The guards on board the Duchess of York passenger liner were agitated as they
accompanied the first batch of German prisoners from Britain to Canada in early 1941. And while
captured soldiers would not likely attempt to escape in the middle of the Atlantic,
Franz Von Werra was not a typical inmate.
The Swiss soldier had already tried to escape twice from British prisons,
and almost achieved it both times.
During the current voyage, Von Werra and several prisoners plotted to take the ship
and get it to a port in occupied France. The plan called for assault parties to overtake the vessel,
and they would then call for U-boats roaming the Atlantic to escort them.
At dawn on the assault day, Von Werra and his fellow conspirators hurriedly stepped
out of their cabins and did not find any ships on the horizon. However, much to their surprise,
they soon spotted a battleship right astern, which halted their plans.
Von Werra would now have to wait until they got to shore to try and escape again
in the middle of the harsh Canadian winter...
Delusions of Grandeur
Franz von Werra was born on July 13, 1914, only two weeks before the outbreak of World War 1.
His family lived in a small town in the Swiss canton of Valais called Leuk, and his father
held a title akin to a Baron, but went bankrupt shortly after the birth of his youngest son.
The law called for other relatives to take in Franz and his little sister Emma,
the youngest of six children, and they were eventually adopted by a wealthy friend,
Louise Von Haber. From then on, the young children would become Von Habers,
believing Carl and Louise were their natural parents.
As a young man, the Von Habers separated and Franz ran away from his home,
eventually trying to get to the United States as a stowaway in the Niederwald cargo ship.
However, he was discovered at the port of Hamburg.
Roughly a year later,
the recently-turned-18 man learned of his true identity and decided to reclaim his birth name.
Then, in 1933, he joined a Nazi-associated paramilitary organization called Sturmabteilung,
better known as Storm Troopers or Brownshirts. And three years later,
at the age of 22, von Werra discovered his true calling and joined the Luftwaffe.
A Dashing Pilot
Franz Von Werra became a Lieutenant only two years after joining the German Air Force
and just in time to enter the war.
The fighter pilot briefly participated in the Polish campaign at the outbreak
of the global conflict with the Jagdgeschwader 1 and was then assigned to Group II of the JG3,
becoming an adjutant.
He soon earned a reputation for himself, and he was described as being extroverted, charismatic,
seductive, extremely social, and a bit eccentric. The young man even had a pet lion cub named Simba
and kept him at the aerodrome as the unit’s mascot. What’s more, he also owned a racing car.
Notably, however, he would often engage in boisterous playboy behavior,
being restless and bold. Since he used to wear a red jacket, the German propaganda
would later give him the moniker of “the Red Devil - the terror of the British Air Force.”
Co-authors Kendal Burt and James Leasor would say about the legendary figure: (QUOTE)
“Franz von Werra was an almost perfect image of the imperious young superman that Hitler
created. He was efficient, bold and apparently full of courage. He
claimed for himself a Swiss baronetcy that he never owned and which the Swiss never grant.
In Germany he surrounded himself with the trappings of a dashing pilot.”
Despite his reputation, the young pilot was outstanding in his craft.
When the Germans launched the Western Campaign in the summer of 1940, Von Werra fought in the
Battle of France. On May 20, he downed his first enemy, a British Hawker Hurricane.
The day after, he claimed two French Breguet 690 bombers and a Potez 690 near Cambrai.
He was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class soon after, and later the Knight Cross.
Still, he continued to draw attention from the German media for being quite the character.
During the Battle of Britain, Von Werra claimed to have destroyed a Spitfire, three Hurricanes, and
five other RAF aircraft on the ground, all during a single sortie. The alleged feat is not featured
in the official British records, but the German propaganda still benefited from it significantly.
Rising his toll to 13 hits, the 22-year-old soon became an official Ace fighter pilot,
and his exploits were never contested.
The Fall
On September 5, 1940, Royal Air Force Spitfire pilot and fighter ace Basil Gerald Stapleton
was defending his homeland from the invading Nazis with the No.603 Squadron.
He recalled: (QUOTE) “During my dive from altitude, I spotted a Spitfire at about 6,000
feet diving vertically, half inverted, towards the ground, its tail shot away.
I then spotted a lone 109 in the same airspace as an RAF pilot descending by parachute.
I latched onto the German and pursued him at low-level over the Kent countryside.
As I fired short bursts, he attempted to shake me off, but I could see my tracer
striking his aircraft and I closed in. I remember at one stage being concerned
that there was a village in my line of fire. He had nowhere to go but down.”
Franz von Werra was piloting said aircraft while escorting a bomber squadron over Kent
when his Messerschmitt BF-109 was allegedly downed by two ace fighter pilots.
While Stapleton was credited with downing Von Werra’s aircraft at first,
The London Gazette claims that Australian ace Flight Lieutenant Paterson Hughes
-serving with the 234 Royal Air Force Squadron- was given half the credit posthumously.
Per his October 22 citation, a bar was added to his Distinguished Flying Cross.
When he was taken down, Von Werra was forced to crash-land in a field on Loves Farm near
Winchet Hill, south of London. As Stapleton said: (QUOTE) “I flew low over the site.
