56733 Major-General Sir Derek Boileau LANG, KCB, DSO, MC, MiD*, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

Escape and Evasion Report
Courtesy of Drew



SECRET CONFIDENTIAL
NOT TO BE COPIED

REPORT ON ESCAPE AFTER BEING TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR

by

CAPTAIN D.B. LANG
Adjutant 4th Battalion Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
51st (H) Division, B.E.F.


INTRODUCTION
The following report is divided into three parts.
First a general report giving briefly the route and time taken to reach British territory.
Second, the detailed report including incidents of special interest.
Third, an Appendix (rather on the same lines as the original report taken to ENGLAND by Colonel TOOVEY (Liaison Officer) at the beginning of December 1940) dealing with Organisations etc. in (1) LILLE area, (2) PARIS, (3) MARSEILLES, (4) SYRIA.

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1. GENERAL REPORT
The description of the route taken is divided into four groups:
Occupied Territory (FRANCE)
Unoccupied Territory (FRANCE)
Journey by sea.
SYRIA.


OCCUPIED FRANCE
June 12th
When the HIGHLAND DIVISION was originally at St. VALERY-EN-CAUX, I was slightly wounded from a shell burst on the seashore at VEULE-LES-ROSE. From there I went to hospital at FORGES-LES-EAUX. This was a French hospital with a German commandant and guards. With myself there were some fifty British wounded, the remainder being French.

June 19th
After a week in hospital, some ten of the British wounded and myself were discharged and joined the “stream” of prisoners on the line of march making their way day by day on foot towards GERMANY.

June 24th
1st Escape
After four days of marching from temporary camp to temporary camp, two Gunner officers and I broke the line of march and escaped about six kilometres North of St. POL. We made our way to start with, in a South Westerly direction, our object being to reach Unoccupied Territory.

It was almost impossible to glean information of the general situation at that time, but we had heard that the North coast was very thickly guarded, and at first we decided not to take that route. We trekked entirely by night to begin with, as we had no civilian clothes. After travelling for two nights we heard rumours from a Farm that the British had landed at BOULOGNE. To bear this out we heard bombing going on from the direction of BOULOGNE and CALAIS intermittently through the day and night.

July 5th
We had managed to keep a compass, and on a farm we found a small calendar map of the North of FRANCE, and with the help of these two, we turned our steps to the coast. After eleven days of trekking by night through the country we reached LE TOUQUET, not only to find that the rumours were wrong but that the coast was guarded by patrols with sentries every 100 yards. To make matters worse, there wasn’t a boat to be found in the area.

July 6th
On the 12th day, being at the end of our tether and without food, two of us went off in the morning to the nearest village to get some supplies (by this time we had been able to raise some civilian clothes of a sort).

Recapture
On our return to our hiding place (an enemy shack in a small Plage called St. CECILE) we were stopped and questioned by a German officer, who wasted no time in learning our identity.

We collected our friend, who had remained in the hiding place whilst we were in the village, and after being taken to various places to be searched and questioned we were sent by lorry to some German barracks in MONTREUIL, near ETAPLES. We spent four days there (details of this are contained in my original report headed “Notes on Troops in Barracks at MONTREUIL in August”).

July 10th
From MONTREUIL, together with about 20 other British who had also been recaptured, we were marched inland to a prison camp base depot at HESDIN.

July 11th
The next day we were taken by lorry right through to LILLE. We spent three days in LILLE and were again taken by lorry across the BELGIAN frontier to TOURNAI.

July 14th
We arrived at TOURNAI in the morning.

Two other officers (one Royal Corps of Signals and one Gunner) had joined us in LILLE, and we made plans to escape with them from TOURNAI.

July 14/15th
The same night, four our us now (the Signaller decided not to make an escape at that time) slept the night on top of an out-house overlooking the outside wall.

July 16th
2nd Escape
At daybreak the next morning, we dropped over this wall across the country in two pairs. One of the original Gunners and myself going first, and the other two following about ten minutes later.

We had our original civilian clothes taken off us at HESDIN, but we had managed to get some more passed through the bars to us in the prison camp at LILLE.

The two of us walked some 30 kilometres that day to a little village called PONT THIBAULT, about 8 kilometres South of LILLE, on the LILLE - DOUAI road. (My friend had been billeted there for some months earlier in the year). We had no difficulty in crossing the Franco-Belgian border. (We never saw the other two again, but I have heard since that they were recaptured.)

July 15th - August 8th
We worked on two separate farms in that area for a month. All the time trying to get in touch with some organisation for escape. After a month of this farm work we heard of a woman working for the Red Cross who was in touch with an organisation that was supposed to get escaped prisoners away to ENGLAND by aeroplane. We were told that once the Harvest was in, an aeroplane would land by night in a prearranged area and take some 30 men off at a time (see detailed report).

This woman, after coming to see us, decided that there were too many of the local population who knew about us, and that we should go into hiding in LILLE itself until the aeroplane was due to arrive.

August 8th - August 10th
We left the farm area on two separate days on bicycles with a guide, and went into LILLE, where we hid for a fortnight in a small garret at the top of a block of flats. We were fed and kept by a French family who lived in the top flat.

August 29th
After a fortnight, the situation was again considered to be dangerous, as two other outside French people had discovered us. So we were taken to the house of the Red Cross woman herself after dark. We spent six weeks in this house, always waiting for the aeroplane to materialise. The day after we arrived in this woman’s house, her husband, a Commandant in the French Medical Corps returned from his hospital at St. OMER to live in LILLE. He was a “rabid de Gaullist” and could think of nothing but getting away to ENGLAND. He was a prisoner of war himself, living in his own house, but reporting to the local “Kommandatur” once a week.

By the end of six weeks “skulking” in this house without ever going out, we became desperate, and the Commandant started looking for some alternative means of escape. He came upon an organisation which seemed sound, which would fly us from LE BOURGET to ENGLAND. The plan sounded fantastic, but the arrangements for secrecy were so good that we put our faith in it. The three of us, the Commandant, my friend and I duly set off by train for PARIS one afternoon.

October 15
Everything worked like clockwork, and we crossed the SOMME frontier (Zone Interdit) without any difficulty. This frontier is reckoned far more difficult to cross than the frontier between Occupied and Unoccupied Territory.

We arrived in PARIS about ten o’clock at night, an hour before the curfew was due, only to find that the organisation existed no longer. We managed to get into a hotel - my British friend and myself had forged Polish passports with us at this time. (These passports would have been quite useless when dealing with the proper authorities, but they were sufficient for the hotel manageress). We spent four days walking the streets, and only coming back to our hotel after dark.

