Great Escape hero's WW2 pocket book found in house clearance set for auction
A 1939 pocket book which belonged to one of the men who broke out of Stalag Luft III during the Great Escape is going up for auction.
The book belonged by Australian-born Flight Lieutenant Paul Gordon Royle, who flew with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
Flt Lt Royle was one of the 76 Allied airmen who escaped from the German prisoner-of-war camp 80 years ago in one of the most famous jailbreaks in history.
The Luftwaffe designed the camp to be escape-proof but the airmen, immortalised in the 1963 film The Great Escape, proved them wrong.
On 24 March 1944, Flt Lt Royle was number 55 in a line of prisoners waiting to crawl out through a tunnel named Harry.
In the build-up to the escape, he was one of the so-called penguins, inmates who secretly disposed of sand dug out of the tunnel by letting it discreetly fall out of the legs of their trousers.
During the escape, he teamed up with Flt Lt Edgar Humphries. Armed with civilian-style clothes, rations and a compass, they made their way out of the tunnel onto the snow-covered ground at 02:30 on 25 March 1944.
They spent 24 hours on the run before being recaptured by German auxiliary police.
Flt Lt Humphries was one of 50 recaptured escapees to be executed by the Gestapo, believed to be on direct orders from Adolf Hitler, but Flt Lt Royle lived to tell the tale.
He was interrogated and put into solitary confinement, and was liberated on 2 May 1945.
He returned to Australia and lived to the age of 101 before dying in 2015 in Perth.
An amazing discovery
Matt Crowson, head of militaria at Hansons Auctioneers, which will offer the memorabilia on 7 August, said: "It's an amazing discovery.
"The pocketbook was acquired some years ago during a house clearance at the home of former Nottingham-born England cricketer and WW2 Flight Lieutenant Reg Simpson RAF (1920-2013).
"As Royle and Simpson were both flight lieutenants, it's likely they got to know each other during the war.
"An RAF officer's cap is included in the lot, faintly marked Flt Lt Reg Simpson. The vendor disposed of many of Reg's WW2 possessions some time ago. The cap and pocket book are the only remaining items.
"The 1937-issue book was signed by Paul on May 16, 1939, just three days after he was inducted into the RAF.
"It covers all manner of service-related matters, such as flag recognition, ranks within the armed forces, the powers of commanding officers, court-martial procedures, rations, knot-tying, discipline during flights, world currencies and information useful for a young pilot officer."
Mr Crowson set a guide price of £300-£500, but believes with worldwide interest in The Great Escape, it could achieve more.
He noted that in May how a swagger stick that once belonged to Great Escape hero Marcel Zillessen sold for £1,000 at Hansons from a £100-£150 estimate.
It had been deteriorating at the back of an airing cupboard in Ticknall, South Derbyshire, for 20 years, and was discovered when a plumber was called to fix the boiler.
Join Our Newsletter
