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Auction: 15003 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
Lot: 9

A Well Documented Second War 'Escaper's' D.C.M. to Private J.M.L. Goldie, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Taken POW in France, June 1940, He and Another Private Made Good Their Escape, By Foot, Train, Bicycle and Plane, From the Salt Mines of Germany
Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (2985254 Pte. J.M.L. Goldie. A. & S. H.), good very fine, mounted as originally worn, with the following related contemporary documentation:
- Letter addressed to recipient's mother from Lieutenant A. Brown, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, stating that Goldie was captured with members of the Carrier Platoon, dated 16.7.1940
- Red Cross documentation relating to the recipient's capture
- Messages written by the recipient to his family after capture and while 'on the run' during 1942, all of which safely reached the UK via the French and Belgian Underground
- Censored letter written by recipient to his family upon his arrival at Gibraltar, dated 26.8.1942
- Letters from the Infantry Record Office and Air Ministry informing the recipient's family of his successful escape
- A hand written account by recipient of his capture and escape, written in later life
- A signed 'Statement of Service' from the Infantry Record Office, dated 25.1.1954
- Portrait photograph of recipient in uniform (lot)

D.C.M. London Gazette 10.11.1942 No. 2985254 Private James Muir Lang Goldie, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's).
Goldie's Recommendation for the D.C.M. was based on his interrogation report dated 10/11/12 September 1942 (WO 373). His M.I.9 Debrief gives the following: '2985254 Pte. Goldie, J.M.L., 7 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 51 (H) Div.
'I was captured near Abbeville on 6th June 1940 while serving with the Battalion Bren carriers which had been sent from Battalion H.Q. to assist C Coy. I was captured along with Capt. Hewitt, C Coy, and ten other ranks.

After capture I was sent to Germany to Stalag IX C (Bad Sulza), and from there to the cement works at Steudnitz, near Dorndorf, about 7 miles S.E. Bad Sulza. I remained at this camp (Arbeitskommando 116) till Sep. 1941 when I was sent to the salt mines at Unterbreizbach, 10 miles S.E. Hersfeld (Arbeitskommando 147). There I was working underground.

I escaped from the camp at Unterbreizbach on 21 Mar 1942 with Pte. MacFarlane, W. of my unit (S/P.G. (G) 821)....'

Private MacFarlane's Debrief continues: 'About the beginning of 1942 I began planning to escape with Pte. James Goldie of my unit, with whom I had been with since capture. We saved chocolate biscuits and tea from Red Cross parcels and discussed ways of getting out of the camp. The mines were worked in two shifts. I worked from 0600 to 1800 hrs, and Goldie from 1400 to 2200 hrs. We decided to escape on the night 21 Mar. This was a Saturday, and we reckoned there would be a chance of our not being missed on the Sunday. I made a jemmy in the turning shop and burst open the gate on the East side of the camp which was only used by the guards and the women working in the kitchen. We were locked up at 2100 hrs in our huts, and the doors were not opened again until 2245 hrs, when the second shift came in from work. There were two sentries and four women who worked in the cookhouse. After the women finished at 1900 hrs the two guards became responsible for the feeding of the second shift when it came off work. One of them ought to have remained on guard outside, but we knew that they both generally went into the dining room. I broke the lock of the gate about 2030 hrs and the gate remained open till 2245 hrs, when Goldie and I left. Two other men of our regiment were to have come with us, but they did not turn up, though we waited ten minutes for them.

The following is a summary of our equipment and plans:
Clothes: We wore ordinary battle dress on top of which we had blue overalls with "K.G." in red on the back. We were able to conceal these letters with rucksacks which we made out of sacks.
Food: We had collected sufficient chocolate and biscuits for ten days, six tins of sardines, and about six lbs. of tea.
Maps: We had two maps of Germany and adjacent countries, one of which Goldie had got from an anti-Nazi German working underground with him in the mine, and the other of which I got from a Pole who worked at the head of the shaft. I told the Pole I was going to escape, but did not tell him how or when.
Plan: There had been a number of other attempts from the camp, but none of the men had tried to escape otherwise than on foot, and they had all been recaptured. We decided to try to jump on railway waggons at Gerstungen, about 12 miles N.E. of Unterbreizbach.

