wwrsimon
9th March 2016, 17:37
Hello everyone
Sgt George Anthony Wright, of Bishop Auckland, was Navigator in Hampden P4344 of 61 Sqn, shot down on July 20/21 1940 on an Op to Wilhelmshaven. He ended up as a P.o.W. until his repatriation. He wrote a privately published memoir - the IWM website (http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030015202) has this description:
Memoir (71pp) entitled 'Wilbur and the Imps go to War' recounting his service with No 61 Squadron RAF and his time in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War, with good detail of his training before the war broke out, the bombing raids he was involved with over Germany, mine drops, his capture by the Germans following the crash of his plane on 21 July 1940, his convalescence in a German hospital until his removal to a prisoner of war camp in October, the move to Stalag Luft 4 at Gross Tychow in Poland, his escape during the German march fleeing the Russians in 1944 and his eventual return to England via Warsaw and Odessa. Containing good and sometimes colourful descriptions of life in the camps, the relations between different nationalities, his stay behind in the camp due to his injury after the Germans and other prisoners fled and his escape from a later march of the walking wounded.
This memoir had now been digitised and is available to read online, courtesy of George's daughters and the North East War Memorials Project:
http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=100&articleid=1495¶graphid=4
The individual sections can be found here, as pdf files:
http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=100&articleid=1495
Hope you'll find it interesting - it's a fascinating story.
Regards
Simon
Sgt George Anthony Wright, of Bishop Auckland, was Navigator in Hampden P4344 of 61 Sqn, shot down on July 20/21 1940 on an Op to Wilhelmshaven. He ended up as a P.o.W. until his repatriation. He wrote a privately published memoir - the IWM website (http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030015202) has this description:
Memoir (71pp) entitled 'Wilbur and the Imps go to War' recounting his service with No 61 Squadron RAF and his time in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War, with good detail of his training before the war broke out, the bombing raids he was involved with over Germany, mine drops, his capture by the Germans following the crash of his plane on 21 July 1940, his convalescence in a German hospital until his removal to a prisoner of war camp in October, the move to Stalag Luft 4 at Gross Tychow in Poland, his escape during the German march fleeing the Russians in 1944 and his eventual return to England via Warsaw and Odessa. Containing good and sometimes colourful descriptions of life in the camps, the relations between different nationalities, his stay behind in the camp due to his injury after the Germans and other prisoners fled and his escape from a later march of the walking wounded.
This memoir had now been digitised and is available to read online, courtesy of George's daughters and the North East War Memorials Project:
http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=100&articleid=1495¶graphid=4
The individual sections can be found here, as pdf files:
http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=100&articleid=1495
Hope you'll find it interesting - it's a fascinating story.
Regards
Simon