HERBERT DOUGLAS NEWMAN ~ ‘HARRY’ saves Timaru bomber pilot from execution; medals found in the UK returned to family.

Eighteen months ago MRNZ reunited the war medals of a World War 2 bomber pilot from Timaru with a Dunedin descendant of his family (see MRNZ Fb post November 13, 2021).  Writing up the story of the late Flight Lieutenant (Pilot) Herbert Douglas Newman (mid), has taken much longer than I anticipated to produce due to the number of conflicting accounts by those who have written of an event most people have heard of, “The Great Escape”.  Herb Newman was in the Stalag Luft III tunnel while the escape was in progress, himself just minutes from being the last man to exit.  Had he made his escape, Herb could very well have been one of the 50 escapees who were executed on Hitler’s orders! 

The fact of Herb Newman being a POW in Germany during World War 2 was never in doubt, and was easily proven by his descendant Newman families.  To establish if there was more to his story family so I set out to track his path during captivity and to uncover the circumstances of his escape(s) and what part he had played.  I am confident my research has achieved 95% accuracy, at the risk of spending the rest of my life searching for five percent I continue to remain unsure of. 

Overview

This story is the conclusion of what began for me with an advertisement in the now defunct RSA Review newspaper.  The RSA Review was a long standing publication published quarterly for the benefit of military veterans and their families.  In 2020 the Review ‘went to the wall’ with its Summer Edition (Oct) being the last.  Despite the loss of this newsworthy institution, the RSA Review unwittingly facilitated one final act of commemoration and remembrance for the Hanning family of Dunedin. 

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James Clayton is a retired educator who lives in Woodland Drive, Old Catton in Norfolk, England.  In May 2020, James sent an advertisement to the RSA Review (outlined in blue) which appeared in the Winter (July) edition.

When I received my copy of the Review, flicking through the pages I saw an advertisement in the “Lost Trails” column from James Clayton with an email address included.  I circled it out of interest but being up to my ears in other medal research projects, I didn’t give the ad any more thought.  Fast forward to June of 2021 – I happened to pick up that same copy of the Review (nothing military moves far from my bunker) and James’s advert again caught my eye.  On the spur of the moment I dashed off an email to him more out of curiosity, to enquire whether he had had any responses to his advertisement. 

While waiting for his reply, I took a brief look at my reference material to find out who exactly Herb Newman was.  Born and bred in Timaru, he had joined the RNZAF in 1939 as a pilot, trained in Canada and been a bomber pilot in the RAF.  As James rightly stated in his advert, “Tim” had crashed in Holland (not in a Blenheim as he had thought but a Vickers Wellington) and had subsequently escaped from a POW camp, Stalag Luft I.  More importantly however, I discovered Newman had also been interned in Stalag Luft III, the camp made famous by the ‘Wooden Horse’ and ‘Great Escape’ stories and movies of the same name.  My interest escalated tenfold!  As an aside, when looking for Tim’s grave, the family plot in the Timaru cemetery also carried a plaque to Tim’s younger brother Andrew George Patterson Newman who had also joined the RNZAF/RAF but sadly was killed on air operations in 1945.

James emailed response to me indicated he had heard nothing except for a comment from NZ aviation historian who had proffered some information related to Tim’s aircraft prang in Holland.  I explained to James what it was I did and asked him if he minded if I took up inquiry to see if I could locate a Newman descendant.  James welcomed the assistance, but before I began the search, there were a few burning questions I had for James.  First, what did he intend for the medals; second, how did he come to be in possession of Newman’s medals, and last, why did James refer to Herb as “Tim” as it didn’t feature in any of his birth names?

Background

James explained to me he had known “Tim/Herb”? from Old Catton and that he had had the medals since 1989.  As “Tim/Herb” had no family or relatives in the UK, and he (James) not getting any younger (then approaching his 85th birthday), he felt the medals should rightly be returned to New Zealand preferably to a relative and so had placed the advert as his last ditch attempt to hopefully have that happen.  How did James come to be in possession of the medals?

James Clayton takes up the story ….

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NEUMANN ~ NEWMAN

Fredrich Wilhelm NEUMANN (1837-1927) was German born, from Arnau (now Rodniki, 150km NE of Gadansk), Ostpreussen (East Prussia) in the former Kingdom of Prussia, and the paternal grandfather of Herbert Douglas NEWMAN. Herb’s grandmother was Eliza SIZEMORE (1838-1913), born in Waikouaiti, Southland, the daughter of Horse-rider, Sealer, Cooper and convict Richard SIZEMORE (1802-1861).  Richard, a native of Bristol, Gloucestershire, was 22 when he was convicted for Theft at the Liberty of Tiverton Quarter Session in Devon on 24 October 1814.  Sentenced to seven years Transportation to the Sydney penal colony, Richard arrived in Sydney aboard the General Grant in 1818.   In August 1825 he was finally granted a Ticket of Freedom.  By 1838 he was living in Bluff and was married the same year to Waniwani “Winnie” NGAPUHI (1818-1842) of Kororareka (Russell) in the Bay of Islands.  Prior to the World War 1, Frederick Neumann anglcised his surname to “Newman”– for obvious reasons.  He spent the latter part of his working life as a newspaper Compositor. 

Herb Newman’s father Charles William NEWMAN (1865-1944) was born at Waikouaiti, North Otago.  A newspaper Compositor (type-setter) living in Aramaho, Wanganui, Charles had followed his father Wilhelm into the newspaper printing business.  In 1900 at 34 years of age he enlisted with the 4th NZ (Rough Riders) Contingent, NZ Mounted Rifles to fight in the South African Boer War (1899-1902).  On his return (and recovery from Malaria) he was commissioned in the rank of Lieutenant and joined the 9th Contingent, NZMR.  In 1907 Charles had moved to a Dunedin paper where he married Herb’s mother, Harriet Madeline Sizemore BAIN (1889-1957) of Dunedin.  The Newman’s moved to Temuka and later on to Timaru, Charles still working as a compositor (later known as a lino-type operator) at the Timaru Herald. 

Herb Newman

Herbert Douglas Newman was born at Temuka on 06 July 1918, the fifth of seven children – Elizabeth Ethel [Newman] BROWN (1909-1982), Charles Joseph ‘Joe’ NEWMAN (1911-1972), William Matthew ‘Bill’ NEWMAN (1914-2001), Gertrude Rosetta ‘Gert’ [Newman] BROWN (1915-1999), ‘Herb’ NEWMAN, Andrew George Patterson ‘Pat’ NEWMAN (1920-1944), and Doreen Huirapa [Newman] CHING (1923-2008).

Growing up in Timaru, Herb attended the Timaru Main School from 1923.  He was an average scholar however did make it into the local newspaper on at least one occasion when his named featured in the Standard 5 Honours list of July 1931 – Herb was the recipient of a MERIT award for attendance!  He went on to Timaru High School and while the results of his studies did not bode well for a career in brain surgery or rocket science, a solid pass in the core subjects ensure he left school equipped well enough to join the RNZAF when war threatened in Europe.  After leaving school, he had various odd-jobs such as selling newspapers, labouring etc until the spectre of war intervened.

For God and Empire

For the second time in twenty years, war clouds gathered over Europe and New Zealanders collectively held their breath in anticipation of another national commitment of the nation’s finest young men for war service.  While national registration had not yet been initiated, those who pre-emptively volunteered for war service before June 1940, were permitted to choose in which of the three armed services they preferred to serve – NZ Army, RNZAF or Royal Navy (UK).  Herb wanted to fly and so had chosen the RNZAF. 

Timaru has always had strong links with aviation since the days of Richard Pearce’s attempts to fly his heavier than air flying machine which he built from scrap in a shed in Waitui.  Clearly aviation had advanced considerably by the 1930s and with the declaration of war with Germany in 1939, the attraction to join the RNZAF in the hope of an aircrew role by the nation’s young men once recruiting commenced, was by far and away the most popular service to enter.  While many were willing, not all made the grade to be a potential pilot or observer (later navigator).  Those who fell below the required level but had shown the requisite potential were offered the consolation prize of an aircrew appointment as an Air Gunner, Bomb Aimer or Wireless Operation.  Seen as the glamour service where the fighting would probably be over within hours and one would be home in time for tea and hot scones, the preference for keeping one’s hands free from callouses and barbed wire wounds, by flying thousands of feet above the ground war, was much preferred over the Army infantryman’s lot of digging trenches and living in the mud and dirt, hoofing it for miles with a heavy pack and rifle, or suffering the tortures of sea sickness on a pitching tub with the Royal Navy that ships and submarines simply wanted to blow holes in and sink! 

Those who passed the enlistment preliminaries for the RNZAF and a pilot’s basic flying tests, went on to advanced pilot training in Canada or the UK to complete an operational pilot’s qualification, or an aircrew appointment in air gunnery, wireless operation or observation (navigation).  Once qualified each man would be allocated to an RAF squadron in one of three operational commands – Fighter, Bomber or Coastal Command.  Initially Pilots and Observers were officers or warrant officers while seniors NCOs (the minimum aircrew rank was Sergeant) mostly made up the ranks of the remaining crew appointments.  This tended to change to suit a need as the war ground on and casualties soared. 

Per Ardua ad Astra (‘through struggle to the stars’)

Military service for the Newman siblings had been inspired by their father’s service in the Boer War.  As World War 2 loomed and preferences were being selected among the eligible as to which arm of service they would join, Herb’s two elder brothers, Joe and Bill both opted for the Army.  Younger brother Pat having been a Territorial soldier in South Canterbury, initially enlisted with the Army however changed tack and applied for pilot training, following his brother Herb into the RNZAF. 

Herb Newman’s application to join the RNZAF as a pilot trainee was successful.  On 13 June 1939 Herb and his fellow aspirants were officially gazetted for pilot training in the Royal New Zealand Air Force and short-service commissions in the RAF.  The NZ Gazette and the Wellington Evening Post published the following:

“Royal Air Force Candidates training in the Dominion.”
The Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) announced today that the following twenty candidates had been selected for training in New Zealand for appointment to short-service commissions in the Royal Air Force.  Four candidates will be reporting to each of the Auckland, Wellington, Wanganui, Canterbury, and Otago Aero Clubs on July 3 in order to commence their flying training:– H. D. Newman, Timaru, etc etc…

9 Pilot’s Course ~ No.1 Service Flying Training School, RNZAF Station Wigram. 

The course was split into two flights for training – November 1939.

Back L-R: Acting Pilot Officers CW Miller, GN Fitzwater, A Bridson

Front L-R: Acting Pilot Officers WH Hodgson, HD Newman, CK Saxelby, JL Bickerdike.

On 12 September 1939, the twenty aspiring pilots were appointed to the Reserve of Air Force Officers (RAFO) and twelve days later, were officially gazetted with temporary commissions in the rank of Acting Pilot Officer (General Duties) in order to attend No.9 Pilot’s Course at RNZAF Station Wigram.  Acting rank for the duration of flying training allowed the trainees access to the Officers’ Mess and its facilities which was all part of their overall assessment of being suitable (or not) to hold a commission.  The ability to fly and gentlemanly behaviour were assessed in equal measure – fail either and you were out! 

The first job this group of twenty pilots (those who graduated) would be required for was to fly ten Vickers Wellington heavy bombers ** back to New Zealand.  These had been gifted to the RNZAF by the Royal Air Force following the constitution of the RNZAF as a separate service on 1st April 1937 (previously it was part of the Army).   

Note: ** The New Zealand Government had ordered 30 Vickers Wellington Mk1C bombers in 1938.  RNZAF aircrew  were sent to England to train on the new aircraft based at RAF Marham.  These crews were to fly the aircraft to New Zealand in batches of six. RAF official records name this group of airman as “The New Zealand Squadron”.

When Britain declared war on Germany, the New Zealand Government made the airman and the aircraft available to the RAF to help with the war effort.  As the young pilots who had been tasked to fly the aircraft back to NZ had completed their ‘wings’ training, these were offered to the RAF on a Short Service Commission (SSC) basis for the duration of the war.

A decision by the British Air Ministry to give them this NZ squadron the defunct No. 75 Squadron number-plate on 4 April 1940, meant that the nucleus of The New Zealand Squadron personnel remained together as an operational unit of the RAF.  This was the first Commonwealth squadron to be so created in the Second World War.

RNZAF Stations Rongotai & Wigram 

Before the A/P/O’s u/t (under training) got anywhere near an aircraft, they would first had to learn some basics of military routine and how to be an airman.  They duly reported to the Ground Training School at RNZAF Station Rongotai (other side of the runway, opposite the Wellington Airport terminal building) where they would spend 8-10 weeks being tutored by Drill & Weapon Training Instructors (NCOs) in the basics of military life – marching and drill (square bashing), how to salute, recognise ranks, badges, flags and pennants, become acquainted with the customs of the service, learn how to maintain and wear their uniform, domestic duties such as cleaning barracks (and themselves), rifle and pistol training etc. 

Once their air force indoctrination was complete, the A/P/O’s u/t were posted to No.1 Flying Training Squadron (1FTS) at Wigram to being flying training assessments.  Those who showed the necessary aptitude were then place on a pilot’s course with the aim of getting them to the stage of flying solo which would earn them their Flying Badge, or ‘Wings’ as they are commonly referred to.  Those who did not met the piloting criteria, or were removed from the pilot’s course for any reason, were re-cycled as potential air bombers/aimers, air gunners or wireless operators.  Those APOs who failed to gain their Wings were given the option to be an Air Observer (title changed to Navigator in 1944), or an NCO air gunner, bomb aimer/air bomber, or wireless operator.

Graduation

NZ2508 A/P/O u/t Herbert Douglas Newman had spent 12 weeks of intensive flying training and testing by day and by night, at Wigram.  No longer ‘under training’, A/P/O Newman and 13 of his fellow pilot trainees on No 9 Pilot’s Course received their Flying Badge (‘Wings’) on Saturday, 10 February 1940 during a graduation parade held at RNZAF Station Wigram. 

Fourteen acting pilot officers whose training on the Ninth course at the Training School

at has been completed were passed out on Saturday.   Twelve of them who are going

overseas will leave later this month to join the Royal Air Force.

Back L-R: Acting Pilot Officers H.G. Ballantyne, A. Bridson, C.K. Saxelby, J.L. Bickerdike, C.W Miller, E. Orgias.

Front L-R: W.H. Hodgson, N.C. Petit, P.K. Sigley, W.O.G. Krogh, H.D. Newman, G.N. Fitzwater,                  P. Robinson. 

Acting Pilot Officer W.D. Finlayson was absent from the group.  Acting pilot Officers Bridson and

Krogh are to be retained for service in the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the Dominion.

Feb 13, 1940:  Photo: Press Historic Collection ~ Air Force, pilots WWII – Green & Hahn.

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Herb Newman readied himself for the five week voyage to England.  On 23 Feb 1940, twelve SSC Acting Pilot Officers** embarked onto the SS Rimutaka and departed Wellington for Southampton.  Not only was it a memorable day for the young pilots but also for 100,000 Aucklanders who had turned out for a street parade in the center of Auckland to welcome home the crew of HMS Achilles who had recently survived the Battle of the River Plate fought in December 1939.

Note: ** Of the 12 pilots who graduated from No.9 Pilot’s Course and served overseas with the RAF, only two survived the war – Herb Newman and Clive King Saxelby, both of who became German Prisoners of War (POWs).  The remaining course members were either killed on air operations (KAO) or in air accidents (KAA) while training.

NZ sent a total of 134 RNZAF trained pilots to the RAF on SSCs.  Of these, 71 were killed/died (53%) and 63 survived. 

Operational training in the RAF

The young Kiwi pilots arrived at Southampton on 13 April 1940 where they were entrained for No.1 (RAF) Depot at Uxbridge (the Recruit Receiving Centre).  At this time the twelve airmen relinquished their RNZAF commissions and were formally granted a RAF Short Service Commission (SSC) with the rank of Temporary Pilot Officer (T/P/O).

Posted to No.1 Flying Practice Unit (1 FPU) at Meir, Staffordshire, the pilots commenced their advanced flying training on the Hawker Hind, a bi-plane that was used as a light bomber, to practice the fundamental skills of aerial bombing.  On 12 May, T/P/O Newman was posted to No.12 Operational Training Unit (12 OTU) at RAF Benson near Wallingford in South Oxfordshire for a further 12 weeks of aerial bombing training in the much larger Fairey Battle, a light bomber mono-plane.

Having mastered the daytime bombing skills, as the majority of operations were conducted under cover of darkness T/P/O Newman was sent to RAF Abingdon in Oxfordshire on 29 June to undertake night bombing training on one of the three light bomber types in the RAF inventory – the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley.  This was a twin engine light bomber not dissimilar in appearance to the Handley Page Hampden and the Avro Lancaster heavy bombers.  In late July, a posting to No.22 Operational Training Unit (22 OTU) at Wellesbourne Mountford in Warwickshire gave T/P/O Newman his first day and night flying experience with a medium bomber, the twin engine, long range Vickers Wellington Mk 1a.  After six weeks of flying and assimilating the aircraft systems and roles of the crew, T/P/O Newman was considered ready for his first operational sortie and posted to RAF Stradishall, near Haverhill in Suffolk in preparation for targets in France and Germany. 

At this point Herb shed the “Temporary” prefix from his rank and was confirmed in the rank of Pilot Officer.  It was also around this time that Herb Newman gained a new ‘name’.  As the story goes, Herb never let an opportunity pass (particularly in the Officers Mess bar) to extoll the virtues of living in New Zealand, with particularly emphasis on his home town of Timaru.  Because of his apparent fixation with talking about Timaru, Herb’s colleagues re-named him “Tim”, the name he was forever after known by in the RAF.

As he was now ready to begin operational flying, P/O Tim Newman was assigned to Bomber Command’s No.3 Group in Sep 1940.  Tim joined a squadron that was crewed predominantly with New Zealand pilots and aircrewmen, topped up with RAF and RAF Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) crewmen as needed.  No.75 (NZ) Squadron** was based at RAF Feltwell in Norfolk flying the Vickers Wellington Mk 1a and Mk 1c heavy bombers on night bombing raids.  Newman initially occupied the right hand seat as 2nd Pilot during his first few operations in order to gain experience in live night bombing. 

Note: **In April 1940, 75 Sqn RAF was absorbed into No.6 Group and the “75” number re-assigned to the NZ pilots and airmen loaned to the RAF when war was declared. Thus the squadron became an RNZAF differentiated unit as 75 (NZ) Squadron which Tim remained with until the end of the war. Based initially at RAF Feltwell, then RAF Mildenhall, RAF Newmarket and RAF Mepal.

Seven squadrons had a New Zealand identity in the RAF and were manned largely by New Zealanders on loan to the RAF.  The first was Bomber Command’s 75 (NZ) Squadron and then 487 Sqn, while three more were  Fighter Command squadrons (485, 486, 488) and the last two in Coastal Command squadrons (489 and 490).  