Our food consisted of oysters, as we had no food tickets, and it was impossible to buy anything without them. The second day in PARIS we went to the American Embassy, and quite by chance while in the premises, we met a British woman (married to a Frenchman) who was working for the Red Cross and who was all out to help us.

October 19
She managed to get a certain amount of money for us (the American Embassy could not help us in this respect) and sent us off by train to LIBOURNE, a town near BORDEAUX. She had an agent working for her at LIBOURNE who was to put us over the frontier to France Libre.

October 20
On our arrival at LIBOURNE, once again there was a “hitch” but our French Commandant friend managed to arrange with a Pole, who was working in the wine business, to take us up to the frontier and show us a method of crossing. We arrived at a small farm in thick wine country in the late afternoon, and after waiting for a German motorcycle patrol to go past on the main frontier road, we jumped the barrier and ran for it.


UNOCCUPIED TERRITORY
We spent the first night in Unoccupied Territory at PUJOLS in a village inn, and motored the next morning to the station (St. REOLE) on the main railway line. From there we took a train direct to MARSEILLES.

On arriving a MARSEILLES station we found we had to show Cartes d’Indentite. Naturally, as we had no papers we could not pass the normal barrier, but our Commandant friend arranged it with some soldiers standing near, and we slipped through without seeing anyone.

We had a letter of introduction to a rich wine merchant from our PARIS friend, and from him and other escaped prisoners in contact with him we learnt the real situation regarding the British in MARSEILLES the next morning. There were many escaped prisoners living in the Fort St. Jean overlooking the Vieux Port, interned by the French authorities under the terms of the Armistice. All these British officers and men were allowed to go where they like in MARSEILLES, provided they did not leave the town. We were on parole on the understanding that if we wished to try and escape, we could hand in our parole and make a get away. We spent a month in MARSEILLES trying every means possible, and studying every route imaginable for leaving FRANCE.

Money was the great difficulty. (Details for the situation in MARSEILLES see Appendix). After three weeks, having managed to raise some money from a civilian source I made contact with two Czechs to stow-away on a boat for BEIRUT. We spent half an hour on the boat, but the plan fell through, and we had to come off again.

Escape from FRANCE
A week later, in company with a Palestinian Jew, who was virtually a Frenchman, (he had lived in FRANCE for the last 20 years), I again boarded a boat bound for BEIRUT.


JOURNEY BY SEA
November 16th - November 21st
The journey from MARSEILLES to BEIRUT took five days, during which time we were hidden in the hospital of the ship near the stern. Two of the crew (a sailor and a hospital orderly) heavily bribed, looked after us, feeding us twice a day. The actual embarkation in MARSEILLES was very tricky. (Details are contained in the second half of the report). Once the ship had started the journey was uneventful except for one brief incident when we passed through the Straits of Messina. We were rushed down to the crews’ quarters of the ship to escape detection from the Italian commission which boarded us for a couple of hours. We were always prepared to jump for it if a British ship had approached to search our papers, etc., but except for one British reconnaissance plane flying over the boat two days before we arrived at BEIRUT, we met no allied help. We learned afterwards in BEIRUT that as these French boats were under safe conduct from us, there would have been no possible chance of us being stopped by the British Navy.


SYRIA
November 21st
We docked at BEIRUT in the early hours of the morning, and just before dawn my friend and I were again taken down to the crews’ quarters in the bowels of the ship. As my friend spoke French perfectly, he went off about mid-day to try and find out the situation in BEIRUT. He had no difficulty in getting off with the landing card borrowed from a sailor.

Soon after dark the same evening, I was taken off myself, disguised as one of the crew, and again, like my friend, with a sailor’s landing card. We went immediately to one of the cafes in the centre of the town where a rendez-vous had been during the day that the British were accepted quite openly in SYRIA, so after getting in touch with an Arab clerk in the old British Consulate building in BEIRUT (the Consul had been moved into the hills to ALAY) we went to bed in one of the local hotels. The next morning we took a taxi out to ALAY (about 25 miles) to see the Consul General.

He was astounded that we were going about quite openly, and told us that we had been completely misinformed, and that we must go into hiding immediately until he could devise some plan to get us out of the country. My friend and I parted that day and I was shifted from house to house, finally spending the night with a British subject called JEUNE. This man was a Channel Islander by birth and by being half French was not under suspicion from the French gendarmerie, like the remainder of the British officials in the Consulate. It was with JEUNE that I made plans for dealing with future escaping British arriving in BEIRUT.

November 23rd
The next day arrangements were made for my friend and I to pass the frontier to PALESTINE.

Escape from SYRIA
The next day arrangements were made for my friend and I to pass the frontier to PALESTINE. We were taken some 50 kilometres into the hills in a car belonging to the Socony Vacuum Company. There we went to see a Lebanese Effendi who provided us with a guide for crossing the frontier itself. We went on another 20 kilometres by car with our new guide, and then about six o’clock in the evening started to walk (first sending the car back to BEIRUT).

We walked for 10 hours that night straight across the hills until we were both exhausted, and spent what was left of the night and the next day hiding in some bushes near an olive mill. The only incident during our journey was the meeting of a Lebanese gendarme soon after we started walking. He asked who we were, and our guide told him that we were going to visit neighbours. For some extraordinary reason this explanation was sufficient, and we were allowed to continue. The following night we continued our journey and after a further 5 hours walking we crossed into PALESTINE, about one in the morning arriving at a little Jewish settlement called MATULLA. Here there was an outpost of the SOMERSET YEOMANRY.

It was naturally extremely difficult for us to establish our identity, dressed as we were in our dirty suits and having no papers on us. We had left our papers with the Consulate in BEIRUT, to be sent on later. Once we arrived in JERUSALEM we were at last accepted for what we were, as I had many friends there who had known me when I was in PALESTINE when I was there before.

 

2. DETAILED REPORT

INTRODUCTION
The detailed report is divided into ten parts.
Capture
First Capture
Recapture
Farm Life
LILLE
PARIS
Escape from Occupied Territory
MARSEILLES
Journey by Sea
SYRIA
British Territory


1. CAPTURE
I will not waste space by given details of the small contingent of the HIGHLAND DIVISION who were rounded up and captured at the fishing village of VEULE-LES-ROSES. I have heard from a British Red Cross agent, since arriving in EGYPT, that it is known that a certain number of people left ST. VALERY to go along the coast to VEULE-LES-ROSES, but contrary to reports none of this small contingent managed to escape.

We were all taken on the afternoon of the 12th June, and as I had been slightly wounded from a shell burst and could not see, I was driven by lorry to a French hospital at FORGES-LES-EAUX. This hospital was a large disused hotel without furniture. The three big downstairs rooms being filled with French wounded, and an upstairs gallery with the British numbering about 50. There were no beds and blankets, the substitute being straw.

