Soviet pilot Mikhail Petrovich Devyataev was captured after his aircraft was shot down
during World War II and sent to a labor camp next to Rocket Center Peenemunde, where the
famous V2 rockets were being developed.
With the help of his fellow countrymen, Devyataev executed a masterful escape that involved
stealing a Heinkel He 111 bomber from the prison’s commander.
The small team of Soviet survivors then managed to fly into Russian territory after evading
Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters, but their troubles were far from over.
The soldiers were shot down by Soviet aircraft, deemed traitors by Stalin’s police, and
sent to the frontline to keep fighting.
But Devyataev would continue to prove his worth and was eventually recognized as a Hero
of the Soviet Union thanks to valuable information he shared with the head of the Soviet Space
Program.
A Dream Come True
Mikhail Petrovich Devyataev was born in 1917 in a small Mordovian village in Torbeyevo,
Russia.
He was the 13th child of a hard-working peasant family.
Mikhail was known to be a mediocre student.
He showed little interest in school and didn’t have any hobbies.
But it all changed when he saw an aircraft for the first time.
The warplane landed on his village, and when a Soviet pilot emerged from it, Mikhail raced
to him and asked: (QUOTE) “How do I become a pilot?”
The man smiled and said: (QUOTE) “It is necessary to study well, practice sports,
and be extremely brave.”
Mikhail then became an excellent student and sportsman.
In 1933, after finishing 7th grade, he traveled to Kazan to join the aviation school, but
a paperwork mistake placed him in River College.
Still, Mikhail joined the Flying Club of Kazan.
He would go to river school in the mornings and train to become a pilot by night.
The young man graduated from River College in 1938 and briefly worked as the captain
of a barge on the Volga.
After saving some money, Mikhail then enrolled in the Orenburg Aviation School to become
a military pilot, where he met veteran aviators from the Spanish Civil War.
By the summer of 1939, Mikhail successfully graduated as a Red Army pilot.
A Survivor
Devyatayev scored his first German bomber kill on June 24, 1941, in the outskirts of
Minsk.
His bravery earned him the Order of the Red Banner, and he became the leader of the 104th
Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.
His call sign was Mordvin.
As the German offensives turned more aggressive, Devyatayev was repeatedly summoned to defend
Moscow from Luftwaffe bombers.
Piloting brand-new Yakovlev fighters, Devyatayev and his unit were sent to Tula to knock down
a Junker bombers formation.
They managed to take out some of them, but Devyatayev was hit during the raid.
The pilot managed to land his Yaks but was injured in one leg and sent to the hospital.
Once recovered, he immediately went back to his unit and continued flying.
On September 21, 1941, Devyatayev was shot down again after delivering a secret package
to a Soviet army encircled by the Wehrmacht.
Although Devyatayev survived the encounter against a squad of Messerschmitt BG109 fighters
with severe leg injuries, the medics forbade him from flying fighters ever again.
He was only cleared to fly low-speed aircraft, including night bombers or air ambulances.
He then became part of a night bomber regiment.
Months later, Devyatayev was transferred to a fighter squadron led by Soviet aces Vladimir
Bobrov and Alexander Pokryshkin.
On July 13, 1944, the pilot was downed over the skies of Lviv after dogfighting with German
aircraft.
Bobrov himself asked him to jump out of his burning aircraft.
Devyatayev then parachuted into the unknown, and his epic journey into captivity was about
to begin.
Captivity
Devyatayev hit his aircraft while parachuting and was knocked unconscious.
When he woke up hours later, he was a prisoner of war under German custody.
The Soviet pilot was stripped of his clothes and interrogated by German soldiers before
being sent to the Lodz prison camp, where he stayed for over a month.
On August 13, 1944, Devyatayev attempted to escape with other Soviets through a tunnel,
but they were caught, beaten, and sent to the infamous Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Devyatayev soon realized that Soviet pilots were treated with extreme brutality by the
German guards and the Gestapo officers.
Consequently, Devyatayev and other pilots exchanged identities with deceased infantrymen.
The pilot was shortly transferred to a third concentration camp in Usedom Island, where
the Wehrmacht was secretly testing V2 rockets, the world's first ballistic missiles.
The Rocket Center Peenemunde began operating in 1937.
Since the outbreak of the war, tens of thousands of prisoners from concentration camps were
relocated there to help develop the V2 program.
These rockets were envisioned by designer Wernher von Braun, who would later become
the head of NASA and help the Americans win the Space Race.
