TRUE STORY OF THE GREAT ESCAPE
The Great Escape, as it came to be known, was a mass escape
attempt from the prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III located near the Polish town of Zagan.
The purpose-built camp was opened in April 1942 and the Germans
considered it to be practically escape-proof. Prisoners were fairly
well treated and the Geneva Convention of 1929 regarding treatment
of Prisoners of War was followed.
Housing and recreational facilities were considered to be better
than those at many other German prisoner of war camps. The picture
(right) shows the inside of one of the barracks at Stalag Luft
III.
The camp housed mainly British and American airmen whose planes
had crashed on Axis territory. The Germans generally captured
prisoners with the words ‘For you the war is over.’ However, it was
the sworn duty of all captured military personnel to continue to
fight the enemy by surviving, communicating information and
escaping. Many of the prisoners at Sagan were re-captured escapees.
The Germans believed that security at the new camp was so tight
that it would be impossible for anyone to escape.
Escape Committee
It was realised early on that for any escape attempt to succeed
it had to be well planned and organised. The Prisoners at Sagan
therefore established an escape committee. Chief escape officer was
Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, a former escapee who had been
recaptured several times. He was known as ‘Big X’.
The committee decided to build three tunnels and the plan was to
effect the escape of at least 200 prisoners. The tunnels were given
the code names ‘Tom’, ‘Dick’ and ‘Harry’. There were two main
problems to be considered – How to get rid of the dirt that was dug
away and how to prevent the tunnels from collapsing.
In order to prevent the tunnels from collapsing they had to be
shored up with wood. The prisoners used bed boards for this task
and as the tunnels grew longer and more wood was needed many
prisoners found themselves sleeping uncomfortably on beds with
little support. Some even converted their beds to hammocks. The
picture (right) shows how the bed boards were used.
Getting rid of the dirt from the tunnels was problematic because
the earth removed was a different colour to the earth around the
camp. One method used was to construct long bags which could be
filled with earth then hidden in the trouser legs. A cord around
the neck would open the bags thus releasing the earth on a patch of
ground that was being dug or cultivated by another prisoner. Those
dispersing the dirt in this way were know as ‘Penguins’. More than
100 tons of earth was disposed of in this way. Another method
involved filling empty Red Cross boxes, placing the boxes in the
middle of a group of men who would then gradually bury the
earth.
Other important members of the Escape Committee were the forgers
who made maps and forged papers and the tailors who made civilian
clothes out of blankets and other materials that were scrounged and
altered uniforms. The picture (left) shows a jacket that was used
by an escapee.
The Escape
The discovery of ‘Tom’ was a major blow to the escape committee
and all tunneling had to be suspended for a time to avoid further
detection. Eventually ‘Harry’ was completed and the night of the
Great Escape was planned for 24th March 1944, a moonless night.
Lots were drawn for the 200 places and maps, papers and disguises
were completed.
On the night itself all allotted escapees took up positions in
hut 104. It was planned that the escapees would leave the camp in
stages. Everyone was very nervous and tense, a situation that was
made worse by the discovery that the tunnel was around 10 feet
short of the woods. This meant that the tunnel exit was on the path
of a perimeter guard. By the time that a decision was made on how
to signal when the coast was clear, it was around 10pm. Further
delays were caused by some men panicking in the tunnel.
By 4am it was clear that it would be impossible for all 200 men
to escape and the decision was made to close the tunnel at 5am. At
around 4.45am a shot was heard at the tunnel exit. The tunnel had
been discovered.
76 men had escaped through the tunnel. Of the remainder, those
that were found waiting their turn in hut 104 were sent to the
cooler – the camp name for the solitary confinement cells.
The Outcome
Of the 76 men who escaped, 3 made it home to the UK. 23 were
recaptured and sent back to Sagan. Hitler personally ordered the
execution of the other 50 men.
The commandant of Stalag Luft III,
Lindeiner, was court-martialed by the Gestapo for not preventing
the escape.
Morale among the prisoners was low when the executions became
common knowledge and few were keen to attempt further escape
attempts.
Although only 3 men managed to reach safety and 50 men were
murdered, the escape caused havoc among the Germans. Thousands of
police, Hitler Youth members and soldiers were diverted from
wartime duties to search for the escapees.
Urns containing the ashes of the 50 who were executed were
brought to the camp. British airmen constructed the memorial
(below) to commemorate their deaths.
http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/great_escape…
