The Great Escape

The book 'The Great Escape' by Paul Brickhill - should surely be obligatory reading for tales of 'derring do' in the Second World War in the German Prisoner of War camp of Stalag Luft III. This was situated in Sagan, 100 miles south-east of Berlin, now called Zagan, in Upper Silesia, Poland. The prisoners, mainly RAF pilots shot down and interned in the PoW camp tried everything they could think of to escape. Among the many attempts the most ingenious was the construction of a series of tunnels leading from inside the accommodation huts down 20 to 30 feet and then out beyond the perimeter fences.

To construct these tunnels, vast amounts of soil needed to be excavated and disposed of - 100 tons. But how to dispose of so much soil without arousing the suspicions of the many camp guards? The solution were the 150 'penguins'. These were men who carried special sacks down their trouser legs containing the soil. Each man had two 'trouserbags' made from long woolen undergarments tied off with string which looped over the neck under the tunic the men wore. Pulling a drawstring released a pin and thus the soil within. The soil could then trickle down to the ground as they strolled nonchalantly around the camp!

Where does soil come into this you ask! Well fortunately, the soils they were disposing of were sandy. The sand flowed well from the secret bags and was easily disposed of. Perhaps the story would have been very different if the camp was built on solid clay! But the other problem the men faced was that the sandy sub-soil was bright yellow in colour - a real giveaway that a tunnel was being dug. This meant the disposals needed to be undertaken very carefully.

If reading the book is all too much (!) then there is also the excellent film made which is most enjoyable too.... What colour is the soil in the fiilm?