Detective Inspector James O’Donnell QPM MM & BAR

The Remarkable Life Story Of A True Police Hero

James O’Donnell was born in Bolton, Lancashire, on 7 April 1911. He enlisted in the Irish Guards on 4 September 1929 and served at home for three years, mostly on ceremonial duties, and was appointed a Lance-Corporal. He left the Regulars on 4 September 1932, opting for a new career in the Blackburn Police, and in 1936 he joined the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

After the outbreak of war in September 1939, few policemen with Army Reserve obligations were recalled to military duty immediately. The police were considered to be a vital wartime frontline service, as it was expected that England’s cities would come under heavy attack by German bombers, resulting in extensive civil disorder, including roaming bands of looters. Also, there were thought to be many British Fascists and/or Nazi sympathisers who were ready and willing to aid the enemy. The police were given responsibility for registering all residents of the United Kingdom, issuing them with Identity Cards and hunting for traitors, spies and ‘fifth columnists.’ After four months of ‘Phoney War’ the government’s initial fears had subsided. O’Donnell returned to army service, joining the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards on December 4 1939. An intelligent and disciplined man, he was advanced to Lance Sergeant. According to the obituary written by his Regiment, he had a “ready and warm smile and general friendly disposition.”

‘Harpoon Force’ – Operation Harpoon: Holland during the Blitzkrieg Invasion

At dawn on 10 May 1940, Hitler unleashed the blitzkrieg invasion of the Low Countries. Holland and Belgium appealed to the Allies for help. Britain had made secret preparations, and early on 12 May 200 Royal Marines were landed at the Hook of Holland, where the Maas/Rhine river enters the North Sea, to secure a port and a bridgehead. A day later, ‘Harpoon Force’, a 650 strong composite battalion of 70% Irish and 30% Welsh Guards, was hastily packed “as tight as sardines in a tin”, on to two Dover ferries. After a rough crossing, they disembarked at Hook of Holland at dawn on Monday 13 May.

Harpoon Force’s orders were to safeguard the Dutch government and to accept only further instructions that would come direct from the War Office. Winston Churchill had two objectives in mind when he authorized Operation Harpoon, shortly before taking over as Prime Minister: 1) To secure, rescue and evacuate the Dutch Royal Family and Government; 2) To seize and bring to England the Dutch Gold and Currency reserves, plus as much as possible of the huge quantities of gem and industrial diamonds which the Germans confidently expected to capture in Holland and then exploit to support the Nazi war effort.

As O’Donnell landed, he and his comrades could see a deep red glow in the eastern sky. It was not the sunrise but the flames from Rotterdam, which had been heavily bombed. Enemy aircraft were overhead. The Hook of Holland was a clear and well-defined target for aerial attack. The Guards Companies created a defensive perimeter on the outskirts of the town and set up several anti-aircraft posts (a Bren gun on a tripod mounting, one of which was commanded by Lance Sergeant O’Donnell) as well as Mortar and Anti-tank positions, as German tanks were reported as advancing from Rotterdam. Battalion Headquarters contacted the British Military Attaché at The Hague, who stressed the vital importance of both holding on to the road from The Hague to Hook of Holland and of keeping the port open. This was easier said than done, as roads were choked with panic-stricken civilian refugees, parties of German paratroopers, some wearing Dutch army uniforms, were roaming the countryside and Dutch Nazi sympathisers in the town sniped at the Guardsmen. Fortunately, there was an extensive ground mist, though this burnt off as the sun rose higher in the sky. Crates of diamonds, secured by a British Intelligence operation, began to arrive and were loaded onto the destroyers Windsor & Hereward.

