Morgan, M. S. Secret Battle for Britain

The RAF’s Handling and Interrogation of Luftwaffe Prisoners of War 1939-1940

The dramatic story of Franz von Werra, the only prisoner of war from the Axis powers who managed to escape during the Second World War and return home, is told in the 1957 film The One That Got Away. The film details Werra's interrogation by the Royal Air Force intelligence service in 1940 and presents an insightful but condensed version of his treatment after his capture in the Battle of Britain. The script revealed a little of the tactics used by his RAF interrogators, which impressed Werra so much that he immediately reported them to the Luftwaffe High Command upon his return to Germany in 1941. Of course, von Werra was just one of many Luftwaffe personnel who were captured between 1939 and 1940. Many, if not all, were interrogated and questioned after their capture. Information was obtained through private conversations between senior officers and some non-commissioned officers, which were recorded with hidden microphones, as well as through interrogations and informants. However, these tactics had been developed in the early months of the war, and as the Battle of Britain produced a large number of prisoners of war, the new tactics were refined on these unsuspecting guinea pigs. The German airmen, most of whom still believed in inevitable victory at this point in the war, knowingly and unknowingly provided the Air Intelligence Service with a wealth of information that included not only technical and tactical insights, but also possible war crimes, troop morale and much more. The Air Intelligence Service employed tactics that any modern interrogator would recognise. The RAF also built up an extensive information library, much of which consisted of what we now call open source material. This included newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts and information from former prisoners. Carefully compiled and analysed, the Air Intelligence Service gradually built up a detailed picture of pilots, aircraft, units and the general social situation surrounding a unit or airfield community. This book examines the development of the Air Intelligence Service and its interrogations of Luftwaffe personnel from 1939 to the end of 1940, offering a fascinating insight into a little-known part of both the Battle of Britain and the Blitzkrieg.