The ‘Whimpy’          

The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long-range, medium bomber.  It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. The twin-engine Vickers Wellington continued to serve with distinction throughout World War II, despite eventually being superseded in its primary role by the much larger, heavy bombers such as the Avro Lancaster and the Vickers Warwick.

The Vickers Wellington B Mk X nicknamed the “Wellie” or “Whimpy” was to bear the brunt of Bomber Command’s offensive against Germany, making up some 60% of the aircraft in the first 1,000 bomber raid launched on 30 May 1942.  The Wellington also served with distinction during marine reconnaissance and anti-submarine duties with both Coastal and Overseas Commands throughout the war.  The robust nature of its revolutionary construction paid real dividends in terms of both aircraft and lives saved throughout the night bombing campaigns.  One Vickers Wellington (LN514) became the subject of a Ministry of Aviation propaganda newsreel in October 1943, when it was constructed in just 23 hours 50 minutes by workers at the Broughton Factory near Chester, which now produces wings for Airbus.  A total of 11,461 Vickers Wellingtons were built at Weybridge (Brooklands), Chester (Broughton) and Blackpool (Fylde). 

The Wellington’s crew of six consisted of a Pilot (in command), Air Observer/Navigator who also doubled as the 2nd Pilot in an emergency, a Bomb Aimer [aka Air Bomber] / Front (nose) Air Gunner for the 2-gun front turret, a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner to maintain communications and man the port or starboard waist guns as required, and an Air Gunner for the Rear (tail) 2-gun turret.  The Wellington could carry a bomb load up to 4,000lb, had a range 1,885 miles at 180 mph with 1,500lb bomb load, and a maximum speed 255 mph (410 kms/hr). 

Night bombing operations

Between 08 September and 29 December 1940, P/O Tim Newman flew a total of 14 Operations with 75 (NZ) Squadron, nine of these as the 2nd Pilot, and five as 1st Pilot/Pilot in Command.  Most of these sorties consisted of between an eight and ten ‘ship’ formation of Wellingtons for each mission.  Tim’s first operational sortie as 2nd Pilot was Raid No CB.141, a nine ‘ship’ formation of Wellingtons whose targets were the railway marshalling yards and docks at the port town of Le Havre, France.  Pilot in Command of Wellington Mk.1c L7797 AA-F for the operation was Pilot Officer John Edward Stewart MORTON, RAF.  Aside from Tim, the remainder of the crew on board were P/O Alexander ANDERSON, RNZAF (Observer), Sgt. H. G. CAMPBELL, RAFVR (Wireless Operator), Sgt. R. BROWN, RAFVR (Bomb Aimer-Front/Nose Gunner) and P/O Norman Dudley Greenaway, RNZAF (Rear/Tail Gunner).  Operational Reports produced from this mission showed some of the docks at Le Harve and a number of barges were hit with the aircraft’s mixed load of high explosive and incendiary bombs, while a number of targets were missed.  The aircraft returned undamaged.

For the next eight sorties, the raids generally were made up of anything between eight and ten  crew mix remained the same and the targets varied between Le Havre, Hamburg, Berlin, Osnabruck, Hamm, Munster, various aerodromes, railway marshalling yards and ship yards.  Engagement with enemy aircraft was minimal with only one shot down by the rear gunner however flak encounters throughout these nine sorties ranged from medium to heavy.  

P/O Newman’s first bombing sortie as Pilot in Command (Operation #14) was on the night of 6 Dec 1940.  His crew consisted of four New Zealanders and two RAF Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) Sergeants.  The crew remained unaltered for the remainder of Newman’s subsequent sorties:

• 1st Pilot/PIC – P/O Herbert Douglas ‘Tim’ NEWMAN, RNZAF (Timaru) 
• 2nd Pilot/Observer – P/O Robert Garth ‘Bob’ STARK, RNZAF (Greymouth)
• WOp/AG – Sgt John Middleton ‘Jack’ GARRETT, RNZAF (Auckland) 
• AG – Sgt David Garrick Branscombe ‘Dave’ PROTHEROE, RNZAF (Lifuka, Tonga)
• AG – Sgt Sidney Lawrence ‘Sid’ SPITTLE, RAFVR (Croydon, London) 
• AG – Sgt Manville Charles ‘Charlie’ FENN, RAFVR (Manston, Kent) 

75 (NZ) Squadron – Operation #14

On the night of 29/30 December 1940 P/O Newman was PIC of 75 (NZ) Sqn aircraft,  Wellington-1c  R3211–AA-J which left RAF Mildenhall (just north of Cambridge) at 0013 hours to conduct a bombing mission on the marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany. 

Flying over Holland on the return sortie, the aircraft running low on fuel encountered unexpectedly strong headwinds and as a result crash landed at Goudswaard (Zuid Holland), near Rotterdam.  In commenting on the crash during an interview in 1990, Tim Newman said “because it was so dark, I had anticipated ditching in the sea and prepared the crew and aircraft accordingly.”  Imagine his surprise when he crash landed on mudflats, the tide being out at the time.  The crew extricated themselves from the aircraft despite their injuries, with the exception of Jack Garrett who was badly hurt and needed to be carried.  The crew found themselves in knee-deep mud and struggled to drag themselves and their injured comrade ashore.

Once ashore they sought a hiding place to assess their circumstances however, a German patrol that  had seen the aircraft go down, were on the scene within minutes to capture the downed airmen.  While the crew had survived the crash, most had sustained injuries of one sort or another, WOp/AG Sgt. Jack Garrett had fared the worst having broken his hip and was severely concussed by the impact.  Jack was removed by the Germans to nearby Rotterdam hospital.  Much to the bemusement of the German doctor who examined him, when presented to the doctor, Garrett was found to be already wrapped in plaster!  Jack had broken several ribs in a rugby match not long before take-off.  

The remainder of the crew were transported by bus to Amsterdam and then on to Cologne where they were interned in the local jail overnight, 31 Dec 1940 – some New Year’s Eve!  Next day the crew was entrained East through the Ruhr Valley 968 kilometres to the first of several POW camps in which they would be imprisoned.  Oberursel is a scenic town about 21 kilometers north-west of Frankfurt, today the 13th largest town in Hesse.  In 1940 it was the location of the Dulag Luft, a POW camp specifically for captured airman and run by the German Luftwaffe.  

With Jack installed in Rotterdam Hospital (he would eventually be transferred to the hospital at Hohemark, Oberusal and re-join the crew), little did Tim and the crew of Wellington-1c R3211–AA-J realise they would spend the next four and a half years “in the bag” as Kriegies.

Note: To be put “in the bag” is military jargon for the incarceration of Allied Prisoners of War. 

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German (Nazi) prison camps

The German word for Prisoner of War (POW) is kriegsgefangenen which inevitably became shortened to ‘kriegie’.  Airmen POWs were generally interned in a Luftwaffe run Stalag, a prison camp either temporary or permanent for air force personnel only, despite there being a few navy (Fleet Air Arm) and Army who had been caught up is the roundup of prisoners when detected.  Stalag is the contraction of Stammlager, itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager whose literal translation is War-prisoner (i.e. POW) Enlisted – Main Camp.  Therefore technically ‘Stalag’ simply means main camp.  Luft is the German word for Air, and Luftwaffer for Airforce.  Oflag is a contraction of Offiziers Lager which was a camp for officers, literally Officers Camp.

Almost all air force personnel captured in German occupied Europe passed through the German Luftwaffer’s POW camp system which was composed of three initial installations: an Interrogation Centre at Oberusal; the Hospital at Hohemark; and a Transit Camp established in Wetzlar.  Thereafter they would be assigned to a permanent POW camp. 

Initially the officers and other ranks had been lumped together in the same compound.  This however produced a myriad of headaches for the Germans through the POWs contact and collusion with each other to plan escapes.  To overcome this, the rank groups were first separated into compounds within a camp until sufficient space in a particular rank group camp became available.   In the four and a half years Tim Newman and his crew members were “in the bag”, the officers and NCOs were mostly separated and so had almost no opportunity to communicate with each other while in captivity.  Tim and his crew spent their captivity in the following camps:

• Dulag Luft (Oberusel) – Reception & Interrogation Camp for Airmen – 6-8000 transit aircrew 
• Stalag Luft I (Barth, Vogelsang Prussia) – approx 6000 aircrew officers   
• Stalag Luft III (Sagan, Lower Silesia in former Germany, now Poland) – held 10,000+ aircrew officers
• Stalag Luft VI (Heydekrug, German occupied Lithuania) – aircrew Warrant Officers & NCOs
• Stalag 357 Kopernicus (Thorn, now Torun Poland) – later became Stalag XX-A, aircrew Warrant Officers & NCOs 

‘In the Bag’

Despite starting out as an officers-only camp, the Dulag Luft was not referred to as an ‘Oflag’ like other officer-only camps of the Wehrmacht (German regular army).  The Luftwaffe (Air Force) had their own designation and nomenclature.  A Dulag Luft (Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe) was an Interrogation Centre and transit camp run by the Luftwaffe that all airmen POWs were processed through after capture before being transferred in batches to, a transit camp in some cases, or a permanent POW camp (Stalag).

The Dulag Luft consisted of four large wooden barrack blocks, two of which were connected by a passage and known to the POWs as the ‘Cooler‘ (a gaol – 200 isolation prison cells).  Each cell was 8 x 6 feet a 12 feet long, held five men to a cell that held a bed, a table, a chair and an electric bell to call the guard.  On any given day the Cooler had 250 POWs confined.  The third barrack block contained the German administrative headquarters, and the fourth was the interrogation offices, files and records.  The capacity of Dulag Luft was supposedly 200 men as there were only 200 cells however the population frequently exceeded this as the number of Americans captured rapidly increased as the war went on.  

Interrogation

On arrival at the Dulag Luft, POWs were graded as WHITE, GREY or BLACK.  The grading depending on each man’s record of escape to date, their proven ability to be a nuisance, and willingness (or not) to co-operate.  Tim Newman soon discovered all of the RAF officers and their NCOs had been graded as BLACK, i.e. they were considered by the Germans to be the worst prisoners and so had been separated into different compounds.  The men were then searched, registered, photographed, issued a POW number and identity tag, and received rudimentary medical treatment as considered necessary. 

All new arrivals were immediately placed in overnight solitary confinement (cell numbers permitting) until being interrogated the following day, a process often lasting many hours.  The airman’s training for this situation required them to provide only their serial number, rank and name.  However the interrogators who were well skilled in this art, often spoke perfect English and were well informed of each man’s situation, some having family details and place of origin details, etc.  Many interrogators began by empathizing with injured POWs (having spotted bandaging) with “Oh! Bad luck!  Well how are things at … (RAF .. name of the base)” from which the airman had come.  After the interrogation the POW was returned to solitary and interrogated again the following day.  Thereafter they remained at the camp temporarily, officers separated from Warrant Officers and NCOs, until taken via the hospital for a cursory health check and then to the Transit Camp.  Their time at the Dulag Luft was generally seven to fourteen days.

‘ESCAPE’ was the name of the game (for most)

Conditions inside German POW camps and the daily strain of being behind the wire, tended to focus the mind on freedom.  The newly arrived prisoners once processed into the Dulag were soon engaged by others to waste no time in hatching escape plans.  Whilst an unwritten code of conduct encouraged every captured airman to attempt escape and try to return to one’s own lines, escape was by no means compulsory.

Escape to some extent was a conscience decision** upon which each man would have to weigh his own circumstances. He might consider the risk factors (what the impact might be on his family if he were caught or not to survive).  An escaper had to be relatively free from injury so that any affliction did not jeopardise the potential success of others, so injury may rule a man out.  A man may also have to come to terms with defending any decision to not participate in an escape or associated activity.   On occasions, captives came from and underground organisation or had been working covertly for the Allies, e.g. Special Operations Executive (SOE) and so it was imperative these men did not take part in any activity that might bring their attention to their captors.  Indeed, networks of other operatives in these organisation could be put at risk were a man to be caught, or interrogated following a failed escape attempt or discovery of a tunnel they had been helping with.  These people very much needed to play the ‘grey man’, remaining in the background and not drawing any attention to themselves.

For these reasons, it was estimated those who expressed a desire to escape were just 25% of the camp population, and only 5% of those were considered to be dedicated escapers.  The remaining 20% were prepared to work in support activities using whatever expertise or skills they had to contribute to the successful escape of others.  Being involved, although not without considerable risk, was also considered to be beneficial for focusing the mind on something positive, keeping busy and doing stuff rather than fixating on the perceived hopeless of one’s predicament.             

To a lesser extent, a few POWs suffered from a more recognisable phobia that precluded their inclusion in any below ground activity or escape – claustrophobia.  To have a man panic underground whilst attempting to negotiate a narrow tunnel, could prove disastrous for the structural integrity of the tunnel, and the security of others involved and so these, mostly self-declared, were ruled out of escapes.  The volunteer escaper also needed to be free from serious injury.  A concealed injury could inhibit a man’s own ability to escape or become a liability to others he was escaping with and thereby potentially jeopardize their chances of success. 

But whether an escape was successful or not, any Kriegie who got beyond the perimeter wire and remained at large for any period of time, made an important contribution to the war effort by tying up enemy resources in his re-capture. Escaping en masse could be a massive problem for the Germans.  However in reality the odds against a successful escape by one man or many, started from a low base.  The odds were against Kriegies whose only tools really were cunning, inventiveness, and improvisation all of which were thwarted more frequently by the Germans as the war ground on and German security personnel and systems of detecting escape activity improved.  For an escaping Kriegie to achieve a “Home Run” (return to their home country) became a rare occurrence.  

Start as you mean to go on …

Dulag Luft had been an eye-opener for POW #459 Pilot Officer Tim Newman.  When he and his crew arrived at the Dulag Luft, escape seemed to be the principle pre-occupation of the majority of the inmates, the crew being shoulder tapped for digging duties almost as soon as they arrived.  With upwards of 6000 Kriegies of various nationalities in the Dulag, the newcomers soon discovered there were numerous tunnels underway, as well as random opportunist escape attempts that occurred seemingly at will, and spontaneously.  Tim had no inhibitions about escape; if he got the chance he would be into it like a robber’s dog!  In fact he started from the outset as he meant to go on. 

Keen to help in the tunnelling activities, he also participated in a couple of opportunistic, but unsuccessful, overt escape attempts, one on a vehicle that didn’t get out the gate.  Being an inexperienced escaper, his only foray beyond the perimeter wire at Dulag Luft was the result of a bold attempt to go through the front gate when a large number of American aircrew arrived and were milling around creating a commotion at the gate entrance.  In the confusion of their arrival, Tim and couple of others took their chances and made a run for it into the surrounding trees.  At this point in the war, the Luftwaffe almost treated escape and capture as some sort of sport with photos being taken after a capture and really not taking things too seriously at all.  This would all change.  Apprehended within half an hour, Tim had his first taste of solitary confinement in the Cooler on starvation rations, receiving seven days for his foray outside.  With that experience behind him, it didn’t take long for him to learn the finer points of what it took to become a much more proficient in his escape techniques.

Uncharacteristically Tim and his crew spent seven weeks in the Dulag Luft however the sheer increase in the volume of airmen being shot down/captured was overwhelming the existing camps.  On February 16, 1941, now Flying Officer (F/O) Tim Newman and 100 mixed ranks of Allied POWs were marched carrying their kit the short distance to the nearby town of Oberursel and a waiting train.  They were being transferred to their first permanent POW camp, Stalag Luft I at Barth which was on the windswept and freezing Baltic Coast of Vogelsang in East Prussia. 

When the column of Kriegies arrived at the station, it was noted the train windows had been wired shut from the inside and screens had been erected on the outside to cover the glass in an effort to foil escape attempts.  As the Kriegies milled around the train under armed guard waiting to board, a number of were seen to be unobtrusively removing as many of the screws from the screens as they could without them falling off.  Packed into the railway cars, the heat was turned up full and armed guards lining the corridors watching every move, the train departed for Barth.

The distance to Barth is about 720 kilometres from Oberursel and would take roughly 24 hours to reach.  The train departed in daylight travelling at about 15-20 mph (30kph).  During the journey Tim and an Australian POW, SQNLDR Malcolm Lewellyn McColm, RAAF conceived a plan to take their chances and make a bolt for it once it was dark.  Around 20:30 (8.30pm) after some sixteen hours on the train that had travelled roughly 500 kilometres, the two officers had unobtrusively worked their way to the end carriage and unwired a window.  In the darkness both squeezed through the window undetected and jumped, fortunately landing without serious injury.  Tim learned later that a simultaneous escape had been taking place elsewhere on the train by four POWs.  Unfortunately one had hit his leg on a signal post as he jumped from the train badly injuring it and barely able to walk.  This effectively jeopardized his group’s escape as they could not leave him, and as a result were all caught the next day. 

By the second day on the run, Newman and McColm had reached Pasewalk which is around 250 kilometres from Barth however their bid for freedom came to a shuddering halt when they were seen as they tried to circumnavigate the town.  They were arrested and taken directly to Stalag Luft I at Barth, each receiving eight days in the Cooler on starvation rations for their trouble.  McColm received an additional eight days for stealing a badge from one of the Wehrmacht Special Leader’s at the Dulag Luft.  

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Stalag Luft I – BARTH

Stalag Luft I was opened in 1941 to hold British officers.  The camp was situated on a strip of barren land jutting out into the Baltic Sea, about 105 miles northwest of Berlin.  Three kilometres south of the main gate was a massive Lutheran church marking the northern outskirts of the village of Barth.  A large pine forest bordered the west side of the camp and, to the east and north, the Barth Harbour was less than 1500 meters from the perimeter fence.  

Surrounding the camp was miles of barbed wire, erected in two rows four feet apart, attached to 10 foot (3.5 mtrs) posts.  Every hundred meters was a guard tower manned 24/7 and gave the guards an unobstructed view of the entire compound.  Each tower had a mounted machine gun and a pair of spotlights. 

The camp was divided into five separate POW compounds.  There were five prison compounds: South and West, North 1, North 2, and North 3.  A sixth compound, the Vortlager (German compound), was central and contained the Kommandanteur (camp HQ and  Kommandant’s quarters, a medical treatment room and hospital (Lazarette), a jail (aka the ‘Cooler’) plus the officers and guard’s barrack accommodation.  All the buildings were well constructed, even surrounded with green grass and attractive shrubbery.  “The Oasis” as the prisoners called it was in stark contrast to their own compounds.

