly, we follow Simmons through his daring escape attempts—each more audacious than the last—his subsequent recaptures and punishments, and the perilous journey through enemy territory that defined his relentless spirit. As McClung notes, Private Simmons is a close and accurate observer who sees clearly and talks well. He tells a straightforward, unadorned tale, every sentence of which is true, and convincing. Prepare to be captivated by a story of resilience and courage.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Section eighteen of Three Times and Out by Nellie mc lung.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter twenty.
Once again. As the days began to shorten, Edwards and
I began to plan our escape. We had the maps,
(00:22):
the one he had bought at Venemore and the one
Eye had made. We had the compass, which we had
kept hidden in a very small crack in the sloping
roof of the hut, and the red Cross suits had
come and were dark blue and quite unnoticeable except for
the piece of brown cloth sewed on the sleeve. Mine
had Russian buttons on it, which I had put on
(00:44):
to have for souvenirs, and which I have since had
made into brooches for my sisters. On the map which
Edwards had bought at Vnemore, the railways were marked according
to their kind. The double tracked with rock by ballast
were heavily lined. Single tracked with rock ballast were indicated
(01:05):
by lighter lines. Single tracked with dirt ballast by lighter lines. Still,
I knew from the study of maps every stream and canal,
and all the towns between us and the border. On
the map which I had drawn myself from one I
got from the Canadian artist at Giesen. I had put
(01:26):
in all the railways and the short spur lines of
which there are so many in northern Germany. We knew
that when a railway line ended without reaching another line,
it was a good indication that the soil was valueless,
and therefore there would be no settlement of any account
through such districts we would direct our way. We began
(01:50):
to prepare for our flight by adopting a subdued manner,
such as becomes discouraged men. We were dull, listless, sad,
had rarely speaking to each other when a guard was present.
We sat around the hut, morose and solemn, sighing often
(02:10):
as men who had lost hope. But we were thinking
all the time and getting ready. I had a fine
toffee tin with a water tight lid, which had come
to me in a parcel from mister Robert mac Pherson, Aberdeen, Scotland,
whose brother in law, mister Alec Smith of Coke Siding,
(02:32):
was a friend of mine. This can, being oval in shape,
fitted nicely into my pocket, and we decided to use
it for matches. Edwards had a sunglass which we thought
we would use for lighting our pipes when the sun
was shining, and thus conserve our supply of matches. Our
(02:53):
first plan was to cut our way through the wires,
as we had done at Venemore, but unfortunate three Russians
early in the spring did this, and after that no
cat ever watched a mouse hole with greater intentness than
the guards at Parnavinkle watched the wires. We saw this
(03:14):
was hopeless. We then thought we would volunteer for work
on farms, as we had done before at Rossbach. But
although French and Russians were taken, Englanders were not wanted.
The Englishmen in the camp, not wanting to work, had
given themselves a bad name, hoping that the Russians and
(03:34):
French would carry it on to the farmers for whom
they were working, so that they would be afraid to
employ such desperate characters. One of them had at an
ear often the last man he worked for. Another one
never took orders from any one. The last man that
tried it woke up in the middle of a long
(03:55):
fit of sickness and had since died. Another one admitted
he had a terrible temper, but he had had it
from a child and couldn't help it. He turned blind
when he was mad and never knew where he was hidden.
This all worked well for them, but when Ted and
I wanted to get out, we were refused. Englanders were
(04:20):
not wanted. The first working party that was made up
to go out and work with a guard did not
give either Ted or me a chance. Although we wanted
to go, but four other Englishmen volunteered. They were not
anxious to have us go with them, for they knew
we were thinking of escaping. And when there is an escape,
(04:43):
those who were present at the time have embarrassing questions
asked them, and various privileges are likely to be curtailed afterwards.
On Saturday morning, at roll call, a working party was
asked for and Ted and I volunteered, and a Welshman
and some Frenchmen. We walked out to a small village
(05:04):
called Seedorf, about four miles away, where we were turned
loose in a field of turnips from which the weeds
had not been taken out since the turnips were planted.
