La guerra di Jenny

I suppose events happened and people acted in a way during World War II that seem incredible now. And if we didn't occasionally have some evidence for them, we would hardly believe them possible. So looking for your son, who's a British pilot and has been shot down in Germany, seems not only foolhardy but something Hollywood might dream up. On the other hand it's also very courageous. There's the usual bad-mannered Germans and the correct Englishmen. The sets and the actors are fine, but I think what stretched my credulity a bit was the way Dyan Cannon still wore make-up when she was supposed to be in disguise. I doubt if the average prisoner-of-war wore lipstick, except in the shows they put on. The suspicion that it was made for the American market was always in my mind.

Sergeant Winston Barrington RAF Was her son. She was an english woman who married a highly decorated Luftwaffe Officer. She moved to Muhlburg after hearing of her son's capture. Her husband pulled strings to get Winston out on parole once a week to visit her. When news of the Red Army approaching, Winston became concerned as to the knowledge of the Russians who would repeatable rape woman and became concerned for his mother. After some time Florence consulted the camp's escape committee to allow her in to the camp. She was then smuggled in to the camp until it was liberated in April of 1945. She was smuggled in to camp using old battle dress uniform and hair cut during a returning work detail. Her name was changed to Jenny for security reason by the camp's escape committee. That is the basic knowledge of what I know about this, This is one of my favorite rare films. It is hard to find details regarding this. Here is part of a news clipping. Son in the RAF Husband in the Luftwaffe

Winston Barrington fought with the RAF during the war. His step-father fought with the Luftwaffe. Winston Barrington today is recovering from his ordeal in the German prisoner of war camp. His step-father is in a prisoner of war camp in England. The story was told me to today by Mrs Florence Barrington, Winston's mother. Mrs Barrington disguised herself as a British soldier POW - donned battledress and cut her hair short - so that she could be near her son while he was a prisoner. "My first husband was English and his name was Barrington" Mrs Barrington told me, "I was born in Durham. We had a son, Winston who was at school in Purley. In 1933 my husband died."

In German Bombers. "Later I met my second husband, a German, Helmuth ... he gave me skiing lessons in the Black Forest. We married and in 1935 I went to Germany for good. When war came, my son joined the RAF and my husband was drafted into the Luftwaffe. He made many trips over England in German bombers. It was his job to take pictures from the air. Then I learned my son was a POW at Muhlberg. The Commandant let me see him alone. My son said, Mummy darling, you're as pretty as ever. We both cried...

Then my son met my husband and they laughed and joked like old times. Helmuth was a Luftwaffe lieutenant. I got a British battledress from the boys, a red Paratroop beret and cropped my hair short."

Her cubby-hole. "Eventually I moved in altogether and lived in a cubby hole in a storeroom. But the boys in the know picketed the storeroom and if any strangers came near I hid until they had gone. They treated me like a queen and brought me my breakfast in the morning. I listened to the BBC and copied down the news. In the camp I became Edward Solway no. 403457. Born in Newcastle. Age 21. Captured in 1942. Solway was the name of a boy who escaped. Sometimes, my heart in my big boots, I had to answer roll-calls."

20 mile march. "When the Russians liberated the camp we had to march 20 miles. Mercifully it rained and I was able to pull a greatcoat over my head. We lined up before an American officer. My son said, "This is my Mother". The American was friendly and courteous. Three days later I was flying back to England, a few airplane trips behind my son."

This drama was indeed based on a true story but certainly did get the "Hollywood" Treatment in the making! The lady in question was actually English, not American.

The drama is full of errors too especially in the German uniforms and many of the action scenes are simply pure fiction. It is a great pity that not more attention to detail was used when making this drama as a lot of trouble was undertaken in relicating the POW camp including flying ex POWS who were present at the time out to Germany to help ensure the camp itself was accurate!

The book is a far more accurate account of what actually did happen and it is a pity that the author's account was not better replicated in the production of Jenny's war.