Great escape from stalag luft III
The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III refers to a significant and well-documented World War II event involving Allied prisoners of war (POWs) attempting to escape from a German camp designed to be "escape-proof." Located near Sagan, Poland, Stalag Luft III housed primarily airmen captured during the conflict. The British approach to POW escapes, supported by MI9, led to the establishment of the "X Organization," which facilitated escape efforts through coordinated planning and resource management among prisoners of various nationalities, including Americans, Britons, and Canadians.
On March 25, 1944, 76 men managed to escape through a tunnel known as "Harry." Despite the high hopes for a successful mass escape, most were recaptured, and in a brutal response, Adolf Hitler ordered the execution of fifty of them. This event not only highlighted the complexities of wartime captivity and resistance but also influenced post-war attitudes towards POW treatment, ultimately shaping American perceptions of tyranny. The legacy of the Great Escape continues to resonate, notably through the 1963 film "The Great Escape," which serves as a cultural reference point for discussions about courage and resilience in the face of oppression.
Great escape from stalag luft III
The Event Mass escape of Allied prisoners from a German prisoner-of-war camp
Date March 25, 1944
Place Sagan, Poland (now Zagan, Poland)
The escape of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) from Sagan was World War II’s largest mass escape, but the subsequent execution of fifty of the recaptured escapees inhibited further attempts at such large-scale breakout attempts. The American military also came to realize that air crews needed training in the skills of evasion, escape, and resistance to interrogation—skills that would be vital in later American wars.
At the time when the United States entered World War II, its servicemen had received no training in evasion or resisting interrogation, and the American armed services had little history of escapes from enemy captors. In contrast, the British saw escape attempts as a legitimate way to undermine enemy morale and divert enemy resources and personnel away from the front, with a side benefit of the possibility of escape bolstering prisoners’ morale. This attitude was strengthened by MI9, a department of British military intelligence created to aid European resistance organizations and to facilitate the escape attempts of allied POWs. In response, Germany built a number of “escape-proof” prisoner camps. One was Stalag Luft III, which was located near the town of Sagan in Poland. (“Stalag” is the abbreviation for Stamlager, or prisoner camp and “Luft” is an abbreviation of Luftwaffe, the name of the German air force.)
Throughout 1943 and 1944, increasing numbers of American air crews were shot down during the strategic bombing offensive. Many of these crew members soon embraced the British enthusiasm for escape. In Stalag Luft III, escapes were overseen by the “X Organization,” which sanctioned escape attempts and coordinated prisoners’ labor to provide the infrastructure necessary for successful escapes. X Organization was headed by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, a South African. X Organization was a cosmopolitan group that included Americans, Britons, Canadians, Czechs, Norwegians, and members of other nationalities. More than eight hundred POWs directly supported escapes through tunneling, constructing improvised tools, shadowing German guards, and creating forged documents and civilian-looking clothing. Although X Organization was originally British, many Americans soon filled pivotal roles. Lieutenant Colonel Albert P. Clark became “Big S,” the head of security, and Major David Jones, a veteran of Doolittle’s Raid on Japan who was later shot down over North Africa, became a leader of the tunnelers.
Bushell aimed to obstruct Germany’s war effort through a mass escape and the inevitable disorder that efforts to recapture the escapees would generate. On March 25, 1944, seventy-six men escaped through a tunnel. Americans were not among these escapees because a few weeks earlier, they had been transferred to one of Stalag Luft III’s compounds other than the one with the tunnel. Ultimately, all but three POWs were recaptured, but the disruption of Germany’s home front was so public and widespread that an incensed Adolf Hitler ordered that all recaptured escapees be executed; eventually, fifty were executed. As a consequence, both POWs and MI9 refused to plan mass escape attempts for the remainder of the war.
Impact
Although Americans were not among the executed, they learned much about prisoner organization and escape technologies while working within X Organization, and they communicated this knowledge to prisoners in other camps. Although Americans at home were generally unaware of the fifty executions, the postwar furor over mistreatment of POWs and minorities such as Jews hardened American resolve to fight against dictatorships. During the late 1940’s, this distrust took the form of Cold War antipathy toward the Soviets. The release of the film The Great Escape in 1963 reaffirmed these lessons for later generations of Americans.
Bibliography
Brickhill, Paul. The Great Escape. London: Faber & Faber, 1951.
Carroll, Tim. The Great Escapers: The Full Story of the Second World War’s Most Remarkable Mass Escape. Edinburgh: Mainstream, 2004.
Clark, Albert P. Thirty-three Months as a POW in Stalag Luft III. Golden, Colo.: Fulcrum, 2004.
Durand, Arthur A. Stalag Luft III: The Secret Story. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988.