A mixed lot containing a document type-written by Lieutenant...

Hammer

£380.00

A mixed lot containing a document type-written by Lieutenant Colonel Airey Neave DSO, OBE, MC, TD, addressed to Frau Prawitt, the widow of Colonel Gerhard Friedrich Prawitt who was Commandant of Colditz between 13th February 1943 to 16th April 1945.

Airey Neave was the first Brit to escape Oflag IVc Colditz during WW2 and who went on to be the Secretary for Margaret Thatcher before being critically wounded on 30 March 1979 when a car bomb fitted with a tilt-switch exploded under his Vauxhall Cavalier as he drove out of the Palace of Westminster car park. He lost both legs in the explosion and died of his wounds at Westminster Hospital an hour after being rescued from the wrecked car. He died age 63.

This lot also includes a signed photograph of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and another which is just a printed signature, as well as stamps and a first day cover.

Finally, this lot also includes an address given at a memorial by Lord Freyberg VC, GCMG, KCB, KBE, DSO & Three Bars, for Major John Bigelow Dodge DSO DSC MC (known as "the Artful Dodger"). Major Dodge was held POW as Stalag Luft III and was one of the 17 escapers in an attempt in 1941 alongside Harry "Wings" Day and Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell

Dodge, and his travelling companion, were recaptured two days after their escape, found walking along the autobahn a few miles south of Frankfurt. He was given a short period in solitary confinement before being transferred to Stalag Luft I at Barth, with all the other recaptured escapers.