For the first four days conditions were terrible. No British doctors were available to begin with, and the few French doctors had enough on their hands, dealing with their own wounded, to be able to pay attention to ourselves. One officer, for example, who had a very bad wound in the shoulder, was not attended to for 5 to 6 days.

Food was very short, the ration being one meal of a sort a day, with the addition of some black coffee the first thing in the morning.

After a week my eyes were perfectly all right and in company with 15 to 20 others, including Lieutenant-Colonel Ian BARCLAY, SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS, and Lieutenant C.D. HUNTER, CAMERON HIGHLANDERS, we were taken by lorry in a North-Easterly direction to one of the prison transit camps. From there we walked for two days (about 20 km. a day) to DOULLENS.

The camp at DOULLENS proved a roof over our heads for the first time and we remained there for four days. The food was even worse here than in hospital, as it was at all the transit camps. To give the Germans their due, it was well nigh impossible to compete with the masses of prisoners under their charge. At DOULLENS itself, there were some 5,000 British and 20,000 French at one time. There were a few nasty incidents which luckily came to nothing, when the British created a disturbance due to starvation. Our greatest enemies at the time were the French, who controlled the issue of rations, and in many cases did their best to swindle the British for the sake of their own comrades. British ration cigarettes, which had been found by the French, wee sold back to the British at fabulous prices, and on two occasions I heard of the ration food being sold to the British.

Whilst we were at DOULLENS a few more offices joined our party, officers who had not been taken prisoner at all at the beginning, but who had been found later. After 4 days we once again continued our march, passing the nights in camps in open fields. The cold at night was bitter. The only cover we had were blankets we had been able to find on the way limited in number because of the weight we had to carry on the march. At this time it was comparatively easy to escape on the line of march, as there was only about one guard to 3,000 men. The Germans took the attitude that escaping prisoners would be picked up later anyway, because it was quite beyond their power to prevent anyone leaving the road at the time. A lot of cases of men leaving the line of march were caused by sheer exhaustion and starvation, where possibly they were picked up by lorry following the stream.

We arrived at St. POL on the 23rd June. Once again a camp in the open field. The German Commandant of this section was a better type, and did his best for the prisoners. For the first time we were separated from the French, and the relief shown amongst the troops for this was enormous.

The food was slightly better, though still very insufficient. The local villages could not do enough for us in providing bread and milk etc. as we passed through from place to place.


2. FIRST ESCAPE
Two Gunner officers and myself (Captain Fred CORFIELD, and 2/Lieutenant John BUCKINGHAM, both of the 23rd Field Regiment) decided to make a get-away between St. POL and the next camp BETHUNE. We had looked for every loop-hole before but none had presented itself. After travelling about 6 km. on the road to BETHUNE, we took our opportunity and dived through a gap in the hedge and lay down for an hour until all the prisoners had gone past. We then moved for two miles and lay down for the rest of the day in a corn field.

The first night we trekked by compass straight across country, reaching a little village far from the main road about dawn. We spent the next day in the barn of a farm, where two old women gave us food and a small calendar map of PAS DE CALAIS area. Although willing to help, they were terrified. We sent for the local Cure to see if he could help us, but except for giving us some extra food, he was unable to do anything. We spent the next ten nights trekking across country. Most of the time lying up in hedges or woods during the day, although on one other occasion we were looked after at a farm. The farmer and his wife on this occasion were wonderful ! They produced us some old civilian clothes and gave us good supplies of tin food etc. for the rest of our journey to the North coast. All the peasants that we came across at this time were completely ignorant of the general situation. By this time the Germans had visited every farm in the area at least once, though they had not necessarily got any garrisons billeted near. In fact during the whole of our eleven days to the north coast we never saw a German.

Eventually we arrived on the heights overlooking LE TOUQUET, and scanned the countryside all that day for a sailing boat which we could take after dark. They were two or three boats plying up and down the estuary, but before nightfall they all disappeared from view.

We decided to move a little further up the coast to the North the following night, and spent the next day in a wood near the old British rifle ranges at DANNES. There were sounds of firing on these ranges and we found, by stalking from tree to tree, that German soldiers were shooting on them. That night we decided to search the shore front itself, and made our way down across the dunes with our sacks containing provisions etc., over our shoulders. We were just about to walk out on to the sands when we saw coming towards us about 50 yards away, a complete German patrol with an L.M.G. This patrol posted a sentry about 20 yards from where we were hiding. We got away unseen, and made towards St. CECILE Plage, about three miles to the South. It was now nearly dark but we could see enough to learn that the individual sentries were posted every 100 to 150 yards along the shore front.

In St. CECILE Plage itself, there was a patrol Headquarters, in communication with the main Headquarters in DANNES by line across the dunes. We broke into a disused shack in St. CECILE that night. The next morning two of use walked into the nearest village of CAMIERS to get further supplies. We were looking like very disreputable vagabonds by this time, with a fortnight’s growth of beard. Before reaching the village we were stopped by a German sentry in the road who asked us for our papers, but our French, bad as it was, was sufficient to convince him we had left them behind in our homes (?) and we passed on. We bought some provisions and returned to St. CECILE.


RECAPTURE
On approaching our hiding place, a German officer on horseback came up with us and after ten minutes conversation with him in very broken French (he could speak less than we could) he called up one of his men, who was an interpreter, and the game was up. We collected our third comrade from the shack, and marched back to DANNES with this officer. There, in his office, he searched us, taking all our private papers and belongings; luckily we managed to keep our compass by passing it back and forth between us. From DANNES we were taken inland by lorry to MONTREUIL, where we spent 4 days in a German Barracks.

The contingent here was about a company and a half strength. They were chiefly Rhinelanders and at that time were very friendly and kind to us. One of the particularly took and interest in us, providing us with necessities and cigarettes. He even let us listen to the English news on the wireless one evening. We had the same rations as the troops, which were good and quite sufficient. (For details of life in these barracks, see original Report, taken home by Colonel TOOVEY).

The next stage was a march inland to HESDIN, where once again we came up against prison camp authorities. The Germans at MONTREUIL had not bothered to search us or take any special precautions beyond a careful guard, but at HESDIN we were once again roughly handled and our civilian clothes were taken from us. We still managed to keep our compass. Some 15 other British, all other ranks, came with us from MONTREUIL. All of them had escaped at least once before. Three of this number had managed to collect a boat near BERCK, and had spent 36 hours in the Channel, only to travel round in a semi-circle and to come back again to the French coast near BOULOGNE.

