Great escape tunnel george

[Little Jo]

Hi All

I was sent this amazing story regarding the Great Escape and thought I would share it with you all as it brings new light on a well known story. A Newly Discovered, Unknown, 4th Tunnel Discovered at Stalag Luft II...I look forward to seeing the Channel Four documentary when it come out on TV.

Cheers

Tony

For all you Military Historians - "Great Escape" story sent to me by MajGen George Edwards, USAF (Ret). Korea - 1952-53 - 100 Missions. Returned to Korea with Military Historical Tours in 2008.

Every time an article like this pops up and starts making the rounds of the Internet, I feel an overwhelming compulsion to share it. The list of WW-II vets is inexorably growing shorter by the year. Fortunately, amongst my list of E-mail friends there are a few remaining and sons of deceased WW-II vets. I can only hope all of them read this with the great interest it deserves........

The classic Steve McQueen movie immortalized three tunnels at Stalag Luft III POW camp. Now astonished archaeologists have discovered a fourth called George

It has lain hidden for nearly 70 years and looks, to the untrained eye, like a building site. But this insignificant tunnel opening in the soft sand of western Poland represents one of the greatest examples of British wartime heroism. And the sensational story became the Hollywood classic, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen.

We are standing in the notorious POW camp Stalag Luft III, built at the height of the Third Reich, 100 miles east of Berlin. Ten thousand prisoners were kept under German guns here on a 60-acre site ringed with a double barbed-wire fence and watchtowers.
They slept in barrack huts raised off the ground so guards could spot potential tunnellers, but the Germans did not count on the audacity of British Spitfire pilot Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, played by Sir Richard Attenborough in the 1963 film. He was interned at the camp in March 1943. With him were about 2,000 other RAF officers, many of whom were seasoned escapers from other camps, with skills in tunneling, forgery and manufacturing.

Three tunnels nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry were constructed 30ft underground using homemade tools. While Tom was discovered and destroyed by the Germans, Dick was used for storage.
The third tunnel, Harry, became the stuff of folklore on the night of March 24, 1944, when Allied prisoners gathered in hut 104 before crawling along the 100ft tunnel to a brief taste of freedom. Only three escaped; 73 were rounded up by the Germans and 50 were summarily executed.
Few could have blamed their devastated comrades for sitting out the remainder of the war. Yet far from being dispirited, a few men began work on a fourth tunnel nicknamed ‘George’, which was kept so secret that only a handful of prisoners knew about it.
Now, for the first time in 66 years, the archaeologists have pinpointed the entrance shaft to Harry after compiling a map of the camp using aerial photography.
Incredibly, George has just been uncovered after a team of engineers, archaeologists and historians excavated the site, a project filmed for a Channel 4 documentary Digging The Great Escape.
‘You have to admire these men,’ said chief archaeologist Dr Tony Pollard ‘The Germans believed that the deaths of those 50 men would have acted as a deterrent for future escapees. But these men were even more determined.’
With us at the site are two of them: Gordie King, 91, an RAF pilot who operated the pump providing the tunnel with fresh air on the night of the Great Escape, and Frank Stone, 89, a gunner who shared a room with the ‘tunnel king’ Wally Floody, an ex-miner in charge of the digging. They stand, heads bowed, reminiscing about their former colleagues. It is the first time Gordie, who was shot down on his first mission to Bremen in 1942, has returned to the camp since he and the remaining prisoners of war were marched out on January 27, 1945, as Russian forces approached.
‘It has been very emotional,’ he said. ‘It brings back such bittersweet memories. I am amazed by everything they have found.’
A widower with six children, he has vivid memories of working on tunnel Harry, performing guard duty and acting as a ‘penguin’ to disperse the sand excavated from the tunnels, whose entrances were hidden by the huts’ stoves.
They were called penguins because they waddled when they walked.
‘We would put bags around our neck and down our trousers, fill them with excavated sand, then pull a string to release it on to the field where we played soccer, all in a very nonchalant way,’ Gordie said.
‘One of my jobs was to look out of the window at the main gate 24 hours a day and write down how many guards went in and out,’ he recalled. ‘Another was warning watch. If the Germans came into the compound, we would pull the laundry line down and everyone would stop what they were doing and resume normal duties. The guards were not exactly brilliant. They were taken from what we called 4F – not fit for frontline fighting.


