1 00:00:01,918 --> 00:00:04,661 - A Nazi POW camp in the heart of the Third Reich. 2 00:00:04,746 --> 00:00:07,330 - Stalag Luft III was a specially designed camp 3 00:00:07,415 --> 00:00:08,757 to incarcerate those men 4 00:00:08,842 --> 00:00:11,668 who had undergone escape activities. 5 00:00:11,753 --> 00:00:12,836 [dramatic music] 6 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:14,763 - Crawling with spies. 7 00:00:14,848 --> 00:00:17,766 - A standard German tactic to deal with escapes 8 00:00:17,851 --> 00:00:22,021 and disturbances was to occasionally insert a mole. 9 00:00:22,105 --> 00:00:25,774 - One brave British officer organizes an audacious escape. 10 00:00:25,859 --> 00:00:28,769 - Bushell also hopes that a mass escape 11 00:00:28,862 --> 00:00:31,697 will divert resources away from the fighting on the front. 12 00:00:31,856 --> 00:00:33,115 ♪ ♪ 13 00:00:33,274 --> 00:00:34,858 - Can he and his men break 14 00:00:34,942 --> 00:00:37,286 Hitler's iron grip and tunnel to freedom? 15 00:00:37,445 --> 00:00:38,954 - The tunnel wasn't long enough. 16 00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:41,948 And they were right beneath one of the observation towers. 17 00:00:42,033 --> 00:00:44,701 - That wasn't the only problem of the night. 18 00:00:44,786 --> 00:00:46,211 - About 1:30 in the morning... 19 00:00:46,370 --> 00:00:48,622 ♪ ♪ 20 00:00:48,715 --> 00:00:50,174 They had a collapse. 21 00:00:53,294 --> 00:00:55,712 ♪ ♪ 22 00:00:55,805 --> 00:00:58,632 - Some of the greatest stories ever told 23 00:00:58,725 --> 00:01:00,884 start behind bars. 24 00:01:00,968 --> 00:01:02,311 ♪ ♪ 25 00:01:02,395 --> 00:01:04,471 Locked up in the most notorious prisons 26 00:01:04,564 --> 00:01:06,231 in the world, 27 00:01:06,390 --> 00:01:10,736 spied on by guards and fellow prisoners. 28 00:01:10,895 --> 00:01:14,239 It takes a devious mind to find a way out. 29 00:01:14,398 --> 00:01:16,158 ♪ ♪ 30 00:01:16,317 --> 00:01:18,994 It could lead you to freedom, 31 00:01:19,079 --> 00:01:20,746 or it could cost you your life. 32 00:01:20,905 --> 00:01:23,082 ♪ ♪ 33 00:01:23,241 --> 00:01:27,086 But wouldn't you try when you have nothing left to lose? 34 00:01:27,245 --> 00:01:34,009 ♪ ♪ 35 00:01:34,094 --> 00:01:37,003 [dark music] 36 00:01:37,088 --> 00:01:39,172 ♪ ♪ 37 00:01:39,265 --> 00:01:42,017 Stalag Luft III, 38 00:01:42,102 --> 00:01:47,180 a most notorious Nazi prison camp of World War II. 39 00:01:47,273 --> 00:01:48,682 It holds Allied airmen 40 00:01:48,766 --> 00:01:52,769 who have already tried to break out of other POW camps. 41 00:01:52,862 --> 00:01:55,948 This one is designed to be different. 42 00:01:56,032 --> 00:01:58,441 Escape-proof. 43 00:01:58,526 --> 00:01:59,701 ♪ ♪ 44 00:01:59,861 --> 00:02:01,954 The barracks are up on stilts, 45 00:02:02,113 --> 00:02:05,615 making it hard to hide a tunnel entrance. 46 00:02:05,708 --> 00:02:08,952 The dirt is soft like sand, 47 00:02:09,045 --> 00:02:12,131 so tunnels are highly unstable. 48 00:02:12,215 --> 00:02:15,208 And there's an array of seismograph microphones 49 00:02:15,293 --> 00:02:18,295 listening for the sounds of digging. 50 00:02:18,379 --> 00:02:19,471 ♪ ♪ 51 00:02:19,630 --> 00:02:22,632 If you try an above-ground escape route, 52 00:02:22,725 --> 00:02:25,468 there are two barbed wire fences, 53 00:02:25,562 --> 00:02:28,305 armed guards manning the watch towers 54 00:02:28,389 --> 00:02:31,808 24 hours a day. 55 00:02:31,901 --> 00:02:34,069 And even before you get to the fences, 56 00:02:34,154 --> 00:02:37,480 there is a warning trip wire. 57 00:02:37,574 --> 00:02:41,410 Anyone who attempts to cross this line 58 00:02:41,494 --> 00:02:43,328 will be shot on sight. 59 00:02:43,487 --> 00:02:45,497 ♪ ♪ 60 00:02:45,582 --> 00:02:48,917 But one man is determined to escape 61 00:02:49,002 --> 00:02:52,504 and bring hundreds of airmen with him. 62 00:02:52,663 --> 00:02:55,498 He envisions a prison break so massive, 63 00:02:55,592 --> 00:02:58,418 it could destabilize the German front 64 00:02:58,502 --> 00:03:02,005 and turn the tide of the war against the Nazis. 65 00:03:02,089 --> 00:03:04,507 This man is 33-year-old 66 00:03:04,601 --> 00:03:08,020 RAF squadron leader Roger Bushell. 67 00:03:08,179 --> 00:03:13,433 ♪ ♪ 68 00:03:13,526 --> 00:03:15,769 - Roger Bushell was South African by birth, 69 00:03:15,853 --> 00:03:17,529 from an English family. 70 00:03:17,688 --> 00:03:20,023 He joined the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, 71 00:03:20,107 --> 00:03:23,118 and he was a squadron leader when the war began. 72 00:03:23,277 --> 00:03:24,611 Amongst his first assignments 73 00:03:24,695 --> 00:03:28,865 was to lead a unit of his squadron over to France 74 00:03:28,958 --> 00:03:33,620 to shadow the evacuation of Dunkirk. 75 00:03:33,713 --> 00:03:37,624 And Bushell's air war ended almost before it began 76 00:03:37,717 --> 00:03:40,302 because he was shot down relatively early in the day 77 00:03:40,461 --> 00:03:42,879 on one of his first missions. 78 00:03:42,964 --> 00:03:45,390 - Bushell was captured by Nazi forces... 79 00:03:45,549 --> 00:03:47,392 ♪ ♪ 80 00:03:47,477 --> 00:03:51,063 But no POW camp is able to hold him. 81 00:03:51,222 --> 00:03:53,640 - Roger Bushell was one of the higher-ranking 82 00:03:53,733 --> 00:03:56,401 Air Force prisoners at the beginning, and that, 83 00:03:56,486 --> 00:04:00,313 coupled with his immensely strong personality, 84 00:04:00,406 --> 00:04:01,815 kind of propelled him 85 00:04:01,899 --> 00:04:04,743 to the front of the escape organizations. 86 00:04:04,827 --> 00:04:07,829 - As long as there are prisoners during the war, 87 00:04:07,914 --> 00:04:12,075 there are plans made by some of them to escape. 88 00:04:12,168 --> 00:04:14,744 Some of these dashes to freedom are organized 89 00:04:14,829 --> 00:04:18,915 by groups of soldiers, and some are solo attempts 90 00:04:19,008 --> 00:04:23,178 by prisoners desperate to break free. 91 00:04:23,263 --> 00:04:25,505 - He escaped a number of times, 92 00:04:25,598 --> 00:04:28,258 but the one that really got him into trouble, 93 00:04:28,342 --> 00:04:31,511 he and a colleague escaped from a train, 94 00:04:31,604 --> 00:04:34,106 and his colleague was Czech, and so their intention 95 00:04:34,190 --> 00:04:37,276 was to head towards Czechoslovakia. 96 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,862 - In Czechoslovakia, Bushell and his colleagues 97 00:04:41,022 --> 00:04:42,948 find shelter with a local family 98 00:04:43,032 --> 00:04:46,368 sympathetic to the Allies' cause. 99 00:04:46,452 --> 00:04:48,528 - The only thing that went wrong 100 00:04:48,612 --> 00:04:50,613 was they found themselves in Czechoslovakia 101 00:04:50,698 --> 00:04:54,951 at roughly the time the Reich commissar, Reinhard Heydrich, 102 00:04:55,036 --> 00:04:57,713 was assassinated, and the entire country 103 00:04:57,797 --> 00:05:01,633 went into a kind of police operation lockdown. 104 00:05:01,718 --> 00:05:04,553 Everyone who was remotely suspicious was swept up, 105 00:05:04,637 --> 00:05:06,629 including Roger Bushell. 106 00:05:06,723 --> 00:05:09,224 - Bushell and the other soldier are caught, 107 00:05:09,383 --> 00:05:10,559 and his link to the Czech family 108 00:05:10,718 --> 00:05:14,637 is eventually uncovered by anonymous sources. 109 00:05:14,731 --> 00:05:17,724 - And the family that sheltered these two airmen 110 00:05:17,808 --> 00:05:21,478 were executed down to the last person. 111 00:05:21,562 --> 00:05:22,654 Bushell learned this. 112 00:05:22,813 --> 00:05:25,991 He was, by all accounts, not only outraged, 113 00:05:26,150 --> 00:05:29,578 but almost broken. 114 00:05:29,737 --> 00:05:32,748 It sharpened his hatred of Nazis, 115 00:05:32,907 --> 00:05:35,167 which became almost pathological, 116 00:05:35,326 --> 00:05:38,503 and it made him almost obsessively determined 117 00:05:38,662 --> 00:05:41,748 to do whatever he could to undermine, disrupt, 118 00:05:41,832 --> 00:05:45,344 disturb the Nazi regime. 119 00:05:45,503 --> 00:05:47,429 - Bushell is taken to the one place 120 00:05:47,513 --> 00:05:51,174 that Nazis know can hold him: Stalag Luft III. 121 00:05:51,258 --> 00:05:54,186 [dramatic music] 122 00:05:54,345 --> 00:05:58,181 ♪ ♪ 123 00:05:58,265 --> 00:05:59,775 - Stalag Luft III was a brand-new camp, 124 00:05:59,859 --> 00:06:02,352 and what it was intending to do was bring in people who tried 125 00:06:02,445 --> 00:06:04,938 to escape from other camps from across Germany. 