Dig, dig, dig …

The East Block at Barth had been completed about March 1941 and anyone who was placed in this block was immediately co-opted for tunneling duty.  The block was around 20 feet (6 meters) from the perimeter wire and so tunnels were started as soon the first with

The tunnel trapdoor covered a gap of about 12 inches (30cms) between the hut floor and the ground level.  This was screened from external view by siting the tunnel entrance under the huts only cooking and heating stove.  It was bitterly cold, but the men would go down naked except for a loincloth using fat lamps for illumination.  The lamps consisted of a little Marmite tin filled with saved food fat collected off the top of the soup, and a wick of plaited string, the outside being a glass bottle with the top and bottom cut off, capped with a wooden top and a handle.  The men would dig for 30–45 minute stints using basic tools such as pieces of metal, sharpened pieces of wood and KLIM milk cans fashioned into scoops.  The sand was put into the aluminium bowls used for personal ablutions and surreptitiously dispersed under the accommodation huts.  Eventually the tunnel was about 100 feet (30mtrs) in length meaning it had progressed beyond the perimeter wire.  Finally it was ready on 19 August for the break-out.

On 20 August 1941, Sqn Ldr’s Malcolm McCOLM, RAF and Charlie LOCKETT, RAAF together with F/O Tim NEWMAN were to be the first three in the tunnel and to make the break through outside the camp.  Dressed to pass as Swedish sailors in uniform trousers, polo-necked sweaters, and hats they made themselves, the group also had camp-made compasses, a silk map McColm had managed to keep when he was captured, and a local map copied from one obtained from the Germans.  Each man had some food they saved and five Reichsmarks between them.  The three had agreed to rendezvous in a field not far from the perimeter and then travel together to Lubec.  If they were split up, the plan was to rendezvous at a rail crossing about 2kms from the camp. 

Once the tunnel was broken open first out was McColm, then Lockett followed by Newman.  Lockett had been seen coming out as a sentry in a guard tower scanned the area with a spot light and was immediately fired upon. The hail of machine-gun bullets missed him as he as bolted into the darkness.  Newman had failed to reach the field and so McColm and Lockett made haste hoping for a rendezvous at the rail crossing.  But Newman never showed, he had actually run in the opposite direction to avid the machine-gun fire.  

The Germans arrived at the West Block about 20 minutes later and finding nothing obvious, ordered everyone out of the huts to be head counted and the huts searched which soon revealed the absence of three POWs.  

The following is P/O Tim Newman’s own account from his M.I.9/S/P.G. debrief report: 

“I was last out and hearing some shots fired I ran off alone as fast as I could. I was dressed as a workman and wore a pyjama coat dyed blue, Air Force trousers and a cap made out of a check scarf, the peak of which I had painted black with boot polish. I was without money or forged documents and had only a small amount of food which I had saved up. My aim was to reach Rostock, but soon after I got out of the camp I lost my way in the marshy area surrounding Barth. Eventually I found I was on the wrong side of a small river and had to retrace my steps which entailed walking through the village of Barth. Then I set off in a south-westerly direction and when I reached Dunngarten, I hid myself under some stooks in a field and went to sleep. Soon afterwards I was found by a farmer who took me to the police in the village. I was taken back to the camp.” (Stalag Luft I).

McColm and Lockett after walking at night for several days, hid in a train’s coal truck and rode the rest of the way to Lubec.  With the aid of a helpful Swedish sailor, they were smuggled aboard and stowed away on a Swedish freighter.  Unfortunately Lockett having gone ashore again that night was caught and handed over to the local police.  McColm was found a couple of days later in the ship’s anchor chain locker, after the ship had sailed.  The captain turned the ship around and McColm was handed over to the authorities.  By the 1st of September, Lockett had been interned in Oflag X-C at Lubec, while McColm and Newman were returned to Stalag Luft I at Barth.  Both were given a seven day sabbatical in the Cooler on starvation rations for their trouble.  McColm having proven himself to be a serial escaper and to the Germans therefore a decided threat, was soon after dispatched to Oflag IV-C (Colditz Castle), the prison from which there was allegedly no escape.  There were very few escape attempts from the West barracks after this. 

Tim Newman and Malcolm McColm emerged from their ‘hell hole’ to the cheers of his fellow POWs, both somewhat thinner, if that was possible.  Tim reckoned the Cooler was akin to living in a refrigerator and although weak from a lack of food was none the worse for wear.  Thereafter they tended to keep a lower profile as Colditz was likely to be the next destination if they persisted in escaping.

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Most POW camps, particularly Lufftwaffe camps permitted  their ‘guests’ to indulge in various recreational activities.  Sports were high on the list, even golf (minus the links), board games, cards, musical instruments, a library was usually in evidence in most camps, as was a theatre of some sort for amateur dramatics – the Germans enjoyed attending these despite being the target of the barbs and witticisms that often sailed over their heads.  While the POWs were playing sport or amusing themselves with recreational pursuits, they were not escaping mused the Germans, or so they thought. 

Tim Newman had been a pretty handy rugby football player while at Timaru BHS and so was selected to make his international debut for New Zealand against a scratch Australian fifteen – of POWs!  Thankfully they won or we would still be living it down.

Stalag Luft III – SAGAN

Over 1,900 RAF aircrew from all commands had been captured by the end of 1941 with over 800 in the second half of that year alone.  A further 70 were captured in the first two months of 1942 with many more to follow as the air war ramped up.  Stalag Luft I was rapidly filled to capacity with an unenviable (for the Germans) history of attempted escapes.  Accordingly, Field Marshal Herman Goering, Chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered a new state of the art Luftwaffe POW camp to be built at Sagan (Żagań). 

Sagan (Żagań) is in Upper Silesia, then a former Polish territory occupied by Nazi Germany.  The new camp, Stalag Luft III (Sagan), or Stammlager Luft III to give it its proper German title, was to be one of the new types of POW facilities, a ‘state of the art’ camp constructed to be escape proof, to house the ever increasing number of allied airmen being captured daily, as Bomber Command maintained its offensive against German occupied Europe and Germany itself. 

Stalag Luft III was located about 160 kilometres south-east of Berlin, sited in a thick pine forest that concealed the camp on three sides.  The Sagan township and railway station was approximately 750 meters south of the camp.  Designed to hold up to 10,000 POWs, the camp covered 59 acres and was surrounded with eight kilometres of barbed wire perimeter fencing. 

State of the Art

Himmler decided that the Sagan camp would be a ‘state of the art’ camp which would make it virtually escape-proof.  The site selected for Stalag Luft III was deliberately chosen for its sandy soil to make tunneling very difficult.  The camp initially had two compounds  eventually growing to five compounds that could handle in the order of 11,000 POWs.  The East Compound was opened in March 1942 to hold British and Commonwealth officers, with the Centre opened a month later to hold British and Commonwealth NCOs,  however, these were replaced by USAAF personnel.  The North Compound for British and Commonwealth air force officers opened on 29 March 1943.   A South Compound for Americans was opened in September 1943 together with an overflow camp situated at Belaria, some five kilometres west of Sagan.  With significant numbers of USAAF arriving the following month, construction of the West Compound for US officers was begun and opened in July 1944.  

^^^ NORTH ^^^

Belaria had been a cadet training area for the Wehrmacht before it was turned into a POW camp.  The camp had six ramshackle buildings in two small compounds surrounded by rusty barbed wire and watchtowers, each one equipped with a mounted machine-gun and a spotlight.  By 1944, Belaria consisted of 8 accommodation blocks, each with an ablution area including washbasins, 3 or 4 showers (cold), and a urinal.  Belaria also had a Cooler, a ration store with kitchen attached, a lazaret and a communal abort (toilet) … an 8-holer in two back-to-back rows of seats.

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“Time spent on reconnaissance is rarely wasted“

The Eastern Compound at Stalag Luft III was opened in March 1942.  The first POWs were an advance party of 100+ RAF officers purged from the overcrowded Stalag Luft I at Barth.  Numbers increased as more batches of prisoners of mixed ranks (Warrant Officers and NCOs) were caught and shipped from other camps or directly from the Luftwaffe’s Dulag Luft at Oberursel near Frankfurt-am-Main.  The construction of a second compound, the North, allowed for the officers to be separated from the men who were eventually moved right out of Stalah Luft III to other NCO specific camps.  Some NCOs volunteered to remain with their senior officers as Batmen and so were accommodated in the officers’ compound. 

By March 1943 the North Compound was ready for occupation.  A theatre was yet to be completed and so on the pretext of providing volunteers to assist with building this and to prepare the huts for occupation, some of the key escape planners were included in a work party that was permitted several hours access to the new compound.  This was an opportunity for them to recce the new compound in detail, assess the buildings inside and out for likely tunnel entry/exit points, note the obstacles to be avoided, check lines of sight, pace out distances, record angles and direction, and to generally take a closer look at the surrounding forest and lay of the land outside the perimeter fence. 

NORTH compound 

By the time transfers in to the new North compound were completed, there were in excess of a 1000 mostly RAF and Commonwealth aircrew officers (most were Flight Lieutenants), two thirds of whom were keen to get stuck into tunnelling and escape preparation activities. 

POW accommodation consisted of 15 pre-fabricated wooden huts, 14 of these being self-contained barracks blocks measuring 10 feet x 12 feet (3.0 x 3.7 mtrs) which could accommodate 1,175 POWs without overcrowding.  Elsewhere in the compound was a kitchen, a couple of stores houses, one of which was designated a Red Cross parcel/box store, and a fire-fighting water pool. 

Each hut was divided into 16 rooms which housed around eight men in each, plus three sets of private quarters for the senior officers.  Each hut could hold 72 officers and 12 Other Ranks (these were NCO airmen who volunteered to act as Batmen for their officers).  Each hut also had an abort – urinal and two toilet bowls, a bathroom with six porcelain hand basins, and a kitchen with one cooking stove.  

Physical security

The compound’s perimeter fence was a double row of barbed wire, 2 meters apart and around 3 meters high.  The two meter gap between the fences was filled with coils of barbed wire about a meter deep.  Guard watch towers were spaced every 150 meters around the perimeter, each fitted with a machine-gun and a hand operated search light.  Inside the inner perimeter fence was a warning rail (later replaced by wire) sited about 3 meters from the inner fence and half a meter high.  While the guards were not exactly the cream of the Luftwaffe, to cross this rail/wire or even stand on it was an automatic invitation to be shot at (to wound only).  A ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ mentality was undoubtedly applied by some trigger-happy guards as the records in the UK National Archives show, reports from SBOs to the Kommandants of all POW camps siting cases of prisoners being unnecessarily wounded or killed.    

To deter tunnelling activities, the camp was the first to have seismographic microphones installed to detect tunneling activity.  These were imbedded 3 meters into the ground between each perimeter watch tower, the Luftwaffe believing that with these, escape from this ‘state of the art’ camp would be impossible. 

Vorlager (German compound)

Across the northern perimeter of the North compound was the Vorlager, a separate fenced compound prohibited to the POWs unless under armed escort.  The Vorlager housed the German’s Guard Room, a Lazarette, Cooler and a coal store.  The camp was accessed by a dirt road that ran east-west along the Vorlager’s northern perimeter with the camp Entrance Gates sited near the eastern corner beside the Guard Room. 

Kommandanteur (Camp HQ)

The Kommandanteur was the collective name for the office of the camp’s Commanding Officer (Kommandant), the officers quarters and camp guard’s barracks.  These were all situated outside the compound perimeter, adjacent to what would later become the West Compound.  Stalag Luft III’s Kommandant was Oberst (Colonel) Friedrich von Lindeiner-Wildau, a decorated World War I veteran who had a compliment of some 800 Luftwaffe guards and staff with which to run his camp.  Many of these however were too old for combat duty, younger airmen who were being rested after long tours of duty or those convalescing from wounds.  Because the guards were Luftwaffe personnel, the prisoners generally received far better treatment than camps guarded by the Nazi Wehrmacht (Regular Army) soldiers, and a number of whom proved to be amenable/gullible to bribery by the Kriegies.

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First escapes from Stalag Luft III

Tunneling at Stalag Luft III was the dominant activity for the majority of Kriegies from virtually their day of arrival.  In the officers’ compound, most of the newly arrived officers didn’t waste time in joining one of the tunnelling crews and sink themselves into any of the various escape activities to which they make a useful contribution, some having bought escape experience from previous camps.  Apart from the few opportunistic escapes by individuals or small groups (most unsuccessful), several more audacious and successful mass escapes had been made during the early days at Stalag Luft III.

Delousing Party – June 1943

The Delousing break-out was the first mass escape attempt by allied aircrew officers of both British and American nationalities  held as POWs during WW2.  The plan was masterminded by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell RAF, the architect of the ‘Great Escape’ in 1944.

Main Party – On 12 June 1943, a party of 24 officers were escorted by two German speaking Kriegies disguised as uniformed guards were led out of the North compound, through the Main Gate of Stalag Luft III for delousing.  Once outside, two of POWs who were pilots, put on the uniforms of the bogus guards while the remainder fled into the forest.  Unfortunately the two uniformed POWs were captured at a local air field trying to start an aircraft – but the Germans were very fond of taking photographs of recaptured escapers and the means they used to escape, in these early days and so was more of a novelty than an act of war and so the punishment regime for the escapees, once their captor’s pride had been flushed with copious photographs of their good work, was very much lighter than it became later in the war.  All twenty-six escapers were recaptured, many within hours.  Twenty-four of them were returned to the camp, but the two uniformed ‘guards’ were sent to Oflag IV-C (Colditz) for attempting to steal the aircraft. 

Second Party – A second party of six officers, again escorted by a fake guard, also attempted to escape whilst on route to the neighbouring compound shortly after the Main Party had left, however the forged pass carried by one man was out of date and the alarm was raised.  All participants in the escape were held for a period of time in solitary confinement.

Wooden Horse, October 1943

After 114 days of tunneling, officers F/L Eric WILLIAMS RAF, F/L Oliver PHILPOTT, RAF and LT Michael CODNER, RA (Royal Artillery) escaped through a tunnel in the East Compound of Stalag Luft III on 29 October 1943.  This was dug while concealed by a wooden vaulting horse they had manufactured from Red Cross parcel boxes.  The horse concealed two tunnellers and their tools inside.  Each day the vaulting horse was carried outside and placed in the same position over a concealed trapdoor near the perimeter fence.  Once in position, gymnastic recreation began with vaulting over the horse while the two tunnellers entered the tunnel and continued digging.  At the end of the session, the tunnellers and the sand they removed in bags suspended inside the horse, were carried back to their hut.  After several months of digging, the tunnel cleared the perimeter fence allowing three to make their escape under the cover of darkness.  The three men walked for miles before travelling by train to a coastal port, where two stowed away aboard a Danish ship, and the other on a Swedish ship that was bound for neutral Stockholm.  All three eventually reached England, the only successful Home Run** by POWs to be made from the Eastern Compound of Stalag Luft III.  

Note:  ** A ‘Home Run‘ was declared when a POW had escaped from inside a camp and made their way all the way home to their parent country, without any external assistance such as from partisans or of an escape line.  

Stalag Luft III – Organisation 

With the opening of the North Compound, Tim Newman and his crew were purged from the overcrowded Stalag Luft I at Barth and temporarily interned at Belaria, a satellite holding camp of Luft III, or the 5th Compound as it became.  After a short spell there, they were moved into Stalag Luft III main camp in March 1943.

Senior British Officer (SBO)

Irrespective of the camp, all Allied POWs came under the command and control of the resident senior ranking British officer, known as the Senior British Officer (SBO).  The NCO’s and men who initially arrived with the officers as they progressed through  interrogation, once separated were no longer under the direct control of the SBO and so were required to elect a Man of Confidence (MoC), usually a senior Warrant Officer or Flight Sergeant.   The MoC was the men’s representative and the conduit for all information to and from the SBO and officers.  The MoC also reported directly to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who were responsible for inspecting the camps and hospitals and producing reports.   The sorts of issues the MoC would advocate with the camp authorities on behalf of the men were matters related to camp routine, work schedules, discipline and diet.  In due course the Warrant Officers, NCOs and men were transferred to separate camps specifically set aside for non-commissioned personnel and so retained this basic organisational structure by necessity.  Additional men were appointed to assist the MoC as needed.

Harry ‘Wings’ Day

When Tim Newman and his cohorts arrived at Stalag Luft III, Wing Commander Harry ‘Wings’ Melville Arbuthnot DAY, RAF was the SBO at Stalag Luft III who oversaw the initial stages of planning for the ‘Great Escape’.  A veteran of four previous escape attempts himself from earlier camps, Day had seen the failures of numerous un-coordinated escape attempts.  Even successful escapers had come unstuck for the want of a real plan once outside the wire.  He decided in order to maximized the chances of escape success at Stalag Luft III, each escape was to have the risks assessed, be properly planned, vetted and approved before any attempt was started, either that or the free-for-all that currently characterized escape attempts could un-necessarily cost lives and markedly affect the morale of their fellow POWs.  Day had trialed the concept of an Escape Committee, a group of experienced escapers chaired by an experienced leader with a committee to plan, approve and manage every escape which involved a coordinating the activities of a number specialist to support the escape.  Collectively this was known as the Escape, or X-Organisation.

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Previous escape attempts from Stalag Luft III’s East Compound had met with mixed success.  Whilst the Delousing Party and Wooden Horse escapes were triumphs of morale, mass escapes from a tunnel rarely occurred due to its prior discovery.  With more than 80 tunnels discovered at Stalag Luft III it was clear to the SBO a much more structured approach to tunnel escapes was required if the North Compound was to have any success. 

To that end ‘Wings’ Day selected a self-assured fighter pilot with escape experience as well as a sound command of German among other languages, to head up the escape organisation at Stalag Luft III.  Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell, DFC after his capture had been made part of the permanent British staff at the Dulag Luft, then under the command of SBO ‘Wings’ Day.  Day had deputised Bushell to the then head of escape operations, S/L Jimmy Buckley RAF who was known as Big-X.  The permanent staff’s duty was to help newly captured aircrew to adjust to life as a Prisoner of War. 

Escape organisation  

Big-X

Bushell had become an experienced escaper of three near successful attempts, was a fluent speaker of both German and French, and had gained greatly from the experience of working with Buckley.  As a consequence, after he was transferred to Stalag Luft III, SBO ‘Wings’ Day selected Bushell as Big-X to chair the Stalag Luft III Escape Committee, or X-Committee.  

Roger Bushell was a RAF Spitfire pilot, the CO of No.92 (Spitfire) Squadron when he was shot down on 23 May 1940 during the Battle of France.  He, on a previous escape, had been hiding in Prague and was caught in the aftermath of the Heydrich assassination of which the Gestapo suspected Bushell of being complicit in.  The French family hiding him were all executed by the Gestapo and Jack Zaphouk, his Czech co-escaper, was purged to Stalag IV-C, Colditz Castle.  As a result, Bushell developed an almost pathological hatred of the Germans however, failed to distinguish between the ruthless and cruel Gestapo, and the less ardent types represented by Luftwaffe personnel, including the Kommandant of Stalag Luft III.