We started to make plans at HESDIN for an escape out of the window, but gave up the idea when we found it was too closely guarded. The next day we were taken on by lorry right through to LILLE passing on our journey, the gap in the hedge we had escaped through the first time.

We spent 4 days in the big caserne (Klebber) in LILLE. There were still thousands of French prisoners in transit, though there were only about 20 of us British by this time. In LILLE the food situation was far better, the guards having no objection to the civilian population giving or selling food through the railings of the wall. Working parties of Frenchmen used to leave the prison in the morning and return at night and one or two of the British managed to slip out with them.

The French themselves showed no incentive to escape, but were quite willing to help us, providing us with dungarees for the purpose. We made plans to try and get out of this prison by night, but they came to nothing and on the 14th of July we were again moved on by lorry across the Franco-Belgian frontier to TOURNAI.

We kept ourselves as inconspicuous as possible and mixed with the troops, so that we would not be missed more than necessary if we tried to escape. When at LILLE, two other officers, who had been picked up at BOULOGNE, joined us (one Royal Corps of Signals and one Gunner). The Signaller decided not to make an escape at this time, but the Gunner joined us making our total four. We heard from the other British, who had already been at TOURNAI a few days, that two other officers had escaped a couple of days before but had been killed by machine gun soon after they had jumped the wall. This afterwards we found to be untrue as we met one of them later in MARSEILLES.


FARM LIFE
On the night of the 14th July, four of us slept on the top of an out-house looking over the outside wall. We listened most of the night to make certain that we know the sentry’s beat, and just after to the ground, and made across the fields in two pairs. We had one compass and one map between us, BUCKINGHAM and I who went off first took the map. We decided not to try and keep together as 4 was too great a number. (I have heard since that the other two were recaptured again.)

The two of us made our way that day crossing the Franco-Belgian frontier South of LILLE.

After walking about 30 kms. we arrived at the village of PONT THIBAULT, about 8 kms. South of LILLE, on the LILLE - DOUAI road. BUCKINGHAM had been billeted there for some months earlier in the year. Arrangements were made for us to live at two adjoining farms, so that we could spend each evening together and discuss the situation. The people at the farm at which I was staying were terrified at being found harbouring British and I always felt frightened of being given away whilst under their care. A few days after we arrived, a German Air Force officer came to the farm to buy eggs, but I was not seen; I felt my disguise as a French labourer would probably have sufficed anyway. This buying of eggs, milk, etc., by the Germans from local farms was constantly happening, and, I’m afraid, one never got used to it, and one always had a nasty feeling in the pit of one’s stomach. After a week on this first farm I decided it was better to move as I felt it was only a matter of time before I was given away.

I moved from here to some other people in the next village. I had not been inside my new home for half an hour, when some German soldiers arrived searching for arms and old British equipment. Luckily I managed to hide in time, and no questions were asked.

There was an aerodrome under a mile away from the farm and machines were flying round and round continually through the day. We got the impression that it was a centre for young pilots training, as their manoeuvres were very limited and the machines old and slow. They were mostly large troop carriers, though during the latter days a lot of twin engine, eliptical winged, single tail bombers arrived. This aerodrome was an old British one.

As our farms were on the main LILLE - DOUAI road we watched German transport constantly pouring backwards and forwards. Big guns, camouflage material of the scrim variety were two of the chief items carried. There were, alas, many British 15 cwt and 8 cwt trucks in use. The Germans never moved in any organised convoys that we could see, but were generally moving individually at high speed.

We spent a month on these farms all the time trying to contact some organisation for getting away. We heard of many other British hiding in the area, but we were not in a position, rather naturally, to visit them. If they were not actually on farms, they were hiding in woods, and were fed by local villagers or agents for the Red Cross. These Red Cross agents used to visit all the farms for contributions for the wounded and it was through one of them that we got into touch with an escape organisation.

After we had been on the farm for a month, a lady, by name Mme. Siauve EVAUSY came to see us. She was the wife of a French Commandant in the Medical Corps, who was running a hospital at St. OMER. She was in touch with an organisation which arranged for escaped prisoners to be flown to ENGLAND. The plan was as follows:- Once the harvest was cut (about a fortnight from this time) a message would be sent by short wave wireless to ENGLAND giving a suitable landing ground; this message would be answered as soon as possible by code in the daily broadcast of the English news in French. 48 hours after, the aeroplane would arrive in the night and take some 30 men at a time, who would be collected at the landing ground by agents from all directions.

We were told that about 200 men had already escaped, but the scheme never materialised for us.

Our “Red Cross Lady” on seeing us, decided that too many people knew about us, and that it would only be a matter of time before we were given away. We were, therefore, taken into LILLE and put in the care of a French family.


LILLE
We lived for a fortnight in a garret at the top of a block of flats with two British privates in the LINCOLNS, who had also been collected from outlying farms. We did the journey from the farm to LILLE by bicycle, guided by one of Mme. SIAUVE's agents and reached our new hiding place without mishap.

The next fortnight we spent virtually in one room, though we visited the flat where our guardians lived, to wash plates etc. Once again too many people got to know about us, and we had to be moved, this time BUCKINGHAM and I went to Mme. SIAUVE's house, whilst our friends of the LINCOLNS were taken elsewhere. We spent six weeks in our new home. I will keep my description of this peered as brief as possible and enlarge on some of the outside information we heard while we were thre. Neither of us left the house during this time, except on one occasion when we went to a shop to have photographs taken for false Cartes d'Identite.

We gathered there was a sound organisation for sending information home by short wave wireless organised by a few members of the Dieuxieme Bureau. Changes in landing grounds, location of troop concentration massed for the proposed invasion, details of the gun posit at CAP GRIS NEX were only a few items.

Mme. SIAUVE's husband, the Commandant, though still a prisoner, came to live at home the day after we arrived. He was working on his own for De GAULLE in the St. OMER area, and claimed to have over 500 active supporters.

After five weeks hiding in this house, the three of us, the Commandant, my friend and I, became desperate, and the former started to look for alternative organisation for escape to the aeroplane. He contacted an organisation which was to take us through to PARIS, and from there we were to take a civilian aeroplane from LE BOURGET. The details were so well guarded that we put our faith in it, and a week later our turn came. We left the house after lunch, armed with forged Polish passports, and walked to the station with an old woman. We were then passed on to a Railway official who bought us our tickets through to the SOMME frontier. As already explained in the General report, it was extremely difficult to cross this frontier and certainly not without a special pass. The three of us then took our places in a carriage, BUCKINGHAM and I keeping silent all the time. We were put into the hands of the guard, who was also in the organisation. He in his turn gave us our tickets for the latter half of the journey from the SOMME to PARIS, without us having to leave the train. Although there were German soldiers travelling with us we were not questioned, and we arrived at PARIS about 10 p.m. quite safely. There were were to meet with another link the chain, but, alas, the chain had ended. We were faced with the problem of nowhere to go - an hour off the curfew, and no proper papers. Luckily our Polish passports were sufficient for a nearby Hotel manageress, who gave us two small rooms.



