World War II - Prisoners of War - Stalag Luft I 

A collection of stories, photos, art and information on Stalag Luft I

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By: Carter Harrison

My father, Major Cyrus E. Manierre, US Army, volunteered for a "hazardous and dangerous operation" in the spring of 1943. The organization to which he volunteered his services was the Office of Strategic Services, the "OSS". On 25 May 1944 after a flight from Algiers, Team Dodge consisting of Major Manierre and Sgt L.T. Durocher parachuted into occupied France at Beaurepaire l'Isere and began the expected OSS actions of organizing the local Maquis, sabotaging troop trains, blowing up power plants, demolishing bridges etc.

(Note: Map courtesy of www.expedia.com)

All was progressing well until 5 August when the truck in which he was a passenger was stopped at a roadblock and he found himself arrested by the Milice (Vichy French collaborators). After several days in the hands of the Milice he was driven to Lyons, to Gestapo headquarters. Six days of unpleasant incarceration began, as the thugs were convinced (correctly so) that he was a spy and a saboteur, so they spared little effort in their interrogation. His treatment at their hands ended when the FFI (French Forces of the Interior) liquidated the Gestapo and blew up part of their headquarters.

As luck would have it, the German Army took over, found my father in his cell, and although he was dressed in a decidedly non-standard "uniform", believed his story of being a downed aviator who was wearing civilian clothes given him by the Maquis and who had been on his way to Spain when caught and turned over to the Gestapo. Therein followed 18 more days in the cell in Lyons, followed by a 15-day train-ride that ended at Oberusal -- Dulag-Luft, the interrogation camp for airmen. In his interrogation there, after 8 days of solitary, he continued his story of being a downed pilot. The interrogator (I have no data as to whether this was Hanns Scharff) happened to have a full file on him, which included the fact that he had been taking flight training. Fortunately omitted was the fact that he had washed out of flight school after cracking up a plane! Accordingly he was sent to Wetzlar, a transit camp.

The story continues in the words of Irwin Stovroff, Navigator of the B-24 "Passion Pit", shot down over Rouen on 13 August 1944 (related in Gerald Astor's excellent book THE MIGHTY EIGHTH):

"Bill (co-pilot Bill Manierre) and I were sitting there and he said to me 'Russian - my nickname -'look over there. There's a guy staring at me and you. Do you know him? Were we in some camp with him? Did we fly with him somewhere?' I looked at the man, a gaunt guy, deep-sunk eyes, thin as a rail and mustache. I said 'Bill, I don't know the guy. I don't think I've ever seen him before in my life.'  "'But he keeps looking at us,' said Bill. 'Oh my God! That's my brother!' It was unbelievable when the two of them got together and they seemed to recognize one another at the same moment, and began hugging."  The Germans made a big thing out of it when they found they had brothers there, and sent them both off to Stalag Luft 1, where Major Manierre got the post of Adjutant to Col. Gabby Gabreski, CO of North 3.

Roger Armstrong, another "guest" of the Luftwaffe, had this to say about him in his book USA THE HARD WAY (Quail House Publishing Co. Orange County, CA): "Major Cy Manierre, who was all "spit and polish," with his shined paratrooper boots, was an enigma to the POWs. We heard that paratroopers were shot when captured. But he was alive, hungry and cold like the rest of us. Later I learned from Col. Gabreski that he had been in the infantry. Most of us thought he was a captured OSS Officer. In any event, he also waited for Captain Probst to salute him first before returning the salute."

Another piece I gleaned comes from Hub Zemke's book ZEMKE'S STALAG (Smithsonian University Press, Washington and London). This concerns the various "extra-curricular" activities that kriegies became involved in, one of which was a boxing match in which Col. Zemke was to fight; many were eager to take a poke at the S.A.O. Accordingly: "To ensure the selection was seen to be fair, all names of would-be opponents were written on slips of paper and Group Captain Weir asked to draw one from the hat. The chosen name was that of Major Cyrus Manierre, Gabreski's Adjutant in North 3, a big lean US paratrooper who professed to have done a bit of boxing at West Point as a cadet. As can be seen from the particulars that were displayed in a Provisional Wing X bulletin, about the only advantage I had was experience.

Vital statistics of the two opponents:

"The moment arrived when my opponent and I ducked under the ropes. My only misgiving was that I had not had any time to get in a little training to limber up. In the opening round the stringy Manierre showed a good straight left but began to tire and waste away after a few punches had been landed on his torso.

(Photo from ZEMKE'S STALAG)

"In the second round he was decked with a solid right hook cross and from then on I carried him through the last round. Zemke received a unanimous decision for what was to be his last boxing match in any ring."

The tale must end here only because I have no other information. Pop was eventually liberated and went to Camp Lucky Strike, although he managed to spend a good deal of time in Paris. We were sent the picture below, found in the US Air Force Academy Archives, of Pop and some other gentleman standing in front of a church,  the Abbey of St. Ouen in Rouen, France (near camp Lucky Strike).

If you have any information about Major Manierre, or his activities In the camp (or after Liberation), escape activities if any, his family would really appreciate being contacted via email at carterbear1@hotmail.com .