I'm a journalist for a community paper in South Africa and did an article on Les Brodrick. I am posting it on this website as it helped me piece together the chain of events during the long march, as Les's memory was a little vague.
Les recalls his Stalag Luft III escape -By Shelly Lawrie
Sixty-six years ago, in one of the most daring and bold escapes from a
Prisoner of War camp, Scottburgh¹s Leslie Brodrick, (now 88), one of 15
survivors, recalls the event and consequences. A Royal Air Force, Flight Lieutenant for 106 squadron, Brodrick, 22-years-old, was shot down. He crash landed near Amiens on his Stuttgart
raid return flight. He was taken to Dulag Luft for interrogation, then to
Stalag Luft III in Sagan, an airforce Prisoner of War camp run by the
Luftwaffe.
South African born Squadron Leader, Roger Bushell was the master-mind
behind the audacious escape plan at the camp, and Brodrick was recruited
immediately. Numerous tunnels had been dug but were found by the Germans.
Bushell’s plan consisted of three tunnels, ‘Tom’, ‘Dick’ and ‘Harry’ being
dug simultaneously. His aim was to have 250 men escape and spread chaos in
Germany. Of all three tunnels, ‘Dick’ had the most ingenious trapdoor. Situated in block 122, the washroom, the tunnel entry was concealed in the sump. Water
had to be removed, and the modified concrete slab put in place and sealed
with a mixture of clay, soap and cement. Broderick was appointed
’trapfuhrer’, meaning he was responsible for the entrance to ‘Dick’. He had
to unseal the slab for the ‘diggers’ then seal them in again and keep watch. After ‘Tom’ was discovered and ‘Dick’ abandoned after a prison compound
was constructed in its path, all efforts were concentrated on ‘Harry’.
‘Dick’ was used as storage for all contraband.
On the evening of March 24, 1944, 200 men hoped to escape through ‘Harry’.
The tunnel, 8.5m down, to hide any tunnelling sounds that buried microphones might pick up, and about 102m long, had electrical light, a ventilation system and a railway track with three haulage points and carts.
Things did not go according to plan. Firstly, the exit trapdoor was frozen
shut. After opening it, it was discovered the tunnel was well short of the
pine-forest tree line. Due to an air-raid on Berlin, all camp electricity
was turned off. With the tunnel exit only 27m from the nearest guard tower, a plan was
hatched. A length of rope was strung from inside the tunnel to a person just behind the tree line. A series of tugs were used to signal “the coast is clear”.
Experienced escapees, German speakers and those that contributed the most
to the operation, were first on the list. The rest of the men drew lots,
Brodrick was drawn at number 52. In complete darkness, Brodrick made his way to the tunnel exit, he hit a snag at the exit ladder as his legs could not bend to climb up. He got out by hauling himself, hand-over-hand for the last 8.5m. Once free of the camp, Brodrick and two others, Henry Birkland and Denys Street, did not progress very far. For three days, travelling at night only, soaked and freezing, Brodrick and Street decided to find shelter as Birkland was ³in a bad way². Spotting a cottage, the three, street-fluent in German, decided to try
their luck by “spinning a yarn” to the occupants of the cottage.
Unfortunately, the occupants were German soldiers. The three were arrested,
taken to a local police station and then to Gestapo head quarters at Gorlitz for interrogation. Brodrick said he recognised the Gestapo as they “dress in leather coats just like in the movies”.
He was then returned to Stalag Luft III. On arrival he discovered Hitler
had ordered 50 of the escaped 76 to been shot, Street was one of them. The
men under pretence, individually or in pairs, were told they were being
moved to another location. On the “trip”, German soldiers would stop the
vehicle, either for the men to relieve themselves or ‘stretch their legs’,
and when their backs were turned they were shot. The excuse given for their
’execution’ was that they had been trying to escape. Of the 76 escapees,
three evaded recapture.
On January 27, 1945, Stalag Luft III was evacuated due to Russian forces
approaching. Broderick and many others were marched in sub-zero
temperatures, westwards to Spremberg. Once there they were loaded into
cattle trains, destination Marlag Nord in Tarmstedt. The British corporal in charge of the prisoners refused to stay at the Marlag camp, condemned by the Red Cross as unfit and unsanitary.
Eventually Brodrick and the others ended up on a tobacco plantation near Lubeck. Here they were liberated on May 2, 1945, by British troops in open trucks shouting, “you’re free!”.
During the march they were shot at by a Royal Air Force spitfire, until
the pilot realised they were not the enemy. Broderick also witnessed
concentration camps with “skeletal Jews and the systematic slaughter of
them”. At one location the prisoners were given a shower, and they thought
they were to be gassed.
Brodrick was flown home to Canvey Island, England in a Lancaster, one from
his old squadron. After tidal wave flooded Canvey Island in 1953, Brodrick and family came to South Africa in 1956, and moved to Scottburgh in 1963.
