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1] The Great Escape
The March 1944 mass escape from Stalag Luft 3 was vividly described in Paul Brickhill's 1950 book, which served as the basis for the 1963 movie of the same name. The legendary Steve McQueen was among several actors, including James Garner, who helped make the film a huge success. The true story was just as thrilling and suspenseful as all great escape tales. Seventy-six men managed to escape. Of these, 73 were recaptured, and unfortunately, fifty were shot by the Gestapo.
2] The Wooden Horse Escape
The “Wooden Horse Escape” also happened at Stalag Luft III. The main figures were three British Royal Air Force members: Oliver Philpot, Michael Codner, and Eric Williams. I love the movie based on this story and clearly remember how the escapees built a vaulting horse and moved it to the same spot every day, conveniently near the camp’s perimeter. Two men hid inside the horse and dug a tunnel while others vaulted over it. After three months, they had tunneled about thirty feet. The three RAF men used the tunnel on October 29, 1943, and managed to return to Britain.
3] Airey Neave
Airey Neave was a corporal when he succeeded in escaping on his second attempt from Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, the prison reserved for repeat escape artists. On his first try, his disguise was too poor and he was caught, but a much-improved outfit allowed him to escape from Colditz, and eventually he made it to Switzerland, becoming the first British POW to achieve what the Germans had declared impossible. His life afterward was perhaps even more extraordinary – Neave fittingly worked for MI9, the British organization that helped Allied POWs escape. He also served at the Nuremberg trials before a distinguished career as a Member of Parliament. Tragically, he was killed by an Irish terrorist group’s car bomb in 1979.
4] Alastair Cram
Escaping even one camp was a significant achievement. Lieutenant Alastair Lorimer Cram, an extraordinary Scotsman, dubbed the “Harry Houdini” of WWII, escaped not just once but an incredible 21 times. He managed to escape over and over, but was recaptured. Taken prisoner in North Africa in 1941, he ultimately succeeded just a month before the end of the war in April 1945.
5] Heinrich Harrer
I love mountaineering, although I am too afraid to actually attempt it. Heinrich Harrer, a fascinating Austrian, was part of a four-man team that achieved one of the most dangerous feats in mountaineering – climbing the North Face of the Eiger in July 1938. Harrer, briefly a sergeant in the SS, which was regarded as a criminal organization after the war, along with his fellow climbers, planted a Nazi flag at the mountain's summit. Hitler personally congratulated them after their newsworthy climb. Scaling the north face of the Eiger was considered the “last problem” of the Alps, the ultimate challenge. Perhaps an even greater challenge was escaping British imprisonment after he was captured in the Indian Himalayas following the outbreak of war. He escaped to Tibet, where he stayed until 1951. His classic book, “Seven Years in Tibet,” was published in 1952 and was later made into a movie starring Brad Pitt.
6] Georg Gaertner
I found this story hard to believe, as it might be the most remarkable escape involving a German. Georg Gärtner was captured by the British and then held as a POW in the US, where he escaped in 1945. The US Army conducted a manhunt that lasted until 1963. Meanwhile, he lived under the assumed name Dennis F. Whiles. After forty years, he finally “surrendered” on the Today show to Bryant Gumbel. In 2009, he became a naturalized citizen.
7] Rudolf Vrba
I came across the story of Vrba while researching a book about Raoul Wallenberg and the Holocaust in Hungary. His escape may have been the most significant of WWII because of its impact. Vrba was deported in 1942 to Auschwitz. He escaped in April 1944, at the height of the mass murder, the most efficient in history, when thousands were gassed every day. Some have argued that his detailed report on what was happening in the camp may have saved countless lives, leading to the end of mass deportation from Hungary to the camp. This may be true, but his account, “I Escaped from Auschwitz,” is without doubt among the most harrowing and noteworthy stories of surviving and recording Nazi genocide.
8] Jack Hawkins
Hawkins was one of the toughest U.S. Marine Corps officers you could find—that’s saying a lot. He fought in the Philippines, was captured after the Battle of Corregidor, and was held in brutal prison camps on Luzon and Mindanao. He and nine other prisoners escaped with help from two Filipinos, surviving swamps and harsh jungle conditions. It was the only successful mass escape from a Japanese POW camp during the war. Hawkins then fought with a guerrilla group for seven months, leading raids against the Japanese, before being taken to Australia by submarine in November 1943. He received the Distinguished Service Cross. After the war, under the alias John Haskins, he worked for the CIA, training Cuban exiles, and notably commanded forces during the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961.
9] John Katsaros
In 2015, I was fortunate enough to sit down with John for several hours. He was a remarkable, inspiring man with a thick Massachusetts accent. He served as a waist gunner on a B-17 that was shot down over France during WWII. What followed was the most incredible escape story I’ve ever heard in person. Over three months, he traveled 3,000 miles through enemy-occupied territory, escaped Gestapo custody, and collected vital intelligence before crossing the Pyrenees into Spain and finally returning to England. Such a return after going down over enemy territory was called a “Home Run,” and very few people managed it. He came back to the US on President Roosevelt’s personal plane and remained a symbol of joy, service, and honor until the day he died at age 97 in 2021.
10] La Grande Evasion
The French had their own version of The Great Escape, of course. Not only did they match the daring of “The Great Escape” with their “Grande Evasion,” but they also captured it on film. French officers at Oflag XVII-A in Austria built a camera from smuggled parts. They then filmed themselves digging a 270-foot tunnel – an impressive feat — and on September 17-18, 126 officers escaped. Only two made it to safety, but Mon Dieu, what nerve and style, not to mention esprit de corps. Zut alors!