There were about a dozen of us and we were
taken into the house at noon to be fed. The
farmhouse was one of the best I had seen in
(05:24):
this section of the country. For the pig, pen, chickens,
and cow stable were in a separate building. The two
daughters of the house were true daughters of Germany and
did not eat the bread of idleness. The biggest one,
bare legged and with sleeves rolled up, was attending to
the stock without pausing for anything. She looked as strong
(05:49):
as a man, and was absorbed in her work, not
even stopping a second to look at us. The other
one worked in the house at meal times, but no
doubt joined her sister afterwards. The dinner consisted of soup, potatoes, bread,
and coffee, and the soup was a real treat, entirely
(06:10):
different from the kind we were used to. After dinner
we went back to the field and put in a
fine afternoon's work. We were anxious to establish a good record.
Before we left there, we had saved up a lot
of things from our parcels, thinking that our manner of
escape might be such that we could take them with us.
(06:31):
A working party such as we were on made it
impossible to carry anything, for we were in great danger
of being searched. Whenever the commandant thought of it, he
ordered a search, just as the commandant at Geeson was
keen on rings, so this one went in for searching.
We were searched at unexpected times, going out to work,
(06:54):
or coming in at meal times or at bedtime. The
following day, Sunday, we sat around with our saddest, most
dejected air, like two men in whose hearts all hope
had died. We had everything ready, razor, tobacco matches, toffee, tin, toothbrush, comb,
(07:17):
pocket knife, watch, soap, strong safety pins, and some strong
string edwards had the sunglass, shaving soap and brush and
other things to correspond with mine. It was quite a
grief to us to have to leave behind all the
things we had been saving from our parcels. The people
(07:37):
of Trail, British Columbia had sent parcels to all their prisoners,
and one of mine had followed me from Geeson to Venemore,
and from Venemore to Parnavingle, and at last had found me.
It contained, among other things, hard tack biscuits, just the
thing for carrying in our pockets. And my aunts in
(07:58):
Ontario had sent me some line dried beef and tins
of jam. At this time, also, an exceptionally good box
came from Miss Ray of London, England, and home made
candy from Miss Dorothy Taylor of New Westminster, British Columbia.
We had a regular blow out on Sunday, but were
(08:19):
too much afraid of being searched to risk taking anything
with us beyond the necessary things, and so had to
leave our precious stores behind. Oh well, they wouldn't go
to waste. Monday morning, we dragged our tired feet along
the four miles to the turnip patch, with every appearance
(08:40):
of complete submission. I had the compass in the middle
of a package of tobacco. My maps were still in
the pay book case in my pocket. We gave ourselves
up to the joy of labor and pulled weeds all
day with great vigor. We wanted to behave so well
that they wouldn't notice us. Of course, we were not
(09:03):
sure that any chance would come. We might have to
carry our stuff for several days before we should get
a chance. That night we came into the kitchen again
and sat down at the long table. Everyone was hungry
and fell to eating without a word. No wonder. The
guard thought he had a quiet, inoffensive gang whose only
(09:26):
thought at that moment was fried potatoes. The potatoes were
good hot from the frying pan, and we ate as
many as we could, for we believed it might be
a long time before we again sat at a table.
The guard, at last satisfied that we were all right,
(09:47):
strolled into the next room, a sort of dining and
living room, where the family were eating. We could hear
fragments of conversation and some laughter, and it seemed a
good time to slip away. We crowded down a few
more fried potatoes, and then leisurely left the table and
(10:07):
looked out of the window. A big black cloud had
come up from the west, and although it was still
early in the evening, it was beginning to grow dusk. Outside.
There was no one stirring but the young lady feeding
the pigs, and she was not taking any notice of
any one. She was a fine example of the absorbed worker.
(10:31):
We lit our pipes and strolled out to enjoy the
cool of the evening. The pigs were gathered about the trough,
protesting the distribution of their evening meal, squealing graft and
calling for a commission to settle it. The lady took
no notice of them. They could settle it among themselves.
