Part of the KB41 Remembers Series -
This post is dedicated to those who sadly were murdered and didn't escape from Stalag Luft III.
Stalag Luft III saw two escapes one which was nicknamed "The Wooden Horse" and the other " The Great Escape" The latter of which became a classic movie (1963) showing the story and the daring escape of those from the POW camp.
Shared on the 80th Anniversary of the second escape that saw the murder of 50 RAF Officers.
24th and 25th March 1944
The Post here shows a "Kriegsgefangenpost" (Prisoner Of War Post) card that Allied prisoners of war were issued and could use to write to their loved ones and friends back home. The Kriegsgefangen Postkarte (Postcard) works much the same as a regular postcard as it shows the name of the recipient and the address and postal mark across the front in addition to the absenders information.
As written across the front (First Photo):
Kriegsgefangenpost
Postkarte
An
Mr + Mrs Harry B Wood
Empfangsort: 1018 Foster Street
Straße: Evanston, Illinois
Land: USA
Landesteil (Provinz usw)
Gebührenfreil
Absenders
Vor- und Zurname:
2nd Lt Robert H. Wood 0-679435
Gefangenennummer: 2243
Lager-Bezeichnung:
M.- Stammlager Luft I
Via Stalag Luft 3
Deutschland (Allemagne)
The Reverse reads:
Kriegsgefangenlager Datum: May 25, 1944
Dearest Mom & Dad ÷ Hi, what is new? Everything is going along as well as can be expected. I've started to get a fair sun tan, I hope that it is still on by the time I get back, but that is something else again. How is everybody? Say hello for me. There isn't much more I can say of any interest, so il close for now, ill write soon. Love Bob
This Kriegsgefangen Postkarte is sent by a 2nd Lieutenant Robert H. Wood who has a service number of "0-679435", of the US Air force. Here we also see Roberts "Gefangenennummer" which is his Prison Number of "2243". This is marked with a hand cancel that is dated 24.6.44, it is unknown when or Robert were he was captured but Robert (or Bob as he writes himself) writes this letter on the 25th of May 1944. This Postkarte was written two months and a day after the escape from Stalag Luft III. Bob writes this letter from the camp Stalag Luft I. Stalag Luft I is located in Northern Germany, two miles northwest of a in a village in Germany called Barth, on the Baltic Sea. The first Allied Prisoners of War arrived in the camp on 10th July 1940, which consisted of French and British POWs. Stalag Luft I initially consisted of 2 compounds designated as South & West compounds. These compounds contained a total of 7 barracks, in which American officers & British officers and enlisted men were housed. A new compound was opened the in late Feb. 1944. This was assigned to the American officers who were rapidly increasing in number. This of which is expected that Bob was in.
Bob writes this postcard home to his family in a similar way that many POWs wrote home whilst in captivity, letting them know how they are and that they are still alive. The postcards and in some cases letters were checked by the Germans so that nothing negative or discriminatory could be said about the way they were treated. This resulted in the letters and Postcards as seen here to be containing minor things. Here bob remarks that he has got a tan and that he hopes it will still be on by the time he comes home to his family. But as he writes "that is something else again" knowing that sadly he doesn't know when that will be. It isn't known when or If Robert made it out alive and back to his family but it is hoped that he did. The German Luftwaffe guards several days before the camp was liberated on the 2 May 1945 by Soviet forces. The POWs were evacuated by the 8th Air Force B-17s on 12-13 May 1945.
This postcard as seen detailed on the front as having information of stampings detailing (in pink across the top left) "Mit Luftpost" which indicates that the Kriegsgefangen post was sent by Airmail and was taxed by "0.40 pf" (40 Pfennig ) Also notably seen is vertically from the side shows a "US Censor" showing that when it was received in the USA that it has passed a censor check. These censor checks were done to stop any bad words coming in, the same way that Germany checked it leaving.
What ties this Kriegsgefangen Postkarte to the famous "Wooden Horse" escape and the latter "Great Escape" , is by the small written words of " Via Stalag Luft III". This indicates that this postcard has passed through the camp to which it would have been collected with other mail and then sent via the Luftpost system. This being sent after both escape attempts.
