My Prisoner of War Collection

[POWCollector]

William Frederick Sutton was born in the parish of Old Kilpatrick, Dunbarton, Scotland, on the 5th October, 1914. He was the son of William Frederick (snr.) and Sarah Ann Sutton, of Burns Street, Dalmuir. The couple had married in Glasgow on the 2nd September, 1910; father being a Shipyard Labourer. The family sometime moved to Yoker, Glasgow, from where young William left to join the Seaforth Highlanders as a Regular Army soldier, on the 5th April, 1932.

He served in Palestine with the 1st Battalion, during the troubles there. Medal Roll WO100/507 - 1st Bn. Seaforth Highlanders (part), confirms a total number of 634 GSM 'PALESTINE' claims, to officers and other ranks of the regiment. The Battalion's roll was signed at Shanghai, 11th March, 1940. Sutton's entry therein, was marked 'N.E.' (Non Effective); an indication that he was off of the battalion's strength by that time, probably in consequence of his transfer to the 2nd Battalion.

The 2nd Bn. Seaforth Highlanders, as part of 152 Infantry Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division, was stationed in the U.K. in 1939. It embarked for service with the British Expeditionary Force in France, in mid-Janruary, 1940, departing from Southampton for Le Havre. Upon arrival, it was then deployed to cover the Maginot Line to the front of the Ouvrage Hackenberg fortress. Thus, it escaped the German Army's encirclement of the rest of the BEF in May, at Dunkirk, but was then forced to defend new positions, roughly following the course of the River Somme. Eventually having been pushed back to the coast by the German Blitzkreig, 152 and 153 Infantry Brigades found themselves cut-off at the coastal port of St.Valery-en-Caux, and was forced to surrender en masse, on June, 12th, 1940.

Sutton was captured the following day, on the 13th June. Along with thousands of other defeated troops being marched in guarded columns to internment camps, he, with two other regimental companions, saw an opportunity to escape when near the French/Belgian border. Having successfully made their escape, they remained at large for five weeks, until recaptured by a German Coastal Artillery unit on the French coast, at Merlimont; no doubt whilst in search of a small boat to get themselves back across the Channel. Of the escape, Sutton wrote :

Quote:
escape[d] from the line of march in France at Roubaix by falling out and hiding in a wheatfield. My companions were L/C Myers amd Pte. Mulholland, bI oth of my regiment. I was recaptured by a German Coastal Battery five weeks later at Merlimont. I was fit. My companions were captured at the same time.
(Ref: M.I.9 POW Repatriation Questionnaire : signed 8th May, 1945 : WO344/309/2)

In due course, the captives were marched off again for holding at Frontstalag 210 at Strasbourg, arriving there on the 10th August 1940. His subsequent movements and detachments were:

Hueburg, Baveria, 15/12/1940 - 10/02/1941
Stalag 21-CZ, Poland, 12/02/1041 - 04/06/1941
Stalag XX-B, at Marienburg, Poland, 06/06/1941 - 27/01/1945

At Marienburg, Sutton was detailed to join various Arbeitkommandos, as a Labourer at Stargard and Wernesdor. The main camp was evacuated by the Germans in January 1945, ahead of the Soviet Red Army's advance, and thus, Sutton became one amongst a great number of Allied prisoners who were placed on 'The March' - a series of forced marches westward, which lasted upward of three months, through freezing wintery conditions, into the German interior.

Close to the time of the German unconditional surrender, Sutton was duly liberated and returned to England for repatriation, on or about the 8th May, 1945 - 'V.E.' Day.

After the war, the action at St.Valery-en-Caux, in 1940, became a Battle Honour for The Seaforth Highlanders, whilst Sutton remained in the Army, transferring to the Royal Army Service Corps. He was sometime promoted to Warrant Officer Class II, and served in Cyprus during the 1955-1959 disturbances, and, through his due medal qualification, was erroneously issued with a second General Service Medal 1918, with clasp 'CYPRUS', instead of the clasp to his previously earned GSM for Palestine.

Obviously, but for the existence of this second medal, his post-war service and promotions would have remained in current obscurity.

At this moment in time, little else is known to me about his service or life after his Army retirement. However, Sutton's death was registered in Birkenhead, Cheshire, in October, 1987. He would then have been 73 years old.

[POWCollector]

On 31/10/2016 at 01:54, POWCollector said:

Another South African single medal ebay find...

Jan Gabriel Stoltz was born on the 3rd of July 1918 and on enlistment in January 1941 was living in Middelburg, South Africa. He worked on houses and in the streets.

He enlisted as 39988 Pte J G Stoltz into the 2nd battalion of the Regiment Botha, Part of the 5th South African Infantry Brigade. He served in North Africa and was captured on the 23rd of November 1941 at Sidi Rezegh.

Jan was first held at PG 52 Chiavari arriving here on the 5th of January 1942 and was held here until the 8th of August 1942. From Chiavari, he was sent to a work camp detatchment of PG 107 at Udine and he worked here on a Farm until the Italian Capitulation on the 8th of September 1943.

Jan managed to evade the Germans and live in Italy presumably at Farms (most likely the one he had been working at as is common with other POWs) until he was recaptured and sent to Stalag 7a at Moosburg in Germany arriving here on the 12th of December 1943. On the 23rd of December he was sent to work on the Arbeitskommando 3785 where he was employed working on houses as he had done in his civillian life.

He was liberated on the 15th of April 1945 by the advancing allied and ended his war service as a Sergeant. He was interviewed about his time as a prisoner of war on the 15th of May 1945.

I’m very happy to announce that I have managed to reunite Jan Stoltz’s Africa service medal with his 1939-45 star.

1 down, 2 medals to go until his group is complete!

 

[POWCollector]

Next up is a rather interesting ww1 victory medal to a ww2 Prisoner of War.

 

James Thomas Dupuy was born on the 13th of November 1899 and lived in Ilford, Essex.

In 1917 when he turned 18, he enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service as a Temporary Pilot Flight Officer and on the formation of the Royal Air Force on 01/04/1918 transferred to 219 Squadron RAF as a Second Lieutenant. He flew Seaplanes and DH6 Avro’s on Thames Estuary Defence. He transferred out of service in March 1919.

After the war, James worked as a bank clerk for Coutts before moving to Hong Kong to work for the Honk Kong Shanghai Bank (HSBC).

In 1938, with the war looming, James enlisted into the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. He worked his way up to become Battery Sergeant Major although this is a little odd as he was commissioned during the First World War.

On the morning of the 8th of December (Hong Kong time), 4 hours after the attack of Pearl Harbour, the Japanese invaded the Island of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps deployed a total defence fighting force of 2200 personnel who were engaged in bitter fighting but ultimately this ended in the fall of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941.

It was on this day that James Dupuy was captured.

Initially, James was held prisoner at the infamous North Point POW camp before being moved to the Sham Shui Po Barracks where he was a block leader under the overall command of Major Boon. (Major Boon was acquitted of charges against him of collaborating to the astonishment of many former pows).

 

In October 1942, James along with 1800 other British and Canadian POW’s was put into the hold of the ship Lisbon Maru. This ship was not adequately marked as a PoW transport ship and was sunk by the USS Grouper.

The Japanese troops were evacuated from the ship but the POWs were not; instead the hatches were battened down above them and they were left on the listing ship. After 24 hours it became apparent that the ship was sinking and the POWs were able to break through the hatch covers. Some were able to escape from the ship before it sank. The ladder from one of the holds to the deck failed, and the Royal Artillery POWs in the hold could not escape; they were last heard singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". Survivors reported that Japanese guards first fired on the POWs who reached the deck; and that other Japanese ships used machine guns to fire at POWs who were in the water. Later, however, after some Chinese fishermen started rescuing survivors, the Japanese ships also rescued survivors.

The British government insisted that over 800 of these men died either directly as a result of the sinking, or were shot or otherwise killed by the Japanese while swimming away from the wreck. The ship was not marked to alert Allied forces to the nature of its passengers. However, over 1,000 Allied prisoners were rescued by the Japanese military. The Japanese Government insisted that British prisoners were in fact not deliberately killed by Japanese soldiers and criticised the British statement.

 

James was one of the lucky ones who survived and ended up back in Hong Kong at the British Military Hospital (Bowen Road Hospital) under the command of Colonel Bowie.

James Dupuy was released as a POW on the 2nd of September 1945 nearly four years after he was captured.

After the war, James settled in St Ives in Cornwall and died there in 1977.

[Tony]

Always good to have a reunite, good luck finding the other two.

[POWCollector]

Next up is an interesting group indeed.

 

George William Marvel was born on the 8th of January 1914 in Lincolnshire and attested for the British Army on the 20th of May 1933.

He became 2323248 Signalman G W Marvel, Royal Signals.

George was sent to the North West Frontier in 1936 where he served until 1937 and was returned back to the U.K.

George, by now a Lance Sergeant, was posted to the 4th Indian Signals Division and was captured with them at Gazala on the 15th of December 1941.

He was taken to Benghazi and shipped over to Italy arriving at his camp, Campo 59 at Servigliano, on the 31st of January 1942. He stayed at this camp until the Italian Capitulation in September 1943.

His escape section of the MI9 debrief takes up the story below..

”I escaped from Campo 59 when the whole camp was evacuated on 14/9/43 by Capt Miller RAMC.

I was accompanied by Sgt A V Banks R.A. and Sgt S Precious RNF.

Whilst loose behind the German lines food was obtained from Italian houses en route to the front line.

The vicinity Civitella Catigniano was reached by us on 12/10/43 where contact was made with British SAS under command of Lt McGregor who gave us a route to follow via Popoli.

On reaching the river Pescara, all bridges were too closely guarded and river in spare following heavy rains, so we returned to the vicinity of Civitella where we met approximately 23 SAS under the command of Captain Lee who informed us that at present they could not help as their schemes were finished on 10/10/43 when boats were brought in at Francovilia for evacuation of escaped POW.

It was decided that we would stay in the vicinity of Civitella in the hope of British advances over running us after crossing the river. As this did not materialise we decided to try to get through the front line but owing to the lack of information and feeding difficulties in the areas just behind the front lines we had to return.

It was decided that we try to gain information as to how to cross the front line as we had been informed that guides were taking parties through the lines. Unfortunately, no contact was made with these guides in spite of repeated efforts.

In January 1944, contact was made with four US Paratroopers and i offered my services as regard to signal work if required. They were not needed as they had no wireless equipment.

The US paras said they were the same as we were and had no escape route but would inform of any they found. Just before my recapture, they informed me of a possible route that they were going to investigate via the Guadiaquella graveyard. Unfortunately I was recaptured before the result of this was known.

On March 2nd 1944, another Ex POW living in the vicinity came to inform me of having heard of the location of a radio set having been dropped by parachute in the area. Having experienced this sort of thing before and in investigation finding German meteorological equipment, I was rather dubious, but on questioning the Italian who informed of the location we were told there were accompanying pamphlets with the radio.

On March 3rd whilst proceeding to locate the set, we ran into a patrol of German troops searching for Ex POW. Having been used to German troops being in the vicinity, we thought we could pass without risk but unfortunately we were picked up. We informed them that we were on our way towards the front having set out from the vicinity of Penne.

On interrogation after threats by the Germans of being shot, NO information was given by me as to who had been feeding me etc.

After my recapture, I attempted to escape from a transit camp at Laterina (Campo 82) by tunnelling along with numerous other prisoners of whom I only remember a few names.

F/Sgt Mullins RAF, Sgt Flagg R.A., Spr York RE, F/Sgt Greenhalgh RAF, Dodds RN, Cpl Erasmus UDF.

This tunnel was disclosed to the Germans by a Belgian prisoner the night before the escape was planned. The Belgian ultimately finished up in the camp hospital which was the last seen of him by members of the camp.”

George was transferred by train from Italy to Stalag 7a at Moosburg arriving on 31/6/44 and on 15/2/45 was moved to his final camp at Stalag 383 Hohenfels from which he was liberated on 1/5/1945.

George signed his MI9 debrief on 15/5/1945.

