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| Barracks at Stalag Luft III |
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the escape
attempt by 76 Allied airmen from the Stalag Luft III. Many of you have undoubtedly seen the 1963
Steve McQueen film The Great Escape,
which brought this story to the forefront.
I am sure that there are many people out there who, like me, find this a
fascinating portion of WWII history. In
honor of this anniversary, I thought we would take a moment and look at the 76
men who attempted escape and the three who actually made it back to Allied
territory.
Located in Zagan, Poland, construction on the first
compound (East Compound) was completed and opened on March 21, 1942. This camp, run by the German Luftwaffe, was
designed to be a prisoner-of-war camp for Allied airmen. In April 1942, the first prisoners to arrive
at the camp were British Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm officers. Stalag Luft III had a number of features that
made escape extremely difficult and nearly impossible. First, the barracks which housed the
prisoners were raised off the ground in order to help guards detect any
tunneling activity. Secondly, the camp
was constructed in an area with very sandy subsoil – which happened to be
bright yellow in color, making it easily detectable if placed on surface soil
and visible on clothing. This subsoil
was very loose and susceptible to collapse meaning structural integrity of any
tunnel would be very poor.
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| Roger Bushell |
Construction was continuous at the camp and by the end of
March 1943 the North Compound for British airmen was opened. North Compound is the site of this great
escape plan. Each of these compounds
consisted of 15 single story huts. Each bunk room could sleep 15 men in five triple deck bunks. At the height of occupation, the camp held
about 2,500 RAF officers, 7,500 U.S. Army Air Forces, and about 900 officers
from other Allied air forces.
In the spring of 1943, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell of
the RAF conceived a plan for a major escape from the camp. Bushell was in command of the Escape
Committee and channeled his effort to finding weak points in the camp and
procuring the necessary supplies for the escapees. Bushell’s original plan was to dig three
tunnels at the same time and attempt to break 200 men out at once. Codenamed “Tom,” “Dick,” and “Harry” the
three tunnels were a ploy of deception – Bushell believed that if one tunnel
was discovered, the German guards wouldn’t think that two additional tunnels
were in the work. One key component of
Bushell’s plan was that each of the escapees a full complement of paperwork and
have civilian clothing made for them.
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| Tunnel "Harry" showing escape route |
Tunneling was difficult work, mostly because the
prisoners had to evade growing German suspicion that something was a foot. When “Tom” was discovered, the 98th
tunnel in this camp to be, construction on “Harry” ceased for a while as
well. Using the wooden slats from their
beds, tunneling around 336 feet, and ingenious methods of funneling air in the tunnel and over 200 tons of
sand out, a date for escape was finally selected. The first group of 100 guaranteed a spot in
the tunnel were those who spoke good German, had the most complete set of
papers, and were considered those how had worked the hardest on the construction
of the tunnel.
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| 30 ft drop into entrance of tunnel |
Fellow prisoners created a memorial to their fallen compatriots in the prison camp ceremony.
To learn more about the Great Escape and those involved, visit the following sites:
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| Memorial to those executed after the escape |
- A Prisoner's Sketchbook - Drawing from Ley Kenyon, fellow prisoner who was tacked with drawing the conditions of the tunnels
- Escaping a Nazi Prison Camp - Learn more about the three men who made it to freedom
- Interactive showing "Harry"
- Service marks Great Escape 70th Anniversary
- Great Escape Survivor Tells His Tale, 70 Years On
- Great Escape Forger Dead at 95
- Stalag Luft III Museum
Until next time,
Felicia
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