The resistance created their very own trafficnet, where the users traveled almost blindfolded by the many secret roads and sideroads. He just had to trust his guides, wait for days without any explanation and stand up to detours, standstills and improvisations under way. Many people traveled through Denmark like that.

The American pilot Major McFarlane, who had to bail out over Lolland March 12th 1945 when his plane crashed, was one of them.

In his own words:

"My Mustang had been hit by ack-ack near Schwinemünde. But I figured I could make it home, it didn´t look that bad. But when I was over Lolland in Denmark, the red warning light came on. That meant that the engine was getting too hot. The cooling system had been hit! And I knew, that it was only minutes until my plane would burst into flames. I told my wingman my situation on the radio, opened the canopy, turned the Mustang upside down and bailed out...

I landed without a scratch on a plowed field, but I must have passed out, ´cause suddenly a man was standing above me, and asked in perfect english:

"Are you wounded? Is there anything I can do?"

I told him, that I was allright, but I sure could use a hidingplace. He said, that he could take care of that. .."

That was the start of McFarlane's underground travel. It lasted 19 days and brought him to Sweden and – from there - back to England.

He had landed in a small village called Søllested. The man who found him provided him with a raincoat, to hide his uniform and a boy guided him through a forest to a Boy Scout cabin. The same night McFarlane was picked up by a veterinarian, and, on bicycle they went to a small house some kilometers away, where McFarlane slept his first night in occupied Europe.

The next morning he met a young man, an electrician from Maribo. (The biggest city on Lolland) He took McFarlane's measurements and came back the next day with civilian clothes in the right size. Together they went to Maribo, where McFarlane was lodged at the local barber. During his stay there, he got false identity papers and was told to practice being deaf-mute. Just in case anybody should start talking to him.

After a week with the barber in Maribo, "the Electrician" and MacFarlane traveled to Copenhagen by train.

The first 3 nights McFarlane slept in an artist's home in Vesterbro (a part of Copenhagen), from there he went by tram to the northern part of Copenhagen, where he spent the night in a closed down gas station. The next morning a young girl –the daughter of a bank manager – woke him up and together they traveled to her family's home, where he stayed for the next two nights.

The next stop was in the flat of an elderly woman in Hellerup, where he stayed one night. He was picked up by two young men, and by car they went to a nearby harbor. In a building at the waterfront waited another American airman, unknown to McFarlane. They hid the whole day due to German patrols in the harbor.

Together with 3 other refugees – who turned up during the day – they were escorted to a fishing boat, where they slept for the night. The 3 refugees were with the danish resistance, but their identities were known to the Gestapo, so they were going abroad for some time, until things had cooled down a bit.

The next morning the skipper woke them up and guided them down in the maschine room of the ship, where they all hid behind a false wall. They could hear the german patrol getting onboard the ship for inspection. The germans also had a guard dog with them, but the skipper had spread some cocaine on the ships deck in order to dull the dogs senses, and the patrol never found the secret room.

The trip across The Oeresund went according to plan, and the British consul waited on the shore in Helsingborg harbor.

Altogether a hundred allied airmen were helped to Sweden during the german occupation.

TOURIST IN COPENHAGEN

During his stay in Copenhagen McFarlane got the chance to see Copenhagen as a tourist on sightseeing. Gerhard Krogh, -the electrician from Maribo - who travelled with McFarlane to Copenhagen tells the story:

"Mcfarlane of course got pretty bored during the long waiting time, so in order to cheer him up a bit, my girlfriend and I took him on sightseeing in Copenhagen.

I think we showed him almost all the sights, but his greatest interest was of course the German troops. He found it pretty amazing, that he – an American officer – could walk around among the enemy, without they knowing who he was.

It was some really exciting days for the three of us.

One afternoon we sat in a Cafe´ in central Copenhgen and had a cup of coffee. My girlfriend and I left the table in order to make some telephone calls. When we got back to the table my heart jumped several beats... A german soldier was standing in front of McFarlane! We realized that the soldier only had asked McFarlane for a light, and very cool McFarlane lit the german soldiers cigarette, without a blink!

Before he went on to Sweden, we had a couple of photos taken in the streets of Copenhagen. We all figured it would be rather fun to have this memory of an american tourist in Copenhagen during the occupation."

Pictures:

#1. McFarlane's false identity papers.

#2: Gerhard Krogh´s photo of his girlfriend, Ethly Schmidt and McFarlane arm in arm on Vesterbrogade in Copenhagen.

#3: A German Luftwaffe officer happened to step into the picture of McFarlane in Copenhagen. The German officer apologized becaused he got in the way. But MacFarlane loved it!

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