Friendly Fire

 May 16, 2024
Greese, Luneberg, Bad Fallingbostel 

On April 19, 1945, just a fee days before the liberation of airmen at Gudow, a group of about two-thousand POWs were on a road in the beautiful little town of Greece marching toward Gudow. The war was virtually over and the sky’s were completely dominated by allied air forces. 

As the men, some walking for nearly eighty days at this point, continued their wandering at the will of Hitler a British Typhoon fighter plane appeared and flew over the men. Excited to see the friend in the air, the Kriegies waved and cheered. The plane made a quick bank, returned and strafed the column of men killing. 60 and wounding many. It is believed that the pilot mistakenly took the airmen as retreating enemy troops. It was a tactic used by retreating Germans to wave at allied planes in the hopes of being seen as friends. The dead were buried temporarily in the Church yard in Greese.  John Nichol and Tony Rennell wrote about the event in their book, The Last Escape.  I recommend it if you’re interested in learning more about the plight of the POWs in WWII.  Laura Edge, our traveling partner, also has a wonderful book she authored about her father’s POW experience; On the Wings of Dawn. . 

To backtrack a minute, our day started at a barn just outside of Gudow that has been identified as a night stop for marching airmen. It’s in bad shape but you can see it fits the mold for marching stopovers. 

Our day continues with a drive to Luneberg for lunch. 

Memorial to the sixty men who died in the friendly fire incident at Greese.

We ended our day by driving to Bad Fallingbostel and we will be spending the last three nights of our trip in a hotel that was in use during the war. Jim