(10:53):
They did not need to eat at all. If they
didn't want to, she should worry. It was take it
or leave it for all all she cared. She had
gone as far as she was going to in bringing
it to them. We looked back at the kitchen fried
potatoes still held the attention of the prisoners, and the
guard was not to be seen. We turned around the
(11:17):
front of the house and found ourselves on the shaded street.
There was a row of trees along each side of
the street, and the houses were built well back. It
was not the main street of the village and had
more the appearance of a lane. We had concluded that
even if the alarm were given, we should only have
(11:37):
the one guard to deal with, for the prisoners would
not pursue us, neither would the farmer. The big danger
was in the fact that the guard had his gun,
and if he saw us, would shoot. But the shady
lane was deserted and still, and we pushed on with
an unconcerned stride that covered the ground but would not
(11:58):
attract the attention the casual observer. When we came to
the edge of the village, we saw the wood which
we had observed when coming in from work both days,
and which seemed to promise shelter. Although the trees were small,
we passed through it quickly and kept it between us
and the village until we reached a ditch two and
(12:21):
a half or three feet deep and overgrown with heather.
By this time it was beginning to rain, for which
we were glad for it would discourage traveling and drive
indoors those who had any place to go to. We
crawled on our hands and knees along the ditch, whose
bottom was fairly dry and grassy, until we found a
(12:43):
place where the heather hung well over the edge and
made a good protection. We could look through the heather
at the village, which was about six hundred yards away.
We stayed here until it was quite dark. There did
not seem to be any search made for us. The
guard would be afraid to leave the other prisoners to
(13:04):
come looking for us himself, and we knew none of
the village people would be keen on coming out in
the rain. But there was a telegraph station at Seydorf,
and it gave us an uncomfortable feeling to remember that
the guard could wire to Selsingen and get some one
there to telephone to the camp. But the rain, which
(13:25):
was falling heavily was our best hope that we were unpursued.
It beat into my ear as I lay in the heather,
until I put my cap over the side of my head.
At dark we stole out after taking our direction with
the compass while we were in the ditch. When we
came out, we observed the direction of the wind and
(13:48):
started straight south. We would follow this course until we
rounded Bremen, and then it was our purpose to go
west to the Holland boundary. From our men. We knew
that to strike straight across from where we were would
bring us to a well settled country, and the chief
desire of our lives now was for solitude. End of
(14:13):
Section eighteen.
Section eighteen of Three Times and Out by Nellie mc lung.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter twenty.
Once again. As the days began to shorten, Edwards and
I began to plan our escape. We had the maps,
(00:22):
the one he had bought at Venemore and the one
Eye had made. We had the compass, which we had
kept hidden in a very small crack in the sloping
roof of the hut, and the red Cross suits had
come and were dark blue and quite unnoticeable except for
the piece of brown cloth sewed on the sleeve. Mine
had Russian buttons on it, which I had put on
(00:44):
to have for souvenirs, and which I have since had
made into brooches for my sisters. On the map which
Edwards had bought at Vnemore, the railways were marked according
to their kind. The double tracked with rock by ballast
were heavily lined. Single tracked with rock ballast were indicated
(01:05):
by lighter lines. Single tracked with dirt ballast by lighter lines. Still,
I knew from the study of maps every stream and canal,
and all the towns between us and the border. On
the map which I had drawn myself from one I
got from the Canadian artist at Giesen. I had put
(01:26):
in all the railways and the short spur lines of
which there are so many in northern Germany. We knew
that when a railway line ended without reaching another line,
it was a good indication that the soil was valueless,
and therefore there would be no settlement of any account
through such districts we would direct our way. We began
(01:50):
to prepare for our flight by adopting a subdued manner,
such as becomes discouraged men. We were dull, listless, sad,
had rarely speaking to each other when a guard was present.
