Great Escape Tunnel Unearthed

On 11th September we published an article about Australian airman, Paul Royle, who was involved in the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III in 1944. Untouched for almost seven decades, the tunnel used in the Great Escape has finally been unearthed.
The  111-yard passage nicknamed 'Harry' by Allied prisoners was sealed by  the Germans after the audacious break-out from the POW camp Stalag Luft III in western Poland .
Despite huge interest in the subject, encouraged by the film starring Steve McQueen, the tunnel remained  undisturbed over the decades because it was behind the Iron Curtain  and the Soviet authorities had no interest in its  significance.

But at last British  archaeologists have excavated it, and discovered its remarkable  secrets.

Many of the bed boards which had been joined together  to stop it collapsing were still in

position. And the ventilation  shaft, ingeniously crafted from used powdered milk containers known as  Klim Tins, remained in working order. Scattered throughout the  tunnel, which is 30ft below ground, were bits of old metal buckets,  hammers and crowbars which were used to hollow out the route.

A  total of 600 prisoners worked on three tunnels at the same time. They  were nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry and were just 2 ft square for most  of their length. It was on the night of March 24 and 25,  1944, that 76 Allied airmen escaped through Harry. Barely a third  of the 200 prisoners - many in fake German uniforms and civilian outfits and carrying false identity papers - who were meant to slip  away managed to leave before the alarm was raised when escapee number  77 was spotted.

Only  three made it back to Britain . Another 50 were executed by firing  squad on the orders of Adolf Hitler, who was furious after learning of  the breach of security. In all, 90 boards from bunk beds, 62  tables, 34 chairs and 76 benches, as well as thousands of items  including knives, spoons, forks, towels and blankets, were squirrelled  away by the Allied prisoners to aid the escape plan under the noses of  their captors.

Although the Hollywood movie suggested otherwise, reports suggest that NO Americans were involved in the actual escape. Most were British, and  the others were from Canada , (all  the tunnellers were Canadian  personnel with backgrounds in mining) Poland , New Zealand , Australia , and South Africa.

Thank you to Terry Maher for this story.