The Escaping Club

In Short

This First World War memoir details the captivity and escape attempts of British pilot A. J. Evans. Confined in German fortress camps like the notoriously strict Fort 9 at Ingolstadt, Evans describes a culture of officer defiance involving smuggled maps, stolen oil lamps, and clandestine tunnel-digging. After a grueling trek across Bavaria to Swiss freedom, he is recaptured in Palestine, enduring brutal transfers through Turkish territory. Evans’s account endures because it balances tense physical danger with cool, dry humor, celebrating human resourcefulness under pressure.

The Story

The narrative begins with Captain A. J. Evans experiencing capture while serving as an aviator in the First World War. Transported into the German prison camp system, he quickly finds that his primary duty as an officer is to attempt escape. Early stints at camps like Gütersloh and Clausthal lead him to forge partnerships with fellow captives, planning routes via rail lines and river barges. Following a violent recapture where he barely survives an enraged guard force, Evans is identified as an incorrigible conspirator and sent to Fort 9 near Ingolstadt, an isolated, moated earthwork fortress built specifically to house chronic escapees.

Inside Fort 9, Evans enters a vibrant underground society where British, French, and Russian officers coordinate systematic defiance. The captives organize lessons, lectures, and sports to keep fit, while simultaneously conducting night operations to steal lamp oil, forge keys, and construct escape tunnels. Life inside the fort is physically harsh; severe winters freeze the damp masonry walls solid, and food rations drop precipitously. Despite these conditions, the prisoners maintain a relentless psychological warfare against their captors, subverting roll calls and forcing the German garrison into constant frustration.

When the German authorities decide to liquidate the camp and transport the British officers east toward Zorndorf, Evans and his companion Buckley seize their moment. Bailing off the moving train, they begin a perilous, multi-week night march across Bavaria and Württemberg. Armed with homemade rucksacks, compasses, and small map tracings, they sleep in cold woods by day and trek through farmlands by night, bluffing past local watchmen in broken German. They eventually navigate the missing links of their maps to cross the border into neutral Switzerland, where they are reunited with family and celebrated by exchanged Allied troops.

Their freedom is short-lived. Returning to active duty in the Middle Eastern theater, Evans is shot down and captured a second time—this time by Ottoman forces in Palestine. Plunged into a totally different captive environment, he faces erratic Arab escorts, dirty horse trucks, and harsh march conditions toward Constantinople. Despite the heightened psychological strain and foreign surroundings, Evans attempts further breaks, dodging guards near the Kishon marsh. Transferred deep into the interior to Afion-Kara-Hissar, he finds British prisoners living in dilapidated Armenian houses, constantly battling bedbugs, disease, and bureaucratic incompetence until the Armistice finally closes his war.

How It Unfolds

Captured behind enemy lines Following his downing at the front, Evans enters the German prison system and immediately begins planning evasions alongside fellow officers. He rapidly learns that every railway timetable, guard shift, and border route must be analyzed for vulnerabilities.

Confinement in Fort 9 Deemed a ringleader after early escape attempts, Evans is transferred to Ingolstadt's formidable moat-ringed fortress. He joins an elite community of Allied officers who spend their days playing sports and their nights stealing lamp oil to construct secret escape tunnels.

Fleeing the prison transport Faced with a transfer to a worse camp, Evans and his partner Buckley jump from a moving train in the dark. They begin a long, exhausting trek on foot across Southern Germany, living on meager rations and navigating by compass.

Reaching the Swiss border Bluffing their way past inquisitive local villagers and avoiding active search parties in the woods, the duo successfully slips across the border. They arrive in neutral Switzerland to celebrate their liberty alongside fellow exchanged soldiers.

Imprisoned in the Ottoman Empire After returning to action in Palestine, Evans is downed once more and captured by Turkish forces. He endures grueling transfers, unpredictable guards, and filthy conditions as he is marched toward Constantinople and later Afion-Kara-Hissar.

The People

• A. J. Evans: The resilient British aviator and narrator. He wants nothing more than to regain his freedom and return to active service, refusing to sit idle in captivity. His time behind wire turns him into a disciplined, resourceful strategist who handles extreme stress with detached humor.
• Kicq: A key companion during the early German escapes. He works with Evans to analyze guard patterns, plan train routes to Düsseldorf, and prepare specialized gear, matching Evans's calm determination.
• Medlicott: An audacious fellow prisoner at Fort 9. He works alongside Evans on high-risk escape schemes, enduring harsh prison fortress conditions while consistently seeking ways to outwit the German guards.
• Buckley: Evans’s partner during the long Bavarian night march. Driven by an absolute refusal to rot in a high-security northern camp, he endures severe starvation and exhaustion, maintaining his composure through tense confrontations with armed locals.
• Moretti: The brilliant chief engineer of the Fort 9 tunnel project. He manufactures false keys, steals timber from locked rooms, and designs subterranean shafts with meticulous technical skill.

In Its Own Voice

"I don't think there is anything that I have ever done quite so exciting as escaping from prison."

Evans reflects on the unique, lingering strain of acting normal right up to the second an escape attempt begins.

"We lived literally in a solid block of ice."

He describes the brutal winter inside Fort 9, where moisture froze solid on the interior masonry walls of their unheated quarters.

"In my opinion no prisoner-of-war has ever escaped without more than a fair share of luck, and no one ever will."

Writing after his successful crossing into Switzerland, Evans acknowledges the fine margin between freedom and failure.

What It's Really About

Beneath its adventurous plot, the book explores the duty of resistance under captivity and the mental fortresses men construct to survive confinement. Evans treats escape not merely as a physical exit, but as a moral imperative that preserves an officer's dignity and sanity. The narrative contrasts the bureaucratic discipline of the German prison apparatus with the improvised, anarchic creativity of the Allied prisoners. Ultimately, it poses fundamental questions about luck, individual initiative, and the psychological burdens borne by isolated individuals when stripped of standard military support.

Why Read It Today

The Escaping Club appeals to enthusiasts of First World War history, true survival stories, and classic escape narratives. Evans writes with dry, understated English humor that strips the narrative of melodramatic posturing, rendering high-stress escapes with calm, precise clarity. The reading experience feels intimate and brisk, propelled by the constant physical threat of discovery.

Readers should be prepared for period terminology, archaic place-names, and occasional non-English passages reflecting his captors' dialogues. Additionally, the second half introduces stark cultural biases of the era regarding Ottoman and Arab figures, reflecting the prevailing colonial attitudes of a early 20th-century British military officer. Despite these historical artifacts, the book's core—a thrilling study in human resilience, brotherhood, and clever subversion—remains deeply engaging.

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