THE BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDAL PAIR TO AIR MECHANIC AND AIR GUNNER LESLIE BAIN, 25 SQUADRON ROYAL FLYING CORPS AND ROYAL AIR FORCE, SHOT DOWN AND TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR WITH HIS PILOT ON 15 FEBRUARY 1918, AFTER HAVING REPORTEDLY DOWNED TWO ENEMY PLANES

THE BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDAL PAIR TO AIR MECHANIC AND AIR GUNNER LESLIE BAIN, 25 SQUADRON ROYAL FLYING CORPS AND ROYAL AIR FORCE, SHOT DOWN AND TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR WITH HIS PILOT ON 15 FEBRUARY 1918, AFTER HAVING REPORTEDLY DOWNED TWO ENEMY PLANES DURING THE DOG FIGHT IN WHICH HE HIMSELF WAS SHOT DOWN. BAIN SUBSEQUENTLY ESCAPED FROM A TRAIN TRANSPORTING HIM FROM HOLZMINDEN OFFICERS P.O.W. CAMP WHERE HE WAS A PRISONER, BUT WAS RE-CAPTURED AND TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER CAMP. BAIN’S PILOT WHEN HE WAS SHOT DOWN WAS THE AUSTRALIAN, LIEUTENANT E.O. CUDMORE, WHO REMARKABLY QUALIFIED AS A ROYAL FLYING CORPS PILOT DESPITE HAVING LOST A LEG IN A PRE-WAR ACCIDENT. BOTH BAIN AND CUDMORE WERE SUBSEQUENTLY MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES IN THE SAME EDITION OF THE LONDON GAZETTE, 3RD JUNE 1919. CUDMORE, LIKE BAIN, ATTEMPTED TO ESCAPE WHILST A PRIOSONER OF WAR, SO PRESUMABLY BOTH MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES FOR THE SAME REASON, ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE (A HAND WRITTEN POST-WAR LETTER FROM CUDMORE TO BAIN ACCOMPANIES THE GROUP). Two: British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oakleaf on Victory Medal ribbon (officially impressed: 107299. A.M. L. BAIN. R.A.F.). Minor edge bruise to War Medal, otherwise Almost Extremely Fine.

After being taken prisoner of war, Bain was mistakenly identified as an officer by his German captors, with the result that he and his pilot, 2nd Lieutenant E.O. Cudmore, were both initially sent to the captured officers interrogation and distribution centre at Karlsruhe, and later imprisoned together in officers p.o.w. camps at Landshut and Holzminden. The camp at Holzminden was the scene of many escape attempts during WW1, including the WW1 Great Escape by 29 officers in July 1918, Bain himself making a succesful escape from a train transporting him from Holzminden, but was re-captured and transferred to another prisoner of war camp. Bain was repatriated following the end of the war, in December 1918, and was subsequently mentioned in dispatches, London Gazette, 3/6/1919 For valuable services rendered during the war. The British War Medal and Victory Medal with M.I.D. oakleaf were Bains sole medal entitlement for WW1.

The pilot of Bains plane when he was shot down was the Australian 2nd Lieutenant Ernest Osmond Cudmore, who had managed to obtain a commission in the Royal Flying Corps despite having lost a leg in an accident prior to the war and, like the WW2 double amputee Douglas Bader, saw action as a pilot despite his incapacity.

Group accompanied by various original contemporary photographs and correspondence, along with copied pre-war Militia, Royal Flying Corps and RAF service papers, the original photographs and correspondence including :

Four various Victorian era studio photographic portraits of three unidentifed soldiers in uniform (one a duplicate).

(2) A contemporary copy of a telegram to Bains family dated 27th February 1918 informing them “telegram received Copenhagen information via Frankfort, Lieut. L.J. Bain, Flying Corps, prisoner of war, good health, no address yet..

(3) An International Red Cross prisoner of war postcard from Copenhagen, Denmark, addressed to Lieutenant L.J. Bain, Royal Flying Corps, at Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, dated 20th March 1918, informing Bain that the Danish Red Cross had forwarded a parcel to him.

