LW Ace PoW from BoB ‘Exchanged’ in 1943 –becomes a Bomber Killer!!!

[Rob Romero]

Lt. Walter Blume (14) was a JG26 ace of 6 victories when he became a POW during the Battle of Britain on 18 Aug 40 after crash-landing severly WIA in Canterbury (2 BoB Claims). However, he recovered and was exchanged/repatriated in Oct 43, where he flew further ops with JG27 to be further credited with 8 Viermots! Does anyone know the motivation behind this exchange and were any other pilots/notables involved in this or other arrangements?

Thanks,

Rob Romero

[Andy Saunders]

Blume had been at the Woolwich Military Hospital in the "Luftwaffe Ward" and was, presumably, seriously injured. There were frequent repatriations of POW's where their wounds were sufficient to render them incapabable of further military service. An example was Heinz Mollenbrok of KG2 (POW 16 Aug 40) who was repatriated because of his injuries. The conditions were that the repatriated prisoners were not supposed to participate in further active military service. I think that was generally observed, although Blume apparently did.

[Peter Spoden]

This exchanges happened several times in the war.
In my booklet "Enemy In The Dark" I report about Wim Johnen who landed 28.April 1944 in Switzerland with the Me 110 C9+EN (Schraegbewaffnung), was exchanged a few weeks later, came to our Staffel again, shot down another 16 RAF bombers.
By the way, Switzerland got 12 Me 109 G in exchange.
regards Peter Spoden

[Rob Romero]

Thanks, Andy and Peter. A notable difference however was that Wilhelm Johnen (34) landed in NEUTRAL Switzerland, wheras Blume (14) crash-landed in ENEMY territory.

Anyhow, always great to get a reply from a genuine Luftwaffe Ace!!! Thank you ever so much Peter Spoden (24)

Rob Romero (353 Claimed / 0 Verified)

[Chris Goss]

There was also a pilot with II/SKG 10 taken POW in April 1943 who was then killed in 1944 in an accident flying with JG 6 (from what I remember)

[JägerMartin]

Originally Posted by Rob Romero

Lt. Walter Blume (14) was a JG26 ace of 6 victories when he became a POW during the Battle of Britain on 18 Aug 40 after crash-landing severly WIA in Canterbury (2 BoB Claims). However, he recovered and was exchanged/repatriated in Oct 43, where he flew further ops with JG27 to be further credited with 8 Viermots! Does anyone know the motivation behind this exchange and were any other pilots/notables involved in this or other arrangements?

Thanks,

Rob Romero

Interesting info Rob, did he survive the war? Where was he at wars end?

[kalender1973]

IIRC somebody from the JG4 has the same biography. Intresting point for me, what were happened, if these guys became POW again. They broken clear the war rules. It is death penalty issue ?

[kaki3152]

It may have been a death penalty but most of these pilots were flying over Reich territory.

Another pilot who flew operations after being repatriated was Lt. Ewald Kraas who was shot down and taken POW in North Africa while flying for JG-77. He was repatriated as it was thought his injuries were too severe for him to fly combat. He then flew for JG-4 and was wounded again very severely.

Due to the scarcity of expereinced Jadgfliegers, even LW pilots with limbs missing were flying combat in 1944-1945.

Carlos

[Dénes Bernád]

Could it happen the other way around, too? Namely, RAF airmen, who had been exchanged as POWs, and later on returned to flying combat missions during the war?

[George Hopp]

I vaguely recall that Americans who had been shot down over Europe, and escaped, were sent to the Pacific. So, were others also sent to other theatres? It's not quite the same conditions as above.

I cannot see that a returned person, captured again, had broken any laws. If he healed faster and more completely that his captors had imagined, that was not his fault. And, as Kaki mentioned, by the end of the war, they were using anyone who could fly -- look at a captured Rudel at war's end with part of his right leg gone.