The Vatican Pimpernel (19 page)

One of the trickiest cases they had to deal with was that of Paul Freyberg, a young Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, the son of General Freyberg. Paul had been captured near Anzio on the night of 7 February but had managed to make his escape two nights later and went into hiding with some Italian refugees who were sheltering from the Allied bombings. One of these was an elderly Italian who had lived for quite a while in America and so spoke English fluently. Freyberg found it impossible to penetrate German lines to reach his colleagues so this elderly Italian gave him civilian clothes and advised him to make for Castelgandolfo, which was only a few miles from where they were in hiding. He reached his destination some days later. Seeing the proclamation on the wall of the estate that this was papal property, he claimed sanctuary and was admitted. For the German authorities, his recapture would have been a great propaganda coup whereas for their counterparts in the Vatican, his presence on papal property was a potential source of embarrassment, if it became known. So, while some at least in the Vatican may have disapproved of O'Flaherty's activities, on this occasion they sought his assistance. The difficulty was that the Germans were located in strength between Castelgandolfo and Rome. An official Vatican truck made routine calls to the papal villa with supplies for staff and usually was allowed through unhindered because the personnel at the German checkpoint were very familiar with the routine. O'Flaherty organised for Freyberg to be taken the eighteen miles to Rome in the boot of the truck on its return journey and was brought safely into the Vatican.

As it happened, Freyberg was about to celebrate his twenty-first birthday and so a little party was arranged, to be held in the British Legation. A surprise visitor, much to Derry's delight, was John Furman whom he had not met since his escape from captivity. Furman had called into the German College and there had met Princess Nini, the first of O'Flaherty's unofficial guests, and the person who spent her time arranging for false papers.

Some time later another voice from the past made contact. Renzo Lucidi answered his phone and was surprised to hear the voice of Joe Pollak. Pollak said he was at the Via Chelini flat. This was a bit of a shock because the flat and the one at Via Firenze had been abandoned and there was a belief within the organisation that the person who had rented the flat on behalf of Monsignor O'Flaherty, a Dr Cipolla, was actually a double agent working for the Germans. In fact, Pollak had achieved a miraculous escape. He was taken to Sulmona, as the group had learned, and there was charged with being a traitor and a spy. However, he managed to recognise a German officer who was in a position to testify that he was in fact a prisoner of war and so his sentence was reduced to that of imprisonment in the camp. Pollak was to be moved to Germany. At the very moment they were being loaded onto a train to go to Germany, the RAF bombed the station at Aquila and in the confusion he was able to escape. Using his excellent Italian, he managed to secure a lift in a lorry heading for Rome. They were stopped at a checkpoint but Pollak managed to slip over the side of the lorry as it halted and he crawled underneath. The driver and Pollak's companion were arrested and the lorry was taken to the nearest German barracks with Pollak clinging to the underside. Just as it reached the barracks it had to slow down at a sharp turn, where he dropped off unnoticed and walked into Rome. As he was not up to date with recent developments, it was an obvious move for him to go to the Via Chelini flat. As it happens, his appearance was a fortunate development for Dr Cipolla because the doctor was looking for a means to get back on good terms with the escape organisation. The arrival of Joe Pollak afforded him the opportunity to do just that. He was treated with suspicion thereafter but did not betray any member of the organisation.

Of course, daily life in Rome was not without its lighter moments:

By the middle of March 1944, the organisation was huge. The total number of escapees and evaders whom they were looking after had increased to 3,423 and the number of accommodations in use in Rome was approximately 200. The organisation was spending three million lire a month (then the equivalent of about £10,000 or, in current terms, over €400,000). Among those being provided for in the countryside around Rome were approximately 400 Russian escapees who were being looked after by Monsignor O'Flaherty through a Russian priest, Fr Bezchctnoff, assisted by two Russian women who had formerly served in the Red Cross.

Occasionally, the position eased somewhat as the organisation was able to assist some hundreds of escapees to make their way out of Italy. At the same time, new cases were coming to their attention and as the numbers increased the financial burden also grew. Also growing was the frustration of the German and Fascist authorities. As we have seen, O'Flaherty understated the risk to himself on all occasions and we can never be sure how many near misses he had. As Lieutenant William Newnan of the United States army describes it:

The Monsignor was a long time personal friend of Éamon de Valera. Indeed when de Valera made his first visit to Rome as Taoiseach, it was O'Flaherty who looked after him and showed him around. Long after the War, the family made a visit to de Valera, who by then was President, in Áras an Uachtaráin. The Monsignor's nephew recalls him telling the President the details of one episode which he used to illustrate the way some German officers interpreted their instructions literally. It seems an officer and a number of German soldiers were sent with an instruction to arrest the Monsignor in a particular house in Rome. However, the Monsignor left a couple of minutes before they arrived and he actually passed them on the street. He was quite satisfied that they recognised him but the officer, interpreting his instructions exactly, took no action.

