John Godwin RNVR
Encyclopedia
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Temporary Lieutenant John Godwin, RNVR
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...

 (Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, 13 December 1919 - Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen may refer to:* Sachsenhausen , a quarter of Oranienburg, Germany* Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a detention and extermination facility established there in 1936...

, 2 February 1945) was born and brought up in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, and took part in a raid named Operation Checkmate
Operation Checkmate (commando raid)
Operation Checkmate was the codename for a raid on shipping at Haugesund, Norway in April 1943 during the Second World War by British Commandos....

 on Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

 shipping near Haugesund
Haugesund
is a town and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.-Location:Haugesund was separated from Torvastad as a town and municipality of its own in 1855. The rural municipality of Skåre was merged with Haugesund on January 1, 1958. Haugesund is a small municipality, only 73 km²...

, north of Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. His party managed to sink a minesweeper and a number of steamers using limpet mines, but he was eventually captured with the rest of his party, a commando sergeant, two Naval Petty Officers and three seamen. After spending some time in Grini concentration camp, they were sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...

, where contrary to the Geneva Convention, they were forced to march thirty miles a day on cobbles testing army boots.

On 2 February 1945 they were led to execution, in accordance with Hitler's Commando Order
Commando Order
The Commando Order was issued by Adolf Hitler on 18 October 1942 stating that all Allied commandos encountered by German forces in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately, even if in uniform or if they attempted to surrender...

 of 1942. Godwin managed to wrestle the pistol of the firing party commander from his belt and shot him dead before being himself shot. No superior officer witnessed this act so a decoration could not be awarded. However, his bravery was mentioned in dispatches (posthumously). The citation, in The London Gazette, 9 October 1945, read: "For great gallantry and inspiring example whilst a prisoner of war in German hands in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 and afterwards at Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen may refer to:* Sachsenhausen , a quarter of Oranienburg, Germany* Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a detention and extermination facility established there in 1936...

, near Oranienburg
Oranienburg
Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, 1942-1945"

Sources

  • CWGC entry
  • Foot & Langley 1979 MI9 - Escape and Evasion 1939 - 1945, London, Book Club Associates, London, 1979 pp. 154,155 ISBN 0-316-28840-3
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