 

I am thrilled to have this group in my collection and it is great to own my first India General Service Medal! This medal is still on its original wearing pin.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

[Mike McLellan]

As always, a great narrative. Thanks for sharing. 

Mike

[POWCollector]

Thanks Mike,

Glad you enjoy the posts! More to come soon!

Rob

[POWCollector]

Henry Patrick Edwards was born on the 30th of December 1912. 

He enlisted into the Kings Royal Rifle Corps on the 3rd of April 1928. His private address was in Saint Andrews Road, Bootle, Liverpool, England.

Whilst serving as a Captain in the 1st Battalion KRRC, part of the 7th Armoured Division, Henry was captured at Sidi Rezegh on the 22nd of November 1941.

The day before, (21/11/41), Rifleman John Beeley posthumously won the regiments 23rd VC. The regiment fought virtually to the last and only 55 men of all ranks escaped back to British lines.

Henry was transported to Campo 41 at Montalbo where he stayed until April 1943. He was the sent to Campo 49 at Fontenellato.

Campo 49 was a disused orphanage and housed 600 allied officers and men. On the Italian Armistice, the camp commandant opened the gates and every man escaped into the surrounding hills. They had previously pooled all Red Cross parcels and useful escape equipment so this was divided up between the prisoners and they were well supplied. The escapees broke into smaller groups to avoid detection from the Germans who were desperately scouring the country looking for them.

Henry Edwards, now a Major, escaped but was sadly recaptured after over 3 months on the run and was entrained for Germany. He arrived at Stalag VIIa at Moosburg on the 1st of January 1944. He was moved on the 21st of January to Oflag VIII-F at Marisch Trubau.

Whilst at Oflag VIII-F, Henry teamed up with Captain Robert Parrot of the Royal Artillery (whom he had met at PG 41 Montalbo) to try and make another escape.

Robert Parrot has already made quite a name for himself to the Germans. He won a bar to his MC for his escapes. He worked on a tunnel at Montalbo when he was betrayed to the Italians and sent to PG 5 at Gavi, the Italian Colditz. After the capitulation, he escaped from a train and joined the Yugoslav Partisans. He took part in many night attack’s whilst in command of a unit and was instrumental in 3 operations conducted by the partisans to destroy bridges and train lines which were essential to the Germans. Parrot was wounded in the final attack and recaptured by the Germans and sent to Oflag VIII-F arriving on 10/12/43.

When Henry Edwards joined Robert Parrot at Oflag VIII-F, the two men teamed up and started a tunnel. After 3 months, the tunnel was discovered by the Germans and the men were sent off to solitary confinement to think about what they had done.

In early May 1944, the officers at Oflag VIII-F was transferred to Oflag 79 at Braunschweig where they remained until they were liberated on 12th of April 1944 and sent back to the U.K.

After leaving the army, Henry settled in South Wales.

I have Henry Patrick Edwards ww2 medal entitlement of 1939-45 star, Africa Star and War medal. The medals are in mint condition and sadly were never worn.

It goes to show that the most ordinary of medal combinations can turn up the most fantastic of stories and this is what medal collecting and research is all about!

 

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by POWCollector

[POWCollector]

Johan Daniel Etzard Grimbeek was born on the 6th of June 1921 in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

He enlisted as an officer cadet into the South African army on the 7th of December 1939 aged 18 and was given the serial number 105975.

On the 25th of April 1940, Johan was posted as a 2nd Lieutenant to the 2nd Medium Battery South African Army.

On 25th of October 1940, Johan was promoted to Lieutenant.

After further training, Johan was sent to North Africa, disembarking at Suez On 09/08/41, and was posted to the 7th Field Regiment, 21st Battery, South African Artillery.

Johan served in North Africa with the 7th SAA until the 20th of June 1942 when he was captured at Tobruk. This was confirmed to his family on the 12th of July 1942 which must have been a great relief.

Johan was first held in North Africa before being shipped to PG 47 at Modena, Italy in the Po Valley. 

The camp held mostly South Africans and New Zealander’s and conditions were generally pretty good and being in the most fertile region of Italy meant that food and wine were readily available to the prisoners. There was ample space to exercise and the in camp entertainment was good.

The senior officer of the camp gave the order to remain put as so many did and so when the Germans arrived to take over the camp on the Italian Capitulation, very few managed to escape.

Johan was entrained for Germany and would have stopped en route to his new camp at Fort Bismarck in Strasbourg.

This was a large and depressing old fortress, sunk into the slope of a hill, so that air and light only reached the windows of the sleeping quarters by virtue of a deep moat. It was damp and comfortless, though the shortage of fuel for the stoves was soon made good by the prisoners from spare wooden beds and fittings. Several daring escapes were made up the moat wall and through the wire under the noses of the German sentries, and one of two were able to hide up when the prisoners were later moved on.

Johans service record shows that, on the 17th of December 1943, He had arrived at Stalag Luft 3: The scene of the Great Escape which was a camp purely for Air Force Officers. 

I am unsure as to why he was sent to Stalag Luft 3 but, in 1944, Johan was listed as being a prisoner of war held in Oflag Va at Weinsberg, Germany along with his colleagues from Modena and Fort Bismarck.

My thought on this matter would be either that a clerical error was made or that he was sent to Stalag Luft 3 following an escape attempt. Sadly there is nothing in the paperwork to clarify this.

Johan Grimbeek was liberated from Oflag Va on the 10th of May 1945 after nearly three years of captivity. On the 20th of May 1945, Johan was flown back to the Union to head home and reunite with his family.

Johan was released from full time service on the 22nd of September 1945. 

On the 9th of October 1990, Johan finally requested his long long overdue war medals and they were issued to him shortly afterwards.

Sadly, I only have his Africa Star and his Africa War Service Medal but hopefully I will be able to reunite these at some point in the future!

 

[POWCollector]

The National Archives have over the last couple of years, opened access to the original German records of allied prisoners of war. These records can be just a card with name, rank, number and date of capture but they can offer more.

I am very happy to have found the card for Ernest Brown, whose medals and stalag dogtag I own, and the card is great as it has his original picture and fingerprint on it. 

Please see below the card below.

Ernest Browns story and medals can be found on page 5 of this thread.

Edited June 16, 2019 by POWCollector

[azyeoman]

Congrats!  It's always nice to put a face to a group. 

[yachty]

On 17 June 2016 at 02:59, POWCollector said:

Next up is probably the most visually pleasing POW group in my collection and is a recent acquisition.

John Henry Cornelius Hawkins was born on the 8th of September 1901 in Ashton Keyes, Wiltshire

On the 23rd of September 1919, John enlisted the Royal Garrison Artillery in Oxford.

At the time, he was 5'8, 128 lbs, described as having brown eyes, dark hair and a fresh complexion.

After training, he was sent out to Palestine on the 10th of January 1920 and then stopped at Alexandria and Malta. After arriving back and serving at home in early 1922, he was sent out to Constantinople (Modern day Istanbul) arriving on the 29th of September 1922 serving here until the 6th of September 1923. This coincided with the end of the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

After this, John served at home from 7/9/23 to 27/4/34. Next was Gibraltar from 28/4/34 to 20/9/35, Egypt 21/9/35 to 1/9/36 and back to Gibraltar until the 28th of January 1937 before being sent back home for service there.By this time, he had worked his way from Gunner to a Sergeant.

During his time in the ranks, he passed qualifications in 3rd, 2nd and 1st class education, Class A swimming and qualified as a signaller.

He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct medal (Sadly missing from the group) with Gratuity in 1938. He was posted to the 68th HAA Regiment as a Sergeant on the 9th of April and on the 1st of May 1938, he was promoted to Warrant Officer 2nd class being promoted to Warrant Officer 1st class and Acting Regimental Sergeant Major on the 1st of May 1939. Around this time he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and on with the second world war breaking out, he was promoted to War Substantive Regimental Sergeant Major on the 2nd of December 1939.

In 1940 he was recommended for officer training. His conduct was described as Exemplary and the testimonial is as follows: "A Warrant Officer (class 1) of the best type - well educated, efficient, reliable and a good disciplinarian. RSM Hawkins has a record of good service of which he can be justly proud. His work and conduct have been beyond reproach at all times and his energy, ability and trustworthiness have now been rewarded by his promotion to commissioned rank. His fine example merits the highest praise".

Once his officer training was complete, John left Liverpool as a Lieutenant on the 6th of Febuary 1941 and arrived at Durban on the 22nd of April 1941.From here, he travelled up to North Africa being seeing action in the Middle Eastern theatre. 

John was Captured on the 17th of July 1942 at El-Alamein and was confirmed as a prisoner on the 22nd of July. On the 15th of December 1942, John was Mentioned in Despatches presumably for his actions at El-Alamein.

From here, John was moved to Campo 21 at Chieti, an old monastery which had a particularly evil Fascist commandant who public beat to death a recaptured officer who had escaped the camp.

At the time of the Capitulation, the senior officer followed his orders and did not allow any prisoners to leave the camp, even posting his own officers as guards. The Germans unfortunately took over the camp. There were quite a few tunnels being dug from March 1943 and about 40/50 officers hid in these tunnels (for example, John Jenkins whose medals i own and are written about previously in this thread). Since John's service record confirms that he was entitled to the Italy star, he must have escaped the camp by hiding in the tunnel and emerging after the rest of the prisoners had been taken away on the trains. He might have been in the one of the parties who met the A Force agents and SAS/Para's who were sent to round up Ex-POW's or he might have joined Partisans and fought briefly with them. Either way, he found himself being recaptured and sent to Oflag 8F in Czechoslovakia. This camp was moved to Oflag 79 in Braunschwig in April 1944 and John went with them.

He was Liberated by the Allied forces on the 12th of April 1945 and jumped straight back into action serving for a month in North West Europe. From here he was sent back to the UK.

In 1953, now a Major, John was recommended for the Military Division M.B.E which was approved and awarded for the Coronation Honours on the 1st of June. The recommendation for the award is as follows;

"Major (Q.M) J.H.C Hawkins R.A, has been Quartermaster of 262 (M) H.A.A Regiment R.A (Territorial Army) since the reconstitution of the Territorial Army in 1947.

Throughout this period, he has shown a devotion to duty which far surpasses the requirements of his appointment. He has worked tirelessly and devoted by far the greater part of his leisure time to the affairs of his Regiment, particularly in regard to the social and welfare side. 

He has made it his business to extend his military knowledge to an astonishing extent and, not only is he a tower of strength to his own regiment, but in addition on many matters his counsel is sought by higher formations.

His ceaseless vigilance both on and off duty, the breadth of his knowledge, and the wisdom of his counsel have contributed more than any other single factor to the growing success of the Regiment throughout the period since it was reformed.

After thirty three years of service in the Regular Army, of which the last thirteen have been commissioned, Major Hawkins is shortly to retire. 

He has set for himself the highest possible standard of service, and i cannot praise too highly his achievements over the past years.

I strongly recommend the award of the M.B.E in recognition."

John Hawkins was clearly a very professional career soldier who must have had a lot of respect from his seniors and subordinates alike. He saw lots of the world as a soldier and must have endured many hardships during the war and his time as a prisoner.

I was very pleased to find his POW Mugshot picture and to notice he sported a very impressive moustache!

A nice write up on my great grandfather once a military man always one. He went on to many years running the TA in Derby. although the his generation of the family have strong links to Salcombe this is were they settled post army. His daughter my grandmother died recently. I think we have the missing medal and I will get you some more photos.

[POWCollector]

Any more photos and information that you have would be great!

[POWCollector]

Walter Henry Elrick Crowsen was born in Johannesburg on the 16th of March 1912.

Whilst working as a sorter for the General Post Office, He enlisted in the 2nd Battalion Royal Durban Light Infantry, which was a part time unit of the Active Citizen Force.

On the 17th of May 1940, Walter volunteered for full time service with the unit. By this time, he was a Sergeant Major and was heavily involved in the recruitment process following the news of the fall of France. The recruitment drive was successful and 750 men were enlisted to the unit.

Walter served as a Senior NCO throughout the North African campaign until he was captured at Tobruk on 20th June 1942.

