The Great Escape: A Canadian Story
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Proof of their contribution to the Great Escape is recorded in these pages and in the stories yet to be gathered and verified by historians, the families of ex-kriegies, and an apparently ever-growing community that refuses to let this story die.
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* The official Bomber Command records show that Operation Exodus aircrews from 1, 5, 6, and 8 Groups carried out 469 flights, principally from Brussels to the UK, and repatriated approximately seventy-five thousand officers and airmen. Aircrews completed the operation without a single mishap.
Space inside an RAF Whitley bomber (above left) was extremely limited. In 1940, after he bailed out of his crashing Whitley, RCAF pilot Tony Pengelly found himself in an equally confined space (above right, seated on bed, left) in a POW hut at Stalag Luft I (Barth, Germany) with downed Canadian Spitfire pilot Wally Floody (seated next to him).
(above left) Long before The Great Escape, a tunnel designing/digging team—(clockwise from lower left) Wally Floody, Sam Sangster, John “Scruffy” Weir, and Hank “Big Train” Birkland—experimented in ad hoc escape attempts at Stalag Luft I. Eventually, under Big X, Roger Bushell (above right), at Luft III, X Organization developed plans for a sophisticated mass breakout.
This photo, taken from the American South Compound (Sagan c. 1943) and looking northeast toward the German administration area (Kommandantur), shows the barren landscape of the appell area of the North Compound broken physically and psycologically by the theatre.
RCAF pilots Barry Davidson (left) and Dick Bartlett, once shot down, became chief scrounger and custodian of the secret wireless radio for the escape committee respectively. They developed such skills early in 1940 at Stalag Luft I and were seasoned pros by the time they were sent to Luft III.
Meanwhile, fellow RCAF pilots Keith Ogilvie (left) and Kingsley Brown at Stalag Luft III worked in intelligence—the former fleeced German guards for their wallets, the latter searched the prison library for German officials’ identities to steal and for police protocol at train stations and borders—all to assist camp forgers manufacture fake documents for the escapers.
Before the mass breakout on March 24–25, 1944, RAF F/L Ley Kenyon was asked to record images of escape tunnel “Harry.” Underground, sometimes on his back, by the light of fat-fuelled lamps, he sketched (above left) a digger cutting into sand at the face of the tunnel; (above right) an underground workshop (tin over worker’s head, activated from tunnel trap above, contained pebbles as signal for quiet). In Hut 104 (below) he drew the entrance to tunnel “Harry” through the trap in the concrete foundation under the stove (the entire operation required lookouts—“stooges”—to warn tunnel crews of any approaching German guards).
Aerial intelligence photo (c. 1944) shows the evolution of Stalag Luft III prison camp from original East and Centre compounds, opened in 1942, to additional North, South, and West compounds; the prison camp eventually held 10,000 air force POWs. Despite hundreds of attempts, only six POWs completed the “home run”—getting from Luft III back to the UK.
RCAF airman George Sweanor (left) vowed not to get romantically involved while training as a bomb-aimer in the UK, while Joan Saunders felt her work in the British war industry was a top priority. Nevertheless, they fell in love, married, and were separated a month later when George was shot down and sent to Stalag Luft III for the duration.
For RCAF Spitfire pilot Don Edy (left), barracks in the North African desert were rustic at best; it got worse in February 1942, when he was shot down, imprisoned first in Italy, and then sent to Stalag Luft III. On the other hand, severe conditions for RCAF gunner George Harsh were nothing out of the ordinary; before being shot down in October 1942 he’d been an inmate in US prisons for a dozen years.
Stalag Luft III POWs—particularly those from North America—organized dozens of baseball teams; this one was typical, featuring (back l to r) “Gee” Rainville, Slim Smith, Joe Loree, Stephens, Jimmy Egner, Jimmy Lang, Randy Ransom; (front l to r) Art Hawtin, Earl Clare (team captain), Tommy Jackson, Glen Gardner, Ernie Soalier.
(middle) Ice hockey games didn’t end with regulation time or even sudden death goals, but when the last of the hockey sticks (donated by the Red Cross or stores in Canada) broke beyond repair. (bottom) Boxing matches inside Stalag Luft III, such as one with George McGill and Eddie Asselin in 1942, offered exercise and a diversion while other POWs attempted to escape.
