Not just a Steve McQueen movie, but a real story about real men who wouldn’t stop fighting:
It has lain hidden for nearly 70 years and looks, to the untrained eye, like a building site. But this insignificant tunnel opening in the soft sand of western Poland represents one of the greatest examples of British wartime heroism. And the sensational story became the Hollywood classic, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen.
We are standing in the notorious PoW camp Stalag Luft III, built at the height of the Third Reich, 100 miles east of Berlin. Ten thousand prisoners were kept under German guns here on a 60-acre site ringed with a double barbed-wire fence and watchtowers.
They slept in barrack huts raised off the ground so guards could spot potential tunnellers, but the Germans did not count on the audacity of British Spitfire pilot Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, played by Sir Richard Attenborough in the 1963 film. He was interned at the camp in March 1943. With him were about 2,000 other RAF officers, many of whom were seasoned escapers from other camps, with skills in tunnelling, forgery and manufacturing.
The first three tunnels were for getting out. On the night of March 24, 1944, 76 men left the wire, three escaped and the rest were rounded up. Of that, 50 were shot out of hand.
The last tunnel?
‘George turned out to be an absolute gem,’ explained Dr Pollard. ‘We found the shaft and excavated the tunnel which ran the entire length of the theatre. It was incredibly well preserved, with timber-lined walls, electrical wiring and homemade junction boxes, and was tall enough to walk through at a stoop. The craftsmanship is phenomenal. You can even see the groove on the top of the manhole cover, where it would swivel and slot into the floorboard above.
‘It was built at a time of heightened security at the camp. It is a fighting tunnel, not an escape tunnel. It was heading for the German compound from where the prisoners hoped to steal weapons and fight their way out.
(H/T to occasional reader Joe for the link.)
Well the two British ex POWs mentioned in the Daily Mail story were shot down. One on his first mission; the other on his second mission. The crews that climbed into the Lancasters, Stirlings, Wellingtons and such (including the B-17s and B-24s) were brave men indeed going against long odds, with not a great deal of hope to survive 25 missions.
I knew an ex RAF Stirling pilot who had taken the Stirling through a full 360 degree roll in successfuly evading a German night fighter. Don’t know what the laundry bill was for the crew after that maneuver. He was still alive to tell the tale until 1992.
I worked with a man who was a crew member on a B-17 that was shot down on his 15th mission over Germany. He was held at Stalag 17, which also had a memorable group of escapes featured in a movie of the same name, Stalag 17.
As a curious young lad, I asked him what it was like to be held for over two years.
His answer:
” It was terrible the beginning, ok in the middle and great when we got liberated.”
The Greatest Generation indeed.
Sometimes I find myself cringing at the term “The Greatest Generation”, as I percieve it to imply (or at least I infer) that the troops were special. Well, they were, but no more so than those that fought in Korea, SEA, or the ME. My Dad was part of that effort- walked from France to Germany, whether the Germans wanted him to or not.
It was a special generation socially, up thru the early 60′s -probably never to be repeated in world history. But the troops were no better, or worse, than those that wear the uniform now.
I take that phrase to mean not just those in the military, but all the people who turned to and produced the materials needed to “keep ‘em fighting!” From the school kids in Healdsburg CA who kicked in enough to sponsor a P-47 to the guy who designed the Liberator pistol and those who designed the M-3 grease gun. The factory owners and workers who almost overnight changed from making cars or typewriters to turning out bombers, tanks, and rifles. The yard workers who turned out the ships and subs at an astounding rate.
I agree Joe -just seems that TGG phrase is almost always used relative to the troops. But taking the Country as a whole, the social/political/industrial strength and changes did make it TGG -from the early 40′s or so up until about the very early 60′s (JFK’s demise might be the demarc).
The civilian world also had its base, seamy, corrupt side: it was not all Rosie the Riveter, or Mr. & Mrs. Smith with little Timmy and their All-American Victory Garden.
Read the book in Jr High, truly fascinating reading.. The skill and craftsmanship exhibited and creative use of materials for document forgeries, uniforms, etc., was amazing.
VX, they had help from MI-9 (Commonwealth prisoners) and a secret branch of Military intelligence (US) for the documents, uniforms etc. Plus the available talent behind the wire.
If you remember the book, the Colditz prisoners worked hard to intercept special parcels prior to opening. These had the secretly supplied tools, dyes, and papers, as well as other escape paraphernalia.
Touching on aviation, the prisoners built a glider in Colditz Castle. Two of my WWII heros, Douglas Bader and Charles Upham, VC & bar were prisoners at Colditz.
Mixing internet threads, Bader lost his legs when his left wing hit the ground during his totally unauthorized low-level acrobatics pre-WW II.
One of my other heros, “Wings” Day, led many escape attempts, and was in the The Great Escape. It is unknown why Day was not selected to be one of the 50 “shot while escaping”. Day did spend a lot of his remaining time in Nazi Germany in two concentration camps of Sachsenhausen and Dachau.
I have a comprehensive library on WW-II POW camps in Germany, if there is interest in a specific topic.
The war doesn’t end just because you are captured.
I never saw the book, but have the movie. It’s probably like most movies in that it blows somethings out of shape, and underplays some of the important stuff.
“Wings” Day is the one who said “Our operational mission is escape.” He changed the atmosphere behind the wire in Germany. Every successful escape would tie up considerable numbers of troops, police, and support.
In addition the (mostly Commonwealth) prisoners carried out espionage using codes in special letters. There was also Goon-baiting, direct morale suppression of German servicemen, and the very bellicose Douglas Bader excelled at making the Germans furious. Economic sabotage was carried out by the enlisted men, who worked on German farms and in factories (as allowed by the Geneva Convention).
Another great read is ‘Maybe I’m Dead’ by Joe Klaas. At least a semi-autobiographical account of the winter forced march out of Stalag Luft III in the dead of winter. Helluva story.
Amazing men with amazing stories.
That’s a good one, Joe–as is “Escape from Colditz” (the “inescapable” fortress for POWs who had escaped from other camps) I still have the paperback I bought almost 50 yrs ago..
A much decorated Spit pilot, Douglas Bader, ended up at Colditz after numerous escape attempts from other camps. His life story is detailed in the book “Reach for the Sky”.
Bader’s story is all the more exceptional when the fact he lost both legs in an earlier crash prior to his escape efforts.
My high school math and shop teacher was a B-17 navigator, shot down over Regensburg.
After some hospital time, he was sent to Sagan, and made the winter march from there to Moosberg. Not a very big man, physically, and quiet, I think he was likely the best-respected teacher there. Heard from a friend that he passed away around the middle of last year.
I’ll have to get the book.
Awesome.
+1 in fact, `spiffing`. Jolly good chaps, one and all. I am indeed in awe of such men.