STIRRING STORY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 84, 10 April 1945, Page 2

STIRRING STORY

LIBERATED AIR ACE CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES Special Correspondent LONDON, April 0. •Shot down in flames, neariy lynched by a German crowd, left two days and nights in a cell unable to see because of a burned face, but eventually liberated by the advancing Americans, Squadron - Leader Keith Thiele, D.5.0., D.F.C. and bar. of Christchurch, has returned to England. He is the first R.N.Z.A.F, prisoner of war to get back safely since the Allied advance into Germany began. Squadron-Leader Thiele won his decorations as a bomber pilot and twice reverted to .flight-lieutenant in order to return to operations. He was commanding a Tempest squadron based in Holland when he was captured on March 10. He had won an equally fine reputation as a fighter pilot. On the day he was shot down h<; was leading eight Tempests in attacks against trains in the MunsterPaderborn area. They had already shot up ten trains and were returning to their base when Squadron* Leader Thiele saw another train north of Dortmund. He had little ammunition left. Nevertheless, he immediately went down to attack. He used all his ammunition and began to climb when flak hit his engine, which stopped instantly. Within seconds he saw flames licking around, his boots and rudder bar. A gust of wind immediately fanned the flames, which severely burned his face. Squadron-Leader Thiele Jumped and his parachute opened, but he hit the ground almost immediately afterward. About 100 yards away was a railway station where many German civilians were waiting for the train he had just attacked. Near it was a mobile flak battery. He was no sooner on his feet than he was surrounded by about 30 -German soldiers. They searched him, took his revolver and began to take him over to the flak battery. Nearly Pushed Under Train To reach it they had to go to the platform where the passengers were waiting and it was very soon obvious that ,he was by no means popular, They began to shout at him and gesticulate. while the stationmaster went farther and tried to kick hira and a soldier tried to hit him with a rifle butt. He was protected by his guard, however, but at that moment a goods train began to rumble past and the crowd began to surge toward him with the intention of pushing him under the wheels. Again the guards and his own efforts prevented them, while the shouting continued. Eventually the airman reached the flak battery, where the welcome was quite different and a sergeant was enthusiastic over shooting him down. He told the New Zealander he waited until he had attacked the train and pulled out and then he opened fire, securing a direct hit. As a result the sergeant was expecting 10 days' leave. About an hour later two polic.emen arrived and took Squadron-Leader Thiele to a police station in a car, but immediately marched him to a cell, where., they left him for two days and nights with no food arid only a little water. By now his badly-burned face was paining him and it was so swollen he could hardly see out of his eyes. He asked for a doctor and medical attention, but only received a mechanical "Ya, ya" for an answer. Eventually he was taken to the Dortmund airfield, where he was given medical attention. He stayed there five days, being fed on only a little bread, jam and water. He longed for a cigarette, and, fortunately, in the next cell there was a German under punishment, and he exchanged a cigarette for bread. This German blithely sang, "We're Going to Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line," lustily supported by the New Zealander, to the intense irritation of the guards. Tried to "Thumb" a Lift Later a Canadian Typhoon pilot who had been shot down arrived, and he and Squadron-Leader Thiele were put on a train for Frankfurt, but such was the disruption of the railway system due to bombing that all transport eventually came to a stop. Getting cut of the train, they found about twenty American prisoners, and with them Squadron-Leader Thiele and the Canadian stood on a road in the best of humour trying to "thumb" a ride to Frankfurt, Eventually their guard got the two pilots into a horse cart driven by a Frenchman who had been a prisoner for about five years, and they continued their journey to Frankfurt. There Squadron-Leader Thiele underwent a long interrogation. A German major threatened to hand him over to the Gestapo if he did not talk. Peeved by the New Zealanders silence, he shrugged his shoulders and said: "Well, we have got it ail, anyway," and showed him a map cn which the airman saw his group and every unit indicated, even to the names of squadron commanders. For the next ten days SquadronLeader Thiele went to hospital, where he had excellent treatment by British and American medical orderlies. Then he was put on a train and sent to the Wetzar prisoners' camp. He arrived there with a very sore throat, and the Germans, suspecting he might have diphtheria, put him in an isolation ward. This had much to do with his liberation, for as the Americans began to drawnear the Germans started to move prisoners toward, the centre of Germany. But Squadron-Leader Thiele remained behind, aided by an English captain, who crossed his name off the list of those to be removed. Two days later American infantry arrived, and Squadron-Leader Thiele learned that it would be at least a fortnight before he could expect to be moved. He and an Englishman decided to move off independently. They got two bicycles, which later were exchanged for a motor cycle, crossed a pontoon bridge at Rem?.gen and continued toward Cologne. They found an R.A.F. unit and drove in a jeep up to Holland and SquadI ron-Leader Thiele's own squadron. ; Dirty, unshaven, his face x still sho\yI ing the marks of burns, his hair I matted, he walked into his own squadron bar at 7 p.m., and a suitable celebration followed. He is now in London on a fortnight's leave.