Prisoners made numerous attempts to escape from Oflag IV-C, one of the most famous German Army prisoner-of-war camps for officers in World War II. Between 30 and 36 men succeeded in their attempts; German and Allied sources differ on the numbers. The camp was situated in Colditz Castle, perched on a cliff overlooking the town of Colditz in Saxony.
The German Army made Colditz a Sonderlager (high-security prison camp), the only one of its type within Germany. Field Marshal Hermann Göring declared Colditz "escape-proof". There were many well-documented escapes and failed attempts by British, Canadian, French, Polish, Dutch, and Belgian inmates. Colditz Castle was not used as a prisoner of war camp in World War I.
The escapes from Colditz have been described in many works of fiction and documentaries. This has popularized the unrealistic image of prisoner of war escapes as being common; this is sometimes referred to as the "Colditz Myth".
Methods and equipment Prisoners contrived a number of methods to escape. They duplicated keys to doors, made copies of maps, forged Ausweise (identity papers), and manufactured their own tools. MI9, a department of the British War Office which specialized in escape equipment, communicated with the prisoners in code and smuggled escape equipment to them by hiding it in care packages from family or from non-existent charities. However, they never tampered with Red Cross care packages for fear it would force the Germans to stop their delivery to all camps. The Germans became skilled at intercepting packages containing contraband material.
The prisoners also used items from their Red Cross packages to bribe guards and local citizens. Since the Germans allowed the disabled Douglas Bader to leave the prison and visit the town of Colditz, he took chocolate and other luxuries with him for trading. Flight Lieutenant Cenek Chaloupka traded goods for information and even had a girlfriend in the town. David Stirling later took control of the black-market operations.
The Singen route Upon escaping from captivity, POWs still faced the considerable challenge of negotiating their way to non-hostile territory. The Singen route into Switzerland was discovered by Dutch naval lieutenant Hans Larive in 1940 on his first escape attempt from Oflag VI-A in Soest. Larive was caught near Singen close to the Swiss border. The interrogating Gestapo officer was so confident that the war would soon be won by Germany that he told Larive of a safe way across the border. Near the road between Singen and Gotmadingen there is the hamlet of Hofenacker which belongs to the Swiss municipality of Ramsen in the canton of Schaffhausen. One of the farm buildings of Hofenacker, Spiesshof, stands directly on the road at the tip of what is known as the Ramsen Salient. By taking the Singen-Gotmadingen road, turning left after Spiesshof and remaining on the track, the escapee could enter Switzerland. Larive memorized the route and many prisoners later escaped using it. Among them were Larive himself, Francis Steinmetz, Anthony Luteyn, Airey Neave, Pat Reid and Howard Wardle.Larive; the man who came in from Colditz, Leo de hartog; officieren achter prikkeldraad 1940-1945
Unsuccessful attempts
Most escape attempts failed. Pat Reid, who later wrote about his experiences in Colditz, failed to escape at first and then became an "escape officer", charged with coordinating the various national groups so they would not ruin each other's escape attempts. Escape officers were generally not themselves permitted to escape. Many tried unsuccessfully to escape in disguise: Airey Neave twice dressed as a guard, French Lieutenant Boulé disguised in drag, British Lieutenant Michael Sinclair even dressed as German Sergeant Major Rothenberger (an NCO in the camp garrison), when he tried to organize a mass escape, and French Lieutenant Perodeau disguised himself as camp electrician Willi Pönert ("Little Willi"):
On the night of 28 December 1942, one of the French officers deliberately blew out the fuse on the lights in the courtyard. As they had anticipated, Pöhnert was summoned, and while he was fixing the lights, Lieutenant Perodeau, dressed almost identically to Pöhnert and carrying a tool box, walked casually out of the courtyard gate. He passed the first guard without incident, but the guard at the main gate asked for his token — tokens were issued to each guard and staff member at the camp guardhouse specifically to avoid this type of escape — with no hope of bluffing his way out of this, Perodeau surrendered.
Dutch sculptors made two clay heads to stand in for escaping officers at roll call. Later, "ghosts", officers who had faked a successful escape and hidden in the castle, took the place of escaping prisoners at roll call in order to delay discovery for as long as possible.
Camp guards collected so much escape equipment that they established a museum. Local photographer Johannes Lange took photographs of the would-be escapers in their disguises or re-enacting their attempts for the camera, such as Pönert and his French imitator side by side. Along with the Lange photographs, one of the two sculpted clay heads was displayed proudly in the museum. Security officer Reinhold Eggers made them a regular part of Das Abwehrblatt, a weekly magazine for German POW camps.