126 00:06:05,031 --> 00:06:09,109 - It's considered escape-proof by the Nazi regime, 127 00:06:09,193 --> 00:06:11,444 but that doesn't scare Bushell. 128 00:06:11,529 --> 00:06:13,530 As soon as he arrives, 129 00:06:13,623 --> 00:06:16,124 Bushell is already thinking about escaping. 130 00:06:16,283 --> 00:06:19,536 - He is very quickly made the leader 131 00:06:19,620 --> 00:06:22,205 of the camp's escape committee, 132 00:06:22,298 --> 00:06:24,466 known as the X Organization. 133 00:06:24,550 --> 00:06:28,553 He becomes the Big X of the committee. 134 00:06:28,638 --> 00:06:31,881 - Roger was Big X, and I think that was a title 135 00:06:31,966 --> 00:06:36,136 he wore quite proudly and that was never challenged. 136 00:06:36,229 --> 00:06:39,973 - Bushell is clearly the mastermind of the escape, 137 00:06:40,057 --> 00:06:42,559 but he doesn't act alone. 138 00:06:42,643 --> 00:06:43,985 ♪ ♪ 139 00:06:44,145 --> 00:06:46,062 Jerzy Mondschein 140 00:06:46,147 --> 00:06:47,906 is the engineer. 141 00:06:48,065 --> 00:06:50,316 Tim Walenn 142 00:06:50,401 --> 00:06:53,153 is the document forger. 143 00:06:53,246 --> 00:06:57,991 Only a few other men know the full scope of the plan. 144 00:06:58,075 --> 00:07:01,244 Bushell is in command of the escape committee, 145 00:07:01,328 --> 00:07:05,415 but now he needs an actual escape plan. 146 00:07:05,499 --> 00:07:08,009 - Tunnelling is the most conventional, 147 00:07:08,169 --> 00:07:10,253 and therefore the most expected, 148 00:07:10,337 --> 00:07:11,596 means of escape. 149 00:07:11,755 --> 00:07:13,181 The Germans are actively looking 150 00:07:13,266 --> 00:07:14,433 for tunnels in the camp. 151 00:07:14,592 --> 00:07:17,427 And there are dozens of attempts to tunnel out. 152 00:07:17,511 --> 00:07:19,262 Bushell and the other men know this, 153 00:07:19,346 --> 00:07:21,523 so he comes up with an audacious plan 154 00:07:21,607 --> 00:07:26,436 to simultaneously construct not one, not two, 155 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,856 but three tunnels, the idea here being that 156 00:07:29,949 --> 00:07:33,368 if the Germans were to discover one tunnel and destroy it, 157 00:07:33,453 --> 00:07:36,946 it was highly unlikely that they would ever assume 158 00:07:37,031 --> 00:07:41,117 that one or two other tunnels of the same magnitude 159 00:07:41,210 --> 00:07:44,537 were being constructed at the same time. 160 00:07:44,622 --> 00:07:46,206 - The Nazis have a special team 161 00:07:46,290 --> 00:07:49,384 in charge of discovering escape attempts, 162 00:07:49,543 --> 00:07:52,804 elite soldiers nicknamed Ferrets. 163 00:07:52,963 --> 00:07:55,223 - The Ferrets have been brought in specifically 164 00:07:55,382 --> 00:07:57,476 by the Luftwaffe as part of their plan 165 00:07:57,635 --> 00:08:00,220 to make a kind of escape-proof camp, 166 00:08:00,304 --> 00:08:02,805 specially trained guards who had experience 167 00:08:02,890 --> 00:08:04,983 with prisoners in the past. 168 00:08:05,067 --> 00:08:08,153 And the Ferrets were tremendously effective. 169 00:08:08,312 --> 00:08:10,980 They were worthy adversaries for the prisoners. 170 00:08:11,065 --> 00:08:12,657 And I think both sides 171 00:08:12,816 --> 00:08:14,743 maybe not enjoyed this battle of wills, 172 00:08:14,902 --> 00:08:18,663 but they certainly entered into it with great spirit. 173 00:08:18,748 --> 00:08:20,248 - One of the things that Roger Bushell 174 00:08:20,333 --> 00:08:22,325 and his mates worked out 175 00:08:22,418 --> 00:08:26,755 was how important it was to have absolute secrecy. 176 00:08:26,914 --> 00:08:28,414 - The tunnels were code-named 177 00:08:28,499 --> 00:08:29,832 Tom, Dick, and Harry. 178 00:08:29,917 --> 00:08:32,594 - Tom, Dick, and Harry. 179 00:08:32,753 --> 00:08:35,255 You have to love British humor. 180 00:08:35,348 --> 00:08:38,007 - They wanted to make sure that the prisoners didn't go, 181 00:08:38,092 --> 00:08:39,676 "How's the tunnel going?" 182 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:41,594 They might say, you know, "How's Dick today?" 183 00:08:41,687 --> 00:08:42,595 "How's Tom today?" 184 00:08:42,680 --> 00:08:44,597 "How's Harry today?" 185 00:08:44,682 --> 00:08:47,025 - The guards aren't the only ones meant to be fooled 186 00:08:47,184 --> 00:08:49,361 by the code names. 187 00:08:49,445 --> 00:08:52,522 - A standard German tactic to deal with escapes 188 00:08:52,606 --> 00:08:54,857 and disturbances was to occasionally insert 189 00:08:54,942 --> 00:08:57,035 in a prison camp a mole. 190 00:08:57,194 --> 00:08:58,537 This was someone who would come in 191 00:08:58,696 --> 00:09:00,863 with a transport of prisoners, who looked like a prisoner, 192 00:09:00,957 --> 00:09:02,949 talked like a prisoner, seemed to be a prisoner, 193 00:09:03,042 --> 00:09:06,378 but was working for the enemy. 194 00:09:06,537 --> 00:09:09,297 And the POWs knew this was likely to happen. 195 00:09:09,456 --> 00:09:11,967 And so it became standard practice 196 00:09:12,126 --> 00:09:15,712 that whenever a new transport of prisoners came in, 197 00:09:15,796 --> 00:09:17,046 every single one of them had to be vouched for 198 00:09:17,131 --> 00:09:18,631 by someone already in the camp. 199 00:09:18,716 --> 00:09:21,634 Whether someone who had been on the same squadron as them 200 00:09:21,727 --> 00:09:25,138 or went to the same school or were from the same town. 201 00:09:25,231 --> 00:09:27,557 If they couldn't find that person, they would say, 202 00:09:27,641 --> 00:09:29,726 "Where you from?" "Oh, I'm from Brighton." 203 00:09:29,810 --> 00:09:31,894 So half an hour later, another prisoner 204 00:09:31,988 --> 00:09:32,821 who they knew were from Brighton 205 00:09:32,980 --> 00:09:34,397 would just sort of turn up 206 00:09:34,490 --> 00:09:37,158 and ask a bunch of questions about what Brighton was like. 207 00:09:37,243 --> 00:09:39,327 "Where were the good pubs? What were the good streets? 208 00:09:39,486 --> 00:09:40,495 Where were the good bars?" 209 00:09:40,654 --> 00:09:42,822 And would know in a matter of minutes 210 00:09:42,915 --> 00:09:44,416 whether the supposed airman 211 00:09:44,575 --> 00:09:45,834 was actually from Brighton or not. 212 00:09:45,993 --> 00:09:47,744 If it was clear that this individual 213 00:09:47,837 --> 00:09:49,912 was not who he claimed to be, 214 00:09:49,997 --> 00:09:51,497 typically, the response of the prisoners 215 00:09:51,591 --> 00:09:53,758 was to let the Germans know, 216 00:09:53,843 --> 00:09:55,668 "We have this fellow. We know he's not one of us. 217 00:09:55,753 --> 00:09:56,845 "He's one of you. 218 00:09:57,004 --> 00:09:59,598 "Remove him by 6:00 219 00:09:59,682 --> 00:10:02,175 or we won't be responsible for his well-being." 220 00:10:02,259 --> 00:10:03,935 And that always worked. 221 00:10:04,094 --> 00:10:05,345 ♪ ♪ 222 00:10:05,438 --> 00:10:08,106 - Weeding out moles is a big part of the plan 223 00:10:08,265 --> 00:10:10,191 because of the sheer number of prisoners 224 00:10:10,351 --> 00:10:13,028 involved in the escape attempt. 225 00:10:13,112 --> 00:10:15,363 - The other audacious part of Bushell's plan 226 00:10:15,522 --> 00:10:17,273 is the sheer number of soldiers 227 00:10:17,366 --> 00:10:20,285 that he plans to evacuate from the camp. 228 00:10:20,369 --> 00:10:24,122 Most prison breaks involve a dozen men. 229 00:10:24,281 --> 00:10:30,203 He proposes to free upwards of 200 POWs. 230 00:10:30,287 --> 00:10:32,297 - The plan was 200 men to escape, 231 00:10:32,381 --> 00:10:35,792 but 600 men to actually enable them to escape. 232 00:10:35,876 --> 00:10:37,218 - The hope, of course, 233 00:10:37,303 --> 00:10:39,212 is to free as many people as possible, 234 00:10:39,296 --> 00:10:43,299 but Bushell also hopes that a mass escape 235 00:10:43,384 --> 00:10:46,886 will force the Germans to begin an extensive manhunt 236 00:10:46,970 --> 00:10:48,805 that will divert resources 237 00:10:48,898 --> 00:10:50,723 away from the fighting on the front 238 00:10:50,808 --> 00:10:53,068 and towards the recapture of dozens, 239 00:10:53,227 --> 00:10:55,144 or even hundreds, of prisoners. 