
'Impossible' escape of SAS commando from Hitler's Gestapo revealed after 80 years: How lone WWII hero killed six Nazi soldiers to make mountain dash for freedom from surrounded farmhouse
Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant John Alcock appeared doomed when nearly 40 enemy troops surrounded the French farmhouse he was hiding in.
But he orchestrated a daring escape during a close quarters shoot-out, killing six of the enemy and leaping over a wall with his adversaries in close pursuit.
He then lay in wait in dense woodland and picked off the enemy one by one before carrying on towards the Allied lines on the French-German border.
The final dash for freedom saw him weave his way through German frontline positions in the Vosges Mountains, the most heavily defended lines in all of Western Europe, undetected.
Then he made the unorthodox decision of capturing an American machine gun post facing the German lines to prevent being shot in a 'friendly fire' incident.
The Dunkirk veteran's story has been told for the first time after 30-year-old manuscripts his son Graham wrote from conversations with his father about the mission came to light.
Graham Alcock also kept hold of his father's wartime archive and showed it to the historian and author Damien Lewis.
He carried out further research by trawling through the National Archives at Kew and has now published his latest book, SAS Great Escapes Four.
Mr Lewis said: 'It is one of the most epic SAS escapes of World War Two - an impossible getaway.
'There are so few veterans still alive today so it gets more and more difficult to tell these stories and it is a privilege to do so.'
Sergeant Alcock, a former 'butcher's boy' from Goole, East Yorkshire, was dropped behind enemy lines near Audviller in Alsace-Lorraine on September 15, 1944 as part of Operation Pistol.
The mission was to hit nearby railway lines and communications, then make their way to the American lines.
Sergeant Alcock led a four-man team, also consisting of Corporal Holden, Corporal Hannah and Private Lyczak, behind enemy lines with no transport and minimal supplies.
They did not have functioning radios and a storm which blew them off course meant they parachuted onto farmland with no cover to hide from the enemy.
Friendly farmers sheltered them before they planted explosives on a vital railway line which blew up a train near Insming, severing a German supply line and killing two officers.
The daring act meant they were firmly on the Gestapo's radar and relentlessly hunted from that moment forward.
They were hiding out in another farm when a couple of Polish workmen betrayed them and revealed their whereabouts to the enemy.
An hour later, two trucks full of German troops turned up at the farm and surrounded the farmhouse, leaving them outnumbered almost 10 to one.
Sergeant Alcock, knowing they would have to shoot their way to freedom, swiftly organised his men in the rear hallway.
Two Polish girls, who were loyal to the Allies and were staying at the farm, went out the front door to provide a distraction.
This crucially drew the Germans who had been hiding at the rear of the farmhouse away from their positions.
Seconds later, the Germans stormed into the farmhouse through the front door.
Sergeant Alcock and his men, with their pistols loaded, burst through the rear hallway door into the kitchen and shot at least six of them dead.
They then dashed out of the back exit and hurdled a wall before running into the forest.
When they got a certain distance inside, Sgt Alcock ordered them to take their positions and shoot anyone approaching.
Three more Germans were killed in the ambush, which put other pursuers off from following them into the trap.
But they then heard two gunshots which were the Polish girls who had helped them being executed.
Sergeant Alcock knew that under Adolf Hitler's Commando Order, were they to be captured they would suffer the same fate.
On October 1, after two weeks behind enemy lines, and by now wearing civilian clothes given to them by a French farmer, they reached the German frontline positions.
Sergeant Alcock led them down a stone track and they crept across a canal before weaving a route around enemy trenches towards No Man's Land.
At this point, they spotted a hill in the distance which Sgt Alcock was convinced was held by the Americans.
But fearful that the American machine gunner on the hill would open fire on them, Sgt Alcock decided the best option was to capture the post.
Two of his men drew his fire while the others approached from the sides and captured the gunner, whose partner was sleeping alongside him.
They woke the sleeping soldier up and explained to their new prisoners that they were on the same side.
At Sergeant Alcock's request, he was taken to the US high command where he divulged valuable information about the German positions they had just passed.
The team had carried on doing sabotage operations, including cutting communication wires, right up until they reached the Allied lines.
Mr Lewis, whose book The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was made into Guy Ritchie's film of the same name, said: 'Somehow, against all odds, Sergeant Alcock had done it.
