announced his decision Hayes, interview.
led the party Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 39–41.
“Never mind. Just eat it.” Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans.”
Besa Robert Elsie, A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture (New York: NYU Press, 2001), 35; Robert Elsie, Historical Dictionary of Albania, 2nd ed. (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010), 218–219; Bernd J. Fischer, Albania at War (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999), 187; Norman Gershman, Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2008).
churning river Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 42; Abbott, Out of Albania, 36.
possibly Poshnje “Economic, Social, Political Conditions of Towns and Villages which the Party Passed Through,” Roll A6544, AFHRA.
retaliation Gavan Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania,” TNA, HS 5/124; Fischer, Albania at War, 190.
Owen, Hayes, and Abbott Hayes, interview.
led the party through the woods Ibid.
Watson kept thinking of the cake “Nurse Back with Army after Plane Is Lost in Flight,” Southtown Economist, February 2, 1944.
nearby stream Hayes, interview.
German patrol Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 44; Abbott, Out of Albania, 39.
stay near the roads Fischer, Albania at War, 197.
Borovë Roderick Bailey, The Wildest Province (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 62; “Memorial to the Victims of the Wehrmacht Massacre of Borovë,” Information Portal to European Sites of Remembrance, http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/1262/Memorial-to-the-Victims-of-the-Wehrmacht-Massacre-of-Borovë; Owen Pearson, Albania in the 20th Century: A History (London: Tauris, 2005), vol. 2, 258.
they would arrive in Berat Hayes, interview.
six B-25s Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 46; Abbott, Out of Albania, 41.
bombs exploding “Excerpts from operations report,” November 13, 1943, RG 18, entry 6, box 10, NACP; Kit C. Carter and Robert Mueller, comps., The Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology, 1941–1945 (New York: Arno Press, 1980), 215; Philip Adams, “Chronological Sequence of Events in Albania, from June 15 to December 31, 1943,” November 12, 1943, entry, RG 226, entry 154, box 17, folder 238, NACP.
facedown in a ditch Hayes, interview.
reminded Jens of home Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 46.
Chapter 6
[description of Berat] “Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra,” World Heritage Centre, UNESCO, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/569.
people cheered, sang, and waved Hayes, interview; Agnes Jensen Mangerich, Albanian Escape (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 47; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 43; Agnes Jensen, Richard Lebo, statements, Roll A6544, AFHRA.
Grand Hotel Kolumbo Ajet Nallbani, e-mail interview and photo of hotel, April 7, 2012.
Stefa Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 47; Abbott, Out of Albania, 46; Joan Fultz Kontos, Red Cross, Black Eagle (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), 95.
Stefa had remained in Berat Stefa family, written statement delivered to the author in person in Berat in March 20, 2012.
pool… money Hayes, interview. Abbott, Out of Albania, 48, 78.
Watson, in the hotel Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers.
Jens and Lytle Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 48–50.
Hayes was paired Hayes, interview.
milling about the town Ibid.; “Economic, Social, Political Conditions of Towns and Villages which the Party Passed Through,” Roll A6544, AFHRA.
tens of thousands of Italians SOE report, RG 226, entry 144, box 97, folder 1023, NACP; Bernd J. Fischer, Albania at War (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999), 164; Roderick Bailey, The Wildest Province (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 85; E. W. (“Trotsky”) Davies, Illyrian Venture (London: Bodley Head, 1952), 73.
keep themselves from starving Davies, Illyrian Venture, 74; “Economic, Social, Political Conditions of Towns and Villages which the Party Passed Through,” Roll A6544, AFHRA.
Between one thousand and two thousand SOE report, RG 226, entry 144, box 97, folder 1023, NACP.
a hundred Italians a day Fischer, Albania at War, 164.
Albanian bar Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 46.
raki “raki,” Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
[George’s home] Hayes, interview.
Jens and Lytle Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 48–50.
speech Ibid., 50–51; Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 47.
Vdekje Fashizmit… Liri Popullit Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 48; Owen Pearson, Albania in the 20th Century (London: Tauris, 2005), vol. 2, 205; H. W. Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet (1946), collected in The Seven Mountain-Travel Books (1983; repr., London: Bâton Wicks, 2010), 349.
Shqipëria Shqiptarëvet… Vdekje Tradhëtarëvet Pearson, Albania in the 20th Century, 210.
next two days Ibid., 54; Hayes, interview; Wilma Dale Lytle Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans,” Falmouth Outlook, May 18, 1964.
never come back Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 53.
“the GIs” Hayes, interview.
photographer Ibid.
[attack on Berat] Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 55–61; Abbott, Out of Albania, 49–59; Charles Thrasher, Richard Lebo, statements, Roll A6544, AFHRA. Though Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 57–58, reported that the party was aware that three nurses were missing, Hayes maintained that they did not discover the nurses’ fate until much later. Abbott, Out of Albania, 72, confirmed this. It likely would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to count heads on the crowded truck during the chaos of the attack.
[Hayes and Jens’s group] Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 61–63.