(4) An envelope addressed to Bains mother (circa June 1918) at Brixton Road, Brixton, London, from 8823 Sergeant Ernest Ive, Royal Scots Fusiliers, formerly a German prisoner of war but then interned in Holland at Den Haag (The Hague), the contents of this envelope now lacking, but when originally sold at auction in 2005 the envelope contained a letter from Sergeant Ive to Mrs Bain. Ive, by then not being subject to German military censorship and thus free to refer to military matters, passing on a message to her that her son despite being shot down, was alive and well, and had himself shot down two German planes during the dog-fight in which he himself was shot down. The envelope accompanied by a note from the 1905 auctioneer, dated 29/7/2005, giving details of the missing letter.

(5) A post-war letter dated 14th January 1919 to Bain from his pilot, Ernest Osmond Cudmore, regarding Bains escape attempt and the mis-treatment of British prisoners of war “I want to hear how you got along after Holzminden. It was bad luck the Huns wouldn’t let you stay on there. Your guard was rumoured to have returned to camp about noon the same day and on the strength of this you were supposed to have hopped the train. I hope you are feeling fit again for I suppose you had a pretty rotten time. When you hear of the treatment our men got it seems a pity that the war didn’t last another few months. Niemeyer & his brother, also von Hanisch are all to come across for trial.”, Cudmore enclosing contemporary captioned newspaper cuttings with photographs of two German p.o.w. camp commandants, Huptman Karl Niemeyer “the brutal Commandant of Holzminden Camp, whose tortures of prisoners are one of the blackest stories of the war and General von Hanisch “perhaps the most brutal of all the terrible prison camp fiends. He was so vile that even the Germans could not stand him, and he was removed from his command during the war. Now he must answer to the allies.”. Bain and Cudmore both had first-hand experience of these two notorious officers, Niemayer as Commandant of Holzminden and von Hanisch as overall commander of the p.o.w. camps in the state of Hanover, Niemayer being known to the prisoners as Mad Harry and von Hanisch as the Pig of Hanover.

Niemeyer newspaper cutting torn, otherwise photographs and documents in good condition.

LESLIE JAMES WILLIAM BAIN, was born on 19/1/1890 in Lambeth, Surrey, the son of James and Harriet Bain. Recorded in the 1901 census living with his parents in Lambeth, he joined the Territorial Army, enlisting into the 21st (County of London) Battalion (1st Surrey Rifles) The London Regiment, on 15/2/1909, for four years service. At the time of enlistment Bain was 20 years old and gave his trade as that of commercial clerk. Recorded in the 1911 census as a 21 year old, unmarried, provisions warehouse clerk, living at 21 Hilda Road, Brixton, with his parents and two brothers, Bain was discharged from the Territorial Army on 4/2/1913, on completion of his term of engagement. Following the outbreak of WW1, Bain re-enlisted into the 21st Battalion London Regiment (1st Surrey Rifles), on 9/11/1914. He saw service at home with the 21st Londons during WW1, his Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force service papers confirming that Bain, after initially seeing service during WW1 with the 1st Surrey Rifles, transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, seeing service in France from 31/10/1917 with 25 Squadron initially as an Air Mechanic, before qualifying as an air gunner. on 15/11/1917.

Bain was taken p.o.w. on 5th February 1918 whilst serving as an Air Gunner during a bombing raid by 25 Squadron on the railway station at Deynze, east Flanders, Belgium. During that raid the planes of 25 Squadron were intercepted by 15 enemy aircraft and in the ensuing dogfight the DH4 piloted by 2nd Lieutenant E.O. Cudmore, in which Bain was serving as air gunner, shot down. After making a forced landing, Bain and Cudmore were both taken prisoner of war. Bains plane was one of three from 25 Squadron shot down during this action, two of which, including Bains, were claimed by the WW1 German Ace, Lieutenant H. Bongartz of Jasta 36.

After being captured, Bain and Cudmore were transferred to the officers prisoner of war interrogation and distribution centre at Karlsruhe. There, Bains interrogators mistakenly identified him as an officer, and not only as an officer, but also of the more senior officer of the two, Bain being identified as Lieutenant and Observer and Cudmore as 2nd Lieutenant and the pilot of the downed DH4. Cudmore was clearly happy to oblige Bain by perpetuating the error, with the result that both he and Bain were subsequently held together in the officers p.o.w. camps at Landshut and Holzminden. It is also clear that, not only did Cudmore oblige Bain, but also that, later, the other officers at Landshut and Holzminden were happy to oblige, with the result that Bains was held as an officer at both camps during 1918. He was repatriated from Germany following the end of WW1, arriving at Ripon on 26/12/1918. Bain transferred to the Royal Air Force on its formation on 1/4/1918 with the rank of Private, whilst still a prisoner of war, and was discharged from the Royal Air Force on 30/4/1920.