Rank references: G/C = Group Captain, W/C = Wing Commander, S/L = Squadron Leader, F/L = Flight Lieutenant, F/O = Flying Officer, P/O = Pilot Officer; LT = Lieutenant, Army or (N) = Navy.

X-Committee

Bushell’s X-Committee were the planners and vetted all escapes plans presented to them for consideration from others (and that of the SBO).  The X-Committee  comprised the following:

• F/O Clark Wallace ‘Wally, the Tunnel King’ FLOODY, RCAF (401 Sqn, RAF) – i/c Tunnel Construction, an ex-miner and the masterminded of the construction of all three tunnels. 
• F/L George Randolph HARSH, RCAF (102 Sqn, RAF) – i/c Security of the three tunnels.  Manage the Duty Pilots and  Stooges, all other internal security measures in support of escape preparation and the collection of intelligence.  George Harsh also had history; as a teenager he was a convicted of murderer in Canada who served a substantial period in prison.  He was released to volunteer for war service and as it happened, acquitted himself exceptionally well in the internal security roll.
• LT (RN) Peter ‘Hornblower’ FANSHAWE, FAA (803 Sqn, Fleet Air Arm) – i/c of sand dispersal & personnel –  ‘Penguins’. 

Key personnel & departments

Bushell collected the most skilled forgers, tailors, tunnel engineers and surveillance experts and announced his intention to put 250 men outside the wire.  This would cause a tremendous problem and force the enemy to divert men and resources to round up the escapers.  His idea was not so much to return escapers to the UK but mainly to cause a giant internal problem for the German administration.  Bushell went about this task with a typical single-minded determinedness, despite having been officially warned that his next escape and recapture would result in his execution.

An escape this big had not been achieved before and so meticulous preparations were made for this planned mass escape.  As the pre-occupation of most POWs was escape, much of the camp’s activities were geared to acquiring maps, making ausweiss (passes), civil clothing from uniforms, producing photographs, acquiring money and of course tunnelling.

The X-Org created a number of departments to support the various escape activities, each one headed by a designated leader. 

• • F/L William ‘Wally’ David Gaynell McCAW, RAF (Little-X) – Roger Bushell’s deputy  
  • F/L Robert ‘Crump’ Gerald KER-RAMSAY, FAA/RAF – Floody’s Chief Engineer 
  • F/L Henry ‘Johnny’ Cuthbert MARSHALL, RAF – Floody’s Tunnelling Assistant
  • F/L Desmond ‘Des’ Lancelot PLUNKETT, RAF – Map making team; 4000 hand drawn, copied and acquired maps.
  • F/L Gilbert ‘Tim’ William WALENN, RAF – A graphic artist and designer, Tim’s forgery team was responsible for the production of fake Identity Cards/Photos & Passes.  They were also responsible for procuring genuine IDs and Passes by bribery & blackmail from the guards.  These two departments were nicknamed the “Dean and Dawson Travel Agency” after a well-known UK travel firm founded in 1871.
  • P/O Frank ‘Johnny’ St. John TRAVIS, Rhodesian Air Force – Fat Lamps & Escape Kit manufacturing team, e.g. compasses (500 made) from fragments of broken bakelite gramophone records recovered from camp dump, melted and shaped incorporating a tiny needle made from slivers of magnetized razor blades.  A touch of comedy was added to these – stamped on the underside of each compass was ‘Made in Stalag Luft III – Patent Pending’.          
  • F/L Thomas ‘Tommy’ GUEST, RAF – a Tailor by trade, Tommy arranged the modification of service uniforms into civilian suits and German uniforms, producing workmen’s clothing and other civilian type attire from sheets and blankets.  These included 50 complete suits from converted uniforms plus several German uniforms.
  • P/O Ian Alexander ‘Digger’ MACINTOSH, RAF – known as the ‘ace’ carpenter, he managed construction of the tunnel rail system, the flat deck trollies and sand boxes, as well as shoring timber and anything else made from wood.

Note: One very capable cobbler among the POWs who could make and repair footwear, was tasked to go to all newly captured arrivals who were flyers and secure their flying boots.  The rubber heels were then removed and substituted for wooden ones allowing the rubber heals to be used to manufacture counterfeit stamps for passes, documents, etc. for the escape attempts.  He also helped to make or convert boots into shoes for any escape.

Y and Z Organisations

The Y-Org was a series of specialist departments spread throughout the huts.  These specialised in producing forged escape maps, documents, letters and passes, making escape clothing (civilian suits, jackets, shoes, hats etc), procuring and/or manufacturing escape rations, and the equipment need for success – compasses, water-bottles, money, etc.  The Y-Org coordinated the Duty Pilot roster to protect the various undercover activities.  An escaper had to rehearse for the role, learn not to draw attention but also to look and act credibly whomever he was intending to portray, be that businessman, labourer, foreign national etc.

Getting out of the camp was only the first part of any escape.  For escapers to be apprehended after months of tunnelling and preparation would be highly demoralising, not only for those caught but for others seeking to escape and providing escape support.  Spot checks by local the Police and the Gestapo were a given, however could be fatal if an escaper was not adequately prepared.   Anyone adept at drawing or painting was encouraged to the forgery department.  Initially, all forged documents were produced entirely by hand drawing them using a brush and Indian ink, with rubber stamps being carved from boot rubber. 

The Z-Org was responsible for maintaining contact with RAF intelligence in England.  It debriefed all new POW’s arriving in the compound and was on the alert to any suspected of being planted by the Germans.  Information was also collected from POWs who interacted with guards who were amenable to bribery and blackmail as a source of information.  As the war progressed it became very important to find out what they knew and any useful information sent back to England by coded POW mail.  Selected aircrew had been trained in information gathering and to use coded messages (in letters) in the event they were caught.    

Internal Security 

The Kriegies day was structured around the morning and evening Appell – a parade to count heads and conduct a roll-call to ensure all POWs were accounted for and present.  There were however many tricks developed by the POWs to conceal the absence of a man/men.  Appell in the morning was at 0800 (8.00am) and 1700 (5.00pm) in the afternoon.  Hut lighting was controlled by the Germans and was switched off at 2100 (9.00pm).  At this time the Kriegies were locked in their huts, and the compound floodlit. apart from these timing, appell could occur at any time for any reason, the most common being a hut search conducted by specialist Abwehr personnel, looking for a suspected tunnel entrance, or a search for evidence of escape activity.  Around these parade timings, escape preparation and particularly tunnelling, carried on in some form 24/7 so it was essential internal security measures among Kriegies was rigidly adhered to and strictly enforced. 

Under threat of a court martial, Bushell had most emphatically banned the use of the word “tunnel” in case it was inadvertently overheard by the Germans, or could be communicated to them by an unknown informer from within the Kriegie’s ranks. 

Compound access control

In order for tunnelling and escape activities to carry on unhindered and in complete secrecy, it was essential the all departments received the earliest warning of approaching danger so they could pass the warning quickly and silently to alert each Little-S (an officer in each hut appointed to be in charge of the hut security) whenever a German or group of Germans (e.g. inspection or search team) entered the compound.  The appearance of a search team usually meant appell would be long (hours in some cases) while yet another search for tunnels and/or evidence of escape activity was about to take place.  

Duty Pilot & Stooges – F/L George HARSH RCAF controlled the security arrangements, managing and training the Duty Pilots and Stooges.  It was a Duty Pilot’s role to log every German in and out of the compound so that none could conceal themselves to discover what might be happening in the compound.  Positioned to record these, the Duty Pilot would alert those in the compound via silent signals passed through a network of Stooges (look-outs) to the each hut’s Little-S of an impending threat.  As long as a German lurked inside the compound he was shadowed by a Stooge who could alert the network.  The command of “Goon up” from Little-S was the signal to conceal the tunnel trap, cease any support activities, and conceal the evidence.  Reaction and concealment was practiced until down to a fine art, and able to be achieved in 10 seconds.  In addition each hut that concealed escape activities had a Little-S positioned at the entry steps (reading, playing cards etc) whose job it was to question every person who wished to enter the hut, “what is your business?”  If Germans, to delay their entry as long as possible to ensure maximum time to conceal any illicit activities.

Goons and Ferrets

Goons – German guards were universally known as ‘Goons’, a nickname which puzzled them. (When asked, a captured officer said that it stood for German Officer Or Non-com[missioned officer].  Annoying the guards was a popular if not risky past-time called ‘Goon or Jerry Baiting’.  This was practiced in most camps with various degrees of enthusiasm, basic school-boy humour being the basis of this.  To outwit the Germans, to embarrass or humiliate them by subtle means was altogether a different skill as this required guile and cunning, and a greater intelligence than their captors.  The compounds and buildings were subjected to regular snap sweeps by camp’s staff in order to deter tunnelling activities and/or to discover illicit materials that might aid escapes.  All escape preparation relied heavily on the earliest warning possible to prevent compromise or the loss of men, time spent on preparation, loss of equipment and materials required for any attempt.  While the watch tower Goons manned the towers 24/7 watching for any overt attempts to scale the perimeter wire, the primary threat to escape preparation came from the interminable snap checks and inspections of the huts and compound by the Ferrets.

Ferrets – The Abwehr (security intelligence personnel) were add to the camp staff as a specialist search team.  These were nicknamed ‘ferrets’ by the Kriegies because of the overalls they wore and the manner in which they ferreted through the a very efficient Luftwaffe Oberfeldwebel (Warrant Officer) Sergeant-Major Hermann GlEMNITZ, an older man who had been a pilot during WW1.  The POWs considered Glemnitz to be the ferret who posed the greatest threat to their security.  

The ferret team was headed up by an enthusiastic Abwehr Corporal who routinely swooped on the compound or a hut, turning the occupants out for two or more hours while they ratted through every inch of a building, its ceiling and underfloor, looking for evidence.  The huts being elevated off the ground to deter tunnelling presented the ferrets an additional opportunity to gain information from unknowing Kriegies.  Curfew for the prisoners was 2100 (9.00pm) at night, and all prisoners were locked in the huts until appell at 0800 (8.00am) next morning.  No person was permitted outside the huts between these hours or they would be shot!  Ferrets on occasions would concealed themselves at night under a hut to listen to the prisoners talking, in the hope of hearing something useful regarding tunnels, namely an entry point, or to find out what was being planned.  This practice did not last as all new POWs arriving at the camp were briefed accordingly, the hut occupants being particularly guarded in what they said and only in hushed tones. 

‘Rubberneck’ 

The nemesis of all POWs at Stalag Luft III was an unpredictable and fanatical ferret named Gefreiter (Corporal) Karl GREISE whom the Kriegies nicknamed ‘Rubberneck’ since he appeared to have eyes in the back of his head and was particularly adept at spotting evidence of escape activity.  Greise was Glemnitz’s 2 i/c, and always seeking opportunities to impress Glemnitz.  Glemnitz and Greise managed to expose no less than 80 tunnels in Stalag Luft III’s five compounds by war’s end however, the ‘Great Escape’ tunnel was not one of them. 

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When evidence of excavation was detected, e.g. the sand taken from tunnel was of a light yellow colouring which differed markedly in colour from the darker surface soil in the compound, if spotted the ferrets would go into overdrive searching for the source.  One method used for fast results in the initial months of the camp opening was to drive heavy vehicles around a hut suspected of being the source of a tunnel entrance, hoping to reveal any tunnel or galleries by collapsing them under the weight.  This led to a more sophisticated method of detection.  A suspected hut would have a trench dug along its length on the side closest to the perimeter fence.  If the tunnel was not immediately discovered, the bottom of the trench was then probed with steel rods to hopefully reveal a break-through into a tunnel at a deeper depth.  The result of this was to dig tunnels even deeper.  In Stalag III’s new North Compound, being a ‘state of the arty’ POW facility, the installation of seismic microphones to detect tunnelling activity was a game changer, one that Rubberneck and his cronies no doubt relished as the difficulty of tunnelling without detection was greatly increased.  The answer: tunnels would have to be dug to an unprecedented depth to avoid detection.

Tunnels – TOM, DICK, HARRY

As Bushell formulated and reviewed the plans for various escape attempts, he reasoned that the Germans would not expect three tunnels to be dug at the same time however were more than likely to discover at least one, and so the odds of success by having an alternate tunnel dug would be much greater.  Bushell’s final plan called for three tunnels to be dug simultaneously, each to be named TOM, DICK and HARRY.  One of these he planned get 200 escapers through.  All three tunnels of these tunnels in the North Compound were started around April-May 1943.  

The huts in the North Compound were built on 60cm brick and concrete pillar foundations which permitted a clear view underneath.  The foundations were imbedded in the ground and provided a means for creating a tunnel entrance by piercing the centre of the foundation.  The entrance for TOM began in a darkened corner next to a stove chimney in Hut 123, through the concrete foundation and extended west into the forest.  The entrance to DICK was hidden in a drain sump in the centre of the concrete washroom (bathroom) floor of Hut 122.  When closed and sealed, the entrance was concealed under some 0.6 meter of water in the sump.  DICK was to be dug in the same direction as TOM as it was thought the hut would not be a suspected tunnel site as it was further from the perimeter wire than the others.  The Germans never found this tunnel which later was used as a workshop and to store equipment, clothing, rations etc, stockpiled for an escape.  It was also used to hide excavated soil from the other tunnels when all other locations were at capacity.   In Hut 104, a caste-iron cooking/heating stove that all huts had that stood on a tiled concrete slab.  When the stove and slab were removed, the entrance trap door to HARRY began by penetrating a concrete foundation and excavating a shaft to an unprecedented depth of 6 meters.  

Throughout the summer of 1943, work on the tunnels continued with the concentration on TOM as it was closest to the wire.  Work on HARRY had been suspended for this purpose while DICK was used for hiding the sand from TOM as well as escape equipment, tools and contraband.  In October 1943, news of the intended move of the American officers to the South Compound caused work on TOM to  be suspended.  It also meant that these men would not be able to take part in the escape from TOM.  In addition, a plan to flatten part of the western forest to build the West Compound would also expose the location of TOM’s planned exit. 

Both of these eventualities meant that work on TOM became the priority and work on HARRY was suspended.  With 40 feet to go to complete TOM, the speed and concentration on TOM meant mistakes were made and shortcuts taken.  The result was the detection of different coloured sand by the ferrets plus an inordinate number of Kriegies had been observed moving carrying Red Cross boxes (full of sand).  This led to a concerted search of the huts at that end of the compound.  Although nothing was found, increased searches of the huts were carried out by the ferrets looking for any tell-tale evidence of tunnelling.  The sneaky tactics of the Ferrets sometimes involved concealing themselves in the ceiling or under the floor of a hut while the occupants had been ordered to appell.  This meant that after the appell, the occupants would have to conduct another comprehensive search of their hut for concealed ferrets before it was clear to recommence tunnelling and escape preparation activities.

Regrettably, one of these searches netted Glemintz and his Abwehr ferret’s an unexpected discovery.  Alerted to possible tunnel activity in Hut 123, a search and trench probe had produced nothing.  One of the Ferret’s carrying a metal probing rod accidentally dropped the probe on the concrete floor which produced an audibly uncommon sound.  Close inspection of the point of impact (on a recently laid cement seal) led to the discovery of the concealed trapdoor entrance to TOM.  When discovered, tunnels were usually flooded as sand and water quickly dissolve the structure however on this occasion German Army Engineers were called in to destroy the 87 meter long (285 feet) tunnel TOM with explosives.  The net result was that the tunnel acted like a gun-barrel which exploded the tunnel entrance and blew half of the roof off Hut 123.

Believing he knew who the instigators of the tunnel were (most having previous track records of escape), the Kommandant ordered a 100 suspect officers be rounded up which included the then Senior British Officer, W/C ‘Wings’ Day, and several other senior members in the compound.  These were transferred to an officer’s camp some distance away, Oflag XXIB at Schubin.  Some of these officers were later returned to the South Compound including Day however by then, Group Captain Martin Herbert MASSEY, RAF who had assumed command on Day’s departure to Schubin, was liaising with Bushell on all matters of the escape plan. 

German suspicions aroused

Ever since the discovery of TOM the Germans at Stalag Luft III were convinced something major was in the wind but all attempts to find either of the remaining tunnels had failed.  In January 1944, the new compound at Belaria, a few kilometers away was opened and 500 POWs from the East and Central compounds at Stalag Luft III were transferred.  Regrettably this removed a number of men who had contributed significantly to the tunnelling activities and so would be denied the opportunity of a place in an escape. 

Purges of prisoners to other camps was commonplace however in early March, suspicions a major break out attempt was in the wind (but could not be proven) prompted the ferret ‘Rubberneck’ who was about to go on two weeks leave, to convince his bosses at Luft III, head of security Hauptmann (Captain) Broili and Sergeant-Major Glemnitz, that a further 19 senior POWs were suspected of being complicit in the plan and should be removed Luft III to other camps.  Unfortunately this included some of Bushell’s X-Committee men (e.g. Floody, Harsh, Fanshaw) and a proportion of other key men from the Org departments.  Bushell had been astute enough to cover such eventualities by ensuring every key appointment was covered by a deputy while his own identity as the head of the X-Org remained well concealed.  As a consequence, he was neither suspected nor removed as the deputies were able to keep the tunnel and escape preparations on track. 

Christmas, 1943

In December 1943, Big-X called a halt to all tunnelling and escape activity.  The discovery of TOM which prompted much more attention from the  ferrets risked DICK or HARRY being found.  It was also a chance for all tunnellers and those working in the departments to take a well earned break to recover and refresh.  While the library, theatre and ball sports (and the odd home made golf balls and clubs) helped the under nourished men to relax as much as one can in such trying conditions, Christmas time was a chance to sample some of the Kriegie’s home brewed wine.  This had been made from raisins/prunes, whatever came in the Red Cross boxes.  This was fermented and double or triple distilled by a home-made brewery.  The result was dynamite!  A Goon with a couple of dogs was shutting the window of a room when we was handed a bottle of the brew, which he drank on the spot and promptly collapsed.  On another occasion someone threw a bottle of the brew to a guard in a Goon Box.  He also drank it in one go and seconds later fell out of the tower.  Refreshed after their four week break, by mid January 1944 it was all shoulders to the wheel for maximum effort to complete HARRY as soon as possible.

HARRY 

Tunnel HARRY was to be the most ambitious tunneling project to date.  Capitalising on the pooled experience of numerous escapes attempts from his fellows, S/L Roger Bushell’s plan called for HARRY to be the sum of all those lessons for a successful mass escape.

Dimensions – The plan was to excavate a vertical entrance shaft down to a depth of 28 feet (8.5mtrs) in order to by-pass the range of the seismic microphones, shore it up with bed-boards, and build in an access ladder.  At the terminal depth of the shaft, a chamber was to be excavated to accommodate a small workshop, the air pump operator, a hauler and a disposal stockpile area for the spoil. 