240 00:10:55,229 --> 00:10:57,322 ♪ ♪ 241 00:10:57,481 --> 00:11:00,158 - Roger Bushell believed that an escape of 200, 242 00:11:00,242 --> 00:11:04,153 250 airmen would create such chaos in Germany, 243 00:11:04,246 --> 00:11:06,748 such chaos within the Nazi regime, 244 00:11:06,832 --> 00:11:08,917 that it would have incalculable damage 245 00:11:09,076 --> 00:11:11,670 on the German leadership. 246 00:11:11,829 --> 00:11:13,922 - But Bushell knows 247 00:11:14,081 --> 00:11:16,165 that persuading more than 200 airmen 248 00:11:16,258 --> 00:11:19,260 to risk death by attempting an escape 249 00:11:19,345 --> 00:11:21,429 is a tall order. 250 00:11:21,514 --> 00:11:24,090 So he gathers them inside this hut 251 00:11:24,174 --> 00:11:27,510 and makes the speech of his life. 252 00:11:27,594 --> 00:11:30,689 "Everyone here in this room is living on borrowed time," 253 00:11:30,848 --> 00:11:32,524 he says. 254 00:11:32,608 --> 00:11:35,768 "By rights, we should all be dead. 255 00:11:35,853 --> 00:11:39,364 "The only reason God allowed us this extra ration of life 256 00:11:39,523 --> 00:11:42,942 "is so we can make life hell for the Hun. 257 00:11:43,035 --> 00:11:47,613 "Three bloody deep, bloody long tunnels will be dug. 258 00:11:47,707 --> 00:11:51,617 "Tom, Dick, and Harry. 259 00:11:51,711 --> 00:11:53,536 One will succeed." 260 00:11:53,620 --> 00:11:57,882 ♪ ♪ 261 00:12:02,296 --> 00:12:05,214 [dramatic music] 262 00:12:05,299 --> 00:12:06,382 ♪ ♪ 263 00:12:06,467 --> 00:12:09,394 - Digging your way out of Stalag Luft III 264 00:12:09,478 --> 00:12:12,472 is almost impossibly hard. 265 00:12:12,565 --> 00:12:16,392 First, any tunnel needs to be more than 300 feet long 266 00:12:16,485 --> 00:12:19,145 to make it to the safety of the forest. 267 00:12:19,229 --> 00:12:21,647 Then you have the unstable sand, 268 00:12:21,732 --> 00:12:23,733 the seismograph microphones, 269 00:12:23,826 --> 00:12:25,160 the lack of digging equipment, 270 00:12:25,319 --> 00:12:28,997 and, of course, the Ferrets. 271 00:12:29,081 --> 00:12:31,491 The job of these elite Nazi soldiers 272 00:12:31,584 --> 00:12:33,743 is to spy on the POWs 273 00:12:33,836 --> 00:12:37,163 and root out any tunnel before it's complete. 274 00:12:37,256 --> 00:12:41,926 So the Allied airmen set up a spy network of their own... 275 00:12:42,085 --> 00:12:43,920 to spy on the spies. 276 00:12:44,004 --> 00:12:49,842 ♪ ♪ 277 00:12:49,927 --> 00:12:51,770 - Bushell's organization quickly realized 278 00:12:51,929 --> 00:12:53,930 that the only way to deal with the Ferrets 279 00:12:54,023 --> 00:12:56,441 was to essentially keep them monitored 280 00:12:56,525 --> 00:12:59,185 every second they were in the compound. 281 00:12:59,269 --> 00:13:00,695 - Having what they call stooges, 282 00:13:00,854 --> 00:13:02,363 these people who stooged around, 283 00:13:02,523 --> 00:13:03,940 they kept an eye on things. 284 00:13:04,033 --> 00:13:06,108 So you'd have a huge organization. 285 00:13:06,202 --> 00:13:09,612 - The stooges are vital to the organization. 286 00:13:09,696 --> 00:13:11,614 But these watchful eyes 287 00:13:11,707 --> 00:13:14,951 are also being kept in the dark by Bushell. 288 00:13:15,035 --> 00:13:18,880 Only Mondschein, Walenn, and a handful of other men 289 00:13:19,039 --> 00:13:21,958 know the full scope of the plan. 290 00:13:22,051 --> 00:13:25,127 - Nobody was allowed to know anything more 291 00:13:25,221 --> 00:13:27,797 than they absolutely needed to know. 292 00:13:27,881 --> 00:13:31,050 So there was this plan hatched to dig these tunnels, 293 00:13:31,134 --> 00:13:33,728 but perhaps only four or five people knew about it. 294 00:13:33,813 --> 00:13:37,482 Somebody was asked, "If that person over there 295 00:13:37,641 --> 00:13:40,810 "takes his cap off and puts it back on again, 296 00:13:40,894 --> 00:13:42,070 "I would like you to turn your cap around 297 00:13:42,154 --> 00:13:44,647 and turn it the other way; that's your job." 298 00:13:44,731 --> 00:13:46,816 And he didn't know what that was for, 299 00:13:46,900 --> 00:13:48,818 but the point was that that was a signal 300 00:13:48,902 --> 00:13:52,247 to somebody else to scratch their armpit, 301 00:13:52,331 --> 00:13:54,991 and that that was a signal for somebody else 302 00:13:55,075 --> 00:13:58,670 to go into the camp and say, "There's a guard coming." 303 00:13:58,829 --> 00:14:01,163 ♪ ♪ 304 00:14:01,248 --> 00:14:03,424 Nobody knew why they were scratching their armpits 305 00:14:03,584 --> 00:14:05,084 or turning their caps around, 306 00:14:05,168 --> 00:14:08,421 but it was a vital piece of the jigsaw, 307 00:14:08,505 --> 00:14:10,172 and Roger Bushell knew 308 00:14:10,257 --> 00:14:12,767 how to get communication channels going 309 00:14:12,926 --> 00:14:14,677 so that if anybody was caught, 310 00:14:14,770 --> 00:14:16,521 they just didn't know anything. 311 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:19,858 - With his counter-spy network in place, 312 00:14:20,017 --> 00:14:23,269 Bushell turns his attention to the dig. 313 00:14:23,362 --> 00:14:26,272 [dramatic music] 314 00:14:26,356 --> 00:14:28,107 ♪ ♪ 315 00:14:28,191 --> 00:14:30,034 - The soil around the prison was quite sandy, 316 00:14:30,119 --> 00:14:32,361 which is easy to excavate, 317 00:14:32,454 --> 00:14:34,956 but it's very difficult to stabilize. 318 00:14:35,115 --> 00:14:37,617 Just think about sand running through your fingers. 319 00:14:37,701 --> 00:14:39,878 They came up with this ingenious scheme 320 00:14:40,037 --> 00:14:44,123 of removing slats from the beds in the prison, 321 00:14:44,207 --> 00:14:46,551 and they would smuggle these boards over to the room 322 00:14:46,710 --> 00:14:48,219 where they were doing the tunnel, 323 00:14:48,304 --> 00:14:50,546 and then they would use the boards to support the ground. 324 00:14:50,631 --> 00:14:51,806 - How are you gonna join them together? 325 00:14:51,965 --> 00:14:54,467 Where were you gonna get hammer and nails from? 326 00:14:54,551 --> 00:14:55,977 "Oh, we can't use hammer and nails, 327 00:14:56,061 --> 00:14:57,312 'cause that'll be too noisy." 328 00:14:57,471 --> 00:15:00,648 The POWs needed bed boards 329 00:15:00,807 --> 00:15:03,735 to fit perfectly along the tunnel, 330 00:15:03,819 --> 00:15:07,146 and they needed a technique that would enable these boards 331 00:15:07,230 --> 00:15:10,066 to be assembled in terrible conditions, 332 00:15:10,159 --> 00:15:12,568 in the dark or the near darkness. 333 00:15:12,661 --> 00:15:14,913 It had to be an easy system to use. 334 00:15:14,997 --> 00:15:17,490 And what they did was they took the bed boards 335 00:15:17,574 --> 00:15:19,659 like this one and-- 336 00:15:19,752 --> 00:15:20,835 Well, this is not a bed board. 337 00:15:20,994 --> 00:15:22,244 It's just a little replica. 338 00:15:22,338 --> 00:15:27,667 They would cut these little bits out of the ends, 339 00:15:27,751 --> 00:15:30,252 and then what they could do 340 00:15:30,346 --> 00:15:33,348 is they could make hundreds of these bed boards 341 00:15:33,432 --> 00:15:35,341 all looking identically the same. 342 00:15:35,434 --> 00:15:37,843 They fit beautifully together 343 00:15:37,928 --> 00:15:40,346 like kind of a tongue-and-groove system. 344 00:15:40,439 --> 00:15:42,106 They had to be really careful 345 00:15:42,191 --> 00:15:44,859 to make sure they didn't knock anything out of place, 346 00:15:44,944 --> 00:15:48,688 because soon as you knock it out of place, 347 00:15:48,781 --> 00:15:50,198 you get a collapse. 348 00:15:50,357 --> 00:15:52,108 And they had lots of collapses. 349 00:15:52,192 --> 00:15:54,193 - The tunnel was about 350 feet long, 350 00:15:54,277 --> 00:15:56,454 but the shafts needed to be supported as well, 351 00:15:56,538 --> 00:16:00,700 so you're talking about 400 feet or so of opening. 352 00:16:00,784 --> 00:16:03,461 - It means lots and lots of bed boards-- 353 00:16:03,545 --> 00:16:05,705 Thousands of bed boards we're talking about here 354 00:16:05,789 --> 00:16:08,466 that would have to be harvested. 355 00:16:08,625 --> 00:16:10,960 - The beds aren't the only creature comforts 356 00:16:11,053 --> 00:16:14,296 the prisoners sacrificed for the escape plan. 357 00:16:14,381 --> 00:16:17,216 [soft rattling] 358 00:16:17,309 --> 00:16:19,969 [upbeat music playing] 359 00:16:20,053 --> 00:16:22,146 - They were allowed to play music in their huts. 360 00:16:22,305 --> 00:16:25,483 ♪ ♪ 361 00:16:25,567 --> 00:16:29,904 Inside the gramophone record player was a spring. 