Scottish Soldiers Who Outsmarted Nazis Inspire New Film

The incredible true story of three Scottish soldiers who escaped the Nazis by speaking Gaelic is to be turned into a film.

Private William Kemp, Corporal Sandy MacDonald and Lance Corporal James "Ginger" Wilson dodged Hitler's clutches in June 1940 by convincing their captors they were from the Soviet Union.

They were picked up on suspicion of being spies after managing to escape when their Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment surrendered to enemy forces.

At a POW camp, they used their native Gaelic to confuse their captors and convince the Germans they were actually from Ukraine.

They were released and managed to get back home to their native Highland village of Ballachulish in Scotland, where their story became so legendary that it will now to be made into a WW2 film, 'The Darkest Hour'.  

In his memoir, Private Kemp said: "In the morning we were brought before the German commander, whose first action was to point his revolver at each of us in turn.

"We took this to be a warning to speak the truth or take the consequences.

''A French officer, acting as an interpreter, asked us to state our nationality. I replied in Gaelic: 'I do not know'.''

They were questioned in seven other languages and answered only in Gaelic and once an atlas was produced, the soldiers pointed to Ukraine.

The Scots were released and made their way through occupied France to Spain, where they discovered a British consulate and boarded a vessel.

Once out of Spanish territorial waters, they transferred to a British warship and returned to Scotland.

All three soldiers have now passed away, but Private Kemp's niece, Susan Kemp, still lives in Ballachulish and said her family were proud of her uncle's story.

"It's always something I thought would make a great film," she said.

"I understand the film will be loosely based on my uncle's story but I have only just heard about it.

"As children we were aware of it but, as was often the case with that generation, they didn't make a big deal of it. They must have had nerves of steel.''