Prisoner Exchanges

[Craig]

I read in ABOVE THE LINES that Hasso von Wedel - a WW1 German ace - was shot down in an ME-109E over Britain, September 1940. He was later repatriated, and died defending Berlin during the final days.

Why in the WORLD was Britain repatriating German POWs? Was this common? I know it wasn't wise.

Prisoner-of-war exchanges were rare but not unknown. They normally involved POWs who were deemed to have been so badly wounded that they would not have been able to fight again. One such individual was Donald Morrison, an RCAF "ace" who was shot down and lost a leg; he (and other similarly injured POWs) were returned to Britain and thence to Canada early in 1944, about a year after he had become a casualty. Douglas Bader, offered an exchange under similar terms, declined, arguing that his lost limbs had been the outcome of an accident a decade earlier, not as a result of war service. Having spent ten years fighting the label "disabled", he was not prepared to be repatriated at the cost of accepting that odious classification.

Allied prisoners repatriated on such terms were matched by German POWs similarly wounded. The terms included the understanding that the exchanged POWs would not fight again (by my recollection, they were allowed to perform instructional duties, if sufficiently recovered). Under those conditions, Hasso von Wedel probably broke the terms of his "parole" by returning to combatant status - although circumstances may have left him little choice.

[Shooter]

Craig:

It is my understanding that prisoners were actually "paroled" and were made to sign a document that forbade them to enter combat again against the paroling combatant (ie: while the German pilot was free to fly against the Soviets, he should have been enjoined from hostilities with the British).

Not too sure of the authority of this opinion. I imagine that the parole might not have been honored very often. A number of German prisoners during both World Wars who were so paroled were sick or injured to the point of non-serviceability, so in those cases there would have been no foreswearing of parole since the released prisoners did not re-enter combat service.

It is my understanding that paroled prisoners ceased being released right about the time Rudolf Hess made his diplomatic flight to the UK. Germany tried to get Hess paroled several times, to no avail. About the same time, the Allies stopped the process for all others.

Like I said, the authority for these opinions is about as substantial as smoke, so I may well be wrong, but that is my recollection it.

Semper Fi,

Shooter

In the case of Don Morrison, he was taken prisoner on 8 November 1942), exchanged (with several others) in October 1943 and repatriated to Canada, 25 November 1943. I have recently learned (via the RAF Commands website) of a Canadian pilot taken prisoner when his PRU Spitfire came down in France in late 1941; he was repatriated in 1944, having feigned insanity. At least one country (New Zealand) has a volume in their Official Histories dealing with POWs. Anyone having immediate access to this might enlighten us on the processes of exchanges, including the role played by the International Red Cross.

Is this von Wedel the same fellow who fought with MvR as a cavalry-man early in the war, and who joined J-11 a few days after the Baron's death?

Mark: No, the von Wedel who was repatriated in World War II was Hasso von Wedel, who served in the 11th Dragoon Regiment. Later he became an observer and served in several two-seater Flieger Abteilungen, gaining one victory. Then he trained as a pilot and served in Jasta 14 (flying Albatros D.V's and a Fokker Dr.I), then commanding Jasta 75 from February 1918 until he was wounded on 28 June. He finished WWI as commander of Jasta 24 and Jagdgruppe 12, with five victories. Modelers may recognize him because he used the family coat of arms, a red wheel or "richtrad" as a personal emblem on all of his aircraft. On 15 Sept. 1940 he was shot down in an Me109 (as a member of the Stab flight of JG3) near Bilsington; he bailed out and his Messerschmitt carshed into a house and killed the occupants - he was reportedly very distressed by this. The Jasta 11 von Wedel was Erich Ruediger von Wedel, who as you say, had served in Manfred's old Uhlan Regiment. He survived the war with 13 victories. The von Wedels were a well-known family (and still are)with many notables in the military in both Wars. I know that Erich and Hasso were related but I don't know how closely.

Hugh; Just a thought about your answer. It would not have been neccessary for Wedel to break his parole to be shot down in combat. I have read numerous reports of British and German training aircraft, (by this I mean training aircraft that cannot carry weapons), being shot down by their opposiye numbers.

Tony, the original post described him as having "died defending Berlin during the final days" which suggests he was doing more than stooging around in a trainer when nailed by a YAK or a P-51. Indeed, it leaves us in the dark as to whether he was "defending Berlin" with an airplane or a panzerfaust.

Hugh; To give you an idea of how allied pilots were characterizing their combats at the end of WWII. There is (or was) a memorable bit of P-51 gun camera film showing a strafing of two people, one in uniform and the other in civilian clothes. The pilot claimed "strafing of German troops". On closer inspection the person in uniform was wearing standard Forresters dress, while the other person was in civilian attire. There are any number of similar incidents. Interestingly, several top American aces have claimed that they recieved verbal orders to engage "questionable targets", but no written orders as such. Wedel could very easily have been conducting a training flight in a Bucker training machine and have been shot down. Do you seriously think that an allied fighter pilot is going to claim shooting down a trainer when he could claim a warplane. I'm merely pointing out a very real possibility. It's perfectly possible that Wedel broke his parole, but I prefer to have better proof than speculation or unconfirmable statements, chiefly because of the system of justice that I've grown up with.

[Craig]

When von Wedel was shot down and captured, it was in a Messerschmidt over England. When he was killed, we don't know the circumstances. Why assume he was even in the air?