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At this time, Slovenian Partisans were beginning to operate in force Štajerska (German:
Untersteiermark
).
Partisans of the 4th Operational Zone had recently seized a number of towns along and near the Savinja
river valley, creating a 'liberated zone'. In August, the three brigades of the 14th Partisan Division - the
1st Strike Brigade 'Tone Tomšič', 2nd Strike Brigade 'Ljubo Šercer', and 13th Brigade 'Mirko Bračič',
moved to Pohorje to create a second liberated area.
With 4th Operational Zone was a British Liaison Mission, led by Major Franklin A. Lindsay of the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS). Codename:
Cuckold,
the mission was primarily an SOE mission, however, it
was operated jointly with MI9, with Lindsay responsible for assisting Escapers and Evaders (E&Es).
Linday's first contact with E&E's was a group of American airmen being escorted south by Partisans. They
informed him their mission before they were shot down was to bomb the railway yard in Maribor. On
June 21, 1944 two escaped POWs from Maribor - Private Owen Petersen and Driver Alfed Ashley -
reached Pohorje where Lindsay and the 14th Division were encamped. Franklin likely learned from them
that Working Camp 1046 GW was still residing in the Maribor railway yard, and was being targeted by
Allied bombing raids. Lindsay radioed MI9 and informed them he planned to launch a rescue attempt.
MI9 began searching for an officer to send to
Cuckold
as a dedicated MI9 agent. They selected Major
Andrew Anthony Vincent Losco under the cover name 'Matthews'.
Escape
Ralph Churches (right foreground) at
Work Camp 1046/GW after an earlier
escape attempt
Churches and Laws searched in vain for a contact with the
Partisans for several months. Around July 1944, Elisabeta
Zavodnik - from whose cottage Laws drew water for the 1046/GW
working crew while they were working opposite O žbalt -
introduced him to her cousin Anton. Anton was most likely sent
by 4th Operational Zone to scout ahead, and he promised that in
several weeks' time, a Partisan force would rescue the entire
crew. Feeling unable to make the necessary preparations for a
mass escape with just two men, Churches and Laws cut their bunk
mates into the plan: Leonard Austin, Kenneth Carson, Andrew
Hamilton, Robert McKenzie, Griffin Rendell, and Philip Tapping.
Ralph then resigned as Man of Confidence to take up regular work
on the railway crew.
On August 29, Anton returned to the worksite and told Leslie to stand by. While fetching water on August
30, Anton intercepted Laws and told him to rendezvous in the woods at a determined time later that
afternoon. Word was passed to the other seven, and all but Phil Tapping were able to extract themselves
from the worksite and make the rendezvous. The raid had been cancelled, and Anton escorted the seven
POWs through Pohorje to Lovrenc na Pohorju (German:
Sankt Lorenzen am Bachern
), recently seized by
the 'Ljubo Šercer' Brigade. There, Leslie and Ralph were introduced to 'Ljubo Šercer' Brigade deputy-
commander Jože 'Silni' Boldan, the commander of the Brigade's 3rd Battalion commander Ivan Kovačič
(not to be confused with Ivan 'Efenka' Kovačič), and two unnamed members of
Cuckold
mission.
It is unknown why the full rescue was called off. However Major Losco had been unable to deploy, and
would not get through for another three days. Laws and Churches were told they would be evacuated
south, and then home. That night a rally was held by the Partisans at Lovrenc, and Ralph Churches got
very drunk. Without consulting his fellow prisoners (or, apparently, the two
Cuckold
men) Churches
convinced Boldan and Kovačič to stage a rescue of the 1046/GW crew, and another nearby working camp
of around adozen Brits employed as farmers.