Broadcast: 29/05/2012Reporter: Eric Campbell Poland, Czech Republic - The Real Great Escape - Foreign Correspondent - ABC We’re big fans of Hollywood legend Steve McQueen, we know the motorcycle scene in The Great Escape is one of the most memorable screen moments ever and we know the film is a much loved classic that celebrates the triumph of human ingenuity and spirit over the malevolence and brutality of Hitler’s war machine. We also know that it’s based - as they say in Hollywood – on a true story. The Great Escape is a great film. It’s also wrong. Foreign Correspondent reveals the extraordinary Real Great Escape and true story of John ‘Willy’ Williams and Reg ‘Rusty’ Kierath two Sydney schoolboys together on the sporting field, the cadet ground and through an incredible confluence of circumstances together – years later – together in the infamous German POW camp Stalag Luft 111. The Germans believed it was escape proof. The prisoners - some of the Allies’ smartest and ingenious officers – knew better. The story of how Willy and Rusty found themselves central to one of the most amazing escape stories in history, how a German surfer at Manly suspected of harbouring Nazi sympathies propelled the story, how the tunnel plan came together and what really happened to the escapees is as absorbing and compelling as any Hollywood blockbuster. With the help of Willy’s niece - journalist Louise Williams – and Rusty’s nephew John Kierath, reporter Eric Campbell heads off on a journey to unearth the truth of the breakout. “I thought it would never happen. Because I grew up with the story of my uncle and it really affected the family, so you kind of grow up in this legend, the Great Escape, the film and it’s not really real until you go back and find what really happened.” LOUISE WILLIAMS There’s not a dry eye in the house as Louise and John, meet up with the relatives of other Great Escapees, visit the ruins of the old Stalag, stumble around in the snow to see what confronted the escapees and in a series of moving moments reconcile themselves to the fate of their heroic uncles. “It’s an inspirational story of people fighting against tyranny, refusing to give in to that tyranny and I think it has as much resonance today as it ever did.” PETER DEVITT - RAF MUSEUM LONDON Poland, Czech Republic - The Real Great Escape - Foreign Correspondent - ABC
I hope I'm not stealing a thread - but I didn't think it worth starting a new one on the same topic (more or less......) One of the questions on an episode of Jeopardy! that I watched recently was - "THE MOVIES - Lt. Col. A.P. Clark played a key role in the elaborate breakout from Stalag Luft III that inspired this 1963 movie" This intrigued me, as I presumed that LtCol Clark was an American - a Google search shows that he wrote a book and from the reviews it is starting to appear that a couple of stories have been conflated into the above question. Is there any known link between this particular officer and the planning / organisation of the Great Escape?? ********************************************************* 33 Months As A POW In Stalag Luft III: A WWII Airman Tells His Story Publication Date: April 21, 2005 Book Description An American World War II prisoner tells his story of the Great Escape Many fascinating stories of the Great Escape have been told since the end of World War II. Not until now has the story of Lieutenant Colonel A. P. Clark, the first combat personnel captured in U.S. uniform by the Germans, been told. In his 33 months in the infamous prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III, Lieutenant Clark was involved in and responsible for directing escape work among American prisoners. His tale of courage and perseverance is accentuated by the stark photographs he took from the inside with a pinhole camera. Includes previously unpublished photographs collected from the Special Collections Branch of the Air Force Academy Library of the German POW camp known as Stalag Luft III in Zagan, Poland • General A. P. Clark served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, and as a U.S. Air Force officer in France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Okinawa and finally served as superintendent of the Air Force Academy before retiring in July of 1974 in the grade of Lieutenant General after 38 years of service About the Author Albert P. Clark, Lieutenant General, USAF (Ret.), graduated from West Point United States Military Academy in 1936 and went on to a distinguished military career. He was second in command of the first American fighter unit in the European Theater of Operations during World War II and was later shot down over France and held in a German camp. ********************************************************* Snippets from one of the reviews: For readers knowledgeable about the Great Escape, most of the content of this book is familiar. A unique feature of this book, apart from the undercover photos taken within the camp and during the evacuation on the heels of the Red Army, is the Christmas card sent by Glemnitz to Clark in 1980 (p. 106). Clark also sheds light on the surveying error that led to tunnel Harry coming up short of the treeline. Buildings had stood in the way, making accurate triangulation impossible (73). He also discusses his experiences in the construction of fly-proof latrines, and how he put this practical skill to use in order to solve the insect-latrine problems at Stalag Luft III--to the approval of the Germans (pp. 47-48). Clark was not directly involved in the Great Escape, as he was in a different compound at the time. But he heard the 5 AM shot that ended the escape. His version of events differs from those of others. He speaks of 50-60 men being forced to crawl back in the tunnel Harry (p. 116). The other works on the Great Escape all describe the use of trolleys to ferry men and equipment through the tunnel, with no more than several men being in the tunnel at any one time. Furthermore, at the time of the Germans' discovery of the tunnel, it was already first dawn, and, for this reason, no more than several additional men were then scheduled to escape out of the tunnel anyway. It would have been 83 total instead of the 76.
