{"id":32396,"date":"2024-03-21T16:54:53","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T15:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b2ae1b12-e8c3-4786-bc05-ff0699101acf"},"modified":"2024-03-21T18:35:45","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T17:35:45","slug":"my-wifes-relative-was-in-the-real-great-escape","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/rss_feed\/my-wifes-relative-was-in-the-real-great-escape\/","title":{"rendered":"My wife’s relative was in the real Great Escape"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Claire Vaughan\n <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 21 March 2024 at 15:54 PM<\/p>

\n\n

On the night of 24 March 1944, under cover of complete darkness, 200 POWs<\/a> in the high-security Stalag Luft III camp readied themselves for a bold escape attempt. In hut 104, the men silently waited their turn, wishing hushed good lucks to each other as they followed the man in front of them down escape tunnel \u2018Harry\u2019 (One of three \u2013 the others being \u2018Tom\u2019 and \u2018Dick\u2019), which they had been patiently digging for months.Flight Lieutenant Leslie Broderick was number 53 in the queue of escapees. He had been designated \u2018Trapf\u00fchrer\u2019 and manned the tunnel entrance (concealed beneath the hut\u2019s stove) at all times. He made his bid for freedom with fellow prisoners Denys O\u2019Street, a British officer, and Henry Birkland, a Canadian fighter pilot \u2013 although if you\u2019ve seen the film The Great Escape<\/em> based on the events in Stalag Luft III, you will know that things didn\u2019t go quite as planned.Roughly 100 miles from Berlin, Stalag Luft III was a Prisoner of War camp for Allied airmen<\/a> run by the Luftwaffe. The site had several features that the Germans believed would make escape impossible: the huts were raised off the ground, it was constructed on sandy subsoil, while microphones around the perimeter of the camp could detect any sounds of digging. But they hadn\u2019t reckoned with Leslie and his plucky comrades.\u201cI\u2019m astounded by the tenacity of all of the prisoners and their ingenuity in creating the items they needed: passes, false papers, clothes to disguise themselves after the escape, and all the equipment to dig the tunnels and the methods of disposing of the sand they dug out,\u201d says reader John Fishlock, whose wife was one of Leslie\u2019s cousins.A keen family historian, he was fascinated when he unearthed Leslie\u2019s story. \u201cI feel very proud and thrilled to think that a member of my, albeit distant, family took part in something like this escape.\u201d <\/p>

John uncovered Leslie\u2019s family history first using the basic records: \u201cHe was born at 2 Waynfleet Street, Wandsworth, London, the son of a motor mechanic. When the war came along, he joined the RAF and trained as a pilot. On the night of 14 March 1943, returning from a raid to Stuttgart, his plane was shot down by a German night fighter, unfortunately only three of the crew survived, and so his captivity started.\u201d <\/p>

John managed to piece together the story of Leslie\u2019s captivity from Bomber Command reports, RAF Operation Record Books<\/a> and by Googling the famous escape story on the internet, while, before he died, Leslie himself provided an account of what happened to the escapees.<\/p>

John explains: \u201cThe plan was to get 200 prisoners out \u2013 76 did get out before the escape was discovered. Leslie and nine others gathered outside the fence before heading off on pre- decided escape routes. Denys, who injured his ankle and couldn\u2019t keep up, was recaptured near Sagan. <\/p>

Leslie and Henry travelled at night to avoid detection but by the time they reached the Polish border three days later they were suffering from frost bite.\u201d Leslie recounted: \u201cAt about 1200hrs we came across a cottage, possibly near to Kalkbrugh, and seeking shelter we were captured by soldiers billeted in the cottage. We were then taken to the village police station and during a moment of pretending to warm ourselves by the fire we destroyed our false papers.\u201d\u201cLeslie was returned to Stalag Luft III, but Henry and Denys were among the 50 executed by the Gestapo,\u201d says John.In October that same year, Leslie was one of the prisoners from camps all over eastern Germany who were moved westwards in \u2018The Great March\u2019. \u201cThese men were marched up to 1,000 miles under terrible conditions\u00a0and many died en route. Leslie survived to return home to his wife Theresa, whom he had married in 1942. They had two sons, and emigrated to South Africa where they lived out their lives.\u201d\u201cI will continue my research on Leslie and the other crew members that were lost in the crash,\u201d says John. \u201cAfter all, Leslie and his fellow crews gave up their youth to give us a future.\u201d<\/p>

Do you have a family story to share? Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk<\/a> for your chance to appear in <\/em>Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine!<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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