The Real 'Great Escape' Trivia Quiz

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'.

Answer: March 1942

The initial part of the camp was completed on the 21st March 1942. Captured British and Commonwealth aircrew started to arrive at the camp in April 1942.

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.

Answer: Guard dogs were let loose in the compound at night

Specifically at Stalag Luft III the site and design of the camp were all factors in trying to ensure that escape was nigh on impossible (or so the German's thought and hoped).

The camp was deliberately situated in an area which had a light top soil and a significantly darker coloured soil deeper down. This meant it would easier to spot prisoners attempting to get rid of the soil from deep tunnels. The loose nature of the soil would also make it difficult for longer tunnels. The placement of underground microphones was also intended to identify any digging activity. Finally, the height of the prisoner barracks above ground looked to maximise the chances of any 'suspicious activity' being spotted by the guards.

Whilst the Germans did use guard dogs, there were never let loose in the compounds at night.

Answer: Squadron Leader Roger Bushell

Squadron Leader Bushell (or 'Big X' as he eventually become known) was put in charge of the Camp escape committee. It was Bushell who suggested a mass escape on the basis that it would maximise their chances of getting a 'home run' and also cause higher levels of disruption to the Germans in their attempts to re-capture them.

Bushell had been a POW since he was shot down and captured at Dunkirk in May 1940. Prior to arriving at Stalag Luft III, Bushell had escaped (and obviously been recaptured) twice before and saw escaping as his way of continuing to wage war against the Germans.

The other men mentioned were all prisoners at the camp.

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.

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.

Answer: 76

'Harry' had originally meant to come out in the woods outside the camp perimeter. However, it turned out that it was about 6-7 meters shy of its intended finishing point, which meant that the escaping men men would have to move more carefully to avoid being caught in the searchlights from the nearby guard tower.

The first escapee left 'Harry' at around 10.30 pm and men continued to trickle out of the camp throughout the night. At around 5am on the 25th March, the 77th escapee was spotted by the Germans and he would be the last man to leave the tunnel. Another four men were captured in the tunnel itself but 76 had managed to escape.

Answer: 3

Only three men made it to safety. Two Norwegians pilots managed to make it back to Sweden (which along with Switzerland, was neutral throughout WWII) and with the help of some Swedish sailors. A Dutch pilot also made it back to the UK via travelling through Germany, France and eventually across the Pyrenees with the help of the French Resistance to neutral Spain, where he made it to the British Consulate in Barcelona.

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.