Bain married Ethel Margetts at St Marks Church, Lambeth, on 27/11/1919. At the time of his marriage, Bain stated that he was employed as a butcher. Leslie Bain died in Bromley, Kent, on 25/1/1976, aged 86, and left an estate valued at £14,081.

ERNEST OSMOND CUDMORE war born in Glen Osmond, South Australia, on 2/7/1895, the son of Milo and Constance Cudmore. As a youth, Cudmore was seriously injured in a riding accident in 1908, breaking one leg so badly that it had to be amputated below the knee. This did not, however, deter Cudmore. Far from it. He subsequently developed an interest in motor cycle racing, taking part in a 24 hour sidecar motorcycle endurance race organised by the Victoria Motor Club in August 1916, as the passenger of a 600cc Indian motorcycle-sidecar combination. Cudmore subsequently sailed for England and obtained his pilots licence at Bournemouth Aviation School on 26/4/1917, flying a Caudron bi-plane, giving his occupation at the time of obtaining his pilots licence as university student. Cudmore enlisted into the Royal Flying Corps on 20/6/1917 and was appointed 3rd Class Air Mechanic. He was subsequently discharged to a commission on 29/8/1917 and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps, on 30/8/1917 and posted for service with 25 Squadron on 12/1/1918. Cudmore was taken prisoner of war, along with Bain, twenty-four days later, on 5/2/1918. After being interrogated at the Karlsruhe POW Interrogation and Distribution centre, he was imprisoned at the Landshut and Holzminden POW camps for officers. Whilst in Holzminden, Cudmore fell foul of the camp commandant, Hauptman Karl Niemayer as a result of his escape attempts, with the result that he, like Douglas Bader during WW2, had his wooden leg confiscated. Subsequently promoted Lieutenant, he transferred to the Royal Air Force with that rank on its foundation on 1/4/1918, whilst still a p.o.w.. Cudmore was demobilised on 12/12/1919 and was mentioned in dispatches, London Gazette, 3/6/1919 For valuable services rendered during the war. When the war ended, Cudmore returned to Australia via the USA with his brother Arthur, who had served in the Australian army during WW1. Together the brothers bought a Buick and drove across America to San Francisco, where embarked for Australia. Back in Australia, Cudmore bought a farm and took up riding again, joining the local hunt. Whilst a member of the hunt he met Eileen Fitzsimons, also a keen rider and widely regarded as the most successful horeswoman of her day. They married on 23/12/1922. Ernest Cudmore committed suicide on 26/9/1924.

Ernest Cudmore was the grandson of Daniel Cudmore (1811-1891), the Limerick born pioneer, who settled in South Australia following the foundation of that state, and was the patriarch of Australias Cudmore dynasty (for further details of the Cudmore family, see Travers Morrows The Cudmore Family in Australia (Pioneer Association of Australia, Adelaide, 1945)).

ERNEST ARTHUR IVE, born London 1887, saw service during WW1 exclusively with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in France and Flanders, initially with the 1st Battalion, entering that theatre of operations on 14/8/1914 (the 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers landed as a unit at Havre on 14/8/1914), and subsequently served with the 2nd Battalion, being taken p.o.w. at Guillemont on 30/7/1916. Ive passed through a number of p.o.w. camps, including Stendal, Fredriksfeld and Soltau, before being transferred to Holland for internment on 13/6/1918.

KARLSRUHE was an interrogation and distribution camp for captured officers. After interrogation, captured officers were sent to officer P.O.W. camps. The camp consisted of wooden huts erected in the grounds of the castle in the centre of the city of Karlsruhe, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden.

LANDSHUT Prisoner of War Camp was an officers P.O.W. camp situated in a former factory, about a mile from the city of Osnabruck.