362 00:16:30,063 --> 00:16:32,732 It's metal, and when you unwind it, 363 00:16:32,816 --> 00:16:35,484 it's really hard and really strong. 364 00:16:35,569 --> 00:16:38,821 [dramatic music] 365 00:16:38,905 --> 00:16:42,491 And what you could do is you could stretch this out 366 00:16:42,576 --> 00:16:46,412 and then, with a file, cut teeth into it. 367 00:16:46,496 --> 00:16:48,923 [imitates saw scraping] 368 00:16:49,008 --> 00:16:51,092 That's your saw. 369 00:16:51,176 --> 00:16:54,262 - With their main tool set figured out, 370 00:16:54,421 --> 00:16:56,848 now they just have to dig. 371 00:16:57,007 --> 00:17:00,926 And dig... and dig. 372 00:17:01,011 --> 00:17:03,271 - So what Bushell and co. Also wanted to do 373 00:17:03,355 --> 00:17:05,523 is dig a tunnel that was so deep 374 00:17:05,607 --> 00:17:10,019 that it would not be picked up by any kind of microphones. 375 00:17:10,103 --> 00:17:12,605 - These tunnels need to be deep. 376 00:17:12,689 --> 00:17:16,200 They need to be 30 feet below ground. 377 00:17:16,285 --> 00:17:20,038 That is a significant depth to tunnel down to 378 00:17:20,197 --> 00:17:23,791 before beginning to tunnel out beyond the camp wall. 379 00:17:23,950 --> 00:17:25,367 That could be hundreds of feet. 380 00:17:25,461 --> 00:17:28,212 So that in and of itself is a significant undertaking. 381 00:17:28,297 --> 00:17:31,299 The excavated sand, once excavated, 382 00:17:31,383 --> 00:17:33,709 also takes up significantly greater volume 383 00:17:33,802 --> 00:17:35,887 than it does when it's compacted in the ground. 384 00:17:36,046 --> 00:17:37,713 ♪ ♪ 385 00:17:37,806 --> 00:17:39,548 - Based on the size and the length, 386 00:17:39,641 --> 00:17:43,144 it's about 125 tons of material was removed 387 00:17:43,303 --> 00:17:45,563 and had to be disposed of. 388 00:17:45,722 --> 00:17:47,973 The hard part was how to dispose of the ground 389 00:17:48,067 --> 00:17:49,901 without the Germans noticing. 390 00:17:50,060 --> 00:17:53,988 ♪ ♪ 391 00:17:54,147 --> 00:18:00,402 - What comes up must-- Well, in this case, disappear. 392 00:18:00,487 --> 00:18:04,406 But where in a heavily patrolled Nazi prison camp 393 00:18:04,491 --> 00:18:08,327 will the POWs dispose of literally tons of sand 394 00:18:08,411 --> 00:18:10,254 without being caught? 395 00:18:10,413 --> 00:18:15,885 ♪ ♪ 396 00:18:20,265 --> 00:18:23,175 [dramatic music] 397 00:18:23,260 --> 00:18:29,014 ♪ ♪ 398 00:18:29,099 --> 00:18:31,609 - The tunnels are underway. 399 00:18:31,693 --> 00:18:33,853 Squadron leader Bushell and his team, 400 00:18:33,937 --> 00:18:35,696 the X Organization, 401 00:18:35,781 --> 00:18:37,690 are smuggling thousands of bed boards 402 00:18:37,783 --> 00:18:38,783 out of their prison huts 403 00:18:38,867 --> 00:18:41,702 to keep the tunnels from collapsing, 404 00:18:41,862 --> 00:18:43,195 and they're digging deep enough 405 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,375 to stay out of range of the seismograph microphones, 406 00:18:47,459 --> 00:18:50,545 but there's still one problem: 407 00:18:50,629 --> 00:18:53,205 what to do with all this dirt. 408 00:18:53,290 --> 00:18:54,373 ♪ ♪ 409 00:18:54,466 --> 00:18:57,301 [tense music] 410 00:18:57,386 --> 00:19:00,880 - All sorts of things became difficult with a long tunnel. 411 00:19:00,964 --> 00:19:04,550 Firstly, the sheer quantity of sand 412 00:19:04,634 --> 00:19:07,645 that you've got to remove and dispose of. 413 00:19:07,729 --> 00:19:09,147 - The yellow sands 414 00:19:09,306 --> 00:19:11,149 that the prisoners had to deal with, 415 00:19:11,308 --> 00:19:13,067 it's only when you start to dig into the ground 416 00:19:13,226 --> 00:19:14,485 that you really realize, 417 00:19:14,644 --> 00:19:17,572 "Wow, that stuff shines like gold." 418 00:19:17,731 --> 00:19:20,491 Here is a vial of the sand 419 00:19:20,576 --> 00:19:23,235 from the camp at Stalag Luft III. 420 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,414 The fact that it's so golden was a real challenge 421 00:19:26,498 --> 00:19:29,742 to find places to get rid of it. 422 00:19:29,835 --> 00:19:32,244 The Ferrets would be on a constant lookout 423 00:19:32,329 --> 00:19:35,080 for any sign of this golden, shining sand 424 00:19:35,165 --> 00:19:37,416 across the floor of the camp. 425 00:19:37,509 --> 00:19:38,926 ♪ ♪ 426 00:19:39,011 --> 00:19:41,837 [dramatic music] 427 00:19:41,922 --> 00:19:47,518 A naval aviator had the idea of using long pouches of sand 428 00:19:47,677 --> 00:19:50,930 made out of long johns down the trousers. 429 00:19:51,023 --> 00:19:54,516 - They disposed of the sand by sprinkling the sand 430 00:19:54,601 --> 00:19:56,685 out of bags that were up their trousers, 431 00:19:56,778 --> 00:19:58,520 and they were sprinkling the sand out 432 00:19:58,605 --> 00:20:01,440 over these vegetable gardens. 433 00:20:01,524 --> 00:20:03,367 ♪ ♪ 434 00:20:03,526 --> 00:20:06,111 - Few prisoners knew about the tunnels. 435 00:20:06,205 --> 00:20:10,791 Even fewer knew the locations of the entrances. 436 00:20:10,876 --> 00:20:13,794 - One of the most important things about the tunnels 437 00:20:13,879 --> 00:20:16,121 is the entrance. 438 00:20:16,215 --> 00:20:18,791 One of the significant things that the Germans tried to do 439 00:20:18,884 --> 00:20:21,552 was to put the huts so they were on stilts, 440 00:20:21,637 --> 00:20:24,880 and therefore, getting down through the floor of the hut, 441 00:20:24,965 --> 00:20:27,475 down to the floor of the camp, 442 00:20:27,559 --> 00:20:29,310 would mean anybody looking at it 443 00:20:29,394 --> 00:20:32,063 would observe the activity. 444 00:20:32,222 --> 00:20:34,640 - The huts were raised off the ground. 445 00:20:34,724 --> 00:20:37,142 Plumbing and other essential infrastructure 446 00:20:37,227 --> 00:20:39,403 enters through the floor. 447 00:20:39,488 --> 00:20:42,573 Grates are cemented into a four-sided barrier 448 00:20:42,658 --> 00:20:46,151 to keep these wires and pipes away from the elements. 449 00:20:46,236 --> 00:20:48,988 The prisoners made sure to place their opening 450 00:20:49,072 --> 00:20:53,993 directly above this small brick and concrete sub wall. 451 00:20:54,077 --> 00:20:57,255 - It was supporting things like washrooms, 452 00:20:57,414 --> 00:20:59,840 and this meant that they had a concrete stilt 453 00:20:59,925 --> 00:21:01,175 with bricks around it. 454 00:21:01,334 --> 00:21:04,336 And if you were capable of digging down into that, 455 00:21:04,429 --> 00:21:06,338 you would then go straight down into the ground, 456 00:21:06,423 --> 00:21:08,933 and you wouldn't be visible, because you go right through 457 00:21:09,017 --> 00:21:13,354 the heart of one of those concrete supports. 458 00:21:13,438 --> 00:21:16,774 - The trap door was the weakest part of any tunnel 459 00:21:16,858 --> 00:21:18,943 because it was constantly used, 460 00:21:19,027 --> 00:21:21,529 so it had to be in an accessible area. 461 00:21:21,688 --> 00:21:26,692 And yet it was exactly what the Ferrets were looking for. 462 00:21:26,776 --> 00:21:28,110 - One of the advantages 463 00:21:28,203 --> 00:21:29,704 of a camp like Stalag Luft III-- 464 00:21:29,863 --> 00:21:31,122 In fact, any POW camp-- 465 00:21:31,281 --> 00:21:33,624 Is you've got a range of expertise. 466 00:21:33,783 --> 00:21:36,952 And in that, there was a Polish engineer 467 00:21:37,045 --> 00:21:39,538 who was flying with the RAF, 468 00:21:39,622 --> 00:21:44,051 and he had the capability of crafting concrete 469 00:21:44,210 --> 00:21:45,803 such as you've never seen. 470 00:21:45,962 --> 00:21:49,056 He was able to craft slabs of concrete 471 00:21:49,141 --> 00:21:51,884 which would act as the trap doors. 472 00:21:51,968 --> 00:21:55,804 The one that's most ingenious is underneath a stove. 473 00:21:55,889 --> 00:21:58,316 ♪ ♪ 474 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,392 The huts would have these stoves. 475 00:22:00,477 --> 00:22:03,487 They would sit on kind of like ceramic tiles 476 00:22:03,646 --> 00:22:05,564 so that they would be heat-resistant. 