SAFE RETURN TO ENGLAND

Southland Times, Issue 25643, 10 April 1945, Page 4

SAFE RETURN TO ENGLAND

Christchurch Pilot Rescued

NEARLY LYNCHED. BY GERMAN CROWD

(Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, April 9. Shot down in flames, nearly 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, 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 the rank of 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, destroying several planes in the air and two more on the ground. He also made many successful attacks on trains and other ground targets. On the day he was shot down Squadron Leader Thiele was leading eight Tempests in attacks against trains in the Munster-Paderborn area. They had already shot up 10 trains and were returning to their base when Squadron Leader Thiele saw another train north of Dortmund. He had little ammunition left, but immediately went down to the attack. He used up all his ammunition and began to climb when flak hit his engine, which instantly caught fire. Within seconds, Squadron Leader Thiele saw flames licking around his boots and rudder bar. There was nothing for it but to jump. FLAMES IN COCKPIT The Tempest was about 2000 feet up, so he jettisoned his hood. The gust of wind immediately fanned the flames into a small furnace, badly burning his face, but he did not notice this at the time. He jumped and the parachute opened perfectly, which was fortunate as he hit the ground almost immediately afterwards. About 100 yards away was a railway station on which many German civilians were waiting .for the very train he had just attacked. Near it was a mobile flak battery. He was no sooner on his feet he was surrrounded by about 30 German soldiers. The Germans searched him, took his revolver and began to take him over to the flak battery. To reach it they had to go to the platform where the crowd of passengers was 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 him in the stomach; a soldier tried to hit him with a rifle butt. He was protected by the guard, however. At that moment a goods train began to rumble past and the crowd began to surge towards him with the intention of pushing him under the wheels. Again the guard’s, and his own, efforts prevented them, while shouting continued. There seemed to be Nazi uniforms everywhere. ENTHUSIASTIC SERGEANT Eventually he reached the flak battery where his welcome was quite different. The gun sergeant enthused over shooting him down. He told Squadron Leader Thiele that 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 policemen arrived and took Squadron Leader Thiele to a police station in a car, but they immediately marched him to a cell where they left him for two days and nights with no food and only a little water.

By now Squadron Leader Thiele’s .badly burned face was paining him and it was so swollen that he could hardly see out of his eyes. He asked for a doctor and medical attention, but received only a mechanical “Ya Ya” for an answer. It was a bitterly miserable period, but, at long last, he was taken to the Dortmund airfield where he was given medical attention at the sick quarters. Then another cell was found for him. ' 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 who was under punishment and he exchanged cigarettes for bread. This German was something of an individualist for he 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. JOURNEY TO FRANKFURT 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 because of bombing that all transport eventually came to a full stop. Getting out of the train they found about 20 American prisoners and with them Squadron Leader Thiele and the Canadian stood out in the road in best of humours 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. He insisted that they sit in front with ■ him; so with the German guard bundled in the back they continued their journey to Frankfurt. As they jogged along the road they saw many French prisoners working in the fields and their driver hailed them cheerfully, pointed to the pilots and bawled: “Les Anglais, vive les Anglais,” drawing raucous .cheers from his fellow countrymen. Eventually they reached Frankfurt and there Squadron Leader Thiele underwent a long interrogation. A German major tried all sorts of threats of handing him over io the Gestapo if he did not talk. WELL-MARKED MAP

Eventually peeved by SquadronLeader Thiele’s wooden silence, the Major shrugged his shoulders 'and said: “Well, we have got it all anyway,” and showed him a map. On it Squadron Leader Thiele saw his group and every unit indicated, even to the names of the squadron commanders. For the next 10 days Squadron Leader Thiele went! to a hospital where he was treated excellently by British and American medical orderlies, many of whom were captured on D Day and others at Arnhem. Then he was put on a train and sent to the Wetzlar 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 draw near, the Germans started to move the prisoners towards 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. Shellfire was heard that night. It came from American tanks bypassing the town, and the next morning the German guards threw down their arms and gave themselves up to the remaining prisoners. 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. This was too long for his impatience and with the Englishman, Squadron Leader Thiele decided to move off independently. They

got two bicycles which they later exchanged for a motor bicycle. The- two men crossed the pontoon bridge at Remagen and continued towards Cologne, getting their petrol from passing jeeps or lorries. Cologne was a desert of ruins. Eventually they found an RA*F. unit and then drove- in a jeep up to Holland and to ..Squadron Leader Thiele’s own squadron.