The real Great Escape
For many of us, The Great Escape film epitomises the courage of the servicemen that fought in Europe in World War II.
The escape was from Stalag Luft III was even more incredible as the camp had a number of design features that made escape extremely difficult; barracks were raised 60cm off the ground, the land was very sandy bright yellow soil and the seismograph microphones around the perimeter of the camp to detect any sounds of digging.
In fact, there were two escapes. The first escape occurred in October 1943 in the East Compound. A vaulting horse constructed from plywood from Red Cross parcels was designed to conceal men, tools and containers of soil. The horse was carried out to the perimeter fence each day. Prisoners did gym exercises to cover the noise of the digging. Three prisoners escaped and were repatriated to Britain.
The Great Escape took place in March 1944. The brilliance of the plan was the building of 3 tunnels (Tom, Dick & Harry) so that if one tunnel was discovered, the Camp Guards would be unlikely to look for anymore. The tunnels were very deep and very narrow. The sandy walls were held up using 12 out of the 20 slats on the prisoners' beds. There was also great innovation with metal from milk cans making scoops and lamps, fuelled by the fat off the soup. As depicted in the film, the sand was put in pouches attached to the prisoners' trousers so that it could be scattered as they walked,
76 men crawled through the tunnel to freedom but the 77th man was spotted emerging by one of the guards. Those already in the trees began running, while a New Zealand Squadron Leader who had just reached the tree line stood up and surrendered. The guards had no idea where the tunnel entrance so a guard crawled back through the tunnel but found himself trapped at the camp end. He began calling for help and the prisoners opened the entrance to let him out, finally revealing its location. Of 76 escapees, 73 were recaptured, of which 50 were executed.
The outcome of the second escape was not a great success but the courage and determination of the prisoners is inspiring.