Walter was transported to the North of Libya and held as a prisoner in terrible conditions until he was shipped to Italy on the 1st of January 1943 arriving at PG54 Fara-In-Sabina on the 7th of January. He remained here until the Italian Capitulation in September 1943.

The following is taken from Walters POW debrief interview with Lieut Williamson in 1945:

’Crowsen states that a few days prior to the Italian Armistice he had sprained his ankle but was notified immediately when the Italians Capitulated. The Camp Leader (RSM Snyman) was notified and immediately notified the men.

Three days later, Snyman was advised to march the men out of the camp and keep them in the area for a few days when it was hoped that the allied troops would arrive. Crowsen has the foot bandaged and left the camp with the column. Some five kilometres from the camp, the column halted, dispersed and remained in the area for a week or more.

Crowsen, Sgt R Laing and Pte S Kruger left, ostensibly with a view of reaching Pescara and then making their way south along the coast. Upon reaching Monte Plavia the party remained; whilst at the above area Crowsen became ill and was laid up in the house of a friendly Italian family named Giornette of Montorio for a period of 15 days. Crowsen, Laing and Kruger remained in the area being fed by the family. 

During January 1944, Kruger took a walk and never returned. Crowsen later heard that Kruger had been recaptured. 

Whilst in the area Crowsen met a woman named Lina who supplied him with money which she had obtained from a British element in the Vatican City named Tony. This money was distributed amongst the men in the area to pay their helpers for assistance which they willingly offered.

Receipts were obtained from each man and this in turn was handed to the woman helper. She later had to discontinue her work due to the increased enemy activity and Crowsen continued by writing for his own wants and distributing the money in the same way.

In February 1944, Crowsen received a letter from Tony enquiring what had happened to all the money which he had sent (200,000 Lire). In all, Crowsen had only received 25,000 Lire and he mentions that Lina must have had an approximate amount of 50,000 Lire. Both endeavoured to check on amounts which had been received by escapers and Crowsen was able to negotiate that all money should be sent direct to him in the future. 

On the 1st of April 1944 Walter Crowsen and Sgt R Laing we’re both recaptured by Facist Forces and sent to Stalag 7a in Moosburg. During recapture, another friendly comrade was shot dead in front of him.’

Walter spent the rest of the war at Stalag 7a until the 29th of April when it was liberated. He was sent the the UK for two months before being repatriated home, arriving in Cape Town on the 3rd of August 1945.

 In 1946, he was mentioned in despatches as follows:

‘The war office, 19th December 1946

The among has been graciously pleased, on the advice of shoe Majesty’s Ministers for the Union of South Africa, to approve that the following be Mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished services at Tobruk in 1942:

2332 WO2 W H E Crowsen’

 

After the war, he lived in Durban and he died there on the 10th of April 1950, aged just 38. 

His papers show that his medals were ready for dispatch but they were never claimed so his Territorial Efficiency Medal is his sole issued entitlement.

I have photocopies of his YMCA Wartime Log which has lots of photos, a few of which are attached.

Edited October 2, 2019 by POWCollector

[POWCollector]

For those of you who have followed my thread for a long time, you will know that I am always trying to find WW2 Royal Navy POW groups as they are especially rare and I have found a brilliant one here.....

 

Stanley Partington James was born on the 31st of March 1902 in Ryde, Isle of Wight.

He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Sailor (J/87892) on the 24th of April 1918 and served through to the end of the war. His civilian profession on enlistment was a Horse Driver. He was 5’10 (pretty tall for a 16 year old at the time!) with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He had a tattoo on each forearm.

Post war Stanley stayed in the Royal Navy and was awarded with his Long Service as Good Conduct medal. On the 4th of June 1937, he passed the Boom Defence Course.

On the 1st of June 1941, Stanley was captured whilst serving with the RN Boom Defence Patrol. 

From 15/6/41 to 30/07/41 he was held in the Transit Camp ‘Dulag Kreta’ in Salonika before being transferred to Stalag 7a at Moosburg where he worked on canals until the 1st of December when it was deemed prudent to transfer Naval pows to their own camps.

On the 5th of December 1941, he was sent to Dulag Nord in Wilhemshaven for interrogation and processing. He was interviewed by a Naval Captain, Commander and an interpreter all dressed in civilian clothing.

On the 30th of January 1942, Stanley was sent to Stalag 344 where he was sent to various work camps to do farming work as well as at a sugar factory and a fabric factory.

On the 28th of February 1945, Stanley and the rest of the camp were marched westwards away from the oncoming Russians. On the 29th, Stanley escaped the line of March and went back to the main camp to await the liberators. 

Unfortunately, on the 6th of March 1945, he was recaptured by Germans and on the 21st of March he was sent to Stalag 383 at Hohenfels.

On the 22nd of April, the men of Stalag 383 were again marched away from the rapidly advancing Russians and when night fell, Stanley and some companions escaped the line of March again and went back to camp where they were liberated by the Russians.

He was duly handed over to the British by whom he was interviewed on the 5th of May 1945 and repatriated back to Portsmouth on the 18th of May.

He spent the rest of his days on the Isle of Wight and died there in 1987.

[POWCollector]

Next up is a lovely group to a man who made an escape attempt which includes one of my favourite medals; The Africa General Service Medal with Kenya clasp.

Harold Ward Brown was born on the 8th June, 1919. His birth was registered in the district of Sculcoates, Yorkshire North Riding. In August 1938, at the age of 19 years, he enlisted into the Royal Army Service Corps, giving his civilian occupation as Driver, and home address as Bainton Grove, Endyke Lane, North Hull Estate, Hull, Yorkshire. A little more that a year later, he was embarked with the 1st Lines of Communication Railhead M.T. Coy., to join the British Expeditionary Force in France.

On the 10th May 1940, the German invasion of The Lowlands, Belgium, and France, began, and over the ensuing days and weeks, the Allied forces were routed and compelled to retreat to the channel ports for a chance of evacuation to the UK. During the course of the retirement, the 1st L.o.C. Railhead M.T.Coy, were in the area of Ardres, a small village approximately 17km south-east of Calais, when German forces attacked and overran them, on or about the 23rd May and Dvr. Brown was captured, prisoner of war.

The local CWGC Cemetery at Ardres, contains the graves and special memorials to 13 men, most of which, are recorded to have been from the Royal Army Service Corps. The senior ranker amongst them is a W.O.II of the 1st L.o.C. Railhead M.T. Coy., obit. 23/05/1940.

Thus, Harold Brown commenced what became almost five years of hospitality at 'Herr Hitler's Hotels'. His name was published in The Times, on Thursday, November 28th, 1940, in a list of confirmed prisoners of war. In the interim, Harold had arrived via forced march from France, at Stalag VIII-B, Teschen, in Silesia, Poland, on the 21st June, 1940. A month later, on the 18th July, he was attached to an Arbeitskommando for work in a Coal Mine at Gliewitz (Stiegern), and, was accommodated at nearby Stalag 344, Lamsdorf, where he remained until the 20th January, 1945.

At this time, the proximity of the battlefront with the Soviet Red Army, drew nearer daily to the prison camps in Silesia.  Thus, under orders from German High Command, thousands of Allied POWs were evacuated westward in guarded columns and force-marched into the German interior. The marchers endured extreme winter weather conditions and coupled with the lack of adequate clothing, malnutrition, and subjection to attacks from Allied aircraft,  casualties mounted and the evacuation from Stalag 344 became known as 'The Lamsdorf Death March'.

On the 30th April, 1945, Dvr.Brown, in company with three other British servicemen, contrived to escape the marching column when approx. 18 kms north of Muhldorf. Having escaped their guards, the four men however, were recaptured three days later, when they were found hiding in a farm cowshed (his M.I.9 'ex-POW Repatriation Statement' in TNA WO344/43 refers). The following week, liberation arrived with the end of the war, and Brown was duly airlifted and repatriated back to the UK.

After the war Brown continued to serve in the British Army. He was sometime promoted to Sergeant, and saw further overseas service against communist insurgents in Malaya, and the Mau Mau rising in Kenya, for which he received the two respective General Service Medals.

Harold Ward Brown lived to the age of 84 years. His death was registered at Blackpool, Lancashire, in January, 2004.

 

I am thrilled to have this group in my collection after spending years trying to find a POW group with an AGSM accompanied by a very interesting story. I must admit that I cannot take credit for the research which was undertaken by the previous owner!

[POWCollector]

My Apologies for the long delay in posting, but the national archives closure has meant that research has been impossible since March!

 

However, I have a fantastic new medal in the collection which does not require much more research and I will share it now.

 

2752522 Sgt David Reid of the Black watch enlisted in 1928 with his civilian profession being listed as a miner.

 

He was serving with the 51st Highland Division in France in June 1940 when he was captured. His MI9 POW Debrief takes up the story below:

 

"I was rather badly wounded on 12 June 1940 and was with other casualties, in a truck making for St. Valery En Caux when we came under fire. I managed to crawl into a big clump of nettles and lost consciousness. Two hours later, I woke up in a German C.C.S. While I was lying there, a German kicked me on the head. The same man shot and killed two men of my regiment; L/Cpl Horne, who was wounded and Pte Glenn who had surrendered and was unarmed.

The next day we were moved to Forges-Les-Eaux and three weeks later to a hospital at Rouen, where I remained until I was taken, on 2 April 1941, to the Val-De-Grace hospital in Paris, by way of St Quentin.

On 13th April 1941, I escaped from the hospital in civilian clothes by climbing down from a window by means of sheets tied together. Once clear, I made for an address furnished me by helpers. Sgt Gare of my battalion was with me, but we parted company separately.

From Paris, I was taken to a small village by car (16 APR) and then went by train with a guide to Tours (17 APR) where I received instructions to walk 25kms to Montrichard. Halfway my wounds began to trouble me and Sgt Gare went on. A farmer picked me up and he took me to his house at Les Ouches and the same night took me over the demarcation line, the river Cher, in his boat. 

I managed to crawl up the far bank unobserved, although there were German sentries on both banks. Three days later (20 APR) I was arrested by the French at Louches where I was interrogated by a Captain, who later secretly got me out of my cell and took me in his car to Chateauroux, giving me 300 francs before he left me.

I was then guided to Marseilles but was then taken to St Hippolyte Du Fort. Later I was passed by the medical board, with 26 others, and left on 31 July for Spain and so home."

 

David made his way to Spain successfully and into Gibraltar which he left on the 1st of October 1941 arriving in Gourock, Scotland on the 6th of October 1941. He spent some time in hospital in Edinburgh and was medically discharged from the Army.

Interestingly, David's interview report has an Appendix A - List of Helpers. This field is noted 'Distribution: MI6'. 

Reputedly, Reverend Donald Caskie, The Tartan Pimpernel, sent one of his contacts to the Hospital in Paris and gave the men the address of helpers. Donald Caskie then met David Reid in Marseilles and assisted him with the medical board.

 

For those of you unfamiliar with The Reverend Donald Caskie, I implore you to research him - The Tartan Pimpernel is a very good book and accessible on kindle for half price on amazon at the time of writing!

 

This is a very special medal (despite it being a duplicate issue) as the story is fantastic and I am thrilled to have bought it.

David Reid clearly had a tough time during his short war. He was severely wounded, he was mistreated by the German soldier whom he saw murder his comrades and he spent time 'on the run', fending for himself. Through grit and determination he managed to escape captivity and made his way home in just 6 months, a very short time indeed.

 

Thanks for reading.

[POWCollector]

Next up is a very interesting group to a Crete POW and subsequent casualty.

I have been looking for an MI9 debrief but as the national archives have been closed for a year, I am tired of waiting and will post now with the hope of embellishing with more detail at a later date!

 

William Brown was born in 1920 to Mr and Mrs William Brown of Walkley, Sheffield, England.

 

William Brown enlisted in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders with the service number 2982310 and served with the 1st battalion in Palestine before the second world war.

 

When war broke out, the 1st Battalion were sent to the western desert and fought at the battle of Sidi Barani, the opening battle of Operation Compass, and thence to Crete. In Crete the German parachutists were decimated but ultimately the allies lost the battle with thousands being taken prisoner, William Brown included.

