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19-478: Dulag Luft ( Du rchgangs lag er der Luft waffe , Transit Camp of the Airforce) were German Prisoner of War (POW) transit camps for captured airmen from any of the allied air forces during World War II . Their main purpose was to act as collection and interrogation centres for newly captured aircrew, before they were transferred in batches to the permanent camps. Several camps were set up throughout Germany and

38-787: A similar facility, the "Listening Hotel", in the First World War. This was located at 39 Ettlinger Strasse in Karlsruhe and was a former business hotel, the Europäischer Hof . The "Listening Hotel" should not be confused with the regular Officers' Camp in Karlsuhe in that war. The camp was built on the site of an old government poultry farm, approximately 300 yards north of the main Frankfurt to Bad Homburg road. The camp first opened in December 1939 when

57-457: A small number of British and French POWs were transferred in from Oflag IX-A/H . These first prisoners were to act as a permanent staff of the camp to help new POWs become accustomed to camp life. The main building, known as the stonehouse, had been used as a prison for a small number of airmen captured in the early months of the war, before it became a transit camp. The stonehouse, which had been used to house farm pupils prior to its conversion to

76-408: A week. Roger Bushell is believed not to have used the tunnel, instead escaping on the same night from a goat shed in the camp grounds. It is understood that he wished for a slightly earlier start to catch a train for his intended escape route. He was also recaptured. This was the first mass escape of the war by British officers, and the first tunnel constructed by RAF POWs to be completed and used. All

95-467: The Red Cross . Greening states "The parcels included tins and packets of such items as jam, cheese, powdered milk, meat, sardines, margarine, raisins, chocolate, coffee, sugar, and crackers." An escape committee composed of senior camp officers approved all submitted escape plans. According to Greening, "In all, 140 tunnels were dug at Stalag Luft 1." The camp held about 9000 men prisoners. On 30 April 1945,

114-745: The Germans, the permanent staff, headed by Day, had set up an escape committee with other members of the staff, including Squadron Leader Roger Bushell and Lt Cmdr Jimmy Buckley RN . Buckley was a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm and as such the Germans had placed him, with all other FAA aircrew, under the responsibility of the Luftwaffe . Bushell was later murdered by the Gestapo following The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III in March 1944. Several tunnels were started, but

133-465: The United States. The Stalag is the setting of the 2017 film Instrument of War , featuring Jack Ashton as 1st Lt. Clair William Cline (9/30-1917, Stearns Co., MN - 9/17/2010, Tacoma, Pierce Co., WA), a U.S. bomber pilot imprisoned at the camp from February 1944 to April 1945 who built a violin while a prisoner. The film also depicts the prisoners' refusal to evacuate and the negotiations between

152-617: The area badly, but American and Commonwealth personnel were treated with respect (the liberated POWs were careful to wear armbands on which their nationality was written in Russian). The Russian soldiers replaced the Germans as guards and locked the gates and refused the Allied soldiers to be evacuated ; almost two weeks later a US Colonel showed up and threatened to shoot the Soviet Commander if he didn't allow his "Allies" to be released. He ordered

171-647: The first two ran into flooding problems. However, they were not discovered. The third tunnel ran west from the western barrack block under a sentry tower on the south-western corner of the camp. This was completed in the spring of 1941, and was used by 17 British officers (mainly RAF ) in June 1941. The exact date of the escape is not known, but many sources quote it as occurring during the Whitsun weekend. The escapers, including Day, Buckley, Johnnie Dodge and future Carry On film star Peter Butterworth , were all recaptured within

190-451: The gates opened and the prisoners to be evacuated. B-17 Bombers that had all of their armaments taken out were flown in and all remaining Allied prisoners were evacuated by air, between 13–15 May, in " Operation Revival ". British POWs were returned directly to Great Britain, while the Americans were sent to Camp Lucky Strike north-east of Le Havre , France, before being shipped back to

209-481: The ground. The Germans had dug a series of shallow trenches underneath the barracks to allow guard dogs to creep along and detect any tunnelers. Occasionally, the German guards themselves crawled into the trenches and listened to the conversations of the prisoners in their rooms." North No. 1 Compound had a mess hall , where bread, potatoes, and vegetables provided by the Germans were supplemented with food parcels supplied by

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228-491: The legless fighter ace, during his brief stay at the camp. After the war, a British military court tried five Luftwaffe officers at the camp for physically abusing Allied prisoners of war. The defendants were Erich Killinger, Heinz Junge, Otto Boehringer, Heinrich Eberhardt, and Gustav Bauer-Schlichtegroll. Killinger, Junge, and Eberhardt, were found guilty, while the other two defendants were acquitted. Killinger and Junge were each sentenced to five years in prison, while Eberhardt

247-497: The occupied countries, however the main centre used throughout the war was at Oberursel near Frankfurt . A satellite camp at Wetzlar was set up later in the war to help cope with the large numbers of aircrew captured as the bombing campaign intensified against Germany. Allegations of interrogation under torture have been made by numerous POWs who passed through the camps. After the war, five German Luftwaffe officers were prosecuted for abusing detainees. The Germans had established

266-403: The prison camp, was originally the only building in the camp; however from April 1940 onwards the camp expanded with the completion of three wooden barrack blocks. After this point the stonehouse was used as the interrogation centre for new POWs, and the barrack blocks were used to house the permanent staff, POWs and other POWs awaiting transfer to other camps. The first Senior British Officer (SBO)

285-565: The prisoners were ordered to evacuate the camp in the face of the advancing Soviet Red Army , but the Senior American Officer, Colonel Hubert Zemke , refused to give the order. After negotiations between Zemke and Commandant Oberst (Colonel) Gustav Warnstedt, it was agreed that to avoid useless bloodshed the guards would go, leaving the POWs behind. The next day, the first Soviet troops arrived. The Soviet troops treated German civilians in

304-551: The recaptured escapers were well treated, and after serving their solitary confinement as punishment for the attempt were all transferred to Stalag Luft I . It is reputed that the German Camp Commandant Major Rumpel gave the escapers a case of champagne with the words "Better luck next time, even if I'm not supposed to say so". After this, no further actual escapes took place from this camp, though others were planned, including one by Wing Commander Douglas Bader ,

323-517: Was Wing Commander Harry Day . The camp steadily grew in size. Post-war the site was taken over by the United States Army and renamed Camp King . It remained in use until 1993. Wetzlar Camp was located a few miles from Frankfurt and was opened towards the end of the war. This camp was mainly used for captured USAAF personnel. As with all POWs, escape was always in mind. Despite initial appearances, and some accusations of collaboration with

342-805: Was opened in 1941 to hold British officers, but was closed in April 1942, when they were transferred to other camps. It was reopened in October 1942, when 200 RAF NCOs from Stalag Luft III were moved there. From 1943, American POWs were sent to the camp. Stalag Luft I consisted of a West Compound (also referred to as the South Compound) and North Nos. 1, 2, and 3 Compounds, separated by German quarters. According to Lt Col Charles Ross Greening, Senior Officer in North Camp 1, "Our barracks were rough, wood frame structures standing on small foundation posts about 8 to 10 inches off

361-555: Was sentenced to three years in prison. Eberhardt was released from prison in 1947, while Killinger and Junge were released in 1948. Prisoner of War Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 114007120 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 08:32:23 GMT Stalag Luft I The camp

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