December 26, 2007
Taps for "Great Escape" survivor
As much as I love the 1963 film "The Great Escape," the thrilling -- and tragic -- account of the ingenuous Allied POWs who pulled off the largest mass escape of World War II, it was Paul Brickhill's book that really brought these heroes to life.
If you've only seen the film, read the book.
And now the last of those brave men to make it to freedom -- if only for a few days -- has left us.
Flight Lieutenant Mick Shand, who died on Thursday aged 92, was a fighter pilot interned at Stalag Luft III at Sagan and survived "the Great Escape" - the last to emerge from the tunnel before it was discovered, he was recaptured after four days on the run.
Shand and his fellow New Zealander Squadron Leader Len Trent, VC, planned to "hard arse" it on foot to Czechoslovakia in the hope of getting to Switzerland.
They had no great expectation of reaching England, and felt it would be impossible to make it across the frozen countryside undetected - but they felt they "had to do something".The two men moved down the 100-metre tunnel, codenamed "Harry", after midnight on the night of March 24/25 1944. Delays meant that it was almost 5am when they reached the exit, which came out in the open, a few yards from the intended spot in the cover of woods.
Shand was the 76th prisoner to emerge from the tunnel and was running across the dead ground to the woods when a patrolling guard spotted Trent emerging.
Shand threw himself to the snow-covered ground. In later years he observed: "I knew we had been rumbled. I don't think the goon knew what was going on either as we all froze.
"The minute he looked away, I made a run for the woods. That was it, I was out." The startled guard fired his rifle, but the bullet passed over Shand's head as he dived into the woods.
Finding himself alone, Shand began to walk and was on the run for almost four days, travelling at night and resting by day. The weather conditions were harsh, and he was finally caught by two railway workers as he was waiting to jump on a freight train.
He was taken to Gorlitz Prison, where he found himself amongst a group of fellow escapers.
Over the next two days the Gestapo took most of the recaptured RAF prisoners away. Shand was one of a group of four who were collected by the Luftwaffe and returned to Sagan, where he was horrified to learn that most of his colleagues had been shot by the Gestapo.
The final total of those murdered was 50. Some time later the PoWs learned that three men - two Norwegians and a Dutchman - had successfully made it back to Britain.
[...]
After the Great Escape, Shand remained at Stalag Luft III until the camp was evacuated in January 1945, the PoWs being forced to march westwards in the harshest winter for many years.
In May he was liberated. He returned to England before going home to New Zealand in September.
Shand always considered himself extremely fortunate to be one of the few survivors of the Great Escape, in which three of his fellow New Zealanders were murdered.
In later years he said he thought the venture was worth it, explaining: "We had to do something to hit back at the Germans. We did it to cause chaos behind enemy lines, and that's exactly what we did."
Rest in peace.
Posted by Mike Lief at December 26, 2007 10:52 PM
| TrackBack