The Prisoner Wore Panties Ch. 01

The dedicated amateur dramatic group at Stalag Luft Oberursel had turned an old barn into a sloping auditorium known as the 'Oberium Theatre' where they gave their performances. Productions were lapped up by packed audiences made up of both the British POWs and their German captors and included performances such as Dick Whittington, The Importance of Being Ernest, HMS Pinafore, and The Mikado.

The POWs even manufactured and wore women's clothing for the female roles in their shows and prisoners bartered their Red Cross parcels with German guards for materials and props, and then spent weeks creating perfect costumes and sets for their extravagant productions.

To accompany the productions there was the 'Oberium Theatre Orchestra' that included saxophones, trumpets, tubas and guitars. To accompany their shows the men would create professional-looking theatre programs for the cast to sign for the audience

The rationale of allowing the POWs to indulge themselves in creating these lavish productions was that the enormous effort put into producing the shows gave the prisoners involved a focus and purpose during their internment. Although the Germans were losing to Russia on the Eastern Front they still controlled most of Europe and they could afford to be benevolent to their British captors who were treated relatively well and were reasonably well fed.

Being allowed to drill and parade, play sports, work in their own gardens, and put on their amateur dramatics kept the POWs occupied and away from mischief. Or so the Germans thought...

The POWs actually used these activities to execute escape attempts. The costume department kept the best of the discarded civilian clothing and footwear given to them or traded by the guards to make suitable attire for escapees. The men who printed the theatre programs used the ink and stationery to make maps, counterfeit and forged documents, and the props department also assisted making suitcases with false bottoms, improvised personal weapons and other 'tradecraft' items to be used by escapees once they were outside the wire. The Escape Committee called these men collectively 'The Shop'.

There were no mass escapes; that would be counterproductive and shut down the Escape Committee's access to extremely valuable resources. Potential escapees were selected by merit; by their chances of success. Ability to speak German, French or some other language was highly desirable and some prisoners attended language class in order to become proficient. The ability to act natural and blend in, to remain calm under pressure was also considered essential.

Paddy O'Reardon finished cutting and styling Corporal Collingwood's hair to Benny Benquist's exact requirements giving him a brunette bob sculpted in voluptuous waves. Paddy was used to styling the wigs that Benny bought him for the 'female' actors in his stage productions and he was very happy to be styling real hair.

Daniel still had difficulty seeing but he insisted that Paddy hold up his mirror.

"I can't get around the camp like this!" Daniel bemoaned, although the feminine haircut definitely softened his face and gave it a womanly countenance.

"Smithy has approved it so long as you hide it under your hat when you're outside of the barracks and when the Krauts are around," Benny clapped his hands, delighted that he had a new lead actor who had the potential to look convincingly feminine.

All the British POWs called Wing Commander Smyth-Waddington 'Smithy' behind his back but they would never have the gumption to call him Smithy to his face.

Daniel was still very weak and after a cup of hot tea with lots of very valuable sugar he went to his cot and immediately fell asleep. When he awoke Wing Commander Smyth-Waddington was sitting beside his bunk smoking a cigarette. He offered the tin of Players Navy Cut to Daniel who gratefully took one. Cigarettes came to the prisoners in Red Cross parcels and were considered a valuable commodity to be traded as well as smoked.

"Dashed bad luck old chap. I hear the Krauts got you crossing into Luxembourg?" Smithy asked a question to which he already knew the answer.

"My papers were fine sir; I just didn't have a good enough excuse when I was questioned. A French businessman travelling to from Germany to Paris seemed a fine reason for travel when we thought up the gig but it just didn't hold water. They dug further into my backstory and I was stuffed," Daniel explained.

"So back on the old horse eh? With your French and German language skills you're still the best chance we have of making a successful escape," Smithy blew smoke.

"I have a great idea sir. Benny, er, Flight Sargent Benquist has proposed I that I take on the role of his female lead in his next production. He claims he can do a good enough job that I will be able to pass myself off as a woman," Daniel said excitedly.

Wing Commander Smyth-Waddington mewed.

"Not really your thing is it Danny? Sort of thing the fags and queers go in for," Smithy sniffed disapprovingly

"But the Krauts won't be looking for a girl sir; and if I can pass..." Daniel was about to go on but Smithy shut him down.

