THE FIRST GREAT ESCAPE
On June 1, 1941, a long-planned mass escape from a POW camp took place near Frankfurt. Charles Rollings digs up the facts of the first great escape
In 1941, standing on the outskirts of Oberursel – asuburb about four miles northwest of Frankfurt am Main – was Dulag Luft Oberursel. This camp, about 300 yards north of the Frankfurt-Homberg road, from which it was reached by a side-road, had originally been an experimental farm. In September 1939 it was converted into a kommandantur (headquarters) and a cell block for French POWs, and two months later became a transit/ interrogation centre for Allied air force personnel. The first kommandant, Major Theo Rumpel, was a World War One pilot, and had ranking under him an administrative, support and guard staff comprising entirely of Luftwaffe personnel. On December 15, a small party of British/French POWs was transferred from Oflag IXA Spangenberg to act as the nucleus of a permanent staff that would acclimatise new POWs. The party comprised Wing Commander Harry ‘Wings’ Day; Flying Officer Richard Baughan; Pilot Officer Michael Casey; naval pilots Lieutenants Richard Thurston and Guy Griffiths; Leading Aircraftman James Nelson; and n…