‘The troops remembered the Commanding Officer appearing about noon and saying: “This is the main road to The Hague and in a short time eight large black cars will arrive. The first two will be carrying the Dutch Royal Family, the next three will be members of the Dutch government and the last three will be carrying members of the Diplomatic Corps. Those eight cars are all you and your platoon are allowed to pass through to the harbour. You turn back all other cars that come.” Dutch motor-cycle outriders cleared the road to make way for a convoy of about twenty long black cars. The Irish Guardsmen lined the road, bayonets fixed, gave a smart royal salute as the first two cars swept by, then, after the eighth car had passed, closed ranks at the double to block the road, taking up the ‘on-guard’ position. The next two cars tried to force their way through. The front tyres we’re shot out. A man with no badges of rank but claiming to be a general threatened to shoot one of the men with his pistol, but was still not let through, and so the remaining cars turned and went back up the road to The Hague.’ (Fortress Hook of Holland: Operation Harpoon 13-15 May 1940 Irish Guards Regimental Journal 2000 refers).

Towards six in the evening of 13 May, another convoy of official cars arrived, bringing the remainder of the Dutch government and Diplomatic Corps evacuees. As the cars passed into the British perimeter, the Luftwaffe’s Stuka dive-bombers arrived in force They began their attack dives, sirens screeching, singling out the Guards’ anti-aircraft posts for special attention. ‘The anti-aircraft gun posts came into action at once. They were necessarily in very exposed positions, but they fired continuously throughout the raid. Lance Sergeant J. O’Donnell’s A./A. post was particularly exposed, but he stood to his gun, pumping a steady stream of tracer, till he collapsed badly wounded by machine-gun bullets. This air-raid killed seven Guardsmen and wounded twenty-three. Three of the casualties [including O’Donnell] were wounded some distance from the Regimental Aid Post. A local doctor treated them and then, with the best intentions, drove them to hospital in The Hague, where, unfortunately, the Germans collected them.’ The History of the Irish Guards in the Second World War refers)

After another heavy air attack the next day, Harpoon Force, having achieved its objectives at the cost of 11 dead, 24 wounded and three taken prisoner, carried out demolitions in the port and boarded destroyers bound for Dover. The Dutch civil leadership and large quantities of the diamonds used in industrial tooling (which would have enabled German war production to be greatly boosted) had been snatched from under the noses of the enemy.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, and try again: a Second MM for ‘the Great Escaper’

A CID colleague, who worked alongside Detective Inspector O’Donnell for over 15 years, stated: ‘Of his military service I know much, but can say little, except that even as a prisoner of war he contrived to assist his country’s war effort at great personal risk to himself and with complete disregard for the consequences of his activities.’ Based on material contained in a secret MI9report, it is thought that this refers to O’Donnell’s role in the covert identification and investigation of suspected British traitors and stool-pigeons run by the Germans at his POW camp, and in keeping a wary but discreet eye on ‘doubtful characters’. O’Donnell’s training and experience as a police detective would have made him ideally suited for this work. However, it had to be undertaken in conditions of the utmost secrecy, both as a security measure and to avoid lowering the morale of his fellow captives. The CID colleague could also have been referring to O’Donnell’s remarkable tally of nine failed escape/evasion attempts (two in 1940, one in 1942, 3 each in 1943 and 1944), followed by a successful tenth escape in 1945, which resulted in the award of a Second Award Bar to his MM The Recommendation for the award of the Bar, based mostly on the ‘pink slip’ summary of his MI9 debriefing form, explains each attempt.

While Harpoon Force was re-embarking at the Hook of Holland, O’Donnell, still suffering from the effects of his gunshot wounds, discharged himself from hospital and made an unsuccessful attempt to seek sanctuary for all three wounded Irish Guardsmen at the American Legation at The Hague. He returned to the hospital to help nurse the most seriously injured of his comrades, a man with a major stomach wound, and was still there when the hospital was taken over by German troops on 15-16 May. After a while, the Germans pronounced him fit enough to travel. He was sent across Germany to Stalag 20A, at Thorn in German-occupied Poland. Stalag 20A was a complex of obsolete 19th century forts encircling Thorn city, with about 200 satellite work camps for labour units. From June 1940, some of the old forts housed British troops captured in Norway, Belgium or France.