 

William Brown was confirmed by the Germans as having been wounded and captured on Crete on the 23rd of May 1941. The prisoners were transported to mainland where the wounded were sent to hospital camps and the able bodied being transported in cattle trucks up to permanent pow camps in Poland and Germany.

 

William Brown escaped either from the train or a hospital camp as he was next heard of in 1942 in neutral Turkey. He somehow made his way back to the UK where he was promoted to Sergeant.

 

Sergeant William Brown got back into action serving with the 7th Battalion in Italy and North Western Europe. Sadly, William Brown was wounded and subsequently died of wounds on the 25th of October 1944 during the Attack on St. Michels Gestel and Vught.

 

For more information on the battle, please follow this link: https://51hd.co.uk/accounts/st_michels_gestel_vught

 

 

I am delighted to have this group in my collection. William Brown was clearly an excellent soldier and had a truly tragic war. From being wounded and taken prisoner in Crete, escaping to neutral Turkey and making his way home, to fighting again in Italy and Holland where he met his untimely end.

 

Aged just 24 years old, William was buried in Groesbeek Cemetary in the Netherlands. The inscription on his headstone chosen by his parents reads "From battle front to heavenly rest. God took my dear son, One of the best."

 

His medals are: General Service Medal Palestine, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal, and War medal.

It is nice to see a Defence Medal to a POW as this is a fairly uncommon occurrence. 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by POWCollector

[POWCollector]

Next up is, without a doubt, the pride of my collection and will be a VERY long post and it is a condensed version of 5 years of research but it is worth a read.

 

 

 

Anthony Perrinott Lysberg Baber, known as Tony, was born on the 4th of July 1920 in Kingston upon Hull. He was the third son of John Barber and his Danish wife, Musse. Tony’s unusual middles names came from his mother who contributed the ‘Lysberg’ and his French grandmother who contributed the ‘Perrinott’.

 

His father was secretary-director of a Doncaster confectionary works. He had two brothers: Noel, who became a well-known journalist and novelist, and Kenneth, who became secretary of Midland Bank.

 

Tony was educated at Retford Grammar School in Nottinghamshire and afterwards became an articled clerk and was commissioned into the Territorial Army Royal Artillery on the 2nd of July 1939 as war was looming.

 

Tony Barber served in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force and was evacuated from Dunkirk in June 1940. 

 

A gunner under Tony’s command wrote to his local newspaper about the exploits at Dunkirk and this extract sums up the experience:

 

“I was with him [Mr Barber] on the night of May 31st and the morning of June 1st 1940. During those last hours on the beaches he was ordering guns and lorries to be immobilised in accordance with GHQ orders.

When this had been done, two trucks which had been left intact were used to pick up the wounded on the beach and Mr Barber was seeing to this himself. Eventually we found a rowing boat which was loads up with wounded and a few fit men were told to row out to HMS Salamander where the wounded were taken aboard and made as comfortable as possible.

I remember making inquiries about Mr Barber while on the Salamander and was told he and a soldier had taken the rowing boat back to fetch more men left on the beaches, amongst them Major Matthews, our Battery Major.”

Tony made it back to Britain before the Germans overran Dunkirk and captured the rest of the BEF and he was lucky to have got away and incredibly brave to have reached the safety of a ship but to have gone back in search of more men.

 

Back in Britain, Tony’s regiment was heavily engaged in air defence in the Battle Of Britain being deployed to Gatwick. In this posting, he saw much of the action unfolding in the skies over the south of England and, as with many men his age, was envious of those taking to the skies. He was determined to become a pilot.

 

Rather than relinquishing his commission and joining the RAF directly, Tony volunteered to be seconded to the RAF for special duties and was granted the rank of Pilot Officer gaining his pilots wings shortly afterwards. This is how he ended up flying spitfires in the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit. These spitfires were converted so that the guns were stripped out and replaced with cameras.

 

The PRU Spitfires had other differences to the Fighter Command equivalents; They were stripped to bare bones to allow longer flights, deeper into enemy territory at higher altitudes of up to 30,000 ft. A fighter Spitfire would carry 85 gallons of fuel whereas the PRU spit would carry 220. The PRU Spitfires would also be shed of all radio communication and navigational aid equipment. This meant that if a PRU pilot came under attack, they could not report their location for the Air Sea Rescue Squadrons and therefore casualties were high.

 

Tony was assigned to No.1 PRU based out of RAF Benson in Oxfordshire where he met, amongst others, Pilot Officer Charles ‘Chas’ Hall and Squadron Leader Thomas ‘Tommy’ Calnan whom he would form deep friendships with.

 

On the 21st of January 1942 whilst on a return flight from Gibraltar photographing German shipping, Tony reached 30,000 ft when he encountered very thick clouds. This continued until he was at half fuel. Eventually the cloud broke and to his dismay, Tony found himself somewhere over the Bay of Biscay and flying into a strong and wholly unexpected headwind. At this point he knew that he was not making it back to England but plodded on and got as far as the channel coast.

 

Because of what was thought (erroneously as was later discovered) that the Germans did not know that the PRU aircraft were unarmed, there was a standing order that, in the event of trouble, the aircraft should always be abandoned to destruction. 

 

This was particularly important in Tony’s case as he was carrying some particularly sensitive photographs of ports in neutral Spain which were suspected on harbouring German submarines. Fortunately, a second set were being brought back by more conventional means. The only option was to climb as high as he could and bale out earning his place in ‘The Caterpillar Club’ -  a select group of men whose life had been saved by their silk parachutes made by Irvin.

 

Tony remembered watching his abandoned aircraft spiralling down to destruction whilst he floated down over Mont-St-Michel, a tidal island in Normandy, France. When he landed, he badly sprained his ankle and was captured by a unit of the SS. Although he was ‘In the bag’, Pilot Officer Tony Barber’s war was far from over.

 

From Mont-St-Michel, Tony was taken to a transit camp in Frankfurt known as Dulag Luft where he was interrogated for a week. The Germans were perplexed as to what an Army officer was doing arriving by parachute  on the channel coast when there was no plane in sight (the plane had crashed directly into the sea whilst the strong headwind before mentioned had pushed Tony inland). What sort of aircraft had dropped Tony? How many crew? etc. To these questions, Tony played dumb and refused to give any further information other than Name, Rank, and Number.

 

After Luftwaffe interrogation, a rather smooth man in smart civilian clothing who spoke perfect English came in and claimed to be from the International Red Cross in Geneva. He stated that he could notify Tony’s next of kin and the allies of his whereabouts if Tony cooperated and answered further questions. Of course, this man from the Red Cross was bogus and it was a rather naive ruse which allied airmen had already by forewarned.

 

On the 17th of February 1942, Tony was transferred to Oflag IX-A/H at Spangenberg, Germany. This was was a medieval castle in the heart of Germany which was opened in October 1939 to house RAF and French Air Force prisoners. One of the first Prisoners to be housed here was Wings Day, shot down on the 13th of October 1939 in his Bristol Blenheim. Wings Day became a serial POW escaper and was one of the survivors of ‘The Great Escape’ who was sent to Saschenhausen Concentration Camp and contrived to escape again by means tunnel; a very dangerous undertaking.

 

At Spangenberg, there was a large contingent of Army officers who were captured in the fall of France and Dunkirk. These officers had been at Spangenberg for over a year and a half by this point and had been afforded the luxury of parcels from home. They were much more cleanly turned out than the RAF prisoners.

 

The Army and RAF prisoners were segregated and the RAF contingent were housed in a block which came to be known as ‘The Arab Quarter’. It was in the Arab Quarter that Tony was reunited with his friends from RAF Benson, Chas Hall and Tommy Calnan. In his memoir ‘Free as a running fox’, Tommy Calnan remembers Tony in the following way: “Complete uniforms were rare in our party, the one outstanding exception belonging to Tony Barber, who was resplendent in an Army Lieutenant’s uniform.”

 

Due to being the only aviator in the camp wearing a khaki uniform, Tony became known to all prisoners as ‘The Brown Job’.

 

Tommy had been shot down in December 1941 and was badly burned on his face and neck and had problems with his legs. He was playing up to the role of the wounded airman to get better treatment and throw off the scent that he planned to escape and he was given two walking sticks to assist his travel around the camp.

 

Shortly after their reunion, Tony, Chas, and Tommy set about devising various escape methods and started to accumulate escape materials. Tony and Chas worked on creating maps and gathering intelligence on the best routes to take to neutral territory whilst Tommy learned the art of manufacturing and using lock-picks. With almost every lock in Germany being of the Mortice variety, this was a very useful skill indeed.

 

Tommy remembered: “It was natural that Charles Hall, Tony Barber and I should plot to escape together. We had known one another at Benson, before being shot down and we still felt that we all belonged to the same unit.”

 

 

The first escape plan came from their walk to the gymnasium which meant leaving the main castle and crossing the moat. The plan was to hide on the other side of the moat and fix the evening roll-call or ‘Appell’ as they were called which would allow them a longer period of time to get away undetected. The problem here was that the men were counted on leaving the castle and re-entering.

 

Various methods were thought of to address the problem of fewer men coming back from the gymnasium, including smuggling extra men under greatcoats out of the castle who would then emerge and take Tony, Chas, and Tommy’s places for the headcount. However, this was not feasible and the plan was aborted.

 

The next idea came from Tony. Whilst looking for a hiding place for his contraband property such as escape clothing, civilian clothing, food, maps, compasses etc, Tony realised that the central table leg in his section of the Arab Quarter appeared to be hollow. He removed the top and found this to be true. Inside he discovered, to his surprise, a four-pronged grappling hook with a 30 m length of rope attached. 

 

Unfortunately, this hiding place probably dated back to the Franco-Prussian War and the rope was moth-eaten and frayed beyond usable strength. Tommy was able to put his new lock-picking skills to the test and managed to break into a store room. In here he found 5 coils on rope and successfully liberated the most suitable in length.

 

The new plan was to escape from the moat in broad daylight using the grappling hook and rope to climb over the perimeter wall. For such a venture, an elaborate system of diversions would need to take place. The idea which was settled on was a game of rugby; the German sentries (who did not play) were fascinated by the sport and the perceived violence of the men who played it. The idea was to throw the grapple over the wall and climb over whilst the guards were distracted by an intense period of scrummage.

 

On the 28th of April 1942, the Benson trio’s plan came to an end. The Germans with their Alsatian dogs piled into the Arab Quarter before the prisoners had woken up and announced that the prisoners had 30 minutes to pack, for they were being transferred to a different camp: Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan, Poland.

 

Once the prisoners had packed their belongings under the watchful eyes of their guards, they were ordered to stand at the end of their beds whilst the Abwehr (German Intelligence service) tore the room apart looking for contraband. They found almost everything from: Rice paper maps smuggled into the camp by MI9, German currency, escape rations, civilian clothing and Tommys lock picking set. The maps were very detailed, and despite the fact that the escape committee had kept them secret (which angered Tommy), he knew that he needed to try and get them back.

 

Tommy walked over to Marcus Marsh and whispered that he had a plan. Marcus had significantly more luggage than the others so he was to take his time dragging his suitcase to the centre of the room where the contraband was placed on a table. At a moment when all but Marcus and one guard were in the room, Tommy would storm back in creating a big scene and distracting the guard whilst Marcus pocketed as many maps as he could.

 

The plan came off but when the prisoners arrived at the station, they found the Abwehr were conducting a more thorough search of the prisoners. Tommy went through first to show Marcus (who had the maps in his pocket) how rigorous the search would be. Tommy was stripped naked and had his entire collection of baggage and clothing searched with an eager eye.

 

Marcus realised that he would not get the maps through the search but noticed a waste paper bin situated against the back wall of the room perfectly situated between the prisoners waiting to be searched, and those who had been searched already. He screwed all of the maps into a ball and stuffed them into the bin and made it clear to Tommy what he had done.

 

Tommy’s next job was to get close enough to the bin without raising suspicion. He emptied the contents of his suitcases and created a pile of litter in view of the watching guards until they became accustomed to what he was doing. At this moment, Chas Hall spoke to Tommy and was asked to come over with his kit and to bring a friend. 