(above) RAF officer Ley Kenyon captured the climax of The Great Escape in his sketches, including February 29, 1944, when German guards fortuitously transferred key players of the escape committee to a neighbouring prison, and (below) the night of March 24, 1944, when escapers realized their tunnel “Harry” came up short of the pine forest, requiring a rope system to signal when German sentries had passed and another escaper could crawl out and make a run for it.
After German guards discovered the mass breakout and recaptured 77 of the 80 escapers, they displayed the contraptions the POWs had built inside tunnel “Harry.” (above) Prison guard Karl Griese (left) and a second guard show off a tunnel trolley inside shoring box frames (they’ve got them upside down—frames were narrower at top). (below right) Griese (a.k.a. “Rubberneck”) operates a ventilating pump that kept fresh air flowing underground through nearly 400 feet of Klim tins soldered together. (below left) Guard demonstrates sand-dispersal sacks hidden under POWs’ coats and inside trousers. In over a year of tunnel excavation at Stalag Luft III, “penguins” dispersed several hundred tons of sand from tunnel “Harry” alone.
(above) Senior British Officer G/C Herbert Massey (right) speaks to German officer Hans Pieber, who guarded Commonwealth air officer POWs at both Stalag Luft I and III; also in charge during the forced march in the winter of 1945 (he then knowingly carried the POWs’ secret radio to receive BBC broadcasts about the war). (below) Controversial crime investigator and SS officer Arthur Nebe is said to have soured on Nazi philosophy (extermination of European Jewry and executions of Russian civilians) and joined the plot to kill Hitler in July 1944; however, he was guilty of choosing 50 of the recaptured Great Escapers to be executed.
(above right) This secretly photographed image of Allied air force officers being force-marched from Sagan, Poland, was taken in January 1945. Indicative of their skill to adapt, in just hours, the POWs transformed prison camp tables, chairs, and bed boards into sleds and backpacks to carry survival gear. (above left) Just before their liberation in western Germany, the POWs posted signs to prevent being shelled or strafed by friendly forces.
Throughout the winter forced march, RCAF pilot Frank Sorensen carried in his pocket this Ley Kenyon sketch of the memorial (built in 1944) to the 50 murdered officers—the stone monument remains intact northwest of the Stalag Luft III site today.
Notes
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introduction: “heroes resurface”
1. “has created a classic”: Time magazine, July 1963.
2. “take notice and find inspiration”: Arthur A. Durand, quoted in The Making of the Great Escape documentary, produced by Prometheus Entertainment in association with Van Ness Films, Foxstar Productions, Fox TV Studios, and A&E TV Network (Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Home Entertainment Inc.).
chapter one: the king’s regulations
1. “a way through”: Winston Churchill quoted in Charles Messenger, “Bomber” Harris and the Strategic Bombing Offensive, 1939–1945 (London Arms and Armour Press, 1984), p. 39.
2. “dropping leaflets”: Tony Pengelly, diary notes, courtesy of Chris Pengelly collection.
3. strategic bombing campaign: Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, The Bomber Command War Diaries, An Operational Reference Book: 1939–1945 (Penguin, London, 1985) p. 92.
4. Fairey Battles: Ibid., p. 93.
5. apprehension: Russell Braddon, Cheshire V.C., A Study of War and Peace (Evans Brothers Limited, London, 1954), p. 60.
6. “remarkable breed of men”: Leonard Cheshire quoted in ibid., p. 69.
7. “chute off and buried it
”: Daniel G. Dancocks, In Enemy Hands, Canadian Prisoners of War 1939–1945 (Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, 1983), p. 8.
8. “protect the Security”: “The Responsibilities of a Prisoner of War” (RAF Air Publication 1548, RAF Command of the Air Council, March 1936).
9. “name, rank and number”: Ibid.
10. “give him in return”: Ibid.
11. “you chaps down”: Dancocks, p. 10.
12. “succeed in escaping”: “The Responsibilities of a Prisoner of War”
13. “private flying machines”: Certificate of Competency and Licence to fly Private Machines, C.A. Form 64, issued by Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
14. first mass escape: Sydney Smith, Wings Day: The Man Who Led the RAF’s Battle in German Captivity (William Collins, London, 1968), p. 77.
15. “prison camp life”: Tony Pengelly, “X For Escape,” by Flt.-Lieut. Tony Pengelly, as told to Scott Young, with permission from Maclean’s magazine, November 1 and 15, 1945.