Siqeca Qani Siqeca to Eugenie Rutkowski, letter, September 17, 1998; Qani Siqeca to Harold Hayes, letter, March 10, 1997.
Chapter 7
memo Operations officer 61st Troop Carrier Squadron to commanding officer 314th Troop Carrier Group, memo attached to Missing Air Crew Report No. 1147, November 13, 1943, Roll A6544, AFHRA.
attended church services Untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA.
morale was low Untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA.
“The building housing” Untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA.
officially missing Ibid.
signed the reports William Eldridge personnel file, NPRC.
rushed them out Hayes, interview.
Hayes, Owen, and Ebers Ibid.
Qani, Jens, and the others Agnes Jensen Mangerich, Albanian Escape (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 64–68.
“Here they are!” Hayes, interview.
one partisan lying on the floor Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 67. Mangerich mentioned one severely wounded partisan who was shot in the leg, along with two other less injured partisans who arrived later. Siqeca mentioned that two partisans were injured. Hayes believes that by the time he, Owen, and Ebers arrived, there was only one wounded man, who’d been shot in the chest.
BK Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 66; Roderick Bailey, The Wildest Province (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 63. Mangerich referred to the BK as Ballista. Bailey listed a variety of names used to refer to the group, including BK, Ballists, Balkom, or as the British called it, the Balli.
Italian soldiers… following them Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 64. Mangerich mentioned the large group of Italian soldiers following them before they were caught in the shootout. She estimated the number at one hundred fifty men; Hayes estimated the group to number around eighty.
“Look back there!” Hayes, interview.
lights of Berat Ibid.
reached a village Ibid.
moun
tain telegraph Ibid.; Melville Chater, “Albania, Europe’s New Kingdom, National Geographic Magazine, February 1931, 175.
refused to let them stay Hayes, interview.
“onion strudel” Ibid.
walnuts Ibid.
Americans in Dobrushë Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 72–73.
saw some of their missing party Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 73–74; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 72.
three nurses [missing] Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 72–76.
Americans’ suspicions Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 72–76, 86; Abbott, Out of Albania, 64–71.
contact some of the British Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 77; Abbott, Out of Albania, 78.
SOE William Manchester and Paul Reid, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm, 1940–1965 (New York: Little, Brown, 2012), 273–274; Nigel Morris, “The Special Operations Executive 1940–1946,” BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/soe_01.shtml.
“set Europe ablaze!” Manchester and Reid, The Last Lion, 273–274; Morris, “The Special Operations Executive.”
offices [in Cairo and Bari] Bailey, The Wildest Province, 35, 200; Jon Naar (former Royal Artillery captain with SOE and military intelligence officer, who worked in the Cairo and Bari SOE offices), interview at his home in New Jersey on March 7, 2012.
“Thousands of Albanian guerrillas” Bailey, The Wildest Province, 128; “Aid for Albanians Cited by Churchill,” New York Times, November 5, 1943.
The day before the Americans crash-landed Bailey, The Wildest Province, 101–102; E. W. (“Trotsky”) Davies, Illyrian Venture (London: Bodley Head, 1952), 93–94.
kill a sheep Hayes, interview.
bottle of raki Ibid.
Zippo lighter Ibid.
tobacco Ibid.; “Balkan Escape,” Collier’s, April 1, 1944, 66.
fleas and lice Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 78.
“foot races” Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers.
books whose pages Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 84.
route was necessary Hayes, interview.
Owen had announced Ibid.
higher mountains Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 80.
streams Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 79; Abbott, Out of Albania, 71.
the GIs Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 82; Abbott, Out of Albania, 81.
shoes Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 83; Abbott, Out of Albania, 87.
clean bedding Hayes, interview.
red berries Ibid.
Hayes and Abbott Ibid.
crude bridge Ibid.
yelled across the mountains Ibid.
invaded Albania Ibid.
Hayes, Owen, and Wolf Ibid.
fourteenth day in Albania Ibid.
highly trained German soldiers Department Military Archive, Freiburg, RH-26-100-31, November 23, 1943.
Chapter 8
over several mountain ridges Hayes, interview.
village council Ibid.
Thanksgiving Ibid.; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010). Abbott’s memoir differs from Hayes’s account, but Hayes’s dates of when the party met the British in Lavdar coincide with the reports filed by the British. Agnes Jensen Mangerich, Albanian Escape (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), skipped from November 22 to November 29.
imam Hayes, interview.
Mecca John L. Esposito, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 103.
sacred stone Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 87.
curse Hayes, interview; Abbott, Out of Albania, 87.
Qani Hayes, interview
Mount Ostrovicë [and snowstorm] Ibid. Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 87–90, and Abbott, Out of Albania, 87–89, mentioned Mount Tomorrit, which is close to Berat and not near the villages of Faqekuq and Ceramicë, which Agnes Jensen Mangerich’s diary listed as the places they were before and after their crossing.
Cruise’s hat off his head Jim Cruise to John Graham, letter received February 3, 1995, from the John Graham family’s papers.