From the chamber the tunnel would run at right angles horizontally in a northerly direction for about 120 meters, passing under the end of the Cooler foundations and the two perimeter fences, by-pass a guard tower some 50 feet to the east, and continue on under the vehicle track and into the forest.  The internal diameter (and shape) of the tunnel was dictated by the length of the bed-boards that supported the POWs on their beds.  These were almost exactly two feet long (61cms) thus dictating the size and shape of the tunnel.  These boards shored up the sides and roof of the tunnel to prevent collapse.

The vertical Exit shaft would have a corresponding chamber at its base to accommodate waiting escapers (approx. three) and their kit.  The tunnel Exit was to be positioned about 10-15 meters inside the tree line of the forest to conceal emerging escapers.  The last meter of the Exit shaft was to be left intact and only excavated once the escape commenced.  The overburden was kept in place by bed-board shoring to prevent premature collapse. 

Entry & Exit – Digging began on all three tunnels in the North Compound around March 1943.  The entrance to HARRY in Hut 104 was beneath a concrete and tiled hearth upon which sat a smallish cast-iron stove used for cooking and heating.  With the chimney disconnected and stove removed (even when hot by two men with a wooden lifting jig), the tiled hearth could be slid aside for the tunnellers to access the pierced foundation shaft.  Rehearsal proved the whole setup could be returned to normal within 20 seconds should the guards or ferrets be on the prowl.

Railway – A wooden railway was constructed to accommodate two flat-bed trolleys with wooden wheels.  Each wheel was edged with a tin strip to prevent wear.  The rails were covered with blanket strips to reduce noise when a trolley was hauled.  Plaited string ropes attached to the trolley would be pulled by a Hauler, one positioned at each of the two half-way stations, both named after London underground stations.  The first at the 30 meter point was named Piccadilly and the second at 60 meters, Leicester Square.  Each of the stations were large enough to accommodate a Hauler laying on his back with just enough additional space for an escaper to dismount the trolley, crawl forward with his kit, and re-mount the second trolley to traverse to the Exit Dispersal Chamber. 

Materials – Equipment and materials to construct HARRY was in short supply however imagination, improvisation and inventiveness was plentiful.  The following is the German account of what materials were missing after the escape.  Apart from the items issued by the Germans, the remainder was purloined from the prisoner’s huts to construct HARRY. 

• 4000 bed-boards, 1370 beading battens, 90 double tier bunks, 76 benches, 52 x 20-man tables, 10 single tables, 34 chairs, 635 palliasses (straw filled mattress), 1699 blankets, 161 pillow cases, 192 bed covers, 3424 towels, 1212 bed bolsters, 1219 knives, 582 forks, 478 spoons, 1000 feet of electric cable,** 69 light bulbs, 600 feet of rope, 30 shovels, 246 water cans.

Lighting & Ventilation – Initially lit by fat-lamps (collected food fat skimmed off soup and melted into a can with a wick made from pyjama cord or plaited string).  These were smokey and smelly, generated heat and offered poor light but were better than nothing.  After several months of tunnelling with fat-lamps, the tunnel was lit with electric lights, the cable stolen from camp contractors who were installing wiring as the camp expanded.  The cable was connected into the camp’s electricity circuit via the wiring in Hut 104.  During blackouts however, fat-lamps had to be used and also served as the emergency back-up system.

Ventilation of the tunnel was an ingenious system devised by the Kriegies.  A pipeline made from KLIM milk powder tins taped together and caulked with string were laid in a channel dug down the centre of the tunnel floor beneath the trolley rails.  A hand operated bellows pump made from a two kit bags, four hockey sticks, bed-ends and some chest expander springs, drew in fresh air through a flue that was camouflaged into the chimney of Hut 104’s stove.  This ensured a continual supply of fresh air was provided at the tunnel face while the diggers were excavating, as well as during the escape itself.  

Note: ** In the aftermath of the escape attempt, an investigation by the German authorities held the electrical contractors at the camp responsible for not securing the cable and other associated items stolen by the POWs to run power to their tunnel.  As a consequence, three of these men are executed.

Excavation – Tunnelling was divided into two shifts.  The first was the actual digging, which usually began after morning appell until the evening appell.  The second shift which went on into the night concentrated on the bagging and storage of the spoil excavated during the day.  Many of the men chose to work naked except for a loincloth, unencumbered by clothing which would have made movement in such a confined space that much more difficult.  This practice however did not last long because of sand abrasion of the skin and so long-john underwear became the dress of choice for the diggers.  Only two men could be at the tunnel face at a time positioned as shown below – one to dig and the other to load the sand into the box on the railway.  The heat from the fat-lamps  made digging conditions extremely arduous, at least until the tunnel lighting was electrified.  To maintain security, any evidence of sand in in the huts had to be scrupulously removed.  Once the diggers were out of the tunnel, makeshift showers had been rigged up in the washrooms so diggers could quickly remove the sand from their bodies. 

The average progress on each tunnel was about seven to eight feet (2.5 mtrs) per day.  Digging was done with sand scoops fashioned from KLIM milk powder tins.  Spoil from the tunnel face was removed in a hopper box which sat on a trolley and was manually pushed/pulled to or from the tunnel face to the collection area in the Entry Dispersal Chamber.

Sand Disposal –The large volume of sand to be excavated from TOM and HARRY presented the X-Committee with a disposal problem.  The colour of the sand removed from the tunnel was of a bright yellow hue contrasting with the topsoil covering the compound and in the Kriegies vegetable gardens.  If spotted, the sand was a clear signal to the Germans a tunnel was under construction somewhere so as much care as possible was taken in hiding it.  For tunnels TOM and DICK, sand had originally been hidden in Red Cross boxes under the bunks, in ceilings and under buildings however this could not be sustained as the excavated sand also occupied 30% more space than before it was dug out.  Searches by the Germans for evidence of tunnelling also ramped up considerably so a more permanent solution for sand disposal was needed. 

The solution was “Penguins”.**   Some 200 men were employed to disperse the sand around the compound.  During the day sand from the tunnel face was removed by trolley in boxes that sat on top.  When the trolley reached the Entry Dispersal Chamber, the sand was stored in a space in the dispersal chamber until poured into a pair of tubes fashioned from Long Johns, hauled up into Rm 23 and fitted onto a waiting Penguin standing on blankets to catch any overflow.  Initially the tubes were made from German towels and socks the Kriegies had been issued on arrival, but later replaced by Long John underwear that was used extensively.  The tube bags made from the Long John legs were about a meter long and suspended around a Penguin’s neck by either a pair of braces or plaited string, both of which came from the Red Cross boxes of goodies for the POWs.  The two Long John tube bags hung down, one inside each trouser leg.  The bottom of the bags were secured with removeable pins each attached to a string that went into each trouser pocket. This was the release mechanism to allow the sand to dribble out when moving about the compound or some other designated drop zone.

An alternate method was to wear two pairs of trousers.  The inner pair secured with the pin release arrangement was filled with sand.  The Penguin then sauntered around the compound nattering to a mate or a small group while pulling the pin and allowing the sand to dribble out.  Another Kriegie or two shuffled along behind idly kicking the sand about to mix it with the compound earth.  

As the tunnel digging was a 24 hour operation and the huts locked from 2100, after close down much more sand could be moved out of the tunnel by filling kitbags with the sand which were stored in a ‘filling room’ in Hut 109.  Here Penguins could fill their tube bags the next day and continue dispersal operations without interrupting the flow of Penguins being fitted with bags in Hut 104.

Note: ** The name ‘Penguin’ was coined because of the waddling movement made when moving about the compound emptying sand from their ‘trouser snake-like’ bags while trying to avoid being noticed.

Much of the sand was dispersed into trenches dug in the compound’s large vegetable gardens where it could be easily released and quickly concealed by the POW gardeners.  Sand was also dumped around the many tree stumps left behind after felling when the compound was built.  As these were progressively pulled out to make a parade area and sports field, the large holes left behind became ideal disposal points until eventually all stumps had been removed. 

When the disposal of sand in the compound and existing hiding places reached capacity, another hiding place was created under the theatre building.** Seat #13 had a trapdoor fitted into the floor so that Penguins using the seat could dump their sand during rehearsals or performances, rotating through the seat without attracting attention.  As the trouser bags were not suited for use in the theatre, the Penguins carried two kitbags of suspended around their necks.  This necessitated wearing a heavy coat (greatcoat) which most Kriegies were permitted to keep after capture, to disguise their abnormal bulk thus also allowing much more sand to be moved quickly.  Careful management by other Kriegies to shepherd (screen) these Penguin’s from a tunnel hut to the theatre was necessary to avoid unwanted attention from the goons in watch towers or the ferrets.  The last resort for sand disposal was tunnel DICK. 

The 200 or so Kriegies who were employed as Penguins at Stalag Luft III made an estimated 25,000 trips to remove sand taken out of all three tunnels, amounting to approximately 100 tons of sand.

Tunneling hazards – Tunneling in the sandy soil was inherently dangerous, both below ground and above it.  The sand could come crashing down with little warning.  Many tunnellers had only time to protect their heads with their arms should the roof collapse, their only hope being that their No.2 or a half-way station Hauler could pull them out.  No-one was killed, but several were forced to take days off after near suffocation.  Falling objects was another hazard, such as bed-boards or other heavy objects that could inflict a serious wound to the head of anyone down in the shaft, which happened on more than one occasion.  

Roof collapses usually left a large empty dome above the working face so after clearing up, the damaged roof had to be shored up and the sand packed above it.  Bed-boards were used for this purpose, the prisoners becoming used to sleeping on minimal supports, some improvising with a string semi-hammock and only two or three actual bed boards to support them. 

Note: ** The space under the theatre floor facilitated the digging of a fourth tunnel after the ‘great escape’.  Tunnel GEORGE was used mainly for equipment storage and also was intended to be used as an emergency escape route should the camp be overrun by the Russians.  It was not completed and later abandoned.

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Bribery & Contraband

Apart from their look-out function, Stooges were important for developing contacts among the Goons, those who were empathetic to the Kriegie’s plight and amenable to being bribed with chocolate, coffee and cigarettes in return for information, tools or materials to support escape preparation, e.g. original passes, maps and documents from which facsimiles could be made.  The currency for these transactions was chocolate, cigarettes, coffee or soap.  This practice however was always risky and could work against the Kriegies should the ‘bribed’ be seen/questioned in possession of items from Red Cross parcels! 

Another vital source of materials for escape was contraband from England in the form of Red Cross personal parcels.  Items concealed in board games (e.g. in chess pieces or the board itself, in playing cards that had been split to create a pocket and glued backed together, in records under the central label and in cotton reels, magnetized razor blades to make compass needles, fine saw blades concealed in bootlaces, in fact anything you could imagine that looked completely benign from its outward appearance. 

While all parcels were supposed to be opened and checked by German security staff, POWs were used as labour to unload the parcels from railway wagons onto camp vehicles, and to the unload these once back in the camp.  Parcels containing contraband had a prearranged distinguishing mark and so a compliant guard could assist here by momentarily diverting his and other guard’s attention while the marked parcels were set aside and/or hidden.  Hard to get items essential for escape activities, including cameras complete with a supply of film and photographic processing chemicals, were obtained this way.

Blackmail 

While bribery was the usual means of obtaining escape needs, hard to get items required a different tactic.  Blackmail became a useful tool in the hands of a skilled operative.  Roger Bushell was an accomplished blackmailer and able to force previously bribed Goons to getting unobtainable items by threatening to turn them into the Kommandant. 

The potential for blackmail could also occur by circumstance.  At Stalag Luft VI (Heydekrug) a marked parcel slipped through without being spotted by the POW and was opened by the German security staff in front of the intended recipient!  The parcel contained a box full of European money and on opening it, the German stared in amazement before rushing to get the chief security officer.  Having turned his back for only a matter of seconds, it was enough for several POWs waiting for parcels to grab a handful of money and stuff it in their pockets.  The examiner could see that some of the money had been taken, but could say nothing as he would probably have faced disciplinary action for leaving the money unattended.

Money 

Money was essential for the escapers given the best chance of success.  Required for the purchase of tickets, food and other essentials, money could be the difference between success and failure.  Money was obtained from bribed guards and also smuggled into the camps courtesy of recent captured aircrew, many of who had a supply of various needed currencies sewn into their flying clothing, concealed in their flying boots, under badges on their uniforms – almost anywhere a small pocket could hide paper currency. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only 220 places

HARRY had taken almost a year to finish and around 600 men to working on the three tunnel project and preparations for the escape of potentially more than 200 POWs.  Those who had either sweated it out underground excavating the tunnels, or who had worked equally as hard on forging documents, drawing maps, tailoring escape clothing, building escape kit equipment etc, and often well into the small hours, now had an opportunity for the main prize – HARRY was completed on 14 March 1944. 

The first criterion in selecting those to be included in the escape from HARRY, was that only volunteers would be accepted.  In fact not everyone who had been involved in the preparations wanted to escape, and there was no compulsion to.  A number of the contributors for reasons best known to themselves (be it family, needing to keep a low profile, etc) were content to support the escape effort by offering their expertise in the various departments.  Bushell’s plan had initially called for 250 men to be selected from the 600 to break out of Stalag Luft III however changed his mind (hours of darkness available?) and decided that only 200 volunteers would be selected from the 510 volunteers who applied to escape.  This was ultimately revised by Bushell to 22o names which Bushell divided into three distinct groups, each man to be allocated a number which was his position in the escape sequence.  The selection process was as follows:

“Serial Offenders”

[#1-#30]  The first group of 30 escapers was selected personally by Bushell on the basis they had the best possible chance of making a ‘Home Run’ because they spoke German fluently and/or had substantial escape experience.  These included the X-Org Committee and a number of deputies plus volunteers from the Y and Z Organisation’s who had contributed substantially to the escape preparation.  The 30 names were put into a hat and drawn in the order in which they were to exit the tunnel.  This group would be priority train travelers who would be masquerading as businessmen.  They would be given the most convincing clothing (tailored suits), carry a brief/attache case, identity and ration cards, money, letters from German firms and authorisations for train travel.  However they would have little food and only small maps with just the area they intended to cross a border shown to limit any unwarranted attention.  Detailed maps and pockets of food was unlikely to be carried by a businessmen.  The sole aim of this group was to get back to England, or at the very least, to a neutral country.    

[#31-#71 = 40 pers]   The second group of 40 escapers were selected by Bushell and the X-Committee from men who were assessed as having been prominent workers on the escape program such as the engineers, forgers, map-makers, tailors etc – 40 names were put into a hat and 20 names  [#31-#50 = 20] drawn out.  To the remaining 20 names, 30 important workers were added, and another 20 names drawn from the hat [#51-#70 = 20].  This group would be travelling on workers trains as a mixture of foreign workers.  Germany at the time was flooded with genuine foreign workers who often spoke no German and whose papers were frequently out of order.  

“Hard-arsers”

[#71-#200 = 130 pers]   The largest group was the remaining 130 escapers drawn from those who were diggers, carpenters, penguins, duty pilots, stooges, coded letter-writers, and Kriegie administrators whose POW admin duties had prevented them from taking part in the hard graft of tunneling or other escape preparations.  As their nickname suggests, these men would be doing the hard yards on foot through the freezing countryside while evading both the German military, civil authorities and local villages.  Laying-up by day and travelling by night, these men would attempt to cover as much distance as possible through some very unforgiving enemy territory where everyone they came across was a potential threat.  These men knew they were most at risk of being caught however were prepared to give it a go for two reasons: firstly, just for the chance of getting out of the Stalag after all the preparation, and secondly but more importantly, they were committed to giving the best prepared and equipped escapers of the first group, the greatest possible chance of success.  

Reserves

[#201-#220 = 20 pers]   Bushell decided late in the peace to add an additional 20 names to the list as Reserves.  These were to be selected from those who had missed out on the ballot, and were the most deserving contributors of the remaining volunteers.  Realistically these men had next to no chance of even getting a start, or if they did, not beyond Sagan as they would have almost no support equipment at all barring a few survival rations, a water-bottle and whatever they could do to disguise their appearance. 

Kiwi POWs

Penguins F/L Tim NEWMAN together with fellow Kiwi and pilot’s course colleague S/L Clive ‘Sax’ King SAXELBY were volunteers and included in the hard-arsers group.  While not expected to succeed, Bushell saw the hard-arses as great potential to disrupt and drain German resources required to re-capture the escapers who would split in pairs and take their chances in any direction.  This approach would also greatly assist the success of the first group who would be primed and equipped to succeed.

The hard-arsers would receive the bare minimum of support …. a map and compass, a homemade water bottle and a few Reichmarks between each group, the hard-arses had less convincing clothing and disguises.  Wearing uniforms roughly converted to look like a foreign worker, they would be allowed as much “fudge” as they could carry but otherwise would have to live off the land (and their wits!).  The “Fudge” was a baked iron ration made of raisins, cocoa, sugar, cereal and crushed biscuits from Red Cross parcels mixed with fat skimmed and saved from their soup.  The mixture, poured into small flat, pocket-sized cocoa tins was to be used as survival food.  These men carried a blanket-roll, a camp-made water-bottle and a portable stove (one between two, made in the camp).  The hard-arsers were well aware their chances of getting away were slim, especially in winter, but were willing to sacrifice themselves for the success of those better placed and equipped to make a successful ‘home run’.  Their success would amount to a huge morale boost for all interned Allied POWs as well as creating a considerable headache for the Germans who would have to committee valuable resources and manhours to try and re-capture the escapees.  

Of the 400 POWs left behind, aside from those who had chosen not to attempt the escape, were a number afflicted for another reason.  Claustrophobia – an anxiety disorder bought about by being confined in a small space.  For some, the thought of working in a 60cm x 60cm tunnel 300+ feet long, 28 feet below the surface in hot and sweaty conditions and not able to get out quickly, was too much to handle.  Panic in the tunnel once the escape was underway could spell disaster for the rest with collapse being a very real possibility if a man was to thrash about trying to get out.  Accordingly, most of these men ruled themselves out of the exit draws.  Ironically, one of the first to show misgivings about going through the tunnel was RAAF pilot, F/L Paul Brickhill, the author of the first account of The Great Escape published in 1951.  Brickhill had actually drawn an early exit number but showed signs of claustrophobia during a trial run in the tunnel shaft and so was moved towards the end of the 200 on the off chance that if all before him were successful he would give it a go near the end.  He need not have worried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s ON ! … the GE begins

Although HARRY had been finished on 14 March, the date for the escape was dictated by the need for a suitable moonless night, ideally one without snow or rain.  Heavy snow forced a one week delay for re-assessment.  Bushell was getting impatient a decided they must get going.  To set a date for the escape was to some degree in the hands of  F/L Leonard G. HALL, RAF.  As luck would have it, Hall happened to be the only Meteorological Officer among Stalag Luft III’s 6,000 odd inmates.  He became essential to forecasting the weather conditions in conjunction with the moon state which was pivotal to success.  Hall’s next best assessment was for the night of Friday, 24 March 1944: “the night will be cloudy and moonless: perfect weather for the escape.”  The break-out was timed to start at 2045 hours (8.45PM).

