The One Who got Away

[oshawaflyboy]

Hi folks;
Can anyone help with more info Franz von Werra? Units,staffel,a/c
markings,s/n's,site of downing to be a p.o.w,final crash at sea approx.
I live near The Battle of Bowmanville,the p.o.w camp mutinied
seized arms and started shooting.All services involed,german reg's
fighting kanadian army troops on North Amrcn soil.their were casulties.
In South Oshawa there was another camp ,heard there where deaths,
service perssonel intured,after war dug up and reintured in a proper
local cemetery.Will let everyone know more soon.

Wolfgang.

Originally Posted by oshawaflyboy

Hi folks;
Can anyone help with more info Franz von Werra? Units,staffel,a/c
markings,s/n's,site of downing to be a p.o.w,final crash at sea approx.
I live near The Battle of Bowmanville,the p.o.w camp mutinied
seized arms and started shooting.All services involed,german reg's
fighting kanadian army troops on North Amrcn soil.their were casulties.
In South Oshawa there was another camp ,heard there where deaths,
service perssonel intured,after war dug up and reintured in a proper
local cemetery.Will let everyone know more soon.

Wolfgang.

JG3 SHOT DOWN 6/ 9/40 MARSDEN KENT.
WENT TO FAME IN AUGUST 28TH 40 BY CLAIMIN 6 HURRICANES! WHILE LANDING. A VERY TALL TALE BUT I BELIEVE HIM THE RAF COVERED IT UP.
HE ARRIVED BACK IN BERLIN APRIL 41 SHOT DOWN 16 USSR PLANES OUT OF HIS 22.WITH JG53
THEN IN OCT 41 WITH HIS UNIT WITH A NEW FIGHTER ME 109 F4 HE DIVED DOWN IN THE SEA OFF HOLLAND NO MAYDAY GIVEN AT AT ALL, NO TRACE WAS FOUND EVER.
HE WAS MY HERO.AS A KID.
GARY

[oshawaflyboy]

Thanks Gary;
that's a big help,now ican tell the story with facts while floating
past Amherstburg with my grandson. Was the officer that tried
to cross at Niagara also A Luftwaffe regular?

Wolfgang.

[VtwinVince]

You might want to read "The One That Got Away" by Kendal Burt and James Leasor, published by Collins in 1956. It's a good read, and the film starring Hardy Krueger is also good fun. Von Werra was a good friend of my uncle, who was CO of 9. JG 3 during the Battle. They had many good times at the casino, and probably got along well because both were pretentious. The other officer you're thinking of might be Ulrich Steinhilper, author of "Ten Minutes to Buffalo" and an inveterate escaper.

Originally Posted by oshawaflyboy

Thanks Gary;
that's a big help,now ican tell the story with facts while floating
past Amherstburg with my grandson. Was the officer that tried
to cross at Niagara also A Luftwaffe regular?

Wolfgang.

HI. ERM NOT SURE I KNOW THERE WERE AT LEAST 3 WHO ESCAPED. BUT NOT TO GERMANY, BUT ID UNKNOWN.
GARY

[Kutscha]

dora9forever, is your 'cap lock' key stuck?

MELADY, JOHN. Escape from Canada! the Untold Story of German Pows in Canada, 1939-1945.
Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, (1981).. 210 pp, large 8vo (9 1/4" H), hard cover in dust jacket. B&w photos. "Captured on the battlefields of Europe and Africa, or on the open sea, 25,000 German officers and other ranks were sent to camps across this country, to live out the duration of the war behind barbed wire. Many of these men were the cream of Hitler's fighting troops, and they regarded it as their duty to escape imprisonment and return to Germany to fight again.." The story of these escapers and escape attempts, as well as of murders, riots, etc. that occured in at some of the camps.