HOLZMINDEN Officers Prisoner of War Camp, situated in the province of Hanover, opened in September1917 and held up to 550 officers and 100 orderlies, all of whom were either British or Colonial servicemen. Holzminden was the scene of numerous escapes and escape attempts by officers and men imprisoned there during WW1. During the period October 1917 to July 1918, the majority of officers and men in the camp were involved in one way or another in the tunneling effort that led to the Holzminden Great Escape of July 1918.While the tunnel was beind dug, the officers involved in construction also continued to organise escapes by other means, in order to disguise the fact that they were digging a tunnel. Bain, who spent most of his time in captivity with Cudmore, and was imprisoned with Cudmore in Holzminden immediately prior to escaping from a train transporting him from Holzminden, presumably to another camp as punishment. Bain was present in Landshut camp with Cudmore on 1/4/1918. But he was not recorded as being in Holzminden when the 20/4/1918 return of prisoners there was compiled for the Red Cross, indicating that his escape from the train taking him to another camp took place some time between 1st April and 30th April 1918, some five months after work had begun on the Holzminden tunnel, and by which time many of officers in the camp were involved in its construction.

The commandant of Holzminden, the notorious Hauptmann Karl Niemeyer, who went out of his way to antagonise his prisoners and inflicted extreme punishment for what were often minor offences and infringements of his rules. He also embezzled the camps food supply, selling much of it on the black market, and pilfered the prisoners’ food parcels, to the extent that the prisoners diet was often below subsistence level. Conditions were so intolerable that resisting Niemayers regime and escape became a priority for a majority of his prisoners. Officers who escaped or who were involved in escape attempts were removed without notice to another camp. Within a month of the camp’s establishment no less than 17 prisoners had escaped. Although they were quickly recaptured, during the remainder of the camps existence, Holzminden was the scene of numerous escapes and escape attempts.

During the period October 1917 to July 1918, the majority of the officers and men in the ecamp were involved in the effort that led to the Holzminden Great Escape of July 1918. The construction of the tunnel began in October 1917, and eventually reached a length of 60 yards and took nine months to complete. The digging team comprised no more than 13 officers at a time, who worked in teams of three on a daily basis. The main buildings of the camp consisted of two barracks designated A and B. The tunnel ran from the basement of Barrack B which was about 10 yards from the outer wall of the camp. Because of morning and evening roll-calls work could be carried between the hours of 12 noon and 4.00 p.m only. From its commencement in mid-October until mid-December the tunnel had been excavated to a length of 15 yards and was beyond the surrounding wall. The labour involved was back-breaking. One officer worked at the tunnel face, which was about six feet below ground level, using improvised tools to dig away the stones and soil .He then had to fill this material into pans or sacks that were dragged back by rope along the length of the tunnel by a second man who was at the opening. Here the clay and stones were transferred to sacks and these were stacked in the basement space. By the time the tunnel was completed all available space had been used. The third man in the team operated a makeshift bellows which provided a fresh air system for the tunnel and particularly for the digger at the tunnel face. By the end, the project had become so complex and labour intensive that virtually every man in the camp was involved, either digging, acting as look-outs, as scroungers of civilian clothes for wear by escapers, or forging German identity documents and travel passes. Although every man in the camp knew about the tunnel by the time it was completed, its existence was never divulged to the German authorities. Beyond the perimeter of the camp there was a field of rye and the digging plan was to exit the tunnel in this field where the officers would be hidden from the view of the German sentries. The escape took place on the night of 23rd/24th July 1918. By then, sufficient civilian clothing and forged identity documents had been amassed to supply 60 escapers. Unfortunately, the tunnel collapsed while the escape was taking place, and only 29 officers made it through the tunnel. Of these, 10 went on to make a home run and returned safely to England, including the camps senior British and Commonwealth officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Rathborne.

25 SQUADRON was formed at Montrose in September, 1915, and went to France in February 1916 as a fighter squadron, equipped with F.E.2b’s. The squadron was originally given the task of intercepting enemy bombers on their way to England, but it subsequently did most of its fighting in the skies over the Western Front. There, with the other F.E.2b squadrons, No. 25 played its part in combating the enemy Fokker fighters, which were destroying so many of the Royal Flying Corp’s reconnaissance aircraft. Whilst engaged in these duties, the squadron was credited with shooting down the greatest exponent of the Fokker E1 fighter, Max Immelmann, who was brought down by Second Lieutenant G. R. McCubbin and Corporal J. H. WaIler on 18th June, 1916. However, by the end of the year technical developments rendered the F.E.2b vulnerable as a fighter. As a result, No. 25 Squadron subsequently became a bomber squadron, in June 1917 and was re-equipped with DH4 bombers.

LIEUTENANT HEINRICH BONGARTZ, the German Ace and recipient of the Knights Cross with Swords and the Pour Merite, shot down a total of 33 British planes during the period 6/4/1917 to 27/3/1918.