page_title: Phil Lamason
section_title: Buchenwald
hierarchical_section_title: Phil Lamason / Buchenwald
caption_attribution_description: English: Black &amp; white photo of two allied airmen playing chess in Chevreuse with a Frenchwoman whose family hid them for two weeks after they were shot down. Left to right: Colette Kalmanson, Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) Philip J Lamason DFC, RNZAF and Flying Officer (FO) Ken Chapman RAF. Item held by the Australian War Memorial.
context_page_description: Phillip John Lamason, DFC & Bar was a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War, who rose to prominence as the senior officer in charge of 168 Allied airmen taken to Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany, in August 1944. Raised in Napier, he joined the RNZAF in September 1940, and by April 1942 was a pilot officer serving with the Royal Air Force in Europe. On 8 June 1944, Lamason was in command of a Lancaster heavy bomber that was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards near Paris. Bailing out, he was picked up by members of the French Resistance and hidden at various locations for seven weeks. While attempting to reach Spain along the Comet line, Lamason was double-crossed by a traitor within the Resistance and handed over to the Gestapo.
  After interrogation, he was taken to Fresnes prison. Classified as a "Terrorflieger", he was not accorded prisoner-of-war status, but instead treated as a criminal and spy. By 15 August 1944, Lamason was senior officer of a group of 168 captured Allied airmen who were taken by train to Buchenwald concentration camp, arriving there five days later.
context_section_description: On 8 June 1944, Lamason was serving as a flight commander in a Lancaster LM575 LS-H of No. 15 Squadron RAF, on his 45th operation, when he was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards at Massy-Palaiseau near Paris.
  
  Lamason recalled: 
  On the night of the raid our bomber was spotted by a German fighter, which locked on to it. I decided to turn and fight him. Within seconds an incendiary round hit a wing and caught the fuel tank. I gave the order to bail out as the gas torched. But Robbie, our mid-upper gunner, kept on firing. When he eventually did jump, we no longer had enough height. I saw his parachute open, but too late. He must have died on impact. I pushed the navigator out and managed to jump clear at the last minute.
  Along with his English navigator, Flying Officer Ken Chapman, Lamason was picked up by members of the French Resistance and hidden at various locations for seven weeks. In August 1944, while attempting to reach Spain along the Comet line, Lamason and Chapman were captured by the Gestapo in Paris after they were betrayed by the French double agent Jacques Desoubrie for 10,000 francs each. After interrogation at the Gestapo headquarters in Paris, they were taken to Fresnes Prison. Many fliers were classified as "Terrorflieger" (terror flier) by the Germans, and were not given a trial. The most common act for allied airmen to be classified a terror flier was to be captured in civilian clothing and/or without their dog tags. The German Foreign Office decided that these captured enemy airmen should not be given the legal status of prisoner of war (POWs) but should instead be treated as criminals and spies.
  Consequently, Lamason was among a group of 168 allied airmen from Great Britain, United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica who—along with over 2,500 French prisoners—were taken by train—in overcrowded cattle boxcars — from Fresnes Prison outside Paris, to Buchenwald concentration camp. As the airmen were herded into the boxcars, Lamason protested about the poor treatment of the airmen, only to be struck in the face by a SS guard. Lamason fell to the ground and captured pilot Roy Allen watched as a SS Major pulled a Luger from his holster and thought Lamason would be shot on the spot. After five days travel, during which the airmen received very little food or water, they arrived at Buchenwald on 20 August 1944.
  Buchenwald was a labour camp of about 60,000 inmates of mainly Russian POWs, but also common criminals, religious prisoners (including Jews), and various political prisoners from Germany, France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. It was known for its brutality and barbaric medical experiments.
  Upon arrival, Lamason, as ranking officer, demanded an interview with the camp commandant, Hermann Pister, which he was granted. He insisted that the airmen be treated as POWs under the Geneva Conventions and be sent to a POW camp. The commandant agreed that their arrival at Buchenwald was a "mistake" but they remained there anyway. The airmen were given the same poor treatment and beatings as the other inmates. For the first three weeks at Buchenwald, the prisoners were totally shaved, denied shoes and forced to sleep outside without shelter in one of Buchenwald's sub-camps, known as 'Little Camp'. Little Camp was a quarantine section of Buchenwald where the prisoners received the least food and harshest treatment.
  
  After their first meal, Lamason stepped forward and said:
  Attention!... Gentlemen, we have ourselves in a very fine fix indeed. The goons have completely violated the Geneva Convention and are treating us as common thieves and criminals. However, we are soldiers. From this time on, we will also conduct ourselves as our training has taught us and as our countries would expect from us. We will march as a unit to roll call and we will follow all reasonable commands as a single unit.
  Lamason then instructed the group not to trust the SS, or provoke them in any way because as they had experienced on the train, the guards were unpredictable and trigger-happy. Also, they were not 
caption: Lamason (centre) and another airman (Ken Chapman) playing chess in Chevreuse with a Frenchwoman whose family hid them for two weeks.
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