Patrick Fowler - World War I

World War I

On 26 August 1914, Fowler took part in the Battle of Le Cateau, but he was cut off from his regiment during a German advance. For five months, Fowler lived in the local woods, until he was discovered by a local man, Louis Basquin, on 15 January 1915. Instead of handing him over to the Germans, Basquin took him to the Bertry farmhouse of his mother-in-law, Madame Belmont-Gobert, and her daughter Angèle. It was decided to hide Fowler in a wardrobe that was 5 feet (1.5 m), 6 inches high, and 20 inches (510 mm) deep.

However, soon after Fowler moved in, sixteen German soldiers were billeted at the farm. As a result, the Germans spent much of their time in the same room as Fowler, unaware that he was hiding in the wardrobe. Fowler had to remain completely still and silent in order to avoid being spotted. He could only come out at night, and had to live on a small amount of food that was shared by those helping him. The German High Command then sent orders for the farmhouse to be requisitioned and the family to be moved to a small cottage. Madame Belmont-Gobert asked the billeting Germans to help her move, which included moving the wardrobe with Fowler inside it. Luckily for Fowler, none of the Germans looked inside.

The Germans only ever searched the wardrobe once, after a British nurse, Edith Cavell, was executed for helping Allied soldiers. However, the Germans failed to find Fowler as he had temporarily been hidden under a mattress, because, so Madame Belmont-Gobert later claimed, she had a premonition that the wardrobe would be searched.

Following the move to the new cottage, Fowler was allowed more freedom of movement, but he still had to hide whenever the Germans approached, and at night. Fowler was eventually reunited with the 11th Hussars who evacuated Bertry in 10 October 1918. Fowler was then able to explain to his regiment why he was absent for four years without being charged for desertion.