The heroism of one of this newspaper’s most distinguished reporters ‘represents all that Americans admire about the British warrior’

The Times 29th March LINK 

Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent

 A Hollywood producer has acquired the rights to two books about a distinguished foreign correspondent of The Times, a war hero who was imprisoned in Colditz.
Michael Burn, 95, who filed a dispatch to the paper as soon as the Allies liberated him and his fellow PoWs, was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry. He has given his blessing to two separate films inspired by his life story.
One of them will focus on his war years when he served as a captain of the commandos in the heroic and bloody raid on the docks of St Nazaire in western France in March 1942. Despite being wounded – and after every man in his boat was killed – he helped other men to safety and fought his way to a rendezvous point, before being captured and eventually sent to Colditz. The other film will focus more heavily on St Nazaire itself.
News of the films came yesterday as Mr Burn’s fellow commando veterans gathered in France to commemorate the anniversary of the raid and the men who lost their lives.
Speaking to The Times yesterday, Mr Burn said of the films: “I hoped this would happen. I am very happy.”
The films will be based on his autobiography, Turned Towards the Sun, published in 2003, and James Dorrian’s Storming St Nazaire.
Their producer, Robert Ozn, whose films include I Witness starring Jeff Daniels and James Spader, is planning a cross between Saving Private Ryan, The Dirty Dozenand Brideshead Revisited. He said: “Michael Burn and the troops who fought at St Nazaire represent all that Americans admire about the British warrior – impossibly brave men who transcended class distinctions with a deep compassion and humanity for those less fortunate.”
Casting has yet to begin but Jude Law heads his list to play a man who was devastatingly handsome – to both men and women. Although Mr Burn later married, Guy Burgess was among his lovers long before he was unmasked as a Soviet spy and traitor. Mr Burn, who was to become a fervent Marxist, was born into privilege and wealth. He was the son of Sir Clive Burn, secretary and solicitor to the Duchy of Cornwall, and educated at Winchester and Oxford.
He began his career as a journalist on the Gloucester Citizen, which sent him on a six-week assignment to report on Hitler’s Germany. There, through his friend Unity Mitford – the English aristocrat so enamoured with Hitler that she shot herself when her homeland declared war on the Third Reich in 1939 – he met the Führer and was invited to a Nazi party rally at Nuremberg.
Yesterday, he said: “I am ashamed I was taken in for a short time by National Socialism. What made me sympathise was that there were the two million unemployed in England. I had seen that in the coalfields and it sickened me. I thought that anyone who cures that was a good person. I didn’t realise the rest, but I was soon disillusioned about there being anything good about National Socialism.”
He joined The Times in 1936, becoming a protégé of Geoffrey Dawson, the Editor, initially a champion of appeasement. Mr Burn recalled: “He said to me, ‘We’re thinking of sending you to be trained as our Washington correspondent.’ I said, ‘What about the war?’ It was July 1939 then. He said, ‘My dear boy, the danger of war is immeasurably removed.’ That was two months before. It was wishful thinking.
“So many were taken in. My father, who had been in the First World War, wanted peace and couldn’t bear it.”
At Colditz, Mr Burn used his skills as a journalist to help to operate the secret radio, writing down dispatches in shorthand that he then relayed to the other PoWs.
After the war, he worked as a foreign correspondent in Vienna, Yugoslavia and Hungary. The History of The Times, 1939-66, paid tribute to his reports as “an exercise in honesty”.
Mr Ozn said that The Times will have a starring role on screen as it was “so much part of his life”.
 
Challenge of Colditz
 
— Colditz was a sonderlager – a special camp for difficult prisoners and inveterate escapers
— Despite tight security for five years, 316 men made daring escape attempts. Prisoners tried to get away through tunnels, in disguise or by jumping out of windows and over the wire: 32 of them were successful
Source: Imperial War Museum

Michael Burn filed a dispatch to The Times as soon as the Allies liberated him and his fellow PoWs (Nigel Hughes)

Burn, left, gives a V for Victory sign at the moment of his capture after the St Nazaire raid

(nb it is my understanding he was giving a ‘V’ as an indication to those in the know as to the success of the mission, G.W, Ed.)

Today the Telegraph on-line carries the following interesting story:

“Nine stolen Victoria Crosses and other military medals have been recovered after Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative Party’s deputy chairman, paid a £75,000 reward.”

LINK to story

Among the haul was ex Colditz POW Capt. Charles Upham’s double VC.

On a personal note Upham was heavily involved in the defence of Sfakia, Crete allowing servicemen to evacuate. My paternal Grandfather, RAF, was one of them.

A ‘post event’ post.

Yesterday, Friday, I went to Tangmere Military Aviation Museum at former RAF Tangmere, down on the south coast.

Tangmere is steeped in history and dates back to 1916. If you stand outside the museum over by the gate that leads to the airfield and glance across to the control tower and the hangers it doesn’t take much imagination to see the old bi-planes from WW1 or the Spits scrambling to intercept the Luftwaffe bombing the airfield or indeed the ‘Black Lysander’ flights taking off with an S.O.E. agent on board who was almost certain never to return.

The museum has several planes to see but it’s real strength lies in the artifacts it has on display in it’s small exhibitions. The Battle of Britain display cannot fail to deeply move every visitor as the personal items and photographs on display dramatically hit home the sacrifices made by the participants - a visit to their memorial garden is a must. There is also a display on Douglas Bader and the Dambusters as well as the early days of WW1 and the post WW2 sonic era. A highlight for myself was the S.O.E. dsiplays on show which contain some fascinating personal items of the agents.

It is a good day out whether for the lone enthusiast or indeed the whole family (though there is not too much to do to keep younger children entertained).

Tomorrow, Sunday, is an open day and entrance is free, normally it is £6 an adult.

Here is a LINK to their website.   

Dave Windle, a fellow Colditz Society member, had the opportunity to video Walter Morison, a veteran of Stalag Luft III, Sagan and Oflag IVC, Colditz. Here is a short exert from his interview. I had the pleasure of meeting Walter last year and am delighted to say I am the owner of a signed copy of his excellent book ‘Flak & Ferrets’.

A post event ‘post’ but nevertheless I thought you would be interested to hear about it.

Today I went to Windor Castle. Despite it being only a few miles away I haven’t been since I was a child. What a fantastic place, well worth a visit.

3 things of particular interest for me:

 1. Waterloo Chamber. Constructed as a celebration of the famous victory. The room houses some incredible portraits  of all the individuals involved in the campaign - military, political and religious.

2. The Grand Staircase & Grand Vestibule. An amazing collection of arms and military clothing from around the world. 

3. The Garter Throne Room. Anyone interested in the Order of The Garter - or other Chivalric Orders will be fascinated.

It was £8 to park for 5 hours in the town below and entrance cost £38.10 for a family ticket and another £4.95 for a guide book. Included in the price was an audio tour gadget each and entrance to all exhibits in the castle as well as several things put on for children (such as cutting, sticking and colouring in pictures of castles etc). The interesting part of the deal is if you get your ticket stamped you can return during the next 12 months for as many times as you want. This is handy as there was too much to see in a day (if you take children) so we can return as ‘grown ups’ plus on the military side I will return again on my own so I can spend as much time as I want on the exhibits.

There are of course other family and non military things to see such as the Queen Mary’s Dolls House Exhibition and St.George’s Chapel etc.

Try this LINK  to the Castle’s website.