70th Anniversity of Great Escape Remembered

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henryk
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70th Anniversity of Great Escape Remembered

#1

Post by henryk » 24 Mar 2014, 20:35

http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/1662 ... -in-Poland
70th anniversary of 'Great Escape' remembered in Poland
PR dla Zagranicy Peter Gentle 24.03.2014 16:46
Survivors, families, British and Polish officials gathered in Zagan, western Poland, 70 years after the mass escape Stalag Luft III in 1944, the story of which was told in the movie 'The Great Escape'.
Reenactment of "The Great Escape" on 70th anniversary in Zagan: photo - Lech Muszynski/PAP
Seventy six prisoners escaped from the prison camp in an area that up until 1945 was in Germany: 73 prisoners were later caught by the Nazis and 50 were shot. Attending Monday's ceremony from Great Britain were the Uk's ambassador to Poland Robin Barnett, RAF's Air Vice-Marshal Stuart Atha and former prisoner of war Charles Clarke.
On Sunday, a 'picnic', including reconstructions of the escape and capture, was put on in Zagan in honour of the men who constructed three tunnels - Tom, Dick and Harry - as part of their bid for freedom. (pg)

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Maxschnauzer
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Re: 70th Anniversity of Great Escape Remembered

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Post by Maxschnauzer » 26 Mar 2014, 11:06

Rees.jpg
Rees.jpg (25.89 KiB) Viewed 852 times
Here's a good first person account of "The Great Escape" by Wing Commander H.K. Rees: http://www.ateal.co.uk/greatescape/
Cheers,
Max


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henryk
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Re: 70th Anniversity of Great Escape Remembered

#3

Post by henryk » 26 Mar 2014, 20:40

http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/1663 ... uote]Sneak preview of Polish 'Great Escape' movie
PR dla Zagranicy Nick Hodge 26.03.2014 10:22
A screening of a new docudrama that picks up the story of cult American movie The Great Escape was held on Tuesday in Szczecin, northern Poland, on the 70th anniversary of the WWII breakout.
Screening of The Great Escape to the North at Szczecin's Kino Helios. Photo: PAP/Marcin Bieliecki
Director Andrzej Fader's film The Great Escape to the North will serve as a kind of epilogue to the earlier movie. Fader takes up the story of Norwegian RAF pilots Lieutenant Jens Muller and Sergeant Peter Bergsland, two of the 76 allied officers who escaped via tunnels from the infamous Nazi German POW camp in Sagan (today Zagan in Poland). The docudrama follows the pair's clandestine journey to the then German city of Stettin (Szczecin) and the ultimate bid for freedom over the Baltic to Sweden.
The producers have revealed that a “sensational plot” was discovered during the making of the film concerning a Pole and an Englishman who also made it to Szczecin. The story of Captain Harry 'Wings' Day and Flying Officer Pawel Tobolski has been woven into the docudrama.
Of the 76 inmates who escaped from the POW camp on 24 March 1944, 73 were captured and 50 were executed, including six Poles. Lieutenant Jens Muller and Sergeant Peter Bergsland were two of the lucky three that made it to safety.
The premiere of The Great Escape to the North is planned for November 2014. An exhibition about the making of the film is currently on show at Szczecin's Kino Helios, where Tuesday's screening took place. (nh)[/quote]

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Re: 70th Anniversity of Great Escape Remembered

#4

Post by Maxschnauzer » 27 Mar 2014, 04:43

henryk,
I was intrigued by your posts and found this short documentary clip about the making of the film, which you may have seen but others may find interesting.http://vimeo.com/76700192
Cheers,
Max

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Re: 70th Anniversity of Great Escape Remembered

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Post by henryk » 27 Mar 2014, 20:34

Thank you for the URL. As usual, the American movie "the Great Escape", overemphasized the American role. In the clip for the sequel, the Escape is defined as an RAF activity.
Here's the Canadian view:
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/content-91/wo ... ]Canadians and the Great Escape
The escape from the Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp - March 25, 1944.

If you were to go by Hollywood's account, you would never know Canadians played a prominent role in the construction of the tunnels and the escape itself. Wally Floody, a Canadian RCAF pilot and mining engineer, had a major role in the construction of the escape tunnels, while 9 Canadians escaped, 6 were murdered by the Gestapo. Of the 1,800 or so POWs in the compound, 600 were involved in the escape, 150 were Canadian.

Steve McQueen with Wally Floody, who acted as technical advisor on the film.

