Dyffryn Aled
(Where the plans for escape were made)
The assignment of two U-boats to rendezvous with three escaped prisoners of war, in August 1915, is evidence enough of the importance of the mission in the eyes of the Imperial German Navy.
The venture was all the more remarkable for having been planned in the rural remoteness of Denbigh and a house named Dyffryn Aled, a house taking its name from its setting on the banks of the River Aled, and planned long before any enemy submarine had penetrated the Irish Sea and the busy waters of Liverpool Bay.
Dyffryn Aled was a four story mansion built in 1774 by Diana Meyrick, a 26 year old widow, on land which she inherited from her father, Piers Wynne. She married Philip York of Erddig in 1782, but over the next century, family fortunes waned, and the estate became heavily mortgaged. On the death of Pierce Wynne Yorke in 1893 the house became a private mental sanatorium, and it was for this use that prison like iron bars were placed on the windows. Shortly before the outbreak of World War One, Dyffryn Aled was bought by the Countess of Dundonald of Gwrych Castle, Abergele and then the house was requisitioned in 1914 to accommodate captured German officers.
Korvettenkapitan (Lieut-Comm) Hermann Tholens was amongst the first to be interned. and during the last week of September 1914, Tholens was joined by a more colourful officer, Kapitanleuteutnant (Captain) Heinrich von Hennig, a year younger and one rank junior, but of far greater value to the Reichsmarine.
The two men discussed the feasibility of escaping and returning to Germany by submarine, and they chose the western most point of the Great Orme for the rendezvous. They entrusted their plan to a civilian who had been interned as an enemy alien resident but was being sent home in a Christmas exchange scheme. The dates of the rendezvous were to be sent to Thorlens and von Hennig by a pre arranged code, in letters from relatives under instructions from the Reichsmarine.
It was a daring scheme and on 23rd January 1915 the U-21 left Germany to test the route and by the time they returned they had demonstrated that the plan drafted at Dyffryn Aled was well within their capabilities.
Korvettenkapitan Wegener was an acknowledged Irish Sea specialist by the time he sailed the U-27 from Germany on 4th August. Korvettenkapitan Max Valentiner left Wilhelmshaven the next day, in command of the U-38. The two were to rendezvous off Llandudno on 13th August so that one or the other could move in under the Great Orme on the following night to embark the escaping prisoners.
By this time, Tholens andvon Hennig had been joined by a third conspirator, Lieutenant Baron Hans von Heldorf, probably because he had stumbled on their plan. Everything went according to plan and at 8.45pm on 13th August the three men broke out of camp and set off at a brisk pace on the 20 mile walk to the Great Orme headland. By 8.00am they were in Llandudno which was bristling with the Saturday morning activity. Relying on the likelihood of them not being missed before the 9.00am roll call at Dyffryn Aled, they ate a good breakfast at one of the town's cafes before making their way onto the headland.
Resting up all day, they left their hideout at 10.00pm but in the dark were unable to find their route. While the escaped prisoners were rueing their predicament at the top of the cliffs, the U-38 moved in close to the lighthouse, neither party detecting the presence of the other. As dawn approached, both parties retreated, knowing that three successive nights had been allocated for the mission.
However, contact was never made despite at one time only being 500 yards apart.
When a northerly wind developed on the afternoon of the third day, the prisoners, by then thirsty, hungry and demoralised, decided there was no hope of rescue. As they walked back into town the men split up to give Tholens an opportunity of using his English to board a train for London. However, Tholens was the first to be caught when he attempted to buy his railway ticket.
His two companions were more fortunate. By now there was a full scale deployment of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the town but they remained at liberty until 11.00pm when they were spotted near the Pier gates by a cab driver Alfred Davies. He offered them a lift but instead drove them straight to the Battalion Headquarters and alerted the sentry.
The three men were sentenced to three months imprisonment which they served at Chelmsford in Essex later returning to Dyffryn Aled.
Heinrich von Henning finally left Dyffryn Alen in 1918 when he was transferred to internment in Holland. After the Armistice he rejoined the German Navy and was promoted several times. He retired in 1931 with the rank of Konteradmiral (rear admiral) but rejoined the Navy in 1940 aged 57. He died at Kiel in 1947. Hermann Tholens left Duffryn Aled in May 1918 for internment in Switzerland and was formally discharged from the Navy in November 1919. During the Nazi regime he served as Obergeneralarbeitsfuhrer (senior general labour leader) in Stuttgart. Baron von Helldorf was the youngest of the trio and carried a classic fencing scar on his left cheek. He died in the 1950's in Hamburg. For most of his live he lived in the shadow of his cousin, the Graf von Helldorf who, as head of the Berlin storm troopers, helped Hitler to power in 1933 and plotted to assassinate him eleven years later.
After the departure of the German prisoners, Duffryn Alen was never occupied again. It was sold to a building contractor, who stripped it, and the derelict shell was demolished to make way for a small modern house bearing the same name.
My thanks to Ivor Wynne Jones for the pamphlet.
This is an abbreviated version of a much more detailed story of the events of that time in World War 1.