Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Great Escape Interest: ‘Sagan’, Official Report by The War Crimes Investigation Unit in 1946 Into The Shooting of Fifty RAF Officers, 86p, plus appendices and map, 34.5cm, original paper covered boards, bolt fasteners. Interior bright, typescript, black and white photographs tipped in, folding map at rear. Scattered ink notations. A copy of the report submitted to the Judge Advocate General in 1946 regarding the escape of 76 Allied air officers during the night of 24-25 March, 1944, from Stalag Luft-III, very good condition and rare £400-600

Of the 76 Allied airforce officers who escaped, 50 were recaptured and executed by German camp commandants and the German secret police on orders from Hitler. After news of the executions came to light in Britain, postwar investigations were made by the police arm of the Royal Air Force to apprehend a list of over 30 suspects for interrogation and possible trials. This report includes photographs of the Sagan Memorial, a list of the executed airmen and transcripts of witness testimony. Two copies of the report are held in the British National Archives, a total of 18 were produced for members of the JAG, Wing-Commander Wilfred Bowes of the investigative team and other members of the inquiry.

A total of 18 surviving members of the German Luftwaffe, Army and SS were tried specifically for crimes related to the executions at Sagan, of those, 13 were sentenced to death and executed in 1948.

The escape provided the story line for Steve McQueen's film "The Great Escape", and has been the subject of several films and documentaries since.