It was now high time to disarm the suspicions of the English. I therefore reported sick, and kept my bed. 'Nervous breakdown' was the name of my malady. Each time before the doctor came I did a quarter of an hour's physical jerks and smoked strong cigars. My pulse was so bad after this that the doctor sometimes looked at me with a very grave air. He did not know what to make of it, as I looked outwardly fairly healthy. In order to deceive him further I once had him fetched in haste. My friends, Naval Reserve Lieutenants Elson and Filter, who helped me in many other details, told him that I had got up and had suddenly collapsed in a dead faint. I was really feeling rather bad that day and had been smoking heavily. The doctor, therefore, found me lying in bed like a log, felt my pulse for a long time, and prescribed milk, biscuits, and all sorts of medicine.
From that day forward he was really satisfied that I was ill, and I noticed to my joy that the orderly officer's questions now ceased. When the evening count was taking place I lay with my head completely hidden under the clothes, as if I could not stand the glare of the flashlight. For the first few days the sentry would lift the blanket as he went past, in order to see my face. But as I was always there next morning they soon gave this up and were satisfied with the fact that there was some indistinct bundle under my blankets which must certainly be identical with Lieutenant Spindler, who was suffering from nervous breakdown. My bed stood in the middle of the hut with its head to the door. I always kept the head of the bed covered with a couple of towels, so that the sergeant, whose duty it was to count the sick men during the morning parade, could not see me from the door. At first he used to come to my bed and satisfy himself that I was there. He gave this up after a time, and simply called out, 'Are you there, Lieut. Spindler?' whereupon I would raise one hand and he would trot off quite satisfied.
Everything was going splendidly. Occasionally I got up and walked about for a couple of hours, leaning on a stick like a helpless old man, took an interest in the theatre, and went for treatment to the English dentist who was, at the same time, an officer of the guard. The day was now drawing near, and I had to take a certain number of officers into my confidence. The best for my purpose were Lieut.-Commander von Spiegel (the author of 'U 202'), who had recently been captured, and the Turkish commander, Hakki, who helped me in my attempt in the most faithful manner and by every means in their power. A tennis tournament, which was to last several days, was held about this time, and helped us considerably. As 'sportsmen,' the English were much interested in it and took it as a matter of course that the court was rolled every morning and evening. The team that drew the big roller consisted of ten or twelve men, but Spiegel saw to it that at least twenty men took a hand and pushed the roller up and down with much shouting. The rolling usually lasted till the time of closing the ground. Then the roller was left behind and the noisy team trooped off to the inner portion of the camp. The sentries slowly got so accustomed to this game that they never troubled to look when the roller team gave their Indians' war-whoop. I occasionally lent a hand also in the work of rolling the court, so that my presence later on should excite no suspicion. Some of the largest wicker chairs, with the wickerwork carried right down to the ground, on which the spectators sat during the day, were left during the night on the court. This also excited no suspicion.
So far all was well. Our hour had come. If our calculations were correct and everything went smoothly, we ought to reach the flying ground in four to six hours. We were provided with all necessaries for a twenty-four hours' march. The food we had saved up in spite of the ever-dwindling ration. We also had maps, English money, and a couple of strong pocket-knives. Unfortunately, we had no wire-cutters. In spite of the risk, therefore, we had to try to get through the barbed-wire entanglement by means of our hands. A pair of stout gloves, which afterwards proved more a hindrance than a help, were intended to protect us somewhat against cuts and scratches. In case we should have to enter a large aerodrome by daylight (which would be the case if we did not find the little flying ground close to the railway line), we got together or manufactured complete flyingmen's uniforms—airmen's helmets made of scraps of leather and cloth, and proper big flying-goggles made of window-glasses (which we had cut into shape under water) mounted in chamois leather. The glass was from a pane which we had broken for this purpose in the commandant's office.
In this costume, with our puttees, our leather waistcoats, and our goggles, I was convinced we could march on to any big flying-ground and enter any shed where no work was being done. The more we bluffed, the more likely we were to succeed. At an aerodrome of forty to fifty hangars one man often does not know another. If therefore an engine in a hangar were started up (W. had given me the necessary instruction) nobody would take any notice, especially if we showed enough self-confidence. In my opinion the greatest difficulty and danger would be in approaching the German coast, when we should certainly be fired upon. So long as we were flying over England we should be safe. Wind and weather were extremely favourable. We therefore determined to leave the inhospitable spot on Wednesday the 12th July, 1917. It was only then that I thought seriously about the dangers attendant on an attempt at escape. When Prondczinsky escaped, the commandant court-martialled a sentry who, out of kindness of heart, had failed to fire at once at the fugitive. But these were only passing thoughts. The thought that next morning we might be on German soil silenced all other considerations. Our faithful helpers believed so confidently in the success of our venture that they gave us letters for home.
Next morning, when play in the tournament was continued, a couple of large wicker chairs were carried on to the tennis ground, and under the seats of these our kits were fastened. The chairs were placed thirty or forty yards from the drain, and during the whole of the day were occupied or kept under observation by the initiated, so that no unauthorised person should knock them over and reveal the whole secret. Lieut. Böttcher of the Marine Artillery, who was of the same height and had the same coloured hair as I, made the most frantic efforts all day to change the parting of his hair from the left side to the right, the side on which I wore it. He had very kindly offered to occupy my bed during the evening count, in order to make the English think I was still there. This experiment, as we afterwards discovered, succeeded splendidly. Lying in my bed he would pull up the clothes so that only the back of his head could be seen. Then, as soon as the orderly officer had passed, he would hastily regain his own room on the first floor by a roundabout way, and would be lying there in his own bed before the orderly officer arrived.
In order that he should pass muster during the morning count also we had arranged that he should be sitting at my table with his back to the door, shaving, before the sergeant came. If he lathered his face well and turned round only very slightly when the sergeant called my name, the dodge would work all right. W. appointed a proxy in the same way. Two other men saw that we were entered three times a day in the sick list. In payment for this service they shared our rations between them! We also made arrangements for heading off the doctor in case he should appear in the hut and ask for his patients. We reckoned that by these arrangements we should gain half a day, at the most a whole day, before our flight was discovered. But, as we learned later, our comrades played their parts so well that the English did not know of our escape till four days after. And then it was only through an unlucky accident, for which our friends were not responsible.
During the day von Spiegel organised for the evening a regular series of 'feint attacks,' which were absolutely necessary if our attempt was to succeed. For each one of the several sentries who guarded the camp, a few officers and men were told off. Their whole duty was, during the time the court was being rolled, to attract the attention of the Tommies in their neighbourhood, so that the latter should forget their duties for a few minutes. Special measures had to be taken in order to distract the attention of the guards nearest to us. In one corner a couple of officers, after an exchange of words, were to start fighting; at another corner an officer was to give a lecture, supplemented by pictures; at the third corner orderlies were to give an acrobatic display, etc. To crown all, our bandmaster arranged to give an open-air concert in the evening, which, if our absence had not been discovered before tattoo, was to end up with the tune, 'Good-bye, friends; to horse! to horse!'