The German was soon apprehended, initially by the unarmed cook from the local searchlight battery!”
At first, the captive was taken prisoner by the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
But while he was held in their barracks in Maidstone, he attempted to escape.
Royal Military Police Private Denis Rickwood was overseeing the prisoner
as he dug a ditch with a pick ax, but the guard was only armed with a small
truncheon and Von Werra took advantage of the situation and overpowered the Brit.
He then fled but was recaptured and sent to a Mi-9 interrogation center.
A Run For It
Von Werra was interrogated for ten days at the London District Prisoner of War “cage” Trent Park,
which was turned into an interrogation venue from a country house in Hertfordshire.
The British Intelligence tried its best to wean information out of him,
but it was to no avail. Von Werra always kept a contemptuous attitude
and even made a bet with the chief interrogator, Squadron Leader Hawkes,
that the Brits would not keep him as a prisoner for more than six months. And he was right.
After a short time in temporary custody in London, the prisoner was sent to Camp No. 1 at
Grizedale Hall in Lancashire, near the Scottish border. Then, on October 7, the prisoners were
allowed to take a walk outside during the day. Persuading his fellow inmates to cover for him,
he then took advantage of a minor distraction with a fruit cart, jumped over a low stonewall,
and hid until the prisoners and the guards left the area. He then ran off into a nearby field.
Three days later, at about 11:00pm, the Home Guard of local volunteers
found him in a small hut used to store animal feed. Still, he managed to escape from them
and ran into the night. A few days later he was found almost completely immersed in a muddy ditch.
A Dutch Pilot
After the breakout, von Werra was given 21 days of solitary confinement
and later sent to Camp No. 13, or “Hayes Camp,” in Swanwick, Derbyshire.
There, he joined a group of inmates that were digging a tunnel.
The group completed the tunnel by mid-December, and their forgers provided them with money
and fake identity papers. The five men then escaped by using anti-aircraft fire and choir
singing as a cover. Four were quickly recaptured, but the sneaky pilot carried on by himself.
Suited in his pilot attire, he then convinced a friendly locomotive driver
that he was Captain Van Lott, a Dutch Royal Netherlands Air Force pilot.
Arguing that he had been downed, he kindly asked to be taken to the nearest RAF base.
Von Werra nonchalantly made his way to the aerodrome at RAF Hucknall near Nottingham,
where he was asked for his credentials. He then claimed that he was based at Dyce, near Aberdeen,
and while the Squadron Leader was verifying his story, the runaway reached the nearest hangar
and convinced the mechanic that he was cleared for a test flight.
At that moment, he was arrested at gunpoint.
Success
As the British realized that Von Werra would never give up,
they decided to send him across the Atlantic to minimize his chances of returning to Germany.
Then, early in 1941, Von Werra boarded the passenger liner Duchess of York
along with thousands of prisoners headed to Canada.
The unstoppable man soon began plotting his next escape.
During the voyage, he became friends with the kitchen crew while offering to peel potatoes.
From then on, Von Werra got acquainted with several crew members
and even managed to get to an engine room without any resistance.
Eventually, these laps throughout the ship gave birth to an idea,
and the astute man plotted with other captives to overtake the Duchess of York
and make for a friendly port. But their plans were thwarted as the Ramillies
battleship was not letting the prisoners out of her sight until they got to Canada.
As the ship arrived in Montreal,
the Air Force officers were sent to a camp north of Lake Superior in Ontario by train.
Von Werra and about 35 other prisoners left Halifax at 7:30pm on a particularly snowy night,
and they were treated to a wholesome meal and sweetened coffee from the Canadians.
Several prisoners who had wanted to escape suddenly changed their minds,
but not von Werra. Resolved to get back home,
he convinced the other prisoners to cover for him, and during a short stop between Montreal
and Ottawa, the escape artist jumped out the window into the biting Canadian winter night.
Seven other prisoners also attempted to escape, but they were all recaptured.
Von Werra’s absence wasn’t noticed until the following afternoon,
and the pilot had enough time to cover 30 miles and reach the Saint Lawrence River, cross it, and
become a free man as he entered the United States, which was still neutral by that point in the war.
The Path Home
Von Werra turned himself in to the American police, who charged him with illegally entering
the country. However, the German consul paid his bail, and he became a celebrity.
He also learned that Hitler himself had awarded him the Iron Cross.
While the Canadian and American authorities negotiated his extradition,
the consul sent the now-refugee to Mexico. From there,
he traveled to South America and arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He then traveled to Europe through Barcelona and Rome, and on April 18,
1941, Von Werra arrived home, becoming the only prisoner of war to escape from Canada
and get back to Germany to fight again.
The newly-anointed hero eventually became a consultant in interrogating techniques,
revealing many secrets that effectively minimized the British practices.
Later that year, he rejoined active service and was deployed to the Eastern Front.
However, in October of 1941, his aircraft suffered a total engine failure and plummeted
while on a practice flight over the North Sea. Von Werra was 27 years old,
but had already become a legend, known forever as “The One That Got Away.”
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