Description
Object description
British officer served as bomb aimer with 7 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1943; prisoner of war in Dulag Luft, Oberursel and Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 1943-1944; repatriated from Germany to GB via Switzerland, 1944
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of operations as bomb aimer with 7 Sqdn, No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1943: reasons for volunteering for Royal Air Force, 1941; role as bomb aimer; characteristics of Avro Lancaster; squadron morale; character of raid on Mönchengladbach including use of sky markers, 31/8/1943; shooting down of his aircraft Avro Lancaster Mk B.III (JA936) by German night fighter on raid, 31/8/1943; bailing out of aircraft. Aspects of capture and interrogation at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Germany, 9/1943: attempt to evade and capture by German Police; removal to Dulag Luft; character of interrogation; briefings about prisoner of war experience prior to capture; train journey from Frankfurt am Main to Sagan, 9/1943. Recollections of period as prisoners of war at Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 1943-1944: site, appearance and layout of camp; reception at camp.
REEL 2 Continues: accommodation and furniture; rations available and dependence on Red Cross parcels; prisoner of war relations with German guards; distracting attention of guards from tunnel construction; his personal attitude towards escape; removal of prisoner of war who stole food from his room; giving lectures on architecture; prisoner of war activities; daily routine; barter with Germans; manufacture of illicit alcohol; his correspondence course; supplies he received from father; German observance of Geneva Convention; German relaxation of discipline, Christmas, 12/1943.
REEL 3 Continues: memories of Great Escape, 3/1944; parading of prisoners of war after Great Escape, 3/1944; reaction of prisoners of war and German Commandant Colonel Friedrich-Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau to executions of Great Escapers; contact with home. Recollections of hospitalisation in Poland and repatriation to GB, 1944-1945: psychological effects of concern about Royal Air Force's bombing campaign; his removal for treatment to psychological hospital in Poland; his eletro-convulsive therapy; recuperation in hospital; instance of prisoner of war saving of life of German boy; reasons for doctor's chastising of male nurse; reaction to news of decision to repatriate him.
REEL 4 Continues: German suspicion about repatriation during move to prisoner of war; character of train journey to Switzerland; impressions of conditions in Switzerland; conditions on board ship from Marseille, France to GB; reception at Liverpool, GB, 2/2/1945; hospitalisation and convalescence in GB. Reflections of prisoner of war life, 1943-1944: effects and habits of service life; long-term effects of imprisonment; opinion of Germans.
REEL 5 Continues: experiences of Germans under Nazi regime.