 

Chas returned with Tony Barber and stood in front of Tommy, still building his pile of litter, to block the Abwehr officer’s view. At this moment and noticing what was happening, Marcus went forward to be searched and used his loud voice to protest about the handling of his possessions. Tommy instructed Chas to lean his kitbag against the wall and kick over the bin in his direction.

 

In one quick motion this was done and Tommy had the maps and about 100 German marks in his pocket and Chas and Tony helped to refill the bin of its contents + Tommys litter collection. They had successfully stolen back the contraband maps of Germany, Germany’s bordering countries, and the ports which would be invaluable for the future.

 

A short while later, the prisoners were loaded onto the train. Chas, Tony, and Tommy had agreed that the PRU’s would attempt to cut a hole in the floorboard of their cattle truck and escape in the night. Tony had managed to smuggle a saw through the rigorous security checks and Tommy had a file hidden in his walking stick.

 

Unfortunately, Tommy had been playing up his injuries so well that he was placed in the comparative comfort of third class carriages along with the senior officers and was thus separated from Chas and Tony. Despite the fact that they were split up, all three attempted to get away from the train.

 

Tony and Chas spent the entire journey attempting to get through the thick floorboards but sadly did not manage the job in time. Tommy had managed to force upon the sealed shut window in the lavatory which was just about big enough to squeeze through. Once it was dark enough, he waited for the train to slow and flung himself out into the night. He picked himself up and took off running, expecting to hear a German voice cry out and gunshots to start but they never did. His freedom did not last long and he was recaptured and put into a police cell in horrible conditions whilst he was interrogated on who he was and where he had come from. Eventually the truth came out and he was put on a train to Stalag Luft 3 where he would spend 10 days in solitary confinement ( AKA The Cooler) before being reunited with his chums.

 

Whilst Tommy was spending time christening the new solitary confinement cells, Tony was settling in to his new home. Stalag Luft 3 was built on the orders of Hermann Göring to keep troublesome RAF prisoners together in their own camp, far away from neutral territory to prevent escapes. The camp consisted of wooden huts built on a sand-based compound surrounded by perimeter wire and guard towers. It was a daunting place to find oneself. 

 

Tony set his mind to work looking into various escape methods and also getting to know his new campmates who had arrived just before from Stalag Luft 1 at Barth on the Baltic Coast. 

On the 12th of June 1942, Tony came up with a plan to be smuggled out of the camp through the main gate in the laundry cart, mimicking the escape of Flight Lieutenant Eric foster and Pilot Officer Joe Barker from Spangenberg in August 1941 which he would have undoubtedly heard all about. The two escapers, dressed as Hitler Youth’s, were smuggled out in the laundry cart. Once a suitable distance out of the camp from the main gate, one of the orderlies feigned an injury to the ankle and the orderlies and guard marched back to the camp leaving the cart unattended and giving the opportunity to get away. They were recaptured a few days later having managed to get 81km on foot.

 

Tony’s escape of the same nature failed as the cart was searched before leaving the camp and he was marched off to the cooler. He had been one of the first prisoners to make an escape attempt from Stalag Luft 3 and had more up his sleeves. 

 

On the 30th of June 1942, the Germans were setting about digging ditches between the perimeter wire and the warning wire which  was the ‘no mans land’ area in which prisoners were liable to be shot if seen by guards. The purpose of the German trench was to stop shallow tunnels being dug from the huts.

 

Tommy, who was now out of the cooler, hurried over to Tony and suggested the possibility of digging a ‘mole tunnel’ from the ditch. A mole tunnel meant digging down just 1 or 2 feet below the ground level and pushing the soil behind as they moved along, using a pipe to make air holes as they went. This meant that they could dig a tunnel from start to finish in one day without need for soil dispersal, security measures, and scarce timber for shoring.

 

Tony and Tommy immediately went to Lt Cdr Jimmy Buckley of the Fleet Air Arm who was in charge of the escape committee and relayed their plan. Jimmy accepted in principle but notified them that another prisoner had registered the same idea not 5 minutes before. The deal would be that they could only go if they agreed to wait until the next night and they took along the third man - this delay would also mean Jimmy could organise suitable distractions of the 3 guard towers whilst the men jumped one by one into the ditch and opened their mole tunnel. Tony and Tommy agreed; the escape was on.

 

The next day on the 1st of July 1942, Tony and Tommy got their necessary kit together and prepared to make their descent into the ditch. Immediately after evening roll-call, their began to make circles of the camp until they got the signal from the lookouts. Eventually both men and their ‘passenger’ were in the ditch and starting to dig their mole tunnel. The third man was somebody they had never met who was 6 and a half feet tall; an unwelcome surprise for the two thin and average height men.

 

As the tunnel progressed under the wire and towards the woods, the third man’s claustrophobia grew to the point that he could not move. Tony and Tommy dug around him and would drag him forward up the tunnel to push the soil behind him. This slowed the progress down significantly and, in the early hours with daylight fast approaching, they realised that they could not get out under the cover of darkness. Tommy, who was the face of the tunnel slowly and carefully made a big enough hole to see out; the tunnel was 60 feet in length but it was still 60 feet from the trees. They decided to rest during the day and carry on digging the next evening to make their break from the tree-line. 

 

At just after 11am, the camp Alsatians began digging their tunnel up and unfortunately the three men were taken off to solitary confinement. It was a bitter disappointment and Tony and Tommy knew that they would have gotten away if it wasn’t for their companion. He was not the first would-be escaper to panic and shutdown due to claustrophobia and he would not be the last. 

 

In September of 1942, the numbers of airmen being shot down were growing rapidly and the RAF camps were becoming overcrowded. In order to relieve the strain of these prisoners on the camps, batches of men were selected to be transferred Oflag XXI-B at Schubin, Poland. The list of men who would be transferred was announced and it happened to include all of the ‘Naughty Boys’. Perhaps, the Luftwaffe wanted to be rid of these difficult prisoners and fancied handing them off to the Wehrmacht. Tony was on this list along with: Tommy Calnan, Jimmy Buckley (the escape officer),  Wings Day (Senior British Officer), Major John ‘The Dodger’ Dodge (a cousin of Winston Churchill) and many more persistent escapers. 

 

Tony and the rest of the naughty boys left for Schubin on the 28th of October 1942. Similarly to their transport from Spangenberg to Stalag Luft 3, the prisoners were placed into cattle trucks of wooden construction and barred windows. This time, the prisoners were forced to remove their boots to dissuade escapes. This however, did not dissuade The Dodger, who managed to squeeze his 6’4 frame through the lavatory window and leapt out in broad daylight. He was recaptured almost immediately and there is a very famous photograph of him being marched back to the train, hands in the air, with 7 guards accompanying him.

 

Oflag XXI-B at Schubin was a Polish boys school which was requisitioned by the German army who additionally built a barracks there. Initially, Schubin was a camp for Polish officers and in 1940 it was used for a number of French officers captured in the fall of France. The camp was supposed to be a tougher, and more escape proof destination and despite the harsher conditions, escape proved easier.

 

Soon after arrival, an enterprising 21 year old RCAF pilot named Eddie Asselin had a brilliant idea. Previous tunnels were almost always discovered due to the entrance of the tunnel being too obvious or in an easily searchable location. His plan was to start a tunnel where ‘No goon would poke him head’. The idea was to start the tunnel in the camp latrine block.

 

Eddie enlisted an American pilot who had volunteered to fly with the RCAF named Bill ‘Tex’ Ash. Tex is without a doubt the inspiration behind Steve McQueen’s character in the 1963 film ‘The Great Escape’. They registered the plan with the escape committee, which Tony now sat on, and got their approval. The committee would supply clothing, forged documents, maps, compasses, genuine German currency, and escape rations. This was to be the first well-organised mass escape of the war and very much was the dry run to the Great Escape from Stalag Luft 3 in March 1944.

 

Over the course of 6 months, the tunnel was painstakingly dug until it reached a length of just over 150 feet and had run out of the camp, under the perimeter wire and into a vegetable patch near the woods which provided excellent cover. 

 

With the news that the camp was to be closed imminently, Wings Day the Senior British Officer decided that the tunnel must break as soon as the necessary documents, clothing and provisions were ready. 

 

The plan was to stage a particularly exciting rugby match in the main camp courtyard, near the latrine block, and gradually the prisoners would slip into the latrines, through the end lavatory space where the tunnel shaft and ante-chamber were situated and down the tunnel to wait until nightfall. Eddie Asselin calculated that 33 men would be able to lie head-to-toe in the tunnel with the amount of oxygen the camp-made bellows would provide.

 

In the course of digging the tunnel, the Polish worker in charge of removing the sewage from the latrines had approached the prisoners to let them know that he had discovered rocks and soil in his sewage trucks and wished to help them. Two airmen, Flight Lieutenant Josef Bryks (a Czech fighter pilot serving with the RAF under the Nom de guerre of Joseph Ricks) and Squadron Leader Morris, befriended the Pole and worked out a plan with him.

 

The friendly Pole would clean out the sewage wagon and smuggle the two men out of the camp on the day of the escape and drive them out into the countryside so they could get a head start on the rest of the men.

 

On the day of the escape, there was a rush of excitement around the camp as the final preparations and plans were being finalised. Tommy Calnan had been asking Tony to be his escaping partner but the two could not come to an agreement of which direction to head in. Tony wished to go North and Tommy wished to go South West to Switzerland and so they decided to split up from one another.

 

Tony’s plan was to travel by train from the Polish city of Bromberg back into Germany and up to the Baltic port of Kolberg, where he intended to get to the Danish island of Bornholm. His hope was to make contact with his Danish relatives on Bornholm who would be able to arrange for a herring fishing boat to take him over to neutral Sweden. Tony spoke good German and any deficiency in his accent was account for by his posing as a Danish freiwilliger - a Danish volunteer workman. 

 

He had a forged foreign worker’s identity card and had prepared dyed brown trousers, an RAF raincoat which to the Germans bore no resemblance to a military coat, and a cap which a helpful Pole had conveniently left behind on one of the visits to clear the latrine. He carried a small attaché case containing concentrated food, shaving kit, a cloth to keep his shoes clean and so on. From his memoirs, Tony recollected “ Most of my fellow escapees would be walking by nights and hiding by day. For them appearance was secondary. For me, travelling by train it was essential not to appear dishevelled”.

 

After evening roll-call on the evening of the escape, the diversion started and the men started to trickle off in small groups to the latrines and into the tunnel. One by one, the 33 men started to make their way down the tunnel lying head to toe and waited for 5 hours until nightfall when it would be safe to break the tunnel and make their break for freedom. In addition, 10 other men were cleverly hidden in the attics of one of the central buildings in the camp and were to become known as ‘ghosts’. The additional 10 men would be believed to have escaped and then could either escape at a later date without the Germans raising any alarm, or they could take the place of other prisoners who did escape to delay the inevitable manhunt.

 

On the night of 5th/6th March 1943, Eddie Asselin and Tex Ash broke the tunnel and to their delight, it opened right into the middle of a hollow in the potato patch they were aiming for. They looked back at the camp and could see the searchlights trained in on the camp and guards walking their beat with guard dogs at their heels.

 

One by one, the men were succeeding in breaking out of the tunnel without a hitch until one very large prisoner caused a cave-in. Luckily, the cave in was not severe and the repairs did not take long. The same man got stuck whilst squeezing through the tunnel exit which caused another delay but eventually he and the rest of the 33 men in the tunnel were free without a stir from the unknowing Germans.

 

Tony takes up the story of his immediate escape from the tunnel exit: 

“I had sixteen miles to walk to the railway station at Bromberg and I had to be there to catch the morning train. I walked mainly on the railway track itself, but skirted stations and signal boxes which was very time-consuming. Walking along the track was awkward because the sleepers were just too close together for a normal stride. Anyway I got to the outskirts of Bromberg and cleaned myself up before walking into the town.

My plan was to leave the train at Schneidemuhl and then to travel north up to Kolberg. I had plenty of German money, cleverly smuggled into the camp from London, and I was therefore able to ask for a return ticket, as a means to avoid suspicion. It was with some trepidation that I went up to the ticket office and said ‘Schneidemuhl, hin und zuruck, bitte’. Not problem, so I checked the platform and who should I see walking up and down but Tommy Calnan and Robert Kee who were travelling together.”

