Part 3 After The War
By Tony Storey
This article was published in the August 2025 edition of Soul Search, the Journal of The Sole Society
Adolf Hitler had personally ordered the execution of fifty prisoners of war in clear violation of the Geneva Convention, but he had committed suicide before he could be brought to justice. When the war ended, the Allies, Great Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union, formed the International Military Tribunal (IMT). From November 1945 to October 1946, the Nuremberg Trials took place, trying former leaders and other prominent Nazis for committing or conspiring to commit war crimes, crimes against peace, or crimes against humanity.
By 1947 eighteen members of the Gestapo who had carried out the murders at Stalag Luft III had been brought before the tribunal and found guilty of war crimes. Thirteen of them were sentenced to death. The British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. Perhaps as a small part of the preparations for Nuremberg, M.I.9 had devised a questionnaire and required all former POWs to document their experiences during their confinement. In May 1945 Francis Brinsden and Peter Sewell, like many thousands of former prisoners of war, were asked to complete the form to assist the allies’ investigation of other possible war crimes.
These documents are currently held in the National Archives and include those for Squadron Leader Brinsden and Navigator Peter Sewell.
Francis Noel Brinsden was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 27th March 1919 and educated at Takapuna Grammar School. After leaving school he worked as a bank clerk. He applied for a short service commission in 1937, was provisionally accepted and in mid-August sailed for England in the RMS Arawa. In July 1938, his training completed, he joined 19 Squadron at Duxford, Cambridgeshire. In November 1940 he was sent to RAF Leconfield to join 303 Squadron as ‘A’ Flight Commander. Brinsden was appointed British Liaison Officer with 303 Squadron from 1st January 1941, when Polish officers took command of the squadron. He returned to operations in March 1941, joining the newly-formed 485 Squadron at Driffield as a Flight Commander. In February 1943 he attended a night-fighting conversion course, after which he joined 25 Squadron at Church Fenton.
Brinsden was released from Stalag Luft III on 9th May 1945. His answers to the questionnaire gave few clues to his feelings about his imprisonment. It seems he wanted to put the episode behind him and move on with the rest of his life.
After a pilot refresher course he took command of No. 3 Missing Research and Enquiry Unit, tracing Allied aircrew. He left for New Zealand in March 1947 and received a permanent commission in June. After several appointments he retired as a Wing Commander in December 1966. He moved to Western Australia and died there in 1993.
For Peter Sewell it seems Stalag Luft III had left deeper scars. The first page of the form requires the former POW to put his full name, rank and serial number. For his squadron he entered ‘25 Fighter Squadron’. Peter then entered his date of birth, 10 August 1923, the date he enlisted, 17 August 1943, and his address as c/o Mrs F N Brinsden of Manor House, Newton, Cambridgeshire.
Each page of the form was headed TOP SECRET, but the former prisoners were reminded that the matters covered in Part Two of the form were of a highly secret and official nature and they were to forbidden to publish or communicate any information.
Peter was asked if he had had any instruction on escaping.
“Yes, by a flight sergeant who had himself escaped from Germany. The lecture took place at Church Fenton, where 25 Squadron was stationed.”
Were you interrogated after capture?
“Yes a German Luftwaffe Feldwebel, Oscar Kolb, was brought down specially to interrogate my pilot, Squadron Leader Brinsden, and myself. He was attached to Intruder Control, methods quite courteous, failed to get any information from us, (I think).”
There was one question that seemed to touch a nerve.
Did you attempt to escape? To which Sewell replied, “No, failed to draw a lucky ticket for the tunnel at Stalag Luft 3”.
Given that most of his friends who had succeeded in drawing ‘a lucky ticket’, were brought back and subsequently murdered, Sewell sounds bitter and reference to ‘failure’ might suggest he was suffering ‘survivor’s guilt’.
Time heals and in February 1951 Peter Sewell married Valerie Lydia Courtenay at Battle, Sussex.
On 26 March 1953 the SS Aureol sailed from Liverpool to Lagos, Nigeria. One of the passengers, apparently alone, was P.G.F. Sewell aged 29, the recently appointed Assistant Superintendent of Police of Lagos, Nigeria.
On 30 October 1956 the SS Hilary arrived at Liverpool from Lagos carrying Peter G F Sewell aged 33, who was intending to stay in the UK for five months.
The London Gazette of 1 January 1958 reporting the New Year’s Honours List recorded that the Colonial Police Medal for Overseas Territories had been awarded to Peter Gordon Fane Sewell, Senior Superintendent, Nigeria Police Force
Peter Gordon Fane Sewell of 18 Wellington Court, Spencers Wood, Reading, Berkshire, died on 28 December 1982, aged 59. For probate purposes, the estate did not exceed £25,000. Valerie Lydia Sewell died in 1992 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire (born 28 March 1925).