"Look Danny, all of the Escape Committee wish you well and we'll talk soon about your next attempt. We thought you might take another chap with you, try to get two for one so to speak."

"For now have a go at whatever that queer, Benny Benquist has got for you. It will keep you out of the work parties and give you an excuse to work with our boys in The Shop to get yourself sorted. There, there," he patted Daniel's knee, got up and wondered off, stopping to talk to other enlisted men on his way out of the barracks.

"Jesus! The ego on that man!" Daniel blew smoke at the ceiling.

His men loved Wing Commander Smyth-Waddington but he had a reputation for being hard headed.

Benny Benquist was tired of producing period pieces and his latest production was to be a contemporary American play 'Clash by Night', a romantic triangle drama written by Clifford Odets that had premiered on Broadway in 1941 and Daniel Collingwood was cast as Mae Wilenski. The play chronicled Mae's anguish in her marriage to a simple, hard-working guy named Jerry, and her subsequent affair with a complicated, drifting layabout. Mae's affair comes to a violent end in the book but Benny changed the final scene so that Mae ends the affair and goes back to her bland but loving husband. Everyone liked happy endings during the war.

While he recovered, Daniel learned his lines by rote and was ready for the first reading. Flight Lieutenant Steven Boyd was cast as Earl Pfeiffer, the drifter. Steven Boyd was a tall, handsome athletic man whilst the man playing Mae's husband Jerry was a rather toady looking Aircraftman.

"What about all the kissing and stuff; some of it's a bit racy," Daniel complained.

Steven Boyd nodded his agreement as the cast sat around the table for the first reading.

"Look! Professional actors don't complain when they have to act out love scenes with people they might not like; it's a play not a dating game!" Benny slammed his script down on the table.

"I can easily have you replaced!" Benny said indignantly.

"Besides; I bet there are plenty of girls out there who would love to have good snog with Steven," Matthew Benquist winked at Steven who shuddered at the thought.

"Ok we rehearse on stage tonight and tomorrow you go to costume to get fitted up for your wardrobe. Let's do another read through," Benny insisted.

Benny had been encouraged by the Escape Committee to produce a contemporary piece so that The Shop could make costumes that potential escapees could wear once they were over the wire.

Whilst Stephen Boyd was fitted into two old suits, traded from the guards, Daniel suffered the indignity of being fitted into a sombre brown ladies suit and white cotton blouse and brown slingback wedge-heels. Surprisingly the heels were a good fit; they were left over from a previous production. The brown suit and another more modern and stylish blue pinstriped suit had been re-purposed from fabric obtained from discarded men's clothing also traded from the guards.

Some parachute silk had been purloined and dyed to make a mauve long-sleeved blouse for Daniel and a pair of black high-heeled pumps acquired. The pumps would need to be re-sized to fit his feet.

The rest of the cast made do with costumes from previous productions altered and updated for their respective roles.

"We'll knock you up or get hold of some new knickers and bras and some falsies to fill the cups. We've got some old stockings you can use for rehearsals and we're trading for some new nylons for you to wear on opening night; they'll cost us a fucking bomb!" Aircraftman Harry Bollard whined around the cigarette that was almost perpetually stuck in his mouth.

Harry was The Shop's 'procurer'.

"Is all that really necessary?" Daniel whinged.

Benny took Daniel aside.

"Look! You can't just pretend to be Mae Wilenski; you have to actually become her! I want some half decent performances out of you before you go over the wire," he said seriously.

"If you intend to do what I think you're going to do, in your own words you need to be able to pass as a woman. Dress like one, talk like one, walk like one, have the mannerisms of one; you need to fucking think like one! And I'm the one who can transform you, ok?" Benny said sombrely.

"The deal is you give me the best Mae Wilenski there has ever been for at least one week's worth of performances and I'll make sure that you can pass as a woman. The rest is up to you. Deal?" Benny said determinedly.

"Deal!" Daniel stuck out his hand and Benny shook it.

"All I need to do is get Smithy to agree to it," Daniel sighed.

"You put on the performance of your life during opening night and we'll convince Smithy ok?" Benny raised his brows.

"Ok just one thing. I'll need to get into character from scratch and I'll need to take that character over the wire with me. Rewrite my part so that my name is Danielle Bouvier, a French woman living in America. It won't affect the play at all and I'll get used to responding to her name. Like you say; I will become her," Daniel grinned.

