“The Great Escape,” as it came to be known afterwards, was executed on this date in 1944, as Allied inmates at the German Stalag Luft III POW camp began travelling through the 335-foot underground tunnel that had taken a year to complete, emerging just beyond the prison camp’s outer fence.
Beginning in March, 1943, prisoners at the camp resolved to launch a large-scale escape attempt. Three underground tunnels, code-named “Tom,” “Dick,” and “Harry,” were ultimately constructed by the men, using a myriad of tools and equipment ingeniously assembled from scavenged material. “Dick” was eventually abandoned, and “Tom” was discovered by the Germans just as it was nearing completion. Undaunted, the prisoners pressed on with “Harry.”
Other preparations were made: civilian clothes and forged documents were prepared, sometimes with the the help of sympathetic prison guards. Final plans called for a total of 200 men to travel through the tunnel and make their escape when the time came.
As the tunnel neared completion in March, 1944, the date of the escape attempt was set for overnight on Friday, March 24 – Saturday, March 25, which was to be a moonless night. As the final operation got underway, a number of last minute hitches caused an alteration of plans. Most critically, when the final remaining inches of soil were broken through at the exit shaft, it was discovered that there had been serious miscalculations in the tunnel’s length. Rather than emerging just beyond the tree line, as had been intended, the tunnel emerged instead out in the open – only 15 feet beyond the guard tower at the outer fence, and within just a few steps of a path regularly patrolled by sentries!
The decision was made to press ahead anyway, but, due to delays, the number of planned escapees was reduced from 200 to 100. Despite several close calls throughout the night, by 4:50 AM, 76 prisoners had traversed the tunnel and made it into the woods and onward toward their intended destinations beyond without being detected. But, with dawn about to break, as the last ten-man party was emerging one by one and assembling at the edge of the woods, a German sentry discovered them and the gig was up.
Of the 76 who had successfully passed through the tunnel, only 3 ultimately made it to safety in lands beyond German control. Of the 73 who were captured, 50 were executed by direct orders of Hitler himself. The remaining men were either returned to Stalag Luft III or dispersed to prison camps elsewhere. Several of these ultimately survived the war and were eventually liberated, and a few eventually published memoirs and reminisces of their experiences. It was Australian Paul Brickhill, who helped in the construction and operation of “Harry” but was not one of those who made the escape attempt, who went on to publish The Great Escape in 1950. The movie of the same name, released in 1963 and starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and other notables, is a highly fictionalized re-telling of Brickhill’s account.
Memorial marking the exit of the “Harry” escape tunnel. The Polish inscription reads: vorwerk, Creative Commons
