June 11, 2021 ▸ History, War & Conflict

Episode 583: The Great Escape: Prisoners, Passages, and Pursuit

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time and look at an interesting story from World War II. The Great Escape was immortalized in a 1963 Steve McQueen movie, but it is based on a real story where hundreds of allied airmen all pitched in to help some escape. The scene was Stalag Luft III, a Nazi POW camp for air force officers from all allied nations. It was a fairly relaxed camp compared to what many think of when a German war camp comes to mind.

In 1943, RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bushell was transferred to Stalag Luft III after several escape attempts at other prisons. While there, he organized an audacious plan to set hundreds of prisoners free by digging not one, but three massive tunnels out of the complex at the same time. The ingenious nature of the prisoners, what items they stole or repurposed, the allies they found throughout Germany: all of it is pretty astounding.

So, why were only 76 of the 200 able to get out of the prison that fateful night? What was the German response, and how many were rounded back up? What stopped all of them from being killed despite Hitler’s direct orders? How many fully escaped, and why did the Great Escape lead to war crimes trials years later? Listen, laugh, and learn.

Visit Our Sources:

https://www.history.co.uk/article/the-true-story-of-the-great-escape

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III

https://www.history.com/news/remembering-the-great-escape-70-years-ago

https://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/great-escape/index.html

https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/five-myths-of-the-ww2-great-escape/