Angler POW camp, The Escape that Shocked the Country

During World War II, Canada interred 35,046 Prisoners of War and Japanese-Canadians in 26 main compounds and dozens of smaller camps in Canada. Prisoners worked at lumbering, farming and manufacturing. Lake Superior’s inhospitable and remote shore hosted three large POW compounds at Angler, Neys, and Red Rock. A number of smaller logging POW camps were located in the rough interior along the White and Magpie Rivers. Of the 600 attempted escapes from Canadian POW camps, the largest and the most cunning was masterminded at Angler on Sturdee Cove just west of Peninsula Harbour.

http://www.lynximages.com/POW.htm

no. my eye sights not that good. chow.

[Bruce Lander]

Hi
on the subject of POW camps for German - I live about half a mile from the Glen Mill in Oldham which was used for this purpose in WW2.
My late mother in law worked at a Munitions factory near to it and often recalled looking out of the window when she was working to see the German prisoners lounging in the sun.
The father of a work colleague was also a guard there and recalled that
many of the prisoners were allowed out of the camp wearing a uniform with the letter P on the back and many had liaisons with locals!
The only time it got nasty was late in the war when some hard line Nazi prisoners arrived and were so appalled by the free and easy regime that they set up Kangaroo courts and executed several fellow prisoners by drowning them in rain barrels - this was not discovered for some time because the security was so lax. Prisoners were often stopping with their girlfriends or local families who had befriended them.

Cheers
Bruce Lander

[Rob Romero]

Dora9

No offence, but on what basis do you have to say that the RAF covered up Werra's claims of 6 Hurris in a landing pattern. Isn't it far more likely that Werra made up this unheard of and uprecidented claim. Claims, which were, incidentally, his only ones during the Battle of Britain. I would think that the Hurricanes crashing from low altitude would have resulted in some KIA -much harder to cover up than the loss of an airframe.

Rob

Originally Posted by Rob Romero

Dora9

No offence, but on what basis do you have to say that the RAF covered up Werra's claims of 6 Hurris in a landing pattern. Isn't it far more likely that Werra made up this unheard of and uprecidented claim. Claims, which were, incidentally, his only ones during the Battle of Britain. I would think that the Hurricanes crashing from low altitude would have resulted in some KIA -much harder to cover up than the loss of an airframe.

HI ROB .
werras claims.. some say goverments cant keep secrets look at D DAY BEFORE some E boats struck off devon sank vessels and some USA troops were killed. as to werras hurris look back 28/ 8/40 BOB was on RAF were at its knees pilots worn out airfields damaged we were losing the BOB.
.werrra claim or 4 hurris they were not claimed by the command ,only as ground kills .......
he shot down a spit on that day too..maybe a reserve airfield he came across or ferry pilots delivery hurris there.
werras claim that he lowered his undergarrige. then attacked them one he said didnt count as it was landing.it was 28/8/40 didnt a H Goring claim that his pilots were makin false claims.then to Galland and molders around that date, well werras broadcast then on radio THE RAF ..heard this then decided to disclose it maybe they were embarred by him shootin down 4 hurricanes, as to poor morle among the pilots of RAF!.ADMITING IT AND THE PUBLIC TOO THEY WERE NEVER GIVEN THE TRUE FIGURES..
as always werras claim to fame was he escapes to germany thats all he was known for.. today we have techno to tell if people lie maybe we can tell by his broadcast made then on vinyl or cd now" check if he was tellin the truth. who knows.......by his voice tones...
but thats my point thats all we all know werras mascot lion simba and flamboyance.and escape..
as to claims helmut wick[ 3 spits 5/11/40 helmut shot down a hurricane first then flew off home.then i saw 3 spits in front of me below, i meet them first the first goes down then 2rd the 3rd i dont know whats wrong with me! maybe my nerves were frayed, i attacked him then my cannon ammos gone i use my machine guns down he goes i then fly home the nerves were from summers fighting.but hey 3 spits 3 pilots who have no graves or names wicks spits was credit to him? like werras hurris they were not....
werra had no witness like wick...with the 3 spits, the RAF have no records on spit losses there that day.
ive been a fan of wick since 1975 .
GARY
sorry my reply kept lockin up all night.