477 00:22:05,648 --> 00:22:07,483 And what they realized was underneath that 478 00:22:07,567 --> 00:22:09,744 was also one of these piers 479 00:22:09,828 --> 00:22:12,571 they could pierce down through and not be visible. 480 00:22:12,655 --> 00:22:15,908 - They figured out how the wood-burning stove 481 00:22:15,992 --> 00:22:19,086 could actually be running with a fire in it, 482 00:22:19,245 --> 00:22:23,082 and they could lean it back, men could go down the hole, 483 00:22:23,166 --> 00:22:25,918 and they could put the stove back again and lean back 484 00:22:26,002 --> 00:22:28,837 and be reading a book and having a cup of tea. 485 00:22:28,922 --> 00:22:30,923 - Dick's trap was in a shower drain. 486 00:22:31,007 --> 00:22:33,517 ♪ ♪ 487 00:22:33,602 --> 00:22:35,102 - If you look at Tom, 488 00:22:35,261 --> 00:22:37,429 Tom in hut 123, this was-- 489 00:22:37,514 --> 00:22:40,432 There was a concrete floor next to a chimney. 490 00:22:40,517 --> 00:22:42,943 ♪ ♪ 491 00:22:43,103 --> 00:22:44,770 And it was kind of dark, 492 00:22:44,863 --> 00:22:47,782 and what the Polish engineer was able to do 493 00:22:47,941 --> 00:22:51,193 was to create a concrete slab, like a paving slab, 494 00:22:51,277 --> 00:22:55,206 and then chip out an area of the concrete 495 00:22:55,290 --> 00:22:58,367 and match them up absolutely perfectly. 496 00:22:58,451 --> 00:23:01,620 - But, sadly, sometimes even perfect is not enough 497 00:23:01,704 --> 00:23:04,456 to keep the Nazi Ferrets off your back. 498 00:23:04,541 --> 00:23:09,545 ♪ ♪ 499 00:23:09,629 --> 00:23:12,631 - The Ferrets carried with them long metal rods, 500 00:23:12,724 --> 00:23:15,059 which they would use to poke into the sand 501 00:23:15,143 --> 00:23:17,302 to see if they could come up against tunnels. 502 00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:20,389 They didn't know that the tunnels were 30 feet deep. 503 00:23:20,473 --> 00:23:23,142 They hoped these rods could pick up things. 504 00:23:23,226 --> 00:23:26,311 And apparently this one Ferret was sitting in the hut 505 00:23:26,405 --> 00:23:28,906 where the tunnel mouth was in a routine search, 506 00:23:28,990 --> 00:23:31,984 was just idly bouncing this metal probe on the floor, 507 00:23:32,068 --> 00:23:33,902 and it happened to hit the edge of the frame 508 00:23:33,987 --> 00:23:35,162 where the tunnel mouth was. 509 00:23:35,247 --> 00:23:39,158 [dramatic music] 510 00:23:39,242 --> 00:23:42,169 It dislodged a small piece of the cement 511 00:23:42,254 --> 00:23:44,171 that had been put in to cover up the tunnel mouth. 512 00:23:44,256 --> 00:23:45,756 The Ferret got down on his knees, 513 00:23:45,841 --> 00:23:47,749 and he could see a little crack running around the edge. 514 00:23:47,834 --> 00:23:49,260 He started to bang it a little more. 515 00:23:49,344 --> 00:23:51,420 Within a few minutes, he knew there was a trap there, 516 00:23:51,504 --> 00:23:53,839 and that was-- That was the end of Tom. 517 00:23:53,923 --> 00:23:57,092 ♪ ♪ 518 00:23:57,177 --> 00:23:59,687 - The discovery of Tom will finally put Bushell's 519 00:23:59,771 --> 00:24:03,015 three tunnel strategy to the test. 520 00:24:03,099 --> 00:24:07,853 Will the Nazis stop searching, or will they turn up the heat? 521 00:24:07,946 --> 00:24:12,783 ♪ ♪ 522 00:24:17,197 --> 00:24:19,123 [dramatic music] 523 00:24:19,282 --> 00:24:22,793 - One of the Ferrets has discovered Tom. 524 00:24:22,878 --> 00:24:26,872 Now Bushell and his team await the consequences. 525 00:24:26,965 --> 00:24:30,375 - Then the Germans actually discovered the Tom tunnel. 526 00:24:30,460 --> 00:24:31,802 They blew it up with explosives. 527 00:24:31,961 --> 00:24:33,554 [booming] 528 00:24:33,713 --> 00:24:38,309 - But the genius of Bushell's original plan shines through. 529 00:24:38,393 --> 00:24:40,811 - The camp staff believed, 530 00:24:40,970 --> 00:24:43,647 having seen how remarkably well-engineered Tom was, 531 00:24:43,806 --> 00:24:44,982 they had no belief 532 00:24:45,141 --> 00:24:46,308 that the prisoners could have another tunnel. 533 00:24:46,401 --> 00:24:47,735 They assumed that all of the effort, 534 00:24:47,819 --> 00:24:49,069 all of the material, 535 00:24:49,229 --> 00:24:51,647 all of the resources had been poured into Tom. 536 00:24:51,740 --> 00:24:53,574 So for a while, they actually stopped looking 537 00:24:53,658 --> 00:24:54,992 'cause they assumed they had found 538 00:24:55,151 --> 00:24:57,411 what the prisoners had been working on for so long. 539 00:24:57,496 --> 00:24:59,663 So this gave X Organization a bit of breathing room 540 00:24:59,748 --> 00:25:02,500 to do some catching up, to work ahead a bit. 541 00:25:02,659 --> 00:25:05,327 ♪ ♪ 542 00:25:05,420 --> 00:25:08,589 - Well, Bushell's instinct to dig three tunnels 543 00:25:08,748 --> 00:25:10,832 proves to be right. 544 00:25:10,926 --> 00:25:13,585 Not only is Tom tunnel discovered, 545 00:25:13,670 --> 00:25:17,589 but the Nazis begin clearing trees for a camp expansion, 546 00:25:17,682 --> 00:25:22,511 ruining the exit site for the tunnel codenamed Dick. 547 00:25:22,595 --> 00:25:25,597 Bushell decides to stop construction on Dick 548 00:25:25,682 --> 00:25:29,685 and use it as a place to dump sand. 549 00:25:29,778 --> 00:25:33,355 Tunnel Harry is now their only hope. 550 00:25:33,439 --> 00:25:40,454 ♪ ♪ 551 00:25:40,539 --> 00:25:42,957 - Probably of all the bits of ingenuity 552 00:25:43,041 --> 00:25:45,960 that these POWs used in digging these tunnels 553 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:47,536 was the ventilation system. 554 00:25:47,629 --> 00:25:49,705 - As you're constructing, you're getting further away 555 00:25:49,789 --> 00:25:51,549 from an oxygen source. 556 00:25:51,633 --> 00:25:54,960 So you have to construct within the tunnel 557 00:25:55,053 --> 00:25:57,054 a means of delivering oxygen. 558 00:25:57,213 --> 00:25:58,964 - The Red Cross was the prisoners' lifeline, 559 00:25:59,057 --> 00:26:01,475 and they sent in food packages and clothing 560 00:26:01,634 --> 00:26:02,726 and all sorts of necessities. 561 00:26:02,885 --> 00:26:06,146 The tunnellers learned very early in the war 562 00:26:06,231 --> 00:26:08,890 that the canned milk that came in Red Cross parcels 563 00:26:08,975 --> 00:26:11,476 were perfectly shaped and sized 564 00:26:11,570 --> 00:26:14,813 to be made into an air system for the tunnel. 565 00:26:14,906 --> 00:26:17,575 - They're called Klim cans, 566 00:26:17,659 --> 00:26:21,903 because the brand name of this powdered milk was Klim. 567 00:26:21,988 --> 00:26:25,657 And K-L-I-M is "milk" spelled backwards. 568 00:26:25,742 --> 00:26:28,586 - So you take off the tab, and off comes the lid, 569 00:26:28,670 --> 00:26:29,911 and this means, of course, 570 00:26:29,996 --> 00:26:34,082 that it's capable of fitting together one tin 571 00:26:34,175 --> 00:26:36,594 with another by sort of forcing the tin on. 572 00:26:36,753 --> 00:26:40,505 You remove the base, you force this into the next tin, 573 00:26:40,590 --> 00:26:43,342 and you build an air line. 574 00:26:43,435 --> 00:26:47,095 - Now they needed a system to pump air through the line. 575 00:26:47,180 --> 00:26:48,513 [dramatic music] 576 00:26:48,607 --> 00:26:52,026 - They designed a bellows system based on two kit bags. 577 00:26:52,185 --> 00:26:54,278 - They had their kit bags, 578 00:26:54,437 --> 00:26:55,696 and these kit bags 579 00:26:55,855 --> 00:26:58,190 were kind of canvas bags, 580 00:26:58,274 --> 00:26:59,608 which they could squeeze, 581 00:26:59,701 --> 00:27:00,868 and that would pump a bit of air. 582 00:27:00,952 --> 00:27:02,527 And then they'd have to open up the bag 583 00:27:02,621 --> 00:27:04,363 and they'd squeeze it again. 584 00:27:04,447 --> 00:27:06,615 So it was a bit like sort of bagpipes. 585 00:27:06,699 --> 00:27:08,292 You needed a lot of air. 586 00:27:08,376 --> 00:27:11,453 So they came up with this fantastic device. 