‘I’m thrilled by it all,’ added Frank, who was shot down on his second mission: a bombing raid on Ludwigshafen oil refinery. ‘It’s like a war memorial for me. I don’t want people ever to forget the 50 men who died. The escape was thrilling and exciting but those men paid the price for it.’
Inevitably security tightened after the Great Escape and an inventory was taken by the Germans to gauge the extent of the operation. The roll- call of hidden items is astounding: 4,000 bed boards, 90 double bunk beds, 635 mattresses, 62 tables, 34 chairs, 76 benches, 3,424 towels, 2,000 knives and forks, 1,400 cans of Klim powdered milk, 300 metres of electric wire and 180 metres of rope.
To prevent further escape attempts, the Germans filled in Harry with sand. So effective was the cover-up that when the remaining prisoners wanted to build a memorial for the 50 men who died, the exact site of the tunnel could not be agreed on.
Now, for the first time in 66 years, the archaeologists have pinpointed the entrance shaft to Harry after compiling a map of the camp using aerial photography.
What was most surprising for the team was the structure within the shaft. The bedboards were interlocked to line the tunnel but the sand was so soft that plaster and sandbags were used to prevent it engulfing the tunnel. Amazingly, the ventilation shaft, which was made out of discarded powdered milk tins, was still intact.


Dr Pollard, 46, who co-founded Glasgow University’s Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, said: ‘I was surprised at just how emotional I became when we found Harry. We were the first people to see the tunnel in decades. But it came to a point when we realised we couldn’t progress with the excavation. As soon as you drive a shaft into the sand, it is so soft it starts to collapse. It shows just how skilled those prisoners were.’
After abandoning Harry, the team set their sights on finding the secret fourth tunnel rumoured to have been dug underneath the floorboards in the camp theatre.
Using ground-scanning radar equipment, they found – beneath what would have been seat 13 – the trap door to a space that gave real insight into how the earlier tunnels would have been built.
To the left, between the floor joists, was a storage area for equipment – Klim tins, tools, a trolley and the ventilation pump – and abandoned sand. A few feet away was the entrance to the tunnel shaft, and at its bottom a separate chamber, which archaeologists believe was the radio room.
After abandoning Harry, the team set their sights on finding the secret fourth tunnel rumoured to have been dug underneath the floorboards in the camp theatre.
Down a single step lay the tunnel itself, intricately shored with bed boards, wired for light and equipped with the trademark trolley system used to shift both sand and men quickly and silently through the tunnels. It looked like a miniature railway with trolleys running on tracks linked by rope and pulled along by men at either end.
‘George turned out to be an absolute gem,’ explained Dr Pollard. ‘We found the shaft and excavated the tunnel which ran the entire length of the theatre. It was incredibly well preserved, with timber-lined walls, electrical wiring and homemade junction boxes, and was tall enough to walk through at a stoop. The craftsmanship is phenomenal. You can even see the groove on the top of the manhole cover, where it would swivel and slot into the floorboard above.
‘It was built at a time of heightened security at the camp. It is a fighting tunnel, not an escape tunnel. It was heading for the German compound from where the prisoners hoped to steal weapons and fight their way out.
The men knew the end of the war was nigh and they were playing a dangerous game. To see what most of the prisoners never saw was a real thrill. The Germans obviously discovered Harry but they never had a clue about George.’
The massive collection of artefacts found inside the tunnel included trenching tools; a fat-burning lamp crafted from a Klim tin; solder made from the silver foil of cigarette packets for the wiring system; a belt buckle and briefcase handle from the escapers’ fake uniforms as well as a German gun near hut 104. They also uncovered the axle and wheels from one of the tunnel trolleys, identical to the one used in Harry, and the remains of an air pump; a kind of hand-operated bellows which drew fresh air from the surface down a duct to the tunnel.
But the piece de resistance was a clandestine PoW radio crafted from a biscuit box and cannibalised from two radios smuggled into the camp.



Frank was instrumental in making the coil for the radio, which he moulded from an old 78 record. ‘I helped with the work on the construction of the radio, doing the soldering and things like that,’ he recalled, ‘cutting out bits of tins and whatever we needed for the equipment.’
Gordie added: ‘I remember one day walking around the camp with a friend when we saw this huge coil of wire. We grabbed it, covered it up with our coats and took it back to the hut. The Germans could not understand where the wire went. Until then we had had to rely on old tins of margarine with a wick in them, made from pyjama cord, to light the tunnel, but they were smoky, used up oxygen and were continually getting knocked out.’
On the night of the Great Escape, 200 prisoners, allocated consecutive numbers, gathered in hut 104 to make their escape, each a few minutes apart. The leaders were dressed in German uniforms or specially tailored civvies and kitted out with maps, compasses and forged documents.
Gordie, who was slot 140, remembers sharing final words with many of the escapers, wishing them luck and complimenting them on ‘their impressive disguises’.
‘It was quite exciting,’ he said. ‘Only the key German-speaking officers, who had a good chance of bluffing their way through, were given documents and civilian uniforms. The rest of us were so-called hard-a**ers, who were expected to get out and run.’


