The Great Escaper

JIM Mulhall should be a national icon.

Durham-born, he chased Mussolini’s armies through North Africa with the Desert Rats, fought in the Allied invasion of Italy despite suffering badly from malaria and, having been captured at Monte Cassino, tried to escape Nazi prison camps six times – finally winning his freedom with his final attempt.

Now in his mid-90s, he is, as one friend put it, “still on the ball mentally and physically”, an engaging and charming character, always ready with a smile.

Perhaps the reason his fame does not extend further, well known and respected though he is in his home city, is that he makes no effort to win others’ praise with endless stories of wartime derring-do.

Given that, it is most welcome that he has penned Jim Mulhall’s Military Memoirs – and typical of the man that he has done so not for personal gain, but in aid of charity: in this case the British Red Cross (BRC).

Military Memories is a fascinating, barnstorming romp through the Second World War, with brief sections on Jim’s life before and after too.

“By any standard this is a story worth telling and will be read by generations to come with awe and pride,” writes Lieutenant General Robin Brims in his foreword.

“The success of British Forces in World War 2 was built on the daring, determination and discipline of people like Jim.

“We are indebted to him for producing this account and insights, so that we can learn from him and live up to his standards in our lives.”

Born in Langley Moor in July 1919, Jim lived with his grandparents in Neville’s Cross after his mother died when he was aged just two.

He worked for the City of Durham Gas Company before enlisting with the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards on October 1, 1939.

Confident the war would be done in two years, he signed up for “the duration”.

Having landed in Sierra Leone, Jim was in Alexandria when the Italians began bombing in 1940.

Attached to the 7th Armoured, better known as the Desert Rats, he battled Rommel’s Afrika Korps through North Africa and with the 8th Army Group gained 1,400 miles in three-and-a-half months, inflicting 75,000 enemy casualties.

September 9, 1943, saw Jim join the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno.

By November, he was severely ill with malaria, but still asked to be sent back to his unit.

His capture came on December 29, with a German patrol leader uttering the famous words: “For you the war is over.”

Jim withheld and destroyed secret codes to protect his comrades – an act of bravery that earned him a smack round the head with a truncheon.

But it was in the prison camps, at Moosburg near Munich and Markt Pongau in southern Austria, that Jim really proved his mettle.

“Once a prisoner, escaping was totally all-embracing,” he writes.

“It was a battle of wits between us and the German guards. Escaping, like a profession, had to be worked at. I was always on the alert for possibilities and chances.”

Jim’s first escape bid came on January 28 during the chaos of a train bombing, when he fled barefoot, having had his boots seized for insulting a Nazi officer. He was recaptured the following day, discovered hiding in an outhouse near Lucano.

He tried again in August when, while working as a lumberjack at Bad Tolz in the Bavarian Alps, he stole a key and travelled through Austria posing as a French worker. At large for a week, he was eventually spotted by a local gendarme in Kundl.

The third attempt came in October, when Jim cut through the camp wire and boarded a train, only to bump into a German Alpine detachment a few days later.

February 1945 brought three freedom bids. Firstly he was spotted by a sentry and then officers looking for their lost football found him hiding in a trench.

But it was third time lucky and with the assistance of an Austrian family he reached the advancing US forces.

Even his repatriation was an interesting tale, as he travelled with Jimmy Graham, a member of the aristocratic elite, whose mother took the pair straight to London’s Dorchester Hotel for afternoon tea.

For Jim, who had never even set foot in a hotel, it must have seemed unreal.

Having been demobbed in February 1946, Jim returned to the gas company, married Vivienne in May 1947 and has lived in Durham ever since.

A happy reunion with one of the Austrians who helped him came after nearly 50 years when he visited Salzburg in May 1991.

Did he enjoy writing his memoirs?

“Yes, I had a lot of material to go at,” he said.

Jim Mulhall’s Military Memoirs is available from the Durham Light Infantry Museum and British Red Cross shops, priced £4.