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The unsung Nazi hunter
On the moonless night of March 24, 1944, after months of meticulous planning, 79 Allied officers tunnelled their way out of the German prison camp, Stalag Luft III at Sagan in Silesia.
Immortalised in the film, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen, the reality was quite different.
Of the escapees, all bar three were quickly recaptured, and, of these, 50 were murdered by the Gestapo on the direct orders of Adolf Hitler.
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, in a statement to the Commons, vowed: "We will never cease in our efforts to collect the evidence to identify all those responsible and are firmly resolved that these foul criminals shall be tracked down to the last man, wherever they take refuge. When the war is over, they will be brought to exemplary justice."
The fact that against all the odds, the murderers were brought to book, owed much to a most remarkable Blackpool policeman, Frank McKenna.
Born in Accrington on February 28, 1906, one of six children, Frank moved to Blackpool as a young baby when his father was transferred to the resort's police force. Educated at Sacred Heart School, he and younger brother John later became detective sergeants.
With the outbreak of the second world war, McKenna, who had considerable civilian flying experience, was deemed to be in a reserved occupation and was refused permission to join the RAF.
Later, when high losses in bomber command saw the rules eased, he became a flight engineer, eventually flying over 30 Lancaster bomber missions throughout Europe.
By 1945, now a Squadron Leader, he was transferred to London to the RAF's Special Investigation Branch.
Seventeen months after the murders in Stalag Luft III, McKenna flew to Germany to investigate what is still the worst war crime against British nationals.
McKenna spoke little of the language and was initially allocated only an interpreter, Warrant Officer Williams. His task was complicated by the chaos and corruption of post-war Germany, then controlled in separate zones by the allies.
He soon became adept at navigating through bureaucracy. He also found the appearance of a packet of cigarettes could smooth ruffled feathers.
Imposing in stature and nicknamed Sherlock Holmes by service colleagues, his pale yet piercing eyes masked an intellect few could equal.
Always willing to act first and ask questions later, beneath a somewhat prickly persona lay a committed Christian who never lost his highly acute sense of justice. This proved vital as he attempted to comprehend the rapidly unfolding inhumanity of his fellow man.
Most poignantly, among the 50 victims were two fellow officers whom he had known personally, Flight Lieutenant Edgar Humphreys and Flying Officer Robert Stewart.
Both, prior to the war, had been stationed at RAF. Squires Gate, where McKenna was a regular visitor.
McKenna brought together a small, independent and remarkably dedicated team. Never larger than five officers and 14 NCOs, it evolved into a copybook civilian detective operation, utilising energy, experience, intuition, routine and, not least, the ability to improvise.
Interrogations soon established that the murders, most committed on Good Friday, followed a pattern: a captured PoW would be driven back towards the camp by Gestapo officers, the car would stop and the prisoner, released from his handcuffs, was invited to relieve himself at the side of the road.
As he did so, he was shot in the back of the head. Each body was cremated and then returned to the camp. The Gestapo fabricated evidence purporting to show all victims had been shot while trying to escape.
Having established a list of wanted men, the team embarked on a dangerous phase of their operation, visiting internment camps in search of their quarry.
McKenna's greatest coup was to track down the murderer of the veteran airman, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, principal organiser of the escape.
The suspect, Emil Schulz, a former Gestapo official, was found, arrested and extradited in the course of a single day in 1946.
After interrogating a fellow Gestapo officer, McKenna had obtained a bland description of a block of flats in which Schulz had lived.
A search proved fruitless but a stroke of luck sent him to the nearby village of Frankenholz. Here he found Schulz's wife, seemingly living alone and denying all knowledge of her husband.
He undertook a minute search of the building and discovered an intimate love letter on paper from a nearby French prison camp, where he found Schulz masquerading under the name Ernst Schmidt.
McKenna successfully negotiated his immediate extradition and escorted him to London.
Aware he would not see his wife again, Schulz asked McKenna if he could write a note to his wife.
McKenna nodded, and, totally contrary to regulations, agreed to deliver it. He duly travelled to Frankenholz to see Frau Schulz, warned her she was unlikely to see her husband ever again, and handed over the letter. Allowing her time to read its contents, she then had to hand it back to McKenna. They shook hands, and McKenna drove away.
Schulz stood trial for war crimes, was found guilty and executed on February 27, 1948.
Of the many suspects on McKenna's list he had to arrest one, Erich Zacharius, twice. Having brought him out of the Russian zone, at considerable personal risk, the suspect was "loaned" to the Americans who, to McKenna's disgust, let him go. He was re-captured on April 1, 1946, as he attempted to return to the Russian zone.
Transferred to England to a supposedly secure compound, he even disappeared, for a time, there. He, too, was later executed for war crimes.
McKenna himself arrested more than 20 former Gestapo officers, the largest single total out of 69 men brought to justice. A few committed suicide, but most were convicted of murder and imprisoned or executed.
In 1948, when the Government decided not to prosecute any further war criminals, the investigation was wound down.
That year, together with his CO, Wing Commander Wilfred Bowes, Squadron Leader Frank McKenna was awarded the OBE.
Remaining with SIB, Mckenna later moved to Cyprus during the EOKA troubles where he was mentioned in dispatches.
Spurning promotion to Wing Commander, he returned to Blackpool police to complete his pensionable service.
Later he joined the Ministry of Defence where he vetted potential service personnel. In 1971, at 65, he retired,only to be in demand as a security consultant for north west commercial companies.
He died, aged 87 on February 14, 1994.
Today his military manhunt remains a mere footnote in history. Sadly, neither Eden, in what many consider to be his finest hour, nor Churchill, mentioned these events in their memoirs.
McKenna himself remained reticent about the episode, typically not wanting fuss. But in providing exemplary justice, he became someone who actually helped a politician keep his word.
editorial@blackpoolgazette.co.uk
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