The Great Escape?

[rob_s]

I've just finished watching "The Great Escape" - classic film with plucky Brits attempting (with the help of a few Yanks and the odd Aussie here and there) to break out of the clutches of the dastardly Germans, you know the sort of thing...

Anyway, one of the British officers, while speaking with the German camp commandant, stated that "it is the sworn duty of every British officer to do his best to escape" (or something along those lines).

Was this actually a *requirement* for British Army soldiers during WW2 upon capture?

Did it apply to all troops or just the officers?

And did the same apply to US troops (or even the Germans when they were captured by the Allies)?

(Apologies if this has been covered before).

Many thanks,

Rob S.

[Astroboy14]

dunno about other countries, but it DOES apply to US troops...

Part of the US military code of conduct states something like "if I am captured, I will do my best to escape..." (not verbatim... just from my memory of Armed Forces Network TV commercials)

[Philster]

It was a respected duty, on both sides...

For officers.

I know that there were atrocities that prisoners suffered, but considering the Germans we were deaing with at the time, didn't they seem a little bit on the good side (relatively speaking) to prisoners vs other countries?

I am not saying it was easy, but considering what some other foes did to our prisoners in various countries, wouldn't we have to rank the Germans fairly high?

They understood the military code and the officers' duty of escaping and/or escaping their men.

(At the announcement of Japenese surrender, is it true that hundreds of Allied prisoners were killed? Wasn't there a mass beheading of prisoners via the Japanese sword, quite literally? Not meant to be a hi-jack)