PARIS
As luck would have it, it was the week-end, and the American Embassy, our last resort, was closed. We wandered the streets of PARIS, on the Sunday, feeding on oysters and white wine, as we could get nothing else without foot tickets, only returning to the hotel after dark.

A description of our four days in PARIS is permissible here. Our Commandant friend, although travelling by train in mufti had brought his uniform by suitcase, and on arrival in PARIS he insisted on wearing his uniform, thinking he would create a better impression in that guise. It so happened that he was the only French officer in uniform, and the three of us walking together through the boulevards could not have looked more conspicuous however hard he had tried. After the first two days, we begged him to get back into civilian clothes, and we felt much happier in consequence.

We travelled most of the time in the city by metro, the trains after dark being full of German soldiers and airmen and occasionally some naval ratings as well. They were all very cheery at this time; probably most of them were on a few days leave. We took the opportunity whilst in PARIS to do a little sight-seeing, a pastime which half the German Army seemed to be doing with us. For example at Notre Dame and the Louvre there were large parties of German troops going round the Cathedral with guides. On one occasion in the corner of the Tulleries we came into the background of a snapshot taken by a German soldier of is girl friend. I wold love to have seen his face if he had known the identity of the people in his photograph.

On another occasion near the Opera House, I was unwise enough to walk on the pavement in front of one of the big German Headquarters. A German corporal raised his boot at me and I went back into the road as quick as I could. The German arrogance in PARIS was unbelievable. The behaved as if they owned the place, which after all was not far from the truth. They were practically no vehicles on the road except German military vehicles. Those civilians who were lucky enough to have cars had to give any German motorists a very wide berth or they were cautioned. There was a strict speed limit for civilians whereas the Germans could proceed at any pace they liked. I heard one true story of an old woman carrying a basket of tomatoes on a bicycle who was knocked over and had her leg broken. The Germans who had run into her did not even stop.

We had one meal, the only proper meal we had in PARIS, in a big restaurant near the Gare du Nord. The Commandant talked freely to the waiters without naturally saying who we were. From this conversation we realised all the more the hatred of the common people for their German conquerors. There were notices and bills displaying counter British propaganda everywhere one looked. The Oran episode was given special significance though we were glad to see in most cases the Oran bill itself had been torn away in places from the walls. I watched two or three French people reading these notices and was delighted to see the disgust on their faces when they turned away and walked on.

PARIS was very sad ! There was no gaiety at all, and all the French went about with a 'hang dog' expression. The weather was lovely while we were there, and the boulevards in consequence were full of people, but the quantity of field grey mixed up with civilian clothes had to be seen to be believed. We heard a story of how the British had flown machines over the town on one occasion writing in smoke as they went "Courage, Resistance". Propaganda such as this impressed the French beyond words.

There was also a current story about the cinemas. The Germans insisted that the German news be shown in all cinemas. To start with the French shouted and hooted whenever it came on, so the Germans had the news shown with all the lights on. The French counter to this was to come in armed with newspapers, and immediately the news was thrown on the screen, they would put up their newspapers so that nobody behind them could see.

We went to the American Embassy first thing on the Monday morning only to find they could no longer help us, financially or otherwise. The Germans were tightening things up, and they dared not run any risks. We went away almost in despair that day, but returned the next morning in the hopes of something else turning up. Quite by chance we met a lady, who was working for the "Croix Rouge" and who was very willing to help us. She was British, married to a Frenchman, thereby having French Nationality. She was another Nurse Cavell in every way, and would stop at nothing to help British. She had already helped others to reach unoccupied FRANCE, and on one occasion had even taken a British officer, hidden under the back seat of her car, from a hospital at DOULLENS to PARIS; DOULLENS being in the Zone Interdit and North of the SOMME.


ESCAPE FROM OCCUPIED TERRITORY
Mme. BONNEFOUS, as her name was, told us to come to her flat, and there she gave us details of a plan to reach MARSEILLES.

Whilst BUCKINGHAM and I waited in Mme. BONNEFOUS' flat, the Commandant bought our Railway tickets for a little town called LIBOURNE near BORDEAUX. We took the train from the Gare d'Orleans on the night of the 19th October. There was an ugly moment before the train started, when a German soldier came round the carriages with a torch to inspect the black out blinds. Even though the black-out regulations were his only duty, it did not make us feel any more comfortable.

The journey to LIBOURNE was uneventful, the only other passenger in the carriage being a middle-aged Frenchman, who slept most of the time. We arrived at LIBOURNE about four in the morning, our instructions being to go to the local hotel and lie up there, until arrangements could be made to get us across the frontier. Once again there was a "hitch" and we found that two battalions had arrived there the day before and that 30 German officers were billeted in the hotel. The three of us sat in a sitting room, gnawing our nails for a couple of hours until we considered it was late enough to start walking the streets. We left the hotel about 6 a.m. (owing to German hours in force at that time it was dark until 8 a.m.), and started walking round and round the town, doing our best to give the impression we were making for some definite place.

It was not until well after daybreak that we dared visit the agent, given to us by Mme. BONNEFOUS. Once again we found matters were not so foolproof as we had hoped. Rumour had it, that the guards had been trebled owing to some German deserters having crossed into unoccupied territory a day or two before.

BUCKINGHAM and I continued walking the town until well into the afternoon, whilst the Commandant did all he could to make arrangements for our crossing the frontier. After 4 p.m. the arrangements were at last settled, and we were taken to a wine factory on the banks of the River DORDOGNE to hide. About an hour later we were fetched in a large wine 'camion' and driven about 25 kms to a farm just near the frontier. A Pole was responsible for finally giving the details, and he with two others besides ourselves and the driver, all packed into the front of the lorry for the journey. We passed quite a number of troops en route, but no one stopped us, and we arrived at the frontier without incident. To our astonishment, the only guard on the frontier was a motor-cyclist who drove up and down the main road. We studied his methods for a short while, and then, waiting for him to drive past, we made a dash for it and jumped the barrier and ran for freedom.

We did not know how we would be accepted in Free FRANCE, but we decided to report ourselves to the French frontier guards before proceeding further. This did not take long, and after a few toasts and handshakings, we walked into the nearest village of PUJOLS, where we stayed for the night. At PUJOLS we heard of two other British who had passed through, one of them my Battalion Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant HUNTER, who had been in hospital with me originally.

