Did anyone else catch this?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/greatescape/
Well, I just have to say that I nearly wet myself, this was such a good episode.
An archaeological dig on the site of the main tunnel at Stalag Luft 3, scene of “The Great Escape.”
I was amazed at how quickly the forest had grown back over the site of the camp (but I guess it has been 60 years).
I read all the big POW escape books when a young teen, and it’s what really got me into military history in general (and collecting military artifacts). I think it was the sheer ingenuity of the POWs, using the tiniest bit of metal to fashion lockpicks, or making fake German uniforms to walk out the main gate, and, of course, the technical challenge of tunnelling, that captured my imagination when I was a kid. And, of course, all the cool pre-James Bond gadgets, like the compass buttons, silk escape maps, wire saws hidden in bootlaces, and whatnot.
My eyes almost bugged out when they turned up the actual trapdoor made by the prisoners to camouflage the tunnel “Dick.” As well as the rusty KLIM tins from the ventilator system–and then the forged rubber stamp! Amazing.
Just last week, I met a 91 year-old ex-RAF man who was in Luft 3, and was on the Escape Committee. I phoned him up to let him know it was on.
Remarkable times; remarkable men.
Funny. I usually love the NOVA episodes, even if it looks like something I have no interest in. I watched this one when it first aired, and had great expectations only to be very disappointed. It was OK, but just not up to NOVA standards. If you want to see a good WWII era NOVA, check out “Secrets, Lies and Atomic Spies”. That episode was fantastic.
Maybe, John, they were digging at Stalag Luft Effing Three! Can’t get much cooler than that.
[Chicago connection] Longtime morning kiddie show host Ray Rayner was a lookout and dirt disposer until the Americans got transferred. [/Chicago connection]
My favorite Nova Does WWII was the one about Colditz. After decades of hearing how escape-proof that prison was I lost all respect for the Nazi war machine viewing that show. Hello! They’re building a glider behind a false wall!
Absolutely pathetic.
Heh. I’ve actually held the original Colditz glider plans, on red paper the POWs scrounged from somewhere. It’s in the collection of the Imperial War Museum. I’d written ahead to book a meeting with one of the curators, with a request to look over their POW collection.
In addition to the glider plans, there was a curling trophy, made by P.R. Reid while waiting for repatriation in Switzerland. But the most remarkable thing was a shoebox sized container half-full of escape equipment: three different types of miniature compass, along with three rather dry and cracking circles of linoleum; these had fake German stamps carved into them. I always amazes me the work this represented: cutting an intricate design, including the German “fraktur” script–backwards.
The curator type couldn’t have been nicer; he just sat me down at a table in the back room, and left me all alone with the above-named items for a good 15 minutes. (I can only assume that I have an honest face!) Given that a single compass-button goes for something in the neighbourhood of $400 these days, that’s pretty damn trusting. I hope they’ve tightened security up since then (1994).
I love the rule of thumb when stamping fake documents with fake stamps: If you wonder if you have enough stamps on it then you don’t. Appropriate in a country where the Wehrmacht was said to have purchased more staplers in 1943 than it had soldiers to use them.