Twenty Days in the Reich: Three Downed RAF Aircrew on the Run in Germany, 1945

by Squire 'Tim' Scott

In this thrilling WWII memoir, a Royal Air Force navigator recounts his time as a POW in Germany just as Allied forces marched toward victory. On March 15th, 1945, three crew members of a Bomber Command Lancaster baled from their crippled aircraft over Germany’s Rhur Valley. All three were soon captured and handed over to German guards who escorted them over 120 miles to a POW camp. In Twenty Days in the Reich, RAF navigator Squire “Tim” Scott recounts his experience behind enemy lines. With Allied forces quickly advancing, the transportation system was in chaos. The small party traveled by one of the few remaining trains and sometimes resorted to hitchhiking. Though the nights were bitterly cold, the two guards were surprisingly sympathetic. Scott was amazed by the civility of the local people, a stark contrast to the horrific tales of how Allied POWs were treated. Before they were rescued by Allied forces, twenty-twp days after baling out, the three had only spent fifteen days as prisoners and only thirty-six hours behind barbed wire.

Genres: Nonfiction

157 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Steve Barney · Rating 3 out of 5]

About part of an RAF crew that bails out over Germany in the last weeks of WW2. The ordeal that they go through from the day they land and are immediately captured, until their liberation by a spearhead of the American 3rd Army during their march to a different camp. This account is interesting from the standpoint, that counter to most other books you read about the treatment of POW’s, these prisoners are actually taken care of remarkably well by their captors.

[Joel Ungar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but not well-written.

I've never read a story like this, but was ultimately disappointed. It could have been exciting but it reads like a dull retelling of a boring vacation.