The death of Michael Sinclair There was only one confirmed death during the escape attempts: British Lieutenant Michael Sinclair in September 1944. Sinclair attempted a repeat of the 1941 French over the wire escape. Security officer Eggers warned him after which Sinclair was fired upon by guards. A bullet hit Sinclair on the elbow and ricocheted through his heart."Colditz–The Legend". Yesterday TV, 12:00, 6 Dec 2010
Sinclair's death was one of two events explicitly excluded from the document attesting to the prisoners' good care that they signed in April 1945. The Germans buried Sinclair in Colditz cemetery with full military honours — his casket was draped with a Union Jack flag made by the German guards, and he received a seven-gun salute. After the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the only man to receive it for escaping during World War II. He is buried in grave number 10.1.14 at Berlin War Cemetery in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district of Berlin.
The Red Cross tea chest
Because of his very small stature, Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce was known ironically as the "medium-sized man". He arrived at Colditz in 1942 (after attempting to escape from Spangenberg Castle disguised as a Red Cross doctor). When a new commandant arrived at Colditz in the summer of the same year, he enforced rules restricting prisoners' personal belongings. On 8 September, POWs were told to pack up all excess belongings and an assortment of boxes was delivered to carry them into storage. Dominic Bruce seized the opportunity and was packed inside of a Red Cross packing case, three feet square, with just a file and a rope made of bed sheets. Bruce was then taken to a storeroom on the third floor of the German Kommandantur, and that night made his escape. The following morning the German guards stationed found the dangling bed rope. When they entered the storeroom, they found the empty box on which Bruce had inscribed Die Luft in Colditz gefällt mir nicht mehr. Auf Wiedersehen! — "The air in Colditz no longer pleases me. See you later!" Bruce was recaptured a week later trying to stow aboard a Swedish ship in Danzig.
The mattress In late 1940, British officer "Peter" Allan (real name, Anthony Murray Allan) found out that the Germans were moving several mattresses from the castle to another camp and decided that it would be his way out. He let the French officers moving the mattresses know that one would be a little bit heavier. Allan, a fluent German speaker thanks to his schooling in Germany before the war, prior to attending Tonbridge School, dressed himself up in a Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) uniform, stuffed Reichsmarks in his pockets, and had himself sewn into one of the mattresses. He managed to get himself loaded onto the truck, and unloaded into an empty house within the town. Cutting himself out of the mattress several hours later, when all he could hear was silence, he climbed out of the window into the garden and walked down the road towards his freedom.
Along the 161 km (100 mi) route to Vienna via Stuttgart he got a lift with a senior SS officer. Allan recalled that ride as the scariest moment of his life, "I think, almost vulgarly, I needed a new pair of trousers." Allan had been aiming to reach Poland, but soon after reaching Vienna he found he was out of money. At this time the Americans had not yet entered the war, so Allan decided to ask the American consulate for assistance. He was refused. Allan's stepmother, Lois Allan (founder of Fuzzy Felt toys in the UK), was a US citizen and he felt that they would provide sanctuary because of this. Allan had been on the run at this point for nine days. Broke, exhausted, and hungry, he fell asleep in a park. Upon waking he discovered he could no longer walk owing to his starvation. Soon afterwards he was picked up and returned to Colditz, where he spent the next three months in solitary confinement.
The bed sheet rope
On 12 May 1941, Polish Lieutenants Miki Surmanowicz and Mietek Chmiel, attempted to rappel down a 36 m (120 Ft) wall to freedom on a rope constructed out of bed sheets. In order to get into position, both men put themselves into solitary confinement. After forcing open the door and picking the locks, they made their way to the courtyard, where they climbed up to a narrow ledge. From the ledge they were able to cross to the guard house roof, and climb through an open window on the outer wall. Reusing their bed sheet rope, they lowered themselves towards the ground. They were caught when the German guards heard the hobnailed boots of one of the escapers scraping the outside of the guardhouse wall. The guard who spotted the escapers shouted 'Hände hoch!' (Hands up!) to the men as they were descending the rope.
The German lady
On 5 June 1941, while returning from the park to the castle, some British prisoners noticed that a passing lady had dropped her watch. One of the British called out to her, but the lady kept walking instead of retrieving her watch. This aroused the suspicion of the German guards and, upon inspection, "she" was revealed to be a French officer, Lieutenant Chasseurs Alpins Bouley, dressed as a very respectable woman.
The canteen tunnel Early in 1941, the British prisoners had gained access to the sewers and drains which ran beneath the floors of the castle. Entrance to these was from a manhole cover in the floor of the canteen. After initial reconnaissance trips, it was decided that the drain should be extended, and an exit made in a small grassy area which was overlooked from the canteen window. From here, they planned to climb down the hill, and drop down below the steep outside east wall of the castle. Knowing which sentry would be on duty on the night of the escape, they pooled their resources and collected 500 Reichsmark for a bribe (100 of which were paid up front). This plan took three months of preparation. On the evening of 29 May 1941, Pat Reid hid in the canteen when it was locked up for the night. He removed the bolt from the lock on the door and returned to the courtyard. After the evening meeting, the chosen escapees slipped into the canteen unnoticed. They entered the tunnel and waited for the signal to proceed. Unknown to the prisoners, they had been reported by the bribed guard. Waiting on the grassy area was Hauptmann Priem and his guard force.
Pat Reid recalls: