They ran out of gas over the Alps
 By ROBERT E. TUTHILL, Paramus, N.J.  (Radio operator, 459BG, 15AF)
     On that fateful day, January 20, 1945, we were flying mission
 #178 to bomb the marshalling yards at Salzburg, Austria.
     We had to climb to approximtely 28,000 feet to get over solid
 cloud coverage.
     Shortly before the bomb run I noticed frozen chunks of oil com-
 ing out of #3 engine. The outside temperature was -60 degrees
 Fahrenheit.
     We bombed the target wih 500 lb. bombs,2 1/2 tons per plane.
 flak over the target was moderate, but accurate.
     After dropping the bombs, the pilot Ulaky tried to feather the
 #3 prop, but we had insufficient oil pressure. Thus, we had a run-
 away prop. He couldn't maintain air speed, so we lost the formation
 and started to head home to Cerignola alone.
     We crossed the Alps OK and then flew over a German airfield at
 Udine, Northern Italy. We were flying at approximately 14,000 feet
 at that time.  They (the German gun crew) opened up their 88s and
 riddled the plane from nose to tail. Fortunately, no one was hit.
 However, some flak must have entered Bill Well's chest pack since
 his parachute failed to open. Bill was flying left waist gun and I
 was flying right waist gun.
     Gas lines were hit and the #2 engine started to shut down. There
 were six Me-109s setting on the ground when we were hit by flak, but
 they did not come up to finish us off in our crippled B-24. It was
 quite obvious to us that they didn't have any fuel since the 15th
 Air Force had been hitting oil refineries and oil storage facilities
 for close to one year.
     Navigator Haynes advised pilot Ulaky to take a heading which
 should take us to Yugoslavia. We made it to approximately 10 or 15
 miles east of Fiume on #1 and #4 engines when our gas supply was
 just about finished.
     The order to bail out was given at an altitude of 11,000 feet.
 When I bailed out I lost my flight helmet and my Gl shoes which had
 been tied to my parachute harness.
     We came down in the Juliske, or Alps, which were covered with
 about two feet of snow. I sprained my right ankle. so I cut strips
 of nylon from my parachute and strapped the ankle as tightly as
 possible.
     Six of our crew, including yours truly, were picked up almost
 immediately by one of Tito's Partisans who was out hunting for small
 game. He didn't speak any English, but we were able to advise him in
 Italian and German that our gas supply was gone and "American Airmen"
 had to hit the silk.
     It started to snow as he motioned for the six of us to follow
 him. We walked in deep snow from about 3 p.m. until midnight when we
 reached a Partisan command in Merzla Vordice. We were then told by
 the Partisans that a German ski patrol had been sent from Fiume to
 take us as POWs, but we were long gone and the new snow had covered
 our tracks.
     Zlatko Matkovic was the lieutenant in charge of the post in
 Merzia Vodice and our pilot, Kasmir Ulaky, drew a sketch of Lt. Mat-
 kovic in either pencil or charcoal.  Lt. Matkovic sent that sketch
 to his wife in Fiume for her birthday by a Partisan courier. Fiume
 was occupied at that time by approximately 10,000 German troops.
     Lt. Matkovic survived World War II and I'm corresponding with
 him. He retired from the Yugoslavia army as a colonel and currently
 is residing in Belgrade, Croatia.
     We left Merzla Vodice Jan.21, 1945, and walked to either Delnice
 or Skrad where the tail gunner and I were able to sleep in a bed for
 the night as guests of Capt. Vranes, his wife, and young daughter.
    We received supplies and assistance from British Captain Harrison,
 Royal Engineers, who had parachuted into enemy territory, to assist
 escapees and evaders. I received a pair of English shoes, sweater,
 wool cap, blanket, tea and some canned food from him. Since he had
 no watch, I gave him my Army Air Corps issue hack watch which was
 standard issue for me as a radio operator.
     After walking inland for about three weeks, we came across the
 German lines between Karlovae and Zagreb. We had a motley crew in
 excess of 500 including evadees and the escapees from POW and labor
 camps. Also, there were many wounded Partisans on sleighs pulled by
 oxen. It took us about 31 hours without sleep to cross the German
 lines. That's when the benzedrine sulfate pills in our escape kit
 came in handy to keep us awake and alert. But when that wears off
 vou can fall asleep standing up.
     When we were safely below the German lines, still in snow, we
 came upon our first mechanized vehicle, a British Dodge truck. It
 took us about one and a half days of standing, as there was not
 enough room to sit or lie down, for us to reach the port city of Zara
 (now Zadar). The German troops had vacated the city a day prior to
 our arrival.
     There was an American oil tanker in port and the captain invited
 us aboard and asked us if we were hungry. We had all lost a great
 deal of weight. His cook whipped up some powdered eggs, toast, juice,
 coffee and bacon. After we had gulped it down, he said "Cookie, do
 it again; these airmen are still hungry."
     Most of my crew were flown back to Bari, Italy, but the tail gun-
 ner Hancock and I were picked up by the British destroyer HMS Belvoir
 and transported overnight across the Adriatic to Bari.
     Seven of our ten-man crew spent a few days at a military hospital
 built by Mussolini in 1942 and were interrogated by 15th AF officers.
     Our pilot had contracted nephritis and was shipped back to the
 States where he spent a year in military hospitals before being dis-
 charged. The nose gunner Engle and ball turret gunner Estep got back
 to Italy about a week after I did.
    Estep was grounded and assigned as a gunnery instructor. With the
 loss of Wells, Ulaky and Estep our crew had to split up. I signed up
 with Lt. Pauley who had lost the radio operator on his crew and need-
 ed one. I resumed flying combat missions the first week of March 1945
 with a new crew. But, prior to resuming combat flying, Bob Estep and
 I who were the best of friends until his death in 1994, went to a
 rest camp on the Isle of Capri for a week. Page 20 Escape & Evasion
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