Description
Object description
British officer served as pilot with 9 Sqdn, No 3 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1940; POW in Stalag Luft I, Barth, 6/1940-4/1942, Stalag Luft III, Sagan, 4/1942-9/1942, Oflag XXI-B, Schubin, 9/1942-4/1943 and Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 4/1943-3/1944 including participation in Great Escape, 3/1944; inmate in Sachsenhausen, Flossenburg and Dachau Concentration Camps, Germany and Reichenau Concentration Camp, Austria, 4/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and flying training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1939-1940: background to enlistment in Royal Air Force, 1939; pattern of initial training; allocation to bombers; reaction to posting to No 8 Air Observers Navigation School, RAF at RAF Evanton flying Avro Anson; training on Vickers Wellington at No 11 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Bassingbourn; move to RAF Stradishall; story of near accident flying Vickers Wellington. Aspects of operations as pilot with 9 Sqdn, No 3 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1940: problems of taking off and obtaining height on operations from RAF Honington; character of low level night-time operations, 5/1940-6/1940; shooting down of aircraft over Netherlands, 5/6/1940. Recollections of capture and interrogation by Germans in Netherlands and Germany, 6/1940: attempt to walk to Dutch coastline; help from civilians and capture by Dutch Police, 10/6/1940.
REEL 2 Continues: handing over to Germans in Rotterdam; character of interrogation in Rotterdam and then Amsterdam; transfer to Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Germany; attempt by Germans to obtain further information; encounter with Wing Commander Harry Day; question of conditions for some prisoners of war at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Germany. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany, 6/1940-4/1942: accommodation at Oflag XII-A, Limburg an der Lahn on route to Stalag Luft I; viewing of prisoners of war by German civilians during transit through Berlin; friendliness of Polish prisoner of war at Oflag II-A, Prenzlau; story of escape of Polish prisoner of war from camp; character of layout of Stalag Luft I; opposition to idea of tunnel; construction of tunnel; arrival of more prisoners of war; use of camp money.
REEL 3 Continues: rations available and division of food; role of 'room stooge'; ration deficiency; prisoner of war who craved tobacco; potency of 'red biddy'; learning languages; sabotage of German microphones; 'goon baiting'; character of failed escape attempts; prisoner of war's dream of bailing out from Vickers Wellington; discovery of tunnel; Christmas festivities, 1940; discovery of tunnel from East Block; German reprisal for supposed ill treatment of German prisoners of war in Canada, 2/1941; arrival of first Red Cross parcels, 4/1941; nature of escape of South African prisoner of war.
REEL 4 Continues: recapture of escaped South African prisoner of war; move to West Block; role disposing of spoil during construction of West Block tunnel; abortive escape attempt from tunnel; character of Flight Lieutenant Harry Burton's escape to GB via Sweden, 5/1941; discovery of tunnel constructed between blocks; start of tunnel from incinerator; scare when Germans removed tunnel earth from incinerator; failure of his escape attempt and his partner Flight Lieutenant John 'Death' Shore's successful escape to GB via Sweden, 10/1941; ice hockey games; escapes over perimeter fence during snow drifts; escape of prisoner of war dressed as chimney sweep.
REEL 5 Continues: problems of escaping from Germany; number of tunnels started; arrival of Wing Commander Harry 'Wings' Day. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 4/1942-9/1942: arrival in camp, 4/1942; layout of camp; problems of tunnelling in sand; discovery of tunnel; recapture of escaper Roger Bushell in Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during searches after assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, 6/1942. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Oflag XXI-B, Schubin, Germany, 9/1942-4/1943: layout of camp; accommodation; Wing Commander Harry 'Wings' Day's clashes with German commandant; tunnels from latrines; recapture of escapers; explosion of heating stoves; accidental death of prisoner of war. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 4/1943-3/1944 including participation in Great Escape, 3/1944: return to camp, 4/1943; early attempt to escape via vehicle; layout of camp; character of tunnels 'Tom', 'Dick' and 'Harry'; composition of X Organisation; discovery of tunnel Tom, 9/1943; successful gate walk out escapes.
REEL 6 Continues: camp education; cases of insanity; repatriation of feigned psychological case; case of shooting of suicidal Fleet Air Arm prisoner of war; camp theatricals; number of escapers interested in escape; methods of disposing of tunnel earth; completion of tunnel 'Harry'; failure of German attempts to find 'Harry'; potential consequences of mass escape; fixing date for escape as night of 24/3/1944-25/3/1944; selection of escapers; papers provided for escape; character of escape through 'Harry'; cross-country walk to railway station and purchasing tickets.
REEL 7 Continues: memories of Major John Dodge; train journey to Czechoslovakian border; move on foot through mountains; conditions during trek; recapture; arrival of recaptured escapers; character of interrogation; incarceration in civilian jail; removal of four escapers from jail; fate of in his group; aid from German Communist; removal by Gestapo to their headquarters. Recollections of period as inmate in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1944-4/1945 including escape, 9/1944: arrival at camp; reunion with Wings Commander Harry 'Wings' Day and Major John Dodge; Irish inmates who had been trained in sabotage by Germans; Polish, Italian and Soviet inmates in compound.
REEL 8 Continues: accommodation; story of recapture of Wing Commander Harry 'Wings' Day and Sidney Dowse; compound holding Very Important Person (VIP) inmates; discovery that Irish Lance Corporal Spence was a Gestapo stoolpigeon; public hangings of escapers; boot testing punishments; recreational activities; isolation in compound; start of tunnel construction; background of Soviet inmate; memories of commando Jack Churchill; progress of tunnel to outside of wire; plans to escape on night, 23/9/1944.
REEL 9 Continues: evasion plans and preparations; completion of tunnel; escape through tunnel, 23/9/1944; cross-country trek; problems of hitching lift on trains; travelling on train; narrow escape from recapture; aid recieved from Soviet forced labourers; clash with German railway workers; cross-country flight; recapture; return to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp; story of recapture of other escapers.
REEL 10 Continues: character of interrogations of escapers; period of punishment in camp; camp executions; use of prison routine to maintain sanity; exercise available; famous inmates in camp; character of camp and extermination methods; release from punishment 'bunker', 2/1945; bombing of camp and fate of Allied airman who landed by parachute on Schutzstaffel (SS) barracks, 3/1945; removal from camp, 4/1945; elimination of camp, 4/1945; train journey southwards from camp including sight of refugees. Aspects of period as inmate in Flossenburg Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: treatment of inmates.
REEL 11 Continues: execution of German plotters and Special Operation Executive agents; Schutzstaffel (SS) brothel; story of mass hanging of Soviet inmates by Schutzstaffel (SS) in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, 25/12/1944; saving of diplomat's life. Aspects of period as inmate in Dachau and Reichenau Concentration Camps in Germany and Austria, 4/1945: transfer to Dachau Concentration Camp; meeting with famous inmates; transfer to Reichenau Concentration Camp; famous inmates; executions. Recollections of journey from Reichenau Conentration to Brenner Pass in Austria, 4/1945-5/1945: journey to Brenner Pass; Schutzstaffel (SS) plan to execute prisoners; plan for Italian Partisans to attack Schutzstaffel (SS); discovery of orders to execute prisoners; plans to protect prisoners; hospitality of Austrian civilians; disappearance of Jack Churchill.
REEL 12 Continues: fear of execution by Schutzstaffel (SS); disarming of Schutzstaffel (SS) troops; mass to celebrate deliverance; arrival of troops of 339th Infantry Regt, 88th Infantry Regt, United States Fifth Army; journey to GB via Naples, Italy; question of long-term effects of imprisonment.