While at Oberursel the pilot who had shot him down—Leutnant Robert Spreckels of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1—1st Fighter Wing)— arrived to meet him. Braham was one of his 12 air victories; a figure of 45 is often misquoted. An interpreter was provided. Braham promised to buy him a whisky when the Allies won the war. The statement came as a shock to Spreckels who believed firmly in a German victory. Braham came to respect Spreckels, their differences aside. He learned that Spreckels had lost his parents in a British air attack and was surprised when the German dismissed the fact with the words "it is the war." Both fighter pilots dissociated themselves with the bomber war. They shook hands and parted. The airmen were sent to Stalag Luft III, a Luftwaffe prisoner of war camp near Sagan in Germany near the Polish border. They remained there until 27 January 1945 when the advance of the Red Army forced them to march across Germany. They were fed by the Red Cross parcels and the civilian population who were also fleeing the Soviets. Near the village of Jamlitz, a Panzer Division, recently out of action, shared their rations with them. They reached Spremberg on 2 February 1945 where they received food and hot water from the depot of the 8th Panzer Division. They reached Bremen on 5 February 1945. The success of the British Army in north-western Europe necessitated their evacuation to Lübeck on 10 April. They were liberated by elements of the British Army on 2 May 1945. Postwar career Braham's return to Britain was not a welcome one. His family found him exceptionally difficult to live with. His short temper and aggression manifested themselves when journalists came to the family's home in Leicestershire searching for a war-story to print. Braham, who despised publicity, physically ejected them from his property. His decision to shut the media out of his life likely explains why, even as one of the most successful aces, he was virtually unknown in Britain outside the RAF. Braham had also become despondent about the political climate in a country that reduced Winston Churchill to Leader of the Opposition, where the black market was rife and rationing was set to become an indefinite feature of post-war Britain into the 1950s. Braham stayed in the RAF and joined the Night Fighter Development Wing of the Central Fighter Establishment where he