Nazi naval officer Theodor Anton Detmers masterminded a bold escape from a POW camp near Shepparton in 1945. The plot was months in the planning, with newspapers screaming that Nazi’s were on the loose in Victoria.
On a mild January night in 1945, Nazi naval officer Theodor Anton Detmers requested a weather forecast.
His Australian guard at the Dhurringile prisoner of war camp, housed in a mansion near Shepparton, was wary.
Detmers was cool and clever. An experienced tactician, 42 years old, he had commanded the bridge when the German ship Kormoran had fought and sunk HMAS Sydney more than three years earlier.
The Kormoran was mortally damaged in the fight and a bunch of Germans were taken prisoner.
That was how Detmers ended up in the camp, which was meticulously watched by Australian soldiers to prevent an escape.
The perimeter fence was covered with barbed wire, patrolled incessantly and eyeballed from towers around the clock.
Every ground floor in the compound had trapdoors so guards could inspect the soil underneath to make sure there was no tunnelling.
Listening devices were even placed in the ground near the edge of the camp so guards could hear any ambitious Germans digging for freedom.
When the guard told Detmers the weather forecast that January night, he had no idea what was about to transpire under the cover of darkness.
Read the article by Mitchell Toy in the Herald Sun.