Bankau to Berlin , June 1944: May 1945 The Long Road: Trials and Tribulations of Airmen Prisoners from Stalag Luft VII

534 Pages·2014·11.09 MB·English

by  Clutton-Brock

THE LONG ROAD
Trials and tribulations of airmen prisoners
from Stalag Luft VII (Bankau) to Berlin,
June 1944-May 1945
Oliver Clutton-Brock
and
Raymond Crompton
GRUB STREET · LONDON
Published by
Grub Street
4 Rainham Close
London
SW11 6SS
Copyright © Grub Street 2013
Copyright text © Oliver Clutton-Brock and Ray Crompton 2013
A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library
ISBN-13: 9781909166202
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the copyright owner.
Cover design by Sarah Driver
Edited by Sophie Campbell
Printed and bound by Berforts Information Press Ltd Grub Street Publishing
only uses
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper for its books.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Chapter ‘A Bloody Chicken Farm’
One
Chapter 6 and 13 June 1944: Truppen 1 & 2
Two
Chapter 18 and 20 June 1944: Truppen 3 & 4
Three
Chapter 21-28 June 1944: Truppen 5, 6, & 7
Four
Chapter July 1944: Truppen 8-17
Five
Chapter August 1944: Truppen 18-28
Six
Chapter September 1944: Truppen 29-35
Seven
Chapter October 1944: Truppen 36-46(?); Arnhem; move to new compound
Eight
Chapter November 1944: Truppen 47(?)-50
Nine
Chapter December 1944: Truppen 51-56
Ten
Chapter The Last Trupp; The Camp is Struck, January 1945
Eleven
Chapter 19 January-5 February 1945: Evacuation
Twelve
Chapter Stalag IIIA (Luckenwalde) and Liberation Postscript
Thirteen
Appendix I Dates of Truppen Arrivals at Stalag Luft VII (Bankau)
Appendix Old German Place Names with Modern Polish Equivalent
II
Appendix Sergeant Doug Grant’s Repatriation via Odessa
III
Appendix F/L A.H. Hammet DFM, RAAF
IV
Appendix SAS Operation Maple, 1944
V
Appendix Stalag Luft VII (Bankau) Prisoners of War
VI
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index
R.171883 Flight Sergeant Leslie Howard Stevenson RCAF
shot and killed on 27 December 1944 by a Luftwaffe guard who was obeying
orders.
*
‘There’s a four-engined bomber just leaving its base
Bound for alien shores
Heavily laden with cookies and such
Presents to even the score.
There’s many a flak battery throwing up hell,
There’s many a fighter as well,
But the unlucky bod that gets caught, the poor sod,
Shouts back for your parachutes all.
Bless ’em all, the flak batteries, fighters and all.
Bless all the AGs and bomb aimers too.
Bless all the AGs and bomb aimers too.
Bless all the pilots and rest of the crew,
For we’re saying goodbye to ’em all
As to the escape hatch we crawl
We haven’t a notion
If we’re o’er the ocean
So cheer up my lads,
LET US FALL.’
The Stalag Luft VII version of ‘Bless ’em all’ (from the diary of John Tomney).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the research and writing of this book, Raymond Crompton was
privileged to correspond with, and to meet, the following former Stalag Luft VII
prisoners of war, without whose generous assistance this book could not have
been written. Sadly, many of them are no longer with us:
J. R. Abbott, J.O. Ackroyd, E. Adair, P.B. Aitken, C.J. Aldred, K.C.
Anderton, T.A. Applegath, T.R. Aspinall, G.J. Badham, G. Baker, S. Barlow, S.
Barraclough, G.H. Bateman, C.S. Batt, G.S. Baylis, H. Bennett, A.R. Bennett, L.
Benson, T.G.W. Berry, B. Bilinski, C. Birds, D.A. Blackford, W.A. Blake, H.J.
Branch, K.R. Brant, A.R. Brice, P.F. Broadribb, A. Broddle, F.W. Brown, P.H.
Brown, H. Bruneau, D.R. Burns, C. Bryce, K.W. Campbell, N.C. Capar, F.J.
Carey, J.E. Carter, D.R. Christianson, A.W. Clarke, A.W.J. Cleeve, R.C.
Clements, A.P. Cochrane, The Reverend Captain J.B. Collins, W.S. Comfort, A.
