‘Their Gaelic saved them. The Germans produced eight different interpreters, but none understood the language. In desperation, the Germans produced a map of Europe…
one of the soldiers put his finger on a remote spot in the North of Russia. That satisfied the Germans, who released them.’

Shinty players William Kemp, Sandy MacDonald and James ‘Ginger’ Wilson came from Ballachulish. They fought with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Their regiment surrendered in the summer of 1940. They escaped weeks later, but the Germans
recaptured them and took them to a prisoner-of-war camp. An interpreter there asked the men for their nationality. But the Highlanders replied only in Gaelic, confusing the Germans. They eventually convinced the Germans that they came from the Soviet Union. For six weeks after their release, the Gaels travelled through occupied France to Spain. There, a British consulate helped them return to Scotland.