The Wooden Horse being the first escape which saw the escape of three men to make an escape from Stalag Luft III. The Wooden Horse became the first escape that paved the way and raised the morale and daring of those in the camp for the latter "Great Escape". The Wooden Horse escape was designed by three men; Oliver Philpot, Eric Williams and Michael Codner. The Idea came by using the wooden gymnastics horse to disguise and camouflage the tunnel in which was being dug out in the prisoners yard by the fence. The Wooden horse allowed for the diggers to hide and remain undetected, as the fellow POWs in the yard vaulted the gymnastic equipment to muffle the sound of the diggers. The soil from the tunnel was smuggled out and dried in the attic of the barrack rooms, then spread across the courtyard of the camp. The Wooden Horse was also used as a metaphor for trojan horse that was a wooden horse that was used to hide men inside. The tunnel was completed on 29 October 1943. This was timed perfectly as the Trio had a October timetable for the train links which they wanted to use. The trio escaped and favoured using transport of train, rather than going by foot and hiding in local farms to escape. The trio then reached the Baltic Sea, Philpot decided to make his way to Gdańsk (Danzig). Where as Williams and Codner decided to head to Stettin (North-Western Poland) as French Labourers. From here the two made contact with the Danish resistance, gaining passage on a ship to Copenhagen and thence to Gothenburg in neutral Sweden. There they met Philpot, who had been able to travel more quickly to Sweden via Danzig. From Sweden, all three officers were repatriated to Britain.
The "Great Escape" that saw significantly more POWs escape. This daring escape occured on 24th March 1944. Stalag Luft III was located in Poland in comparison to the Northern German village of Barth to which Stalag I in which Robert writes is from. The mastermind and leader was Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, known as Big X, a South African RAF Aviator. The POws started digging three separate tunnels, each called " Tom, Dick and Harry" which all emanated from their huts in which they bunked in. The tunnels were dug by hand and were 30ft deep. This was done in an attempt to avoid German detection and were designed to run more than 300ft into woods outside the camp. Preparations for their excavation of the tunnels started as prisoners begged, borrowed and stole equipment that enabled them to line the tunnels with wood, run a railway and electric lighting from entry to exit and ventilate the tunnels with primitive air conditioning. They also made civilian clothes, maps, compasses and German passes to help them escape. It is suggested that according to German accounts the POWs were able to obtain 4,000 bed boards, 1,699 blankets, 161 pillow cases, 34 chairs, 478 spoons, 30 shovels, 1,000 feet of electric wire, 600 feet of rope, 192 bed covers and 3,424 towels.
The tunneling was done secretly and all under the watchful eye of a very sequire Luftwaffe guard. The digging of all three tunnels went on for several months, however "Tom" was discovered in September 1943, just as it reached the woods outside the camp. Tunnel "Dick" was abandoned and used for storage which meant that "Harry" went ahead as the last tunnel in the "Wooden Horse" plan. "Harry" became ready by early 1944.On the night of March 24th and 25th, 76 RAF officers broke out of the camp. A few hours when it was realised that there was an escape it was discussed by Hitler and the German High Command. The Fuhrer demanded retribution as it was seen to undermine the efficiency and security of the many POW camps and further KZ Lagers (Concentration camps) from within the reich.
76 Allied POWs escaped through tunnel "Harry" on the 24th through to the morning of the 25th of March 1944. Using their military training and their gathered supplies they tried their best to escape, with the aim to reach a neutral country. Sadly with the surrounding areas aware of an escape and Hitler and the high command enraged, patrols were deployed and 73 of the 76 officers were captured. 17 of the escapees were returned to Stalag Luft III. Two were also sent to Oflag IV-C at Colditz and four were also sent to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Adolf Hitler in retribution for the escape had the Gestapo execute 50 of the RAF escapes by firing squad. Three men were successful in their escape attempt. These were Per Bergsland, a Norwegian pilot of No. 332 Squadron RAF, Jens Müller, Norwegian pilot of No. 331 Squadron RAF and Bram van der Stok, Dutch pilot of No. 41 Squadron RAF. These three evaded captivity, Bergsland and Müller made it into neutral Sweden, helped by Swedish Sailors. Where as Van der Stok, who was allowed to be one of the first slots to Escape . This was due to the set skills owing to his language and escape tactics. Bram travelled through much of occupied Europe with the help of the French Resistance before finding safety at a British consulate in Spain.
Those who were responsible for the execution of the POWs were later hunted down and tried and some executed after their trials in the Post war years. Many of which who were members of the Gestapo. General Arthur Nebe of the SS was believed to have selected those for execution escaped the trial as he was executed himself in 1945 as he was involved in the July 20th Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Colonel of the Luftwaffe Bernd von Brauchitsch was prosecuted at Nuremberg Trials for his part in addition to the German High Command for their involvement in the murder of the 50 RAF officers.
