"to supporting resistance movements and helping prisoners escape. His immediate superior was the Colditz escapee Airey Neave. At the end of the war, he took part in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He said about this experience: After the war he decided to become a comedian and worked in the Windmill Theatre where he met Harry Secombe. He specialised in off-the-wall humour, often involving cartoons and other types of animation. His acts included giving lectures in an invented language called Slobodian, ""Imaginative Young Man with a Walking Stick"" and ""The Chairback"", with a broken chairback having a number of"
"Pat Reid Patrick Robert Reid, MBE, MC (13 November 1910 – 22 May 1990) was a British Army officer and author of historical non-fiction. As a British prisoner of war during the Second World War, he was held captive at Colditz Castle when it was designated Oflag IV-C. Reid was one of the few to escape from Colditz, crossing the border into neutral Switzerland in late 1942. After the war Reid was a diplomat and administrator before eventually returning to his prewar career in civil engineering. He also wrote about his experiences in two best-selling books, which became the basis"
"Pierre Mairesse-Lebrun Pierre Marie Jean-Baptiste Mairesse-Lebrun (16 March 1912 – 6 December 2003) was a French Army cavalry officer who became famous for his daring escape from Colditz castle, Oflag IV-C. He was born in Bauzy, Loir-et-Cher. Lebrun served as a captain in the 4th regiment Chasseurs de l'Afrique and was captured during the Fall of France. He was sent to Oflag IV-C, at Colditz Castle, from which he escaped on July 2, 1941. After a walk in the park all POWs gathered to be counted and be escorted back to the main castle. At this moment all guards, who"
"tried to escape again but fractured his spine paralysing his legs. On July 20, 1946, he married Christine Solvay (1922–2006). Lebrun was created a Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur. Pierre Mairesse-Lebrun Pierre Marie Jean-Baptiste Mairesse-Lebrun (16 March 1912 – 6 December 2003) was a French Army cavalry officer who became famous for his daring escape from Colditz castle, Oflag IV-C. He was born in Bauzy, Loir-et-Cher. Lebrun served as a captain in the 4th regiment Chasseurs de l'Afrique and was captured during the Fall of France. He was sent to Oflag IV-C, at Colditz Castle, from which he escaped on"
"Hans Larive Etienne Henri ""Hans"" Larive, MWO, DSC and bar, (23 September 1915 – 28 December 1984) was a Dutch naval officer during World War II. He escaped from the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle in 1941, and spent the rest of the war in England serving aboard Motor Torpedo Boats. He later wrote his memoir ""Vannacht varen de Hollanders"" (1950), which was republished translated into English as ""The Man Who Came in From Colditz"" (1975) – a pun on the best-selling novel ""The Spy Who Came in from the Cold"". Larive was born on 23"
"memorial plaque was erected, replacing the one previously mounted (and subsequently disappeared after 1989) on the house at Strelitzer Strasse 55. This was done on the initiative of both, former escape helpers and friends of Egon Schultz, on the 40th anniversary of his death. Egon Schultz Egon Schultz (4 January 1943 – 5 October 1964) was a German sergeant of the East German Border Troops who became the fifty-second known person to die at the Berlin Wall. While responding to the discovery of “Tunnel 57”, Schultz was shot by escapees during a shootout before being killed by friendly fire. Schultz"
"Hank Wardle Howard Douglas Wardle MC (15 August 1915 – January 1995), commonly known as Hank, was a Canadian pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He is notable for having escaped from Colditz prison during World War II. Wardle was born in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada. Wardle joined the Royal Air Force in December 1938. After completing pilot training, he joined No. 218 Squadron with the rank of Pilot Officer at Auberiver-sur-Suippes, France on 29 November 1939. Pilot Officer Wardle was shot down near Crailsheim, Germany on 20 April 1940 while conducting a reconnaissance mission in a"
"Dominic Bruce Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce (7 June 1915 – 12 February 2000) was a British Royal Air Force officer, known as the ""Medium Sized Man."" He has been described as ""the most ingenious escaper"" of World War II. During the Second World War he made seventeen attempts at escaping from POW camps, including several attempts to escape from Colditz Castle, a castle that housed prisoners of war ""deemed incorrigible."" Famed for his time in Colditz, Bruce also escaped from Spangenberg Castle and the Warburg POW camp. In Spangenberg Castle he escaped with the ""Swiss Red Cross Commission escape,"" it"
