And a hiking tour allows travelers to trace the escape route of more than POWs through wartime Slovenia, guided by courageous resistance fighters. More than escaped POWs endured a day walk through a mountainous German-occupied war zone, guided by resistance fighters in Slovenia. Captured in by the Germans in Greece, he and thousands of other prisoners endured brutal conditions in holding camps. Eventually, the Germans put him on a train to what is now Slovenia.
Ralph was one of the lucky ones: 10 percent of the prisoners died on the six-day journey. Ralph Churches, a former bank clerk from South Australia, was trained as a mapmaker and served in North Africa before he was sent to Greece and captured by the Germans.
Photo courtesy of Neil Churches. He ended up in a German work camp near Maribor. Captive Allied servicemen in Maribor were held separately from ranking officers. They could leave the prison camp for work details on nearby farms and rail lines. Red Cross parcels allowed Ralph to regain his health.
He set up a black market in such wartime luxuries as cigarettes and chocolate. He befriended Les Laws, a British soldier who was a jazz pianist before the war. They tried to boost morale by putting on musical shows. They also made several escape attempts.
Ralph realized he would need to learn German to get very far and began teaching himself to speak the language. He also learned of the horrifying camp conditions for Russian prisoners, including many Ukrainians. The Germans were starving them to death. POWs from the Soviet Union were held in a separate camp, where the Nazis were starving them to death. As punishment for one of his escape attempts, Ralph Churches was ordered to help bury the bodies.
