Patrick Reid
Encyclopedia
Patrick Robert "Pat" Reid, MBE
, MC
(13 November 1910—22 May 1990) was a British Army
officer and historical
author
of non-fiction
. As a British
Prisoner of War
during World War II
, he was held captive at Colditz Castle
when it was designated Oflag IV-C
. Reid was one of the few to escape from Colditz, crossing the border into neutral Switzerland in late 1942. After the war Reid was a diplomat and administrator before eventually returning to his pre-war career in civil engineering. He also wrote about his experiences in two best-selling books, which became the basis of a film
, TV series
and even a board game
.
, India
, the son of John Reid, CIE
ICS, of Carlow
, Ireland
, and Alice Mabel Daniell. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College
, County Kildare
, and Wimbledon College
, London
, and graduated from King's College London
in 1932. He then trained as a civil engineer
, working for Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners
from 1934 to 1937, and becoming an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers
in 1936.
on 16 June 1933 on the General List. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps
(Supplementary Reserve) with the same rank on 5 June 1935. He was promoted to Lieutenant
exactly three years later on 5 June 1938.
Reid was mobilized
for active duty on 24 August 1939, and served in the 2nd Infantry Division, receiving promotion to Temporary Captain
on 1 December 1939. On 27 May 1940, while serving as a member of the British Expeditionary Force
during the Battle of France
, he was captured by the Germans near Cassel. He was sent to Laufen castle, Bavaria
, designated Oflag VII-C
, arriving there on 5 June 1940.
Within days of his arrival, Reid was planning an escape, determined to return home by Christmas. After seven weeks digging Reid and a group of prisoners completed a tunnel, 24 feet (7.3 m) long, from the prison basement to a small shed adjoining a nearby house. At 06:30 on 5 September 1940 Reid and five others broke out and made for Yugoslavia
, only 150 miles away. However, after five days the escapees were recaptured in Radstadt
, Austria
. Reid was sentenced to a month of solitary confinement
, on a diet of bread and water.
As one of the "Laufen Six", Reid was then sent to Colditz Castle
, designated Oflag IV-C
, a special "escape-proof" camp, arriving there on 10 November 1940. It was not long before Reid attempted an escape. He bribed a seemingly willing German guard to look the other way. On the night of 29 May 1941 twelve prisoners crawled through a sewer pipe from the canteen to an outer courtyard, planning to then descend a forty foot wall, and then over another wall 12 feet high topped with barbed wire. Unfortunately, although the guard had accepted the bribe, he also reported the escape plan to his superiors, and the Germans were waiting for them. After another spell in solitary, Reid accepted the position of Escape Officer, responsible for overseeing all British escape plans. Reid assisted in many escape attempts, some successful, until April 1942, when he was replaced as Escape Officer by fellow member of the "Laufen Six" Captain Richard "Dick" Howe.
, Lieutenant Commander
William L. Stephens RNVR, and Flight Lieutenant
Howard Wardle RAF. They cut through the bars on a window in the prisoner's kitchen, and climbed out onto the flat roof of the German kitchen. They then crossed the brightly-lit outer yard, and avoided being seen by a guard. They entered a storage cellar under the Kommandantur (Commandant's HQ), crawled out through a narrow air shaft leading to the dry moat, and exited through the park. They split into pairs, with Reid and Wardle disguised as French workmen travelling by train to Tuttlingen
, near the Swiss border, via Zwickau
and Munich
. They crossed the border near Ramsen
on the evening of 18 October. Stephens and Littledale also travelled to Tuttlingen by train, via Chemnitz
, Nuremberg
and Stuttgart
, then followed Reid and Wardle across the border in the early hours of 20 October.
Reid remained in Switzerland until after the end of the war, serving as an Assistant Military Attaché in Berne
from 9 March 1943 until early 1946, and receiving promotion to Temporary Major on 1 November 1945. He was unusually discreet about his duties there, but was in fact working for the Secret Intelligence Service
(MI6) gathering intelligence from arriving escapees.
until reaching mandatory retirement age on 15 November 1965. On that day he was awarded the honorary rank of Major.
