Faith in Stalag Luft III

 

Missed the talk? It's online now, complete with slides. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmeqkA8HcfY

‘I wanted wings.’ Donald Duck, Pilot Officer Prune, and a motorbike: the popular culture of Stalag Luft III. Aviation Cultures Mark VII – Flying High: Aviation in Popular Culture 20–21 July 2023:

 In July 2023, I zoomed into the Aviation Cultures Mark VII – Flying High: Aviation in Popular Culture conference.

 

My paper was: ‘I wanted wings.’ Donald Duck, Pilot Officer Prune, and a motorbike: the popular culture of Stalag Luft III.

The talk varied a little from the abstract (as they often do - well in my case anyway) but it gives you a fair idea of what I cover:

Captivity was an alien state. Stalag Luft III’s airmen prisoners of war (POWs) needed to accept their newly ‘wingless’ state, make sense of incarceration, and learn to cope with it. Donald Duck was one icon of popular culture which helped them do this. Although an American army draftee, Donald desperately wanted to fly. Following a series of misadventures, he had his chance but, after falling from an aeroplane, the hapless bird became, like the POWs themselves, a downed airman. Trapped behind bars in wartime logbook illustrations, wearing wings insignia and displaying the artist’s own POW number, Donald represented the fallen airmen. ‘I Wanted Wings!’, he wailed.

This paper highlights the significant place of popular culture in Stalag Luft III’s wartime history and post-war memory. It discusses how the airmen POWs appropriated Donald Duck and other cartoon icons such as Bugs Bunny and their very own Pilot Officer Percy Prune to make sense of their experience by reframing capture and captivity as a humorous interlude. But the airmen did not just embrace existing popular culture. They created their own as they negotiated life behind barbed wire. Ultimately, aided by Hollywood and Steve McQueen’s motorbike, they entered it.

Here's the link if you're interested in listening in:

https://echo360.net.au/media/ee5291dc-9070-4974-9b2f-8a744d8d10da/public

 

Podcast Interview: Kriegies: the Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III

My interview with Matthew Dahlitz, President of the AMAHA Inc. http://www.australianmilitaryaviation.com.au/ is live! 

Forty-odd minutes discussion about my latest book, Kriegies: the Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III. 

I had a blast: a good interviewer and a subject dear to my heart. What a combination! 

We've already had our first views and comment: 'Great interview on a fascinating topic'. Why not tune in and see/listen for yourself.

https://raafdocumentary.com/kriegies-australian-airmen-of-stalag-luft-iii-interview-with-kristen-alexander/

Or go straight to you tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuUeIGcd1xg

Traumatic Legacy of the Dam Buster Raid: Tony Burcher, 617 Squadron

Today is the 80th anniversary of the Dam Busters Raid. Nineteen Lancaster bombers powered towards German targets. Eight crashed or were shot down. Fifty-three airmen were killed. Some were captured. It was an important raid and the survivors were lauded. A book was written about the raid; a film lionised them. But the raid left a traumatic legacy for some of its survivors including survivor guilt. A legacy we don’t often consider. As part of my PhD studies – and in my next book – I consider how the Dam Buster Raid affected one Australian survivor. 

*****

Twenty-one year old Anthony ‘Tony’ Burcher of 617 Squadron RAF was a gunner on one of the aircraft which bombed the Möhne Dam during Operation Chastise – the dam buster raid. The Lancaster was mortally damaged but its pilot, John Hopgood, aware that in effect he was committing suicide, continued to fly, gaining height to ensure his still living crew had the best chance of baling out. Just about to jump, Burcher saw John Minchin, the RAF wireless operator, crawling on hands and knees, dragging his leg, carrying his parachute. He ‘was in a hell of state’. And then Minchin stopped moving. Burcher thought, ‘there’s only one thing to do’. He pulled the parachute’s D-ring, shoved Minchin through the rear door, and followed him down. Minchin did not survive. ‘I don’t know to this day whether I did the right thing or not. I still do agonise about it.’ Burcher and bomb aimer John Fraser, the only other survivor of their aircraft, along with Frederick Tess who was downed during the same raid, were captured almost immediately. Burcher eventually found his way into Stalag Luft III.