'He had let his men to safety through the lines, evading the enemy at every turn.
'It had been a little short of miraculous that they had managed to navigate their way through.
'Since they had been dropped neae Audviller on the night of September 15, their mission had been plagued by bad weather, lack of supplies and terrain that was crawling with the enemy.
'Even so, they had successfully blown up a train, causing an important German supply line to be severed, and had emerged carrying priceless intelligence on key enemy positions.
'And while they accounted for at least 11 enemy dead or wounded, not a single man on Alcock's patrol had suffered so much as a scratch.
'Operation Pistol had, in the main, been a success, scoring victories and gathering vital intelligence.
'Its sister mission, Operation Loyton, would become infamous, as 32 SAS soldiers were taken prisoner, and duly murdered under Hitler's Commando Order, many of them personal friends of Alcock.
'The courage, tenacity and strength of will displayed by Alcock and his comrades typified the esprit de corps of the SAS during the Second World War.
'There was no other unit quite like it.
'For the freedoms we enjoy today, we owe such individuals an immense debt of gratitude.'
Sergeant Alcock, who was Mentioned in Despatches for Operation Pistol, remained in the Army until 1966.
He then worked for the East Riding Education Service before his retirement in 1983, spending his final years in his beloved Yorkshire.
Sergeant Alcock died aged 78 in 1997.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
14 hours ago
- Reuters
Deported Venezuelan imprisoned in El Salvador files formal complaint against US
WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - A Venezuelan man filed a formal complaint on Thursday against the U.S. government for sending him to El Salvador's most notorious prison, a new legal strategy that could be duplicated by others who have said they were falsely accused of gang membership by President Donald Trump's administration. Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel, 27, filed what it called an administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, contending that federal employees wrongfully removed him from the United States without cause or due process. Rengel's complaint, which seeks $1.3 million in monetary damages, is not a lawsuit brought in a court but rather an action filed with the government alleging a violation of law. It is the first of its kind brought by one of the 252 Venezuelan men who were deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March. He invoked the Federal Tort Claims Act, a U.S. law that allows people to sue the U.S. government for wrongful acts committed by federal employees acting within the scope of their employment. Under that law, a complaint must be filed with the appropriate agency before a lawsuit can be brought. The government now has six months to investigate and respond to Rengel's complaint. If it denies his claim or fails to respond in that time period, Rengel could then sue in federal court. The Republican president, who campaigned in last year's election on a pledge of mass deportations, in March invoked a 1798 statute called the Alien Enemies Act as part of an effort to quickly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. The law authorizes the president to deport, detain or place restrictions on individuals whose primary allegiance is to a foreign power and who might pose a national security risk in wartime. The U.S. government last invoked the Alien Enemies Act, which historically has been employed only during wartime, during World War Two to intern and deport people of Japanese, German and Italian descent. The Venezuelan deportees were held incommunicado in El Salvador's maximum security CECOT prison until they were returned to Venezuela last week as part of a prisoner swap between the United States and Venezuela. Family and friends of some of them said the deportees were not gang members and were wrongly accused based on tattoos, hand gestures and clothing. Venezuelan government officials and deportees have said they were tortured in prison. Rengel's lawyers said in the complaint that, because of his tattoos, DHS employees detained him in the parking lot of his apartment in Irving, Texas, and falsely accused him of membership in the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement on Thursday reiterated the U.S. government's claim that Rengel was associated with Tren de Aragua and said he was "deemed a public safety threat." McLaughlin said Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "will not allow foreign terrorist enemies to operate in our country and endanger Americans." Rengel alleged that, after moving him to a detention center, DHS employees lied to him, telling him he was being sent to Venezuela. "Instead, for more than four months, Rengel languished in El Salvador – which is not his country of origin and a place where he has no ties – where he suffered physical, verbal and psychological abuse," the complaint said.


