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Why didn't Robert Anderson Hoover, and Jerome "Jerry" Ennis, request assistance from Russians that they ran into — to return to USA or UK? Sadly, the Russians (have) mistreated civilians. But would they have mistreated Hoover and Ennis? Would they not have simply transferred them back to the Americans?

Rather than trust Russians — why did Hoover risk infiltrating a Luftwaffe air base, being maimed or killed by the Wehrmacht mechanic, getting shot down in a Fw 190 by mistake by the Allies?

“The Russians never believed in being captured,” he said. “If you were captured, you were considered a collaborator. Those that were ever captured knew that they would be mistreated enormously when they got back to their country. We knew the philosophy of the Russians by then, so when they would ask us what had happened to us, I would say, ‘We were shot down over Berlin and we’ve been evading ever since.'”

Part II. Finale.

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Why didn't Robert Anderson Hoover, and Jerome "Jerry" Ennis, surrender to the Russians that they ran into?

Why would they? They were allies. You don't surrender to your allies. The text you quoted explicitely says the Russians did not care about them. They tolerated them, like allies do.

What they did was hide the fact that they had been POWs of the Germans. Because the Russians held anyone in contempt that had surrendered to the enemy and not fought to their death. See Order #270. By more fanatical soldiers and comissars, those were seen as traitors.

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  • I would not use such language for Order No 270 - mainly because it's effects have been misstated grossly and it was so overused that Stalin had to issue Order 391 later. Of course, later yet again there was order 227, but overall the orders were designed as a retaliation against POVs families in order to cover up the disaster at the front. Most Soviet POVs returned after the war and majority predated orders both 270 and 227. As for Allies - USAAF pilots who ended up in USSR usually landed in POV camps as enemies, so yes, they would have to technically surrender, even if allies.
    – AcePL
    Jan 26 at 10:06
  • @AcePL Re: "USAAF pilots who ended up in USSR usually landed in POW camps as enemies" - the only relevant cases I know would be pilots involved in bombing raids on Japan. But they were not held as (enemy) prisoners of war, they were interned as troops of a belligerent state who entered neutral territory (as USSR at that point was neutral in context of Japan-USA war). Were you referring to some other case?
    – Danila Smirnov
    Jan 27 at 9:58
  • @DanilaSmirnov - Yeah, I mixed up situations and misremembered some stories. Thanks for helping me remember correctly.
    – AcePL
    Jan 28 at 23:45

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