Gareth Corfield
Sun, 18 February 2024
The replica consists of 6ft sections made from pine and was assembled by a team of around 30 volunteers - Charlotte Graham
The upcoming 80th anniversary of the Great Escape has been marked with the unveiling of an 80ft replica tunnel at a former prisoner-of-war camp in Yorkshire.
The original Great Escape saw 76 British, US and Commonwealth prisoners of war carrying out a mass breakout from captivity at a camp in modern-day Poland.
It was the single-largest escape from a prison camp during the Second World War, passing into legend after being immortalised in a 1963 film starring Richard Attenborough and Steve McQueen.
The breakout on March 24 1944 has now been commemorated with a replica of the tunnel used during the escape. It was set up at Eden Camp, a former prisoner-of-war camp in Yorkshire, ahead of anniversary celebrations scheduled to take place in Poland at the site of the original Great Escape.
The escape plan was masterminded by South African RAF Sqd Ldr Roger Joyce Bushell but he was recaptured and later killed. His direct descendant Patrick Flint attended the camp to see the replica tunnel.
Mike Jackson, 60, the historical re-enactor behind the replica tunnel project, said: “It’s one foot for every year, which we thought was quite apt for the 80th anniversary.”
He added: “We decided to push the boat out and do something special.
“It was my suggestion… without actually realising how long 80ft was when I started!”
The team of historical re-enactors behind the replica tunnel project - Charlotte Graham
Around a thousand visitors saw the replica tunnel over the weekend, with children able to clamber inside a special section to enable them to experience how claustrophobic the original was.
The replica consists of 6ft sections made from pine and was assembled by a team of around 30 volunteers.
Summer O’Brien, the former PoW camp’s collections and engagement manager, said: “Eden Camp is incredibly honoured and excited to host such an interactive event, that not only brings history to life but helps to commemorate all those involved in the Great Escape.”
The Great Escape is synonymous with the struggle of the 170,000 British officers and soldiers taken prisoner during the Second World War.
Under the leadership of Sqd Ldr Bushell, 76 inmates of the Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp secretly dug a 344ft tunnel beneath its barbed-wire surrounds and made a break for freedom.
Two similar tunnels had to be abandoned, one because it was discovered by guards and the other because its planned exit point was left exposed after the Germans cleared the area to expand the camp.
Just three of those who broke out of Stalag Luft III made it back to the UK. The remaining 73 were all recaptured. Of those, 50 were shot by the Gestapo, Nazi Germany’s notorious paramilitary police force, on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler.
“What people need to realise is that the story of the Great Escape is far darker than the film makes out,” historian Guy Walters said last year. “At its heart, it’s a story of recklessness and murder.”
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