Luftwaffe Escapees?
Discussion
Just finished reading the excellent, if somewhat sentimental, Home Run - detailing escapes by Allied servicemen from Occupied Europe in WW2 - airmen and BEF Soldiers left behind in 1940 mainly.
Which got me thinking about reading some balance - did any Luftwaffe airmen shot down over Britain ever manage to get back? Or indeed shot down over Russian territory?
(I know a few escaped from POW camps in Canada and made it to the US before 1942. I think there was only one recorded escape from a British POW camp)
I strongly suspect this would have been very unlikely, but anyone point me in the direction of a book or two? Amazon draws a blank.
Which got me thinking about reading some balance - did any Luftwaffe airmen shot down over Britain ever manage to get back? Or indeed shot down over Russian territory?
(I know a few escaped from POW camps in Canada and made it to the US before 1942. I think there was only one recorded escape from a British POW camp)
I strongly suspect this would have been very unlikely, but anyone point me in the direction of a book or two? Amazon draws a blank.
Very few, they were always caught when asking for directions to Whitby, Whistable or Weston-Super-Mare.
Seriously though, being an Island it would have been very difficult without an underground network of Nazi agents to assist them. Which AFAIK didn't exist. Our boys were often escaping from occupied territory or from Germany into occupied territories who offered help to get them back home.
Seriously though, being an Island it would have been very difficult without an underground network of Nazi agents to assist them. Which AFAIK didn't exist. Our boys were often escaping from occupied territory or from Germany into occupied territories who offered help to get them back home.
I seem to remember reading that of all the escape attempts by allied airman during the war only around 30 actually made it all the way back to England. The rest were caught, shot or simply went missing.
I have read a few stayed in France and helped the resistance but were eventually caught and shot.
I have read a few stayed in France and helped the resistance but were eventually caught and shot.
deviant said:
I seem to remember reading that of all the escape attempts by allied airman during the war only around 30 actually made it all the way back to England. The rest were caught, shot or simply went missing.
I have read a few stayed in France and helped the resistance but were eventually caught and shot.
I would have thought that the number of successful escapees waqs higher than that.I have read a few stayed in France and helped the resistance but were eventually caught and shot.
All you need to know here http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/index.html
Edited by matchmaker on Saturday 20th June 18:59
You question reminded me of the film "The One That Got Away", an old WW2 job.
Turns out it was based on a true story of a Luftwaffe pilot who did indeed, make a 'home run'.
Wiki here.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Werra
ETA: Reminder to self : Read to the end of the OP's post.
Turns out it was based on a true story of a Luftwaffe pilot who did indeed, make a 'home run'.
Wiki here.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Werra
ETA: Reminder to self : Read to the end of the OP's post.
Edited by Blib on Saturday 20th June 19:11
matchmaker said:
All you need to know here http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/index.html
Then they discovered they were in Wales and asked to be let back in.Edited by matchmaker on Saturday 20th June 18:59
Blib said:
You question reminded me of the film "The One That Got Away", an old WW2 job.
Turns out it was based on a true story of a Luftwaffe pilot who did indeed, make a 'home run'.
Wiki here.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Werra
ETA: Reminder to self : Read to the end of the OP's post.
Wasn't he the guy who claimed he shot down something like 4 or 5 Hurricanes in one go and they were on finals to land ? I seem to recall he was regarded with a bit of suspicion over some of his claims,although I liked the bit where he walks in to an airfield and tries to fly a Hurricane back home by claiming to be a Dutch pilot. Turns out it was based on a true story of a Luftwaffe pilot who did indeed, make a 'home run'.
Wiki here.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Werra
ETA: Reminder to self : Read to the end of the OP's post.
Edited by Blib on Saturday 20th June 19:11
A bit of a strange one this.
There is a family story of my mother’s aunt, who was taken and sentenced at the Old Bailey, for harbouring a German airman for a couple of months. She lived off Spekeland Road, Liverpool.
This was next to the heavily bombed main marshalling yard at Edge Hill.
Details are few, due to the family shame, which must have been considerable during wartime. The great scandal was that her husband, my grandmother’s brother was in the Far East, and later became a Japanese POW. Also, a local school had been bombed during the blitz killing 170 people, and numerous chip shops destroyed by those cruel b*stards!
Some estimates put it at 300-600 (victims, not chip shops)
Maybe he was an escaped airman, or just a guy who was shot down and fell into the arms a friendly woman. Either way, he got to see England and knob a local bird! The perfect holiday ! (The Russians did the same in Germany, although foreplay was optional there)
The husband after years in a camp, came home half a man. He was riddled with disease and died several years later; she didn’t return home!
I somehow think my mum’s cousins had a pretty crap childhood!
There is a family story of my mother’s aunt, who was taken and sentenced at the Old Bailey, for harbouring a German airman for a couple of months. She lived off Spekeland Road, Liverpool.
This was next to the heavily bombed main marshalling yard at Edge Hill.
Details are few, due to the family shame, which must have been considerable during wartime. The great scandal was that her husband, my grandmother’s brother was in the Far East, and later became a Japanese POW. Also, a local school had been bombed during the blitz killing 170 people, and numerous chip shops destroyed by those cruel b*stards!
Some estimates put it at 300-600 (victims, not chip shops)
Maybe he was an escaped airman, or just a guy who was shot down and fell into the arms a friendly woman. Either way, he got to see England and knob a local bird! The perfect holiday ! (The Russians did the same in Germany, although foreplay was optional there)
The husband after years in a camp, came home half a man. He was riddled with disease and died several years later; she didn’t return home!
I somehow think my mum’s cousins had a pretty crap childhood!
FourWheelDrift said:
matchmaker said:
All you need to know here http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/index.html
Then they discovered they were in Wales and asked to be let back in.Edited by matchmaker on Saturday 20th June 18:59
True story:
My granddad lived in Poland before the war and was a keen glider pilot. When the Germans invaded Poland my Granddad got drafted into the Luftwaffe by the Germans to fly bombing missions over the UK.
He got shot down over Scotland and for a short time was a POW. When they confirmed he was Polish they drafted him into the RAF and he bombed the Germans.
During this time he met my gran who was Scotish and after the war moved to Poland for a short while. My gran got TB so they moved back to Scoland but my gran died when my dad was very young.
My granddad lived in Poland before the war and was a keen glider pilot. When the Germans invaded Poland my Granddad got drafted into the Luftwaffe by the Germans to fly bombing missions over the UK.
He got shot down over Scotland and for a short time was a POW. When they confirmed he was Polish they drafted him into the RAF and he bombed the Germans.
During this time he met my gran who was Scotish and after the war moved to Poland for a short while. My gran got TB so they moved back to Scoland but my gran died when my dad was very young.
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