Forgotten story of escape from Nazis found

Private Ray Bailey was captured in the summer of 1940 but was back home before Christmas

David Wilkins A black and white portrait photo of Private Ray Bailey wearing a suit. He has short tidy hair and looks very young. — Private Ray Bailey was captured in the summer of 1940 but was back home before Christmas

A British soldier’s handwritten account of how he escaped a Nazi prisoner of war camp during World War Two has been published after it was discovered at an auction.

Pte Ray Bailey, from Dunstable in Bedfordshire, was among the Allied troops captured by the Germans in 1940 after the French forces at St Valery-en-Caux surrendered.

The 21-year-old managed to escape captivity and travel 2,000 miles, through Nazi-occupied Europe, to Spain, where he was then transported back to his parents’ home in England.

His 80,000-word account of the experience was found in an online auction won by amateur social-historian David Wilkins, who has now published it under the title Blighty or Bust.

Local newspapers wrote about Pte Bailey on his return in 1940 but said they would not be able to publish details of his escape until after the war

David Wilkins A Dunstable Borough Gazette from December 13, 1940. There are several stories about the war on the front page. At the top a headline reads "Dunstable Soldier's Escape from Nazis" — Local newspapers wrote about Pte Bailey on his return in 1940 but said they would not be able to publish details of his escape until after the war

The 69-year-old, from Portland, Dorset, bid on the box of World War Two memorabilia without knowing exactly what the contents would be.

Inside, the diary collector found photographs, foreign currency and several notebooks that Pte Bailey wrote on his return to England in 1940.

He said: “When it arrived, I couldn’t believe the quality of what there was.

“Most published World War Two memoirs are written much later in people’s lives, but he was writing like you would write about a holiday you went on 18 months ago – he remembers it very clearly.”

“I don’t think there is anything from this early in the war written by a soldier ever to be found.”

David Wilkins won the memorabilia box in an online auction

David Wilkins A cardboard box full of note pads and newspaper clippings — David Wilkins won the memorabilia box in an online auction

Known to family as Ray, Pte Bailey was born in in 1919 in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.

The family moved during his childhood to Dunstable, where the family found work at Vauxhall Motor Works in neaby Luton.

In May 1940, he was part of the Kensington Regiment deployed to France to bolster to French army.

Allied troops were forced to surrender to the Germans on 12 June 1940 and the 270 men of the Kensington Regiment were taken to prisoner of war camps where they remained until May 1945.

Pte Bailey, who had managed to escape as he was being transported to the camp by ducking into a cornfield, was home in Dunstable by December 1940.

Over the next few years, he wrote a full account of his escape, the days he went without food and the people who helped him hide or move further through the continent.

The notebooks found in the auction included 80,000 handwritten words by Pte Bailey

David Wilkins Lined paper with neat handwriting in pencil. — The notebooks found in the auction included 80,000 handwritten words by Pte Bailey

Mr Wilkins wants readers to discover what happened to Pte Bailey during the rest of the war by reading the book.

He added: “I think anybody who looked at the original manuscript would think ‘people have got to read this’. It tells us something about the war.”

“My dad fought in World War Two. We never knew anything about what he did because he wouldn’t talk about it.

“That’s why this is so interesting – and to think it was written by this lad who had left school at 14. He clearly had a gift.”

The soldier is commemorated on both the Dunstable War Memorial and the Vauxhall Motors War Memorial in Luton

Danny Fullbrook/BBC Dunstable War memorial. A white stone structure with the dates of both world wards inscribed on it. A roll of honour is visible with many names. — The soldier is commemorated on both the Dunstable War Memorial and the Vauxhall Motors War Memorial in Luton

Raymond Tattle, historical officer of the princess Louise Kensington Regimental Association, described the story as “unique”.

He said: “This is somebody who worked as an apprentice at Vauxhall cars, probably has never been abroad before. His tenacity, initiative, cunning and daring allowed him to affect this escape.

“We have a regimental motto: Quid nobis ardui – which means nothing is too difficult for us. Raymond Bailey showed a true Kensington Spirit.

“The fact David managed to unearth these documents is quite unique.”

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.