We sat around the hut, morose and solemn, sighing often
(02:10):
as men who had lost hope. But we were thinking
all the time and getting ready. I had a fine
toffee tin with a water tight lid, which had come
to me in a parcel from mister Robert mac Pherson, Aberdeen, Scotland,
whose brother in law, mister Alec Smith of Coke Siding,
(02:32):
was a friend of mine. This can, being oval in shape,
fitted nicely into my pocket, and we decided to use
it for matches. Edwards had a sunglass which we thought
we would use for lighting our pipes when the sun
was shining, and thus conserve our supply of matches. Our
(02:53):
first plan was to cut our way through the wires,
as we had done at Venemore, but unfortunate three Russians
early in the spring did this, and after that no
cat ever watched a mouse hole with greater intentness than
the guards at Parnavinkle watched the wires. We saw this
(03:14):
was hopeless. We then thought we would volunteer for work
on farms, as we had done before at Rossbach. But
although French and Russians were taken, Englanders were not wanted.
The Englishmen in the camp, not wanting to work, had
given themselves a bad name, hoping that the Russians and
(03:34):
French would carry it on to the farmers for whom
they were working, so that they would be afraid to
employ such desperate characters. One of them had at an
ear often the last man he worked for. Another one
never took orders from any one. The last man that
tried it woke up in the middle of a long
(03:55):
fit of sickness and had since died. Another one admitted
he had a terrible temper, but he had had it
from a child and couldn't help it. He turned blind
when he was mad and never knew where he was hidden.
This all worked well for them, but when Ted and
I wanted to get out, we were refused. Englanders were
(04:20):
not wanted. The first working party that was made up
to go out and work with a guard did not
give either Ted or me a chance. Although we wanted
to go, but four other Englishmen volunteered. They were not
anxious to have us go with them, for they knew
we were thinking of escaping. And when there is an escape,
(04:43):
those who were present at the time have embarrassing questions
asked them, and various privileges are likely to be curtailed afterwards.
On Saturday morning, at roll call, a working party was
asked for and Ted and I volunteered, and a Welshman
and some Frenchmen. We walked out to a small village
(05:04):
called Seedorf, about four miles away, where we were turned
loose in a field of turnips from which the weeds
had not been taken out since the turnips were planted.
There were about a dozen of us and we were
taken into the house at noon to be fed. The
farmhouse was one of the best I had seen in
(05:24):
this section of the country. For the pig, pen, chickens,
and cow stable were in a separate building. The two
daughters of the house were true daughters of Germany and
did not eat the bread of idleness. The biggest one,
bare legged and with sleeves rolled up, was attending to
the stock without pausing for anything. She looked as strong
(05:49):
as a man, and was absorbed in her work, not
even stopping a second to look at us. The other
one worked in the house at meal times, but no
doubt joined her sister afterwards. The dinner consisted of soup, potatoes, bread,
and coffee, and the soup was a real treat, entirely
(06:10):
different from the kind we were used to. After dinner
we went back to the field and put in a
fine afternoon's work. We were anxious to establish a good record.
Before we left there, we had saved up a lot
of things from our parcels, thinking that our manner of
escape might be such that we could take them with us.
(06:31):
A working party such as we were on made it
impossible to carry anything, for we were in great danger
of being searched. Whenever the commandant thought of it, he
ordered a search, just as the commandant at Geeson was
keen on rings, so this one went in for searching.
We were searched at unexpected times, going out to work,
(06:54):
or coming in at meal times or at bedtime. The
following day, Sunday, we sat around with our saddest, most
dejected air, like two men in whose hearts all hope
had died. We had everything ready, razor, tobacco matches, toffee, tin, toothbrush, comb,
(07:17):
pocket knife, watch, soap, strong safety pins, and some strong
string edwards had the sunglass, shaving soap and brush and
other things to correspond with mine. It was quite a
grief to us to have to leave behind all the
things we had been saving from our parcels. The people
(07:37):
of Trail, British Columbia had sent parcels to all their prisoners,
and one of mine had followed me from Geeson to Venemore,
and from Venemore to Parnavingle, and at last had found me.
It contained, among other things, hard tack biscuits, just the
thing for carrying in our pockets. And my aunts in
(07:58):
Ontario had sent me some line dried beef and tins
of jam. At this time, also, an exceptionally good box
came from Miss Ray of London, England, and home made
candy from Miss Dorothy Taylor of New Westminster, British Columbia.
