The Colditz Story

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Reid joined the Territorial Army and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 16 June 1933 on the General List. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps ( Supplementary Reserve) with the same rank on 5 June 1935. He was promoted to Lieutenant exactly three years later on 5 June 1938. [2] Drue Heinz, and the little literary mystery of a wartime striptease". phoenixarkpress.com. 15 December 2010 . Retrieved 10 October 2011. Christian Führer (1943–2014), priest in Colditz from 1968 to 1980, an initiator of the peaceful revolution in the GDR as pastor of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig

The most dangerous time for the prisoners begins as the fighting gets ever closer to Colditz. Shaw accepts that the glider will never fly out of the castle. Fortunately, the Kommandant comes to Colonel Preston with a plea for a guarantee that he and his men will be delivered to the American forces and treated as prisoners of war. Colonel Preston and Colonel Dodd agree on condition that command of the castle garrison is immediately relinquished to them. The Kommandant reluctantly complies, and Colonel Preston takes command. With roles reversed, the SBO coordinates the running of Colditz and its German guard and everyone takes part in a last evening celebration. The next morning, US troops arrive.British Squadron Leader Brian Paddon escaped to Sweden via Danzig when sent to his previous camp for a court-martial. The bed sheet rope [ edit ] Photo of the bed sheet rope used in the 'tea chest' escape from Colditz by Dominic Bruce. Chancellor, Henry (2001). Colditz: the definitive history. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-79494-1. OCLC 45592911.

As with all his work, Prisoners Of The Castle is filled with wonderful, lesser-known characters who will no doubt enhance the inevitable TV adaptation. It was an unlikely location for the reunion of a group of men who had spent years as enemies, trying to outwit one another in the midst of a brutal global war. Prisoners made numerous attempts to escape from Oflag IV-C, one of the most famous German Army prisoner-of-war camps for officers in World War II. Between 30 and 36 men succeeded in their attempts - exact numbers differ between German and Allied sources. The camp was situated in Colditz Castle, perched on a cliff overlooking the town of Colditz in Saxony. Reid became an "escape officer", helping to coordinate break-outs, and eventually made his own successful "home run", one of only 23, arriving in Switzerland in October 1942 where he spent the rest of the war.Alongside class distinctions, there was mental illness, anti-Semitism (French officers ostracised their Jewish comrades, forcing them to eat separately), collaboration and racism. Quite crucially, by no means everyone was desperate to escape. French prisoners, incarcerated in Colditz Castle during the Second World War, spent some 8 months digging an escape tunnel. This 5.2m vertical shaft, located in a corner of the chapel, is a small part of the construction.