Traversing HARRY would be the easy part of the escape, but it was movement of men into Hut 104 from the adjacent huts, and the exit from the tunnel that posed the greatest risks.  The escapers would have to avoid alerting the guard and dog patrol within the compound at night as well as time their exit from HARRY to also avoiding the roving foot patrols outside the perimeter.  Of the nine Goon Box’s around the camp perimeter, one was situated almost over the top of HARRY‘s axis and just 15 meters from the tunnel Exit.    Fortunately for the escapers, the tower guards concentrated their surveillance at night on the floodlit compound to detect any POW movement after the 2100 hours (9.00PM) daily curfew.  The perimeter fence and forest behind them were generally ignored as being the domain of the roving goon patrols. 

Concentration

Of the 200 planned escapers, about half were positioned in Hut 104 while the remainder were assembled in the adjacent Hut 109 in readiness for the escape night.  The escapers remained in their barrack huts until summoned by a Runner to assemble in Hut 104 in readiness to enter the tunnel.  This prevents a bottle neck of excessive numbers in the hut which if spotted by guards, could immediately compromise the escape.  Once in Hut 104, the men’s exit sequence number is checked, they are searched for prohibited items then wait until summoned by a Runner for their turn to go down the tunnel.  A dispatcher at the Entry shaft trapdoor (under the now removed tiled hearth & stove) gets a signal from the Ops Controller to enter the tunnel. 

Once in the tunnel each man lays on their stomach on the trolley, facing the tunnel Exit, the serial offenders with their suitcase or attache case (made from cardboard and blackened with boot polish) in front of them.  The trolley Hauler at Piccadilly will pull the trolley to his half-way house where the escaper dismounts, crawls past the Hauler pushing his case in front and mounts the next trolley, to be hauled to Leicester Square.  Once at Leicester Square, the escaper dismounts and crawls forward to the Exit Dispersal Chamber.   

Escape timeline 

FRIDAY ~ 24 March, 1944 

Around midday, Bushell decides the escape is a GO and the X-Org is busied with last minute planning, risk assessment and the weather forecast.  The escapers have the remainder of the day to prepare themselves to leave that night.

• F/L Robert ‘Crump’ KER-RAMSAY, the tunnel Controller and a team of experienced tunnellers prepare the tunnel with fat lamps in the two chambers and at the two half-way houses, to be used in case of power failure.
• A wooden trowel is left in the Exit shaft chamber for escaper #1-F/L Leslie ‘Johnny’ George BULL, RAF, one of the leading tunnellers who will be responsible for breaking through the tunnel Exit without making the tell-tale sounds of metal scraping on wood.
• Most of the escapers elect to travel in pairs, choosing their own partners.
• The first group to go will be Bushell’s selected serial-offenders which will include himself.  These men are issued with their forged passes, identity documents, maps, compasses and money.

24/17:00 (5.00pm)

• Appell (parade/head count/roll call) – end of the working day.

24/18:00 (6.00pm)

In all the huts, duty cooks lay on farewell spreads for their escapers, mostly they eat in silence.  Elsewhere in the camp prisoners shave off their beards and write letters home telling their families in veiled terms they would see them soon.  For some, they will be the last words they ever write!

 24/19:00 (7.00pm)

• After evening meal, the Duty Pilots and Stooges take up positions in Huts 101 and 105 that have commanding views of the Main Gate and all the barrack huts surrounding Hut 104, the ‘operational hut’.
• Inside Hut 104, Little-X, P/O William ‘Wally’ David Gaynel McCAW, RCAF stands at a south-facing window overseeing the route the escapers will take from Hut 109, the middle barrack hut, to Hut 104.  Nine others keep watch from nearby windows.
• At 30-second intervals each man heads to the southern end of Hut 109, to Room 17, the final check-out station before crossing to Hut 104.  Here W/C Robert ‘Bob’ Alexander NORMAN, RAAF checks the escapers name against his list of the 200 escapers and 20 reserves and issues any instructions before each man is checked by one of two Search Marshals.  These check for any incriminating items the escapers may have on them that could betray his false identity.  Some arrive with Gillette razor-blades, or odds and ends made in Allied countries that would quickly betray them if stopped and searched by the Gestapo.  Escapers have been instructed not to wear identity discs in the belief that if they were caught near the camp, they could at least pretend to be foreign workers from a neighbouring labour camp.  In spite of the checks/searches, some are found carrying discs and other items.  All prohibited articles are removed. Bulky suitcases or bags are not permitted because of the danger of causing a blockage or damage to the tunnel.  Once checked they relax and wait for a Runner to give them the 10 minute warning.
• Escapers do their best to behave normally in Hut 104 – listening to the gramophone, playing cards, walking up and down the corridor to the toilets, talking quietly among themselves.  More men in heavy coats crowd in to Block 104, the air is thick with cigarette smoke.

24/19:45 (7.45pm)

• F/O Pawel TOBOLSKI, PAF/RAF, a Polish pilot who is escaping dressed as a Luftwaffe Unteroffizier (Air Force Sergeant) enters Hut 104 in his fake uniform and causes momentary panic among the occupants who think he is the genuine article!

 24/20:30 (8.30pm)

• The SBO, G/C Martin Herbert MASSEY limps in Hut 104 to wish Bushell and the escapers good luck.  Massey is soon to be repatriated to England due to a serious leg injury.
• The first group of escapers numbered #1 to #17 are in Hut 104 and have assembled in Rm 17 for their final checks, then will wait in allocated rooms until called to Rm 23 by a Runner.  
• Big-X does his final preparation checks with the X-Committee and other key players; F/L Robert ‘Crump’ KER-RAMSAY, the tunnel Operations Controller in Rm 23 sends the first Pumper (air pump operator), #141-F/O Gordon ‘Gordie’ KING down to ready himself to start pumping fresh are into the tunnel.
• Two trolley Haulers are sent down and make their way to the half-way houses at Piccadilly and Leicester Square.  A fourth man is positioned in the Entry Dispersal Chamber to fix any breakages and haul the empty trolley from Piccadilly back for the next escaper. 
• F/O Francis ‘Frank’ DAVISON and F/L Henry ‘Piglet’ William LAMOND, RAF are positioned beside the trap door entry to  HARRY to control entry and assist escapers into the shaft.
• Escapers #1-F/L Johnny Bull and #2-F/L Henry ‘Johnny’ Cuthbert MARSHALL, RAF are assisted through Entry shaft  trapdoor.  They make their way via the trolley railway to the Exit Dispersal Chamber.  Behind them is Big-X, #3-Roger BUSHELL and his travel partner, French pilot #4-LT Bernard ‘Bill’ William Martial SCHEIDHAUR, FFA. 

24/20:45 (8.45pm)

• Everyone is in position.  Bushell is ready to launch what he hopes will be the biggest mass escape in prisoner-of-war history. 
• The escape begins when Johnny Bull gets the thumbs from Big-X to start excavating the last meter of soil from the tunnel Exit with the wooden trowel.  But there are a problems.  The wooden boards holding the last few feet of soil in place have swollen from being soaked with daytime melting snow, and are jammed together!  The soil above has also frozen solid.  This will cost the escape plan a valuable hour to finish the break-through to the surface. 

24/21:00 (9.00pm)    

• Curfew – lights out in the huts however the floodlit compound power provides continuous electricity for HARRY’s lighting.
• Up above in Hut 104 F/L David Clifford ‘Dave’ TORRENS, RAF sits at a table in the corridor near Room 23 with the exit number-sequence, to check off each escaper before dispatching them into Room 23.  He will also to ensure the ambient noise in the hut is restrained after the 21:00hrs (9.00pm) curfew.
• Torrens has two runners – F/O Arthur ‘Art’ COLE, RAF and F/L Nathaniel ‘Nat’ FLEKSER, RAF who take turns in alerting each escaper 10 minutes before they are due to report to Torrens.  They then collect each man when his time comes.

24/22:10 (10.10pm) 

• After Bull breaks through, he will control the first few exits.  Each escaper will ascend the ladder and stops just below the top so Bull can feel their head in the darkness.  When he gives the escaper the all clear, he will tap the man on the head and the escaper starts crawling through the snow across the road to vanish into the forest.
• When Bull finally does break through the surface he finds the tunnel surveyors have made a disastrous error in their calculations.  Instead of HARRY exiting inside the darkened forest, it is in the open – about 12 feet (4.0 mtrs) short of the forest tree line! **
• The tunnel Exit although in darkness is in full view of a nearby Goon Box which is a mere 50 feet (15 mtrs) from the tunnel Exit. 
• One positive is that the attention of the guard in the box is focused on the compound and the huts at night, using the tower mounted search light to scan for signs of POW movement after curfew.  The forest behind the guard is largely ignored as the exterior of the perimeter is the domain of roving sentries.

Note: ** None of the POWs who were interviewed in later years had been able to explain why the tunnel came up short, but the most likely explanation is a triangulation and measurement error.  It was not easy to accurately measure the length of the tunnel or the angle at which it was being cut.  In order to avoid being detected by buried microphones, the tunnel was so deep that the normal method of cautiously poking up a stick to the surface and having this observed and measured on the surface was not possible.  Dead reckoning was the only solution, and unfortunately a 5% or 10% error over the 300 foot length proved to be serious. Bearing in mind the formidable difficulties involved with its construction, the POWs did an astonishing job in completing it at all, without detection.  Another possible answer was that a difference in the tunnel’s gradient between the half-way houses was enough to skew the measurements and triangulation.

Escape postponed ?

24/22:25 (10.25pm) 

• Everything stops!  Johnny Bull returns to Leicester Square and a discussion with Big-X ensues.  Bushell considers the possibility of postponement to give them time to dig the extra distance into the forest.  Problem is there will not be another moonless night for a month AND all the forged documents are dated for the escape.  Shutting down the tunnel to excavate another 15-30 feet is no longer an option – Bushell** decides they must carry on.
• Bull recalls a brushwood screen situated a few meters from the tunnel Exit, just forward of the tree-line.  The screen (‘ferret fence’) had been used by the Ferrets to spy on the compound.  The ferret fence can conceal a tunnel Exit Controller who can watch for the roving sentries, and signal the next escaper with a communication rope – two tugs to signal safe to exit the tunnel.  Agreed.  Bull writes the revised escape procedure on the wall of Leicester Square in pencil. 
• Bull is given a coil of plaited string-rope (Ker-Ramsay volunteered to make ropes for the tunnel from Red Cross parcel string), heads back up the ladder and ties the rope to the top rung.  After the passing sentries are out of sight, Bull climbs out of the tunnel Exit and crawls quietly through the snow across the road to the ferret fence with coiled rope in hand.  When all clear, he tugs twice.  Johnny Marshall exits, hand on the rope and crawls across to the fence.  He will signal the next man to cross, and so on.  Bull continues into the forest another 55 meters, the end of the rope and ties it to a tree (Rendezvous Tree), waits for his partner Marshall before they head off.    

24/23:00 (11.00pm)

• Escapers pair up at the RV tree and when a group of ten is assembled, a nominated guided leads them through the forest in the direction of Sagan Railway Station. 
• After the first 40 escapers, Tunnel Exit controllers are nominated to manage 20 exits before handing over to the next controller and making their own escape.

Note: ** After getting a train from Sagan, Bushell and Scheidhauer had managed to travel some 400 miles in under 10 hours.  The next day they waited for a train at Saarbrücken Station, a town just 20 miles away from the French border and the relative safety of the French Resistance.  While waiting, Bushell accidentally spoke in English and was overheard.  The pair were promptly arrested and interned at a local police station under the supervision of civilian detectives.  On the 29th of March 1944, they were told they would be returned to the prison camp.  Bushell and Scheidhauer were transferred by car, the driver a Gestapo officer in plainclothes and the others in uniform.  One of the passengers was a Lieutenant-Colonel, the chief of the Saarbrücken Gestapo.  The car was driven some distance into the countryside near Ramstein, and parked beside the road.  Squadron Leader Bushell (33) and Lieutenant Scheidhauer (23) were allowed to get out of the car for a toilet break.  They walked a few paces away, and at that moment they were shot by the Gestapo officers without warning, while their backs were turned.  Their bodies were taken to the Saarbrücken cremation furnace and cremated on 1 April 1944.  The urns containing the ashes of the two allied airmen were then sent to the Stalag Luft III.  

Tunnel delays …

Once the the first couple of dozen escapers had gone through the tunnel, Controller Crump Ker-Ramsay ceases calling escapers into the shaft.  Dave Torrens in Rm 23 has no idea why things have ground to a halt and neither do the growing number of impatient and nervous men waiting.

24/23:50hrs (11.50pm) 

• After almost an hour it is clear the escape is not keeping pace with Bushell’s plan.
• The first 30 ‘serial-offenders’ with their suitcases are awkward to get through the narrow tunnel, with cases getting caught on the shoring boards and the need to constantly adjust their position on the trolley to prevent derailment.  This is very time consuming and slows the throughput. 
• The necessity to wait until roving sentries are well clear of the tunnel Exit, and the caution needed in getting each man out of the Exit and into the forest takes much longer than anticipated. 
• The plan called for one man to leave every 2-3 minutes; in the first hour only six went through the tunnel.  The average is more like one every 5-6 minutes, or about 12 per hour. 
• It is apparent in Hut 104 that things are going badly wrong but little news filters back from the far end of the tunnel. 

24/23:59 (one minute to midnight)

• 40 men have cleared the tunnel exit.  Johnny Bull is relieved at the ‘ferret fence’ by #60-F/L Roy ‘Langs’ Langlois, RCAF who has been instructed to remain at the fence until #80 (Bob McBride) exits the tunnel.  Bull will then be free to make his escape. 
• The cumulative loss of time results in Little-X Wally McCaw making a call – as dawn is due to commence around 0500, those who have escape numbers higher than #100 will have no chance of escaping as it will be too light outside to do so safely.  
• For those still waiting in Hut 104, the night curfew means they would likely be shot if seen returning to their barrack huts so are told to make do where they are until daylight. 
• The delays have also meant those who were to travel by train (‘serial offenders’ ) have been forced to revise their plans.  Some have already missed one or two possible connections, forcing several escapers to get on the same train and thereby putting them at much greater risk of being exposed.

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SATURDAY ~ 25 March 1944 

• About midnight, RAF Bomber Command commences a major air-raid on Berlin but strong winds from the north sweep the bombers southwards towards towns and villages not normally affected by a Berlin raid.  The air-raid siren alerts cause chaos on the German rail network and widespread blackouts, including at Stalag Luft III.  The camp goes into blackout and the guards are doubled.
• HARRY is plunged into darkness forcing the use of the smoky fat lamps however in the darkness outside the numbers of those escaping is able to speed up.  

 25/01:00 (1.00am)   

• News of a roof fall between the two half-way houses answers the question on the mind’s of those above in Room 23. 
• Escaper S/L Tom Kirby-Green’s trolley has derailed between Piccadilly and Leicester Square.  Because of the confined space, a man has to support himself on his hands while a Hauler crawls forward and realigns the trolley onto the rails under him.  In so doing, Kirby-Green has dislodged a shoring board causing a roof fall which buries him and has to be pulled out by his feet. 
• Ops Controller Ker-Ramsay and some experienced tunnellers are needed to clear the tunnel and repair the damage, another  costly time delay.

25/02:15 (2.15am)

• The roof fall is repaired and the tracks cleared just before the ‘All Clear‘ siren signals the blackout is lifted.
• The camp lighting (and tunnel lights) are back on. 
• The blackout and repairs have trimmed another hour or more off the remaining time available for escapes. 

 25/02:45 (2.45am)

• Last of the suitcase carrying ‘serial-offenders’ are through the tunnel.
• In Hut 104 the first of the ‘hard-arsers’ are ready to enter. 
• In spite of the briefing, a few of the ‘hard-arsers’ have attempt to carry far too much including some prohibited items (e.g. dog-tags) and end up being strip-searched in Room 23 by furious fellow POWs before they are allowed to go down.  Others attempt to push their way ahead in the queue. 

25/03:00 (3.00am)

• Another tunnel shoring board is dislodged causing a roof fall, again bringing the throughput of escapers to a halt for 30 minutes while it is cleared and repaired.  
• The ‘hard-arsers’ are necessarily wrapped in heavy clothes with pockets bulging with food.  They also carry a blanket-roll, either over their shoulder or wrapped round them like a cummerbund.  Their overall bulk, particularly of the heavier built men, is causing  problems with movement and some getting jammed in the tunnel, making it more difficult to get them through without causing more damage.  One or two have not secured their blanket-roll as advised and a trailing blanket edge gets caught in a trolley wheel, derailing it and again slowing escaper throughput. 

25/03:30 (3.30am)   

• The first of the #71–#130 number-sequenced ‘hard-arsers’ include New Zealander’s Len Trent, Clive Saxelby and Tim Newman enter the tunnel. 
• #79-Len Trent boards a trolley and is hauled first to Piccadilly then Leicester Square and waits in the Exit Dispersal Chamber to go out with his partner, #78-F/L Michael ‘Mick’ Moray SHAND, RNZAF/RAF.  
• #83-S/L ‘Sax’ Saxelby is in Leicester Square while #82-F/L Carmen Douglas Joe ‘Red’ Noble, RCAF moves into Piccadilly.  #87-F/L ‘Shag’ Rees is on a trolley approaching Piccadilly.  
• In Room 23, #88-Tim Newman, #86-Muckle Muir and #85-Mike Ormond are waiting their turn. 

25/04:00 (4.00am)

• 60 men have now cleared the tunnel.
• Sentries continued to patrol in pairs, passing the tunnel Exit at about 30 minute intervals.  A near miss occurs when Trent exits the tunnel.  The tower guard nearest the tunnel exit shouts to another soldier on the ground.  He wants to be replaced for a few minutes to ‘commune with nature’, lowering his trousers and squatting only meters from the tunnel Exit and Len Trent!  In the blackness of the night no-one moves and the escapers remain undetected.  The guard returns to the tower none the wiser and the escape continues.  This has been just another delay that has hindered the throughput of escapers, a much slower rate than Bushell had originally anticipated.  The approaching Dawn is the next problem that will affect the plan.
• At 04:10 Controller Ker-Ramsay is abundantly aware that dawn will begin breaking at about 05:00 (50 minutes escape time remaining).  This will not even allow the revised number of 100 escapers to get through the tunnel! 

