Sergeant Robert Thomas Savage
National Archives catalogue reference - WO 208/3328
Name: B.37686 Sgt. Savage, Robert Thomas.
Unit: Essex Scottish, 2nd Canadian Division.
Captured: Dieppe, 19th August 1942.
Liberated: Muhlhausen, 4th April 1943.
Left: Le Havre, 12th April 1945.
Arrived: U.K., 12th April 1945.
Date of Birth: 15th January 1920.
Date of Enlistment: 1st June 1940.
Peacetime Profession: Knitter.
Private Address: Paris, Ont., Canada.
1. CAPTURE.
I was captured at DIEPPE on 19 Aug 42 and wounded in both arms.
2. CAMPS IN WHICH IMPRISONED.
Hospital, ROUEN. - 20 Aug 42 - 23 Aug 42.
Stalag IX A/H, KOSTERHEINA. - 24 Aug 42 - 1 Nov 42.
Stalag IX C, MOLSDORF. - 1 Nov 42 - 8 Oct 43.
Zweiglager, MUHLHAUSEN. - 9 Oct 43 - 4 Apr 45.
3. ATTEMPTED ESCAPES.
(a) During May 43 I was working at a Working Commando 35B in ERFURT (GERMANY, 1:250,000, Sheet M.51, J 36). I obtained civilian clothing from a French civilian worker (name unknown) in exchange for cigarettes. I also had accumulated some Red Cross food and was in possession of a copy of a map which had been enlarged from an escape map brought from DIEPPE.
On about 19 May 43 in the early afternoon I changed my clothing in the lavatory and walked out of the main gate past the railway guard. I walked on the main highway to WEIMAR (J 57). I went through the town and followed the main highway to the outskirts of RUDOLFSTADT (J 54). I reached RUDOLFSTADT at about 2300 hrs.
I by-passed the town and was approximately 15 kms. South-east when, while walking through a small village, I was stopped by a civilian policeman who asked me for my papers. As I could not produce them I was arrested. He took me to a civilian prison where I stayed overnight and then was returned to WEIMAR from where I was transferred to Stalag IXC. I was not punished before I made my next escape.
(b) After my first escape I was returned to the railway Working Commando at ERFURT. We were quartered in wooden huts inside a compound. The hut was only about five or six feet from a barbed wire fence.
On the night of 9 Jun 43 I pried the boards away from one of the ventilators of our sleeping quarters and made my way out of the camp. I had previously changed into home-made civilian clothing which I had made from an old uniform by dyeing them. I also had a sweater which I had purchased from a soldier who had received it in a parcel from ENGLAND. I was in possession of a map but had no compass.
With the help of my blanket and my tunic which I threw over the barbed wire, I got out of the compound. I proceeded on foot through the rural district of ERFURT in the direction of WEIMAR.
I hid in a hedge and slept for the remainder of the night.
As soon as traffic started the next morning I walked to WEIMAR, arriving there about 1000 hours, from where I proceeded along country roads towards RUDOLFSTADT.
About 5 kms. from RUDOLFSTADT at about 1600 hours I was stopped by five members of the Hitler Jugend. I could not identity myself so they reported me to the district police further up the road, and a few minutes later I was arrested.
I was placed in a civilian jail of a small village (name unknown) where I was stripped of my clothing and all my belongings. About three hours later, military police picked me up and returned me to MOLSDORF (Sheet M.51, J 26).
I was not punished until I reached MUHLHAUSEN (Sheet M.52, H 89) when I was sentenced to three weeks detention for each escape with nine days break between sentences.