Did you know that among the images of Fold3’s WWII US Air Force Photos collection, you can find pictures of a group of 30 American servicemen and women who escaped from behind enemy lines in Albania in 1943-44?
The group of 13 flight nurses, 13 medics, plus 4 aircrew members set out by plane from Sicily headed to Bari, Italy, on November 8, 1943. But a storm, combined with a run-in with the Germans, forced their C-53 down far from their intended flightpath. When they exited the plane, they were discovered by some anti-German partisans who informed them they were in German-occupied Albania.
The partisans provided the Americans with food and shelter and agreed to help them escape the country. They walked the Americans from tiny village to tiny village through the mountainous, undeveloped Albanian countryside on a slow, cold trek.
The group was separated in the town of Berat when Germans invaded, but eventually everyone except three of the nurses were reunited. Since the group couldn’t go back to Berat, they had to keep hiking through the snow, narrowly surviving a blizzard.
The group made contact with some British officers in the country, who decided that they’d walk the Americans to the coast to make their escape. They were finally met by an American officer who had been sent into Albania to lead them out, and, under his guidance, in January the group finally made it to the coast and a waiting ship. They had been in Albania for 2 months and had walked somewhere between 600 and 800 miles with little food and no changes of clothing.
The three nurses that had been separated from the group in Berat made it out of Albania too, though not until March, led to safety by the same American officer who had helped the larger group escape.
View photos of the group upon their return to safety on Fold3. The photos include:
- The nurses and men being welcomed upon their return
- The crew of the British launch that rescued the group
- The nurses showing off their worn-out shoes
- 10 of the nurses posing for a group photo
You can also view the Missing Air Crew Report from when their plane went down.
Find more records from this and other World War II stories by searching or browsing on Fold3.
How great, that they made it out. Many thanks for their service and bravery.
The hazards they faced were monumental, but they did it and survived.
We applaude their acts of heroism, and thak God for their safe return.
Our family lost loved ones in that war.
There’s a great story of human determination and endurance. There story should be made into a movie. I had family members in both the European and South Pacific during WWII.
Both my brother and I served in Vietnam in the Marine Corps. I know War. It is no fun!
God bless you both.
What an adventure! Who was the Anerican officer who was sent to lead them out?
When is the book coming out?
About the footwear, I always believe that hobnailed boots were the ultimate soldiers footwear in WW 11. Well done.
What a story of determination and sacrifice. If it were made into a book, I would read it. If it were made into a movie and remained faithful to the truth I would watch it.Has anything else been written about this?
Found the book “Albanian escape”. Amazon.
Dear Fold3 folk,
I appreciate your postings of human interest stories from your collections. It’s a great way to make history come alive.
It sounds like the plot of a moved! I’m surprised a movie was not made.
I just found out my grandfather was a veteran from that Warren is in a book that they have made for that vetrans who made it through World War 11
There is a book by Cate Lineberry , The Secret Rescue
Interesting to read this great story. My mother, also an army nurse, QARANC, on her way back tobuk from service in Hong Kong after Ww2 travelling in military plane crsh landed in Burma jungle which was rife with dacoits an d instability. All survived the crash but had to trek out of jungle to eventual pick up by the RAF which got them to Calcutta. Local villagers helped them through the ordeal. My mother, typical of that generation, eschewed the dangers, -having witnessed so much through experience of war in Europe, the effects of internment of British families in Shanghai and having walked through the devastation if Hiroshima – she complained only the pain of her wisdom teeth bugging her at the time, she was then 24 years old! She is coming up 94 and still feisty!!
So Happy she made. Glad she could live a long life and Pray it wasa good life
God bless your Mom. What a role model you had.
My Dad’s co pilot is the one who flew that plane and my Dad was the only one directed to fly over the area they were going and look for them. My sisters sister in Law was one of the nurses that stayed behind. Very interesting and what a small world it really is.
If the name of the American officer was given here, missed it.
And I don’t suppose any of them ever met up again with any of the partisans.
Hello,you quite right they did not name the American officer who led them to safety.I should be interested to know as l am trying to trace my father during the ww11, He served with 3rd Mill Gov. from my research his worked via the OSS…His Name was Emanuel Alexander Lorenzakis rank Sgt.Time is short,so l hope,I can find more.The men and women showed so much courage, we owe them so very much. Kind regards Dawn Tizard
On an Aug 17 comment here, the name was given by the coauthor of the book Albanian Escape, as Capt. Lloyd Smith : “The American officer who was directed by OSS to rescue the nurses and the air crew was Capt. Lloyd Smith. I met and interviewed him in 1998.”
The nurses look fantastically healthy to have been through that 700 mile walk ! Much less if with little food.
The authors (Evelyn M. Monaghan & Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee) of the book Albanian Escape – the Story of U.S. Nurses Behind Enemy Lines, also wrote And if I Perish – Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II (2003)
I co-authored the book, Albanian Escape which was published by The University Press of Kentucky in 1999.
The American officer who was directed by OSS to rescue the nurses and the air crew was Capt. Lloyd Smith. I met and interviewed him in 1998.
If you are interested in the history of women in the U.S. military, you may want to read the other books I have co-authored about their service in the US Armed forces:
All This Hell: U.S. Nurses Imprisoned by the Japanese, U. Press of Kentucky, 2000
And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II, Alfred A. Knopf, 2003
A Few Good Women: America’s Military Women From World War I to the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , 2010.
Like much of women’s history, the history of military service of U.S. women as been obscured. It’s heartening to read some of your comments about the military service of members–including women– in your families.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE AMERICAN OFFICER THAT WALKED THEM OUT?
These were some very though ladies. 800 miles in mountainous terrain, no change of clothes and very little food in cold weather. I was a US Army Ranger and I know from person hardship that what these women accomplished was remarkable. I would hang with them anything…
I found the plane in 1995 after a long and tedious search with my Albanian friend and guide Edi Kurtezi. It crashed outside a small village called Cestie, which is between Elbasan and Berat. I wrote about it in my book Rumpalla: Rummaging Through Albania published in 2002. We later took Agnes Mangerich Jensen, one of the nurses, back to the site of the crash. That is also included in the book.
I have had the honor of talking to two of the nurses that were in the book before they passed. They were truly heroic despite the fact that they didn’t think of themselves as hero material. Another example of the “Greatest Generation”!!
You are sending me e-mail, you have taken my money for membership, you have sent me an email thanking me for registering as: Your Fold3 Member Name marleys2756; Your Email Address: [email protected] (not verified). I have tried to sign in with no success. I have tried all options offered with no success. I will see if this message is received by Fold3.
This not intended to be negative in any way to the hardships that these brave people went through.
I was member of the U.S. Air Force during the 1960’s
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) were the military aviation service of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, successor to the United States Army Air Corps and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force. The AAF were a component of the United States Army, which in 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces), and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.
what a great historial story for a wonderful movie…hope some producer would latch on to
this story & include all the events, struggles& finally safety….the wonderful men & partisans who helped these nurses out were heroes & all these people should be remembered for ever…even add a little love story to it
600 – 800 miles ? ? ? The distance between Elbasan and Berat is ~50 miles or less while Vlora on the coast is probably less than 75 miles. Having lived in Albania there seems to be a bit of hype in the above write-up – blizzard ? ?
Was one of the women named Rena Bailiff? if so I believe that was my mother ( Kim Renee Bailiff) aunt.
I so admire that generations fortitude!
I all the time used to read piece of writing in news papers but now as I am a user of net therefore from now I am using net for posts, thanks to web.|