The Great Escape: Background information when reading Zero Night

The Great Escape

This article relates to Zero Night

Zero Night relates the story of "The Warburg Wire Job," one of several mass escapes from German POW camps during World War II, the most well-known of which was "The Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III on 24-25 March 1944, made famous by the 1963 movie of the same name.

Stalag Luft III was a large prisoner-of-war camp opened in April 1942 in occupied Poland. It eventually covered approximately 60 acres and housed about 1,800 prisoners at the time of the escape.

The Great Escape, as it later became known, was the brainchild of Squadron Leader Roger Bushell. With multiple attempts under his belt, he began planning his next getaway on his arrival at Stalag Luft III in October 1942 – this time envisioning a much larger and more complex operation.

The prison camp was designed to be escape-proof and was believed to be one of the most secure facilities housing Allied prisoners. Prisoner barracks were raised off the ground and microphones were buried nine feet underground along the camp's perimeter - a 10' tall double barbed wire fence dotted with guard towers. Most problematic, however, was the soil on which the camp was built; not only was it sandy, thereby making tunnels structurally unstable, but the sand was yellow and consequently quite visible on the prisoners' dark-colored clothing, alerting guards to any unauthorized digging.

Undaunted, Bushell proposed creating three separate tunnels which were subsequently named Tom, Dick and Harry, the rationale being that if one were discovered the Germans would be unlikely to think a second equally complex tunnel was in progress, let alone a third. To avoid the microphones, the tunnels would first descend 30' down a shaft before heading for the fence. The tunnels would be small – just 2' x 2' – to minimize the potential for detection, and men would pull themselves through via a trolley system. Bushell envisioned this setup allowing up to 200 prisoners to escape in a single night.

The tunnels took more than a year to construct, and prisoners scavenged or stole material to use in construction. To shore up the walls, for example, they needed massive quantities of wood, much of which came from the prisoners' beds. Originally held up with 20 slats, these boards were confiscated so that over time each bed had only eight supporting it; it's estimated that over 4,000 were eventually appropriated. Also used heavily were the tin cans that came in the prisoners' Red Cross packages, with some 1400 serving as digging tools, ventilation apparatuses, and as part of a lighting system that used wicks made from clothing dipped in fat skimmed off their soup.

The biggest challenge was disposing of the dirt being removed from the tunnels, particularly as it was a lighter color than the topsoil of the camp. Initially prisoners fashioned tubes from socks or long underwear that they hung inside their trouser legs and then covered with a greatcoat. These "penguins," as they were nicknamed, would then stroll around camp gradually releasing the sand or would stand talking to another prisoner who was using a rake to garden, but who would actually be working the sand into the soil. Eventually the guards caught on and other arrangements had to be made. One of the tunnels – Dick – had to be abandoned when a camp expansion covered up its proposed exit, and for a while it was used for sand disposal. A space to store maps, forged documents and clothing was needed, however, and so another solution was required. At the time, the POWs were building a theater which had a large enclosed space underneath it, but were only allowed to use the tools by providing their parole – their word of honor that the equipment would not be misused. This parole was considered inviolable, and so "The X Committee" – responsible for overseeing escape attempts from the camp – consulted the prisoners with legal training. It was decided that the agreement extended only to the equipment and not to the building itself; they subsequently hinged a seat in the back row and were able to dispose the sand accordingly. It's estimated that 100 tons were excavated from the three tunnels.

Tom was discovered by guards in September 1943 (becoming the 98th tunnel found on camp grounds), and work on the nearly-completed Harry ceased until January 1944. The X Committee decided soon afterward that everything was as ready as it could be, and the big day was scheduled for late March.

Some 600 individuals, including diggers, forgers and tailors, worked on the escape strategy; the plan only allowed for 200 to leave the camp, however. The first 30 people selected were those who were veteran escapers or who spoke German, followed by 70 others who the committee decided had worked the most on the operation. These men were provided with the best documents and clothing to maximize their chances. The next 100 were selected by lottery, and were provided with only basic clothing and papers. The night of the escape came – cold and moonless – and as the plan proceeded the prisoners encountered multiple problems. The trap door was frozen solid, which delayed the operation by over an hour. In addition, the tunnel turned out to be too short; it was supposed to emerge in thick woods, but was in the open and not far from a guard tower. This resulted in a slower exodus – instead of one a minute, the rate was reduced to 10-12 an hour. An air raid at midnight and a partial tunnel collapse at 1:00 AM further slowed efforts. Nevertheless, by the time a guard noticed a prisoner escaping, 76 had made it out of the camp.

Seventy-three of the escapees were recaptured within two weeks, with the remaining three eventually making it to safety (Norwegians Per Bergsland and Jens Muller and Dutchman Bram van der Stik). Under the Geneva Convention, the penalty for an escape attempt was to be 10 days in solitary confinement, but Hitler was enraged by the escape and ordered 50 of the prisoners shot as a warning to others. As the fifty were selected, they were removed from the camp one or two at a time and killed, and their remains were cremated and returned to camp. The new camp commandant, Oberst Franz Braune, was shocked by the action, and provided materials for the remaining prisoners to build a memorial to their comrades, which still stands today. In 1947, a military tribunal found 18 Nazi soldiers guilty of war crimes for the shootings, and 13 were executed.

PBS's NOVA made a documentary about the Great Escape and the related website carries documentation of interest, including a fascinating prisoners' sketchbook.

The video below is a trailer of the 1963 Steve McQueen movie, The Great Escape. The movie is a departure from reality because while many Americans were involved in the plan, none escaped as they had been moved to a different compound a few months prior. Having said that, according to The Cooler King by Patrick Bishop, McQueen's character is based on William Ash who had a hand in many escapes including the one at Stalag Luft III. The book is just published in the UK and will publish in the US in March 2016.

Filed under People, Eras & Events

This article relates to Zero Night. It first ran in the September 2, 2015 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.