 

Tommy remembers the encounter as such:

“I was watching a very smart young man as he walked up and down the platform. He was wearing a neat blue-grey raincoat, carrying an attaché case and had a folded newspaper tucked under his arm. He looked like a superior bank clerk. There was something vaguely familiar about him, but I did not recognise him until he passed close to us. It was Tony Barber!

Tony recognised me at the same time and very deliberately looked the other way but I could not resist greeting him. He look of panic when he saw me coming should have discouraged me, but I was enjoying the moment too much. I gave him. Nicely casual Nazi salute and greeted him. ‘Heil Hitler’ I said. He was forced to respond in the same way and to return my salute.

I then shook hands with him and told him how delighted I was to see him. ‘Go to hell’ said Tony. He was shaking with anger. ‘And stay away from me, you look like a tramp’. With great self control, he shook hands again and bowed himself away. When the train came in, he made a point of boarding it at a considerable distance from us.”

 

There were three classes of travel on the train but although Tony had plenty of money and was reasonably well dressed, he was not quite smart enough to appear as an obvious first-class passenger. Because the Germans would naturally assume that any escaped prisoner travelling by train would be short of cash, they would expect him to travel third class, so he opted for second.

 

Tony entered the compartment and took his seat as casually as he could and raised his eyes to glance around. He froze. There sitting opposite him and looking out of the window was a German NCO whom he immediately recognised as coming from the camp. He dared not change compartments for fear of arousing suspicion so he stayed put. The man never recognised him and in fact, although Tony did not know it at the time, no alarm had been raised at the camp yet.

 

Back at the camp, morning had risen and the tunnel exit had still not been discovered by the Germans and they were unaware that they were short of 45 prisoners. This tally included: The 33 tunnellers, Bryks and Morris who successfully got away in the sewage wagon, and the 10 ‘Ghosts’ who were in hiding in the attics. One enterprising South African Pilot, Squadron Leader Don Gericke, who was involved with the escape committee and knew of the plans seized this opportunity and rushed back to his room to grab his makeshift escape kit. He casually strolled over to the latrines, hurried down the tunnel as fast as he could and got joined the others on the run.

 

When the train reached Schneidemuhl, Tony joined Tommy and Robert and they walked together out of the town. In Tommy’s words:

“Tony had completely recovered his good temper. There was nobody about and we talked freely and happily, relating our experiences of the night before. We were all in high spirits. Soon Tony left us to return to the station. He was taking a different route, aiming at the Baltic coast. He had some rather mysterious plan for getting to the island of Bornholm. We wished him luck, sorry to see him go.”

When Tony arrived back at Bromberg station, he found that there was no train going north until the following morning so he walked out of the town again and into the woods where he settled down for the night. He had nothing to keep warm and by midnight it had started to drizzle and he was shivering in the damp cold of the east European March night. With the temperature falling, it was impossible to spend the night in the open and in any event he had to keep up a reasonably clean appearance.

 

He would have stuck out too much if he had continued to walk around in the middle of the night and so with all the confidence he could muster, he walked back into town and went to the railway station waiting room. It was packed with German soldiers drinking beer from the buffet. There were virtually no civilians. Tony went up to the counter and got himself a beer and a bowl of potato soup. He started conversation with members of the crowd and ended up having a few more beers and the occasional doze.

 

The next leg of Tony’s journey was more troublesome. On his next train, some plain clothes police officers came through checking the papers of each passenger. It seemed that this wasn’t a routine check and his suspicions were confirmed when he overheard a reference to escaped prisoners of war but all went well. Tony’s identity papers were accepted without demur as was the story that he was going to visit his brother who was unwell.

 

Tony described his feelings:

“My confidence was growing, I was getting used to being in the company of Germans, the sense of being hunted was receding and more than ever before I really began to believe that I was going to make it. I had now reached a small town in northern Pomerania and had only one more comparatively short train journey to complete before reaching Kolberg. 

There were a couple of hours to wait for the train, it was a crisp and sunny Sunday morning, and I set off to walk round the town with a purposeful air. I was many miles from the camp and there was nothing to arouse suspicion.”

Tony then saw two elderly SA men, Brownshirts, walking slowly along the footpath towards him. Quite casually, it seemed almost on the spur of the moment, they stopped and asked for his papers. They were not in the least bit aggressive but they exuded the dogged perseverance of the minor official. They returned his identity papers and accepted the story but they pointed out that, as a foreign volunteer worker, he should have a letter from his place of work. Tony knew before the escape that this was one document that he was lacking but the camp’s forgery department had simply not had time to prepare it.

 

Tony takes up the story:

“You say you are here to visit your sick brother. Where is he living? One of them asked. I had noticed we were in a street called Friedrichstrasse. ‘Friedrichstrasse siebzehn’ I replied hoping that they would leave me to go on my way. Not so. They may not have looked particularly bright, but they were stubborn. They said they would come with me. We arrived at the door of No.17 and I rang the bell. A lady answered the door.

I explained that I had come to visit my brother who was ill but she replied that the only people who lived in the house were her own family. I knew in my heart that the end was not far away but I thought that there might be a chance that , although the SA men were armed, an opportunity would arise to make a dash for it so it seemed worthwhile to play along with it.

We walked together to the police station where they said they would telephone my employer. Once we had entered the building, all chance of escape had gone and the game was up. ‘Ich bin tin Offizier in Der Britischer Luftwaffe’.”

 

Tony was bundled into the back of a car and taken to the Gestapo headquarters back in Schneidemuhl. Kept in solitary confinement for a week being interrogated for long periods of the night and being forced to stand in his cell for several hours during the day, Tony could hear the screams of other unfortunate souls being tortured. 

One day, during the afternoon, Tony was collected from his cell and taken upstairs to what turned out to be his final interrogation. His reaction to the questions was the same as on all the previous occasions. This time, there were two interrogators and one of them pointed out that, as far as Tonys comrades were concerned, he had simply disappeared and was entirely at the mercy of the Gestapo and that unless he co-operated, he would be taken outside and shot right there.

Tony lamely referred to the Geneva Convention, there was a short silence met with smiles. Then he was taken roughly by the arms, out of the room, down the stairs and into a yard against a wall and told that this would be his last chance to co-operate.

“I accepted that the end had come and I longed for just one friend. I said nothing” Tony later recalled.

Fortunately, this was just a dirty ruse by the Gestapo to extract valuable information and he was taken back to his cell. An hour or so later, he was taken to the station and travelled under the escort of an armed guard back to the camp at Schubin. Just before he had left his cell at the Gestapo HQ, he had torn off the bottom of the prison instructions which were hanging on the wall. On that bit of paper was a large and very clear rubber stamp with the swastika in the middle and around the edge the dreaded words ‘Geheime Staatspolizei’ - Secret State Police, or Gestapo. He had hidden the bit of paper in his shoe and knew that the forgers back in the camp would be thrilled.

 

Tony arrived back at Schubin to find out that all of the ghosts had been found, and that 32 of the 34 tunnellers had been recaptured. The head of the Escape Committee, Jimmy Buckley and his Danish escape companion Jorgen Thalbitzer were not back and had, in fact, been killed whilst trying to cross from Denmark to Sweden. Thalbitzers body was washed ashore but no remains were ever found of Jimmy Buckley.

 

Tony was crammed into the solitary confinement cells (which were actually now occupied by 3-4 men a cell. On one occasion Squadron Leader Ian Cross DFC, a pre-war pilot from Hayling Island, Portsmouth shouted in German ‘Halt, a prisoner has escaped out of the window’. At this, the German guards all panicked and went off in search of the ‘escaped’ prisoner.

 

Although the escape had not seen any ‘Home Runs’ and had resulted in the deaths of two gallant officers, there was a silver lining. The Gestapo Chief from Breslau was shot dead by his own guards when he failed to stop at a road block that he had ordered. It is believed that the chief thought his own men would recognise him and his car, but he had instructed them to shoot anybody who does not present identification. The escape also sparked a colossal manhunt distracting scarce resources from the war effort and many valuable escape lessons were learned by those who got out, which could be passed on to future escapers.

 

In early April 1943, the prisoners were transferred back to Stalag Luft 3, East Compound, where numerous escape plans were cooked up with varying levels of success. Tony was appointed ‘Little X’, the second in command of the escape committee.

 

In the Summer of 1943, two of the Schubin escapers, Lieutenant Michael Codner Royal Artillery and Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams came up with an ingenious scheme. Inspired by the Trojan Horse used by the Greeks to enter the city of Troy, Codner and Williams proposed to build a vaulting horse which could carry two men inside which would be carried out to the exact same spot near the perimeter wire every day for ‘exercise purposes’.

 

The men inside would construct the entrance of a tunnel and build a trap door to start a tunnel out of the camp and into the woods to freedom with the soil being brought back in in sacks attached to hooks inside the horse.

The Senior British Officer of the East Compound requested permission from camp commandant Von Lindeiner to build such a piece of fitness apparatus and this request was granted. On its first outing, the men did not hide inside but put on a big show of fitness resulting in one prisoner ‘accidentally’ crashing into the horse and toppling it over. The German guards rushed forward to inspect what had happened but only found an officer on the ground in pain and a hollow horse. The ruse worked and the Germans had no suspicions that two men would be hidden inside, digging a tunnel in the future.

 

Tony was one of the organisers of the vaulters and struggled to keep the men motivated. This was not on account of unwillingness to help their fellows escape, but due to the malnourishment of the prisoners and depleting their energy reserves. Nonetheless, Tony gathered a dedicated team who carried out the vaulting every day for months during that summer. 

 

Codner and Williams realised that the tunnel could be used by three men and quickly came to Tommy Calnan to invite him onto the escape. Unfortunately for Tommy, he was already planning his next escape from the washhouse and truly believed in his plan so turned them down, but offered to help in whatever way he could when he wasn’t working on his own plans. Instead, they turned to Flight Lieutenant Oliver ‘Ollie’ Philpot DFC, a good friend of Tony’s who had been with him at Spangenberg and Schubin.

 

After his return from Schubin, Ollie realised that it would be wisest to adopt an escaping alter-ego before any escape attempt was made so that he could fully immerse himself into the character and have it perfected. Ollie’s persona would be Jon Jorgensson, a Norwegian businessman.

 

On the 29th of October 1943, 114 days after digging commenced, the tunnel was ready to break and the 3 escapers made their final preparations. In the morning vaulting session, Codner and Philpot were carried out in the horse to the spot. Codner made his final dig up close to the surface and Philpot sealed the tunnel, carrying back the bags of soil. Later in the day, Philpot was carried out again with Williams and another man called McKay who would seal them in.

 

When darkness fell, Codner broke the surface of the tunnel which came out exactly as intended in the woods. Codner and Williams went off as a pair and Philpot went solo. Ollie reached the Baltic port of Danzig within 24 hours and checked into a hotel, having to share a room with another guest. The next morning, he managed to smuggle himself aboard a neutral Swedish ship. On the 4th of November, Ollie presented himself to the British Legation in Stockholm and was joined a week later by Codner and Williams who had sneaked aboard a Swedish ship in the port of Stettin. The three were flown back to the UK in time for Christmas and all were awarded the Military Cross.

 

This was a triumph for Tony and the rest of his escape committee and they had proven that escape from Sagan was not impossible as many were starting to believe.

 

Around the same time, murmurs of a large scale escape from the North Compound were circling and many prisoners offered to transfer including: Chas Hall, Wings Day, Johnnie Dodge, and Ian Cross. 

 

On the 24th of March 1944, these four men were part of the 76 men who successfully broke out in ‘The Great Escape’ popularised by the 1963 film starring Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Charles Bronson, and Steve McQueen.

 

Chas Hall, Tony’s friend from the PRU at RAF Benson and fellow escape conspirator was recaptured and murdered by the Gestapo on the 30th of March 1944 at Liegnitz. 

Ian Cross, a fellow Schubin escaper was recaptured and murdered by the Gestapo on the 31st of March 1944 at Gorlitz.

