|
| “
|
Tunnel back in time: Revealed after 67
years,
the passage used in Great Escape
Only three made it back to Britain. Another 50 were executed by firing
squad on the orders of Adolf Hitler, who was furious after learning of
the breach of security.
In all, 90 boards from bunk beds, 62 tables, 34 chairs and 76 benches,
as well as thousands of items including knives, spoons, forks, towels
and blankets, were squirreled away by the Allied prisoners to aid the
escape plan under the noses of their captors.
Read
more:
It
rankles Brits that us Yanks get too much credit for winning their war,
so I love that the Daily Mail's
account includes this:
Although the movie might suggest
otherwise, no Americans were involved in the actual operation. Most
were British and the others were from countries including Canada,
Poland and Australia.
So, how do they explain Steve McQueen? Huh?
|
|
” |
thoR
|
Um... McQueen, that is, CAPTAIN Hilts had a baseball, not some wussy tennis ball.
ReplyDeleteThis tunnel, George, was not used until AFTER the three main tunnels from the Great Escape had been found. It was a follow on attempt after the executions. The "wooden horse" escape was the most successful; all three men made it back to Britain. One American Pilot, a trained Engineer, Did figure out a blind spot between the towers acquired French fatigues (French POWs were used as slaves by the Nazis and were a common sight omn the roads) about as a disguise and rolled up to the fence with an accomplice in broad daylight brushed off their clothes and walked away to freedom.
ReplyDeleteRAK
Nice timing, I watched it last week with my German-born wife and 7 year old son. He cried when he heard that 50 were killed.
ReplyDeleteFortunately my wife's family were not in the party and in fact mostly were refugees driven into Germany after the war by the Soviets.