Escaping Stalag Luft III

Recounts the daring escapes from Stalag Luft III and the real stories behind their lasting fame.

Stalag Luft lll was where Germany sent all its habitual Allied escapers, and the first British and Commonwealth POWs arrived there on 11 April 1942.

The following year, on 29 October, what became known as The Wooden Horse Escape took place – the name deriving from the use of a gymnastic vaulting horse to cover the fact that a tunnel was being dug underneath. The escape was devised by Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams and Lieutenant Richard Michael Codner. Joined by Pilot Officer Oliver Philpot, all three men escaped and made it safely back to England. The escape inspired others and, five months later, on the evening of 24/25 March 1944, what became known as the Great Escape took place.

The intention was to break out more than 200 British and Allied POWs, but a combination of tunnel collapses, a nearby Allied air raid and the discovery of the tunnel exit meant only 76 escapees made it out. Only 3 made it back to the UK, with 73 being recaptured and 50 of those being murdered by the Gestapo on Hitler’s orders.

Both escapes were made famous first by books and then even more famous by their respective films, and although not entirely accurate, each ensured that the stories told would reach a worldwide audience.