"The Colditz Story The Colditz Story is a 1955 prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton. It is based on the book written by Pat Reid, a British army officer who was imprisoned in Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, in Germany during the Second World War and who was the Escape Officer for British POWs within the castle. In World War II, the Germans transformed Colditz Castle into a high security prisoner-of-war camp called Oflag IV-C. Its purpose was to restrain those Allied prisoners who had attempted to escape from other Oflags and"
"1200 French prisoners were brought to Colditz Castle, with 600 more being imprisoned in the town below. On 16 April, Oflag IV C was captured by American soldiers from 1st US Army. Among the more notable inmates were British fighter ace Douglas Bader; Pat Reid, the man who brought Colditz to public attention with his post war books; Airey Neave, the first British officer to escape from Colditz and later a British Member of Parliament; New Zealand Army Captain Charles Upham, the only combat soldier ever to receive the Victoria Cross twice; and Sir David Stirling, founder of the wartime"
"Egon Schultz Egon Schultz (4 January 1943 – 5 October 1964) was a German sergeant of the East German Border Troops who became the fifty-second known person to die at the Berlin Wall. While responding to the discovery of “Tunnel 57”, Schultz was shot by escapees during a shootout before being killed by friendly fire. Schultz became a national hero in East Germany, with hundreds of memorials and schools named in his honor, and his death caused a public sensation in East Germany and West Germany. Following the reunification of Germany, many of the memorials to Schultz were removed, although"
"hundred and fifty feet (75meters) to the River Mulde below. The first prisoners arrived in November 1939; they were 140 Polish officers from the September Campaign who were regarded as escape risks. Most of them were later transferred to other Oflags. In October 1940, Donald Middleton, Keith Milne, and Howard Wardle (a Canadian who joined the RAF just before the war) became the first British prisoners at Colditz. On 7November, six British officers, the ""Laufen Six"", named after the camp (Oflag VII) from which they made their first escape, arrived: Harry Elliott, Rupert Barry (later Sir Rupert Barry), Pat Reid,"
"on film include: From 1996 to 2006 the Colditz Society created a selection of filmed interviews with many Colditz survivors. Bruce was recorded and is referenced in the collection. These interviews are now museum artefacts and are held in the Imperial War Museum. Dominic Bruce Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce (7 June 1915 – 12 February 2000) was a British Royal Air Force officer, known as the ""Medium Sized Man."" He has been described as ""the most ingenious escaper"" of World War II. During the Second World War he made seventeen attempts at escaping from POW camps, including several attempts to"
"Kenneth Lockwood Captain Kenneth Lockwood MBE (17 December 1911 - 8 October 2007) was a stockbroker and an officer in the British Army. He was one of the first six British prisoners of war to arrive at Oflag IV-C, Colditz, in 1940. He made and assisted in numerous escape attempts, working with the chairman of the escape committee, Pat Reid, and was still at the castle when it was liberated by the US Army in April 1945. He was the honorary secretary of the Colditz Association for 50 years. Lockwood was born in London, the son of a jobber at"
"(""The Dutch Sail Tonight""), later published in English as ""The Man Who Came in From Colditz"". He died at The Hague on 28 December 1984. Hans Larive Etienne Henri ""Hans"" Larive, MWO, DSC and bar, (23 September 1915 – 28 December 1984) was a Dutch naval officer during World War II. He escaped from the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle in 1941, and spent the rest of the war in England serving aboard Motor Torpedo Boats. He later wrote his memoir ""Vannacht varen de Hollanders"" (1950), which was republished translated into English as ""The Man Who"
"— his casket was draped with a Union Jack flag made by the German guards, and he received a seven-gun salute. Post-war he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the only man to receive it for escaping during World War II. He is currently buried in grave number 10.1.14 at Berlin War Cemetery in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district of Berlin. Because of his very small stature, Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce was known ironically as the ""medium-sized man"". He arrived at Colditz in 1942 (after attempting to escape from Spangenberg Castle disguised as a Red Cross doctor). When a new commandant arrived"