587 00:27:11,546 --> 00:27:15,040 With one kit bag here and another kit bag there 588 00:27:15,124 --> 00:27:18,636 and a pair of ice hockey sticks in the middle, 589 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,890 then they worked out that you could have somebody at the end, 590 00:27:23,049 --> 00:27:25,643 a bit like a rowing machine, 591 00:27:25,802 --> 00:27:28,303 pulling this lever backwards and forwards 592 00:27:28,388 --> 00:27:29,388 to pump the air down. 593 00:27:29,472 --> 00:27:31,223 - And they had a non-return valve 594 00:27:31,316 --> 00:27:34,234 based on a kind of disc using leather parts 595 00:27:34,394 --> 00:27:36,561 so that they would push the air in, 596 00:27:36,646 --> 00:27:38,739 but wouldn't allow it to come back. 597 00:27:38,823 --> 00:27:40,899 - They had airflow, 598 00:27:40,983 --> 00:27:44,486 but the tunnel had one small problem. 599 00:27:44,570 --> 00:27:47,072 It's too narrow to properly turn around in 600 00:27:47,165 --> 00:27:49,241 once you are inside. 601 00:27:49,325 --> 00:27:53,829 And as it gets longer, this becomes a bigger problem. 602 00:27:53,922 --> 00:27:56,173 - This is a really, really narrow tunnel, 603 00:27:56,332 --> 00:27:58,417 and a number of these guys were big guys. 604 00:27:58,510 --> 00:28:01,178 You know, they were having to squeeze into this. 605 00:28:01,337 --> 00:28:04,089 And in addition to that, you are thinking, 606 00:28:04,182 --> 00:28:07,017 "Well, how am I gonna crawl down a tunnel that long?" 607 00:28:07,176 --> 00:28:09,603 So they built a railway based on trollies 608 00:28:09,762 --> 00:28:11,689 with wheels made out of discs, 609 00:28:11,773 --> 00:28:14,266 which had a coating of tin on them, 610 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:16,184 you know, from the POW tins 611 00:28:16,277 --> 00:28:17,519 that come in Red Cross parcels. 612 00:28:17,612 --> 00:28:20,197 - The trollies are powered by POWs 613 00:28:20,356 --> 00:28:23,867 using a pulley system to move them along the tunnel. 614 00:28:23,952 --> 00:28:27,121 The trolly pullers are stationed at two wider areas 615 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,448 along the tunnel's length. 616 00:28:29,541 --> 00:28:33,293 The diggers get off the trolley at the wider part 617 00:28:33,453 --> 00:28:35,120 and crawl up to the front, 618 00:28:35,213 --> 00:28:36,797 where they continue digging 619 00:28:36,956 --> 00:28:41,385 into the face of the dirt wall. 620 00:28:41,544 --> 00:28:42,970 - Like little waystations, if you like-- 621 00:28:43,129 --> 00:28:44,796 Piccadilly and Leicester Square, 622 00:28:44,881 --> 00:28:47,382 they're the two locations famous in London, 623 00:28:47,475 --> 00:28:49,384 and they were located right there 624 00:28:49,477 --> 00:28:52,220 in the center of the tunnel Harry. 625 00:28:52,313 --> 00:28:55,649 So it was a really complex engineering approach 626 00:28:55,808 --> 00:28:57,568 to build this, to create it, 627 00:28:57,727 --> 00:28:59,895 and you can imagine, therefore, there were people 628 00:28:59,988 --> 00:29:02,072 who were constantly on the lookout 629 00:29:02,157 --> 00:29:04,908 for any resource that they could use, 630 00:29:05,067 --> 00:29:08,153 particularly, for example, lighting that tunnel. 631 00:29:08,237 --> 00:29:10,572 When they had the opportunity, they stole wire. 632 00:29:10,656 --> 00:29:13,500 There were a couple of guys working in the camp 633 00:29:13,585 --> 00:29:15,252 who had wire there, 634 00:29:15,411 --> 00:29:18,747 and I think they stole, like, 300 yards of wire. 635 00:29:18,831 --> 00:29:20,832 And this meant that they were able also 636 00:29:20,925 --> 00:29:22,259 to steal light fittings, 637 00:29:22,343 --> 00:29:26,263 to hook that up to the camp electricity supply, 638 00:29:26,422 --> 00:29:28,432 and then have, you know, absolutely electric lighting 639 00:29:28,591 --> 00:29:29,683 all the way along. 640 00:29:29,768 --> 00:29:32,186 The guys who had been doing the wiring 641 00:29:32,345 --> 00:29:33,520 didn't want to say, of course. 642 00:29:33,679 --> 00:29:34,772 They didn't want to report that 643 00:29:34,856 --> 00:29:37,524 because they knew what would happen to them. 644 00:29:37,683 --> 00:29:41,195 - January, 1944. 645 00:29:41,354 --> 00:29:43,104 The tunnel is nearly complete. 646 00:29:43,189 --> 00:29:45,783 ♪ ♪ 647 00:29:45,867 --> 00:29:50,621 Bushell and his men must now prepare disguises and fake IDs 648 00:29:50,780 --> 00:29:54,616 or they won't get very far in the Polish countryside. 649 00:29:54,700 --> 00:29:57,878 - They had to make official documents, somehow. 650 00:29:58,037 --> 00:30:00,205 They could steal documents. 651 00:30:00,289 --> 00:30:01,540 They could see what the documents 652 00:30:01,633 --> 00:30:03,542 were meant to look like. 653 00:30:03,635 --> 00:30:06,211 And some of these guys were incredibly artistic, 654 00:30:06,304 --> 00:30:08,964 so they would forge documents really well, 655 00:30:09,048 --> 00:30:10,724 and they knew how to make paper look old 656 00:30:10,883 --> 00:30:12,300 or make it look official. 657 00:30:12,393 --> 00:30:13,552 But one of the things they needed 658 00:30:13,636 --> 00:30:15,720 was an official stamp, 659 00:30:15,814 --> 00:30:18,056 and they figured out that they could take the leather 660 00:30:18,149 --> 00:30:20,308 off the soles of their shoes 661 00:30:20,393 --> 00:30:23,487 and, with tiny little scalpel knives 662 00:30:23,646 --> 00:30:26,064 that they managed to procure from somewhere, 663 00:30:26,148 --> 00:30:28,992 they could cut away a stamp, 664 00:30:29,151 --> 00:30:31,319 which they could then use to stamp the passports. 665 00:30:31,404 --> 00:30:33,989 - Almost every German identity document 666 00:30:34,073 --> 00:30:35,415 required a photograph, 667 00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:38,326 and they couldn't manufacture cameras, 668 00:30:38,419 --> 00:30:40,337 so they had to resort to bribings. 669 00:30:40,496 --> 00:30:42,664 ♪ ♪ 670 00:30:42,757 --> 00:30:45,509 - They could blackmail the guards. 671 00:30:45,668 --> 00:30:48,262 For instance, if they pickpocketed something 672 00:30:48,421 --> 00:30:49,838 out of the guard's pocket-- 673 00:30:49,931 --> 00:30:53,341 Maybe a pass or a key or something-- 674 00:30:53,434 --> 00:30:55,686 And then they would say, "Hey, Fritz, 675 00:30:55,845 --> 00:30:58,680 somebody tells me you've lost your pass." 676 00:30:58,764 --> 00:31:01,016 And Fritz would say, "Yes, do you know where it is?" 677 00:31:01,109 --> 00:31:03,852 Said, "Well, what we know, Fritz, 678 00:31:03,945 --> 00:31:05,946 "is that if we tell the commandant 679 00:31:06,030 --> 00:31:07,272 "that you've lost your pass, 680 00:31:07,365 --> 00:31:10,275 you will be sent to the Eastern Front, won't you?" 681 00:31:10,359 --> 00:31:12,035 "Don't tell them, don't tell them!" 682 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,112 "Okay, Fritz. We need some things. 683 00:31:14,196 --> 00:31:16,290 Fritz, will you get them for us?" 684 00:31:16,374 --> 00:31:19,784 - Bushell's forgery factory is in full swing, 685 00:31:19,878 --> 00:31:21,453 snapping photos 686 00:31:21,537 --> 00:31:24,456 and painstakingly hand-painting documents 687 00:31:24,540 --> 00:31:27,050 one letter at a time. 688 00:31:27,209 --> 00:31:31,972 Then, in March, 1944, the tunnel's completed. 689 00:31:32,131 --> 00:31:34,549 Only one thing remains to do. 690 00:31:34,634 --> 00:31:37,060 [dramatic music] 691 00:31:37,219 --> 00:31:38,887 Escape. 692 00:31:38,971 --> 00:31:40,689 ♪ ♪ 693 00:31:45,737 --> 00:31:49,397 - March, 1944. 694 00:31:49,482 --> 00:31:51,650 Tunnel Harry is complete. 695 00:31:51,743 --> 00:31:53,485 [dramatic music] 696 00:31:53,578 --> 00:31:57,572 Bushell and 200 men are ready. 697 00:31:57,657 --> 00:32:01,084 Now all they need is a green light from Mother Nature. 698 00:32:01,243 --> 00:32:05,589 ♪ ♪ 699 00:32:05,673 --> 00:32:09,009 - They were a bit constricted by the weather. 700 00:32:09,093 --> 00:32:11,929 They were also constricted by the light of the moon. 701 00:32:12,088 --> 00:32:15,182 They were forced to wait for dark of the moon. 702 00:32:15,266 --> 00:32:17,342 Full moon was fatal to escape attempts 703 00:32:17,435 --> 00:32:20,095 because it was very bright, particularly with snow. 704 00:32:20,179 --> 00:32:24,099 So the final decision to go was based on advice 705 00:32:24,192 --> 00:32:26,601 from the meteorologists in the camp, 706 00:32:26,694 --> 00:32:27,945 and there was a trained meteorologist 707 00:32:28,104 --> 00:32:29,187 among the prisoners. 708 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,607 - On March 24, 1944, 709 00:32:32,692 --> 00:32:36,695 the go ahead is given to escape. 