Bellow is a summary of those who were involved in the escape and survived the war:
Squadron Leader BA "Jimmy" James MC, RAF was shot down over the Netherlands on 5 June 1940, and subsequently was involved in 13 escape efforts from various camps and prisons, including the 'Great Escape' and the subsequent escape from Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He wrote an account of these escapes and his role in the building of the tunnels in his 1983 book Moonless Night. He was in charge of tunnel dispersal in the theatre. He died on 18 January 2008 aged 92.
Flight Lieutenant Bernard "Pop" Green, RAF was one of the escapees who was captured by the Germans and sent back to Stalag Luft III. He survived the war and returned home to Buckinghamshire. He died November 2, 1971.[Green was the oldest person to be involved in the escape, 56 years old and born in 1887. His grandson Lawrence Green wrote a book about him in 2012 entitled Great War to Great Escape: The Two Wars of Flight Lieutenant Bernard 'Pop' Green MC.
Flight Lieutenant Tony Bethell was an RAF officer who was shot down and captured in the Netherlands on 7 December 1942. He was taken to Stalag Luft III and, aged 21, was the youngest man to escape through 'Harry' tunnel on 24 March 1944. He was captured on 28 March and interrogated by the Gestapo before being returned to Stalag Luft III, where he spent his 22nd birthday (9 April 1944) in the cooler. He died at his home in Canada in 2004. In honour of her husband, Lorna Bethell donated $2,000,000 and organised fundraising that resulted in the opening of Bethell Hospice in 2010.
Jack Harrison, who was one of the 200 men of the Great Escape, died on 4 June 2010, at the age of 97.
Les Broderick, who kept watch over the entry of the "Dick" tunnel, died on 8 April 2013 aged 91. He was in a group of three who had escaped out of the "Harry" tunnel but were recaptured when a cottage they had hoped to rest in turned out to be full of soldiers.
Ken Rees, a digger, was in the tunnel when the escape was discovered. He later lived in North Wales and died at age 93 on 30 August 2014. His book is called Lie in the Dark and Listen.
Flying Officer Gordon King of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, had been number 141 to escape and operated the pump to send air into the tunnel. Speaking candidly of his high number and resulting inability to get out of the tunnel that night, he said he considered himself fortunate. King had been shot down over Germany in 1943 and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. He participated in the Battle Scars television series in his home town of Edmonton. He died on July 16, 2020 at the age of 100.
Jack Lyon, number 79 on the roster, celebrated his 100th birthday in 2017. He died on 12 March 2019, aged 101.
Paul Royle, a Bristol Blenheim pilot, was interviewed in March 2014 as part of the 70th anniversary of the escape, living in Perth, Australia at the age of 100. He downplayed the significance of the escape and did not claim that he did anything extraordinary, saying: "While we all hoped for the future we were lucky to get the future. We eventually defeated the Germans and that was that." Royle died, aged 101, in August 2015.
Dick Churchill was the last surviving of the 76 escapees before his death on 15 February 2019; then an RAF Squadron Leader, he was among the 23 not executed by the Nazis. Churchill, a Handley Page Hampden bomber pilot, was discovered after the escape hiding in a hay loft. In a 2014 interview at the age of 94, he said he was fairly certain that he had been spared execution because his captors thought he might be related to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Charles Clarke was an RAF officer who served as a bomb aimer. After his Lancaster bomber crashed, he was captured and sent to Stalag Luft III; arriving weeks before the Great Escape. He did not take part in the escape itself, but had helped to forge papers and acted as a "watcher". He later took part in the forced march, before being liberated. He remained in the RAF after the war, reaching the rank of Air Commodore. He returned to the camp in later life and helped build a replica of Hut 104 (where the Great Escape tunnel started). He also retraced the forced march on each anniversary. He died on 7 May 2019.he survived Stalag Luft III
Those 50 RAF Officers who were murdered by the Gestapo will not be forgotten and this post tells the story of two escape attempts and those involved. The conditions endured in the camps were varied but were poor conditions. Many hoping to survive the war and see their family again. As seen here detailed in this Kriegsgefangen Postkarte of Lt. Robert H Wood who writes home to his family miles back home in the USA.
We Will Remember Them