Reid served in the British embassy at Ankara
, Turkey, as First Secretary (Commercial) from 1946 until 1949, then as Chief Administrator for the Organization for European Economic Cooperation
in Paris
, France, until 1952.
He was adopted as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
by the Conservative Party
in 1953, but failed to win a seat in the 1955 election
.
Reid then returned to his pre-war career in civil engineering, serving as a director of the construction companies Richard Costain (Projects) Ltd.
and Richard Costain (Middle East) Ltd. between 1959 and 1962, and working for the consulting engineers W.S. Atkins & Partners in 1962-63.
. They had three sons and two daughters, and were divorced in 1966. His second marriage in 1977 to Mary Stewart Cunliffe-Lister ended in 1978, with her death. In 1982 he married his third wife, Nicandra Hood, and they remained together until his death at Frenchay Hospital
, Bristol
, on 22 May 1990, at the age of 79.
, England
, in 1972.
on 4 May 1943, and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire
(Military Division) on 20 December 1945.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(13 November 1910—22 May 1990) was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer and historical
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
. As a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Prisoner of War
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was held captive at Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. Used as a workhouse for the indigent and a mental institution for over 100 years, it gained international fame as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II for...
when it was designated Oflag IV-C
Oflag IV-C
Oflag IV-C, often referred to as Colditz Castle because of its location, was one of the most famous German Army prisoner-of-war camps for officers in World War II; Oflag is a shortening of Offizierslager, meaning "officers camp"...
. Reid was one of the few to escape from Colditz, crossing the border into neutral Switzerland in late 1942. After the war Reid was a diplomat and administrator before eventually returning to his pre-war career in civil engineering. He also wrote about his experiences in two best-selling books, which became the basis of a film
The Colditz Story
The Colditz Story is a 1955 prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton.It is based on the book written by P.R...
, TV series
Colditz (TV series)
Colditz is a British television series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974.The series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle when designated Oflag IV-C during World War II, and their many attempts to...
and even a board game
Escape from Colditz
Escape from Colditz is a game devised by successful escaper Pat Reid, based on the former POW camp at Colditz Castle in Germany during World War II.The original game is a board game produced by Parker Brothers....
.
Early life and education
Patrick Reid was born in RanchiRanchi
-Climate:Ranchi has a humid subtropical climate. However, due to its position and the forests around the city, it is known for its pleasant climate. Its climate is the primary reason why Ranchi was once the summer capital of the undivided State of Bihar...
, India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, the son of John Reid, CIE
Order of the Indian Empire
The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:#Knight Grand Commander #Knight Commander #Companion...
ICS, of Carlow
Carlow
Carlow is the county town of County Carlow in Ireland. It is situated in the south-east of Ireland, 84 km from Dublin. County Carlow is the second smallest county in Ireland by area, however Carlow Town is the 14th largest urban area in Ireland by population according to the 2006 census. The...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and Alice Mabel Daniell. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College
Clongowes Wood College
Clongowes Wood College is a voluntary secondary boarding school for boys, located near Clane in County Kildare, Ireland. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1814, it is one of Ireland's oldest Catholic schools, and featured prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the...
, County Kildare
County Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...
, and Wimbledon College
Wimbledon College
Wimbledon College is a government-maintained voluntary-aided Jesuit Roman Catholic high school for boys aged 11 to 19. The school is based at Edge Hill, Wimbledon, London. It was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning to the greater glory of God and the common good"...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and graduated from King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
in 1932. He then trained as a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
, working for Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners
Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners
Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners was a British engineering consultancy initially based in Westminster, London until 1974 when it relocated to Reading, Berkshire.The firm was founded by Scottish engineer, Sir Alexander Gibb in 1922....
from 1934 to 1937, and becoming an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Institution of Civil Engineers
Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...
in 1936.
Military service
Reid joined the Territorial Army and was commissioned as a Second LieutenantSecond Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
on 16 June 1933 on the General List. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps was a corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration of...
(Supplementary Reserve) with the same rank on 5 June 1935. He was promoted to Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
exactly three years later on 5 June 1938.
