brought strips of wood from broken provision
boxes with which to finish making the bridges.

Best of all they secured three pairs of wire cutters, one from a
Russian prisoner, and a second from a Russian attendant. The third
pair was made by one of the prisoners.

This secret collection was a constant source of danger, as the
prisoners were searched nearly every day. It is said that one prisoner
was given solitary confinement because a map was found sewn in the seat
of his trousers. Therefore, much of the work, such as bringing the
boards into the barracks and nailing the bridges together, was left
until the last. A month before they were to escape, they were
suspected and the guard was doubled. Still they worked on and hoped on.

Their plans were nearly completed when it was suddenly announced that
the camp at Villingen would be used in the future as a prison for
Americans only. All other nationalities would be transferred at once
to some other camp. This, the prisoners knew, would mean first a
thorough searching of every corner and crevice in camp. Thus it seemed
necessary to break away at once before this careful inspection should
be made, or they probably could not escape at all that winter.

For two days they worked steadily and carefully. Night was their best
time to escape, but somehow the electric lighting system, as well as
the electric current in the wire fences, must be shut off. To do this,
it was necessary to find strips of wire for making short-circuiting
chains. A few of these strips they cut from the fencing back of the
tennis courts. Most of them, however, were taken from the steep prison
roof where they were used to hold the slate tiles in place. Nearly all
of these wires were drawn out, so that if a whirlwind had suddenly
swept across the country, that roof would have been scattered in every
direction.

All this had to be done very quietly. One or two would work at it
while others attracted the attention of the Germans by creating some
excitement in distant corners of the camp.

The night before the camp was to be inspected, the break was made. The
sixteen men were divided into four groups of four each, one in each
group acting as a leader.

The first group, with Lieutenant Isaacs leading, was to get over the
two fences from the windows by crossing on the bridges. The second
group, led by Lieutenant Willis, was to cut its way through the wire
fences. The third had ready some l