Stalag Luft III

Stalag Luft III (Stammlager Luft, or Permanent Camp for Airmen #3) was a German prisoner of war camp during World War II that housed captured air force personnel and was operated by the German Luftwaffe. It was located near Sagan, in modern-day Poland, 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Berlin. The site is best known because of two famous prisoner escapes that took place there. The first, in 1943, was recorded in the book and film The Wooden Horse. The second was in March 1944 and was later immortalized by the movie The Great Escape.

Related Topics:
German - Prisoner of war - World War II - Air force - Luftwaffe - Sagan - Poland - Berlin - The Wooden Horse - 1944 - The Great Escape

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The prison camp had a number of design features that made escape extremely difficult. Tunnelling, in particular, was discouraged by several facts. First, the barracks housing the prisoners were raised several inches off the ground to make it easier for guards to detect any tunnelling activity. Second, the camp itself had been constructed on land that had a very sandy subsoil. The sand was bright yellow, so it could easily be detected if anyone dumped it on the surface (which consisted of grey dust), or even just had some of it on their clothing. In addition, the loose, unconsolidated sand meant that the structural integrity of a tunnel would be very poor. A third defence against tunnelling was the placement of seismograph microphones around the perimeter of the camp, which were expected to detect any sounds of digging just below the surface.

Related Topics:
Tunnel - Barracks - Sand - Soil - Seismograph - Microphone

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Up until 1943, there had been as many as 30 tunnel attempts, but all failed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~