16. “organize to be successful”: Ibid.
chapter two: bond of wire
1. “anything about this”: John Weir, note to Frances McCormack, 1940, with permission.
2. “bomber pilot”: Frances Weir (née McCormack) interview, June 19, 2012, Toronto.
3. “scruffy looking individual”: Sandra Martin, “He played a role in The (real) Great Escape,” Globe and Mail, November 11, 2009.
4. war work herself: Frances Weir interview, June 19, 2012.
5. “in the least”: Ibid.
6. “first ever sweep”: Hugh Godefroy, Lucky Thirteen (Canada’s Wings Inc., Stittsville, Ontario, 1983), p. 100.
7. “Weir and Gardiner are missing”: Ibid., p. 107.
8. “a perpetual clown”: Ibid., p. 107
9. “an important prisoner”: Robert Stanford Tuck, quoted in Larry Forrester, Fly For Your Life: The Story of R. R. Stanford Tuck (Nelson Doubleday, New York, 1956), p. 275.
10. seventy yards wide: Arthur A. Durand, Stalag Luft III: The Secret Story (Patrick Stephens Ltd., UK, 1989), p. 79.
11. “safe and sound in Germany”: John Weir, letter to Frances McCormack, December 13, 1941, with permission.
12. “back to you soon”: John Weir, letter to Frances McCormack, December 22, 1941, with permission.
13. door-to-door salesman: Jonathan Vance, A Gallant Company: The Men of the Great Escape (Pacifica Military History, Pacifica, California, 2000), p. 120.
14. mining companies’ sports teams: Barbara Hehner, The Tunnel King, The True Story of Wally Floody and The Great Escape (HarperCollins, Toronto, 2004), pp. 3, 7.
15. Luftgau: Durand, p. 134.
16. “how many, four”: John Weir, letter to Frances McCormack, February 26, 1942, with permission.
17. “no similarity between the two”: Wally Floody, interviewed by the National Air Force Museum, CFB Trenton, c. 1970.
18. “a total success either”: Wally Floody, interviewed by the National Air Force Museum, CFB Trenton, 1989.
19. collapse tunnels: Durand, p. 81.
20. “I got claustrophobic”: Barry Davidson, “Barry Davidson—Prisoner of War,” Bomber Command Museum of Canada, courtesy of Barry Davidson Jr., 2000.
21. “pound bombs”: Ibid.
22. “for the duration”: Ibid.
23. cutting or digging tool: Jean Morrison McBride, quoted in Patricia Burns They Were So Young: Montrealers Remember World War II (Véhicule Press, 2002), p. 239.
24. plastic surgery: Eric Howald, “Mac Jarrell Remembers: Spent 45 months as prisoner of war,” The Kincardine Independent, November 11, 1979.
25. “the prisoners hated it”: Ibid.
26. “kick from a mule”: Dick Bartlett, quoted Stuart E. Soward’s One Man’s War: Sub Lieutenant R. E. Bartlett, RN Fleet Air Arm Pilot (Neptune, 2005), p. 53.
27. “into the camp”: Ibid., p. 90.
28. “news and intelligence”: Ibid., p. 90.
29. “be home again”: John Weir, letter to Frances McCormack, January 21, 1942, with permission.
30. “escape campaign”: Vance, p. 32.
31. “operational function”: Smith, pp. 58–60.
32. “slippers, gloves, and cap”: John Weir, letter to Frances McCormack, April 29, 1942, with permission.
33. “lots of fresh air”: Ibid.
34. “is fatten me up”: Ibid.
chapter three: “spine-tingling sport”
1. “fenced-in feeling”: John Hartnell-Beavis, Final Flight (Merlin Books, Braunton, Devon, UK, 1985), p. 31.
2. Kommandantur: Durand, p. 103.
3. both his artificial legs: Paul Brickhill, Reach for the Sky, The Story of Douglas Bader (Collins, London, UK, 1954), p. 335.
4. months to accomplish: Les Allison, Canadians in the Royal Air Force (self-published, Roland, Manitoba, 1978), p. 177.
5. “flown over Berlin”: Andrew Thompson, quoted in documentary “The Great Escape: The Canadian Story,” 2004, courtesy of producer Don Young.
6. “courtesy and consideration”: Tommy Thompson, quoted in Ibid.
7. back to England: Vance, p. 39.
8. night fighters: Ibid. p. 192.
9. “escape proof”: Floody interview, 1970.