Reid was mobilized
Mobilization
Mobilization is the act of assembling and making both troops and supplies ready for war. The word mobilization was first used, in a military context, in order to describe the preparation of the Prussian army during the 1850s and 1860s. Mobilization theories and techniques have continuously changed...
for active duty on 24 August 1939, and served in the 2nd Infantry Division, receiving promotion to Temporary Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
on 1 December 1939. On 27 May 1940, while serving as a member of the British Expeditionary Force
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
The British Expeditionary Force was the British force in Europe from 1939–1940 during the Second World War. Commanded by General Lord Gort, the BEF constituted one-tenth of the defending Allied force....
during the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, he was captured by the Germans near Cassel. He was sent to Laufen castle, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, designated Oflag VII-C
Oflag VII-C
Oflag VII-C was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp for officers located in Laufen Castle in south-eastern Bavaria from 1940 to 1942. Most of the prisoners were British officers captured during the Battle of France in 1940. To relieve overcrowding, some of the officers were transferred to...
, arriving there on 5 June 1940.
Within days of his arrival, Reid was planning an escape, determined to return home by Christmas. After seven weeks digging Reid and a group of prisoners completed a tunnel, 24 feet (7.3 m) long, from the prison basement to a small shed adjoining a nearby house. At 06:30 on 5 September 1940 Reid and five others broke out and made for Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, only 150 miles away. However, after five days the escapees were recaptured in Radstadt
Radstadt
Radstadt is a historic town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It is located at the confluence of the Taurach stream and the Enns river, at the foot of Roßbrand mountain, part of the Salzburg Slate Alps.-History:...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Reid was sentenced to a month of solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
, on a diet of bread and water.
As one of the "Laufen Six", Reid was then sent to Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. Used as a workhouse for the indigent and a mental institution for over 100 years, it gained international fame as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II for...
, designated Oflag IV-C
Oflag IV-C
Oflag IV-C, often referred to as Colditz Castle because of its location, was one of the most famous German Army prisoner-of-war camps for officers in World War II; Oflag is a shortening of Offizierslager, meaning "officers camp"...
, a special "escape-proof" camp, arriving there on 10 November 1940. It was not long before Reid attempted an escape. He bribed a seemingly willing German guard to look the other way. On the night of 29 May 1941 twelve prisoners crawled through a sewer pipe from the canteen to an outer courtyard, planning to then descend a forty foot wall, and then over another wall 12 feet high topped with barbed wire. Unfortunately, although the guard had accepted the bribe, he also reported the escape plan to his superiors, and the Germans were waiting for them. After another spell in solitary, Reid accepted the position of Escape Officer, responsible for overseeing all British escape plans. Reid assisted in many escape attempts, some successful, until April 1942, when he was replaced as Escape Officer by fellow member of the "Laufen Six" Captain Richard "Dick" Howe.
Escaping Colditz
Reid finally took his own chance to escape on the night of 14/15 October 1942, along with Major Ronald LittledaleRonald Littledale
Lieutenant Colonel Ronald 'Ronnie' Bolton Littledale DSO , was a British Army officer who became a Prisoner of War and successfully escaped from Colditz Castle during the Second World War.-Early life:...
, Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
William L. Stephens RNVR, and Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
Howard Wardle RAF. They cut through the bars on a window in the prisoner's kitchen, and climbed out onto the flat roof of the German kitchen. They then crossed the brightly-lit outer yard, and avoided being seen by a guard. They entered a storage cellar under the Kommandantur (Commandant's HQ), crawled out through a narrow air shaft leading to the dry moat, and exited through the park. They split into pairs, with Reid and Wardle disguised as French workmen travelling by train to Tuttlingen
Tuttlingen
Tuttlingen is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, Möhringen and Eßlingen are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen...
, near the Swiss border, via Zwickau
Zwickau
Zwickau in Germany, former seat of the government of the south-western region of the Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region. Nowadays it is the capital city of the district of Zwickau...
and Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. They crossed the border near Ramsen
Ramsen
Ramsen is a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland.-Coat of arms:The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure three Ears of Wheat leaved Or issuant from a Mount of the same.-Geography:...
on the evening of 18 October. Stephens and Littledale also travelled to Tuttlingen by train, via Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
, Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
and Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, then followed Reid and Wardle across the border in the early hours of 20 October.