"this, Eggers was active in meeting with former Colditz inmates and writing his memoirs. He retired to live by Lake Constance, where he died in 1974, aged 84. Reinhold Eggers Reinhold Eggers (1890–1974) was the security officer at Oflag IV-C from November 1940 until April 1945, promoted to chief of security in 1944. The Nova television programme ""Nazi Prison Escape"", a shortened cut of a British documentary series, was based on his books about Colditz. He spent 10 years in Russian-ordered imprisonment following the war, and was released in 1955. In March 1913, Eggers was called up for military service"
"being a very serious charge. To defend himself, Bruce choose a fellow Colditz prisoner, Lieutenant Alan Campbell, a trained lawyer, to advocate for him. Campbell (subsequently Baron Campbell of Alloway ERD QC (24 May 1917 – 30 June 2013)) argued that, according to King's Regulations, Bruce had a duty to escape; and using a precedent, cited a case of a German fighter pilot called Franz von Werra who had escaped, von Werra who was famed for getting the German High Command to change its policy with regards to POW's; and highlighted the fact that Bruce had never used violence. After"
"Machiel van den Heuvel Machiel van den Heuvel (7 May 1900, Haarlemmermeer – 29 June 1946, near Bandung) was a Dutch army officer. As a prisoner-of-war in Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany, during World War II, he served as Escape Officer for the Dutch POWs, a role also held by Captain Pat Reid, the author of ""The Colditz Story"", for the British. Van den Heuvel played a key role in most Dutch officer escapes (such as Hans Larive, Francis Steinmetz and Anthony Luteyn) during the war. Machiel (""Jim"") van den Heuvel, known as ""Vandy"" by the British POW's, was"
"A BBC television series, ""Colditz"", was based on Reid's book and broadcast 1972–74. It starred David McCallum, Robert Wagner, Jack Hedley and Edward Hardwicke. The Colditz Story The Colditz Story is a 1955 prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton. It is based on the book written by Pat Reid, a British army officer who was imprisoned in Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, in Germany during the Second World War and who was the Escape Officer for British POWs within the castle. In World War II, the Germans transformed Colditz Castle into a"
"the border. After 1989 the memorials were vandalised, neglected and ultimately removed. Few East German escapees were commemorated in the West, not least because their identities were mostly unknown until after 1989. One notable exception was Helmut Kleinert, a 23-year-old from Quedlinburg in Saxony-Anhalt who was machine-gunned to death on 1 August 1963 as he and his 22-year-old pregnant wife attempted to cross the border near Hohegeiß in the Harz mountains. A memorial dedicated to ""The Unknown"" was soon erected by local people on the western side of the border. When Kleinert's identity became known in the West, his name"
"crimes. Halldor Espelid Halldor Espelid (6 October 1920 – 29 March 1944), known as ""Harold"" was a Norwegian Supermarine Spitfire pilot who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He is notable for the part he took in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944 and as one of the men re-captured and subsequently shot by the ""Gestapo"". Espelid was born in Askøy, Norway. He was the older brother of Norwegian politician Mons Espelid (1926–2009) and Ingrid Espelid Hovig. German prisoner of war records state that his first name was Harold and that he was born"
"and shown in the US in 2001 as ""Nazi Prison Escape"" on the NOVA television series. Pat Reid claimed in ""Colditz: The Full Story"" that there were 31 ""home runs"", whereas German authorities cite 30, and some other sources count 36. Reid included prisoners from the hospital and prisoners being transported, who were not directly under Colditz staff control. Henry Chancellor in ""Colditz: The Definitive History"" claims 32 escaped, but only 15 were ""home runs"": 1 Belgian, 11 British, 7 Dutch, 12 French, and 1 Polish. The difference is that Reid claims any successful escape by an ""official"" Colditz POW"
"hotel and shot Heinz dead. In the shoot-out, one of his staff and another hotel guest were also killed, along with two assassins. The deaths signalled the end of the independence movement. Clashes between nationalists and separatists followed, leading to a number of other deaths, notably in Pirmasens where 12 separatists trapped in a building were burned out and then massacred. A monument was later put up in the Speyer cemetery to the two murderers who died in the shoot-out after the assassination. Franz Josef Heinz Franz Josef Heinz, known as Heinz-Orbis, (25 February 1884 - 9 January 1924) was"
"Newt Gingrich, and other novels. In ""The Eagle Has Landed"" by Jack Higgins, the rescue of Mussolini inspires a plan to kidnap Winston Churchill. He has also appeared as a villain in the second volume of ""Atomic Robo"". Skorzeny has appeared as a character in TV-dramas such as """" and ""Mussolini and I"". Otto Skorzeny Otto Skorzeny (12 June 19085 July 1975) was an Austrian born SS-""Obersturmbannführer"" (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a string of operations, including the removal of Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy from power and the rescue"