 

Wings Day and Johnnie Dodge were recaptured but spared execution. Instead, they were sent to Sachenhausen Concentration Camp along with fellow escapers Jimmy James and Sydney Dowse. Remarkably, these four men dug a tunnel and escaped from the Concentration Camp but all were recaptured. Johnnie was taken to the Swiss border where he was released in order to send a peace treaty offer to his cousin, Winston Churchill whilst James, Dowse and Day were released at the end of the war.

 

After The Great Escape, the attitude to escape changed and even MI9, the intelligence service dedicated to escape and evasion, warned POW’s not to try to escape as the risk was too dangerous.

 

Tony started to study Law and sat his exams under the invigilation of a Wing Commander in the camp. He achieved a first class honours from Oxford University.

 

On the 27th of January 1945, the prisoners of Stalag Luft 3 were marched northwest away from the advancing Russians coming in from the east. The conditions were terrible and treatment of prisoners was awful. At the end of February when the prisoners finally at Stalag 3a, Luckenwalde just outside of Berlin, they found over 16,000 allied prisoners of every nationality on the allied side. 

 

The prisoners were held in wooden huts of 200 men in three-tier bunks. There were no indoor toilet facilities, no heating, and the Russian prisoners who had been there for months were literally dying of starvation all around them.

 

Towards the end of April 1945, the Russians finally came and took over the camp from the Germans. This, however, was not the good news that the POW’s had been hoping for. 

 

The Russians were holding the men hostage. One day, the Americans turned up with a series of trucks to take the prisoners away. Tony stepped onto the back of one of the trucks when a volley of machine gun fire went over his head. He was ushered back down and the Americans left in bewilderment.

 

Finally, on the 30th of May, the prisoners of Luckenwalde were freed by the Russians and made their way home.

 

Tony made his way home and was reunited with his Mother and Father in England. In summer of 1945, Tony’s mother was killed when a civilian Air France Dakota had engine trouble and crashed on the way from Copenhagen to Paris.

 

Tony’s mother was terrified of flying but he had convinced her to fly to Paris and see his brother Noel rather than sail back to England from Copenhagen after visiting family. The hardest part of this for Tony was that whilst having breakfast with his father, they were reading the Daily Telegraph and saw the news of the plane crash. The press had released the story and named the victims before the next of kin had been informed.

 

Tony flew over to Copenhagen to identify remnants found in the wreckage. When he walked into the room, he noticed amongst pieces of personal items, a gold pin. This was his Caterpillar Club Badge, a 9ct gold caterpillar with ruby eyes and engraved on the back to the member of the club. Tony had been inducted into the club when he bailed out of his stricken Spitfire in 1942 and had given the badge to his mother only weeks before. 

 

After the war and his discharge from the RAF, Tony enjoyed a career as a Barrister before getting into politics in 1951. He worked his way up in politics and eventually found himself as the Chancellor of the Exchequer under Ted Heath. A notable policy which Tony brought in, was the replacement of the purchase tax with Value Added Tax.

 

During his term, the economy was suffering from stagflation and miners strikes. His 1972 budget, which was a hope to get the Conservative party re-elected, was later known as ‘The Barber Boom’.

 

As the Party was not re-elected, Tony left the world of politics and became the chairman of the Standard Chartered Bank which he held under 1987. He was also a Director at BP between 1977 and 1989. In 1987, he was appointed to be a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the County of West Yorkshire.

In later years, Tony was the Chairman of the RAF Benevolent Association which raised £26m for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Visited Nelson Mandela in prison, and sat on the Franks Committee which investigated the Falklands War.

 

Tony suffered from Parkinsons Disease and passed away in Suffolk in 2005. 

 

 

I was delighted to acquire Tony's Caterpillar Club badge about 5-6 years ago as they cannot be faked and it is a wonderful piece of history; It was only recently that I discovered the history of Tony giving it to his Mother.

 

I hope that you enjoyed this post and wish me to continue posting my collection, I have several more interesting posts in the pipeline due to the National Archives re-opening after over a year of closure.

 

[azyeoman]

Excellent research and exceptionally well written account of an important PoW item.   Congratulations on finding a wealth of info and thank you for sharing it!

[POWCollector]

On 12/06/2019 at 23:42, POWCollector said:

Henry Patrick Edwards was born on the 30th of December 1912. 

He enlisted into the Kings Royal Rifle Corps on the 3rd of April 1928. His private address was in Saint Andrews Road, Bootle, Liverpool, England.

Whilst serving as a Captain in the 1st Battalion KRRC, part of the 7th Armoured Division, Henry was captured at Sidi Rezegh on the 22nd of November 1941.

The day before, (21/11/41), Rifleman John Beeley posthumously won the regiments 23rd VC. The regiment fought virtually to the last and only 55 men of all ranks escaped back to British lines.

Henry was transported to Campo 41 at Montalbo where he stayed until April 1943. He was the sent to Campo 49 at Fontenellato.

Campo 49 was a disused orphanage and housed 600 allied officers and men. On the Italian Armistice, the camp commandant opened the gates and every man escaped into the surrounding hills. They had previously pooled all Red Cross parcels and useful escape equipment so this was divided up between the prisoners and they were well supplied. The escapees broke into smaller groups to avoid detection from the Germans who were desperately scouring the country looking for them.

Henry Edwards, now a Major, escaped but was sadly recaptured after over 3 months on the run and was entrained for Germany. He arrived at Stalag VIIa at Moosburg on the 1st of January 1944. He was moved on the 21st of January to Oflag VIII-F at Marisch Trubau.

Whilst at Oflag VIII-F, Henry teamed up with Captain Robert Parrot of the Royal Artillery (whom he had met at PG 41 Montalbo) to try and make another escape.

Robert Parrot has already made quite a name for himself to the Germans. He won a bar to his MC for his escapes. He worked on a tunnel at Montalbo when he was betrayed to the Italians and sent to PG 5 at Gavi, the Italian Colditz. After the capitulation, he escaped from a train and joined the Yugoslav Partisans. He took part in many night attack’s whilst in command of a unit and was instrumental in 3 operations conducted by the partisans to destroy bridges and train lines which were essential to the Germans. Parrot was wounded in the final attack and recaptured by the Germans and sent to Oflag VIII-F arriving on 10/12/43.

When Henry Edwards joined Robert Parrot at Oflag VIII-F, the two men teamed up and started a tunnel. After 3 months, the tunnel was discovered by the Germans and the men were sent off to solitary confinement to think about what they had done.

In early May 1944, the officers at Oflag VIII-F was transferred to Oflag 79 at Braunschweig where they remained until they were liberated on 12th of April 1944 and sent back to the U.K.

After leaving the army, Henry settled in South Wales.

I have Henry Patrick Edwards ww2 medal entitlement of 1939-45 star, Africa Star and War medal. The medals are in mint condition and sadly were never worn.

It goes to show that the most ordinary of medal combinations can turn up the most fantastic of stories and this is what medal collecting and research is all about!

 

 

I have recently been reading 'The 21 Escapes of Lieutenant Alastair Cram' (which is a fantastic book and highly recommended!) and have stumbled across some further information about Major Henry Edwards.

 

As mentioned, Whilst at Oflag VIII-F, Henry was involved in a tunnel with Captain Robert (Bob) Parrot of the Royal Artillery. Bob was a friend of Lt Alastair Cram, David Stirling the founder of the SAS, and Jack Pringle who were all held together at PG5 Gavi - the Italian Colditz.

 

When the officers arrived at Oflag VIII-F in January 1944, they had a happy reunion which lasted all night recounting their tales of their attempted escapes from Italy after the Armistice and their subsequent recaptures.

 

David Stirling quickly established himself as the leader of the escape organisation at Oflag VIII-F, thus he was aware of all the attempts being made and therefore would have known Major Edwards.

 

Between January and March 1944, there were 3 tunnels being dug in the camp and the book takes up the story below:

 

"Like the other tunnels, Wadeson's began from a building not too far from the double wire that surrounded the camp. Unfortunately, the high water table combined with seepage from the melting snow completely flooded it. When the same thing happened to Bob Parrot's tunnel, they tried to exploit the loss by sending an anonymous letter to the Germans giving away their exact locations. The author claimed to be a devout - though clearly mad - Christian who wanted to prevent the loss of life that an escape would provoke. In an attempt to lower the Germans' guard, the letter also promised to inform them of any future attempts.

 

The ruse, if it worked at all, was soon undermined by the dramatic discovery of a third tunnel, directed by Herbert Buck. While he hadn't been in Gavi, Buck was a member of the SAS and a close associate of David's."

 

It is fantastic to find out the reason behind the German's discovery of the tunnel and it is very nice to learn that Edwards would've been associating with such interesting and lively figures within the camp.

 

After these tunnel disasters, David Stirling realised that the morale of the escapers in the camp was running incredibly low and wanted to remedy it. He came up with a daring plan which was to be the largest escape of the war with 200 participants.

 

David petitioned to the commandant that the Scottish inmates were not able to perform their culturally important Highland Dance, and he wanted some timber to construct a platform in the theatre on which the prisoners could practice and later perform their dance. The commandant duly agreed and provided the timber and the prisoners took great pleasure in seeing the gigantic 6"5 frame of David demonstrating the moves.

 

Davids plan was to deconstruct the planks of the platform on a certain night, fix them together, and use them as a gangplank running from the window of the theatre to the nearby wire. The 200 prisoners would then run across, jump over the wire and make their bid for freedom.

 

Edwards would certainly have been one of those on the list to escape due to his friendship with Bob Parrot and his previous tunnelling experience, proving that he wanted to get out.

 

It was very fortunate that the prisoners were transferred in May 1944 before the escape could take place due to the German High Command order decreeing that all recaptured prisoners should be handed to the SS or Gestapo and executed, similar to those murdered after the great escape.

 

The news of the Great Escape did reach the prisoners, but they were not put off. Major Roy Wadeson (mentioned above) and Lt Hugh Mackenzie escaped from Oflag VIII-F on April 20th 1944 in order to make contact with the Czech underground looking for assistance with David's big escape. They had been supplied with 2 addresses by a civilian worker in the camp.

 

They had not been heard from by the time of the camp move so Alastair volunteered to escape to find them and let them know that their job was no longer required. Alastair went to the addresses but found out neither existed and surmised they had been betrayed. He was recaptured later that day.

 

Taken to a civilian prison, he ended up in a cell with Des Plunkett, the last of the great escapers to be recaptured which had saved his life. After 2 months, Alastair was taken transferred on to Oflag 79 to rejoin the rest of his old camp. Des Plunkett was held for many more months in solitary confinement being forced to listen to torture, firing squads, and the sound of the 140lb guillotine crashing down. He was eventually sent to Stalag Luft 1 in Barth where the other prisoners (mostly US aircrews) did not trust him and thought him to be a German spy. He attempted suicide around this time as he believed that information he had given in his torture from the Gestapo had caused the deaths of his 50 friends. In reality, Des was recaptured on the 8th of April, a week after the last of the murders took place.

 

David Stirling and Jack Pringle escaped again from Oflag 79, were recaptured, and were finally sent on to Colditz, from which they were liberated in April 1945.

 

It was later found out that Wadeson and Mackenzie had in fact been captured in the trap, tortured and executed in the same manner as the Great Escapers. The official cause of death was 'Shot whilst trying to re-escape'. Their ashes were sent to Oflag 79 in unmarked urns and they were given a military funeral. In 2016, their bodies were re-interned in a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery with Wadeson's son in attendance. 

 

 

 

Note: Henry Patrick Edwards was liberated from Oflag 79 in April 1945, not 1944 as previously stated in error.

[POWCollector]

Next up is my first group to a New Zealander and it was a great find. As I am sure most of you are aware, The UK, New Zealand, and Canada did not name their WW2 medals (unlike S.A and Australia) so it is essential to find paperwork to identify the recipient.

 

Ronald Clifford Mckay was born on the 26th of March 1917 on Cobden Street, Westport, which is on the south island of New Zealand.

 

During the Second World War, Ronald enlisted in the New Zealand Army and was assigned to the 20th Battalion (South Island) of the 4th Infantry Brigade.

