Interrogation of German Luftwaffe Aircrew in Britain during WW2

I don’t have a copy of it, but it occurs to me that you might find something of interest in ‘Camp 020: MI5 and the Nazi Spies — The Official History of MI5’s Wartime Interrogation Centre’ by Oliver Hoare (PRO 2000 ISBN 1-903365-08-2). To put it in context, it’s mentioned in an old thread which can be found at http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?99256-Comper-Swift-F-AOTP-%28ex-G-ACDS%29.

There were the scenes in “the one that got away”, showed a little of how it worked… i know it was a film but mostly factual,and believable…

Andy probably why so detailed because of its the first F model bought down reasonably intact in the Uk…

Yes, indeed so in this particular case. And although much of the content was 109-F related much of it wasn’t – for example, tittle-tattle about Theo Osterkamp’s impending divorce and such things as the very fine hands of Hptm Thiem, ‘of which he was very proud’ and the capture of an old Etonian RAF pilot who, when asked: “What do you think of Churchill” replied “Mister Churchill to you!”. Some of the content is remarkably banal, but it was all useful when interrogating later POWs. Knowledge of this kind coming from interrogators could unsettle later POWs.

PoW Info

“Soldaten” by Sonke Neitzel and Harald Welze (ISBN 978-1-84983-949-5, Simon & Schuster UK, £9.99) is subtitled “- on fighting, killing and dying – the secret Second World War tapes of German PoW’s”.

Not just Luftwaffe PoW’s but an overall look at what these guys revealed, and their thoughts on these matters, from transcripts held at Kew and (I think) in the US.

Also “Fighting the Bombers” by David C Isby – looks at the post-war interrogations of senior Luftwaffe figures.

Ian

Your main source will be the A.I.1(k) department reports in AIR40 that Ross refers to.

They are a mixed bag, but some are surprisingly detailed. For example, 398/1941 which deals with the interrogation of Hptm Rolf Pingel. Nine close-typed pages in which he sings like the proverbial canary; tactics, personnel, operational specs of the Me 109 F-2, camouflage, markings and interrogation of British POWs. However, one needs to read the reports carefully because it is clear that some of the content is material deduced or discovered from other sources and not always, in my view, information gleaned from the prisoner in question.

Andy probably why so detailed because of its the first F model bought down reasonably intact in the Uk…

Have a look at what went on at Trent Park in Enfield (N London) :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Park

Yes, the transcripts of those ‘bugged’ conversations are at Kew, too. I forget the class/piece number, but I think a book was also written around these documents quite recently. Somebody will know!

I have looked at them once, but my recall is that there are no names – just references like Oblt 237 or Uffz 179.

The value of stuff there seemed limited, but I didn’t do much work on them. It was also difficult to work out who the personnel actually were, but I did manage to work out one or two from obvious clues.

Apparently, a great deal of information of all types was ‘extracted’ from Luftwaffe POW’s during WW2 by bugging the meetings and rooms of captured personnel.

Anon.

Thank you Ross and Andy. Incidentally Andy I sent you a PM a few days ago but it bounced back because your in box is too full.
How are the reports filed? By date or name of crew/capture location?
Do the reports have i/d photos of the Luftwaffe POWs?
Also With regard to the interrogation reports do you know of any documents dealing with how the information obtained was analysed and disseminated? Sorry about all the questions, you will be thinking why doesn’t the silly B.. go and look but I live in Cornwall so time is tight when I go to the NA! Many thanks again. K

Your main source will be the A.I.1(k) department reports in AIR40 that Ross refers to.

They are a mixed bag, but some are surprisingly detailed. For example, 398/1941 which deals with the interrogation of Hptm Rolf Pingel. Nine close-typed pages in which he sings like the proverbial canary; tactics, personnel, operational specs of the Me 109 F-2, camouflage, markings and interrogation of British POWs. However, one needs to read the reports carefully because it is clear that some of the content is material deduced or discovered from other sources and not always, in my view, information gleaned from the prisoner in question.

See post #947 on this thread for an example of a S/L Felkin report from AIR40

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?117291-Goodwin-Sands-Dornier-Recovery-2013-Thread/page32

Regards
Ross