Daily Mail
19 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Amateur prankster's dangerous bid to 'win' Tour de France stage ends VERY painfully - courtesy of a security guard
An amateur cyclist who dangerously tried to cross the finish line of the Tour de France moments before the race leader has been taken into custody after being sent to the floor by a security guard. The prankster, dressed in full cycling attire, hopped over security barriers and attempted to cross the finish line at the end of stage 17 on Wednesday, before a member of the security team tackled him to the concrete. In a video published to social media, the individual - who is understood by French media to be a 31-year-old man from Montelimar - explains his bid to hop the fence and finish the race in front of the peloton. Referring to the race leader, the man tells the camera: 'He thinks he's the one who's going to cross the finish line first, he doesn't know that there's a guy with a bike just behind a barrier who's going to win the race. I'm going to win the race.' The man was dressed like a professional cyclist, sporting a Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team jersey and a black helmet on his head. The video ends with the prankster jumping the barriers and cycling down the track while a sea of spectators watch on, bemused. L'interception en vidéo (via @tv2danmark et @/nikolab2e sur tiktok). #TDF2025 — Paul Moutarde (@PaulMoutarde) July 23, 2025 An amateur cyclist who dangerously tried to cross the finish line of the Tour de France moments before the peloton has been taken into custody As soon as staff noticed the dangerous track invasion, multiple security guards rushed out towards the finish line to stop him, concerned for the safety of the athletes competing. Although the incident was not captured initially by television cameras, footage was later released to social media showing the amateur cyclist's downfall. As he closes in on the finish line, the man managed to swerve the first security guard, who struck him hard on the back, before being stopped by the second. The 17th stage of cycling's most prestigious race was eventually won by Jonathan Milan, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Lidl–Trek. Slovenian Tadej Pogacar is currently sitting atop the overall leaderboard, with Jonas Vingegaard serving as his closest challenger as the race reaches the French Alps for the first time this year at the 18th stage. Reacting to the incident on X, formerly Twitter, users were quick to admonish the actions of the protestor. One user wrote: 'Hahahah what a loser'. A second added: 'Crazy. The race is tough enough without the crazy protestors'. A further comment read: 'Absolutely destroyed his shoulder - that'll never be the same again. And probably deserved it.' It comes after cycling fans expressed their outrage earlier in the event after seeing the vantage point some spectators took to catch a glimpse of the second stage. That part of the race culminated in Boulogne-sur-Mer, located in the north of the country around 25 miles south-west of Calais. The race saw Mathieu van der Poel pip Tadej Pogacar in a sprint finish to give the Dutchman the leader's yellow jersey. Given the drama during the race, it appears that some fans were so eager to see it for themselves that they disregarded their surroundings to be able to watch it live. A clip posted to X, formerly Twitter, shows some fans gathering on the edge of a cemetery to be as near to the action as possible. That provoked outrage among many cycling fans, who felt the onlookers showed a lack of respect by doing so.


Reuters
20 hours ago
- Reuters
Ineos-Grenadiers says soigneur has left Tour amid 2012 doping questioning
COURCHEVEL, France, July 24 (Reuters) - A team soigneur, or carer, for Ineos Grenadiers has left the Tour de France after being asked to speak to the International Testing Agency (ITA) over allegations relating to the 2012 season, the British team said on Thursday. "Following recent media allegations, David (Rozman) has now received a request from the ITA to attend an interview. Accordingly, he has stepped back from race duties and has left the Tour," Ineos Grenadiers said, adding the team had not been presented with formal evidence or asked to participate in any inquiry. The ITA declined to comment and Rozman did not answer phone calls. Rozman was reported by the Irish Independent earlier this month to have exchanged messages in 2012 with a doctor linked to the Operation Aderlass doping scandal that shook the sporting world in 2019. German broadcaster ARD also last month reported exchanges involving Ineos, but did not name Rozman. Operation Aderlass involved a German physician Mark Schmidt, who had been giving illegal blood transfusions to athletes from various disciplines including cycling. Schmidt was later convicted and sentenced in 2021 to four years and 10 months in prison for administering illegal blood transfusions. The 2012 Tour de France was won by Britain's Bradley Wiggins with the team, then known as Team Sky. His former teammate Chris Froome went on to win another four Tour titles for the team. Soigneurs typically look after the cyclists, provide massages and carry out a host of other jobs for the team. Ineos said in its statement that it had commissioned an inquiry by an external law firm after Rozman informed the team of a first meeting with the ITA earlier this year. "Team member David Rozman was informally contacted in April 2025 by a member of ITA staff, who asked him about alleged historical communications," it said. "Although the ITA assured David at the time that he was not under investigation, Ineos promptly commissioned a thorough review by an external law firm," it said, without elaborating.