allan125:
It was 168 RAF aircrew who were removed from Fresnes prison in Paris as the allies approached, and they were shipped to Buchenwald, not Americans
I think we both had it wrong somewhat, though me the more so it would seem. From Wikipedia
Phil Lamason - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lamason was amongst a group of 168 allied airmen from Great Britain, United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica
So true to form the Nazis incarcerated to die without fear or favour.
Thank you for correcting me. It was inexcusable to airbrush, albeit unconsciously, Sqn Ldr Phil Lamason DFC & bar, RNZAF, from history. I can only weakly plead that I had read a somewhat partisan US account of what I suppose was the same incident, and recalled that in my previous post. Doubly inexcusable because only very recently Samuel posted here reminding us of Lamason's courageous leadership.
I still think that it makes my point though. Having succeeded in alerting the Luftwaffe, they did indeed turn up and arranged the transfer of these Allied Airmen into their custody. This was despite
their documents were stamped with the acronym "DIKAL" (Darf in kein anderes Lager), or "not to be transferred to another camp".
and so
seven days before their scheduled execution, 156 of the 168 airmen, including Lamason, were transferred from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III by the Luftwaffe
More should be known about Lamason (not least of all by me!) and about this incident. It encapsulates all the virtues and all the evils of WWII precisely. Where virtue shone it should be celebrated, no matter from whence it came.