Made a bicycle tour through eastern Germany last summer and visited Colditz: tada duuuh ... tadadaah … tadaduh .. ta .. dadadaah …
Some statistics: Of the 187 attempts to escape from the castle only 32 were successful (note that the Belgians statistically were the most successful with a 100% score, followed by the French with 50%).
Thanks for posting.....remembering the gallant Mike Sinclair. Always intended to visit the place after the wall came down and it could be visited but missed the chance. Apparently the Colditz POWs led by Jack Best constructed a glider ready to launch from the castle attic and clear the area but the war ending intervened from having to put the escape into practice. (The photograph of the dummy reminds me of the fictitious account of an escape film where a dummy was used...the dummy was referred to as "Albert RN".) However at Colditz there were two dummies,made up by Dutch officers "Max" and "Moritz" made from plaster,full size and in colour. "Max" and "Moritz" were used in the escape of two Dutch officers,Lieut Oscar L Drijber and Major Giebel who escaped on 21 September 1941 and made their way to Switzerland....an exciting journey which they had a number of anxious times on their way to freedom. There a very good account on the goings on at Colditz by the former Chief Security Officer,Hauptmann Reinhold Eggers in his publication,"Escape from Colditz 16 First Hand Accounts".Eggers wrote the account with the aid of previous inmates ...Dutch,Polish, French and British POWs. As he records some,naturally politely refused. The publication first appeared in English as "Colditz Recaptured" in 1973 . Eggers also penned "Colditz The German Story" "Max" and "Moritz" met their end in the park,where leisure activities were intended as a distraction from the Germans, on 12 December 1941.Two Dutch officers were planned to escape from hiding under leaves.A zealous counting officer,irritated by previous attempts to deceive him,recounted his prisoners with the utmost care and discovered the two dummies.
Hi, I believe the dummy rouse was actually used successfully from the naval camp Milag Nord. From memory (like all my posts as I'm at work!), it's recounted in Prisoners Progress by David James. Albert RN is a great film, deserves better recognition. Cracking pictures of Colditz above, I definitely need to schedule a visit at some stage.
Harry, Which one would you rate No. 1,2,3 of the various escapes from: Laufen, Colditz, Biberach, kirchain, Warburg, STALAG Luft III (2) ? Stefan.
Lieut. A. M. Sinclair, extract from "DETOUR - THE STORY OF OFLAG IVC" published 1946. I think it is a sign of the esteem in which he was held that the colour plate of him appears ahead of the books title page, before any acknowledgements, introduction, or other contents.
A good few years old now, more Colditz related. Interesting photo of Mike Sinclair within, and also other photos (one of which is Reinhold Eggers who was mentioned earlier in this thread). Hope this stuff is worthy of inclusion, and of interest.
Of course Corran Purdon could also give a good account of the happenings at St Nazaire in the Combined Operations raid on the Normandie Dock where he was captured. .He was in Colditz because he had previous record of escaping and being on the run for over a week. Maj Gen Corran Purdon obituary
For Harry Ree in particular, and of course all you other good folks who frequent WW2 Talk. The last days of The Cognoscenti, form the horses mouth (so to speak). Kind regards, always, Jim.
That's first class Jim. It gives a good insight to the experience of deemed important officer POWs at the death throes of the Third Reich.They were intended along with detained foreign politicians of note and leading anti Nazi German personalities of the aristocracy to be the Prominente,a body that Himmler had ready as a bargaining tool which he thought he could gain some advantage with his envisaged talks with the Allies.Himmler at this stage of the war, even with his background and role in a murderous organisation.he thought himself as a future statesman in postwar Germany.Apparently he wished to have an audience with Eisenhower where his agenda was to save European civilisation from the Bolsheviks by volunteering German forces. Berger was fortunate as one of Himmler's henchmen to die in his bed and not on the scaffold.He ran Rosenberg's department and published in 1941 on the invasion of Russia, an instructional pamphlet,The Subhuman which referred to Russian citizens as "the afterbirth of humanity existing spiritually on a lower level than animals" As others of his ilk,he believed in the peace of the graveyard.He was tried at Nuremberg for wartime murder of Jews in April 1949 and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment but with 7 years he was released.Strange that these "upper crust"SS individuals always thought themselves as gentlemen. Gottlob Berger - Wikipedia