The Gestapo's Most Improbable Hostage

by Hugh Mallory Falconer

Overview

I remember very clearly the day on which I was supposed to dieSo starts the story of Squadron Leader Hugh Mallory Falconer, British Special Operations Executive agent and prisoner of the Nazis for over two and a half grueling years.When he was caught out of uniform by the Gestapo in Tunisia not long after the culmination of Operation Torch in 1942, he had no right to expect anything but the worst. Quite miraculously however, his papers vanished whilst he was being sent to Gestapo HQ in Berlin and, as a result, no-one could make out who he was. This, coupled with his quick-thinking and cunning whilst under interrogation, led to the Nazis including him in a group of high-profile hostages, holding him alongside such notable figures as the former French Minister Leon Blum.The group was intended to save the Nazi leaders' necks as the War ground down to its inevitable end. Offered a certain amount of protection on account of their special status in the eyes of their captors, they experienced the war from a unique vantage point. Held at a variety of infamous camps, including Sachsenhausen, Dachau and Buchenwald, Squadron Leader Mallory was taken on a virtual grand tour of the Third Reich, witnessing the full extent of its horrors.Then in 1945, he was forced to new heights of cunning when the Nazis began exterminating their captives. His daughter, who has painstakingly transcribed the only copy of her fathers memoirs, describes this book, published here for the first time, as a personal manual on keeping your sanity when your weight has dropped to that of a small German Shepherd dog, you are covered in vermin, you are alone and you have everything to fear. It makes for vital and compelling reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526721846
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	03/30/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Born in 1910, Hugh Mallory Falconer was the son of a Presbyterian Minister who was elected Head of the Presbyterian Church in England. His mother was born in Hanover whilst her father was aide de camp to one of Queen Victoria's younger sons. He learned French at a Lycee in France then went to Cheltenham College, a major military public school.

Frustrated initially in his wish to be a professional engineer by his mother, who thought that only a military career was suitable for a gentleman, he nevertheless found that the wireless skills he learnt in the Royal Signals and the French Foreign Legion were invaluable when he applied to join the Special Operations Executive.

Post-war, he was placed in the British Zone in Germany, first reorganising German Passport Control, then doing another (unspecified) job in Hanover until 1952\. Back in the UK he returned to his profession in the cement industry. From then on all his contracts were abroad in India, Pakistan and Iran. His job took him to Afghanistan, Kashmir, Bangladesh and many other parts of the world.

It was during a two-year contract in Zambia, whilst visiting South Africa and Rhodesia, that he and his wife decided to settle there. He died in Rhodesia in January 1980.

Table of Contents

Foreword vi

Introduction vii

Chapter 1 The Turning Point 1

Chapter 2 SOE 5

Chapter 3 In Tunis Gaol 10

Chapter 4 Tunis to Berlin 26

Chapter 5 The Prinz-Albrechtstrasse 32

Chapter 6 Solitary Confinement 42

Chapter 7 The Hostages 58

Chapter 8 Counter Offensive 63

Chapter 9 The Nazi Way 80

Chapter 10 Sachsenhausen to Buchenwald 94

Chapter 11 Buchenwald 101

Chapter 12 The Road to Dachau 113

Chapter 13 Dachau 129

Chapter 14 Innsbruck to the Southern Redoubt 142

Chapter 15 The Southern Redoubt 155

Chapter 16 The Road to Freedom 169

Epilogue 180

Glossary of Comparable Military Ranks 189

Appendix 1 Bibliography 190

Appendix 2 Note by Evelyn Campbell Smith (née Falconer) 191

End Notes 201

Map showing moves from Berlin to concentration camps to the Southern Redoubt and Lago di Braies 202

Index 203