Pat Reid

Patrick Robert Reid, MBE, MC (13 November 1910 – 22 May 1990) was a British Army officer and noted non-fiction and historical author.

Reid was educated at Clongowes Wood CollegeFact|date=February 2007 and Wimbledon College. He was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps (Supplementary Reserve) in 1935 and promoted Lieutenant in 1938.

A British Prisoner of War, he was held captive at Colditz Castle. One of the 'Laufen Six', Reid arrived at Colditz in November 1940. Reid was one of the lucky few to escape successfully, although he did not return to England until after the war. He ended the war as a Captain. Reid died on May, 22 1990 aged 79.

"Colditz: The Colditz Story"

His memoirs of his time in Colditz were published in the book "Colditz: The Colditz Story" (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1952). This book was the basis for a 1955 film "The Colditz Story", directed by Guy Hamilton and with John Mills playing Reid.

Although focusing mainly upon life inside Colditz castle and the development of an 'escape academy', the final chapters of the book are devoted to Reid's own escape. He chronicles everyday prison life, in which characters such as Douglas Bader and Airey Neave appear with no special mention, reporting events in an anecdotal and almost comical style, including the building of a glider which went unnoticed by the Germans.

On 14 October 1942, Reid, along with Major Ronald B. Littledale, Lieutenant-Commander William E. Stephens, and Flight Lieutenant Howard D. Wardle, (Hank, to his friends) escaped. They slipped through the camp kitchens into the German yard, into the "Kommandatur" cellar and down to a dry moat through the park. Then they split into two pairs. Reid and Wardle took four days to reach Switzerland, Littledale and Stephens took five. What Reid does not mention in his book is that he escaped using the Singen route. This route into Switzerland was discovered by Dutch naval lieutenant Hans Larive in 1940 on his first escape attempt from an oflag in Soest. Larive was caught at the Swiss border. The interrogating gestapo officer was so confident the war would soon be won by Germany that he told Larive the safe way across the border. Larive did not forget and many prisoners later escaped using this route. ("Larive; the man who came in from Colditz", Leo de hartog; officieren achter prikkeldraad 1940-1945)

"Latter Days at Colditz"

Reid also wrote "Latter Days at Colditz" (Hodder and Stoughton, 1953).

Whilst his first book ended with Reid and Hank shaking hands under the first Swiss lamp post, the sequel follows the trials and tribulations of the escape committee until the eventual liberation of the castle by U.S. troops on April 15, 1945. It gives even more anecdotal insight into the events following his escape, including the French Tunnel and the Colditz Glider, or the occasion when the entire Dutch contingent unhooked their P.O.W. railway carriage from the rest of the train unbeknownst to the German guards. This last part of the Dutch prisoners cannot be confirmed by any Dutch reference about POWs. Reid probably refers to the mass escape of Dutch officers from train transports towards the end of the war when they were transported from Stanislau to Neubrandenburg.

Reid served as technical advisor to "The Colditz Story" movie and to the UK Television Series" 'Colditz' "which ran from October 1972 until April 1974.

Other activities

Major Reid also served as president of the Blackboys Cricket Club in Framfield, England in 1972.