This should have gone up yesterday, and it is a repost of an earlier post. But it’s one I try to get up each year. Click on the links and read more about the Great Escape, which was a bit different from the movie.
Today, I take the time to remember the 50. On this night, in 1944, prisoners of war staged a daring large-scale escape from Stalag Luft III. The movie is good, but isn’t accurate since it was a Royal Air Force show. All but three of the prisoners who escaped were recaptured, and of those, Adolph Hitler personally ordered the deaths of 50 of them. Today, I raise a glass to them, and to all who dared and risked all to do so.
I read the Reader’s Digest story many times as a kid and watched the film 100’s of times. I know many GE Vets were not happy with the film portrayal, but that is probably true in every case where a film is made about a living historical figure. The principal accuracy problems with the film are the prominence of American prisoners, which was not the case at all in reality. This was a British Empire story and there were probably no Americans involved at all if I remember correctly. The film tries to address that by making Henley an American RAF volunteer and there is a scene where an American Lt comments to Hilts that there are only 3 Americans in the camp. The reality is that large budget Hollywood film making requires some business likelihood of a profit, and that is much more likely if there are established American actors central to the cast. Putting 2 of them in American uniforms as well was probably a required nod to likely American audience chauvinism.
The film gets more right than it gets wrong and the little details like the RAF raid on Berlin the night of the escape and the tunnel exit ending up short of the woods are all true. The stacked up escapees at the morning train was also just the way it happened. Hilts motorcycle escapades were complete fiction, but it added some action to the film which also featured beautiful panoramic scenes of the Bavarian Alps accompanied by a masterful soundtrack. The Great Escape is a fine tribute to the men who pulled the real one off and the 50 who were murdered for it.
Alas, those all seem to be dead links. Years (well, decades) ago, I read Paul Brickhill’s fascinating first person account of the escape. That book* is available (paper or audiobook, but not Kindle) on Amazon.
(*) This seems to be a much later edition than what I read in the ’60s or so.
Amazon link to the paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Escape-Paul-Brickhill/dp/0393325792/ref=sr_1_2?crid=27UYDZEC1XQ2F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9jJt8eqwXZ_uMzihdXaAC8aztm4dXmfVyE8cUo20_ov_iRdgfRMDYTQyuElEIUigVT4eU85nnwm-ICCv0IDhY2Adk3mrvbGgwDHpJvHOudo5Dmvqv4jX2PCwRLMxaHSw_Ja53h0qVMXJB9C9f6drkuoNjYNC0UJOvkcs6k9zkttSuxIgK98GZE1THboVx_CY09DzGIhz1F7KFIKXImZg7zMtlVjb8GbRrxKecfl9gt0.18sXwm2L1PcNItoW6SjXaq1qec67CcIgXo1v0lZAfds&dib_tag=se&keywords=brickhill+the+great+escape&qid=1774448538&sprefix=brickhill+the+great+esc%2Caps%2C1072&sr=8-2
Bleep. I really need to try to find my old post where I actually had a list of the 50. Forget when that was though, or which time it was that AQ took out a hosting provider that a number of milblogs and such were using. Thanks for letting me know!