The Great Escape..

[vetran]

From memory British pilot PoWs in the movie (and presumably original story) were treated far more gallantly than average PoW in German hands, wasn't it Luftwaffe who guarded them rather than SS?



Tried to escape from german prison == death if caught, those prisons must have also been under direction of Luftwaffe with special privileged status for prisoners.

It could therefore be argued that attempted escape in such conditions was breach of trust and ungentelemen-like thing to do.

Either way it was a massive failure with vast majority of escapees shot dead (being shot during escape from PoW is a normal sane expectation).

Crap war movie all in all, a far better one (true story or not) is "Where the Eagles Dare"

Many of the prisons were guarded by the main Army, Navy or Air force not the SS or Gestapo. Whilst they were hardly compassionate they tended to obey the Geneva convention, escape did not mean death just segregation as shown in the film.

The camps were monitored by neutral countries and charities like the red cross, randomly killing inmates would have brought international disdain and possibly other nations joining the war against the Axis powers this is the power behind the Geneva convention.

The Geneva convention does not prohibit escape it just expects humane treatment of POWs on all sides.

The NAZIs already separated the captured Jews and others they saw as sub human and sent them to concentration camps before they got to a Stalag. They were then murdered.

In this instance few POWs were shot while trying to escape the reality is 50 of the 73 escapees were taken to a field in groups of two and murdered, a completely different thing and not something a POW should expect.

Stalag Luft III murders - Wikipedia

It is officially designated as a war crime. Many of the perpetrators were tried and hung after the war.

It was a massive success as not only was a propaganda victory, additional guards were needed and fortifications were needed. As you can see from the list of Gestapo officers involved a massive manhunt was launched. While the Gestapo were pursuing the escaped Airmen they weren't hunting resistance fighters, you can imagine many more soldiers were deployed as the news of the escape got to Adolf Hitler who ordered the murders.

Like Dunkirk & Stalingrad it may have been a sad victory but it was a significant one.

I like where eagles dare but there is a reason this one of the most admired war movies.