25/04:30 (4.30am)

• Bushell had fixed the cut-off time for the last escaper to clear the tunnel Exit, at 05:00 hours irrespective of how many had got through.  In view of the lost time for delays and the approach of dawn, Controller Ker-Ramsay decides that after three more go into the tunnel, they will be the last.  He tells Davison to get #82-Ormond, #85-Muir and #88-Newman into the tunnel and that is all.

The ‘jig is up’

25/04:50 (4.50am)  Dawn breaks

• #75-F/L Laurie Reavell-Carter who has already exited, has passed the ferret fence and waits at the rendezvous tree that the communication rope is tied to.  Once he has ten escapers he will guide them through the forest to the northern edge where each pair will split from the group and proceed on their own.   
• #60 F/L ‘Langs’ Langlois who is manning the ferret fence sees a patrolling sentry come into view, rounding the north-eastern corner of the compound perimeter fence near the camp entry gate.  The sentry is approaches uncharacteristically along the near (forest) side of the roadway and is on target to step into the tunnel Exit!  Langs alerts the those in touch with the rope with a single tug, meaning freeze – danger! 
• #77-F/L ‘Skeets’ Ogilvie who has passed the ferret fence, is alerted by Langs Langlois signal on the rope and freezes in place, flat on the ground concealed in the undergrowth.   
• #78-F/L Mick Shand who is ahead of Trent, misinterprets the rope signal for the ALL CLEAR signal and sets off crawling towards the ferret fence.  A couple of meters from the ferret fence he also sees the approaching sentry and freezes in place. 
• #79-S/L Len Trent is laying beside the tunnel Exit gets the rope signal and freezes in place. 
•  The sentry is now much closer but has failed to see the slush trail crossing the road from the tunnel Exit to the forest, or the body-heat steam drifting out of the tunnel Exit where #80-S/L Robert ‘Bob’ Frederick McBride, RCAF is poised near the top of the ladder ready to clamber out as soon as Trent gets clear. 
• As the sentry approaches the tunnel Exit in the darkness of the early morning, Reavell-Carter aware of Trent’s impending predicament, reacts. 

25/05:00 (5.00am) Tunnel discovered – escape ends. 

• Reavell-Carter is afraid Trent may be shot and so walks forward from his place in the undergrowth, with raised hands shouting “Don’t shoot!”, “Don’t shoot!” 
• Instinctively the sentry raises his rifle and an un-aimed shot is fired in Lang’s direction (he misses) as he too stands up behind the ‘ferret fence’, hands raised.  
• Trent realising the escape is over stands up with raised hands almost beside the awe-struck sentry, and in his best German is alleged to have said, “Nicht Sheissen! Nicht Sheiseen!” which means “Don’t Sh..t , Don’t Sh..t” (to evacuate ones bowels). Trent’s German language skills apparently were wanting.  What he had meant was, “Nicht Schießen! Nicht Schießen!” i.e., “Don’t Shoot, Don’t Shoot”.  
• Shand takes advantage of the confusion and bolts into the forest to links up with Ogilvie, both remaining hidden. During the ensuing noise and arrival of troops they dash off in a westerly direction and make their escape.  
• The sentry meanwhile with rifle in hand, pulls out a torch and flashes it into the tunnel Exit – McBride surrenders and climbs out at rifle point.  The sentry blows his whistle to signal trouble while keeping his rifle trained on McBride, Trent, Reavell-Carter and Langlois.  The Goon Tower guard telephones an alert to the Guard Room, all compound lighting arcs up while the Tower guard trains his search light on the escape area as additional guards begin to arrive.
• It is only a matter of minutes before the tunnel Exit area and the close forest is swarming with guards looking for the escapers.  The four escapers arrested by the sentry are taken back inside the compound and after a haranguing at the Guard Room by the Kommandant, are marched off to the Cooler for 21 days in solitary confinement on starvation rations.

Meanwhile, back down in HARRY….

There are approximately 12 men still in the tunnel when the sentry fired his rifle – one man is high on the exit ladder and one at its foot, three (including a Hauler) are waiting in the Exit Dispersal Chamber, two are on trollies, two in the half-way houses, and a Fix-it/Hauler and Pumper in the Entry Dispersal area; Controller Ker-Ramsay and Davison join them after the shot is firedafter the shot is fired.

Outside:   #60-LANGLOIS, #77-OGILVIE, #76-REAVELL-CARTER, #78–SHAND (NZ), #79–TRENT (NZ) 

Inside:   #80-McBRIDE, #81-MAW, #82-NOBLE, #83-MOUL, #84–SAXELBY (NZ), #85-ORMOND, #86-MUIR, #87-REES,  #88–NEWMAN (NZ) + Air Pump operator.  Davison and Controller KER-RAMSAY in Rm 23 above are quickly down the shaft to direct the evacuation.  Those in the tunnel exit up to Room 23 in the following sequence:

Last out >>Rees, Maw, Noble, Saxelby, Moul, Ormond, Muir, Newman>> Davison/Ker-Ramsay + Pumper  = First out>>

Inside the HARRY

The siren, floodlights, shouting and barking dogs as guards run to the scene of the break-out brings the escape to an abrupt halt.  A mad scramble in HARRY ensues to clear the tunnel before the Germans come down the Exit shaft.  Tunnel Controller Crump Ker-Ramsay flies down the ladder and orders the fat lamps be extinguished and all to get out via the Entry shaft as fast as possible.  Tim Newman on a trolley when the shot was fired, is facing towards the exit end of the tunnel and approaching Piccadilly.  Crump can only see two feet as he signals and calls him down the tunnel to “come back”.  But Tim can’t hear Crump’s muffled voice in the confined tunnel space and presses on.  Crump grabs the trolley rope to pull him back but Tim, intent on going forward and out, grabs hold of the rails which leads to a tug-of-war until the rope breaks!  Tim manages to turn his head so he can just see over his shoulder  – “what the hell’s happening …”  He finally getting the message and quickly paddles his trolley backwards with his hands until his feet emerge in the dispersal chamber.  Tim scrambles off the trolley as Crump tells him they have been discovered, and scurries up the ladder into Room 23. 

The others coming down the tunnel from the exit shaft are forcing their way through at speed believing the Goons to be hot on their heels and have every chance of being shot in the backside!  Next out of the tunnel was F/L’s Mick Ormond and then Muckle Muir followed by Red Noble, Sax Saxelby, Joe Moul, Wings Maw, and last up the ladder was Shag Rees.  The Goons began to enter the Exit shaft of the now blacked out tunnel.  The exit shaft trap door in Rm 23 is closed by Ker-Ramsay and the stove and tiled hearth moved back into place.  Frank Davison is busy shoving the lists of names and any other incriminating documents into the stove while the men who are carrying escape rations scoff these as fast as possible, tear their incriminating buttons etc (with concealed compasses) off their clothing, and burn their maps and other identity docs in one of a series of small fires that have been started in the corridor.

A stooge alerts Hut 104 that Goons were on their way along the fence line to the tunnel, and heading towards Hut 104.  

25/05:00    End of the Great Escape

• Roger Bushell had hoped to get at least 2o0 men out of Stalag Luft III’s tunnel HARRY however they had prepared documents, clothing, rations and equipment for only 200 escapers.  
• Hut 104 is suddenly flooded with light and surrounded by around 30 armed guards, eight with machine pistols and the rest with revolvers.  Two machine guns on tripods have been set up opposite each entrance to the hut.  Guards enter the hut while the men act nonchalantly and surprised as if nothing had happened.  Appell is ordered and the POWs are paraded in the snow with whatever they were wearing.

25/06:00 (6.00am)  Appell !

The Kommandant, red with rage, commences to harangue the assembled prisoners who are half expecting to be shot on the spot!  They aren’t but all are then strip searched.  When completed the POWs are formed into two ranks while each individual is accounted for.  He is called forward by a German NCO who has set up a table and chair for himself, and is identified by name, POW number and hut number from a box of POW Record Cards he has in front of him.  The process is slowed as POWs deliberately give incorrect numbers, wrong names, change places and generally do anything they can to hinder the process as pre-arranged, in order to give their comrades the best chance of getting away.  When Hut 104 personnel are completed, they are made to remain standing in the snow for several hours while the remainder of the 1,100 POWs in the compound are individually accounted for and identified (inside their huts).  The net result ? – 76 POWs cannot be accounted for.

After an hour there appears to be consternation among the Goons that one of their number is missing.  One of them, a man named Charlie Pilz who had been first to go down into the blacked out tunnel, cannot seem to find the exit.  Scratching in the tunnel and shouts for help are heard in the hut.  Ker-Ramsay is summoned into the hut and reveals the location of HARRY’s trap door.  Pilz, much relieved to be let out, is apparently wide-eyed and cannot contain his amazement at what had been constructed.

Sources including photographs: The Great Escape – Paul Brickhill; The Real Great Escape – Guy Walters; The True Story of the Great Escape – Jonathon E. Vance; The Wooden Horse – Eric Williams; The Great Escaper – Simon Pearson

https://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/great-escape/index.html 

https://theescapeline.blogspot.com/2013/02/

Aftermath – reprisals

Of the 91 POWs who entered HARRY on 24/25 March, 80 exited the tunnel.  Four of these (Langlois, McBride, Reavell-Carter &  Trent) were apprehended by sentry and guards almost immediately, proximate to the tunnel Exit.  Ogilvie and Shand got away but were picked up a few days later.  Of the remaining 74 who had cleared the camp environs and the Sagan area, 71 were recaptured during the weeks following the break-out and temporarily held in various local police and Gestapo facilities.  Of these 66 were returned to Stalag Luft III to join the four in the Cooler and the remaining five were detained by the Gestapo in Oflag XVII-A, a POW camp situated in the Waldviertel region of north-eastern Austria.  Two of these, Czech pilots F/L Ivo P. Tonder (later Major-General) and F/L ‘Freddie’ Bedrich Dvorak were arrested when their ‘concealed’ identity tags were found on them.  Both were later sent to Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle.  

Only three of the 76 escapers remained at large long enough to get out of Germany and make Home Runs.  Two Norwegian pilots, #44-Sergeant Per ‘Peter’ BERGSLAND (332 Sqn, RAF) and #43-Pilot Officer Jens Einar MULLER (331 Sqn, RAF) escaped to Sweden and a Dutch pilot, #18-Flight Lieutenant Bram van der STOK (42 Sqn, RAF) succeeded in getting to Spain before returning to the Netherlands and England.

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Over the coming days, the extreme cold and difficulties of being adrift in unfamiliar enemy territory was taking its toll.  A number of those with forged papers who had intended to make a swift getaway by rail, unfortunately lost their way in the darkness after leaving the forest, many struggling to find the Sagan Station.  Some men simply pointed their compasses toward the nearest neutral country and began a futile trek across country through the frozen waste.  In the confusion of the night and the days that followed, there was   uncertainty over the actual number who had escaped.

Back at Stalag Luft III, Kommandant von Lindeiner-Wildau was removed from his post, stood down from all military duty and later court martialed for gross incompetence.  Lindeiner-Wildau managed to escape with only a token sentence by playing on his mental fragility. He was briefly replaced by Oberstleutnant Cordes, a POW in World War1, before (Colonel) Werner BRAUNE arrived to take over as the next permanent Kommandant.  

Grossfahndung – Nationwide alert 

The German authorities did not have a clear picture of the situation at Luft III until Sunday 26 March; remember the escape took place on Friday 24th when a conference was held at Berchtesgaden.  Hitler was so incensed by the escape he demanded the immediate death of all the recaptured escapers.  A Grossfahndung (nationwide alert) was declared for all German forces, from the Gestapo to all local police units who were tasked to locate the POWs.  The whole of Germany was looking for the escapers.  Hitler was counselled by Göring and others against his decision to have all the escapers shot, however he did revise the number down to 50.

Executions

A secret communication known as the Sagan Order was circulated to all regional headquarters of the Gestapo and state police, the Kriminalpolizei, or Kripo as it was known.  It stated that after capture and interrogation, fifty of the men were to be chosen and shot.  The Gestapo chief directed the head of Kripo to select the fifty.  

During the first two weeks of March 1945, all of the escapees with the exception of three were captured alive and imprisoned in various Gestapo or Kripo jails, where they underwent harsh interrogation.  The selection process was reportedly based on a prisoner’s age and status; middle-aged and with a family – he lived, not too young and unmarried – he died.  A scenario was to be enacted to carry out the murder of the POWs whereby they would be told they were being returned by car to Stalag Luft III.  In small groups of 3–5 the POWs were driven at intermittent times to be executed during a contrived rest/toilet stop on route.  Three of the men were young New Zealand born airmen.  Flight Lieutenant Arnold George CHRISTENSEN, Flying Officer Porokoru ‘Johnny’ POHE and Squadron Leader John Francis WILLIAMS, DFC who had escaped ahead of S/L Len Trent, managed to evade capture for several days before being arrested south of the camp.  They were among the first five POWs to be murdered and their bodies cremated immediately to destroy any incriminating evidence.

On the morning of 6 April, the SBO G/C Herbert Massey was summoned by Kommandant Braune.  Through an interpreter, Braune conveyed the news that 42 of the escapees that had been recaptured, had been “shot while resisting arrest or making further escape attempts after arrest.”  When repeatedly pressed by the shocked Massey on how many of the escapers had only been wounded, Braune reluctantly confirmed “None.”  When the list of names was posted a few days later, 47 names were listed, with another 3 added a few days later bringing the total to 50.

Many in the camp believed the reports to be false, a scenario manufactured by the Germans to deter any further escape attempts.  And indeed, certain actions by the authorities did lend credence to that belief, such as shipping out the possessions of the 50 men which gave the impression that they were simply being held elsewhere.  That all changed when the ashes urns of the executed and cremated men were returned to Stalag Luft III.

Tim Newman and Clive Saxelby could indeed consider themselves exceptionally lucky.  Their good fortune, by the narrowest of margins (perhaps less than 30 minutes), was in NOT escaping from HARRY.  Had they done so, both would have been on run and hunted by the Gestapo until caught, and quite possibly been one of the fifty murdered by the Gestapo.  This fact was hammered home when they learned that the priority for selecting those to be executed had been largely based on their being single, or if married, not having any children – both would have met that criteria.  Having an ethnic European name and appearance also proved to be a contributing factor in selection. 

During their remaining time in the camp, escape attempts dwindled and in due course the men were allowed to construct a stone memorial to house the urns with the remains of ‘The Fifty’.  It stands to this day not far from the clearing in the woods amid concrete and brick foundation remnants that were once Stalag Luft III.

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The Russians are coming

As Red Army approached Germany from the north and east, Stalag Luft III was one of many POW camps in the path of the Russian advance.  The German High Command decided the camps were to be evacuated and the POWS moved deeper into west Germany to be consolidate in fewer but larger existing camps. 

Just after the new year of 1945 ticked over, the POWs at Luft III learned that a move from the camp for them was imminent and so immediately began making preparations.  Not knowing what to expect or where they were going, anything which could not be carried personally would have to left behind.  With no provision for food or shelter on route, the men carried whatever they considered essential in a kit bag, in knotted trousers, or on make-shift sleds for such things as medical supplies, minimum clothing and maximum food – one parcel per man.  This also meant that some 200 POWs who were to weak or sick/injured to walk would have to be left behind.  Each man wore his overcoat and carried one blanket however all other items such as books, letters, camp records etc had to be abandoned.

Tables and doors were stripped from the barracks to make the sleds.  Upturned tables had their legs snapped off to be used as sledge runners, these being nailed to the table top, the doors similarly fitted.  With ropes attached to either side of the sled, these allowed for rotating relays of men to tow them. 

Evacuation of Stalag Luft III

At 21oo hours (9.00pm) on 27 January 1945, the various compounds of Stalag Luft III received orders from the Kommandant which came as no surprise.  Appell was ordered and the evacuation of the camp was to begin within 30 minutes.  A series of rolling delays meant the first group comprising half of the POWs from the East and South Compounds, remained standing in the cold, devoid of any suitable winter clothing for the next 90 minutes.  Formed up in three ranks, the ‘Long March’ finally began shortly after midnight on 28 January as the POWs were marched under armed camp guard escort through the camp gates for the last time.  

The Long March

Trudging through snow that lay half a meter deep on the ground and still falling, the POWs left the camp in the bitter cold of early morning and trekked along the roadway westward in temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees.   The march was in three stages.  The first by foot, with over 10,000 POWs force-marched from all five Stalag Luft compounds, west along the icy roads for around 100 kms to Spremberg railway station, in eastern Germany.  This leg took approximately six-and-a-half days (times varied according to where in the column each group was) with the initial destination of Spremberg reached in the afternoon of 2nd February.  It would seem that, because Sagan station was not connected to the main German rail network, the POWs had to trek west in order to access a railhead linked to the Reich system which could transport them north-east.

The second stage was travelled by rail in battered cattle trucks. These contained more then 50 men each train rolling out of Spremberg at around 23.00 hrs on the 2nd February, and finishing their journey at around 16.30 hrs on 4th February, after between 41 and 48 hours travelling; (estimates vary, some groups arriving later than others).  The total distance covered was around 620 kms.  This was to Tarmstadt and Westertimke reaching Marlag und Milag Nord naval POW camp, 96 km north of Hannover.

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The third stage involved the movement of a proportion of the POWs from Camp Marlag und Nord, Westertimke where overcrowding of the camp had become a problem. The guards, drawn from the camp complement carrying rifles and machine pistols, marched the POWs all night.  Breaks of 10 minute were supposed to be had every hour however, this group was pushed along for 27 hours straight with only one four hour halt.  Thereafter they slept in any shelter available such as a barn or under a hedge, trees etc.  They were joined by the second half of East compound men and the POWs from the Belaria Camp (the 5th compound) who had rendezvoused earlier, and all travelled together to Bad Muskau.  When what little personal food they carried had been consumed, their rations consisted only of black bread and margarine taken from a horse-drawn cart along the way.  On reaching Bad Muskau on the 29th, 35 kilometres from the Polish border, the POWs were billeted in a Blast Furnace building which was warm, and an empty heating plant which was cold.  Here they were given a 30-hour delay for recuperation.  Even so, some 60 men incapable of marching any further had to be left behind.

Back in Stalag Luft III, the men of the North Compound (including Tim Newman) were joined with the remainder from the West Compound, these being the last POWs to leave Stalag Luft III, at around 0100 hours (1.00am) on the morning of the 28th.  Shelter for the nights was limited to a barn, and whatever else during the 10 minute rest breaks each hour.  This was the best the men could hope for rain, hail, snow or shine as the toll on men from Stalag Luft III grew ever larger.  By the time all POWs had reached Spremberg, some 300 men had died either from debility/cold, or had been shot attempting to escape.  As the POWs arrived at Spremberg they were entrained and locked into filthy, cattle box-cars, 50 men to car, for the the journey of approximately 48 hour to Stalag XIII-D at Nurnberg.   Crammed into locked cattle cars for the entire time, the journey was undertaken in appallingly unsanitary conditions with the only hygiene facility being a bucket in the centre of each cattle car.  Leaving Spremberg at around 23.00 (11.00pm) on 2 Feb, they arrived at Nurnberg around 1630 (04.30pm) on 4 Feb, approximately 45 hours in the unsanitary box-cars.  