The next morning, the 21st October, we hired a car, and drove to the nearest railway junction at St. REOLE where we took the train direct to MARSEILLES. BUCKINGHAM and I were still very dubious as to our position in Free FRANCE, but the Commandant assured us we were all right, and to our amazement and horror proceeded to tell everyone in the carriage who we were. Our fellow passengers were naturally very interested and rather to our surprise were most encouraging and sympathetic. We had been led to believe in the North, that the Free French were apt to be anti-British, and completely in favour of the Vichy Government. Afterwards, wherever we were in Free FRANCE, we found this theory quite untrue, and that on the whole the population in the South were just as friendly and helpful towards the British as that in the North. The lack of communication and news travelling between Occupied and Unoccupied territory was practically nil, and propaganda entirely accounted for this wrong impression.


MARSEILLES
We arrived in MARSEILLES about 10 p.m the same evening, to find that we had to show Cartes d'Indentite at the barrier. Naturally we had no papers, but by a quiet word to some French soldier standing near, we managed to pass without having to explain ourselves to the police.

We still did not know our position in MARSEILLES, but we had to sleep somewhere, so booked a room in a hotel, deciding before going to sleep to leave early in the morning before the police had a chance of checking the register. We had been given the address of a rich wine merchant by Mme. BONNEFOUS, so we went there first thing the next morning. It was from him and HUNTER that we first learnt the true situation regarding the British in MARSEILLES.

Under the terms of the Franco-German armistice, no Britisher was allowed to leave Free FRANCE, and any escaped prisoners were to be virtually interned. This internment in fact took the form of a home for British officers and men in the Fort St. Jean. With permission to move about how and where we wished within the limits of the town. The officers were granted far more freedom than the other ranks, their time of return to the Fort not being questioned. BUCKINGHAM and I with HUNTER and one other were allowed to live out in the town and we managed to keep our address secret, on the understanding that we reported to the military authorities once a week. We gave a parole on the understanding that if we wished to try and get away we handed it in making some ridiculous excuse, such as "the climate did not suit us and we wished to leave the town". As officers we received £5 a month pocket money through the American Consulate - this being enough to keep us in drinks and cigarettes though naturally not enough for escaping purposes.

At first we counted the days until we would be in ENGLAND, and could not understand why all the other British had not left already. Some of them had been there up to as long as three months trying to get away, but always without success. It was not long, however, before we realised how difficult it was to quit MARSEILLES. Time and space do not permit me to put down all the various schemes tried - suffice it to say that for the month I was there every alternative was discussed and tried, and not an hour was wasted. We got into touch with Polish, Belgian and Czech organisations, but we always came up against the same trouble - lack of money. I would like to say here what magnificent efforts the Czechs made to help both British and Czech away to British Territory. Before I left, a few of us were working hand in glove with the Czech Legation (such as it was) as there was no British organisation that we could trace, who possessed any local knowledge of the situation.

Just before our arrival the British had been provided with a large sum of money through an agency (sponsored by Sir John SIMON (?) + in MADRID) for escaping, but unfortunately it was all lost on one scheme to get a couple of hundred away at once. As said in my original report, we decided afterwards that any mass escape was doomed to failure because of two reasons. First the German commission in the Port would know about it before the plan really took shape, and second, even if it was successful, it would spoil all chances for any of the British left, or, more important still, any British who were yet to come. There were some 12 officers and 200 other ranks in MARSEILLES when I was there and more were coming through, not only direct from Occupied FRANCE, but also from various other centres in Unoccupied FRANCE, such as TOULOUSE, where other internment camps had been established earlier.

+ Sir Samuel HOARE


Before continuing the story of my escape, a word about the Seamen's Mission. This was run and organised by the Reverend CASKIE of the Church of Scotland, who had come down to MARSEILLES just before the capitulation of FRANCE from PARIS. No praise could be too great for this man! He was tireless, always charming, and welcomed everyone. Although he was not actively engaged in escape plans (he would not have had a moment for it anyway) he was always ready to do anything he could.

He was the only means of communicating the safe arrival of the British to their homes and families, and incidentally the War Office, much of the cost of this being borne by this own funds, as he could not raise enough from the Consulate. This Seaman's Mission was a haven for all the British, and most of the Other Ranks used it continually throughout the day.

After being in MARSEILLES three weeks, HUNTER managed to raise some money (8,000 Francs) from the brother of our original friend the wine merchant. As I had a scheme on hand I took the money, to try my best with it. As I said, I was in touch with the Czech Legation at this time, and, through them, two Czechs and myself boarded a boat (the SAGITAIRE) bound for BEIRUT one night. We had an agent off the ship who was handling our money, and who was responsible for paying it over to the sailor who was to look after us on the voyage, once he was convinced we were not going to be double-crossed. We had only been on the boat half an hour, when we were called off again - our agent had not faith in the scheme and I always felt grateful to him afterwards for saving our money. We passed the gendarmes with sailors' papers, and no questions were asked.

A week later I met a Palestinian Jew, by name Benjamin SLOR, who was very anxious to reach his home country. This time the two of us worked on our own direct with a commission agent - a tout of the worst description. My friend SLOR boarded the boat in company with one of the crew, 48 hours before she was due to sail and I was to follow later. One difficulty followed another regarding my embarkation after SLOR had gone on board; so SLOR, fearing something had gone wrong, left his hiding place (one of the sailor's cabins) and came back into the town again. The plan was discussed further, this time direct with the sailors as well as the Commission agent; I don't think there is any more difficult and dangerous type of cut throat to deal with than a Corsican sailor from MARSEILLES.

Finally we were to meet two sailors that evening before the boat sailed (she was due to sail at 4 p.m. the next day) in a cafe. We kept the Rendez-vous, and so did the sailors, but the latter were drunk! We were now faced with the problem of whether to waste our money with them in an intoxicated condition. We decided discretion was the better part of valour that night and refused to go with them, but at the same time making a rendezvous! We waited till 8 a.m. by which time we were desperate, thinking yet another opportunity was slipping through our fingers. Finally we decided to try and board ourselves, so we took a tram to the port and walked in past the gendarme with as bold an air as we could muster. Luckily no questions were asked, and we made our way on to the boat and into the cabin which SLOR had already been hiding. The sailor found us half an hour later and decided to take us after all.


JOURNEY BY SEA
The journey to BEIRUT was uneventful except for a brief period passing through the Straits of Messina. We were hidden in the ship's hospital near the stern and fed by one of the orderlies who was privately bribed by the sailor who handled our money. It was a ghastly five days, locked in a day and night, with shutters over the portholes, and except for a brief visit to the crews' quarters, when the Italians boarded us in the Messina Straits, we never left our cabin. It was during this journey that we worked out the details and fixed the price for future Britishers to escape, but alas our scheme does not seem to have materialised.