And so he did. From that moment on Danny became Danielle Bouvier in his mind; and transformed into her for every rehearsal whether he was in costume or not.

There were a small group of effeminate men who persistently took the female leads in Benny's productions. There were rumours of course. All these men locked up in a POW camp for so long with no female company. Homosexuality was not only illegal it was considered abhorrent but was still practiced in secrecy by a very few. Strange as it may seem, taking a dalliance with one of 'Benny's Girls' was not considered an act of detestable homosexuality rather it was condoned on a 'don't ask, don't tell' basis.

The 'Girls' were quite angry that Danny had the female lead in the latest production and that he hadn't even had to audition; but when they saw him in full costume and makeup even they had to agree that Danny was indeed beautiful.

Senior Aircraftman Douglas 'Mary' Mayne played Peggy, the second female lead in the production. She got around in full makeup and dressed enfemme whenever there was a production on; she needed to get into the character she claimed. The NCOs allowed her to do so but forbade her from entering the barracks dressed like a woman. She was given the task of mentoring Danny and transforming him into Danielle.

Danny's first costume fitting was a revelation.

Daniel sat at a small vanity table that the propmasters had made; it was even fitted with lights above the mirror. Mary Mayne had done Danny's makeup. Danny didn't recognise the face staring back at him. With her perfect makeup and coiffured hair; Danny was looking at a gorgeous young woman.

"Ok ducky; you are now Danielle; Danny no longer exists," Mary was proud of her work.

It hadn't taken Mary long to shape Danny's eyebrows and his skin was so smooth and pale that applying the makeup had been a dream. Lipstick and eyeliner was traded for with the guards but the prisoners made their own foundation, finishing powder, blush, eyeshadow and mascara. They used charcoal, cocoa powder, beeswax, vegetable oil and coloured powders made from natural products from the garden.

"Show me how," Danielle asked eagerly, turning her face from side to see the perfect results in the mirror.

"Hold on ducky; it's not like face painting you know. I could do my face and pass myself off as a woman at sixteen but it takes practice. I'll show you the basics later and you can spend as much time as you like getting it right," Mary patted Danielle's shoulder.

Mary was already dressed in her costume, a black form-fitting ladies suit that hugged her curves, nylons, black high heels, platinum blonde short blonde bob wig and full makeup. She looked stunning.

"Sixteen? You were performing before the war then?" Danielle asked.

"Yeah honey; you could say that. I was performing my arse off," Mary laughed and patted Danielle on the shoulder.

"Ok let's get you in costume," Mary pulled a screen around them for privacy.

Danny could not describe how wonderful the exquisite sensation was as he slid the very first nylon stocking up his leg. He rolled it up as he had seen his girlfriends do, slipped his foot in the dark toe of the stocking and smoothed it up his freshly shaved leg. The feeling was magnificent and he felt himself becoming erect. Lucky for him he was wearing boy-leg knickers that had plenty of room to hide his erection. He fastened the dark welts to the silver garter clips and put on the other stocking, invoking an equally astonishing excitement.

The knickers didn't help at all; they were satin and once he became semi-tumescent they rubbed on his glans and excited him further.

"I too remember the very first time I put on my stockings; I had that exact look of bliss on my face," Mary sighed.

Danielle blushed.

"It's a means to an end Doug; I just really wanted this role," Danielle snapped.

"You keep telling yourself that ducky. I've had them in here before, masculine types who think it's a lark to dress like a girl; but you're not that at all are you? I can tell," Mary stood and brushed Danielle's suit where it hung on the clothes rack, turning her back.

"And don't call me Doug when I'm in character ducky," Mary huffed.

"Deal. If you stop calling me ducky," Danielle replied, feeling that she had been put in his place.

"Look we have to stay in character and I'm really not Doug when I'm dressed like this am I? You can see I've fully transformed into woman and you have to do the same," Mary said or rather demanded.

"Agreed Mary," Danielle sighed.

"Good Danielle; now lets crack on," Mary rubbed her hands together.

Mary spun on her heels dramatically; holding forth the blue pinstripe suit on its hanger like it was the Holy Grail.

