Great Escape from Stalag Luft 3, 75 years ago today

[User14158]

75 years ago today, 76 of 200 allied airmen intended to take part in the daring escape attempt from the Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft 3, made a break through tunnel 'Harry' (which was 8 1/2 meters deep and 102 meters long). Of the 76 who made a run for it, 73 were recaptured and of those, 50 were subsequently executed by the Gestapo on the orders of Hitler. The following items belonged to a New Zealander i knew who participated in preparations for the Great Escape as a 'Penguin' disposing of soil from the tunnels onto the camp grounds through his trousers. Pictured is the ID tag issued to him by the Germans, a set of playing cards traded with a guard, a box from a Canadian Red Cross food parcel and a pair of Royal Australian Air Force pilot wings. Following the escape an auction was held in camp for the clothing of the escapees as it was no longer required. The New Zealander bid on and won a warm RAAF battle dress which would have belonged to either Sqd Ldr James Catanach, Flt Lt Albert Hake, Flt Lt Reginald Kierath or Sqd Ldr John William's all of whom were executed after their recapture. Unfortunately we will never know to which one those brave men it belonged, so it represents all four.

The search for those 76 escapees following the Great Escape diverted thousands of German soldiers throughout March and April. Following the executions of the fifty, the Germans posted the following poster throughout all prisoner of war camps. Known as the 'death edict', the poster explains that escaping from POW camps is 'no longer a sport' and that "all police and military guards have been given the most strict orders to shoot on sight all suspected persons". This particular copy was brought home from Stalag IVB by an English prisoner of war.

Rob

Attachment 1292542Attachment 1292543Attachment 1292544Attachment 1292545

[Tank Destroyer]

FANTASTIC STORY, thank you for sharing. I will be doing some studying on this event and learning more about it.

Marty

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

A superb little and historical group of items related to one of the most famous and tragic events of the war. Leon.

[Anderson]

A great collection of items from this famous escape. It would be interesting to know if the "Handbook of modern irregular warfare" was an actual British produced document or an invention of German propaganda. At the time of the escape the German's had for some time been carrying out Hitler's infamous "Commando Order" of October 1942 which required all captured "parachutists" and Commandos be handed over the the Gestapo for execution, rather than be accorded POW status and protection under the Geneva convention. The same argument was made in the Commando Order that troops behind the front lines were not true soldiers and needed to be treated as spies and saboteurs (an argument rejected by the post war trials). In fact parachuting aircrew landing in Occupied Europe and Germany in 1944 & 45 were often sent straight to a concentration camp or executed on the spot by SS or Gestapo. The Germans went to great lengths to hide the fact this order existed, clearly showing they knew it was a War Crime.