The British prisoners lived in the old forts’ barracks and casemates, about 30 men to a room. In accordance with the Geneva Convention, prisoners below the rank of sergeant were required to work and were attached to Arbeitskommando (labour units). The daily ration was “one litre of very weak soup and a piece of brown bread the size of a tin of corned beef… Most of us most of the time were damned starving and in pretty poor condition… most chaps were sent out to work which was either a good thing or a bad thing depending on what and where the work was. If it was making roads in the middle of nowhere without any hope of stealing, begging or bartering for extra food it was a dead loss as well as energy consuming; on the other hand if it was a job where contact could be made with Polish Civilians or sympathetic German soldiers there was always a chance of getting extra grub, cigarettes etc.” (My 21st Birthday in Prison Camp Thorn Fort 13 Stalag 20A by Harry Lazenby POW 5774 refers). As a Lance Sergeant of the Guards, under British Army rules O’Donnell enjoyed the privileges of a full Sergeant, and it seems that he was not forced to work on a regular basis. O’Donnell escaped from Stalag 20A in August 1940, posing as a member of an Arbeitskommando. He was recaptured the next day.

The MI9 report states that there was an Escape Committee at Stalag 20A, but it is clear that O’Donnell normally prepared his escapes independently and alone. He was older than most of the other prisoners, who tended to form tight-knit groups, as many had served together before they were captured, and as MI9 reported: “there were several senior W.Os. who discouraged all escape talk, as such activities would lead to the Germans imposing restrictions and curtailing existing comforts. Indeed, there were alleged to be certain prisoners who betrayed two escape plans to the Germans.”

In February 1942 O’Donnell allowed himself to be caught out of bounds so that he would be punished by being assigned to a working party. He was sent to a state farm work camp but his escape preparations were noticed and he was returned to his Fort. In August 1942 O’Donnell slipped away from his guards when working outside the camp and started walking to Warsaw, disguised as a Polish civilian. After four days he was recaptured.

In February 1943 he climbed the wall at Fort 13, but was quickly recaptured. By May he had again obtained a passport, clothing and money. He hid close to the main gate, and when it was dark, climbed over the wall and railings. He caught a train for Danzig but his forged passport did not satisfy a security official on the train. O’Donnell was then confined indefinitely in Fort 16, but managed to find Poles who were prepared to help him. He escaped in November 1943 by bluffing the guard and spent the next ten days in Thorn city, trying to obtain a satisfactory passport. He was recognised and recaptured by a Gestapo official who had caught him before. O’Donnell was guaranteed his passage to England if he agreed to collaborate with the Germans for six months. He refused this offer.

By February 1944 O’Donnell was ready for another escape. He and one companion hid in a load of Red Cross boxes which were being sent to another POW camp nearby. With the help of a Pole, they were hidden in a room attached to the German Officers’ Mess but, having failed to obtain forged papers, they decided to travel by train to Gotenhafen. They were discovered near Marienburg. When clothing was being moved from Fort 15 to Thorn in May 1944, O’Donnell hid in one of the sacks and escaped. He put up in a working parties’ camp so that he could forge papers and then set out for Danzig on foot. He was recaptured several days later. Later that year, he managed to pass into the German compound and climb over the perimeter wire. On this occasion he was free for four days.

On 21 January 1945 the Germans started evacuating Stalag 20A, moving the British prisoners westwards on foot. They marched 20-40 km a day, through two or three feet of snow and in freezing temperatures. Frostbite was frequent and many died from dysentery. Shootings and beatings were also frequent. In April 1945, O’Donnell escaped from the POW column. After eleven days he met advancing British troops in the Bergen area between Hamburg and Hannover in north Germany. Before being flown home, he witnessed the undiluted horror of Belsen concentration camp, shortly after it was liberated by the British.

O’Donnell returned to England on 23 April 1945, just after his 34th birthday. Following medical treatment and demobilization, he rejoined the Blackburn Police in December 1946. A year later he became Detective Sergeant and married a local girl. By December 1958, he was a highly commended Detective Inspector and the Head of the Blackburn CID.