In trying to understand why both men committed suicide in late life, Burcher indicated that it was linked to the ill-treatment after capture which both (he imagined) experienced at the hands of the Gestapo. Burcher implied his guilt at their fate, and perhaps vicarious culpability in their deaths, by highlighting the disparity between his friends’ treatment and his own. He had been taken to a hospital and received the best of care. ‘But if they were got hold of by the Gestapo, I think that might have worried them.’ Burcher was a prisoner of war for two years; he had enlisted while still an 18-year-old and was only 21 when captured. His reference in interview to his friends’ suicides, his anguish over Minchin’s death and Hopgood’s sacrifice, and his later contention that he had cheated death implies that at one point he suffered survivor guilt.

Burcher’s guilt was not complicated by any feelings of personal culpability regarding the human cost of the dams’ raids, which included at least 1650 German deaths in addition to those of 750 POWs and labourers, as well as the thousands of displaced persons whose homes were destroyed. It may, perhaps, have been exacerbated by the almost universal public acclaim the ‘dam busters’ received. His Distinguished Flying Medal (following rapidly on the heels of his commission) was one of twenty-four awards granted to Chastise’s eighty survivors; their leader, Guy Gibson, was honoured with a Victoria Cross. RAAF historian John Herington acclaimed the Australian survivors as ‘Homeric figures’. Their actions were further lauded in 1951’s The Dam Busters by fellow former kriegie Paul Brickhill, the 1955 film-of-the-book (which Burcher described as ‘quite authentic’(, and in ‘The Dam Busters March’, the film’s theme music by Eric Coates. In popular culture, Burcher and all of the Chastise airmen have become the Dam Busters.

Ethics and ethical behaviour may be compromised if someone is morally troubled. Criminal behaviour is one possible outcome. Philosopher and ethicist Ned Dobos recognises as moral pain USAAF pilot Claude Eatherly’s conscience-stricken anguish after flying a reconnaissance mission over Hiroshima before the atomic bomb was dropped. Despite having no role in the destruction of Hiroshima, Eatherly was consumed by an all-encompassing guilt for which he could not atone. Reflecting intense moral troubling – perhaps moral injury – Eatherly expressed his pain in a number of ways, including by committing petty crimes for no gain which, in his mind, proved his guilt. Like many former POWs, Tony Burcher had difficulty adjusting to post-captivity life. Different work, marriage within weeks of liberation (he was then 23 years old), and the birth of a daughter fourteen months later, contributed to his unsettledness. His air force career was blighted by personal and domestic problems and he resigned his commission in 1952 (the year after publication of The Dam Busters) following a series of negative assessments. Eleven years later, still living in Britain, he was gaoled for conspiracy to defraud a hire purchase company. Recognising the former airman’s wartime valour, the judge considered his case ‘tragic’. Burcher’s reflections on his war experiences suggests that he suffered more than moral troubling. Was his crime, like Eatherly’s, an expression of his moral troubling or injury emanating from his survivor guilt which revealed his sense of moral culpability? Or an indication of his inability to live up to the lionisation accorded the dam busters?

Such complex moral emotions, however, appear to have been assuaged by Burcher’s belief that the dam buster raids were worthwhile. They were, he believed more than simply a morale boost for the allies, they significantly disrupted German industry and war effort by creating floods and ensuring electricity loss. He appreciated the psychological value of the raiding force: ‘it must have really shocked the Germans to see 19 bombers flying out of the moonlight that evening’. That martial achievement gave meaning to his friends’ deaths and he felt it terribly when the provocative, holocaust-denying historian – that ‘controversial creature’ – David Irving claimed the dam buster raid was unsuccessful. ‘It’s very upsetting when someone talks about your mates dying in vain like that.’ That Burcher launched his ‘salvo’ on Irving five days after speaking about his involvement in Chastise, his last, fateful, operational flight and his feelings about the loss of his friends, reveals the acute state of his psychological pain and moral distress.

*****

Try as he might, Tony Burcher could find no motives for why his friends took their own lives. ‘We can’t understand why they both should commit suicide’. As I have already suggested, Burcher’s crime may have reflected his survivor guilt. It may also indicate moral injury. The legal process related to his fraud may, in some way, have allowed him to assuage his vicarious culpability. His late-life assessment – two years before his death – that he ‘came out mentally okay’ suggests that he was able to put aside his guilt and achieve a degree of moral serenity.

Soon to be released ... Kriegies: the Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III

 I am thrilled to announce the imminent release of ...

