Survivors pay tribute to fallen WWII comrades
02 February 2010
In 1945 80,000 Allied PoWs were forced marched hundreds of miles from the notorious Nazi concentration camps in Eastern Europe to Germany as the advancing Russian Army pushed west.
Even in retreat German soldiers continued to expose their captives to the violence and inhuman cruelty that was the defining feature of the Nazi regime.
This month a 100 strong group of RAF volunteers, camp survivors and relatives paid tribute to the fortitude of the 80,000 Allied prisoners who walked from Poland to Germany in arctic conditions as the Red Army advanced.
Taking part in the event was a moving experience for civilian Michael Day, whose father Flt Lt Frank Day was among the RAF pilots held at the notorious Stalag Luft III camp after being shot down over Cyprus.
He said: "My father did speak of his experiences but walking in his footsteps, quite literally, helped me understand just what he and the other PoWs went through.
"There were a lot of tears during the memorial service and when members of the RAF band performed Abide with Me.
"The RAF personnel were extraordinary. There was a great spirit. It was hard going and the conditions were harsh. We were eating a minimum of 3000 calories a day to cope with the conditions. It was minus 22 degrees."
The extreme cold was the biggest danger for the Allied prisoners in the harsh winter of 1945. Forced to endure arctic conditions, hundreds died of hypothermia and disease during the 1000 mile trek.
Sleeping rough in barns and derelict buildings along the route and kept apart from the German guards, the prisoners relied on their captors for water and food - which sometimes came at a high price.
Michael Day explained: "During the march, the prisoners would draw lots to choose who would approach the guards and ask for water.
"The first allied prisoner to approach the Germans was shot in the head. The same thing happened to the second man.
"When it came to Frank's turn he joked: 'I'm not really that thirsty,' He knew he had to go. They slammed a rifle butt into his face for his trouble. That counts as lucky."
65 years later the volunteers faced similar conditions as temperatures slumped to minus 25. For the handful of RAF Camp survivors still alive today, the event brought back profound memories.
Andrew Wiseman served with Bomber Command and was interned at Stalag Luft III. He has been a leading force in the RAF bid to commemorate the Long March, and the recreation of the PoW hut on the Stalag Luft site.
He said: "The long march in 1945 brought to the fore qualities that you never knew you had. When it came to it you did it because the alternative was death.
"You just followed in the footsteps of the guy in front of you. You didn't talk because that took too much efforts.
"What the long march taught me, and I go on long marches with current RAF people, is that 'cometh the hour, cometh the man.'
Flight Lieutenant Louise Brooks, from RAF Leeming based 90 Signals Unit took part alongside her 13-year-old son, Ross. She said: “I came on this march because I thought it would be a once in a lifetime experience. To be able to visit the site of Stalag Luft III in the company of veterans imprisoned there was extremely humbling.”
A group of twenty trainees from RAF Halton also took part. Trainee Simon Tanner said; “It is cold here, but over the past month we have been marching 12 miles a day in the woods at Halton so we were prepared for it. In any case the RAF is all about camaraderie – the humour and banter is what keeps you going.”
All images SAC Neil Chapman
