THE following dramatic story appeared in the Southern Daily Echo of Thursday, May 3 1945 beneath the headline: Airman’s Wonderful Escape.

Taken prisoner after an almost incredible escape from a Halifax bomber which exploded when it was attacked by night fighters in a raid on Berlin, Flight-Sergeant Harold Bennett, RAF, has returned to his home at 47 Avenue Road, Southampton after nearly 15 months in prisoner of war camps.

At one of the camps he was secretary of a Southampton and District Prisoner of War Association which had a membership of 50.

Here is Flight-Serg. Bennett’s story of his escape from the plane as he told it to an Echo reporter:

‘I was the wireless operator of a Halifax which was in a formation detailed to attack Berlin on the night of January 20-21 1944. As we were approaching Berlin, we were attacked by night fighters and the plane was hit.

We dived steeply, but I was able to pick up my parachute and slip it on. I was just going to help the navigator when the petrol tanks exploded, only about 30 seconds after we had been hit.

I was knocked unconscious and must have been blown clean through the side of the plane. I came to when I was about 1,000 ft from the ground, and realised what had happened when I saw the clouds flashing past. I was falling down backwards and my legs were sticking up in the air. My first thought was whether I was clear of the plane and then I saw a glow in the sky above me and realised I was well clear of it. Bits of the plane were falling around me.

I thought at first that my parachute was missing but then I felt the pack flapping against my head. Apparently the straps had worked loose and the pack had slipped. I found the release cord and pulled it and the parachute

opened. I floated down and landed safely near a village, very bruised and shaken and with some cuts on my face. Civilians from the village were first on the scene. Most of them were evacuees from Berlin and they took a very poor view of me.

Fortunately, one of them was an actor who had spent several years in London and, with him acting as an interpreter, I managed to talk my way out of what was a very difficult situation.’

Flight- Serg. Bennett was taken to Berlin which, he said, was in a “terrible mess.” For two days he was a prisoner as a Berlin airfield and was then moved to Frankfurt where he was kept for 16 days in solitary confinement and was closely interrogated. Eventually he was moved with other prisoners to a camp in East Prussia and, when the Russian advance grew dangerous, to a camp at Thorn in Poland.

At Thorn, Flight-Serg. Bennett met Bombadier Gordon Hunt of Oakley Road, Southampton who had been a prisoner since 1940. They found there were several men from Southampton and district in the camp and decided to form a Southampton and District Prisoner of War Association.

A meeting was called and Bombadier Hunt was appointed chairman and Flight Sergeant Bennett secretary.

‘The aim of the club’, said Flight-Sergeant Bennett ‘was to organise sports and social events in the camp. We had about 30 members. We had one or two meetings but before we could really get started, we were moved to Fallinghostel, about 30 miles north of Hanover. Here the membership of the Association was increased to 50. There were men in the Association from Bitterne, Shirley, Bassett, Copythorne, Locks Heath, Chandler’s Ford, Fair Oak, Romsey, Bournemouth, Shanklin and numerous other places.

The food situation in the camp was very poor and none of us felt able to take part in sports. We held several meetings and the fellows used to drift into groups of three or four and exchange news which they had in letters from home.’

In April the Fallinghostel camp was evacuated and Flight-Serg. Bennett and Bdr. Hunt were among 100 prisoners who were moved by train.

The remainder of the men had to march. The train took six days to travel 60 miles and was attacked several times by Allied planes.

‘During these raids’ said Flight-Serg. Bennett. ‘the guards took shelter and left us locked up in cattle trucks.’ Eventually, they had to leave the train because the railway was cut and for two days they were shut up in a barn from where Flight-Serg. Bennett and a man from Leeds made their escape.

They worked for a week on a German farm between the American and German lines. When the Americans moved forward in the area they hid in a barn and waited until the Americans arrived.

FlightSerg. Bennett and his companion were moved to an area in the rear, whence they were flown to Brussels and then to England.

Before joining the RAF, in 1941, Flight-Serg. Bennett, who is 27, worked for Pirelli General Cable Co. He is married and has a son aged six.”

Daily Echo: