The Twisted Florin
Stella Clare Marsh tells Sqn Ldr John Mott’s remarkable story of evasion, SOE flying and multiple escapes across Europe.
- Author
- Stella Clare Marsh
- Publisher
- Uniform Books
- Price
- £14.99
- ISBN
- 9781910500583
- Published
- 2017
The Twisted Florin by Stella Clare Marsh
Compiled by Sqn Ldr John Mott’s niece, The Twisted Florin chronicles an extraordinary wartime career. Mott began as a sergeant pilot with 78 Squadron, flying Whitley bombers from RAF Dishforth. On the night of 28/29 December 1940 his aircraft was shot down en route to Lorient; he alone evaded capture. Helpers guided him across the Pyrenees and he reached Gibraltar in November 1941, almost eleven months later.
Returning to England on 13 December 1941, Mott joined 138 and later 161 Special Duties Squadrons at RAF Tempsford, flying clandestine missions to insert and extract SOE agents in France. On 28 May 1942 his Lysander bogged down near Châteauroux. Forced to abandon the aircraft, he was arrested by French police, imprisoned and eventually sent to POW camp PG5 at Gavi-Serravalle, north of Genoa.
During the September 1943 armistice transfer to Germany he escaped by sawing through the floor of a cattle truck. After days on the run he encountered a Yugoslav partisan band that mistook the escapers for Germans; only the intervention of a British liaison officer saved their lives. Later, in Italy, Mott and fellow fugitives commandeered an abandoned German whaling vessel and sailed it south to Porto San Giorgio, where they rejoined Allied troops.
Marsh weaves family history, the stories of Mott’s helpers and a broader overview of escape lines into this vivid account, honouring those who risked everything to keep airmen safe.
ISBN 9781910500583. Uniform Books. £14.99.