The Great Escape Trivia

1. The real 'Great Escape' took place from which Prisoner of War (POW) camp?

From Quiz The Real 'Great Escape'

Answer: Stalag Luft III

The 'Great Escape' was from Stalag Luft III. This was a POW camp operated by German air force personnel and was located near the town of Sagan in Silesia, now Zagan in Poland. Oflag IV-C is the nomenclature associated with the infamous 'Colditz'. Stalag Luft Nord is the name of the camp used in the 'Great Escape' film released in 1963 and Luft-Stalag 13 is the POW Camp named in the TV Series 'Hogan's Heros'.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: Stalag Luft III

The stalag where the actual great escape took place was Stalag Luft III. The camp was near Sagan in Lower Silesia.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: Jimmy Buckley

Buckley was nominated "Big X" by "Wings" Day when they were imprisoned at Barth. It was the beginning of the "X Organization". Later sent to Schubin (in Poland), Buckley and a Danish soldier escaped and got to Denmark. They started out from the Zealand coast in a boat, but never made it. No one really knows what happened to them, but the Dane's body was found in the sea weeks later, and they never found Buckley. When the "X Organization" started up again in Stalag Luft III, Roger took over as "Big X".

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: he was extremely fair

Colonel von Lindeiner was a professional officer in the prewar Luftwaffe. His treatment of the captured flyers was extremely fair. This was later to be his undoing after the escape.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: Stalag Luft III

The prisoners sarcastically referred to it as "Goering's Luxury Camp". It was up near the Polish border and a long way from friendly territory.

From Quiz The Real 'Great Escape'

Answer: 11,000

The design of Stalag Luft III was built along fairly traditional lines. There were to be five areas which held between 15-20 wooden buildings each, which in turn held roughly 40-80 men. Each of these main compounds had their own exercise field in which the prisoners could play sports and keep physically fit and active. Note that another escape attempt made famous in the film 'the Wooden Horse' was also attempted from Stalag Luft III. There was also a central barracks where the 900 German Guards were housed. When the camp was finally completed in July 1944, it held just under 11,000 captured airmen. The British were located in the North and East Compounds (which were completed in March 1942), while the Americans were held in the Centre and South Compounds with a special area reserved specifically for US Officers held in the West Compound.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: goons

The Luftwaffe guards were called 'goons'. The guards were unfamilar with the term and were told it stood for, German Officer Or Noncom.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: Sagan

Sagan had a population of about 25,000 in Silesia, then known as "Germany's Dust Bowl." The one good thing about it was that the railroad station was only a mile from the camp. An escaping prisoner had a good chance to jump on a train if his escape wasn't noticed immediately.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: its location

The location was the major reason the Germans considered the camp escape proof. The other reasons were factors as well but the primary reason was location.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: Rubberneck

"Rubberneck" got his nickname because he had a long, thin neck. He was considered dangerous by the prisoners, as he was very stiff and rank-conscious. He always suspected them of digging tunnels, and was always hanging around trying to catch the prisoners at any "illegal" activities. (Such as digging, forging papers, etc!)

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: ferrets

The guards who specialized in preventing escapes were called ferrets. They could enter a compound without notice and were skilled in tunnel detection. Some spoke very good English.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: goon-boxes

I'll quote Paul Brickhill--"They were called goon-boxes because every prisoner of the Third Reich referred to the Germans as Goons."

From Quiz The Real 'Great Escape'

Answer: 200

The plan called for 200 men to escape. All of them were to be in civilian clothing complete with the necessary paperwork as well as equipped with additional knowledge on maps, routes, train timetables and the like. It was a plan like no other. In total, the escape attempt would involve over 600 men who would have all manner of responsibilities like digging the tunnels, disposing of the dark soil, bribing the Guards (or 'goons' as they were nicknamed). This team would also produce the civilian clothing as well as forge the necessary travel papers and documents required for travel through Nazi Germany. It was an immense task which demonstrates the ingenuity, skill and determination of the POWs.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: Rubberneck

Corporal Greise was known as 'Rubberneck'. He had a fondness for peering around corners and listening to conversations and showing up unexpectedly. He was nothing like the ferret in the movie who was compromised.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: the North compound

The East compound is where Eric Williams and his two friends escaped in October of 1943. This escape is described in Eric Williams' book "The Wooden Horse". This is another excellent book about escape from Stalag Luft III.