Coope, V.V. Cooper, P.H. Craig, M. Crapper, I.R.B. Crawford, G. Cross, W.S.
Dashwood, B.H. Davis, J.A. Davies, T.D. DeRenzy, J.M. DeLuca, Ken Dobbs,
W.T. Doidge, G.E. Dunham, T. Durrant, R.D. Eadie, C.E. Eastwood, K.E.
Elliott, R.R. English, H.C. Evans, E. Evison, D.A. Farrington, J.C. Fereday,
W.N. Fethers, E. Finlay, J.E. Fisher, G.A. Flay, G.H. Flintoft, D.W. Foster, A.P.
Franczak, J.S. Freeman, J.E.M. Fullum, G.H.P. Gibbens, C.H. Giles, C. Gillow,
R.J. Goode, D.W. Gore, R.W. Gowing, A. Grant, D.R. Grant, H.R.C. Grant,
D.G. Gray, K.W. Green, R.L. Griffiths, T.C. Guy, W.R. Haddon, A.F. Hamilton,
M.A. Harrington, R.S. Hartgroves, G.T.H. Haworth, E. Healy, R.P. Heard, R.
Heasman, I. Hewitt, L.G. Hillyard, W. Hodgson, F. Hooker, J.M. Hooper, W.R.
Horner, J.R. Horton, L.E. Howard, B.J. Howarth, P. Hudson, W.J.J. Hudson, D.
Hunter, E.H. Hyde, J. Ireland, P.D. Jack, A.E. Jardine, D.W.M. James, J.S.
Jenkins, N.E. Jennings, J.D. Jones, S.A. Keirle, A.E. Kemp, G.H. Kilbryde, P.S.
Kirby, W.H. Knox, S. Konarzewski, G.V. Korner, M.A. Laffin, D.M.D. Lambert
MBE, K.A. Lane DFC, D. Lewis, P.A. Lewis, A. Lloyd, R.F. Lloyd (later Lloyd-
Davies), J.W. Lovatt, W.D. Low, A.B.D. Lyon, J.F. Macdonald, D. MacTaggart,
A. Madelaine, S. Malick, F.P. Mannion, R. Margerison, D.C. Matthews, A.W.
Maxwell, J.D.W. Maxwell, J.R. McConnell, A. McKibben, D.N. McLaren, A.O.
McMurdon, C.J. Medland DFM, W.G. Melrose, J.W. Mills, K.C. Minifie, E.
Morgan, J. Morgan, D. Neal, R.A. Neills, P.J. Nolan, R. Nutter, W.A. Oakes,
N.F. Oates, W.D. Ogilvie, R.P. Olsen, R.F. Osborne, N. Ostrom, A.E. Palmer,
B.J.P. Palmer, H.W. Pankratz, D.S. Parker, K.J. Pendray, J.E. Penman, J.T. Pett,
C.C. Pettit, J.A. Philpot, A.E. Potter, P.J. Potts, W.A. Poulton, S.R. Price, G.H.
Pringle, K. Prowd, E. Quigley, E.J. Raffill, W.J. Ramsbottom, H.H. Rathband,
R.F. Raymond, B.A. Reaume, J.I. Rees, C.R. Richardson, A.A. Rigby, J.A.
Robertson, J. Robinson, J.E. Robson, H.P. Rose, A.J. Sargeant, E. Sargeant, L.
Sargent, D.R. Scopes, E.W. Scott, P.Y. Sekine, A.E. Seller, E.G. Selwyn, J.A.
Shenton, S.A. Silver, A. Simpson, M.J. Simpson, P.S. Simpson, J.G. Smith,
W.B.R. Smith, V. Smyth, F.S.A. Spriggs, R.J. Stapleton, F. Stead, J.E. Stead,
D.T. Stevens, V.H. Stone, G. Surgeoner, N.H. Swale, K.E. Tate, K.G. Taylor, R.
Taylor, W. Taylor, T.R. Teague, M. Theunissen, W.L. Thompson, G.B.
Thomson, J. Thomson, E.J. Tolhurst, B.A. Tomblin, J.F. Tomney, A.H.J.
Trumble, F.J. Tudor DFM, P.S. Twynam, J.L. Umscheid, K. Valášek, C. Van de
Velde, L.J. Venus, P.O. Wadsworth, H.W. Wagner, R.G Walters, H. Watkins,
J.C. Watkins, C.R. Watkinson DFM, J.G. Weedon, C. Weeks, F. Wells, L.E.
