Leslie George Bull

Leslie George Bull
Birth name	Leslie George Bull
Nickname(s)	Les, Johnny and Lester
Born	(1916-08-07)7 August 1916 Highbury, London
Died	29 March 1944(1944-03-29) (aged 27) between Reichenberg and Brux
Buried	Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery, Poland
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1936–1944
Rank	Flight lieutenant
Service number	43932
Unit	No. 75 Squadron RAF No. 9 Squadron RAF No. 109 Squadron RAF
Battles/wars	World War II POW )
Awards	Distinguished Flying Cross Mentioned in despatches

Leslie George Bull (7 August 1916 – 29 March 1944), known as Johnny, Les or Lester Bull, was a British

Bull was born in Highbury, London, on 7 August 1916, and was educated locally in the council school. Having achieved school certificate passes he was able to progress to the London County Council School of Building at Brixton in south west London to train as an architect,^[1] however in July 1936 after three years of study he decided to leave and join the Royal Air Force. Enlisting as an aircraftman 2nd class (service number 580284) he was accepted for pilot training and gained his pilot's wings before joining No. 75 Squadron RAF to fly Handley Page Harrow heavy bombers.^[2] In 1938 while stationed at RAF Driffield he met and later married Kathleen, they had a son, David.^{[citation needed]}

War service

Serving operationally as a sergeant-pilot, Bull joined

At 1830 on the evening of 5 November 1941 Bull took off in a

For the Great Escape operation Bull was one of the leading tunnellers,[14] described as a "shift boss" in other sources.^[15] Bull was designated to be the first^[12] of the 76 men who escaped the prison camp on the night of 24–25 March 1944 in the escape now famous as "the Great Escape". He was to be at the far end of the tunnel where a temporary underground hatch had been built, he was to remove the hatch and break through the earth providing the escape route.^[16] When the tunnel was found to be a little short of the tree line he is credited as the man who quickly came up with the scheme to use a length of rope to signal when the German guards were clear and men should emerge from the trap door and run to the cover of the woods.^[17][18]

Travelling in a group of four escapees with Rusty Kierath, Jerzy Mondschein and Willy Williams, their plan was to catch a train at a small station south of Sagan to Bober-Rohrsdorf near Hirschberg, close to the Czech frontier.^[19] They got well to the south of Hirschberg The four made it into the Riesengebirge (mountain range) but were arrested by a mountain patrol and taken to Reichenberg prison, inside Czechoslovakia.^[20][21] The four were taken from the prison by officials of the Gestapo at 0400 hours on 29 March 1944^[22] and were shot and cremated, the cremation urns returned to Stalag Luft III were marked with the date 29 March 1944 and the name of the town Brux.^{[2][19][23][24]}

Bull was one of the 50 escapers executed and murdered by the Gestapo.^[25] Originally his remains were buried at Sagan, he is now buried in part of the Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery.^[26] Bull's name was amongst those in the list of the murdered prisoners which was published when news broke on or about 19–20 May 1944.^[27] The Glasgow Herald of 19 May 1944 published an early list naming several officers including Bull.^[28]

Awards

Bull received the following awards:

• the Distinguished Flying Cross on 18 July 1941 for his service with No.109 Squadron.^[7]
• a
  Mention in despatches for conspicuous gallantry as a prisoner of war (none of the other relevant decorations then available could be awarded posthumously). It was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 8 June 1944.^[29]

On 25 March 2012, the Czech Republic held a ceremony honouring these men and unveiling a plaque in their memory in the city of Most (formerly Brux) where they were murdered. The Czech Air Force organised a fly past and a Guard of Honour at the ceremony, which took place on the 68th anniversary of their escape. Members of the families of the four airmen met for the first time at this event.[30]

Other victims

See Stalag Luft III murders

The Gestapo executed a group of 50 of the recaptured prisoners representing almost all of the nationalities involved in the escape. Post-war investigations saw a number of those guilty of the murders tracked down, arrested and tried for their crimes.^{[31][32][33][34]}

Nationalities of the 50 executed

21 British

6 Canadian

6 Polish

5 Australian

3 South African

2 New Zealanders

2 Norwegian

1 Belgian

1 Czechoslovak

1 Frenchman

1 Greek

1 Lithuanian

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Andrews, Allen (1976). Exemplary Justice. Harrap.
  ISBN 0-245-52775-3
  .
• ISBN 978-0-593-05408-6
  .
• Barris, Ted (2014). The Great Escape. Dundurn Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1459728448
  .
• ISBN 978-0-393-32579-9
  .
• ISBN 978-1-59114-097-9
  .
• Chorley, William R. (1992). RAF Bomber Command Losses, Volume 2. Midland Counties.
  ISBN 0-904597-87-3
  .
• ISBN 978-1-55591-536-0
  .
• Duran, Arthur A. (1 January 1989). Stalag Luft III: The Secret Story. Patrick Stephens Limited.
  ISBN 978-1-85260-248-2
  .
• Feast, Sean (2015). The Last of the 39-ers. Grub Street.
  ISBN 978-1909166158
  .
• Read, Simon (2012). Human Game. Constable.
  ISBN 978-1-4721-1262-0
  .
• Vance, Jonathan F. (2000). A Gallant Company: The Men of the Great Escape. Pacifica Military History; (Mar 2001). p. 41.
  ISBN 978-0-935-55347-5
  .

• Project Lessons from the Great Escape (Stalag Luft III), by Mark Kozak-Holland. The prisoners formally structured their work as a project. This book analyses their efforts using modern project management methods.