The story
Airey Neave joined the Territorial Army as a Royal Artillery officer and was called up to regular service at the beginning of the war.
He was sent to France in February 1940 as part of a searchlight regiment, but was wounded and captured by the Germans at Calais in May 1940.
In April 1941 he escaped from a POW camp in German-occupied western Poland, but was captured while trying to enter Soviet-controlled Poland and was briefly in the hands of the Gestapo. He was then sent to Colditz Castle.
Neave escaped from Colditz at his second attempt in January 1942, using a trap door beneath the camp’s theatre stage during a show. Disguised in home-made German uniforms, he and a fellow prisoner walked out of the prison, then travelled by train and on foot into neutral Switzerland.
Neave eventually returned to England, becoming the first British officer to make a ‘home run’ from Colditz. After the war Neave became a Member of Parliament, but was killed in 1979 by an Irish Republican terror group who planted a bomb beneath his car, which exploded as he drove out of the Palace of Westminster car park.
There's more to discover
You have arrived at just one small part of Back to Normandy — a personal project dedicated to preserving stories, images, music and memories of the Second World War.
Every record is a doorway to a larger story. Explore Back to Normandy to discover more, or visit Fred Vogels' personal website to learn about the person and the projects behind it.