From Quiz The Real 'Great Escape'

Answer: Harry

The idea to build three tunnels meant that it gave the escapees a form of insurance so that in the event that one of the tunnels was discovered, they could then carry on with preparing the others. This turned out to be needed. Tunnel Tom was discovered by the Germans and subsequently destroyed (the 98th one to be discovered at this camp). Tunnel Dick was abandoned, but proved to be a very useful storage facility where earth dug up from Tunnel Harry could be hidden, as well as for storing the civilian clothing and forged papers to ensure that it avoided discovery during the many German random searches.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: Tom, Dick and Harry

The three escape tunnels were called Tom, Dick and Harry. This is consistent with the movie.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: ferrets

The guards were dressed in overalls and carried flashlights and steel probes. If they suspected a tunnel, they would hammer the probes into the ground hoping to hit the roof boards of tunnel shoring. "Tom", "Dick" and "Harry" were too deep for the "ferrets" to find by probe.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: penguins

The POWs who were responsible for dispersing the tunnel sand were known as penguins. Unlike in the movie, one was actually seen by a ferret doing this.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: have him court martialed

Squadron Leader Bushell threatened to have anyone court martialed who dared mention the word tunnel even in jest. This was, after all, serious buisiness.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: "Piglet" Lamond

He was called "Piglet" because he was so small. He came up with the idea of tunnelling in front and pushing the dirt behind to fill up the tunnel. He stuck pointed sticks up through the surface for breathing holes. He was really lucky, because no one had ever tried this method before, and it was only a theory that he could get enough air to stay alive. It obviously worked, because he and two others escaped and were caught in a boat on the Oder River when the boat was reported missing.

From Quiz The Real 'Great Escape'

Answer: 23

Of the 76 who originally escaped, 3 made it 'home'. The rest were all recaptured, the majority were recaptured within a few short days of the initial escape. On the specific orders of Adolf Hitler, 50 of the prisoners were murdered. The executions were not carried out en mass (as was shown in the film 'The Great Escape') but they were performed in ones and twos by the Gestapo as the prisoners were re-captured. Squadron Leader Roger Bushell was himself recaptured on the 29th March 1944 close to the French border and subsequently executed by the Gestapo in Ramstein. Of the 76 men who escaped, 17 men returned to Stalag Luft III with 2 more being sent to enjoy the delights of Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz) and a further 4 were sadly sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: by bribing some of the guards

The majority of the vital intelligence was supplied by bribing the guards. This information included train schedules, time tables, and even civilian clothing. I must add that the Luftwaffe sentries were not front duty types.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: Johnny Travis

Travis had been a mining engineer until he was trapped for three days in a gold mine from a rock fall. He was very claustrophobic, but he would take his turn at digging the tunnels. Buckley was the one who started him making escape equipment. He made lamps, shovels for the diggers, and helped to make the air pumps used in the tunnels.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: it was frozen shut

On the night of the escape, the escape tunnel trap door was frozen shut. The actual escape took place in March, not in warm weather as seen in the movie. This cost the escapers valuable time trying to open it.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: Tim Walenn

Tim had a team of forgers who eventually turned out around 400 forged papers. He would personally check each document, and scrap any that he didn't consider perfect. People liked to work with him, though, because he was always so courteous to everyone.

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: 250 men

Two hundred and fifty men were attempting to escape that night. Again, this is consistent with the movie.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: Jerry Sage

Jerry Sage was a paratroop major who was caught in North Africa after he had been walking behind German lines for two weeks sniping at people with a tommy-gun. He would have men having an unarmed combat drill or volley-ball games with a group of men standing around cheering, and sand would be shuffled into the compound by their feet. He also had sand smuggled over to the latrines and dumped. The diversionists were so successful, the guards never noticed a thing!

From Quiz The Real Great Escape

Answer: they were not selected, they drew lots

The last 50 POWs who were to attempt the escape had to draw lots. These final fifty were given the the minimum supplies needed for the escape and none spoke any German. Their chances of success were considered slim.

From Quiz "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill

Answer: Al Hake

Al Hake had his "factory" in hut 103. He made the compass casings out of broken gramophone records, with a gramophone needle in the center for a pivot. The direction needle was a sewing needle that had been rubbed against a magnet. The compass tops were made from glass from broken windows. According to Paul Brickhill, if there weren't any broken windows, Al broke one himself! He had an inscription carved in the compasses that read "Made in Stalag Luft III". He eventually turned out about 250 compasses.

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