Free Great Escapes by Terry Treadwell

French Tunnel was constructed in 1941–2. Also known as Le Métro by the British, this was a truly amazing escape attempt. A group of French prisoners known as the Société Anonyme du Tunnel, dug a shaft in the clock tower of the castle, tunnelled through a wine cellar, through the oak joists of the chapel and around the walls of the castle itself. The tunnel was started in March 1941 and was discovered by the Germans in January 1942 with less than 3m to go. During the course of the digging, the tunnellers removed 1,200 cubic metres of rubble and managed to secrete it away somewhere within the castle itself.
    Then on 29 May one of the most audacious attempts for a mass escape occurred. One of the guards who patrolled the area outside the canteen had been bribed with a promise of 700 marks if he was to ‘turn a blind eye’ to any activity. He had been given a down payment of 100 marks, but he reported the incident to his superiors and was told to keep up the pretence of going along with the plan. The problem was that the Germans had no idea how the escape was to be made and how many people were involved.
    The escapees had loosened a drain cover in the floor of the canteen, had entered the drain tunnel, broken through a side wall and dug a tunnel under the castle wall. The operation had been carried out at night, and had involved picking the locks of the doors leading from a staircase into a yard, and from there through another door into the canteen.
    On the night in question, the Germans waited in the guardroom for the escape to be attempted. Searchlights flickered over the terrace beneath the walls of the castle, and the guards watched nervously for the first signs of movement, not knowing where it was to come from. Then there was a sudden slight movement in the grass. Training his binoculars on the spot, the German officer leading the security team saw a square of turf slowly being raised up on a wooden frame. The turf was then placed to one side and the head and shoulders of a man appeared. Guards quickly occupied the canteen from where the escape was being made. Whilst this was going on, the guards outside surrounded the tunnel exit and arrested Captain Pat Reid, the man coming out of the hole in the grass. In all, twelve men – ten British and two Polish – dressed in civilian clothes, with fake identities and carrying money in German marks, were discovered in the tunnel. The guard was allowed to keep the money he had been given as a bribe, promoted and given extra leave.
    The escape attempt, although foiled, showed the lengths and ingenuity to which the prisoners would go to gain their freedom. Almost every day ingenious, and some frankly harebrained, ideas were put before the escape committees and attempts were made every month by the French, Dutch or the Poles. The British at the time seemed to be more concerned with the setting up of escapes rather than actually taking part. This of course was extremely important, as every escape attempt had to be orchestrated to a certain extent, and required a great deal of planning and the co-operation of the other nationalities in the camp.
    There were only three ways of getting out of Colditz: through, over or under the wire or wall. Going under meant tunnelling, and Colditz was a castle on a hill, so although tunnels were attempted, none were successful. Going over the wire was the most dangerous method of attempting to escape because the escapee could easily be spotted and left exposed. Through the wire or wall, i.e. hiding in carts or wagons that were delivering goods, or impersonating someone who was permitted to go in or out of the camp, was the most successful of all the attempts.
    It was left to a French cavalry officer, Lt Pierre Mairesse Lebrun, to carry out one of the most daring escape attempts. Lebrun attempted his escape on 9 June 1941, when he hid in the rafters of a park pavilion in the local recreation area where prisoners were allowed out in small groups to