"the war, but his efforts were recognized by being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in June 1946. Howe died in hospital in Tunbridge Wells, Kent in 1981. Dick Howe Captain Richard Herbert ""Dick"" Howe (21 June 1912 - c. 1 June 1981) was a British army officer during World War II. He was captured by the Germans in 1940 and eventually held in Oflag IV-C, at Colditz Castle, where he served as Escape Officer from 1942 to 1945. He organised many escapes including eight successful ""home runs"" of British officers. Richard Herbert Howe was born"
"Story"", based on Reid's book of the same name, Lockwood was played by Richard Wattis. He received an MBE in 1990. He never married. Kenneth Lockwood Captain Kenneth Lockwood MBE (17 December 1911 - 8 October 2007) was a stockbroker and an officer in the British Army. He was one of the first six British prisoners of war to arrive at Oflag IV-C, Colditz, in 1940. He made and assisted in numerous escape attempts, working with the chairman of the escape committee, Pat Reid, and was still at the castle when it was liberated by the US Army in April"
"then Peggy George, who predeceased him. He had one son during his first marriage; and two step-daughters by his second. Francis Steinmetz Francis Steinmetz (20 September 1914 – 2 January 2006) was an officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy who escaped from Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, a German POW camp, during World War II, making a ""home run"" to safety. Steinmetz was born 20 September 1914 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies and entered the Dutch Royal Navy in September 1932. After periods on various boats he was posted to the submarine service. He was captured in 1940 in Amsterdam by"
"to the London Gazette on 8 June 1944. The Gestapo executed a group of 50 of the recaptured prisoners representing almost all of the nationalities involved in the escape. Post-war investigations saw a number of those guilty of the murders tracked down, arrested and tried for their crimes. Johannes Gouws Johannes Gouws (13 August 1919 – 29 March 1944), was a fighter pilot from South Africa who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. Notable for his part in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944 when he almost reached Switzerland but was one of the"
"awry: Sinclair attempted to copy Lebrun's escape; climbing over the barbed wire and jumping over the wall at the end, on 25 September 1944. He climbed over the fencing, was hit over the head by the butt of a gun by the guard but continued running. The guards fired at him and a bullet hit his elbow, bouncing off and penetrating his heart, killing him. He was the only prisoner to be killed during an escape attempt at Colditz. The Germans buried Sinclair in Colditz Civil Cemetery with full military honours, his coffin was draped with a Union Flag made"
"in Colditz by Thomsberger & Hermann. In the Nazi era, Colditz Castle was temporarily used as a concentration camp by the SA and as a ""Reichsarbeitsdienst"" camp. During the Second World War, the town did not suffer any damage. In 1940, the town became the military district IV headquarters for personnel guarding an ""Oflag"" POW camp for officers, when Oflag IV-C was established in the castle. It became widely known after the war, for both its notable inmates (""Prominente""), such as Giles Romilly or George Lascelles, and several escape attempts. On 14April 1945, the U.S. Army entered the town and"
"Anthony Luteyn Abraham Pierre Tony Luteyn (10 February 1917 – 9 February 2003) was a Dutch officer who successfully escaped from the German prisoner of war camp of Colditz. Sometimes he is referred to as Anthony Luteyn. Luteyn was born at Batavia, Dutch East Indies. At the outbreak of World War II in the Netherlands, Luteyn was a cadet of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger, KNIL) at the Dutch military academy (Koninklijke Militaire Academie, KMA). After the capitulation of the Dutch armed forces, all officers and cadets were asked to give their word of honour"
"Escape from Colditz Escape from Colditz is a strategy card and dice-based board game produced by H.P.Gibson & Sons Ltd London and first released in 1973. The original game box features escape equipment on the lid and has a four section, black plastic internal game items tray. It was licensed to Parker Brothers in the US in the mid-1970s. The game was devised by successful escaper Pat Reid, based on the prisoner-of-war camp (Oflag IV-C) at Colditz Castle in Germany during World War II. The castle was built by the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony from 1694 to"