Wally Floody
Floody was a Royal Canadian Air Force Spitfire pilot from Chatham, Ontario. He was shot down over France on his maiden flight in October 1941 and was imprisoned at the POW camp Stalag Luft III.

Due to his experience, being a mining engineer, Floody was known as the "Tunnel King" and was responsible for designing and constructing the escape tunnels "Tom", "Dick" and "Harry".

Shortly before the escape, the Germans were aware something major was going to happen. They attempted to thwart any escape attempts by transferring 19 of their "top suspects" to other camps. Only 6 of those transfered were involved. One was Wally Floody, another was American-born RCAF tail gunner George Harsh, who was a member of the escape executive committee and was the camp security officer.

In 1946, Floody was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to the Great Escape.

Hank Birkland
Military Career and Capture
Birkland enlisted in the RCAF and began training in September 1940. He received his wings and commission on April 10, 1941 and was sent overseas soon after. While sweeping the French coast during a diversionary operation over Dunkirk, Birkland's spitfire passed directly over a flak tower and was hit. He managed to land the plane on the beach before passing out. He spent weeks in hospital before being sent to a camp near Barth where he meet and befriended Floody.

Luft Stalag III & Escape
Birkland assisted Floody in digging the tunnels. He was involved in the "delousing escape" on June 12, 1943, and was captured only a few miles from the camp.

During the escape he was a "marshall" - one appointed to guide escapees after they made it out of the tunnel. They would wait in the forest for their 10 men to arrive and guide them down a pre-determined path to a destination where everyone would split up. Without them, there would be mass confusion with escapees wondering aimlessly.

During the escape, one man nudged a wall and brought down three feet of tunnel. Bikland acted immediately, crawling down to pull the man free. Then, in the pitch black and with the threat of more cave-ins , repaired the tunnel in one hour.

Posing as French workers, Birkland and two others waded through hip-high snow, making slow progress. By the end of the 26th, Birkland was delirious and started talking to himself. The two others decided to take shelter at a nearby farmhouse... where four German soldiers were staying. The men were taken into custody and sent to a local police station. The German police officer at the station helped them by building a fire to make Birkland more comfortable. They used this time to dispose of their incriminating items (maps and compasses), and converted their clothing back to military uniforms.

Birland was shot in a clearing just outside of Gorlitz with nine others. The gestapo killers were Lux and Sharpwinkel. He was cremated at Liegnitz. [/quote]

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Re: 70th Anniversity of Great Escape Remembered

#6

Post by Maxschnauzer » 28 Mar 2014, 02:57

Interesting. It's really fascinating to see a single event portrayed from different points of view. Of course at the time, team effort was all that really mattered. I hope someone posts "The Sequel" on YouTube in the near future, even in Polish, though I don't speak the language.
Cheers,
Max

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Re: 70th Anniversity of Great Escape Remembered

#7

Post by PF » 01 Nov 2015, 18:54

The Great Escape Movie was a great movie but flawed....
*Both the French resisitance vs the German officers and the Germans vs the POWS use the same type of machine gun!
*Even If McQueen hadnt insisted on it, the Motercycle chase would probably have been written into the Script! McQueen played three parts-first as Hilts the Cooler King; than as the German motercyclist whom Hilts hijackes; than as a German motercylcist who "purses" of Hilts {Himself}! Note in real Life a POW being in possession of Stolen German ARmy property -would probably have been shot-but a anti-hero star as McQueen couldnt be killed off in this type of movie!
*JAmes Coburn doesnt have an Australian accent!
*While 70 POWS escaped,,only about 15 are seen getting out of the tunnel!
*Ironically both Hans Miesissner and Donald Pleasence had been POWS In World war II!
*VOn Luger the Kommandant is shown wearing the Blue Max; the real life commandant wore the Iron Cross
*Exactly where is this supposed to be? The Name on the train Station is "Neustadt"
Sagan Luft III Was in Poland--located in Żagań; while the only Neustadt in Poland is now Nowy Korczyn while neaither is close to one another!
There is a Neustadt an der Waldnaab (district) in Bavaria
The castle the two POWS fly by is supposed to be Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria
The distance form Neuschwanstein CAStle/Schwangau to Switzerland is 180 miles/289 KM

The trainer the 2 POWS escape in is a Bücker Bü 181
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCcker_B%C3%BC_181
although the other planes are US Texan A-6! according to wikipedia on Movie guns
If they were supposed to fly from Poland to Switzerland--they wouldnt have made IT!
Ibeleive at least one Shot Down US Pilot and one USSR POW did escape using luftwaffe planes-can anyone know better?

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