Sgt. Sydney James Hitchings
Royal Air Force 49 Squadron
from:Pontypool
My father Sgt Sidney Hitchings was POW number 276 in Stalag Luft 1
WR Chorley’s RAF Bomber Command Losses of Second World War (vol 1939 – 40) states: Night of 4/5 Set 1940 49 Squadron Hampden mk 1 P 1347 EA-D Op: Stettin
- Pilot F/O LM Hodges POW escape report WO 208/3304 S/PG 345
- Observer Sgt SJ Hitchings POW 276
- WOp/AG Sgt JH Wyatt POW escape report WO 208/3303 S/PG 280
- Wop/AG Sgt LC Turnbull POW 285
t/o Scampton. Strayed off course after being fired on by light flak from an airfield in Brittany, the Hampden was force landed in a field near St Brieuc. (Hodges and Wyatt escaped and arrived home via Gibraltar on 31 July 1941. Hodges rose in rank to become Air Chief Marshall Sir Lewis Hodges and was president of the RAF Escaping Society).
My father was one of the early pows in Stalag Luft 1 and the accompanying photos are from there. He was moved to several other camps including Stalag Lufts 3 and 4 and eventually after the forced marches of winter 1944 arrived at Camp 357 from which he was repatriated.
In 2015 I visited Pordic and met members of the Association Bretagne de Sovenir Arien (www.absa3945.com) who took me to the site of the crash. One of the old men was a boy of seven at the time and he saw the two parachutes of my father and Sgt Turnbull, both of whom were subsequently captured.
A group photo in front of what appears to be stage set. The reverse shows that it was posted from Stalag Luft 1 and I think the postmark is 1942-7-18. S.J.Hitchings is second from left front row
A propaganda “Christmas Spread” photo but my father told me all of the items were made of paper! SJH 3rd from right. 4th from left (with beard) is Sgt JC Shaw
Sgt JC Shaw (middle) and SJH back right. Others unknown. Sgt Shaw was shot while attempting to escape on the night of 2/3 Jan 42 (see Footprints in the Sands of Time, Clutton-Brock. p46.)
Sgt LC Turnbull
Sgt LC Turnbull (front) and SJH
6. S.J.Hitchings back left, others unknown.
Photos of Hampden P1347 in which my father, Sgt SJ Hitchings, was observer on the raid to Stettin on the night of 4th Sept 1949, after it crash landed in a field near Pordic, Brittany, were sent to me by Rick of Historical-media.com to whom I am grateful.