"I remember when they tailored my clothes to fit," Mary over-dramatised, putting the back of her hand to her forehead and sighing; then she laughed.

"Put that half-slip on and I'll help you into this," Mary instructed.

The feel of the nylon half-slip sliding up her legs and over her knickers did nothing to quell Danielle's excitement. Mary held open the skirt so she could step into it. Danielle had tried on the skirt many times before while it was being made but this was the first time she would be wearing the full costume.

"We cut the hem a bit shorter than propriety would dictate but the boys like to see a bit of leg," Mary chuckled as she buttoned the waist of the skirt and smoothed it down Danielle's midriff.

Danielle was wearing a brassiere, the cups of which had been filled with what Benny's Girls called breastforms, made from discarded stockings filled with rice to give the appearance and heft of real breasts. Mary helped Danielle into the mauve long-sleeved silk blouse that the tailors in The Shop had made for her. She had difficulty buttoning it because it buttoned on the opposite side.

"It's so hard being a woman!" Danielle huffed as she struggled with buttons.

Mary smiled knowingly.

"You have no idea darling," Mary stepped forward and helped Danielle with the buttons and tucked the tails of her blouse into the waistband of her skirt and smoothed it again.

"We have a problem honey," Mary smiled mischievously.

"What?" Danielle frowned.

"Well the tailors have done a wonderful job; the skirt and blouse fit you perfectly but for one thing," Mary said earnestly.

"What? Tell me?" Danielle demanded.

"This," Mary placed her hand on the bulge at the front of Danielle's skirt.

Danielle looked down to see that her erection was tenting her skirt.

Mary had not moved her hand.

"We have a simple way of dealing with that; it's called a gaff and I'll show you how to do it," Mary explained.

"But first we have to get rid of that nasty erection and we have simple way of doing that too," Mary squeezed Danielle's penis through her skirt.

Danielle was stunned and stood frozen.

Mary peeked over the screen to check that they were alone and had privacy then she lifted Danielle's skirt and squeezed her cock through the layers of nylon slip and satin knickers.

Danielle gasped; she was overwhelmed but unable to move.

Mary stepped in close to Danielle, put an arm around her and kissed her as she gripped Danielle's penis and began to stroke it.

Danielle was overcome with feelings that she could not explain. Mary felt soft and feminine against her; she smelled nice and her lips were velvety, she could taste the lipstick. It was just like kissing a woman but more exciting because Danielle felt soft and feminine herself. She could feel the sensual caress of her nylons, the swish of her slip, the silky graze of her knickers against her sensitive skin.

Danielle was awestruck.

She responded when Mary slipped her tongue into her mouth; she moaned and thought her knees would buckle. She could feel a climax building and her penis throbbed as Mary caressed it through the gossamer layers of slip and panty.

"Let's not get a mess on your new clothes shall we?" Mary whispered in Danielle's ear and playfully bit her lobe.

She slipped her tongue back inside Danielle's mouth; her hand snaked under the slip and inside Danielle's knickers and fondled and massaged Danielle's erect phallus. Danielle didn't know what felt better, being caressed through the layers of silky material or feeling Mary's soft bare fingertips cosset her penis.

Mary hiked Danielle's slip up her waist and freed Danielle's penis from her knickers. She continued to stroke Danielle's cock, which was leaking pre-ejaculate and ready for release.

Danielle groaned and her knees buckled as an intense orgasmed gripped her.

"There, there," Mary kept Danielle upright, still kissing her while she supported her. She kept one arm around Danielle holding her slip and her knickers away from her ejaculating penis.

Mary directed Danielle's ejaculate onto the floor away from her clothes. Danielle's final spurts dribbled down onto her feet and soaked into her stockings but that was ok; stockings rinsed out easy but semen was almost impossible to get out of skirts and blouses; Mary knew that from experience.

Danielle held onto Mary and kissed her passionately as she reached her apogee; she had never felt anything so exciting and provocative. She knew what they were doing was wrong but that only added to the excitement.

When Danielle had finally finished ejaculating and ceased dribbling semen Mary calmly disengaged. She took a handkerchief off the vanity table and dabbed at Danielle's deflating member and slipped it back inside her knickers, pulled down and smoothed her slip and then her skirt.

Danielle stood stock-still, still awash with feelings that were indescribable.