Westbrook DFM, J.A.B. Wetherall, J.W. Whippy, T.S. White, D.J.R. Wilcox, J.
Wiles, E.T. Williams, J. Williamson, N. Wilmot, P.G.G. Wilmshurst, L.E.D.
Winchester, W.G. Winkley, H.T. Winter, P.B. Withnall, L.A. Woodward, D.
Worthing, S.D. Wright, V.S.J. Zucker.
Thanks also go to C.M. de Bounevialle and L. Poole (both POWs at Stalag
Luft III [Sagan]), who were crew members of POWs at Stalag Luft VII; and also
to two aircrew evaders, F/O Ross Wiens RCAF (crew member of James
Umscheid RCAF), and Colin Fowler (crew member of Jack Wilcox RNZAF).
The support and help of the following is also gratefully acknowledged:
Air Historical Branch 5 (RAF) (particularly Messrs Sebastian Cox and
Graham Day); M.R. Aldred; Michael Allman (re Sgt P.F.J. Hayes and the crew
of Lancaster LL840); Amicale des Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres; Annie
Arguile (for help with French translation); Caroline Barnard (South Africa);
Mair Bateman; Patricia Batt; D. Bishop; Gerald and Sir Christian Bonington
CVO, CBE, DL (re their father, Lt Charles Bonington SAS); Peter Capon
(archivist, Museum of Army Flying); Dave Champion (researcher); Bill Chorley;
Elsie Cleeve; K. Clements; John Clinch; Joan Collingwood (re her husband
Cuthbert Collingwood); Richard Collins (son of The Reverend Captain John B.
Collins); Dorothy Davis; Dawe Brothers (Hereford, re The Reverend Collins);
Ryan Dudley (Australia, re the crew of SR384); Elva M. Durrant; Colonel
Graham C.L. Du Toit (SAAF, Ret’d); Steve Dyer (re A.M. Hughes RAAF); Jon
England (artist, re Ted Milligan); Mary Escott; Søren Flensted (historian,
Denmark); Roger Frost (re photo of the Rev. J.B. Collins); Tony Grant (re
Thomas Trimble); Janet Griffiths; Sheila Griffiths; W/C John Grogan RAF
(Ret’d) (re his father F/O R.J. Grogan and Halifax MZ711); L. Harries; Bob
Hills (re John Collins at Marnhull); Michael Hingston (author of Into Enemy
Arms); Alan Howe (nephew of Sgt Richard Enfield); John Howes (re Dutch
affairs); Mel Hughes (son of F/Sgt Ken Hughes); T. Hyde; Linda Ibrom
(researcher, Canada); S.R. James; Max Lambert (historian, New Zealand);
Michael LeBlanc (researcher, Canada); Slawomir Litwinski; Carol MacLean
(Canada, daughter of D.L. MacLean, for the generous loan of her father’s
wartime diary); Errol Martyn (author, New Zealand); Nigel McTeer (son of
Anthony McTeer); National Archives of Australia; National Archives of
Canada; Ron Niven (re his father William Niven); Peter O’Brien (nephew of Joe
Smith, 462 Squadron); Alan Orton (re ‘L’ Detachment SAS); Rita Quigley; Rhys
Rees; Edouard Renière (historian, Belgium); Phyllis Robertson; D. Sargeant;
Jean Scott; David A. Sharp (re 69 Squadron and Tom Trimble); Lynne Shenton;
Kathleen Silver; John Skinner (re diary of his father-in-law Paul Decroix);
Margot Surgeoner; Peter and Dorothy Sutherland; Linda Toft (re her father A.C.
Law); A. Wadsworth; W. Watkins; W.R. Watkins; J. Tom Watts DFM; K.
Watts; Laurie Woods (460 (RAAF) Squadron historian); Mrs Maisie Yeo (re her
late husband Edward).
Special thanks go to Raymond’s brother, Alan, whose continued support
never faltered; to his nephew Lee Crompton; and to his cousin Ann Russell for
her help with visits on his behalf to The National Archives.
Finally, we are most grateful to Grub Street Publishing, particularly John
Davies, Sophie Campbell and Sarah Driver for their great help with the
publication of our book.
Raymond Crompton & Oliver Clutton-Brock
August 2013