They were also one of Hitler’s wonder weapons.
Over 15,000 German personnel had worked at Peenemunde, but the research center was heavily
bombed by British Royal Air Force bombers in August of 1943, killing hundreds of specialists.
Consequently, the workload for prisoners of war intensified to reach the program’s deadlines.
Devyatayev found himself in camp Karlshagen, which was near Peenemunde’s missile center.
Conditions were inhumane, and most prisoners perished slowly from famine.
The prisoners’ tasks involved neutralizing unexploded allied bombs and repairing runways
and infrastructure due to bombings.
On one occasion, Devyatayev saw how a group of prisoners lost their lives after a bomb
detonated when they approached.
The pilot knew it was only a matter of time before he suffered the same fate or starved
to death.
He preferred to risk his life by fleeing than merely staying still.
By January of 1945, he had befriended 10 Soviet prisoners willing to escape with him.
It was believed that the only way out of the camp was through the sea, but Devyatayev’s
eyes aimed at the sky.
The Great Escape
After assembling the team, Devyatayev ordered total secrecy.
He had witnessed traitors among the prisoners trying to convince others to join the fight
against the Soviet Union, as Stalin's policy of no retreat and surrender would condemn
them either way.
But Devyatayev and his companions believed they had a better chance of surviving under
the Red Army.
The pilot convinced the team that the only way to escape was through the sky.
They would need to break into the nearby airfield and steal a German aircraft bomber.
The first step was to contact the Soviet team that worked in the airfield to get information
about the German guards and the aircraft stationed there.
A Heinkel He 111 bomber was chosen, as it could fit the 10 prisoners.
The problem was that the sole Heinkel belonged to the base’s commander.
In addition, Devyatayev did not know how to fly bombers, so they needed to gather as much
information as possible related to the aircraft.
In his book ‘Escape from Hell,’ Devyatayev would later write: (QUOTE) “I began to study
the details of severely damaged aircraft, although there was a risk of being shot.
Often we were instructed to clean up the wreckage of the aircraft.
During this work, I tore off the dashboard’s different plates, hid them in pockets, in
a kettle, and when I returned to the barracks, I tried to figure out what was what, I studied
the purpose of the instruments.”
At noon on February 8, 1945, the team got ready to storm into the airfield.
Ivan Krivonogov picked up a crowbar and got rid of the guard at an entrance.
Kutergin, another prisoner, stripped the guard of his uniform and put it on.
He then led the team to the airfield pretending they would do some cleaning.
Once there, Devyatayev ran towards the bomber.
But when he tried to turn the engines on, he realized there were no batteries.
The remaining team found a cart with batteries minutes later.
But the Germans spotted them, and Devyatayev started the engines right away.
The prisoners then jumped in as quickly as possible.
Some guards blocked the runway and began shooting their Kar98 rifles, while others ran for the
anti-aircraft guns.
Devyatayev accelerated with all his might, and the Heinkel flew over the enemy barricade
as it took off.
Once on the air, Devyatayev heard aircraft approaching.
German Messerschmitt 109 fighters were after them.
He then climbed as much as he could while the other men figured how to handle the aircraft’s
armament.
Devyatayev ventured into huge dense clouds in an effort to evade the enemy fighters,
and it worked.
He then turned eastward.
After flying for over 400 kilometers, they were stricken by fire from Red Army anti-aircraft
guns.
The men were relieved to have reached friendly territory but terrified of being shot down
by the AA guns.
Devyatayev then landed the aircraft on snowy terrain, while the men cheered.
They had survived.
Hero of the Soviet Union
The survivors were surrounded by members of the 61st Soviet Army.
Devyatayev wrote in his book that: (QUOTE) “The soldiers took us in their arms and
carried us.
They threw jackets and sweaters on our shoulders.”
However, when NKVD officers arrived, they took the 10 men away for interrogation.
They were convinced they were traitors and did not believe their story.
The NKVD then sent them to a penal military unit.
Five of them perished before the war ended.
Devyataev survived, but carried the mark of a criminal for over a decade.
He eventually managed to get a job at Kazan and briefly assisted Sergei Korolev with crucial
information he learned about the V2 program, which ultimately paved the way for the Russian
Space Program.
In 1957, at Korolev’s request, Devyataev was recognized as a Hero of the Soviet Union
and awarded many titles for his actions as a pilot and as a war veteran.
His escape remains one of the most impressive survival stories of World War II.
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