Reid remained in Switzerland until after the end of the war, serving as an Assistant Military Attaché in Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
from 9 March 1943 until early 1946, and receiving promotion to Temporary Major on 1 November 1945. He was unusually discreet about his duties there, but was in fact working for the Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
(MI6) gathering intelligence from arriving escapees.
Post-war
Reid left the army on 29 March 1947, but remained a member of the Regular Army ReserveMilitary reserve force
A military reserve force is a military organization composed of citizens of a country who combine a military role or career with a civilian career. They are not normally kept under arms and their main role is to be available to fight when a nation mobilizes for total war or to defend against invasion...
until reaching mandatory retirement age on 15 November 1965. On that day he was awarded the honorary rank of Major.
Reid served in the British embassy at Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Turkey, as First Secretary (Commercial) from 1946 until 1949, then as Chief Administrator for the Organization for European Economic Cooperation
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France, until 1952.
He was adopted as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
Prospective parliamentary candidate
Prospective parliamentary candidate is a term used in British politics to refer to candidates selected by political parties to fight individual constituencies in advance of a general election. This terminology was motivated by the strict limits on the amount of expenses incurred by an actual...
by the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
in 1953, but failed to win a seat in the 1955 election
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
.
Reid then returned to his pre-war career in civil engineering, serving as a director of the construction companies Richard Costain (Projects) Ltd.
Costain Group
Costain Group plc is a British construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Maidenhead. It was part of the original Channel Tunnel consortium and is involved in Private Finance Initiative projects.-History:...
and Richard Costain (Middle East) Ltd. between 1959 and 1962, and working for the consulting engineers W.S. Atkins & Partners in 1962-63.
Personal life
Reid was married three times; firstly in 1943 to Jane CabotCabot family
The Cabot family was part of the Boston Brahmin, also known as the "first families of Boston."-Family origin:The Boston Brahmin Cabot family descended from John Cabot , who immigrated from his birthplace to Salem, Massachusetts in 1700...
. They had three sons and two daughters, and were divorced in 1966. His second marriage in 1977 to Mary Stewart Cunliffe-Lister ended in 1978, with her death. In 1982 he married his third wife, Nicandra Hood, and they remained together until his death at Frenchay Hospital
Frenchay Hospital
Frenchay Hospital is a large hospital situated in Frenchay, South Gloucestershire, on the outskirts of Bristol, England, part of the North Bristol NHS Trust....
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, on 22 May 1990, at the age of 79.
Other activities
Reid served as president of the Blackboys Cricket Club in FramfieldFramfield
Framfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village is located two miles east of Uckfield; the settlements of Blackboys, Palehouse and Halland form part of the parish area of 6,700 acres .-History:It is likely that Framfield came into existence...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in 1972.
Awards
For his "gallant and distinguished services in the field" during the Battle of France Reid was awarded the Military CrossMilitary Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
on 4 May 1943, and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(Military Division) on 20 December 1945.
Publications
- The Colditz Story (Hodder & StoughtonHodder & StoughtonHodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.-History:The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged fourteen, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher for the Congregational Union...
, 1952) was Reid's memoir of his time in Colditz, which later became the basis for the 1955 film The Colditz StoryThe Colditz StoryThe Colditz Story is a 1955 prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton.It is based on the book written by P.R...
, directed by Guy HamiltonGuy HamiltonGuy Hamilton is an English film director.Hamilton was born in Paris, France where his English parents were living. Remaining in France during the Nazi occupation, he was active in the French Resistance...
, with John MillsJohn MillsSir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
playing Reid. Although focusing mainly upon life inside Colditz and the development of an 'escape academy', the final chapters of the book are devoted to Reid's own escape. The book chronicles everyday prison life, in which characters such as Douglas BaderDouglas BaderGroup Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL was a Royal Air Force fighter ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.Bader joined the...
and Airey NeaveAirey NeaveAirey Middleton Sheffield Neave DSO, OBE, MC was a British soldier, barrister and politician.During World War II, Neave was one of the few servicemen to escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle...
appear with no special mention, reporting events in an anecdotal and almost comical style. On 14 October 1942 Reid, along three other British officers, escaped and made their way to neutral SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. What Reid does not mention in his book is that he escaped using Hans LariveHans LariveEtienne Henri "Hans" Larive, MWO, DSC and bar, was a Dutch naval officer during World War II. He escaped from the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle in 1941, and spent the rest of the war in England serving aboard Motor Torpedo Boats...
