[23]
[28]
Crow Flies
,
the Maribor working camp before the
escape and raid
[29]
[30]
[24]
[31]
[32]
[23]
[33]
There are two known primary sources regarding the details of the
raid, and several secondary sources which drew largely on the
accounts of Churches and/or Laws. There is one passing mention
of the raid in the "Prisoner of War" volume of the Official History
of New Zealand in the Second World War, which varies
significantly from the other sources.
The first primary source is the book written by Churches, who was
decorated for his involvement in the planning and conduct of the
escape and raid. Churches' book, titled
A Hundred Miles as the
Les Laws (right) and another POW at
was written after he was relieved of his obligation
to secrecy by the Australian Army. The book details the events
prior to the escape and the course of escape and evacuation. His
book is also translated in Slovenian as
Vranov let v svobodo
(Crow's Flight into Freedom). Churches was known by the nickname "Crow" as he was the only
soldier from the Australian state of South Australia in the camp, and South Australians are colloquially
known in Australia as "crow eaters". Churches' version of events has been published, in part, by several
secondary sources, including Australian television programs aired in 1985 and 2003, and newspaper
articles in 1944, 2009 and 2011.
An Australian POW who was freed in the raid, Private Walter Gossner of the 2/15th Battalion, provided an
extremely detailed account of his experiences about being part of a group of 87 POWs freed by Partisans
from a location near O žbalt. He gives the date of the raid as 27 September 1944, four weeks after the date
given by Churches. His account has been posted on the internet by his family. Gossner states that he arrived
at Semič 21 days after the raid, and his account varies significantly from that of Churches. It also claims
Gossner served in the field for a short time as a Partisan. It is not known why Gossner's dates and other
details of his account differ so markedly from Churches' account.
The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War states that the raid occurred at St Lorenzen
(the German name of Lovrenc na Pohorju), and that the raid was planned by two British officers. This
varies significantly from all of the othersources, and it is unknown why this is the case.
Historiographical questions around the escape have largely been resolved following the gathering of new
identified primary sources, comprehensive archival research, and the publication of
The Greatest Escape
by
Ralph Churches' son Neil Churches, alongside historian Edmund Goldrick.
Notes
1. Churches, Neil; Goldrick, Edmund (2022).
The Greatest Escape
. London: Pan Macmillan.
pp. 299–303. ISBN 978-1529060331.
2. Schwarz et al (2012)
3. Australian War Memorial Archival File 254-123 'Interrogation Report on Seven Prisoners of
War Who Escaped from Germans Hands in 1046 G.W. Maribor'.
4. Churches (1996), p. iv
5. Churches, Neil; Goldrick, Edmund (2022).
The Greatest Escape (https://www.panmacmillan.
com/authors/neil-churches/the-greatest-escape/9781529060379).
London, United Kingdom:
Pan Macmillan, p164, ISBN 978-1529060331.
6. Žnidarič, Marjan (2009).
Na Krilih Junaštva in Tovarištva
(in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Društvo
piscev zgodovine NOB Slovenije. p. 130. ISBN 9789616049429.
7. Foot, Michael; Langley, James (1979).
MI9: Escape and Evasion
. London: Biteback
Publishing. p. 205. ISBN 9780370300863.