Stalag Luft III was the same camp where the "Great Escape" took place, where more than 70 prisoners made a bid for freedom by digging a series of elaborate tunnels underneath the camp, nicknamed Tom, Dick and Harry. The vault was placed on the same spot each day, and other prisoners performed gymnastics exercises directly above the excavation site, in full view of the unsuspecting guards.
The ingenious plan involved concealing a prisoner inside a wooden vaulting horse, who would then dig a tunnel underneath the structure towards a perimeter fence. The curators have also recreated a version of the famous "wooden horse" escape tunnel, which helped three British POWs break free from the Stalag Luft III camp in 1943. The museum has collected a selection of personal stories from veterans from Northern Ireland, describing their experiences in prison camps in Germany and the Far East.Īlso on display is a large-scale model of the notorious Colditz Castle, the place where troublesome Allied officers who had escaped from other prisons were held.
Guards on duty at Colditz Castle, where many former escapees were held prisonerįeaturing stories of great escapes and survival against the odds, a new exhibition dedicated to servicemen who were taken prisoner during the two world wars opens on Monday at the Somme Heritage Centre in Newtownards.
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