Due to apparent overcrowding, on 31 Jan a proportion of the new arrivals from Stalag Luft III were to be moved on foot to a larger camp in Bavaria.  POWs from the South Compound plus 200 from the West Compound were force-marched for another 400 kms through Hamburg up to the small village of Trenthorst, 10 kms outside Lubeck to Stalag VII–A (Moosburg), the largest POW camp in Germany with about fifty sub-camps. 

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The crew’s fate

The crew of Wellington-1c R3211–AA-J were all promoted whilst in captivity.  Tim Newman, Bob Stark and Dave Protheroe were all promoted to Flight Lieutenant while Sgt’s Jack Garrett, Sid Spittle and Charlie Fenn were promoted to Warrant Officer rank. 

• F/L Herbert Douglas ‘Tim’ NEWMAN, RNZAF (Timaru)
• F/L Robert Garth ‘Bob’ STARK, RNZAF (Greymouth) 
• W/O W/OP/AG John Middleton ‘Jack’ GARRETT, RNZAF (Auckland) 
• W/O AG David Garrick Branscombe ‘Dave’ PROTHEROE, RNZAF (Lifuka, Tonga) 
• W/O AG Sidney Lawrence ‘Sid’ SPITTLE, RAFVR (Croydon, London) 
• W/O AG Manville Charles ‘Charlie’ FENN, RAFVR (Manston, Kent) 

Flight Lieutenant (P)  H. D. ‘Tim’ Newman for his airmanship in managing his Wellington bomber’s crash without loss of crew or life, and leadership whilst interned in Germany, was awarded a Mention in Despatches (MiD) at war’s end.  Tim’s other awards are:

Medals: 1939/45 Star with Bomber Command clasp, Aircrew Europe Star, War Medal 1939/45 with Mention in Despatches (MiD) Oak Leaf device, NZ War Service Medal (1939/45).  

Flying Badge awarded: 10 February 1940

Operational Sorties: Fourteen Ops

RNZAF Service: 13 June 1939 – 22 Feb 1940 (7 mths, 9 days) 

RAF Service Overseas: 23 Feb 1940 – 31 Dec 1966  (24 yrs, 10 mths)

Other crew members to be recognised for their services during/after the war were:

NZ391349 Warrant Officer (Pilot) John Middleton ‘Jack’ GARRETT – MBE (Civ)

POW #597 – Four years and three months as a POW.  Camps – Dulag Luft; Stalags Luft I, Luft III, Luft VI, and Stalag 357.  Returned to the UK on 10 May 1945. 

Born at Auckland on 14 Jan 1916. Enlisted in the RNZAF 20 Nov 1939 to 31 Mar 1946. Qualified: Pilot. 

Early in his POW days Jack Garrett was selected as the non-commissioned captives ‘Man of Confidence’, to represent his fellow POWs  to the Holding Power (Germany), and with permission to communicate with his country’s representatives in London.  His acknowledge capability in the role led him to be the advocate for all RNZAF, Fleet Air Arm and NZ Army prisoners-of-war in a number of camps.

In the post-war years, John Garrett became the convener, secretary and treasurer of the New Zealand Prisoners of War Association.  Reunions were held annually throughout NZ, while Jack coordinated submissions from former POWs around the country and to be responsible for representing their views at the national level, the HQ NZRSA.  In the 1981 NZ New Year Honours, W/O (Rtd) Jack Garrett was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE – Civ) “For services to ex-Prisoners of War”.  His award had been proposed by a unanimous vote his POW comrades, to have Jack suitably recognised not only for his work on their behalf while in the camps but also for his devoted service to the NZ POW Association for many years after the war. 

John M. Garrett, MBE (Civ) died in Auckland on 08 October 1999 at age 83. 

NZ40631 Flight Lieutenant (Air Observer/Navigator) Robert Garth ‘Bob’ STARK – MBE (Mil), Bronze Star (US)

POW #414 – Five years as a POW.  Camps – Dulag Luft and Stalag Luft III.  Returned to the on UK, 05 May 1945.

Born at Greymouth on 12 Mar 1911. Enlisted in the RNZAF 13 Feb 1940 to 06 Jun 1946.  Qualified: Air Observer (re-named Navigator in 1944).   Flt Lt Stark was awarded the following decorations for his work in the camps while a POW:

28 Dec 1945: Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE-Mil) .. The Citation in part reads: “This officer specially distinguished himself by his untiring work, performed with outstanding ability, during his five years while he was a prisoner of war. He acted as Camp Accountant Officer for the whole of Stalag Luft III, which contained some 6,000 prisoners-of-war. His duties as Accountant Officer were of a very arduous nature and included the administration of a communal fund which was introduced to make grants to non-commissioned officer camps (which were without funds) and also to relatives of allied prisoners in occupied territory.  Flight Lieutenant Stark invariably showed a magnificent spirit and was an example and help to many in awkward and difficult situations.”  

Flt Lt Stark was also recognised by the US Army Air Force:

05 Jul 1946: Bronze Star (US) .. the Citation reads: “Flight Lieutenant R. G. Stark performed outstanding service from April 1943 to May 1945 as Finance Officer of Stalag Luft III, Germany.  He performed the difficult financial services for his fellow prisoners, and he used that activity as a subversive means to circulate military intelligence and gather information vital to escapees.”

Robert G. Stark, MBE (Mil), Bronze Star (US) died at Lake Hayes, Queenstown on 16 May 1987 at age 76. 

NZ401231 Warrant Officer (Air Gunner) David Garrick Branscombe ‘Dave’ PROTHEROE

Born at Lifuka, Tonga on 06 Apr 1920.  Enlisted in the RNZAF 07 May 1940 to 18 Dec 1945.  Qualified: Air Gunner

POW #446 – Dulag Luft, Stalag x?x , Stalag 357.  Returned safe, back in UK on 22 Apr 1945. 

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Post war England

After Tim Newman returned to England and was demobilized.  As his short service commission had effectively ended with the RAF at the conclusion of the war, he took an extended period of leave to consider his options – he could apply to be re-engaged in the peacetime RAF, serve in the RAF Reserve, or become a full-time civilian.  Tim also used this time to get married in July 1945 at Hendon to WAAF Warrant Officer Peggy Edith TITCOMB (1919-1987), nee GRAY, the younger of two sisters.  Peggy, a well educated young lady with a penchant for writing some very fine poetry in later life, was just 20 years of age when Tim proposed.  Peggy was an Insurance Clerk at Hendon, Middlesex and sadly at that tender age had also become a war widow.  In October 1939 she had married a twenty one year old Flight Sergeant (Pilot), Francis Albert ‘Frank’ TITCOMB (1918-1941).  Frank was a Bomber Command pilot with 408 (RAF) Squadron flying Handley-Page medium bombers.  On 22 October 1941, Frank’s Wellington bomber was shot down while on a bombing mission over Germany.  None of the five crew members on board survived.  They are buried in the Durnbach War Cemetery, 48 kilometers south of Munich, Germany. 

Tim and Peggy made the decision to remain in the RAF for the present.  Tim retained his rank of Flight Lieutenant and for the next few years in a variety of appointments flying the Avro Lancaster, and teaching young pilots the nuances of adapting their flying skills to heavy bombers.  Towards the end of 1945, Tim and Peggy took a couple of months off to visit Tim’s family in New Zealand.

Tim’s wartime experiences as a bomber pilot and POW were put to good use on promotional recruitment programs around the South West of England.  Visits were made to all the Public schools interviewing and encouraging young ones to join the now depleted ranks of the Air Training Corps, and to promote pathways for careers in the RAF by scholarship schemes that were offered with Air Training Corps and tertiary educational institutions.  Their daughter Jacqueline was also born during this period.

On 21 Feb 1952, Tim was offered and accepted a Permanent Commission in the RAF to work in the ground radar and air traffic control fields.  In Sep 1952, he transferred to the Aircraft (Traffic) Control Branch.  This was followed by a posting overseas for Tim, Peggy and Jacqueline, to the Middle East and RAF Station Amman in Jordan.  The posting transitioned the time of the Suez Crisis which started in 1954.  Unfortunately the unrest and threat to UK nationals meant the Newman’s spent the whole period of the posting confined to camp, unless out of the country.  From Amman, Tim was posted (unaccompanied) to RAF Station Akrotiri in Cyprus which had only recently been established in 1955.  Peggy & Jacqueline remained in Jordan.  On his return to Jordan, a crisis of occupation and rule between Britain and Jordan that had been boiling since October 1954, came to a head and resulted in the British being ejected from Jordan in 1958.  Peggy and Jacqueline had returned to RAF Cranwell while all the uniformed RAF personnel were re-located to the RAF Station El Adam near Tobruk, Libya for eight months or so. 

On his return to England, Tim was posted to the West Midlands, to RAF Shawbury in Shropshire as an instructor at the School of Air Traffic Control (ATC), prior to the ATC being combined with the Central Navigation School to form the Central Navigation and Control School (CNCS).  After 2½ years at the CNCS Tim and Peggy (and Jacqueline) were again on their way overseas to the Near East, to Singapore.  The Newman’s landed at Changi Airport in 1962 (despite Peggy’s aversion to flying!) to begin a four year posting.  When that ended in 1966, and the time came to fly back to the UK, Peggy refused to fly and returned by ship.  Back in England, the Newman’s began to look around for a permanent place to settle, and decided upon Old Catton, Norwich where they bought a house in Woodland Drive to be their ‘forever home.’

The house was built opposite the former RAF Station Old Catton near the town of Old Catton, Norwich, an area that had been a hive of industry during the war with numerous airfields surrounding them.  In January 1939, an aerodrome for Spitfires had been built in the field opposite their house.  After 18 months of use by Spitfires, the Americans occupied the station, re-naming it “Camp Thomas AAF 108” in 1943.  After altering the runway orientation to east-west for their Consolidated B24 Liberator bombers, USAF 2nd Bombardment Substitution Wing (later 2nd Air Division) and the 14th Combat Bombardment Wing were stationed for the duration of the war. When the Americans left in 1945, the station reverted to RAF use as RAF Station Horsham St Faith.  Known as St Faith Airfield after the war, it is now the home of Norwich Airport.

The twilight years

With the intention of taking it easy during his retirement, no sooner had Tim actually retired than he was offered (and accepted) a two year contract with the Mainair Flying School as a civilian instructor helping to train new pilots for the Royal Saudi Air Force.  Formed in 1950, the RSAF during it initial years was influenced chiefly by the British who provided aircraft and advisers, and helped train Saudi pilots and maintenance personnel in Saudi and in Britain.  Following the end of this contract around 1970, Tim entered (semi) retirement, amusing himself by crewing on trucks that transported flat-bottomed pleasure craft or holiday boats from England to various destinations in Europe including, France, Italy, Holland and Germany – a job he thoroughly enjoyed and didn’t at all consider to be work.

Return to NZ

Apart from their visit to New Zealand after the war, it was to be another 45 years before Tim (Herb) and Peggy returned to Timaru again, in 1990.  During that time Herb was encourage to talk of his wartime experiences by family who had only ever heard rumours of what had happened to him in Germany during the war years and since.  Fortunately an audio tape was made of some of these conversations but apart from this and a few hand recorded notes by the Hannings, the only authoritative references of Herb’s time as a POW is his post captivity interview by RAF intelligence, plus the few authored statements in some of the books listed above.  

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The Newman’s lived out their lives at No.35 Woodland Drive, Old Catton.  While living at Old Catton contact with New Zealand was made via the Herb’s nephew Christopher Hanning, Genny and Tony Hanning’s son who worked and lived on the continent.  Chris made various trips to Woodland Drive to stay with Tim and Peggy.  When Herb fell ill in 1995, Peggy too was not in the best of health and unable to manage his care.  Chris returned to Norwich to help nurse Herb who at that time was being cared for by a friend.  Not long after Chris had returned to his home in Germany he received news that his uncle Herb would very likely not live much longer.  He returned to Norwich but sadly Tim had gone before he arrived.

Flight Lieutenant (Rtd) Herbert Douglas ‘Tim’ Newman (mid) RAF was 77 years of age when he died at Norwich hospital in April 1996. His ashes were returned to the family home at No.5 Le Cren Street, Timaru where the family gathered for a service before taking Herb’s casket to be interred with his parents in a family grave at the Timaru Cemetery.  Peggy’s health had declined rapidly also and she too had became too ill to care for herself during this time.  Taken in to care at The Limes Residential Home in Hellesdon, Norwich Peggy Newman (78) died just eighteen months after Herb (Tim), in December 1997.  Fortunately Peggy had had the presence of mind to give James Clayton’s widowed sister Mary Senior, who was two doors away at No.39 Woodland Drive, the medals of her husband Herb or this story would never have been written.

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But wait, there’s more ….

In the wrap up of this case and the return of Herb’s medals to Mrs Genevieve Hanning, I noted there were three deficiencies in Herb’s medal entitlement James had sent to me which none else would have been aware of.  Since Herb’s death in 1996, an official “BOMBER COMMAND” clasp had been approved for entitled airmen for wear on the ribbon of the 1939/45 Star.  This was recognition of the outstanding contribution Bomber Command aircrews had made during the war, and supplementary to the official “BATTLE OF BRITAIN” clasp the fighter pilots had been  acknowledge for in that battle.  The second deficiency was the Mention in Dispatches oak leaf device that is worn on the (British) War Medal, 1939/45.  To rectify these deficiencies I was able to provide both the MiD oak leaf emblem, and a replica Bomber Command clasp as an interim measure. 

Although Herb had served with the RAF and accepted a permanent commission after the war, his initial enlistment and Short Service Commission was with the RNZAF until such time as he was formerly transferred/discharged from RNZAF service.  He therefore had also met the qualifying criteria for the award of a New Zealand War Service Medal (1939/45).  Genevieve will apply for her uncle Herb’s entitlements.

Thanks to James Clayton in Old Catton Norwich, this became one of the most fascinating (and searching) cases I have dealt with.  Finally, I can report that James’s wish for “Tim’s” medals to be reunited with his family in New Zealand, has been fulfilled – an honour and a pleasure for MRNZ to do so.

The reunited medal tally is now 504.

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Postscript

The one particularly sad part of Tim’s war service was learning of the loss of his younger brother Pat Newman.

NZ414664  Flying Officer Andrew George Patterson ‘Pat’ NEWMAN – Fighter Pilot

Born in Timaru 01 Nov 1920, Pat completed his schooling in Timaru, played in the 1^st XV for Timaru High School and on leaving school became an apprentice motor mechanic at Watson Hervey Motors.  In 1939 Pat enlisted in the New Zealand Army having spent time in the Territorial Force with the South Canterbury Regiment but after 14 months, and no doubt influenced by Tim, Pat applied for pilot training.  

On 17 Aug 1941 he was enlisted at RNZAF Station Levin as an Airman Pilot u/t (under training).  He attended basic training at the  Initial Training Wing where civilians were turned into airmen, passed his pre-requisite pilot aptitude tests and was placed on Pilots Course 21A on 29 Sep 1941.  He mastered the basic flight skills at No.1 Elementary Flying Training School at RNZAF Station Taieri, south of Dunedin.  Having made the grade as a novice pilot, advanced aircrew training in Canada as part of the Empire Flying Training Scheme was the next phase.  Pat embarked for Canada on 17 Nov 1941 and attended No.6 Service Flying Training School at Dunnville in Ontario.

Awarded his Pilot’s Badge (“Wings”) on 27 Mar 1942, he was also promoted to Sergeant Pilot.  Pat arrived in the UK on 1st May 1942 and posted No.61 Operational Training Unit (Spitfire).  In November he spent time in Egypt familiarising with Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires.  Posted to No.224 Wing Training Flight (Spitfire) from March – June 1943 as a staff (test) pilot, Pat was then posted to No. 145 (Fighter) Squadron where he proceeded to rack up 154 operational sorties over the next 12 months.  In August during an operation his Spitfire suffered an engine failure.  Pat successfully bailed out and parachuted into the sea.

On April 13, 1944 Sergeant (P) A.G.P. ‘Pat’ Newman was granted a temporary commission in the rank of Pilot Officer, General Duties (GD = flying appointments).  Rested from operations in July 1944 while employed at a No.357 Maintenance Unit as Test Pilot for repaired fighters, he returned to flying duty in August.  During this month while attached to No.5 Refresher Flying Unit (5RFU), Pat earned a Green Endorsement  (an acknowledgement of handling an aircraft emergency well without loss of the aircraft) entry in his logbook for effecting a successful “dead-stick” landing under difficult conditions.

In late November 1944, Pat returned to operations with No.145 (Fighter) Sqn which was at that time was located in Italy.  Here he completed a further 12 operations before disaster struck.  On his 13th operational mission (18 Jan 1945) F/O Pat Newman was piloting Spitfire JF878 conducting a strafing run north of the Po River when his aircraft was crippled by a ground explosion and subsequently crashed and was killed.  Pat was just 24 years old and is buried in the Padua War Cemetery, Italy.  The following is an eyewitness report of the crash:

145 Squadron Operations Report

18th Jan 1945 – Killed (JF878)

“CAPT JACOBS on an Armed Recce North of the Po River found no movement.  15+ barges were seen stationary in the River between G.4618 – 5218 and F/O NEWMAN and SGT BRITTON went down to bomb and investigate.  Having missed with bombs, he (Newman) strafed E-W.  It would appear he saw something on the River Bank and gave it a “work out”.  As he passed overhead at 100 feet his Target exploded.  He flew S. at the same height until his engine caught fire and the aircraft went in at G.4616.

After the explosion, no word was heard of him. On hitting the ground there was no fire but a flash and a puff of black smoke.  It is feared that that he went in with his a/c.  Should it be so, the Squadron has lost a great character, known and admired for his cheerfulness, keenness and determination.”

Note: **The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft.  The club was founded by Leslie Irvin of the Irvin Airchute Company of Canada in 1922.  The name “Caterpillar Club” refers to the silk threads that made the original parachutes, thus recognising the debt owed to the silkworm. “Life depends on a silken thread” is the club’s motto.  After authentication by the parachute maker, every person whose life was saved by one of his parachutes received the distinctive lapel pin, a golden caterpillar with ruby eyes plus a membership certificate. 

The Airborne Systems company of New Jersey continues the tradition of certifying members and awarding pins to this day.

The Newman family’s military service ‘Wall of Honour’