02 Jul Resisting Enemy Interrogation
Resisting Enemy Interrogation, WWII training film
(1944) This American army training film was designed to teach U.S. Army Air Force crews to resist interrogation by the Germans. It was first shown in New York in August of 1944 so I am sure that it was being shown to every air crew imaginable at about the same time. You will recognize Lloyd Nolan, Arthur Kennedy, and others.
In the film Resisting Enemy Interrogation, each member of a captured air crew is cleverly tricked into revealing what might seem to be a minor detail. The Germans very cleverly put together all the clues they have gathered and determine where their squadron’s next target will be.
In the TCM Notes, the screenwriter tells the story that he based the shots of the Bavarian chateau on a post card. After the war two airmen told him that they were taken to the same chateau for interrogation. They recognized it from the film and kept breaking into laughter.
I watched this film at the same time I was reading about the security instructions given to all the aircrews. During training back at their home bases the men had been taught that in the event of a forced landing in a neutral territory they should immediately request communication with the nearest representative of the U.S. government. To the personnel of the neutral country they should give only their aircraft number, name of pilot, time and place of landing, number of personnel, any injuries, and damage to aircraft … and of course, name, rank and serial number. Their reason for coming to Sweden should be something like, “We were on an air-sea rescue mission and got lost.”
In May of 1944, after a bombing mission to Berlin, a B-17 crashed into the Baltic Sea. Three members of the crew of nine had earlier parachuted out over Germany and became prisoners of war. Of the rest of the crew only three survived after bailing out just in time over the water. They became American internees in neutral Sweden. When questioned by the Swedish police one of them gave out flight details which were leaked to the press. The Military Air Attaché immediately notified his colleagues in London of this violation of security instructions and recommended that the commanding officer of his squadron re-impress upon all about their individual responsibility in this regard.
German agents were trying desperately to ferret out escape routes of Allied personnel from Denmark and Norway to Sweden. Even though this airman was not an evader or escapee, he had breached security. It was critical that all airmen at the home bases in England understand how serious it was not to disclose anything past name, rank and serial number.
Even though the American internees were not being held by the Germans there were plenty of Swedes who were sympathetic to that country, pro-Nazi.
For sure, Sweden was a hot bed of spies.
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