710 00:32:36,788 --> 00:32:40,040 Bushell, Mondschein, Walenn, 711 00:32:40,199 --> 00:32:44,035 and the other prisoners start to assemble for the breakout. 712 00:32:44,128 --> 00:32:46,880 - All of the prisoners who were designated as escapers 713 00:32:47,039 --> 00:32:48,623 had to move from their own huts 714 00:32:48,716 --> 00:32:50,801 to hut 104, where the tunnel was. 715 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:53,545 - So they'd be kind of checked off on a list, 716 00:32:53,629 --> 00:32:56,214 being dispatched to hut 104, 717 00:32:56,307 --> 00:32:57,799 which is the exit point. 718 00:32:57,883 --> 00:33:01,302 Hut 104 is then starting to get more and more crowded. 719 00:33:01,387 --> 00:33:03,638 - More than a year of top-secret planning 720 00:33:03,731 --> 00:33:07,726 and back-breaking work is about to pay off. 721 00:33:07,819 --> 00:33:10,654 But just when it looks like they have pulled it off, 722 00:33:10,813 --> 00:33:14,983 the whole escape comes crashing to a halt. 723 00:33:15,067 --> 00:33:17,652 At 7:45 p.m., 724 00:33:17,737 --> 00:33:22,332 an enemy soldier appears at the doorway of hut 104. 725 00:33:22,491 --> 00:33:26,244 - I am Paul Tobolski, the son of Pawel Tobolski. 726 00:33:26,328 --> 00:33:30,924 My dad wore a German uniform on the night of the escape. 727 00:33:31,009 --> 00:33:34,919 When he entered hut 104, all those in the hut thought, 728 00:33:35,004 --> 00:33:37,672 "My God, the game is over. There's a German in the hut." 729 00:33:37,765 --> 00:33:40,425 Others said, "No, that's Tobolski." 730 00:33:40,509 --> 00:33:42,019 - It's a false alarm. 731 00:33:42,178 --> 00:33:45,513 The final countdown to freedom can begin. 732 00:33:45,598 --> 00:33:48,525 ♪ ♪ 733 00:33:48,684 --> 00:33:50,694 - As these men are getting checked off, 734 00:33:50,778 --> 00:33:54,698 they're starting now to go into the tunnel and move along it. 735 00:33:54,857 --> 00:33:58,026 But they couldn't actually really get out 736 00:33:58,110 --> 00:34:01,455 because the tunnel was really locked solid. 737 00:34:01,614 --> 00:34:02,947 - Bushell didn't have the team 738 00:34:03,032 --> 00:34:04,374 break through the end of the tunnel 739 00:34:04,533 --> 00:34:06,701 until they were ready to escape. 740 00:34:06,794 --> 00:34:09,212 He didn't want a Nazi guard walking around 741 00:34:09,297 --> 00:34:11,715 and falling through the trap door. 742 00:34:11,799 --> 00:34:16,961 But now on this cool night, the last bit has frozen shut, 743 00:34:17,046 --> 00:34:20,215 costing the team valuable time. 744 00:34:20,308 --> 00:34:23,051 But when they finally do get through, 745 00:34:23,135 --> 00:34:25,562 a terrible surprise awaits them. 746 00:34:25,721 --> 00:34:27,806 ♪ ♪ 747 00:34:27,890 --> 00:34:30,558 - When they pop their head out to have a look around, 748 00:34:30,651 --> 00:34:32,402 they realized at that point 749 00:34:32,487 --> 00:34:35,238 that they had an even bigger problem. 750 00:34:35,397 --> 00:34:36,898 - The tunnel wasn't long enough. 751 00:34:36,982 --> 00:34:39,150 They thought they were under the woods, but they weren't. 752 00:34:39,235 --> 00:34:40,994 So when they'd came up, they were only, like, 753 00:34:41,153 --> 00:34:42,570 50 yards outside the prison, 754 00:34:42,655 --> 00:34:45,248 and they were right beneath one of the observation towers. 755 00:34:45,407 --> 00:34:47,834 - Every 150 feet, there was a goon tower, 756 00:34:47,993 --> 00:34:49,744 which meant that you had the guards 757 00:34:49,837 --> 00:34:51,913 looking at and over the camp, 758 00:34:52,006 --> 00:34:53,915 and they were armed with machine guns. 759 00:34:54,008 --> 00:34:56,593 They were all Luftwaffe personnel. 760 00:34:56,752 --> 00:34:59,429 They were ready to use those guns if they needed. 761 00:34:59,588 --> 00:35:02,766 ♪ ♪ 762 00:35:02,925 --> 00:35:05,352 - The decision is made to continue going. 763 00:35:05,511 --> 00:35:07,020 Though next to a guard tower, 764 00:35:07,179 --> 00:35:08,939 they are also next to a hideout 765 00:35:09,098 --> 00:35:12,100 meant for Ferrets to spy on the camp. 766 00:35:12,184 --> 00:35:14,611 This becomes their shield from the towers. 767 00:35:14,770 --> 00:35:17,447 ♪ ♪ 768 00:35:17,532 --> 00:35:20,275 But this isn't the only unexpected obstacle 769 00:35:20,359 --> 00:35:22,619 the team must overcome. 770 00:35:22,703 --> 00:35:25,864 Another threatens to end their escape attempt 771 00:35:25,948 --> 00:35:27,866 once and for all. 772 00:35:27,950 --> 00:35:30,377 ♪ ♪ 773 00:35:30,461 --> 00:35:33,454 - And halfway through, the Allies started bombing, 774 00:35:33,539 --> 00:35:35,790 and the camp went into blackout. 775 00:35:35,875 --> 00:35:38,376 [dramatic music] 776 00:35:38,460 --> 00:35:39,219 [explosions booming] 777 00:35:39,303 --> 00:35:40,879 - And an air raid on Berlin 778 00:35:40,972 --> 00:35:44,391 meant the entire region went into a power blackout, 779 00:35:44,475 --> 00:35:46,968 and when the power was cut in the camp, 780 00:35:47,052 --> 00:35:48,979 the power was cut in the tunnel. 781 00:35:49,138 --> 00:35:50,388 ♪ ♪ 782 00:35:50,472 --> 00:35:54,568 So you had 60 or 70 men packed into the tunnel. 783 00:35:54,727 --> 00:35:56,319 Suddenly the lights go out. 784 00:35:56,478 --> 00:36:00,565 And that would've been intensely terrifying. 785 00:36:00,658 --> 00:36:02,742 - The whole thing was shut down for a few hours. 786 00:36:02,827 --> 00:36:05,328 Nobody wanted to go in there if it was pitch black. 787 00:36:05,487 --> 00:36:07,581 - The power is eventually back, 788 00:36:07,740 --> 00:36:11,501 but the delays have taken their toll on the escape. 789 00:36:11,660 --> 00:36:15,663 - That wasn't the only problem of the night. 790 00:36:15,748 --> 00:36:19,500 - At 1:30 in the morning, they had a collapse. 791 00:36:19,585 --> 00:36:21,002 ♪ ♪ 792 00:36:21,086 --> 00:36:23,004 - It was in the winter; it was very cold, 793 00:36:23,097 --> 00:36:24,931 so they had a lot of clothing on. 794 00:36:25,090 --> 00:36:26,266 Some of these guys were bigger 795 00:36:26,425 --> 00:36:28,518 than the guys that were building the tunnel. 796 00:36:28,603 --> 00:36:31,438 - One guy going down this had kind of careened into the side. 797 00:36:31,522 --> 00:36:35,108 He was a big guy, and he had damaged one of the bed boards. 798 00:36:35,267 --> 00:36:37,268 There was a collapse of sand. 799 00:36:37,361 --> 00:36:39,270 - Fortunately, they were able to get them out of there. 800 00:36:39,363 --> 00:36:40,939 They didn't get stuck. 801 00:36:41,023 --> 00:36:42,440 But then the guys had to go back in 802 00:36:42,533 --> 00:36:47,370 and reestablish the support, so that delayed them. 803 00:36:47,455 --> 00:36:51,625 - The sun begins creeping up over Stalag Luft III. 804 00:36:51,709 --> 00:36:54,869 - 4:45, we're getting towards the point 805 00:36:54,954 --> 00:36:56,546 where we're getting the leading edge of the men, 806 00:36:56,705 --> 00:36:58,790 the last men who would be possible to exit 807 00:36:58,874 --> 00:37:00,208 from that tunnel. 808 00:37:00,292 --> 00:37:02,969 And what we see then is 76 men 809 00:37:03,128 --> 00:37:05,055 have already exited the tunnel 810 00:37:05,139 --> 00:37:07,548 and are somewhere out there in the forest, 811 00:37:07,633 --> 00:37:09,968 and there are three or four men 812 00:37:10,061 --> 00:37:11,970 who are the last to emerge. 813 00:37:12,054 --> 00:37:14,222 And what has happened, of course, 814 00:37:14,315 --> 00:37:16,066 is that they start to be spotted. 815 00:37:16,225 --> 00:37:19,894 ♪ ♪ 816 00:37:19,987 --> 00:37:22,313 A couple of the guards caught sight 817 00:37:22,398 --> 00:37:25,408 of one of the prisoners and realized, 818 00:37:25,567 --> 00:37:28,152 "This is an exit point for the tunnel. 819 00:37:28,246 --> 00:37:30,914 We need to close this down." 820 00:37:31,073 --> 00:37:34,409 ♪ ♪ 821 00:37:34,493 --> 00:37:39,089 So by around 5:00, the whole escape had ground to a halt. 822 00:37:39,173 --> 00:37:40,832 The men in the tunnel themselves, 823 00:37:40,925 --> 00:37:42,750 those remaining men, 824 00:37:42,835 --> 00:37:44,585 had to sort of back it up along those tunnels. 825 00:37:44,679 --> 00:37:47,588 The four who had exited and had been captured 826 00:37:47,673 --> 00:37:48,932 were saying, you know, "Nicht schiessen." 