B-17s after landing in Barth to rescue the Stalag Luft 1 POWS and take them to France

After the war was over, the 9000 POWs at Stalag Luft 1 were stranded in north eastern Germany clear up on the Baltic Sea. There were no US or British armies in far northern Germany to rescue them and get them home.  The only allied army in the area were the Russians.  While the Russians were our allies during the war, they were not necessarily our friends. Getting the POWs out of Russian territory and from under Russian control was going to be difficult.  The dramatic air rescue of the Stalag Luft 1 POWs was done by the US 8^th Air Force despite the Russians objections.  It took  approximately 300 B-17 bombers to get the POWs out.  Plywood was placed over the bomb bay doors so that each bomber could hold at least 25 POWs. The planes took off from England and flew in a straight formation to Barth Germany,  landed one at a time, and taxied up to the waiting groups of men who got on board as quickly as possible. The planes did not shut off their engines and stayed on the ground for only a few minutes before ascending into the air and flying the no ex-POWs  to the northern coast of France.

The air rescue of Stalag Luft 1 prisoners can be viewed on YouTube.