Howard Douglas Wardle MC (15 August 1915 – 30 January 1995), commonly known as Hank, was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

pilot in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He is notable for being (along with the 'Medium Sized Man,

Dominic Bruce Dominic Bruce, (7 June 1915 – 12 February 2000) was a British Royal Air Force officer, known as the "Medium Sized Man." He has been described as "the most ingenious escaper" of the Second World War. He made seventeen attempts at escaping from ...

) one of the only two men who escaped from both Spangenberg and Colditz prison camps during World War II. Wardle was born in

Dauphin, Manitoba Dauphin () is a city in Manitoba, Canada, with a population of 8,457 as of the 2016 Canadian Census, with an additional 2,388 living in the surrounding Rural Municipality of Dauphin (RM), for a total of 10,845 in the RM and city combined. The ci ...

, Canada. Wardle joined the

in December 1938. After completing pilot training, he joined No. 218 Squadron with the rank of

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

at Auberiver-sur-Suippes,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 29 November 1939. Pilot Officer Wardle was shot down near

Crailsheim Crailsheim is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Incorporated in 1338, it lies east of Schwäbisch Hall and southwest of Ansbach in the Schwäbisch Hall district. The city's main attractions include two Evangelical churches, a ...

, Germany on 20 April 1940 while conducting a reconnaissance mission in a

Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Hi ...

light bomber. He was the only member of the crew of three to survive bailing out of the aircraft and after being interrogated at a nearby

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

base was transferred to the POW camp

Oflag IX-A/H Oflag IX-A was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp located in Spangenberg Castle in the small town of Spangenberg in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Camp history The camp was opened in October 1939 as Oflag IX-AMattiello (1986), p.206 to hou ...

Spangenberg Spangenberg is a small town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Spangenberg lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some southeast of Kassel, west of the Stölzinger Gebirge, a low mountain range. Spangenberg is the demographic centrepoint o ...

. While a prisoner at this camp, Wardle made the first of his escapes but was recaptured after 24 hours on the run. Colditz Schlosshof Pano

After recapture, he was moved to

Oflag IVc Castle Colditz (or ''Schloss Colditz'' in German) is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. The castle is between the towns of Hartha and Grimma on a hill spur over the ...

Colditz Castle Castle Colditz (or ''Schloss Colditz'' in German) is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. The castle is between the towns of Hartha and Grimma on a hill spur over the r ...

. On 14 October 1942, Wardle, along with Captain

Pat Reid Patrick Robert Reid, (13 November 1910 – 22 May 1990) was a British Army officer and author of history. As a British prisoner of war during the Second World War, he was held captive at Colditz Castle when it was designated Oflag IV-C. Reid wa ...

, Major Ronald B. Littledale, and Lieutenant Commander L. W. Stephens, successfully escaped from Colditz. Wardle and Reid went via

Hans Larive Etienne Henri "Hans" Larive, MWO, DSC and bar, (23 September 1915 – 28 December 1984) was a Dutch naval officer during World War II. He escaped from the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle in 1941, and spent the rest of the wa ...

Singen Singen (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border. Location Singen is an industrial city situated in the very south ...

route to cross the Swiss frontier on 18 October with Littledale and Stephens arriving on 19 October. Their escape was later recounted in Reid's book, ''

Colditz Story ''The Colditz Story'' is a 1955 British prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton. It is based on the 1952 memoir written by Pat Reid, a British army officer who was imprisoned in Oflag IV-C, Cold ...

'' (1953). In late 1943 the British miliary attaché in Bern made arrangements with his Dutch counterpart for Wardle to make the clandestine journey to Spain with the

Dutch-Paris Dutch-Paris escape line was a resistance network during World War II with ties to the Dutch, Belgian and French Resistance. Their main mission was to rescue people from the Nazis by hiding them or taking them to neutral countries. They also serv ...

escape line. That meant that the British paid for Wardle's expenses such as train fare, black market food and lodging and the passeur over the Pyrennes. Dutch-Paris smuggled Wardle into France near Geneva and took him by train to Toulouse. He walked over the Pyrenees in a convoy that included two Italians, three Frenchmen and seven Dutchmen under the guidance of two French passeurs, Henri Marot "Mireille" and Pierre Treillet "Palo". They encountered snow in the passes and constant rain, leaving the men exhausted when they reached the Spanish village of Canejan in the days before Christmas 1943.Lex Gans, "Engelandvaart, barbaarse reis" in Mathieu Smedts, ed, ''Den Vaderland Getrouwe'', De Arbeiderspers, 1962, pp.207-221. Wardle returned to England via Gibraltar on 5 February 1944. Flight Lieutenant Wardle was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

, registered in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' on 16 May 1944. He died in 1995 in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

References

External links

No. 218 Squadron

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardle, Hank 1915 births 1995 deaths Canadian escapees Canadian prisoners of war in World War II Royal Air Force officers Prisoners of war held at Colditz Castle Canadian recipients of the Military Cross Shot-down aviators Escapees from German detention Canadian World War II pilots Royal Air Force personnel of World War II People from Dauphin, Manitoba