PRISON ESCAPE HOSPITAL GAME SERIES
They document the German accounts of the escapes and create a fascinating comparison to the subsequent MI9 escape reports in series WO 208, which were compiled when the individuals made it safely to neutral and Allied territory. These records, in the series WO 416, consist of British and Allied prisoner of war records created by the Germans and captured by the Allied forces when the camps were liberated at the end of the war. Newly released documents at The National Archives show the three remarkable and successful escape attempts made by three British-born Officers – Flight Lieutenant Hedley S Fowler, Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Bolton Littledale, and British Army Lieutenant Airey M S Neave. At Colditz, there were more than 30 successful escape attempts including ten by British and Commonwealth Officers. It is estimated that over 4,000 British and Allied personnel escaped or evaded capture across Europe during the Second World War. The numbers increased sharply in 1943 when a further 65 army officers arrived with a contingent of other nationalities, including American, French, Dutch and Polish.Īs in camps across Europe, with the support and direction from escape committees, prisoners used a number of methods for escape, with tunnels and disguises being the most popular along with forged identification papers. Initially, in the autumn of 1940, the camp was occupied by some 70 officers coming from the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The castle was home to some 400 officers for much of the war yet, despite the security measures in place, there were a number of significant attempts at escape made. It is now a tourist attraction and I signed up for a guided tour of the castle and grounds, learning more about its time as the Escapers’ Gaol, which spurred me on to write this blog, using official records at The National Archives. ‘Oflag’ indicating a camp for Officers and ‘IV-C’ the designation of its location in Colditz. The location of Colditz Castle, situated on a steep conical hill above the River Mulde and surrounded by barbed wire and under the watchful eyes of armed sentries, made the camp difficult, but not impossible, to escape from.
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