Member MHStevens

Author of 'Escape, Evasion and Revenge: The True Story of a German-Jewish RAF Pilot Who Bombed Berlin And Became A POW', which is the biography of the only German Jew known to have flown RAF bombers against his homeland.

The subject of my book was a refugee living in London, and he committed identity theft in order to enlist at the outbreak of hostilities. For the 18 months of his pilot training, he was the object of a Metropolitan Police manhunt as a possible German spy. He flew 22 combat missions over occupied Europe during 1941, and force-landed a badly damaged Hampden bomber near Amsterdam in September, 1941. As a POW in Nazi captivity, he was without any Geneva Convention protection for 3 years and 8 months. During his captivity, he made 8 escape attempts, and was the Head of Contacts for the "X" Organization in Stalag Luft 3 (East Compound) from April 1943 until the camp was evacuated at the end of January 1945. After the war, he was one of only 69 members of the RAF to be awarded Britain's Military Cross for valour in the face of the enemy, in recognition of his valiant escape work on behalf of countless POWs, as well as for his own escapes.

An academic review may be found at: http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol12/no4/page92-eng.asp