Group Captain Gilbert Insall holds a unique record. He is the only person to have both won a Victoria Cross and to have escaped successfully from a German prisoner-of-war camp during the First World War. Tony Insall’s talk will describe how, having brought down a German fighter in aerial combat, Gilbert was himself shot down by ground fire just behind the allied front line. Gilbert ignored intensive German shelling in order to repair his aircraft and return to base. Shortly afterwards, following a dogfight in which he was badly wounded by anti-aircraft shrapnel, he was shot down again and captured. And thus began a distinguished career in prison breaking.
At Heidelberg, he dug a tunnel more than forty yards long, removing and concealing some five tons of earth in the process. At Crefeld, near Dusseldorf, he hid among piles of boxes on a cart transporting prisoners’ luggage to storage. After his transfer to Ströhen, Gilbert and several companions concealed themselves in a claustrophobically small space they had excavated under the floor of the bathhouse and remained there, enduring the heat of a summer day, while a fruitless search for them was being carried out. They emerged early the following morning and reached Holland a few days later in September 1917.
The Madness of Courage is a remarkable story about a remarkable man at time before the Geneva Convention, when conditions for prisoners of war were appalling and the British War Office had not yet realised the advantages that could be gained from helping prisoners to escape. Instead, Gilbert’s family, assisted by French intelligence, gave him the help and support he needed.
The Speaker: Dr Tony Insall worked for more than thirty years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and served in Nigeria, Hong Kong, China and Malaysia, before spending five years in Norway. He was also an associate editor of FCO Historians and has published several books and articles on Norwegian history, most recently Secret Alliances, an account of Anglo-Norwegian wartime resistance cooperation. He is a visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Join Tony in the Museum at 7pm on Monday 23rd February to find out more. You will be given the option to book a pre-lecture dinner of Chicken, Bacon and Leek pie with chips, peas and gravy in our Apache Café at 6pm. There will be a vegetarian option available. Meal bookings must be made by Friday 20th February.
If you are unable to attend in person, then you can buy an online pass to watch live and join in the Q&A, or watch on catch up at your convenience afterwards. Click on the Online Pass option below - you will be asked to select a session which is a requirement of our online booking system - please be aware, it doesn't matter which session you select because you will be able to view the talk at anytime after it has gone live from 7pm on Monday 23rd February. You will be sent a link to view the lecture after booking.
The content of talks are based on the research and views of the guest speakers.
The Museum is an independent charity and all proceeds from this event go towards supporting the work we do in preserving the history of British Army aviation.
Our evening lecture programme is kindly sponsored by
