A bit late but a full life worthy of remembrance.
Flt Sgt Harry Winter, airman shot down in a bombing mission who became lifelong friends with the German who rescued him
Summarise
He said of his march from the PoW camp: ‘I just looked at the man in front of me. I walked and walked and kept pace... I never lost hope’
Telegraph Obituaries11 March 2026 12:34pm GMT
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Winter with his wife Josie in 2025, the year they celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary: he is wearing his official war medals together with the Bomber Command and Prisoner of War commemorative medals on his 427 Squadron blazerCredit: Heathcliff O'Malley
Flight Sergeant Harry Winter, who has died aged 103, was shot down over Germany and badly injured – and was convinced that he owed his life to the kindness of a German medical orderly.
In September 1943 Winter and his crew joined 427 Squadron, a Royal Canadian Air Force Halifax bomber unit, based at Leeming in North Yorkshire. He was the crew’s wireless operator, and one of two Englishmen in the crew.
They took off on the night of October 22/23 1943 to attack Kassel. Flying in the second wave, the German night fighters had been fully alerted and were active when Winter and his crew arrived over the target. Shortly after dropping the bombs, they were attacked by an enemy fighter from behind and a fire broke out in the bomber’s wing. The pilot ordered the crew to bale out. Four of the crew survived, but the American-born pilot and the two gunners perished in the crash.
The raid on Kassel destroyed most of the old town and was the most devastating since the “firestorm” raid on Hamburg earlier in the year. The railway system and its installations were severely damaged and three aircraft factories making the V-1 flying bombs were also hit. This caused a significant delay to the eventual opening of the German V-1 campaign against England.
Bomber Command paid a high price, too, with the loss of 43 bombers (7.6 percent of the force). It was particularly disastrous for 427 Squadron who lost four Halifax bombers. Only four of the 28 aircrew survived to become prisoners of war.
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Winter at No 2 Radio School RAF Yatesbury, 1942
Winter landed in a tree, breaking his femur, and lay unconscious all night. Found by farmers in the morning, he was taken to a local hospital where his leg was treated. He was hospitalised for seven months.
When Winter was fit enough to travel, a young German medical orderly called Gunther Arf arrived to escort him on a train to a Luftwaffe interrogation centre. En route, Winter was threatened by an armed soldier, but the medical orderly sought help from another, more senior, soldier who apprehended the assailant, so Winter reached the centre safely.
After seven months recovering from his injuries, he was sent to Stalag Luft VII at Bankau in Silesia, to join other Royal Air Force prisoners. In January 1945, with the Russians advancing from the east, the 1,565 prisoners began a forced march to the west in bitterly cold weather, the most severe for many years.
After two weeks on the move, they finally boarded a train and on February 4 were taken to a camp at Luckenwalde south of Berlin to join 20,000 other prisoners. Conditions were desperate and it was not until April 22 that the camp was liberated by the Soviet Army. By early May he was back at his home in Cardiff and in 1946 he was released from the RAF.
Reflecting on the “Long March” in later years, Winter said: “I just looked at the man in front of me. I walked and walked and kept pace with him. I never lost hope. I thought I would get home some time. I had a bit of energy, and I used it to survive.”
Harry Winter was born in Cardiff on May 21 1922. When he left school in 1940, he worked at the Ely Paper Mill in the city. A year later he joined the RAF and trained as a wireless operator before completing his conversion to the Halifax bomber and his posting to 427 Squadron.
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Winter in 1945
Winter was one of two Englishmen in the crew. They flew their first mission on September 15, attacking the Dunlop rubber factory at Montluçon in central France.
Winter had given Gunther Arf, his German rescuer, his name and address and told him: “I’d like to speak to you after the war is over.” He was able to fulfil this wish: they were both of a similar age, married with children, and they struck up a friendship that endured – with the two families enjoying holidays together many times.
After leaving the RAF, Winter returned to his job in the paper industry. He met his wife Josie at a dance in Penarth in 1947, and they married in 1950 before moving to Streatham. They travelled widely, visiting most of Europe, much of the United States, and crossing Canada twice.
For his 100th birthday, he flew in a Spitfire from Biggin Hill. In 2025 he became involved in the Daily Telegraph Christmas Charity “The Not Forgotten”. He went to Buckingham Palace for the charity’s annual garden party and was a guest of honour at the Westminster Abbey National Service of Remembrance to mark the 80th anniversary of VE-Day.
In October 2025 he and his wife celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. A few weeks later they were together to celebrate Josie’s 100th birthday. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in 2025 he said: “I’m not worried about dying. I did my duty.”
Harry Winter is survived by his wife Josie and their two sons.
Flt Sgt Harry Winter, born May 21 1922, died February 28 2026
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