John Sturges · 1963 · survival
John Sturges's 1963 war film, based on a true escape. Allied airmen in the German POW camp Stalag Luft III dig three tunnels for a mass breakout of seventy-six men. Once out, they scatter across occupied Europe by train, bicycle, boat and stolen plane - some racing for neutral Switzerland or Spain, most hunted down - in one of the war's most daring and costly escapes.
- 1Stalag Luft III
The high-security German prison camp near Sagan where captured Allied airmen tunnel 'Tom, Dick and Harry' beneath the wire for a mass escape of seventy-six men into the night.
- 2The rail junction
Berlin and the rail network across which the escapees scatter in every direction - forging papers, riding trains, some making for the Swiss border, others for the coast.
- 3The Swiss border
The neutral frontier a lucky few reach to freedom - while most of the escapers are recaptured across the Reich, and fifty are murdered by the Gestapo in reprisal.