's SingenSingenSingen is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border.-Location:...
route. Larive, a Dutch naval lieutenant, attempted his first escape from Oflag VI-A in SoestSoest, GermanySoest is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Soest district. After Lippstadt, a neighbouring town, Soest is the second biggest town in its district.-Geography:...
in 1940, but was caught at the Swiss border. The interrogating Gestapo officer was so confident the war would soon be won by Germany that he told Larive the safe way across the border. Larive memorized the information, and many prisoners later escaped using this route. - The Latter Days (Hodder & Stoughton, 1953), republished as Latter Days at Colditz : Whilst his first book ended with Reid and Wardle shaking hands under the first Swiss lamp post, the sequel follows the trials and tribulations of the escape committee until the eventual liberation of the castle by U.S. troops on 15 April 1945. It gives even more anecdotal insight into the events following his escape, including the French Tunnel and the Colditz GliderColditz Cock|-See also:-External links:*****...
, or the occasion when the entire Dutch contingent unhooked their P.O.W. railway carriage from the rest of the train unbeknownst to the German guards. This last part of the Dutch prisoners cannot be confirmed by any Dutch reference about POWs. Reid probably refers to the mass escape of Dutch officers from train transports towards the end of the war when they were transported from StanislauIvano-FrankivskIvano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
to NeubrandenburgNeubrandenburgNeubrandenburg is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, on the shore of a lake called the Tollensesee ....
. - Colditz (Hodder & Stoughton, 1962) : This was an omnibus edition of the previous two books, and served as the basis for the BBC TelevisionBBC TelevisionBBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
series ColditzColditz (TV series)Colditz is a British television series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974.The series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle when designated Oflag IV-C during World War II, and their many attempts to...
, which ran from October 1972 until April 1974. Reid served as technical advisor to both the TV series and the 1955 film. - From Nile to Indus : Economics and Security in the Middle East, with Sir Olaf CaroeOlaf CaroeSir Olaf Kirkpatrick Kruuse Caroe KCSI KCIE was an administrator in British India. He later became a writer on the Middle East and Asia.-Life:...
and Sir Thomas Rapp (Conservative Political Centre, 1960) - Winged Diplomat : the life story of Air Commodore Freddie WestFerdinand Maurice Felix WestAir Commodore Ferdinand Maurice Felix West VC CBE MC RAF was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.- World War I:Born in London in 1896, "Freddy" West was the...
, VC, CBE, MC (Chatto & Windus, 1962) - My Favourite Escape Stories (Lutterworth Press, 1975)
- Prisoner of War : The Inside Story of the POW from the Ancient World to Colditz and After, with Maurice Michael (1983)
- Colditz: The Full Story (1984) : While the first two books can be read as adventure narratives, and have a distinctly ‘Battler Briton’ ethos of ‘sticking one up to the goons’ this book takes a more analytic approach, and covers a number of previously suppressed details. For example Reid describes some of the ways prisoners obtained contraband material, and how British prisoners communicated clandestinely with the authorities in London. He also gives a full account of how prisoners discovered the 'Singen Escape Route'. He also deals with some of the tensions and tragedies of wartime Europe, for example the tensions in the French contingents between Gaullists and supporters of PétainPhilippe PétainHenri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
. The tensions in the Polish contingent are still skated over however. The book was written while Poland was still a Communist state (indeed while the 1981 state of emergencyMartial law in PolandMartial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
was still operating). Having been schooled at ClongowesClongowes Wood CollegeClongowes Wood College is a voluntary secondary boarding school for boys, located near Clane in County Kildare, Ireland. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1814, it is one of Ireland's oldest Catholic schools, and featured prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the...
, Reid’s comments on individuals seem to show sympathy for the ‘Conservative Catholic Patriot’ officers at Colditz, without giving enough background to allow readers to assess whether there were any continuing controversies around some of these positions.