827 00:37:49,016 --> 00:37:50,517 "Don't shoot." 828 00:37:50,676 --> 00:37:53,770 And, of course, weren't shot, so they gave themselves up. 829 00:37:53,854 --> 00:37:57,765 The 76 men had dispersed out and were on their way 830 00:37:57,858 --> 00:38:00,268 to try and escape as far as they could. 831 00:38:00,361 --> 00:38:04,281 - Of the 200 escapees, 76 have made it out, 832 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:06,607 including Bushell, 833 00:38:06,692 --> 00:38:09,452 and now they are running for their lives. 834 00:38:09,611 --> 00:38:13,581 ♪ ♪ 835 00:38:17,962 --> 00:38:19,629 [dramatic music] 836 00:38:19,714 --> 00:38:22,632 - After some bad luck and multiple delays, 837 00:38:22,791 --> 00:38:25,543 Roger Bushell and 75 other POWs 838 00:38:25,627 --> 00:38:29,213 are quickly dispersing through the Nazi-occupied land, 839 00:38:29,298 --> 00:38:31,466 trying their best to hide out 840 00:38:31,550 --> 00:38:34,052 and escape to neutral territories. 841 00:38:34,136 --> 00:38:37,221 ♪ ♪ 842 00:38:37,315 --> 00:38:40,224 [tense music] 843 00:38:40,309 --> 00:38:41,985 ♪ ♪ 844 00:38:42,144 --> 00:38:44,654 - The original plan was for 250 escapers 845 00:38:44,739 --> 00:38:46,072 to leave the tunnel. 846 00:38:46,157 --> 00:38:48,575 79 actually got out of the tunnel. 847 00:38:48,659 --> 00:38:50,994 Three of them were recaptured at the tunnel mouth, 848 00:38:51,078 --> 00:38:52,245 trying to get away. 849 00:38:52,330 --> 00:38:55,999 And so 76 actually got away from the camp. 850 00:38:56,158 --> 00:38:59,669 And even as the alert went out, 851 00:38:59,754 --> 00:39:03,414 they were spreading their way all across occupied Europe. 852 00:39:03,499 --> 00:39:05,925 ♪ ♪ 853 00:39:06,085 --> 00:39:07,510 There were two Norwegians, 854 00:39:07,669 --> 00:39:09,504 two men named Muller and Bergsland, 855 00:39:09,597 --> 00:39:10,838 who were both fighter pilots. 856 00:39:10,923 --> 00:39:12,766 Their escape went like clockwork. 857 00:39:12,925 --> 00:39:14,100 They didn't miss a beat. 858 00:39:14,185 --> 00:39:15,518 They were on a Swedish ship 859 00:39:15,603 --> 00:39:17,678 36 hours after leaving the camp. 860 00:39:17,763 --> 00:39:19,856 ♪ ♪ 861 00:39:19,940 --> 00:39:22,350 The majority of them were rounded up 862 00:39:22,434 --> 00:39:25,195 within 72 hours after the escape. 863 00:39:25,279 --> 00:39:27,772 A lot of them didn't even get more than a few miles. 864 00:39:27,856 --> 00:39:29,774 ♪ ♪ 865 00:39:29,858 --> 00:39:32,944 The third successful escaper, Bob Vanderstock, 866 00:39:33,028 --> 00:39:35,196 spent much more time on the run. 867 00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:37,448 He crossed all of Germany 868 00:39:37,533 --> 00:39:39,450 into the Netherlands, where he was from. 869 00:39:39,543 --> 00:39:40,627 He connected up 870 00:39:40,711 --> 00:39:42,796 with resistance organizations there. 871 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,623 They passed him on to resistance groups in France. 872 00:39:45,707 --> 00:39:48,960 He traveled all the way across occupied France, 873 00:39:49,044 --> 00:39:50,878 eventually crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, 874 00:39:50,963 --> 00:39:53,139 and got from Spain to Gibraltar, 875 00:39:53,224 --> 00:39:54,298 and back to England. 876 00:39:54,383 --> 00:39:56,726 Took him about three months, but again, 877 00:39:56,811 --> 00:39:59,470 a remarkable success as an escaper. 878 00:39:59,555 --> 00:40:00,888 ♪ ♪ 879 00:40:00,973 --> 00:40:02,056 - The rest of the escapees 880 00:40:02,141 --> 00:40:04,725 did not share the same good fortune. 881 00:40:04,810 --> 00:40:05,977 ♪ ♪ 882 00:40:06,061 --> 00:40:09,147 - All POWs have the right to expect that 883 00:40:09,231 --> 00:40:10,982 as long as they are identifiable 884 00:40:11,066 --> 00:40:11,991 as a prisoner of war 885 00:40:12,151 --> 00:40:12,984 that they will be retained 886 00:40:13,077 --> 00:40:14,160 as a prisoner of war. 887 00:40:14,245 --> 00:40:15,412 They may be punished 888 00:40:15,496 --> 00:40:17,163 by being put into detention or whatever, 889 00:40:17,248 --> 00:40:19,332 but they wouldn't have expected in any way 890 00:40:19,417 --> 00:40:20,908 to have been murdered, 891 00:40:20,993 --> 00:40:22,827 and that's what ultimately happened. 892 00:40:22,911 --> 00:40:27,924 ♪ ♪ 893 00:40:28,008 --> 00:40:30,918 - Hitler himself was incredibly displeased 894 00:40:31,003 --> 00:40:32,762 when this news reached him, 895 00:40:32,847 --> 00:40:35,348 and his initial impulse was to execute 896 00:40:35,433 --> 00:40:37,183 every escapee that they found. 897 00:40:37,268 --> 00:40:40,428 And he was eventually talked down to executing only 50. 898 00:40:40,521 --> 00:40:41,938 And these men were executed 899 00:40:42,022 --> 00:40:44,524 in the most heinous manner possible. 900 00:40:44,608 --> 00:40:48,436 - One particularly telling moment is one Gestapo agent 901 00:40:48,529 --> 00:40:49,946 who rings his girlfriend to say, 902 00:40:50,030 --> 00:40:52,523 "Oh, darling, I'm gonna be late for my dinner. 903 00:40:52,608 --> 00:40:54,784 Can you keep it warm for me? I'll be back soon." 904 00:40:54,869 --> 00:41:00,781 He then drove out these two aviators to a lonely space 905 00:41:00,866 --> 00:41:02,876 and killed them and came back to his dinner. 906 00:41:03,035 --> 00:41:05,036 [gunshots] [grunting] 907 00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:07,205 ♪ ♪ 908 00:41:07,289 --> 00:41:10,291 This was cold-blooded murder. 909 00:41:10,375 --> 00:41:13,294 - Roger Bushell is one of the 50 POWs 910 00:41:13,378 --> 00:41:16,964 brutally executed under orders from Hitler. 911 00:41:17,049 --> 00:41:19,133 - So Bushell successfully got out of the tunnel. 912 00:41:19,218 --> 00:41:20,968 He was traveling by train, 913 00:41:21,053 --> 00:41:23,229 transferring from one train to another. 914 00:41:23,314 --> 00:41:25,556 His documents were closely examined. 915 00:41:25,649 --> 00:41:27,892 They were seen to be forgeries, and immediately, 916 00:41:27,976 --> 00:41:30,061 Bushell was put into the hands of the Gestapo. 917 00:41:30,145 --> 00:41:32,813 ♪ ♪ 918 00:41:32,907 --> 00:41:37,568 - But his plan was not in vain. 919 00:41:37,653 --> 00:41:39,245 - Roger Bushell's goal 920 00:41:39,330 --> 00:41:42,573 was to disrupt the German high command 921 00:41:42,658 --> 00:41:45,084 by flooding escapers throughout occupied Europe. 922 00:41:45,169 --> 00:41:48,246 [dramatic music] 923 00:41:48,330 --> 00:41:51,424 ♪ ♪ 924 00:41:51,509 --> 00:41:55,753 In this, I think he succeeded more than he ever imagined. 925 00:41:55,846 --> 00:41:59,173 The news of the escape came to the daily conference 926 00:41:59,258 --> 00:42:00,517 at Hitler's headquarters, 927 00:42:00,601 --> 00:42:03,928 and you see, from this point, a growing dissent 928 00:42:04,012 --> 00:42:06,356 in the highest ranks of the Nazi regime. 929 00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:08,683 And you can find the people who were closely connected 930 00:42:08,767 --> 00:42:10,935 with the great escape aftermath, 931 00:42:11,019 --> 00:42:14,605 who clearly moved into an opposition to Hitler 932 00:42:14,690 --> 00:42:19,277 because they were disturbed by what went on 933 00:42:19,370 --> 00:42:21,445 in the aftermath of the escape from Stalag Luft III. 934 00:42:21,530 --> 00:42:24,707 ♪ ♪ 935 00:42:24,866 --> 00:42:26,951 - Squadron leader Roger Bushell 936 00:42:27,035 --> 00:42:29,629 persuaded his fellow prisoners 937 00:42:29,713 --> 00:42:31,548 that it was worth risking their lives 938 00:42:31,632 --> 00:42:34,792 to escape Stalag Luft III. 939 00:42:34,876 --> 00:42:37,461 The goal was not freedom. 940 00:42:37,546 --> 00:42:41,474 The goal was to undermine Hitler. 941 00:42:41,633 --> 00:42:43,560 By ordering the execution 942 00:42:43,644 --> 00:42:47,897 of Bushell and 49 other escapees, 943 00:42:47,982 --> 00:42:50,725 Hitler played right into their hands. 944 00:42:50,818 --> 00:42:54,061 It opened a rift within Nazi armed forces, 945 00:42:54,146 --> 00:42:57,156 one that would never heal. 946 00:42:57,241 --> 00:43:00,735 Did it help end World War II? 947 00:43:00,819 --> 00:43:04,080 Some historians say it did, 948 00:43:04,164 --> 00:43:06,824 and that was all Roger Bushell hoped for. 949 00:43:06,908 --> 00:43:08,084 ♪ ♪