We docked at BEIRUT just after dawn on November 21st, but before first light, SLOR and I were again taken and hidden in the crew's quarters. We had to mix with the remainder of the sailors, whether they knew the truth of our identity, I never discovered. SLOR, virtually a Frenchman as he had lived in PARIS for 20 years, did the talking - I kept my mouth shut and looked stupid. We learnt some interesting things from these talks, chiefly of their hatred for the Italians. One or two of them and been at MERS EL KEBIR (ORAN) when the DUNKERQUE etc had been shelled, and to our surprise, they bore us no resentment, but accepted the incident as necessary.

Many of them were only too anxious to join the De GAULLE movement, and only the thought of their wives and families restrained them.

SLOR left the boat about mid-day with one of the sailors using another sailor's disembarkation ticket. SLOR's intention was to spy out the lie of the land, before i came off in the evening. Soon after dark, I was taken off myself, disguised as one of the crew, and again with a disembarkation ticket. I met SLOR ten minutes later, and there he told me that he had been informed that the British could move about quite openly and all we had to do was to hire a car and motor through to HAIFA in 3 hours the next day. We found this hard to believe, so to check it we went off that evening to the old British Consulate Building on the outskirts of the town (the Consulate itself had been ordered to move to ALAY some 25 miles into the hills). At the old Consulate we found quite an intelligent Arab clerk, who told us it was quite all right for us to book a room in a hotel.

The next morning we took a taxi out to ALAY and walked into the Consulate without a fear in the world. They were astounded to see us, rather naturally, and asked if we had not been questioned by the police on entering, as the building was watched night and day, as were also all the private residencies of the Consular officials. FURLONG (No. 2) was the man to whom we told our story as the Consul himself was away.

The next problem was how to smuggle us (a) out of the Consulate and (b) out of the country.

We were questioned on leaving but not arrested, so we went back to BEIRUT as quickly as possible, where SLOR and I parted until arrangements for the last stage could be fixed. I was moved from house to house, until I arrived for the night with Major JEUNE (JEUNE was a Channel Islander, and for some reason the only holder of a British passport not under suspicion from the French authorities) was the agent with whom I fixed all the details as to how to deal with any future Britishers arriving in BEIRUT by the same route as ours. He, it was, who would handle the money to be paid to the sailor, once the Britishers had been safely landed in BEIRUT. (See original report taken home by Colonel TOOVEY).

The next day, SLOR and I were taken off along the coast road and then up into the hills in a Southerly direction for 50 ams. in a car owned by Socony Vacuum Company. We had a note to a high Lebanese Effendi, who lived in one of the mountain villages. This Effendi provided us with a guide and we drove on a further 20 ams., only leaving the car once to skirt round a police post on foot. When within 30 ams. of the frontier we sent the car home and started to walk.

We only had on thin town shoes and the journey over those rocky hills of SYRIA, thus attired, was indescribable. After we had been walking half an hour we met a gendarme (it was 630 p.m. and dark) who asked us where we were going. Our guide told him we were visiting neighbours. This explanation was sufficient for some extraordinary reason, particularly as we were dressed in lounge suits, with homburg hats on our heads and attache cases in our hands.

We trekked for ten hours that night, until we were quite exhausted and could go no further. We spent the rest of the night and all next day hiding in a hedge near an olive mill miles from any other human habitations.

The next night we continued our journey, and after a further 5 hours walking we crossed the frontier into PALESTINE, at a little Jewish settlement called MATULLA.


BRITISH TERRITORY
Just before crossing the frontier itself a green very light was fired about a hundred yards to our right, so we turned our steps to the left and crossed without any difficulty. Luckily the meeting of the Gendarme the first night and this green very light (the very light was proved to be French, as the British garrison possessed none) the second, were the only signs of human activity with which we met.

Having no papers on us of any description at this time it was very difficult to establish our identity, and not the least amusing (?) part of the journey was the suspicion with which we were regarded by our own countrymen. It was not until I reached JERUSALEM where I had many friends, as I had been stationed there with my Battalion during the troubles in 1936, that we were really able to establish our identity once and for all.

In conclusion I would like to say a word for the civilian population of FRANCE (both country peasant and townsmen) with whom we came into contact.

I could never have reached British Territory if it had not been for their help and kindness. I had no money and no clothes, my knowledge of the language was practically nil to begin with, and except for a certain ungrammatical fluency, it is extremely bad now. It must be gratifying to know (if it is not known already) that the population of FRANCE, both in the North and South are behind us to a man, with the possible exception of the Vichy officials and those who will suffer if the Vichy Government ceases to exist.

I hope the information contained in this report is what is required by the War Office. It is always difficult to know what to include and what to leave out. If all the incidents were written down, they would fill a volume. The writing of the report has been rushed, so that it may be sent off on the first available mail, so I hope I may be forgiven for any disjointedness and bad composition.

 

3. APPENDIX

See 4 attached pages


The same Colonel Toovey mentioned as the Liaison Officer who brought back Lang's original report to England in Dec '40?
Biography of Lieutenant-General Cecil Wotton Toovey
The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details
Name Toovey, Cecil Wotton
Rank: Colonel
Regiment: Advanced Head Quarters Troops Sudan and Eritrea
Theatre of Combat or Operation: Middle East (East Africa and Madagascar)
Award: Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
Date of Announcement in London Gazette: 30 December 1941
Date 1941-1944
Catalogue reference WO 373/79

 

Personal Number: 56733
Rank: Lieutenant-General
Name: Sir Derek Boileau LANG, KCB, DSO, MC, MiD*
Unit: Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders


London Gazette : 1 September 1933
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33974/page/5734/data.pdf
The undermentioned Gentlemen Cadets, from the Royal Military College, to be 2nd Lts. 31st Aug. 1933:—
Camerons—
Derek Boileau LANG.

London Gazette : 1 September 1936
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34319/page/5661/data.pdf
The undermentioned 2nd Lts. to be Lts. 31st Aug. 1936:—
Camerons—D. B. Lang.

London Gazette : 30 December 1941
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35396/page/7349/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve that the following be Mentioned in recognition of distinguished services in the Middle East (including Egypt, East Africa, The Western Desert, The Sudan, Greece, Crete, Syria and Tobruk) during the period February, 1941, to July, 1941:—
Capt. (actg. Maj.) D. B. Lang, M.C. (56733).

London Gazette : 24 June 1943
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36065/supplement/2859/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve that the following be Mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East during the period 1st May, 1942, to 22nd October, 1942: —
Camerons.
Capt. (temp. Maj.) D. B. Lang, M.C. (56733).

