Victims

The day after the mass escape from Stalag Luft III, Hitler gave personal orders that every recaptured officer was to be shot. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, chief of state security, and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel head of the German High Command, who had ultimate control over prisoners of war, argued about the responsibility for the escape.

Göring pointed out to Hitler that a massacre might bring about reprisals to German pilots in Allied hands. Hitler agreed, but insisted “more than half” were to be shot. Himmler fixed the total at 50. Keitel gave orders that the murdered officers were to be cremated and returned to the POW camp as a deterrent to further escapes.^[3]

Himmler set up the logistics for actually killing the men, and passed it down through his subordinates in the Gestapo.^[4] The general orders were that recaptured officers would be turned over to the Criminal Police, and fifty would be handed to the Gestapo to be killed.^[5]

As the prisoners were captured, they were interrogated for any useful information, and taken out by motor car, usually in small parties of two at a time, on the pretext of returning them to their prison camp. Their Gestapo escorts would stop them in the country and invite the officers to relieve themselves. The prisoners were then shot at close range from behind by pistol or machine pistol fire. The bodies were then left for retrieval, after which they were cremated and returned to Stalag Luft III.

British Military Intelligence was made aware of the extraordinary events even during conditions of wartime, via letters home and as a result of communications via the Protecting Power, i.e. Switzerland, who as a neutral party regularly reported on conditions in prisoner camps to both sides. Notices posted in Allied POW camps on 23 July 1944 that “THE ESCAPE FROM PRISON CAMPS IS NO LONGER A SPORT” in the wake of the Stalag Luft III escape, as well as the suspicious deaths of fifty officers during their recapture, led the British government to suspect a war crime had occurred. The Judge Advocate General originally placed the blame on Field Marshal Keitel, feeling publication of the notices linked him to the notice to shoot the prisoners.

The British government learned of the deaths from a routine visit to the camp by the Swiss authorities as the Protecting power in May; the Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden announced the news to the House of Commons on 19 May 1944.^[6]

Shortly after the announcement the Senior British Officer of the camp, Group Captain Herbert Massey, was repatriated to England due to ill health. Upon his return, he informed the Government about the circumstances of the escape and the reality of the murder of the recaptured escapees. Eden updated Parliament on 23 June, promising that, at the end of the war, those responsible would be brought to exemplary justice.^[7]

Victims

Name	Rank	Force	Date of Death/Last Seen Alive	Cremated
Birkland, Henry J.	Flying Officer	RCAF	31 March 1944	Leignitz
Brettell, E. Gordon	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	29 March 1944	Danzig
Bull, Lester J.	Squadron Leader	RAF	29 March 1944	Brüx
Bushell, Roger J.	Squadron Leader	RAF	29 March 1944	Poznan
Casey, Michael J.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	31 March 1944	Görlitz
Catanach, James	Squadron Leader	RAAF	29 March 1944	Kiel
Christensen, Arnold G.	Pilot Officer	RNZAF	29 March 1944	Kiel
Cochran, Dennis H.	Flying Officer	RAF	31 March 1944	Natzweiler
Cross, Ian E.K.P.	Squadron Leader	RAF	31 March 1944	Görlitz
Espelid, Haldor	Lieutenant	Royal Norwegian Air Force	29 March 1944	Kiel
Evans, Brian H.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Fuglesang, Nils	Lieutenant	Royal Norwegian Air Force	29 March 1944	Kiel
Gouws, Johannes S.	Lieutenant	South African Air Force	29 March 1944	München
Grisman, William J.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	6 April 1944	Breslau
Gunn, Alastair D.M.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	6 April 1944	Breslau
Hake, Albert H.	Flight Lieutenant	RAAF	31 March 1944	Görlitz
Hall, Charles P.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	30 March 1944	Liegnitz
Hayter, Anthony R.H.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	6 April 1944	Natzweiler
Humphreys, Edgar S.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Kidder, Gordon A.	Flying Officer	RCAF	29 March 1944	Mährisch Ostrau
Kierath, Reginald V.	Flight Lieutenant	RAAF	29 March 1944	Brüx
Kiewnarski, Antoni	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	31 March 1944	unknown
Kirby-Green, Thomas G.	Squadron Leader	RAF	29 March 1944	Mährisch Ostrau
Kolanowski, Wlodzimierz A.	Flying Officer	RAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Krol, Stanislaw Z.	Flying Officer	RAF	12 April 1944	Breslau
Langford, Patrick W.	Flight Lieutenant	RCAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Leigh, Thomas B.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	31 March 1944	Görlitz
Long, James L.R.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	12 April 1944	Breslau
Marcinkus, Romas	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	29 March 1944	Danzig
McGarr, Clement A.N.	Lieutenant	South African Air Force	6 April 1944	Breslau
McGill, George E.	Flight Lieutenant	RCAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Millford, Harold J.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	6 April 1944	Breslau
Mondschein, Jerzy T.	Flying Officer	RAF	29 March 1944	Brüx
Pawluk, Kazimierz	Flying Officer	RAF	31 March 1944	unknown
Picard, Henri A.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	29 March 1944	Danzig
Pohe, John	Flying Officer	RNZAF	31 March 1944	Görlitz
Scheidhauer, Bernard W.M.	Lieutenant	Free French Air Force	29 March 1944	Saarbrücken
Skanzikas, Sotiris	Pilot Officer	Royal Hellenic Air Force	30 March 1944	unknown
Stevens, Rupert J.	Lieutenant	South African Air Force	29 March 1944	München
Stewart, Robert C.	Flying Officer	RAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Stower, John G.	Flying Officer	RAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Street, Denys O.	Flying Officer	RAF	6 April 1944	Breslau
Swain, Cyril D.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Tobolski, Pawel	Flying Officer	RAF	2 April 1944	Breslau
Valenta, Ernst	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	31 March 1944	Liegnitz
Walenn, Gilbert W.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	29 March 1944	Danzig
Wernham, James C.	Flight Lieutenant	RCAF	30 March 1944	unknown
Wiley, George W.	Flight Lieutenant	RCAF	31 March 1944	Görlitz
(Williams, John E.A.)	Squadron Leader	RAAF	29 March 1944	Brüx
Williams, John F.	Flight Lieutenant	RAF	6 April 1944	Breslau

Sources: Wikipedia, B24.net