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Memories of an Australian prisoner of Stalag Luft III - Sergeant Alf Miners; the Wartime Memories Project
* * * *
by Mark Kozak-Holland. The prisoners formally structured their work as a project. Thi
''book''
analyses their efforts using modern project management methods. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Charles Piers Egerton Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force pilots of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany 1918 births 1944 deaths Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Participants in the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III British escapees Extrajudicial killings in World War II British World War II prisoners of war British World War II fighter pilots People from Kings Norton Military personnel from Birmingham, West Midlands
Charles Piers Hall
compiled by USAF 392nd Bomber Group Association – 31 March 1944) was a British pilot who was taken prisoner during the
, compiled by USAF 392nd Bomber Group Association – 31 March 1944) was a British pilot who was taken prisoner during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He was part of the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a ''Luftwaffe''-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel.
The camp was established in March 1942 near th ...
in March 1944, but was captured and subsequently shot by the Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
.
War service
Hall was born inKings Norton
Kings Norton, alternatively King's Norton, is an area of Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Worcestershire, it was also a Birmingham City Council war ...
near Birmingham; He enlisted in the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
pre-war as a regular service airman with the service number 550173 on 11 February 1935. He trained to be a photographer in Halton. He was stationed as a photographer at Station Calshot on 18 February 1936, then served as a photographer on HMS Argus
Nine ships of the Royal Navy and one of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have been named ''Argus'', after Argus Panoptes, Argus, the hundred-eyed giant of mythology:
* was a 10-gun sloop-of-war, sloop, originally a French privateer, captured in 1799 an ...
from 10 September 1938 and at NAS Eastleigh from 9 June 1939. Hall started his pilot training at 4 ITW at RAF Paignton at 19 August 1940, followed by flight training at No. 9 SFTS at RAF Hullavington
Royal Air Force Hullavington, or more simply RAF Hullavington, was a Royal Air Force station located at Hullavington, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. The station opened in June 1937 and was primarily used for training. It closed on 31 Marc ...
from 4 December 1940. Hall was a leading aircraftman
Leading aircraftman (LAC) or leading aircraftwoman (LACW) is an enlisted rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence.
Leading air ...
at the time he was commissioned as pilot officer
Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence.
Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...
on 17 April 1941 for the duration of hostilities. During World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
he served as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force ( ...
. On 19 November 1941 he became a pilot for the 1st Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (or 1 PRU) was a flying unit of the Royal Air Force, first formed in 1940.
History
On 24 September 1939, the Royal Air Force formally took over the "Heston Flight", a civilian photo reconnaissance unit ...
(PRU) flying out of RAF Benson
Royal Air Force Benson or RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force (RAF) List of Royal Air Force stations, station located at Benson, Oxfordshire, Benson, near Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. It is a front-line st ...
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a p ...
,Brunsbüttel
Brunsbüttel (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Bruunsbüddel'') is a town in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany that lies at the mouth of the Elbe river, near the North Sea. It is the location of the western entrance to t ...
and the Frisian Islands
The Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or the Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the northwest of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denm ...
. Due to a solid cloud layer at low altitude he was unable to take photographs and when he observed two enemy aircraft approaching from the southeast he started his return home.
Prisoner of war
Hall was flying 1 PRUSpitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...
PR.IV AA804 when the aircraft came down over Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the Brabantian dialect, local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southwestern Netherlands. It is located in the Province ...
, the Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. He had been on a high-level reconnaissance mission to Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
and Essen to photograph bombed factories when he was either shot down or suffered engine failure (accounts vary). It was the aircraft's first operational flight and Hall's third operational flight. He became a prisoner of war and was sent to Oflag IX-AH Spangenberg Castle, followed by Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a ''Luftwaffe''-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel.
The camp was established in March 1942 near th ...
in Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
in the province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan (now Żagań
Żagań (French language, French and , ) is a town in western Poland, on the Bóbr river, with 25,731 inhabitants (2019), capital of Żagań County in the Lubusz Voivodeship, located in the historic region of Lower Silesia.
Founded in the 12th ce ...
in Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
). Hall was promoted flying officer
Flying officer (Fg Offr or F/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence.
Flying officer is immediately ...
on 17 April 1942. and flight lieutenant on 17 April 1943.
'Great Escape'
:''SeeStalag Luft III murders
The Stalag Luft III murders were war crimes perpetrated by members of the Gestapo following the " Great Escape" of Allied prisoners of war from the German Air Force prison camp known as Stalag Luft III on March 25, 1944. Of the 76 successful escape ...
''
He was one of the 76 men who escaped the prison camp on the night of 24–25 March 1944, in the escape now famous as " the Great Escape". He was recaptured near Sagan. He was one of the 50 executed and murdered by the ''Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
'' on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
on 31 March 1944. Before his execution he had written on his cell wall ''"We who are about to die salute you"''. He was cremated at Liegnitz
Legnica (; , ; ; ) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River and the Czarna Woda. As well as being the seat of the county, since 1992 the city has been the seat of the Diocese of Legnica. L ...
, now remembered at the Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery.
Awards
His conspicuous bravery was recognized by amention in Despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...
as none of the other relevant decorations then available could be awarded posthumously.
References
;Notes ;Bibliography * * * *Memories of an Australian prisoner of Stalag Luft III - Sergeant Alf Miners; the Wartime Memories Project
* * * *
External links
by Mark Kozak-Holland. The prisoners formally structured their work as a project. Thi
''book''
analyses their efforts using modern project management methods. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Charles Piers Egerton Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force pilots of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany 1918 births 1944 deaths Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Participants in the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III British escapees Extrajudicial killings in World War II British World War II prisoners of war British World War II fighter pilots People from Kings Norton Military personnel from Birmingham, West Midlands