How Soviet military men escaped from German captivity by plane

May 11 2023

Archive photo

At home, it was often not believed that such incredible escapes were at all possible. It was also not uncommon that the heroes who had made an escape from a German camp ended up in a Soviet one.

1. Nikolai Loshakov

Nikolai Loshakov.

Archive photo

The first Soviet pilot to escape from German captivity by plane was Guard Junior Lieutenant Nikolai Kuzmich Loshakov. He was captured by the Germans on May 27, 1943, when his Yak-1 was shot down in an air battle near Leningrad.

Loshakov was sent to build a highway near the airfield outside the town of Ostrov in Pskov Region. It was then that the pilot came up with the idea of making a daring escape by air.

Nikolai Kuzmich had no access to the machinery, but another prisoner, captive sergeant in the armored forces Ivan Denisyuk, who was engaged in aircraft refueling, did. The latter began to learn the ABCs of piloting, memorized the location of control equipment in German vehicles and told Loshakov about everything. He also managed to get him a German pilot’s uniform.

The fugitives made their first escape attempt on August 10, 1943. Loshakov snuck onto the airfield and into the hangar, but was frightened away by a guard with a dog. The following day, the friends had better luck, as the German pilots had left for lunch, leaving a couple of light ‘Storch’ reconnaissance planes on the runway.

‘Storch’ reconnaissance plane.

Archive photo

Having got out of their hiding place, Loshakov and Denisyuk walked confidently toward one of the planes. At first, nobody at the aerodrome even paid attention to the take-off, but soon, the plane came under heavy fire.

After a 300 km flight, the ‘Storch’ landed on Soviet territory. There were nine holes in it and the pilot was wounded.

Yet, the fugitives did not enjoy a hearty welcome back at home. Denisyuk, charged with treason, pleaded guilty under pressure and was sentenced to 20 years behind bars (he was released from prison in 1951). Loshakov, on the other hand, pleaded not guilty and was sentenced to three years in a labor camp. He was released early on parole in August 1945 and, 14 years later, he was fully rehabilitated.

2. Arkady Kovyazin

Arkady Kovyazin.

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The story of Arkady Mikhailovich Kovyazin’s escape turned out to be very similar to Loshakov’s. He even escaped in the same model of airplane - ‘Storch’.

During one of the combat missions at the end of 1941, the engines of Kovyazin’s DB-3F long-range bomber failed, forcing him to land near Riga. Soon afterwards, the pilot, his navigator and radio gunner were taken prisoner by the Germans.

Arkady Mikhailovich was transferred from one prisoner-of-war camp to another, until, in 1943, he ended up near Riga again. There, he met Vladimir Krupski, another prisoner of war, who worked as a stoker at a military airfield.

German anti-aircraft gun.

Roger Viollet/Getty Images

At the request of Krupski, who enjoyed the trust of the Germans, the commandant of the airfield carelessly assigned Kovyazin to the post of stoker, as well. The friends couldn’t help but take advantage of the new opportunity.

On October 4, 1943, they got into a ‘Storch’ and tried to take off, except that, unlike Loshakov, they did not succeed straight away. Suspecting something, the Germans sent a bicyclist to the plane and he immediately raised the alarm. However, the fugitives managed to take to the skies before they were stopped.

Kovyazin and Krupsky made it to their own positions and successfully made it through the necessary checks. Kovyazin, however, was no longer trusted as a pilot and, until the end of the war, he served in the infantry. Vladimir Krupsky, meanwhile, fought in the branch and was killed in Yugoslavia in April 1945.

3. Mikhail Devyataev

Mikhail Devyataev.

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Guard senior lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Devyataev was taken prisoner in July 1944. He flatly refused to cooperate with the enemy and even attempted an escape, which ultimately proved unsuccessful.

The pilot decided to make another attempt, after being sent to a camp on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea. The physically strong Devyataev was assigned to do hard work at Peenemünde, the neighboring secret testing ground, where the “wonder weapon” of the Third Reich was being developed - the first jet aircraft, as well as FAU cruise and ballistic missiles.

The pilot, albeit a prisoner, would never have been allowed so close to the planes, but, while in the Sachsenhausen camp, where he had stayed earlier, Devyataev was able to appropriate the identity of another prisoner - dead former teacher Grigory Nikitenko. The tag with the ID number was secretly given to him by the camp barber.

Devyataev-Nikitenko quickly found nine more people ready to escape. The group also looked for a means to achieve this goal - a Heinkel He 111 bomber. The pilot jumped at every opportunity to get close to the plane and, if lucky, to get inside and study its control equipment panel.

Heinkel He 111.

Bundesarchiv

On February 8, 1945, during lunch time at the shooting range, ten prisoners snuck into the Heinkel and, killing the guard, began to prepare the plane for takeoff. After some delays, on the second attempt, it did take to the skies.

“The airfield is indifferent to the hum of our plane. It’s easy for me to imagine how the technicians, the pilots, react to it. They’re quietly having lunch… And that’s why I’m not afraid to give full throttle and test the engine at different revs. I feel confident and even carefree. Nobody would stop us on takeoff, nobody would interfere with the takeoff,” Devyataev recalled.

The enemy woke up to the fact too late and it was impossible to reach the Heinkel with anti-aircraft fire. Only one Focke-Wulf eventually caught up with the bomber, but it could not destroy it either - the unprepared fighter jet simply had no ammunition.

Having broken through the fire of the Soviet air defense forces, Devyataev landed the plane on Soviet territory. The whole group had to be thoroughly checked. Practically all of the pilot’s assistants soon returned to the front and were killed in battle.

The Heinkel brought by Mikhail Petrovich was found to be stuffed with secret equipment for communication, control and observation of FAU rocket launches. In addition, the pilot pointed to the coordinates of missile installations on the island, which were soon hit by a powerful air strike.

In spite of this, the authorities continued to show some distrust for Devyataev for some time. He was awarded the title of ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ only in 1957.

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