We had a regular blow out on Sunday, but were
(08:19):
too much afraid of being searched to risk taking anything
with us beyond the necessary things, and so had to
leave our precious stores behind. Oh well, they wouldn't go
to waste. Monday morning, we dragged our tired feet along
the four miles to the turnip patch, with every appearance
(08:40):
of complete submission. I had the compass in the middle
of a package of tobacco. My maps were still in
the pay book case in my pocket. We gave ourselves
up to the joy of labor and pulled weeds all
day with great vigor. We wanted to behave so well
that they wouldn't notice us. Of course, we were not
(09:03):
sure that any chance would come. We might have to
carry our stuff for several days before we should get
a chance. That night we came into the kitchen again
and sat down at the long table. Everyone was hungry
and fell to eating without a word. No wonder. The
guard thought he had a quiet, inoffensive gang whose only
(09:26):
thought at that moment was fried potatoes. The potatoes were
good hot from the frying pan, and we ate as
many as we could, for we believed it might be
a long time before we again sat at a table.
The guard, at last satisfied that we were all right,
(09:47):
strolled into the next room, a sort of dining and
living room, where the family were eating. We could hear
fragments of conversation and some laughter, and it seemed a
good time to slip away. We crowded down a few
more fried potatoes, and then leisurely left the table and
(10:07):
looked out of the window. A big black cloud had
come up from the west, and although it was still
early in the evening, it was beginning to grow dusk. Outside.
There was no one stirring but the young lady feeding
the pigs, and she was not taking any notice of
any one. She was a fine example of the absorbed worker.
(10:31):
We lit our pipes and strolled out to enjoy the
cool of the evening. The pigs were gathered about the trough,
protesting the distribution of their evening meal, squealing graft and
calling for a commission to settle it. The lady took
no notice of them. They could settle it among themselves.
(10:53):
They did not need to eat at all. If they
didn't want to, she should worry. It was take it
or leave it for all all she cared. She had
gone as far as she was going to in bringing
it to them. We looked back at the kitchen fried
potatoes still held the attention of the prisoners, and the
guard was not to be seen. We turned around the
(11:17):
front of the house and found ourselves on the shaded street.
There was a row of trees along each side of
the street, and the houses were built well back. It
was not the main street of the village and had
more the appearance of a lane. We had concluded that
even if the alarm were given, we should only have
(11:37):
the one guard to deal with, for the prisoners would
not pursue us, neither would the farmer. The big danger
was in the fact that the guard had his gun,
and if he saw us, would shoot. But the shady
lane was deserted and still, and we pushed on with
an unconcerned stride that covered the ground but would not
(11:58):
attract the attention the casual observer. When we came to
the edge of the village, we saw the wood which
we had observed when coming in from work both days,
and which seemed to promise shelter. Although the trees were small,
we passed through it quickly and kept it between us
and the village until we reached a ditch two and
(12:21):
a half or three feet deep and overgrown with heather.
By this time it was beginning to rain, for which
we were glad for it would discourage traveling and drive
indoors those who had any place to go to. We
crawled on our hands and knees along the ditch, whose
bottom was fairly dry and grassy, until we found a
(12:43):
place where the heather hung well over the edge and
made a good protection. We could look through the heather
at the village, which was about six hundred yards away.
We stayed here until it was quite dark. There did
not seem to be any search made for us. The
guard would be afraid to leave the other prisoners to
(13:04):
come looking for us himself, and we knew none of
the village people would be keen on coming out in
the rain. But there was a telegraph station at Seydorf,
and it gave us an uncomfortable feeling to remember that
the guard could wire to Selsingen and get some one
there to telephone to the camp. But the rain, which
(13:25):
was falling heavily was our best hope that we were unpursued.
It beat into my ear as I lay in the heather,
until I put my cap over the side of my head.
At dark we stole out after taking our direction with
the compass while we were in the ditch. When we
came out, we observed the direction of the wind and
(13:48):
started straight south. We would follow this course until we
rounded Bremen, and then it was our purpose to go
west to the Holland boundary. From our men. We knew
that to strike straight across from where we were would
bring us to a well settled country, and the chief
desire of our lives now was for solitude. End of
(14:13):
Section eighteen.
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