Who could pronounce Kriegsgefangener? The German for prisoner of war was too much of a mouthful. More to the point, it reminded POWs of their status as unwilling non-combatants. They were ashamed of it. Instead, airman POWs dubbed themselves ‘kriegies’, based on the first syllable – war. It became a ‘fun’ word which emphasised that they were still men of war. It was one of the many ways in which they coped with captivity.

Kriegies: the Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III explores how Australian POWs and their families responded to captivity. Drawing on letters, diaries, memoirs, interviews, and medical records, Kriegies describes – in their own words – how the airman POWs coped with the trials of incarceration: monotony, separation from loved ones, absence of sex, homosexuality, and threats to their mental health. Kriegies also delves into the reactions of those on the home front who provided love and support as they anxiously awaited their loved ones’ return. It features the events of the Great Escape – perhaps the most notorious mass escape from German captivity – the tragic fate of five young Australians, and the grief expressed by their comrades and families. Based on the author’s award-winning PhD thesis, Kriegies is an intimate portrayal of captivity. It reveals the human story of wartime imprisonment. It is an inspiring account of love, courage, and resilience.

Award-winning aviation author Kristen Alexander (that's me, folks) has been writing about Australian pilots for over two decades. Published in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Japan, her works include Clive Caldwell Air Ace, Jack Davenport Beaufighter Leader, and Australia’s Few and the Battle of Britain. Two of her books have been included on the Chief of Air Force’s reading list. She is the 2021 winner of the Australian War Memorial’s Bryan Gandevia Prize for Australian military–medical history. Her sixth book, Kriegies: the Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III, is based on that award-winning PhD thesis. 

I am honoured to have received these endorsements.

Professor Peter Stanley, FAHA

Kriegies is a rich and powerful work of historical research. This insightful book takes us behind the barbed wire, physically but also emotionally, going beyond wartime bravado to reveal the profound effects of captivity on individual airmen and their families.

Dr Karl James FRHistS, Head, Military History Section, Australian War Memorial

An impressive piece of work. Meticulously researched, Kristen Alexander skilfully blends the experiences of Australian airmen held as prisoners of the Germans with those they left behind in Australia. These are powerful personal stories of shame, fear, boredom, humour, defiance, love and loss. This is the most significant work published on the RAAF in the Second World War in some time.

Dr Kate Ariotti, author, Captive Anzacs and winner, 2015 CEW Bean Prize for Military History

Kriegies is a fascinating take on the lives of Australia’s POW airmen of the Second World War that is not afraid to tackle sensitive topics like selfishness, suicide, and sex. Alexander’s meticulous research and engaging prose combine to offer a profound new contribution to our understanding of wartime captivity. Kriegies is a must-read.

Peter Rees, author, Lancaster Men

Kristen Alexander reveals the existential challenges 351 Australian POWs faced at Stalag Luft III in their battle to survive the brutal Nazi war machine. Kriegies is insightful, compelling and sensitive; a very human story of war.

Andy Saunders, Aviation Historian and Author

This is the most powerful read I have ever encountered on the Kriegie experience of the Second World War. At times almost shockingly visceral, Kriegies is an emotional and thought provokingly honest account of what it meant to be a POW in German hands. Another truly masterful offering from Kristen Alexander.

 Here's the table of contents to whet your appetite!

If you'd like to read a sample chapter, click here:

https://alexanderfaxbooks.com.au/Catalogues/KriegiesSampleChapterOne.pdf

Stay tuned for more release date and ordering details ... but if you would like to be included in my mailing list when the book is released, please get in touch.

Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III by Kristen Alexander

'Everlasting Vigil - The Goon in his Box' Watercolour by Tim Mayo. Courtesy of Peter Mayo 

Soon to be released ... finally ... my account of life in Stalag Luft III from the perspective of the Australian Kriegies:

Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III

Australians: Anzac Day 1944. Courtesy of Drew Gordon.   

Here's the table of contents to whet your appetite!

If you'd like to read a sample chapter, click here:

https://alexanderfaxbooks.com.au/Catalogues/KriegiesSampleChapterOne.pdf

Stay tuned for more details ... but if you would like to be included in my mailing list when the book is released, please get in touch.

Vilely Murdered: new article about the Great Escape

My latest article has been published in the Australian War Memorial's Wartime magazine. It is a great honour to be included in their 100th issue.