Eden Camp Museum in Malton gets rare Great Escape papers

Rare artefacts detailing the extraordinary life of Bertram Arthur ‘Jimmy’ James, better known as Jimmy James, have been given to a North museum.

A British survivor of The Great Escape, the documents detail his audacious escapes, daring efforts to get home and a narrow escape from execution.

Now Eden Camp Modern History Museum, near Malton, North Yorkshire, has been given an array of his artefacts including drafts and drawings of his novel, Moonless Night, and some information regarding the tunnels Tom, Dick and Harry from the Great Escape itself.

Jimmy James was an officer of the RAF who reached the rank of Squadron Leader. His great achievements and act of service he was awarded the Military Cross.

Jimmy was born in India, the son of tea-planter Herbert Mark James and his wife Elizabeth Isabella Loosemore. James was educated at The King's School, Canterbury.

Returning to London following his mother's death, Jimmy and his father started a tea importing business that suffered from the 1930s economic downturn and ultimately failed. Soon after, his father died of pneumonia which left Jimmy alone.

Read more: The 17 streets that have just won the Postcode Lottery - is yours listed

Recalling that he had relatives in the United States, he worked his passage on a coal ship across the Atlantic, often acting as pilot due to the drunken nature of the crew. Upon arrival, he soon realised that his relatives were also suffering due to the Great Depression that was sweeping across the US.

Work was scarce, but he managed to find a job acting as a security guard in a local bank.

"They gave me a gun and told me to watch the door. If anyone came through it, I was to shoot them," Jimmy recalled to his great friend, Howard Tuck.

He worked in British Columbia from 1934 until volunteering for pilot training with the RAF in 1939 after seeing a recruiting poster in Vancouver.

Taking another ship back to the UK, Jimmy soon found himself at the Air Force selection board in London before heading off for IOT (initial officer training).

Jimmy was initially commissioned as an acting Pilot Officer and was promoted to pilot officer (on probation) on December 9, 1939. That rank was confirmed on February 28, 1941.

He was also promoted to war substantive flying officer with effect from December 9, 1940. He was then posted to No. 9 Squadron at RAF Honington in April 1940 after completing his flying training.

He was a second pilot of a Wellington bomber when he was shot down over the Netherlands on June 5, 1940 and he was then taken prisoner by Germans.

Following his initial interrogation, Jimmy and a small band of others were taken to Berlin and paraded through the capital.

"It was a rather ghastly affair really. They weren't hostile, as the bombing hadn't really started, but we were rather curious to them, I suppose," he said.

From Berlin, Jimmy was moved to the notoriously Stalag Luft I at Barth on the northern coast of Germany. The camp was still under construction at this stage of the war and the reality was that the Germans were only slowly coming to terms with having Prisoners of War.

Within a matter of days, Jimmy and W/Cdr John Shore were planning an escape - the route was to be via the camp incinerator. Digging a highly audacious tunnel, John Shore managed to clear the wire and escape, whilst Jimmy was caught in the act and sent directly to the cooler.

Over the next five years, he made 13 efforts to escape from various prisons and camps, including Stalag Luft III, the site of the so-called Great Escape in March 1944.

As a central figure in the story of the Great Escape, Jimmy James, together with Peter Fanshawe, was largely responsible for depositing the soil from Tunnel Harry under seat 13 in the camp theatre - built by prisoners.

Jimmy James (Image: EDEN CAMP MUSEUM)

On the night of the escape - March 24, 1944 - Jimmy and his partner, Pilot Officer Sotirios (Nick) Skantzikas, were disguised as Yugoslavian workers trying to get home.

Known as the 'hardarsers' group, they and several others travelled south from the camp to the tiny rail stop at Tschiebsdorf about 8km south of Sagan.

After a treacherous night of walking through deep snow to reach Hirschberg, Jimmy and Skantzikas eventually found their way to Hirschberg West station. Whilst attempting to purchase a ticket south, the two were arrested by the Criminal Police and taken to the Gestapo Headquarters in the town.

Following a transfer to the local prison, Skanzikas was taken out to be shot, whilst Jimmy remained in his cell totally unaware of why he was saved from execution.

In Berlin, SS-Gruppenführer Nebe was ordered by Heinrich Müller, Chief of the Gestapo, to select and kill 50 of the 73 recaptured prisoners in what became known as the "Stalag Luft III murders".

Fifty were then executed, Jimmy being one of a handful sent instead to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

On September 23, 1944, Jimmy escaped from Sachsenhausen, accompanied by Jack Churchill, Harry Day, Johnnie Dodge and Sydney Dowse using small cutlery knives to dig an escape tunnel over 110 metres long.

On the run for several weeks, he was arrested in Pomerania before being transferred back to solitary confinement in Sachsenhausen.

Jimmy’s cell was tiny, just enough room to stand up and stretch. For over four months Jimmy suffered daily harassment from the guards, mock executions and, of course, virtually no food.

As the Red Army was approaching, the SS decided to move the prisoners further south. Following a torturous journey via Dachau and Flossenbürg concentration camps, Jimmy and other prisoners were moved to the South Tyrol where they were eventually liberated by partisans and US Army troops in May 1945.

After the war, he married Madge who was a nurse, after meeting in an Officers Club at Vlotho in Germany. Their honeymoon was a remarkable journey as they drove to the far tip of Norway in a former German Army VW Beetle.

Inside the treasure trove given to Eden Camp, there are documents and drafts of his novel Moonless Night and information in an appendix regarding the measurements of the tunnels, Tom, Dick and Harry.

There are also various cards exchanged between Jimmy and Madge that will be all held together in the collection at the musum, more information for which can be found here.

More stories here:

Darlington man claims he was 'attacked' by bouncer outside nightclub

Football fan left 'speechless' after Middlesbrough and England star turns up

County Durham bus operator explains why it's closing after 101 years of service

If you want to read more great stories, why not subscribe to your Northern Echo for as little as £1.25 a week. Click here