We took six days to get to Gerstungen walking in a circle to avoid detection. We walked at night, avoiding villages, and slept in the woods by day. There was snow on the ground up to our knees, and quite frequently we had to use melted snow instead of water. On our second night out we left our hiding place rather early and were crossing a main road near a village when we were stopped by a German. We told him we were Frenchmen going to Gerstungen and when he asked us why we did not speak French we admitted we were English. By giving him cigarettes we persuaded him to let us go, but we suspect that he reported our presence to other villagers, because we were chased very shortly afterwards. We managed to hide in a wood and our pursuers did not come in after us.

We reached the goods station at Gerstungen on the night of 26th March. We broke the lead seal of a closed salt waggon and entered by the door. We then opened a window, came out by the door - which we resealed - and got in by the window. There were quite a few railwaymen about, but no one saw us. We had plenty of room on top of the sacks of salt inside the waggon. Unfortunately, the train only moved for a few hours at a time and then lay up for half a day or a day, so that the journey to Belgium, which would have taken about two days normal travelling, lasted eight days. We had neglected to take water with us, and did not leave the waggon during the numerous stops for fear of being seen. We suffered terribly from thirst, and during the last few days were unable to eat the food we had bought with us. We knew the waggon was bound for Belgium as we saw the destination (Hasselt) written in German on the notice on the side of the truck. In Belgium a French notice was substituted for the German one.

We were able to check our position on one of our maps by watching the names of the stations we passed through. On Good Friday (3 Apr) we arrived in Hasselt. We remained in the waggon all day and most of the night, and then dropped out about 0400 hrs (4 Apr). We walked to a stream on the outskirts of Hasselt, where we washed and made tea in tin cans picked up on the road. We then walked to Tirlemont, the journey occupying two days. We had to walk by day because we could find no cover for hiding. We were still in our blue overalls over battle dress, but, though we walked on the main road, no one challenged us. On 5th Apr. we reached a house in Kessel Loo and asked for water to make tea, speaking in broken German, which the people understood. An old woman took us in and kept us for the night. Early next morning we were taken by bicycle to Louvain, where we were sheltered for six weeks by people who belonged to a Belgian patriotic organisation. We then went to live with another family who put us in touch with an organisation for our return to the UK.'

2985254 Private James Muir Lang Goldie, D.C.M. served with the 7th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders during the Second War. He enlisted in September 1939, and served in France from March 1940. He was taken prisoner during action at Abbeville, 6.6.1940, when 'the Germans attacked on positions south of the River Somme. Three carriers of the Carrier Platoon were ordered up to the support of our C Company which was being heavily attacked. Pte. Goldie went up with these three under the Carrier Platoon Officer. C Company was late in the day surrounded completely by the enemy and nobody came back to give us any information as to what happened to them. Neither did anyone from the Carriers, come back.' (Lieutenant Brown's letter included in lot refers)

The account of Goldie's internment and subsequent escape with MacFarlane can be read above, however, Goldie's hand-written account adds further detail to the last leg of their return to Allied Lines, 'our last contact was the Basque People who had been smuggling rum over the Pyrenees to Spain and they agreed to take us with them. Unfortunately we encountered a Spanish Patrol who opened fire on us and in the darkness Pte MacFarlane and myself got separated.

I arrived at a farm house in the foothills of the Pyrenees and from there an old Basque woman guided me to the British Embasy... Safe at last and on August 1942 I arrived in Gibraltar.'

Both Goldie and MacFarlane were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for their escape and evasion. After a period back in the UK, Goldie returned to fight in North-West Europe, 15.7.1944-14.8.1945. He was discharged 3.10.1945, and resided at '33 Boyd Street, Glasgow' in later life.

Provenance:
Sotheby, February 1990

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Sold for
£7,500