The Greatest Escape in History

this is stala glft 3 constructed over the course of 2 years between 1942 and 1944 in the dense forests of Sagan 145 km southeast of Berlin it became one of the largest prisoner of war camps of its kind in Europe designed specifically for the officers of Allied air Crews shot down over access occupied territories this sprawling high security complex which comprised five separate compounds would house between 10 to 12,000 prisoners at its peak but what it's really famous for is not what you see above ground but what you're not seeing below it the secret Subterranean tunnel that facilitated the greatest Escape in history but before we get into the story behind it I'd like to thank this video's sponsor call of War Call of war is a free online PVP strategy game set in World War II that allows you to lead a country to Triumph or ruin depending on your skill or lack thereof from there you can build up your economy produce units and invade or befriend other countries each game which can see up 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Ed a well stocked Library a swimming pool a sports field and a makeshift Theater which occasionally hosted movies and live music the fact that the camp was operated by the luffer the German air force meant that there was also a degree of respect and camrad between captors and captives of course such positives did little to dissuade prisoners from wanting to escape they could never know how long they'd remain captive how long the war would drag on or what the outcome would be to sit idly by and accept their imprisonment would be like consigning themselves to a limbo of uncertainty where they had no autonomy and no purpose so they would make escaping their purpose not only did it give them something to occupy themselves and allow them to defy their captors but it aligned with their sense of Duty to the Allied war effort any escape attempt that forced the Germans to allocate more manpower and equipment to prevent a prison break or conduct a Manhunt Drw vital resources away from the axis front lines and damaged their war machine there was just one problem the prison was said to be escape prooof the compound was surrounded by a set of fences spaced 1. 5 M apart their tops bristling with barbed wire between them lay even more even getting to the fences was difficult if someone stepped over nearby warning wire while approaching them they'd be shot on S side if by some miracle you were able to climb over or cut through them without disemboweling yourself you'd have to cross another 30 or so met of no man's land before you reached the sanctuary of the tree line this was all the while hoping that the guards stationed in the Camp's Towers went spontaneously blind and became hard of hearing because if you were spotted there was nothing to Shield you from the machine gun fire okay so brute forcing an escape over the fence wouldn't work fine just dig a tunnel the Germans supposedly had that covered too every Hut was built a few inches off the ground to make it harder for inmates to hide their digging beneath the buildings in addition the compound had been built on a Sandy silt likee soil that was EXT extremely difficult to Tunnel through without causing a collapse finally sensitive microphones were placed underground all around the perimeter of the camp to detect the sound of tunneling so how did they do it how did the prisoners of stagl 3 build not just any tunnel but a tunnel that could bypass all of the security precautions for this massive undertaking the prisoners of the north compound established one of the most sophisticated and organized Escape industrial complexes ever conceived over the course of more than a year between April of 1943 and March of 1944 a group of around 600 American British and other European prisoners would furnish materials for and construct three separate tunnels beneath the compound hoping that if the Germans found one or two they would not think to look for a third to avoid detection in the first place these tunnels would be disguised with inconspicuous pieces of furniture the main tunnel we'll be focusing on nicknamed Harry was hidden under a metal cooking stove that had been placed over a wooden trap door each tunnel would be built roughly 7. 6 M underground as to avoid microphones picking up the sound of digging to prevent any tunnel collapses at this depth they would need to be reinforced with support beams which of course was a bit of a problem it was nearly impossible to smuggle materials into the camp especially not on the scale required for Tunnel construction the solution to this was to get the Germans to unwittingly provide prisoners with the very materials needed for their escape items such as bed boards chairs tables and benches would mysteriously disappear or be reported as defective the Germans were encouraged by neutral third- party inspectors such as the the Red Cross and the Swiss to provide a minimum standard of living for inmates so they would often replace these items when they went missing providing a steady stream of construction Goods naturally the heavy rate of turnover for certain items was a point of confusion for the styler glft Administration the Camp's Commander Colonel Fred V Linder noted that quote the material required by the camp amounts to five times the amount M which would be used for German troops using the same accommodation of course the occupants of vermar facilities weren't fashioning their bed boards into support columns and stealing screws from light fittings to AIX table legs to make shift rails that's right rails to speed up the digging process the inmates would construct a rail and cart system that stretched along the entirety of the tunnel shuttling tools materials and people towards one end and sand back to the other that was another problem though the sand digging a tunnel required displacing a lot of it and it couldn't Simply Be piled up outside of one of the Huts because that would immediately arouse suspicion to make it worse the sand below ground was yellow and the sand above was gray to address this more than a 100 men known as Penguins would store sand in bags in another their coats and covertly release it in the Camp's Courtyard kicking it as they did so to blend it with a gray top soil in the process they looked a bit like penguins to further ensure the project wouldn't be discovered the inmates employed a constantly rotating roster of Watchmen that would alert the tunnelers to approaching guards allowing them to cover up tunnels before any inspection this was just as well since the the camp employed specialist anti-escape Personnel known as ferrets whose sole purpose was to sniff out any tunnels and spy on the prisoners they were only ever one misstep away from Discovery and utter failure to punctuate that point one of the three tunnels being worked on by the name of Tom was discovered by ferrets amidst height and vigilance in September of 1943 unfortunately f in this discovery the American prisoners in the northern compound were relocated as it was deemed that the Brits and the Yanks were getting along far too well with each other after this incident a decision was made to focus all efforts on to Tunnel Harry so that it might be ready for an escape attempt when the weather improved in the New Year in the meantime a Detachment of the involved inmates busied themselves with the creation of Escape kits containing every anything a prisoner would need once outside the compound this included civilian clothes compasses forged identity papers and Maps the materials required for the creation of these items were often procured by bartering with some of the more sympathetic Camp Personnel who might be convinced to part ways with some pens papers magnets cloth and cash in exchange for some chocolate and coffee after months of careful preparation the tunnel which had grown to a length of 111 M was deemed ready the prisoners of Styler glof 3's Northern compound would carry out their escape on the night of the 24th of March 1944 around 200 prisoners were set to make the attempt but only those determined to have the best chance of remaining undetected would go first 30 men fluent in German would be given what little money had been accumulated as well as a head start to try and make it to the nearby Sagan train station before the last train left the night most of the remaining prisoners would have to travel by foot each individual had separate travel plans but most hoped to reach Allied territory via neutral countries the mood in the compound was tense the movement of each guard was being tracked and relayed to the Escape committee and each man made his preparations for the long road ahead at roughly 8:45 that evening a number of prisoners took up positions at various points inside the tunnel lying in crammed conditions they would pull escapes up along the rails at around 9:30 one of the men began removing the boards obscuring the entrance to the Escape shaft at the end of the tunnel but they were water logged and jammed it took until 10:15 to finally wrench them loose this was a significant delay night fell around 9:00 p.

m. and the sun came up at 5:30 in the morning they had just wasted 45 minutes of Darkness just trying to get the exit open to make matters worse the escape hatch which had been planned to come out within the tree line was actually a few meters into no man's land despite this setback the inmates resolved to continue with their escape anyway they just have to be more careful to avoid the German sentries that regularly patrolled the perimeter of the compound with this in mind they placed a Watchman at the edge of the tree line hidden in a spying Nest set up by the Germans to surveil the camp from a distance this person would periodically tug a rope that led into the exit hatch to signal and all clear from 10:30 onwards a steady stream of men made their way through the tunnel slipping out into the darkness of the night between the gaps and the patrols over the course of the next 6 hours 76 men escaped stagl 3 but at 4:55 a. m.