10. Göring’s luxury camp: Paul Brickhill, The Great Escape (Faber and Faber Ltd., London, UK, 1951), p. 24.
11. thousand-foot area: Durand, p. 258.
12. cutting through the soil: Brickhill, The Great Escape, p. 28.
13. “noses of the Germans”: Floody interview, 1970.
14. “expert at it”: Ibid.
15. “a minor one”: George Harsh, Lonesome Road (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1971), p. 176.
16. “flamboyant beau geste”: Ibid., p. 132.
17. 4.3 per cent loss rate: Middlebrook and Everitt, p. 297.
18. “you’re an American”: Harsh, p. 187.
19. “secure all this”: Ibid., p. 191.
20. “he’s an ex-convict”: Ibid., p. 192.
21. “the black hole”: Kingsley Brown, Bonds of Wire, A Memoir (Collins, Toronto, 1989), p. 50.
22. “propaganda job”: Ibid., p. 57.
23. “Hitler kaput”: Ibid., p. 58.
24. “free side of the wire”: Ibid., p. 65.
25. Red Cross parcels: A. K. Ogilvie, “Tigers in the Tunnel,” Air Intelligence Training Bulletin, Vol. XIV, No. 1, January 1962.
26. wallet on the floor: Ian Darling, Amazing Airmen: Canadian Flyers in the Second World War (Dundurn, Toronto, 2009), p. 27.
27. “my mittens. Everything”: Don McKim, interview Simcoe, Ontario, January 2, 2011.
28. Germans guarding them: Durand, p. 159.
29. five-foot-two: Lyn Tremblay, “Veteran prisoner of war took part in the Great Escape,” Simcoe Reformer, December 3, 2009.
30. “doing anything else”: McKim interview, 2011.
31. “a little longer”: Bob McBride, quoted by Jean Morrison McBride in Burns,
p. 239.
32. “burned forever”: Ibid., p. 240.
33. hidden him in Prague: Brickhill, The Great Escape, p. 32.
chapter four: escape season
1. Goleb Plasov: Brown, p. 63.
2. North Compound: Brickhill, The Great Escape, p. 34.
3. “the enemy has ears”: Kingsley Brown, “The Good Grey Days of Stalag III,” The Globe Magazine, May 18, 1957, p. 10.
4. “a sense of danger”: Ibid., p. 10.
5. “better luck next time”: Kingsley Brown quoting arresting police officer, Bonds of Wire, p. 75.
6. war was forgotten: Op cit, p. 11.
7. Hut 101: John S. Acheson, A World War II Tale of Stalag Luft III and of The Great Escape (unpublished manuscript housed at the Kitchener Public Library, 2002, with permission). p. 9.
8. half a minute or less: Soward, p. 114.
9. “swing a stunted cat”: Brickhill, The Great Escape, p. 42.
10. “or we’ll start shooting”: Gordon King, interviewed by Byron Christopher, Edmonton
, October. 20, 2011.
11. “just something to do”: Ibid.
12. “German shepherd dog”: Floody interview, 1970.
13. “three major tunnels”: Brickhill, The Great Escape, p. 34.
14. “a lot more troops”: Floody interview, 1970.
15. “vertical shaft to Harry”: Henry Sprague, interviewed by the National Air Force Museum, CFB Trenton, 1989.
16. “complete surveillance”: Floody interview, 1970.
17. “twenty to thirty seconds”: Floody interview, 1989.
18. “toward the showers”: Pengelly, “X For Escape.”
19. Bob van der Stok: Vance, p. 138.
20. cardboard holster: Larry Forrester, Fly For Your Life: The Story of R. R. Stanford Tuck (Nelson Doubleday, New York, 1956), p. 282.
21. “dressed as German soldiers”: Pengelly, “X For Escape.”
22. “our cheapest commodity”: Ibid.
23. “rolled around the pebble”: Arthur Crighton, Memories of a Prisoner of War (privately published memoirs, 3rd edition, February 2012), p. 21.
24. “whole of Kriegiedom”: Ibid., p. 22.
25. “weren’t digging tunnels”: Arthur Crighton, interviewed by Byron Christopher, Edmonton, Alberta, March 18, 2012.
26. tunnel projects: Durand, p.116.
27. “it’s foolproof”: Michael Codner, quoted in Eric Williams, The Wooden Horse (Collins, London, UK, 1955), p. 38.