According to Roger Bushell’s plan, thousands of German soldiers and police would be deployed to hunt the escapers, preventing them from fighting the Allies. But after 76 men had escaped, the remainder were caught leaving the tunnel by German guards. Seventy-three of the men who got away were rounded up over the next few weeks and 23 were returned to the camp. The other 50 were shot in the back of the head by the guards at the side of the road. Only three escapees, Norwegians Per Bergsland and Jens Muller, and Dutch fighter pilot Bram van der Stok, succeeded in reaching safety. Bergsland and Muller got to neutral Swedenand Van der Stok made it to Gibraltar via Holland and France.
‘Afterwards the morale in the camp was very depressed,’ said Frank, tears in his eyes. ‘It was eerie. We had a period of mourning and held a memorial service. People just wandered around the camp quietly.’
‘A mass of doom enveloped the whole camp as so many of us had friends who were shot,’ added Gordie. ‘My close friend Jimmy Wernham, who came from the same town as me, was one of those who didn’t come back.
‘Before he went out, he took his ring off and gave it to his roommate Hap Geddes, who wasn’t going out, and said, “If anything happens to me, I want you to take this ring and give it to my fiancee.” After the war, Hap took the ring back to Dorothy and struck up a relationship with her. He ended up marrying her. He is still alive and living in Canada.’
Frank added: ‘I hope that what has been revealed will remind everybody what we went through and how we met the challenges. It was a privilege to be involved.’

[Jon Skagfeld]

Fascinating!

It has always irked me about the "Great Escapers" being portrayed as predominantly American...when there apparently were no Americans involved in neither the planning nor the actual escape.

Ahhh...Hollywood.

[Marc Montgomery]

I have to agree with Jon..while there were apparently some US servicemen at the camp they were not involved and did not participate. Several Canadians however were critical to the tunnel, not the least of which was Wally Floody.

http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/...r/clips/16646/

Now, I liked the McQueen flic..but really kinda like another US movie about the US capture of Enigma which was a fallacy from start to finish, so much so that it ended up angering Britain so much it was brought up in Parliament.

sad thing is, so little Canadian history is taught in Canadian schools, (only 4 provinces require history classes) that most Canadians know virtually nothing about their history, and what they do know of - history- sadly comes of US movies like the great escape, that enigma movie, Pvt Ryan etc... sigh..

[Little Jo]

Originally Posted by Marc Montgomery

I have to agree with Jon..while there were apparently some US servicemen at the camp they were not involved and did not participate. Several Canadians however were critical to the tunnel, not the least of which was Wally Floody.

http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/...r/clips/16646/

Now, I liked the McQueen flic..but really kinda like another US movie about the US capture of Enigma which was a fallacy from start to finish, so much so that it ended up angering Britain so much it was brought up in Parliament.

sad thing is, so little Canadian history is taught in Canadian schools, (only 4 provinces require history classes) that most Canadians know virtually nothing about their history, and what they do know of - history- sadly comes of US movies like the great escape, that enigma movie, Pvt Ryan etc... sigh..

Hi Marc

A very interesting interview with Wally Floody, I note it was done in 1980 and wonder if there are any survivors left. Thank you for posting it. I agree that the movies take a lot of poetic licence when making movies.

Cheers

Tony

[r.morrison]

Tony: We may be in luck and have one of the tunnelers still alive here in British Columbia. I can't recall his name at the moment, but one of our members interviewed him a couple of years ago. He has the interview on tape, just has to dig it out. He is a Canuck and was slated to escape that night, however the alarm went off and he barely got back to his hut. Accordingly, he had the choice of being shot in the tunnel hut or being shot trying to get back to his hut. He chose the later and barely made it!

I can follow up on this story as soon as I get the info. Stay tuned.

Robert
Canadian Military Remembrance Society

[Little Jo]

Originally Posted by r.morrison

Tony: We may be in luck and have one of the tunnelers still alive here in British Columbia. I can't recall his name at the moment, but one of our members interviewed him a couple of years ago. He has the interview on tape, just has to dig it out. He is a Canuck and was slated to escape that night, however the alarm went off and he barely got back to his hut. Accordingly, he had the choice of being shot in the tunnel hut or being shot trying to get back to his hut. He chose the later and barely made it!

I can follow up on this story as soon as I get the info. Stay tuned.

Robert
Canadian Military Remembrance Society

Hi Robert

I shall surely stay tuned and I agree, interesting stories should be documented before it is too late because once the survivors pass on we have lost another chance of recording that piece of history forever.

Cheers

Tony

[Ed Storey]

Here is an obit for one who just recently passed away.

