Description
Object description
British officer served as air observer with 58 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 4/1941-6/1941; prisoner of war in Stalag Luft I, Barth, Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Oflag XXI-B, Schubin and Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, Germany, 6/1941-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1917-1939: family; education; employment; lack of confidence in government. Recollections of enlistment and training with Roy in GB, 9/1939-3/1941: background to enlistment in RAF, 9/1939; volunteering for aircrew; selection procedure; period of deferred service, 1939; attempt to build communal air raid shelter; training with No 1 Initial Training Wing, RAF at Cambridge, 1939-1940; posting to ground gunnery duties at RAF Kinloss, 5/1940; early interest in aviation; ground gunnery duties at RAF Kinloss; arrival of British Army troops evacuated from Dunkirk, France, 6/1940.
REEL 2 Continues: posting to No 16 Elementary Flying Training School, RAF at RAF Burnaston; pattern of flying training; remustering as air observer; airfield defences duties at RAF Burnaston; training at No 5 Initial Training Wing, RAF at Paignton; sources of wartime information; posting to an air observer course at RAF Prestwick; accommodation at No 1 Initial Training Wing at Cambridge, winter 1939-1940; rations at RAF Prestwick; training as air observer at RAF Prestwick, autumn 1940; story of aircraftman who foiled NCO over gambling charge.
REEL 3 Continues: arrival of Grumman Wildcat aircraft at RAF Prestwick; posting to No 1 Air Armaments School, RAF at RAF Manby, 11/1940; incident of being falsely put on charge; air gunnery training in Fairey Battle; fitting practice bombs to aircraft in snow; air-to-air gunnery using drogue; shooting down of German Air Force aircraft attacking RAF Manby; receiving commission on completion of course; leave at end of course; prior recollection of first flight in Bristol Blenheim at RAF Kinloss, summer 1940; character of Bristol Blenheim; posting to No 19 Operational Training Unit, RAF at RAF Kinloss, 1/1941; complaints about inadequate accommodation for NCOs at RAF Kinloss; inadequacy of navigational training; opinion of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations as air observer with 58 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 4/1941-6/1941: posting to squadron at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, 4/1941; German Air Force attack on RAF Linton-on-Ouse; prior recollection of batman's running bath at RAF Kinloss; supervising funeral party; problem of being crewed up with NCO crew; flights to calibrate aircraft compass; first operations against ports in France; use of automatic bomb sight; reasons for return to using manual bomb sight; incident of his pilot being placed on charge for damaging aircraft through negligence; problems with Armstrong Whitworth Whitley during first raid on Dusseldorf, Germany, 2/6/1941-3/6/1941; bailing out of burning Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, 3/6/1941.
REEL 5 Continues: parachute landing and capture near Goch, Germany, 3/6/1941. Aspects of capture and initial captivity in Germany, 6/1941: initial treatment on capture; meeting up with rest of crew; treatment in German Air Force barracks in Duisberg; transit through Düsseldorf. Aspects of period as prisoner of war at Dulag Luft Interrogation Centre, Oberursel, Germany, 6/1941: splitting up of crew; German captors' attempt to illicit information; arrival in camp compound after mass escape. Aspects of period as prisoner of war at Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany, 6/1941-4/1942: in transit with Wing Commander Harry 'Wings' Day; accommodation; memories of Flight Lieutenant Bernard 'Pop' Green.
REEL 6 Continues: German search of camp, autumn 1941; daily routine; effect of having civilian path close to camp; construction of ice rink; story of treatment of prisoner of war who broke leg during ice skating; stories told to prisoner of war by German administration officer. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 4/1942-10/1942: move to camp, 4/1942; character of camp; early escape attempts from camp; state of health in camp; construction of latrine by American officer. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Oflag XXI-B, Schubin, Germany, 10/1942-4/1943: transfer to camp; personal health; morale in camp; German reprisals against prisoners of war after Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, France, 8/1942; story of fatal shooting of Flight Lieutenant Robert Edwards whilst attempting to climb perimeter fence, 26/9/1942; effect on morale of death of prisoners of war.
REEL 7 Continues: change in prisoner of war morale after German defeat at Stalingrad, Soviet Union, 2/1943. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 4/1943-1/1945: initial move into East Compound; move to North Compound; degree of knowledge of escape tunnels; approach to do security work for X Organisation; question of timing of Great Escape; method of selection of prisoners of war to escape; allocation of place for escape; move to Hut 104; character of escape disguise; interruptions in progress of escape; destroying incriminating material on discovery of escape; Kommandant Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau's reaction to Great Escape; nature of German retaliation after escape; announcement of fate of escapers; aftermath of Great Escape.
REEL 8 Continues: construction of memorial to escapers; reaction to Allied invasion of Europe, 6/1944. Aspects of march away from Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, 1/1945-2/1945: preparations for move from camp; sources of information; orders to evacuate camp, 27/1/1945; prisoner of war plans if Germans proposed to liquidate camp; items carried on leaving camp; trek away from camp; overnight sleeping arrangements; reaching railhead; character of train journey. Aspect of period as prisoner of war in Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke and march away from camp, Germany, 2/1945-5/1945: arrival in Marlag und Milag Nord at Westertimke; sight of V2 Rocket launching.
REEL 9 Continues: nature of march away from camp, 3/1945; relations with German civilians on march, including hostility encountered; accidental attack on prisoner of war column by Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoons at Gresse, 19/4/1945; attempt to offer contents of Red Cross parcels to German civilians; liberation by British Army troops, 2/5/1945; acquiring transport; flight from Germany to GB; treatment of Jewish prisoners of war by Germans during captivity; physical condition on release from captivity; demobilisation.
REEL 10 Continues: crossing River Elbe and readjusting to liberation.
