The Real Great Escape
21st November 2023
“Open up Harry – we dig round the clock!”
Fans of the 1963 war epic The Great Escape will recognise the phrase delivered by Richard Attenborough as the guards discover one of three tunnels (Tom, Dick and Harry) used in a daring escape plan.
Attenborough was playing Roger Bartlett – a fictionalised version of Roger Bushell, who masterminded a number of escapes from German prisoner of war camps in the Second World War. Among those was the escape from Stalag Luft III, on which The Great Escape was based.
Now, an original court document from the trial of Gestapo members who murdered the recaptured escapees from Stalag Luft III has emerged at auction in Salisbury.
“Of the 80 prisoners who managed to escape from Stalag Luft III, all but three were recaptured,” explained Militaria specialist, Ned Cowell at Woolley and Wallis. “Fifty of those were shot on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler, and it was for those murders that the war crimes trials took place.”
The 1947 document is from the first trial concerning Stalag Luft III and lists the eighteen accused and their respective lawyers. Pencilled next to each name is a short code denoting whether each was hanged, given life imprisonment, or sentenced to a shorter term. Fourteen were given death sentences, although Heinrich Boschert’s sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. The hangings were carried out by the renowned British executioner, Albert Pierrepoint, in February 1948.
“The story of the escape from Stalag Luft III has endured for decades, and the events of 1944 had a real impact on British anti-German feeling as the war drew to a close,” continued Cowell. “This document is a tangible and fascinating reminder that the escape was far more than a great story – a huge number of lives were impacted by the murder of 50 RAF officers. Of course, of the four high commanders who gave orders for the massacre, three of them committed suicide before they could come to justice. The most senior officer at the 1947 trial, the police chief Max Wielen, had his life sentence reduced to 15 years and served only half of that.”
The single page document features as part of the Medals & Coins, Arms & Armour and Militaria auction at Woolley and Wallis on 28th November. It carries a pre-sale estimate of £300-500.