 

The 4th Infantry Brigade, along with the Australian 6th Division and the 1st British Armoured Brigade were sent to Greece in early March 1941 to assist the Greeks in defending against the expected German invasion.

 

When the Germans did attach on the 6th of April 1941, the battalion was stationed at the Aliakmon Line but slowly they were pushed to Porto Rafti and on the 22nd of April, the Brigade was evacuated to Crete. 

 

Whilst on Crete, the 4th Infantry Brigade NZEF was utilised as a reserve force in the area of Galatas. Due to the Axis advance onto Crete, the 4th was evacuated once again to North Africa from Sfakia on the 30th and 31st of May 1941. 

 

In North Africa, Ronald was promoted to Corporal and was attached to the staff of the 4th Infantry Brigade. They saw heavy action in the battles of the North African campaign and sadly, Ronald was taken prisoner on the 26th of July 1942 at El Alamein.

 

Ronald was initially held in North Africa before being shipped over to Italy. Once in Italy, Ronald was sent by railway up to PG 57, A pow camp in the Northern City of Udine, Italy. This was situated on the borders of Austria and Yugoslavia (now Slovenia).

 

PG 57 was run by the Carabinieri (an organisation with both Military and Civil power) and was commanded by Colonel Vittorio Calcaterra, a staunch Fascist described by one prisoner as 'A sadist & beast and an accessory to murder'.

 

In September 1943, Italy capitulated and the men of the camp were able to make their escape into the Italian countryside and surrounding mountains.

 

Ronald along with 5 others managed to evade German patrols and eventually met up with a band of Slovene partisans in August 1944. The partisans escorted the escaped POW's through the littoral into safety at Semič and left by aeroplane on the 18th of September 1944.

 

Ronald arrived back in Christchurch, New Zealand on the 1st of February 1945 and was granted 88 days of leave before discharge.

 

It was later discovered that the evil Fascist camp commandant, Vittori Calcaterra, was executed by the Italian Partisans in 1943 after the Italian Capitulation.

 

I have Ronalds WW2 medal entitlement, cap badge, Army Paybook, and a few other loose documents and group photographs. One of these documents notes Ronald as an escaped POW which is a nice addition.

 

I am delighted to have my first NZ POW group to a man confirmed as having made contact with the Yugoslavian Partisans and hopefully I will be able to discover some more information about his time on the run in Italy and Slovenia.

 

Hope you have enjoyed this read.

[azyeoman]

Great addition to your collection.  PoW groups and medals to New Zealanders are not easy to come by.  It's great you've got a photo and his soldier's pay book.  Cheers, JL

[POWCollector]

Next up is the most special and poignant grouping in my collection (to date) and that is a big statement!

 

Derek Kenneth Measures was born on the 6th of July 1922. Before the war, he was a civil servant living in Surrey, England.

 

Derek joined the Royal Air Force on the 23rd of June 1941 and after training (unsure of air crew trade) joining 77 Squadron flying in Halifax aircraft.

 

On the night of 19th/20th February 1944, the first day of 'Big Week' Operation Argument, Derek and his crew were flying in Halifax HR949-H as a part of a force of 700 bombers with the target city of Leipzig.

 

Derek takes up the story in his post war account:

 

"I was flying a Halifax on the night of 19th Feb 1944 to bomb Leipzig. We had been hit on the trip out but after the bombing on our return trip we ran out of fuel and had to bale out south east of Calais.

 

I landed at about 06:30 hours near a farm where I called in but could obtain no assistance and so made off south with the rough idea of getting to Spain.

 

I walked to Auxi Le Chataeu where I arrived about 17:00 hours and laid up in a hayloft for the night at about 15kms on the other side.

 

I walked the best part of the next day and arrived at Franqueville where I contacted a small farming family (names unknown) who immediately passed me on to a man who later became known to me as 'The Airmen Hider'. I was also provided with civilian clothes.

 

The airman hider was a man of about 55, his house being second from the end of the village on the right hand side going south.

 

A woman friend of the family contacted the local underground, who after three days, moved me to Vignacourt where I stayed for about 16 days with a member of the underground. The idea was to get me to Switzerland but this fell through as the guide got caught.

 

I was then moved to St Leger, near Berteaucourt, where I was again hidden up in four different houses for a period of a fortnight. I was joined here by an American airman by the name of Jim Bailey (S/Sgt). We were then moved together to Domart-En-Ponthieu where I was due to catch a plan back to this country (England).

 

Due to an RAF raid on Amiens, all cars were requisitioned and it was not possible to obtain one to take us to the place where we were to be picked up by plane.

 

At the end of seven days and due to a Gestapo source, we were moved back to Bertaeucourt, having spent a day in the home of old people in Domart-En-Ponthieu. We were kept here for three days and then moved back to Franqueville where we were hidden by a farmer for a week.

 

At the end of this time we were moved back to Bertaeucourt and hidden up at the house of a woman and her husband. 

 

Due to, we thought, the woman in the house next door informing the Gestapo, these turned up at the end of two days (06 Apr '44) and picked us both up including the woman of the house. The husband, who was working in a factory at the time was warned and he was not picked up. 

 

We were taken to Gestapo HQ at Amiens for normal interrogation and locked up in Amiens Citadel for seven days in solitary confinement. 

 

We were then moved to the military prison in Amiens and kept there for about 3 weeks, where we were interrogated at regular intervals. We where then moved to Fresnes prison, Paris on the 5th of May 1944 and I was kept there until the 15th of August 1944."

 

On the list of helpers provided by Derek, it is stated that Madame Bezairy (his final shelterer) was sentenced to 12 months in a concentration camp for helping him.

 

During the period when cycling between Franqueville and Domart-En-Ponthieu, Derek and Bailey cut the military telephone lines as an act of sabotage.

 

Moving back to Derek, he had found himself in the most precarious of positions that an allied solider could be in. In an occupied country, in civilian clothing and in a resistance safe-house.

 

Fresnes prison was a place of evil, run by fanatical Nazi's who did not have respect for their fellow human beings and certainly did not abide by the Geneva Convention. Derek was certainly tortured during his time at Fresnes and would have heard the screams of fellow airmen and resistance members every day that he was there as well as the never ending firing squads. He would have endured the toughest conditions and deprivations all of human necessities.

 

On the 15th of August 1944 just a few days before Paris was liberated, Derek Kenneth Measures along with 167 other allied airmen were crammed into cattle trucks and deported to BUCHENWALD CONCENTRATION CAMP. These men were labelled as Terrorflieger (Terror Fliers) and as such treated as worse than saboteurs and spies. They were sent to Buchenwald to be liquidated. These men would become known as the KLB Club (Konzentration-Lager Buchenwald).

 

Buchenwald was established in July 1937 and house 280,000 inmates all many different nationalities. The reasons for imprisonment ranged from: Political opinions, race, religion, mental disablement, criminal acts, and sexual orientation.

 

Similar to the motto 'Arbeit Macht Frei' which haunts the gates at Auschwitz Birkenau in Poland, The main gates of Buchenwald had the phrase 'Jedem das Seine' which translates as 'To each his own'. The German SS interpreted this to mean that 'The Master-Race' had the right to humiliate and destroy others.

 

This is a chilling message in itself and must have been a terrible omen for the 168 Airmen as they arrived at the camp.

 

The Airmen were taken off to have their body completed removed of hair and they were issued the, now infamous, blue and white striped pyjamas. They had all of their civilian clothes taken from them but they were not issued shoes to replace the ones taken. They were housed in 'The Little Camp' where they could expect the harshest treatment with the least amount of food. The Airmen had to sleep outside with no shelter. The little camp was adjacent to the medical experimentation block and a feared place for all those at Buchenwald.

 

Thus began the even more precarious life of Derek as prisoner 78413 at his new home, Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

On arrival at Buchenwald, one man in particular stood out from the crowd. This was Squadron Leader Phil Lamason, a New Zealand Pilot who had been awarded the DFC and bar.

 

He was a natural leader and as such took charge of the men as their senior allied officer. After their first meal, Lamason addressed the group such:

 

"Attention!... Gentlemen, we have ourselves in a very fine fix indeed. The goons have completely violated the Geneva Convention and are treating us as common thieves and criminals. However, we are soldiers. From this time on, we will also conduct ourselves as our training has taught us and as our countries would expect from us. We will march as a unit to roll call and we will follow all reasonable commands as a single unit."

 

Lamason instructed the Airmen not to trust the Germans or provoke them in any way. They were not to explore the camp in fear of breaking any rules and they were to stay together at all times.

 

He also organised the men into nationalities and appointed a senior officer for each nationality. He boosted the men's morale and instilled some military bearing and discipline.

 

Lamason conducted several meetings with the camp authority to have them transferred to a Prisoner of War camp but this never came. The men's documents were stamped 'DIKAL' which stood for 'Darf in kein anderes lager' or 'Not to be transferred to another camp'.

 

As Buchenwald was a slave labour camp, the 168 Airmen were expected to work. When Lamason was told be an SS officer that he was to instruct his men to work or he would be shot by firing squad, Lamason refused. A tense stand off ensued but eventually the SS backed down.

 

Lamason had in the first few days befriended other captive allied personnel such as Edward Yeo-Thomas, 'The White Rabbit', and his SOE colleague Christopher Burney. Through these contacts, he was introduced to a Russian prisoner who worked at a near-by air field.

 

Taking a colossal risk, Lamason and Burney persuaded this Russian to smuggle out a note to present to the Luftwaffe stationed at this air field. This risk paid off and eventually two Luftwaffe officers came to the camp under the pretence of surveying recent allied bomb damage.

 

One of the officers spoke to Lamason and, convinced of the Airmen's genuine status, reported his findings back to Berlin which eventually fell into the hands of none other than Hermann Göring himself. Enraged by the news that 168 allied airmen were being held in Buchenwald and not in a Luftwaffe run camp, Göring demanded 'at the highest level' that the airmen be moved.

 

By this point, Lamason had been informed by a German political prisoner (Eugen Kogon) that the execution date of the 168 Airmen had been scheduled for the 26th of October 1944. Lamason decided to keep this information to himself to maintain morale and in the hope that the Luftwaffe would be able to intervene in time.

 

On the night of the 19th of October 1944, 156 of the airmen including Derek Kenneth Measures were removed from Buchenwald and transferred to Stalag Luft 3 at Sagan, Poland. Over a period of several weeks, 10 more airmen were transferred to Stalag Luft 3 but sadly two airmen perished at Buchenwald due to malnutrition and mistreatment.

 

Derek arrived at Stalag Luft 3 and was given the POW number 8107 this must have been an overwhelming feeling after 6 months of Gestapo and SS Captivity.

 

When they first arrived, the contingent of 156 Airmen were treated with distrust due to their shocking condition and many allied officers believed that they were spies. The men had been returned their civilian clothing and concentration camp pyjamas removed which would have added to the suspicion. Amazingly, there is a surviving photo below of a group of the men arriving at SL3 - Perhaps Derek is amongst them.

 

In late January 1945, the camp was evacuated in light of the Russian advance and the men were sent to various camps around Germany. Derek was in the 3000 strong contingent sent North to Marlag und Milag Nord at Tarmstedt and arrived here on the 4th of February 1945. 

 

In April 1945, the men were once again marched away from advancing allied troops and the contingent was liberated by the British 11th Armoured division at Lübeck on the 1st of May 1945. Interestingly, Derek Kenneth Measures was liberated by the same unit on the following day (02MAY45) at a farm 15km from Lübeck so there is a chance that he slipped away from the column.

 

I was absolutely amazed to find such a rare, historical, and emotive grouping and I am proud to have his medals and POW dog-tag in my collection to be able to share his story here. A story which could quite easily have gone unknown.

 

I have Derek's 1939-45 star, Air Crew Europe Star, War Medal all mounted as worn along with his rather rusted but still just about legible dog-tag showing his Stalag Luft 3 number '8107'.

 

I would encourage you all to watch the documentary 'The lost airmen of Buchenwald' to gain further insight into this dreadful event in history.

 

 

[azyeoman]

Such an important story that everyone should know and of course never forget. Thank you for sharing!