“Some of the girls were sleepy” “Balkan Escape,” Collier’s, April 1, 1944, 64.
lost her footing Hayes, interview; Welzel, “Wilderness Survival Trek Recalled.”
village council of Çeremicë Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 90; Abbott, Out of Albania, 90.
note from a British officer Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 91–92; Abbott, Out of Albania, 91–92. “American Nurses,” TNA, HS 7/70.
Not everyone knew right away. Hayes, interview.
OSS “What Was OSS?” Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/oss/art03.htm.
On November 27 David Brodie, “The Rescue of American Nurses from Albania,” in The OSS CommVets Papers, ed. J. F. Ranney and A. F. Ranney (Covington, KY: James F. Ranney, 2002), 28.
[Davies was alerted] E. W. (“Trotsky”) Davies, Illyrian Venture (London: Bodley Head, 1952), 67–68.
“an American aircraft” Davies, Illyrian Venture, 67.
forty-three-year-old Roderick Bailey, The Wildest Province (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 92.
Royal Ulster Rifles Ibid.
twice been awarded Bailey, The Wildest Province, 92.
“take all steps” Davies, Illyrian Venture, 67.
radiogram Colonel David R. Stinson to Major General Smith, Allied Force Headquarters, memo, November 29, 1943, Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation archives.
front-page wire story “13 U.S. Army Nurses Missing: Transport Plane Struck Bad Weather,” The News (Frederick, MD), November 29, 1943; “Plane Missing with Army Nurses Aboard,” Wisconsin Tribune, November 29, 1943; “13 U.S. Nurses Missing at Sea,” Las Cruces Sun-News, November 29, 1943.
devastating telegrams Adjutant General James Alexander Ulio to Ralph V. Hayes, telegram, November 26, 1943, Harold Hayes papers; Adjutant General James Alexander Ulio to Peter Cruise, telegram, November 26, 1943, James P. Cruise personnel file, NPRC; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 211. “Army Nurse Listed Missing,” Indiana Evening Gazette, November 30, 1943; Nolan McKenzie to Office of the Adjutant General, letter, January 2, 1944.
Watson’s husband of just a few months Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers.
“I don’t know what to say.” Nolan McKenzie to Harry and Leila Watson, letter, November 27, 1943, McKenzie family papers.
“Your grief is mine too.” Helen King McKenzie to Harry and Leila Watson, letter, November 27, 1943, McKenzie family papers.
Hayes’s mother… nightmares and premonitions Virginia McCall, e-mail interview, November 3, 2011.
sent their… son, Karl Karl Hayes, e-mail interview, November 7, 2011.
Adams “Adams, Brother of Wake Captive, Lost Near Italy,” 1943 newspaper article, NPN, Harold Hayes papers.
Schwant Bette Newell, e-mail interview, December 7, 2012; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 172.
As the weary party… left Çeremicë Hayes, interview.
they found the British soldier Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 95; Abbott, Out of Albania, 98.
Lavdar Hayes interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 95; Abbott, Out of Albania, 98; “American Nurses,” TNA, HS 7/70.
Victor Smith TNA, HS 9/1384/6.
dropped into Albania Ibid.
spycraft techniques Bailey, The Wildest Province, 60.
SOE personnel attended Bailey, The Wildest Province, 60; Nigel Morris, “The Special Operations Executive, 1940–1946,” BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/soe_02.
shtml.
same type of training Bailey, The Wildest Province, 60.
“just about the most useful course” Bailey, The Wildest Province, 52.
local touches Ibid., 53.
first mission into Albania David Smiley, Albanian Assignment (London: Sphere Books, 1984), 17–18; Bailey, The Wildest Province, 58.
four men had parachuted Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 17–18; Bailey, The Wildest Province, 58.
Commando Order Roderick Bailey, e-mail interview, November 19, 2012; David M. Kennedy, ed., Library of Congress World War II Companion (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007), 657.
concentration camp Davies, Illyrian Venture, 194–196; Bailey, The Wildest Province, 215.
trained some eight hundred men Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 67; Bailey, The Wildest Province, 77.
Of the first fifty Bailey, The Wildest Province, 90.
[agents in Yugoslavia, Greece] Ibid.
knew nothing of SOE Hayes, interview.
Lancashire Fusiliers TNA, HS 9/1384/6.
“Why did you bring these people?” Hayes, interview.
list of their names Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 96.
stay in Lavdar Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 96. Abbott, Out of Albania, 98.
maps Hayes, interview.
took baths Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 97–98.
Chapter 9
When Smith returned to Lavdar Hayes, interview; Agnes Jensen Mangerich, Albanian Escape (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 100; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 98. Hayes remembers that they spent two nights in Lavdar, November 30 and December 1, and arrived in Krushovë on December 2. Mangerich wrote that they spent the night of November 29 and November 30 in Lavdar and December 1 in Krushovë. Abbott indicated that they spent the nights of November 26 through November 30 in Lavdar and arrived in Krushovë on December 1. The available British records do not offer the specific date the Americans arrived in Krushovë.
left for… Krushovë Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 100–102. Abbott, Out of Albania, 99–100.
“Some individuals grated” Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 106.
The Secret Rescue Page 25