Seventy-seven years ago, 76 POWs from various countries broke free from the Nazi German Stalag Luft III camp through a long tunnel they had dug out in a daring exploit dubbed the Great Escape and considered to be one of the best organised mass escapes of World War II.
Only three of those who managed to flee the camp in March 1944 effectively reached safety. Seventy-three were recaptured, of whom 50 were subsequently shot on Adolf Hitler's orders.
The executed POWs came from Britain, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Lithuania, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the Czech Republic and Greece. There were also six Poles among those killed, according to Poland’s PAP news agency.
The observances of the 77th anniversary of the Great Escape on Wednesday are expected to feature a flypast of two Polish Air Force F-16 fighter jets over Żagań, southwestern Poland, where the former camp was located.
Żagań was once part of Germany and is now in Poland as a result of postwar border changes.
The story of the daring breakout was made into the 1963 film The Great Escape, starring Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen. In 1988, a sequel entitled The Great Escape II: The Untold Story also appeared, with Christopher Reeve in it.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, PAP