[r.morrison]

Thanks Ed for the update. There were probably many people involved, if not most of the camp, in this escape. One of my close friends here in Vancouver is a fellow by the name of Anthony "Tony" Cowling. Tony was captured at the fall of Singapore and spent 4 and half years in a Japanese POW Camp. He wrote his autobiography entitled "My life With The Samurai". Can't tell you if the books on line or whether you can buy it at any book stores, but a fascinating book to read from a boy of 17 years of age, when captured. If any of the forum members would like to purchase a copy, I can arrange it, at cost.
The ironic part of this story was that Tonie's brother was shot down over Germany and ended up at Stalag Luft 111 POW Camp and partook in being a " Penguin" in the digging of the tunnels.
As Tony says from "Down Under", all is lost if our generation doesn't record and keep the history alive.
An interesting note on Tony Cowling.... during the time I've known Tony, I've tried to help him out marketing his book, even bought a couple of dozen books and sent off copies for Christmas prezzies, only to be complimented by friends, family and military buffs. I've helped him build and accent his display and made sure he got prominent display in any event we were involved in.
There was a point when I took him for lunch in Richmond BC and as he asked for, we ended up at a Thai Restaurant. At that point, I was ready to eat the arse out of skunk....I was so hungry!
Rather than ordering a selection of dishes of various delights, as would of being my choice, Tony opted for a small bowl of rice and a extremely small bowl of condiments....and that was Lunch! Chopsticks and all.

And to watch this man.... carefully and so cautiously eat this tiny bowl of rice....and I,m talking Tiny, just made me realize what this guy had gone through and who bears that scar till this day.

I know I've digressed from the original topic of this discussion, but because of Tony and his brother, I'd thought I'd share this with the Forum Members. Robert Morrison ( Canadian Military Remembrance Society )

[Comox Air Force Museum]

Just a little more on Stalag Luft 111. There was a fellow named John Colwell who lived in Parksville that donated his diary to our museum. Every day a page is turned to let people read what life was like in camp. Here's a link to the site.
http://www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca/exhibits.html
Sadly, John is no longer with us, I had the pleasure of talking to him and he was a great person.
Rob.

[Little Jo]

Hi Ed, Rob and Robert

Thank you guys for posting your updates to the Great Escape story, When I posted the original information of the finding of tunnel "George" I did not realise how much interest there would be. I have always been interested in the personal stories of veterans involved in historic events and as I stated earlier I do not think enough is done to interview and record invividual veterans stories for future generations, The dialy turning of the pages of the John Colwell diary is a terrific idea. Keep the stories coming.

Cheers

Tony

[r.morrison]

See what you started Tony!!!!!......Robert

[Marc Montgomery]

Too bad i was not aware of Toy Cowling, as the December anniversary of Hong kong has just passed...although i certainly did discuss the battle on air at the time.
Also had a very interesting report just before Remembrance Day on the establishment of the Wall of Remembrance
As the March anniversary of the Great Escape is approaching, perhaps if you could find out who the survivor is and send me contact info, i might be able to talk to him to give his story national and international exposure.

[r.morrison]

Well Marc and Tony and fellow members....my man seems to be out of town. As soon as I get a hold of him, I'll follow up with a report. I called Tony Cowling tonight, but he is out. His wife has been in the hospital since October or November and I haven't spoken with him since November. When I get a hold of him, I'm going to see how many books he has left and if he wants, I'll sell them on the forum. As I said earlier, I don't think you can buy them on line. But a fascinating book!


But till then....AND ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TOPIC.... not military related, but none the less....I was reading in the Globe and Mail Newspaper this week, that the 100th year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic is this April. An auction is to be held in New York of 5000 artifacts they brought up from the wreck. The auction is for the whole lot and valued at just under 2 million dollars US.



One of my clients in Vancouver, who heads up a legal firm, had their offices repainted last year. That's what my company does here in Vancouver. While we were negotiating the project in his office, I couldn't help notice all the Maritime Bric a Brac in his office, including some great paintings of Ocean Liners. After business was completed, and we got the project, I quizzed him on the collection of Maritime artifacts in his office. He informed me that his grand father worked for the White Star Line in the early 1900's. As soon as he he said White Star Line....I said "The Titanic". And he responded "Yes". Turns out this gentleman's grandfather, while working for the White Star Line was based in New York at the time of the sinking, and was put in complete charge of the Survivors when they arrived in New York aboard that glorious ship....The Carpathia. I'm going to take him to lunch in the next few weeks and try and do an interview with him and hopefully set some thing up with Canadian Television.


His grandfather, after leaving the White Star Line, went on to work for the Guinness family and was the head engineer handling the the building of the Lions Gate Bridge from Vancouver to North Vancouver (The British Properties).

Funny the people you meet along the way in life.....Robert (Keep you posted)