Monday, 19 July 2021

Winning the ‘battle of the wits’ in the barbed-wire battleground: Australian airmen of Stalag Luft III

 Friends of Air Force History and Heritage Network Seminar 4 December 2020

Winning the ‘battle of the wits’ in the barbed-wire battleground: Australian airmen of Stalag Luft III. 

In my first post-PhD presentation, I discuss how the Australian airmen of Australian airmen – a Luftwaffe prisoner of war camp – energetically overcame the challenges of captivity to remain active servicemen in the barbed-wire battleground by reinforcing their military identity; enacting RAF discipline; and engaging in a programme of active disruption, including escape. I also discuss the narratives of captivity which enabled the Australian airmen to make sense of the deaths of those killed in the Great Escape reprisals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI_76GjmrmM