Roy Allen (1918–1991) was an American, born in the north

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

neighborhood of Olney. He was a bomber pilot 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 opposing ...

shot down over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp.

France and captivity

On June 14, 1944, pilot Roy Allen and the crew of his B-17 Flying Fortress embarked on a mission over

Nazi-occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

. Hit by

flak Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

, Roy was forced to parachute into France. Trapped behind enemy lines, he was rescued by Colette Florin, a 21-year-old schoolteacher and member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. He stayed with Colette for a few weeks until he was able to be moved into Paris. Once he arrived in Paris a man told him that he was taking him to another agent who would then sneak him into Spain and then on to England. The agent that was taking him to his supposed "British Agent", who went by Captain Jacques, betrayed him, turning him over to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

. He was then taken to

Avenue Foch Avenue Foch () is an avenue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, named after World War I Marshal Ferdinand Foch in 1929. It is one of the most prestigious streets in Paris, and one of the most expensive addresses in the world, home to ...

which at the time was the Gestapo headquarters for all of

. At Avenue Foch he was tortured, labelled a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and denied his rights as a

Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

under the terms of the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conve ...

. He and other airmen were then taken to

Fresnes Prison Fresnes Prison (''French Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes'') is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison (''maison d'arrêt'') of about 1200 cells, a small ...

located in the town of

Fresnes, Val-de-Marne Fresnes () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris, next to Antony, Sceaux and Rungis. It is drained by the River Bièvre. The Fresnes Prison, where Jean ...

, 7 miles south of Paris. As the front neared them, the Germans decided to ship Roy Allen and other 167 Allied airmen including Phil Lamason to Buchenwald concentration camp in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. They left Fresnes, traveling by train in cattle cars. The cars were designed to hold up to 40 men. The Germans loaded them with 90, forcing their passengers to stand for the duration of the trip.

Buchenwald concentration camp

In Buchenwald, Allen suffered from extensive physical and psychological abuse. By the time he left he weighed a mere , almost lighter than when he left for his mission back on June 14. While there, he suffered from

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

and various other illnesses presented by the poor environment. The harsh treatment endured by Roy Allen and the other airmen at Buchenwald was a blatant violation of the

Third Geneva Convention The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was first adopted in 1929, but significant ...

, which specifically prohibits the physical and mental abuse of captured service personnel, and states that they must be treated humanely. This explains the reason for the SS guards issuing the airmen with inmate uniforms with no serial numbers. Later,

Hannes Trautloft Johannes "Hannes" Trautloft (3 March 1912 – 11 January 1995) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, and general in the postwar German Air Force. As a fighter ace, he is credited with 58 enemy airc ...

an officer from the

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 ...

inspecting allied bomb damage came across the allied airmen prisoners. One of the prisoners who spoke fluent German, highlighted their case to the officer. Sympathetic to their plight (and also aware that Luftwaffe POWs in allied hands could suffer reprisals if he did not intervene) the German officer organized their transfer from Buchenwald to a legitimate prisoner of war camp i.e. Stalag Luft III in what is now

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

References

Shot From the Sky
2004 documentary. Airs on the

Military History Channel Military History (stylized as MILITARY HISTORY) is an American pay television channel owned by A&E Networks. The channel features programs about the history of the military and significant combat events. The channel's main competitor is Warner B ...

periodically.

France and captivity

Buchenwald concentration camp

See also

References

Further reading