Escape to Freedom

A firsthand account of a World War II crewman in the 427 (Lion) Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force who was captured by the Nazis and became a POW.

On his third operational mission, Tony Johnson was shot down in his Wellington bomber. Captured shortly after, he was interrogated in Dulag Luft before being sent to Stalag Luft 1 on the Baltic where he stayed from April to September 1944. As the noose tightened on Germany, Tony and his fellow kriegies were kept on the move.


He describes the increasingly harsh conditions they all endured, including the infamous Long March of the winter of 1945. He twice escaped, the second time successfully, reaching the Allied Second Army.