We know, however, that Kappler made at least three very organised and determined efforts to capture the Irishman over a period of months. The first involved an Italian peasant, one of the men who came into Rome each day with supplies for the market and often assisted the organisation in transporting men or money. He was captured and tortured by the Gestapo. However, he was promised his freedom if he would lure O'Flaherty out of the Vatican, on the pretext that he wanted to bring the Monsignor to somebody who needed his assistance. The peasant agreed to participate in this scheme. He sent a message that he wanted to see O'Flaherty and was told to call in to St Peter's Square to see the Monsignor. The next day he went into the Vatican where O'Flaherty stood in his usual position at the top of the steps. The square was unusually quiet on that morning at around 8.00 a. m. when the peasant arrived. The Monsignor was able to see a black Gestapo car near the white boundary line between the Vatican and Rome. Also watching was John May who was extremely suspicious that this was a trap and was taking a keen interest in developments. Standing beside were some Swiss Guards who were ready to intervene should the Germans try to cross the boundary. There were three men inside the car. May noticed that, unusually, the engine was kept running. The peasant started to walk across the square, not looking at the Monsignor, but occasionally casting a glance back over his shoulder at the Germans. Three times the peasant approached O'Flaherty, but on the first two occasions he did not look at the Monsignor, and merely walked past. On the third occasion he looked straight at O'Flaherty, and obviously having second thoughts as to the venture he was involved in, immediately turned and ran into a narrow side street beside the Holy Office and made his escape.

The second attempt involved a helper of the organisation named Grossi who had been involved from the very early days. Again the Gestapo had captured him and a combination of torture and bribery persuaded him to agree to betray O'Flaherty. Grossi at that stage was providing a billet for two escapees and Kappler was well aware of that fact. However, he arranged for the accommodation not to be raided to ensure that O'Flaherty would not be alerted to the fact that Grossi was now cooperating with the Gestapo. Grossi came to visit O'Flaherty and told him about escapees who were hiding in a location about thirty miles from Rome. He needed assistance to get them into Rome and he asked for O'Flaherty to go out and visit the group. Grossi informed the Monsignor that one of the escapees was sick and transport would be a problem. Without discussing the case with Derry, O'Flaherty agreed to help by going out to say Mass later that week near where the escapees were hidden and bring back the sick man. The remainder could follow. The day before he was due to go and say the Mass, O'Flaherty was in his room with a couple of his helpers. They were celebrating St Patrick's Day when the phone rang and after listening for a few moments on the phone he was heard to say ‘Alright, I understand … God forgive him.'
¹²
The call was a tip-off as to what was planned and so he avoided capture.

Kappler himself took a personal role in the third attempt to capture the Monsignor. He arrived one morning during March with two of his colleagues and examined the situation from the white boundary line. The Monsignor, who was in his usual position, was pointed out to the two men. Kappler explained to them that O'Flaherty was aware of the risk he was running if he came outside Vatican territory and even though he had done so on a significant number of occasions, they had failed to catch him. It was now necessary to lure him across the line. The plan was that the two men would attend Mass themselves later on in the week. On leaving the church through the door near where O'Flaherty regularly stood they were to bustle him across the white line and then let him go. He was then to be shot while escaping. Again, John May came to the rescue. He had got information from a contact named Giuseppe as to just what was planned. (Indeed, it was Giuseppe who had given the tip-off about the previous plan also.) He told John May that an effort would be made to capture and kill the Monsignor but he did not know the details. May suggested that O'Flaherty should stay off the steps and lie low for some time but the Monsignor declined to accept this advice.

The Monsignor was correct in taking this decision. If he disappeared from his usual location for a number of days, or indeed weeks, the problem would only be deferred and was likely to recur when he might not receive advance notice. O'Flaherty and May decided to go ahead and try to use the occasion to teach Kappler a lesson. At the Mass, Giuseppe managed to identify for May the two men. As we have seen, May seemed to have particularly close links with the Swiss Guards and indeed on this occasion they were, to all intents and purposes, following May's orders. The Englishman, in turn, signalled to four Swiss Guards who had appeared just inside the doors of the Basilica. Within a couple of seconds, the Germans found themselves with one Swiss Guard on each side and two behind them. They knew the game was up and left quietly with the Swiss Guards. So the two men and the four Swiss Guards, followed by May, walked out of the Basilica and passed O'Flaherty who at this stage was taking great enjoyment in the proceedings. For the two, there was no particular cause for worry as they presumed they were being escorted back across the white line marking the boundary between the Vatican and Rome. However, May had something else in mind and half way across the Piazza a word from him resulted in a detour being taken down a side street, but still on Vatican land so the German paratroopers on duty on the far side of the line were unable to intervene. In this side street May had arranged for a number of Yugoslav partisans to teach the Gestapo, and indeed Kappler, the lesson that he and O'Flaherty had agreed. They survived but were a very battered and bruised pair, as a result of their experiences, when they reported to Kappler the next morning.

However, the organisation suffered a serious setback when Br Robert was captured. He had been arrested in company with two Italians when he was visiting three American soldiers – Cain, Ashton and Schoenke – and one C. W. Gamble of the Royal Fusiliers, who had been in hiding in the countryside, just outside Rome. The soldiers were placed in a prisoner-of-war camp. The Brother survived because Koch reckoned that, under torture, he might disclose very valuable information. However, Br Robert's past activities as a pastoral clergyman came to his assistance. He told his captors that he had guided two people to an address in Rome at the request of a village priest and that this had been his only involvement. He also suggested that if the Fascist Gestapo cared to check, they would find he was well known to highranking German officers. Being a bit nervous of their German superiors, the Fascists checked this out. While working at a hospital run by his order, Br Robert had looked after German patients with as much care and consideration as he had looked after all others. The message came back to Koch that Br Robert had been very helpful to them and that in fact he was needed back at the hospital right away. He was released and once he returned to the hospital, contacted O'Flaherty. The Monsignor arranged for Br Robert to vanish and no member of the organisation met him again until the Germans had left the city. The two Italians were shot a week later, again highlighting the huge risks being taken by those who were helping Monsignor O'Flaherty.