Wednesday, November 13, 2013

THE GREAT ESCAPE TUNNEL

Untouched for almost seven decades, the tunnel used in the Great Escape has finally been unearthed. The 111-yard passage nicknamed ‘Harry’ by Allied prisoners was sealed by the Germans after the audacious break-out from the POW camp Stalag Luft III in western Poland.

Despite huge interest in the subject, encouraged by the film starring Steve McQueen, the tunnel remained undisturbed over the decades because it was behind the Iron Curtain and the Soviet authorities had no interest in its significance.



But at last British archaeologists have excavated it, and discovered its remarkable secrets.

Many of the bed boards which had been joined together to stop it collapsing were still in position. And the ventilation shaft, ingeniously crafted from used powdered milk containers known as Klim Tins, remained in working order. Scattered throughout the tunnel, which is 30ft below ground, were bits of old metal buckets, hammers and crowbars which were used to hollow out the route.

A total of 600 prisoners worked on three tunnels at the same time. They were nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry and were just 2 ft square for most of their length.

It was on the night of March 24 and 25, 1944, that 76 Allied airmen escaped through Harry. Barely a third of the 200 prisoners – many in fake German uniforms and civilian outfits and carrying false identity papers – who were meant to slip away managed to leave before the alarm was raised when escapee number 77 was spotted.

Tunnel vision: A tunnel reconstruction showing the trolley system.

Only three made it back to Britain . Another 50 were executed by firing squad on the orders of Adolf Hitler, who was furious after learning of the breach of security.

In all, 90 boards from bunk beds, 62 tables, 34 chairs and 76 benches, as well as thousands of items including knives, spoons, forks, towels and blankets, were squirrelled away by the Allied prisoners to aid the escape plan under the noses of their captors.

Although the Hollywood movie suggested otherwise, no Americans were involved in the operation. Most were British, and the others were from Canada, Poland, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. All the tunnellers were Canadian personnel with backgrounds in mining.

The site of the tunnel, recently excavated by British archaeologists.

The latest dig, over three weeks in August, located the entrance to Harry, which was originally concealed under a stove in Hut 104.

The team also found another tunnel, called George, whose exact position had not been charted. It was never used as the 2,000 prisoners were forced to march to other camps as the Red Army approached in January 1945.

Watching the excavation was Gordie King, 91, an RAF radio operator, who was 140th in line to use Harry and therefore missed out.
‘This brings back such bitter-sweet memories,’ he said as he wiped away tears. ‘I’m amazed by what they’ve found.’

Bitter-sweet memories: Gordie King, 91, made an emotional return to Stalag Luft III.

FWIW the rear-gunner off my Uncle's plane was at Luft Stalag III at the time of the Great Escape. A known escape artist with several runs already under his belt, he was not allowed to participate in the Escape as he was being watched by the Germans. The only survivor of the shoot-down, this probably saved his life a second time.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

6 comments:

  1. Outstanding find, and I'm glad they were finally allowed to complete the search. And for Mr. King to be there, was just icing on the cake!

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  2. That's actually pretty cool.

    - Viking Mia

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  3. TomR, armed in TexasNovember 13, 2013 at 5:16 PM

    What a cool story. Now I know that the movie had a lot of merit.

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  4. Au contraire, a number of Americans were very involved in the escape, but were fortuitously (for good or ill) segregated out from among the UK and ANZAC troops into their own section shortly before the actual blitz-out.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III_escape#The_.22Great_Escape.22

    Jerry Sage (aka "Dagger"), the captured OSS saboteur upon whom Steve McQueen's American character was based, was in fact the actual "Cooler King".

    http://www.northcentralhsalumniassociationspokane.com/jerry-sage.html

    He wrote an autobiography in 1985 that's a great read.

    http://www.amazon.com/Sage-Jerry/dp/0440075807

    That they've excavated the original tunnels is fantastic news.

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  5. Very good article, Thanks Sean;

    You mentioned that the Soviets were not interested, If it didn't involve the heroic Red Army, they glossed over that part. When my division invaded Czechoslovakia with Patton in 1945, they made it as far as Plzen. All other monuments on the other side celebrated the Red Army, but from Plzen on west...there was nothing. The Soviets pushed a narrative on their side of the iron curtain that "they" defeated Germany and all others were bit players. It is on my bucket list to visit certain places in Europe that has historical WWII significance. The Bridge over Remagen is one.

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  6. The triumph of the human spirit is represented by these men and their actions.

    gfa

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