SAS hero weaponised farting in op dubbed ‘Goon-baiting’ to wind up the Nazis

On Jan 28, 2023

Wartime prisoners at Colditz Castle weaponised farting to wind up their German captors.

The Brit POWs, including Sir David Stirling, founder of the Special Air Service, would parp, whistle and interrupt roll calls to cause disruption.

In his book Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle, author Ben Macintyre reveals inmates, including officers, called the strategy “goon-baiting”.

He said: “Competitive goon-baiting frequently occurred during roll calls, and might take the form of catcalling, whistling, loud farting, speaking in English the Germans could not follow, and deliberately interrupting the count.

Sir David Stirling founded the SAS
(Image: James Stewart)

“The British elevated goon-baiting to an art. Many of the officers had been to public school and were well-versed in a contest of one-upmanship.”

Colditz, in Saxony, was one of the most notorious German prisoner-of-war camps in the Second World War.

And while some senior officers disapproved of the daft antics, others felt it was important to help keep spirits up.

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Macintyre added: “The lampooning of the guards was silly, but it served as a psychological prop, enabling powerless men to needle their captors.”

Airey Neave, who become shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland, was the first officer to escape in 1942. He got out disguised as a German soldier.