London Gazette : 1 March 1945
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36961/supplement/1172/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe:—
The Distinguished Service Order.
Major (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Derek Bioleau Lang, M.C. (56733), The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (Bridport).

London Gazette : 30 November 1951
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39397/supplement/6239/data.pdf
ANNUAL BREVETS.
The undermentioned to be Brevet Lieutenant-Colonels, 1st July 1951:—
Maj. D. B. LANG, D.S.O., M.C. (56733), Camerons.

London Gazette : 30 May 1961
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/42366/supplement/3987/data.pdf
The undermentioned Cols, to be Brigs, on the dates shown:
D. B. LANG, D.S.O., M.C. (56733), late Inf., 1st Jan. 1961.

London Gazette : 28 April 1964
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43307/supplement/3681/data.pdf
COMMANDS AND STAFF
Maj.-Gen. D. B. LANG, D.S.O., M.C. (56733), late Inf., relinquishes his appointment as General Officer Commanding 51 (Highland) Division/ District, and remaining on full pay, 27th Apr. 1964.

London Gazette : 19 May 1964
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43325/supplement/4391/data.pdf
COMMANDS AND STAFF
Maj.-Gen. D. B. LANG, D.S.O., M.C. (56733), late Inf., is appointed Director of Army Training, Ministry of Defence, 18th May 1964.

London Gazette : 13 June 1964
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43343/supplement/4939/data.pdf
The QUEEN has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of Her Majesty's Birthday, to give orders for the following pro- motions in, and appointments to, the Most Honourable Order of the Bath:
To be Ordinary Members of the Military Division of the Third Class, or Companions, of the said Most Honourable Order :
Major-General Derek Boileau LANG, D.S.O., M.C. (56733), late Infantry.

London Gazette : 1 July 1966
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44038/supplement/7461/data.pdf
COMMANDS AND STAFF
Maj.-Gen. D. B. LANG, C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (56733), late Inf. relinquishes his appointment as Director of Army Training, Ministry of Defence, remaining on full pay,1st July 1966.

London Gazette : 13 December 1966
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44196/supplement/13461/data.pdf
COMMANDS AND STAFF
REGULAR ARMY
Maj.-Gen. D. B. LANG, C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (56733), late Inf., to be Lt.-Gen., 1st Nov. 1966.

London Gazette : 7 October 1969
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44949/supplement/10213/data.pdf
COMMANDS AND STAFF
REGULAR ARMY
Lt-Gen. Sir Derek LANG, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (56733) late Inf. relinquishes his appointment as General Officer Commanding Scotland, 1st Oct. 1969.

London Gazette : 18 November 1969
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44966/supplement/11042/data.pdf
COMMANDS AND STAFF
REGULAR ARMY
Lt.-Gen. Sir Derek LANG, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (56733) late Inf., retires on retired pay, 29th Oct. 1969.

London Gazette : 8 August 1972
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/45747/page/9450/data.pdf
THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM
The QUEEN has been graciously pleased to sanction the following promotions in and appointments to the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem:
As Officer (Brother)
Lieut.-General Sir Derek Boileau Lang, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C.

London Gazette : 7 September 1976
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/47007/supplement/12203/data.pdf
ROYAL CORPS OF TRANSPORT
TERRITORIAL AND ARMY VOLUNTEER RESERVE
Lt (Hon. Lt.-Col.) The Earl of ELGIN AND KINCARDINE (293466) is appointed Honorary Colonel, 153 (High-land) Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport (Volunteers), T.A.V.R., 1st Sep. 1976, in succession to Lt.-Gen. Sir Derek LANG, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C. (56733), tenure expired.

 

London Gazette : 30 December 1941
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35396/page/7339/data.pdf


https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35396/page/7349/data.pdf

 

London Gazette : 24 June 1943
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36065/supplement/2853/data.pdf

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36065/supplement/2859/data.pdf

 

Recommendation for Award for Lang, Derek Boileau Rank: Lieutenant Service... | The National Archives
Reference: WO 373/60/592
Name Lang, Derek Boileau
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 56733
Regiment: Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
Theatre of Combat or Operation: Escape and Evasion and Special Operations
Award: Military Cross
Date of announcement in London Gazette: 21 March 1941

 

Recommendation for Award for Lang, Derek Boileau Rank: Temporary Lieutenant... | The National Archives
Reference: WO 373/51/326
Name Lang, Derek Boileau
Rank: Temporary Lieutenant Colonel
Service No: 56733
Regiment: 5 Battalion The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
Theatre of Combat or Operation: North West Europe 1944-45
Award: Distinguished Service Order
Date of announcement in London Gazette: 01 March 1945

 

• Lang, Derek Boileau (Oral history)
• REEL 1 Family and educational background. Period as adjutant of 4th Bn, Cameron Highlanders in GB, 1938-1939: involvement in territorial recruitment; reactions to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; mobilisation; attachment of regular units to 152 Bde; equipment taken to France; unsuitability of kilt on active service; lack of expectation of gas warfare. Recollections of period in France, 9/1939-5/1940: anticipation of hostilities; reactions to lack of Allied offensive actions; disarray of French Army; nature of Maginot Line and French attempts to impress British; preparing defensive positions in Pas de Calais; period in Maginot Line including attacks by German patrols, use of Gaelic to confuse Germans and casualties.
• REEL 2 Continues: exaggerated nature of fifth column fears; opinion of territorial troops; limited training possibilities. Recollections of operations in France, 5/1940-6/1940: German attack, 10/5/1940; move to Somme area and use of commandeered Parisian buses; attempt to eliminate German bridgehead and heavy casualties suffered in abortive counter-attack; reorganisation of unit; opinion of performance of French artillery and machine gun personnel; chaos during withdrawal; German aerial strafing; problems in distinguishing between civilian and military targets; policy of sacrificing 51st Div to preserve Anglo-French alliance.
• REEL 3 Continues: retreat through Dieppe sector. Recollections of action at St Valery, 6/1940: withdrawal from defensive perimeter; disorganised communications; attempt to reach British ships; boarding fishing boat; capture by Germans; German attitude and initial medical treatment; defensive perimeter; ignorance of overall situation; exhaustion of troops; effects of battle stress during campaign; opinion of French Army. Period as POW, 6/1940-11/1940: effect of hunger on personal morale; psychology of newly captured POW; escape and re-capture; second escape.
• REEL 4 Aspects of operations in France, 5/1940-6/1940: opinion of performance of German Army; lessons for BEF.

 

See also:

• Derek Lang - Wikipedia
• Sir Derek Boileau Lang - National Portrait Gallery
• Lt-Gen Sir Derek Lang - Obituaries, News - The Independent