Prisoner of War: 01  |  02  |  03  |  04
B24.net Robert Grimes Barwick Barfield Ivan Hunter Frank Murphy Robert Black
Leo Bianchi Orrin Heinrich Bob Wolff      
All of the images on this page are from Lt. Robert Wolff's POW log. Descriptions are in his words.
1. Cover page

2. A listing of our crew including Jim Brady, though he was not on our last mission. Carl Simon took his place, but at the time, I thought Jim should be listed as he was on most of our flights. The numbers on the plane were those of the plane we flew to Africa ("061") and not the one on our final flight.

3a. This is a very short and condensed pictorial of the education that turned a young civilian into a 2nd Lieutenant

3b. This is a very short and condensed pictorial of the education that turned a young civilian into a 2nd Lieutenant (continued)
4. This is my memory of what our plane may have looked like from the cockpit of the lead plane in our group, while we were over the Alps. We had left the target in Regensburg in ruins and were on our way to Africa, the date was Aug. 17, 1943. I had apparently seen the photo, taken of our plane during the flight, after we had returned from Africa, so I improvised a bit. Done in June of “44”
5. This is the view of a B-17 in flight, viewed from below. Just thought I'd make a picture for the book in January 1944
6. This is an unfinished pencil drawing of what I thought our plane looked like just before we landed in the water. Why it wasn't completed, I'm not sure. I know I had plenty of time on my hands.
7. In this painting, we had left the group after two engines were dead. we were under attack and had knocked down an enemy fighter. Our airspeed during this part of the flight reached over 320 miles an hour, the airspeed indicator was redlined at 320. The bridge we had to dodge when we got close to the ground is shown below and we eventually landed in the water between the island and the peninsula. Remember now I was a little busy and did no have time to fix the scene in my mind so a l little artistic license has been applied. This was done about six months after the event.
8. This is my final sight of our aircraft on our last mission, as viewed from our dinghy. As I have written elsewhere, I didn't recall feeling the impact of the damage to our fin and I had forgotten the damage to the horizontal stabilizer until I looked at this picture over fifty years later. Done in April 1944.
9. This one, I copied from someone that had twenty or more bombs. Each bomb signified a mission and the broken one represented the last one........before POW camp.
10. This is another copy , the only change from the original was the numbers on my "Kreigie tag". That tag is now in England at the 100th Museum in Thorpe Abbotts. The 'K" word is short for the tongue twisting, Kriegsgefangenen, meaning "War Prisoner".
11. This is my rendering of our barracks. The camp was built in the middle of a forest, surrounded by barbed wire. The buildings were of unpainted rough lumber, had wooden floors and few amenities. About four heaters fueled by compressed coal dust and wood, two toilets for night use (after lockup) and one cold water faucet. The ground in the camp was bare dirt, the object in the foreground is a water pond for storage in case of fire, fortunately not needed. This was pained in December of 1943.
12. Our Bunks in the barracks were "3 Story'. Mine was the middle one in this picture along with my laundry and towel. The bed boards, supporting the straw mattress were often used for shoring up the sides of tunnels. Ours had not been used yet but if the "goons" or guards saw some missing, they knew a tunnel was in progress. The name tag on my bunk says "Yama" short for Yamamoto. Someone thought I looked Japanese and the name sort of stuck. September 1944.
13. One of the guard towers that was on the perimeter of the camp. That gray thing in front is a searchlight. There was a low wire about ten or twelve feet from the double barbed wire fence around the camp. The low wire was the beginning of a "no mans land" that was "Verboten". No POW's were allowed in that area............or else. Completed in March 1944.
 14. My version of a Christmas card for 1943. I guess I felt as gloomy as it looks. This gives a rough idea of our camp and surroundings.
15. I think I was in a better mood for this holiday card. The war was coming our way and we knew it wouldn't be too much longer.
16. Bob Wolff POW diary Page 16
17. Bob Wolff POW diary Page 17
18. Bob Wolff POW diary Page 18
19. Bob Wolff POW diary Page 19
20. Bob Wolff POW diary Page 20
21. Bob Wolff POW diary Page 21
22. Bob Wolff POW diary Page 22
23. Bob Wolff POW diary Page 23