Nazi ghost train
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The Nazi ghost train, also known as the phantom train, is the common name for a train that, at the beginning of September 1944, was intended to transport 1,600 political prisoners and Allied airmen held at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels, to concentration camps in Germany.
Background
[edit]
In 1944 Belgian prisons were over-crowded due to arrests of persons resisting the German occupation of the country. More than 5,000 prisoners (including more than 300 women) were transported out of Belgium to concentration camps in Germany prior to the Nazi ghost train.[1] By early September 1944, 1,538[2] political prisoners and fifty-three allied airmen[3] shot down and taken prisoner were incarcerated in Saint-Gilles Prison in Brussels. The nationalities of the prisoners included Belgians, French, Russians, Americans, Canadians, and British.[4]
On 1 September 1944 the British army was approaching Brussels and it was obvious that the city would soon fall to the Allies. At the same time that the Germans were attempting to send the prisoners to Germany the German army was abandoning Brussels.[5]
Role
[edit]The train was intended to transport the political prisoners and Allied airmen held at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels, to camps in Germany. Its mission was thwarted by Belgian railway men who delayed the progress of the train for so long that, with the approaching Allies entering the city, the Germans abandoned the idea. They released the political prisoners (but not the Allied POWs) at Klein-Eiland/La Petite-Ile station in Brussels, using the train instead to take troops back to Germany. Note that 'ghost train' is something of a misnomer since both the Germans and (especially) the Belgian railway workers knew exactly where the train was at all times.[3]
Description
[edit]
The train itself comprised thirty or so goods wagons formed up by the German SS troops at Bruxelles Midi Railway Station.
The train had been scheduled to leave in the early morning of Saturday 2 September 1944 but was delayed by railway workers until nearly five o'clock in the afternoon. Further delaying tactics resulted in the train only getting as far at Mechelen that evening and then diverting to Muizen for water replenishment. On leaving Muizen station next morning, further problems (mostly due to sabotage) were encountered and the train eventually returned to Klein-Eiland/La Petite-Ile at 10:15 Sunday morning. More (deliberate) confusion resulted in the locomotive for the train being detached and no suitable replacement being found. Following negotiations with various officials, including the Red Cross, the political prisoners were released from the train at 12.30 and the Germans took the train over for their own troops that afternoon. The train only got as far as Schaerbeek that evening before it was shunted into the railway yards there. In the confusion, several wagons, including the one holding the POWs, were derailed and abandoned. The POWs escaped in small groups throughout the night.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Phantom Train Reports by C. Lokker and Anne Brusselmans". WWII Netherlands Escape Lines. Retrieved 10 October 2024. Translation of Des Batons dans les Roues (1985), Brussels by C. Lokker
- ^ Clutton-Brock, Oliver (2009). RAF Evaders. London: Grub Street. p. 314. ISBN 9781906502171. Estimates vary of the number of prisoners.
- ^ a b "Allied Airmen on the Phantom Train". WWII Netherlands Escape Lines. Retrieved 10 October 2024. Estimates of the number of prisoners vary. A list of 53 Allied airmen on the ghost trains seems the most accurate.
- ^ Verstraeten, Walter. "Minute-by-Minute Account of the Phantom Train". WWII Netherlands Escape Lines. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ Daley-Brusselmans, Yvonne (2001). Belgium Rendez-Vous 127 Revisited. Manhattan, KS: Sunflower University Press. pp. 112–115. ISBN 0897452550.
Further reading
[edit]- Lokker, Claude (1985) "Des bâtons dans les roues : Les cheminots belges durant la deuxième guerre mondiale".
- Clutton-Brock, Oliver (2009) "RAF Evaders - The comprehensive story of thousands of escapers and their escape lines, Western Europe. 1940-1945".
- MI9 and IS9 escape and evasion reports from the National Archives, Kew.
- MIS-X escape and evasion reports from the US National Archives, Maryland.