POWs

TomVrille · 9 May 2005, 06:49 AM

In his book An Escaper's Log ,

Duncan Grinnell-Milne cites some intriguing statistics about POWs. He writes: "Out of some eight thousand officers in Germany, a mere handful-- between forty and fifty-- succeeded in regaining their freedom before the Armistice. ... It is sad to realize that of all those captured flying in France, I was the only one to return to fly and fight on the same front." The question is: What group of POWs is DGM referring to? I suspect his total number refers only to British Empire prisoners from all branches of service, but I cannot confirm this from available data. Any help would be most welcome!

Romani · 10 May 2005, 01:33 AM

I read long ago in a history magazine about evasion attempts during both World Wars. The percentage of escapees is very low in any case, but in WWI more people escaped because guards and civilians in starved Germany could be bribed with food (obtained from Red Cross packages), and people were more fearful of helping a escapee in Nazi Germany.

You quote between 40-50 escapees, compare that with how many managed to escape from Stalag Luft or Colditz in the later war, I think they don't even reach the dozen.

10 May 2005, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomVrille

In his book An Escaper's Log ,

Duncan Grinnell-Milne cites some intriguing statistics about POWs. He writes: ... It is sad to realize that of all those captured flying in France, I was the only one to return to fly and fight on the same front." The question is: What group of POWs is DGM referring to? I suspect his total number refers only to British Empire prisoners from all branches of service....

I think your suspicion that Grinnell-Milne is only talking about Empire aviators is correct. Either that, or he just didn't have good information when he made the statement. After all, one of the first and most famous fighter pilots of the War, none other than Roland Garros, famous for his early success using an unsynchronized forward firing MG combined with bullet deflecter plates/tracks mounted on the rear faces of his Morane's propellor blades, escaped from German custody in 1918 and also returned to aerial combat on the Western Front. Sadly, he was shot down and killed at Vouziers on 5 October 1918, just a month before the end of the War. Clearly, Grinnell-Milne was not literally the "only one". I suspect, but it is only a suspicion, that there would have been several who could make that claim.

Matt

vb136 · 10 May 2005, 11:49 PM

Another French pilot who escaped from a POW-camp to fight another day was

Armand Pinsard. See the Aces section of this site.

saruffin · 11 May 2005, 10:03 AM

Grinnell-Milne actually describes in his "Escaper's Log" being confined at the same POW camp (Zorndorf near Custrin) as Garros. He even acknowledges that Garros did indeed escape and fight again. This would indicate that G-M was speaking only of British POWs.

TomVrille · 11 May 2005, 10:17 AM

Thank you all for your comments.

It was actually the case of Garros that led me to conclude that Grinnell-Milne was speaking only of British POWs. Grinnell-Milne met Garros while the two were being held in the Zorndorf POW camp, and spoke highly of him. I cannot imagine that Grinnell-Milne was unaware of what happened to someone that he knew and respected. If Grinnell-Milne was speaking only of Empire flyers, then the stories of both Garros and Pinsard do not influence his claim to be the only one to return to the same front where he had been captured.

P.S. Does anyone have an estimate of the number of British officers held POW in Germany from 1914-1918 from all branches of service??