Posted on 06/17/2017 6:33:50 PM PDT by DFG
The architect of the Second World War prison break immortalised by The Great Escape is to be honoured with a plaque on the spot where Gestapo officers murdered him in 1944. Daredevil skiier, ladies' man and multilingual Cambridge-educated barrister Roger Bushell helped 76 prisoners of war escape from Stalag Luft III, a Nazi camp in occupied Poland. Just 33 at the time of his death, Squadron Leader Bushell - played by Richard Attenborough in the classic 1963 film - had been in enemy hands since his first day of combat, when he was shot down in a Spitfire during the Dunkirk evacuation.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Most weren’t spared. 77 made it through the tunnel. 2 surrendered immediately when the escape was discovered. 72 of the 75 that made it away from the camp were recaptured, and 50 of the escapees were shot. Three made good their escape (2 to Sweden by boat, one by land to Spain.)
Well my memory is not so good.
Oh no!
Just judging from the movie’s dates you’re right.
Well, unlike childhood, movies can be re-run.
The brits must still be pissed at the Krauts. I suspect the Queen and Frau Merkel are NOT the best of friends since Brexit.
Hitler ordered “50%” of the escapees to be shot, and the Gestapo interpreted that as “50”. So, 50 out of 76 were executed.
Bkmrk
Indeed, he created more hell for the germans as a POW than he ever did as a Spit pilot.Unfortunately it cost him his life and look where,some 70 years on,his country is now.Very sad.
The movie said most of the men were composites. My understanding was much of the inspiration behind Hilts was Jerry Sage. Check out on Amazon for his autobiography. It was a very good read. Another good autobiography from one flier there was Lonesome Read by George Harsh. At one point he was in prison for life in a chain gang before the war. Another good book.
The Americans had three members on the escape committee and they helped digging the tunnel. But the Americans were separated before the actual escape. Robert Stanford Tuck also was moved right before the break or else he would have been in the escape.
....One of two movies shown at my elementary school. ‘Forbidden Planet’ the other....
Wow, all we saw were travel movies and I think one about the President’s.
Later in high school it was several
Gory safety movies in woodshop.
Yeah Coburn and Bronson made it out, IIRC. Coburn was so cool at the sidewalk cafe: For moi?
Hitler ordered all the escapees shot but Goering pleaded with him and most were spared. I think 50 were actually shot but could remember wrong on that.
Hitler first decreed all escapee caught be shot, Goering
convinced him to relent. Hitler said OK 50, meaning 50 %
Goering took it to mean shot 50 prisoners
A movie that hearkens back to when Hollywood was still patriotic. My understanding is many of the producers and others affiliated with the film had real life connections to the escape. The motorcycle events were fiction, but most of the other scenes and details were based on reality. Camp life was shown realistically, this was not Hogan’s Heroes. The details of tunnel construction were well depicted.
What a cast! James Garner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Richard Attenborough, James Coburn, Donald Pleasance, and Ducky from NCIS (Illya Kuriarkin) and many others. This was a time when movies were BIG, grand and you looked forward to seeing them ... like Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Ten Commandments, Forbidden Planet, etc.
Artur Nebe, head of Kriminal Polizei (Kripo), the German detective service , roughly similar to FBI was in charge
of picking the men to be shot. All non British (Poles,
Czech, Australian, Canadians, etc) caught were shot
Nebe is a real disgusting character, prewar shook down Jews
looking to escape Germany. He commanded one of the
Einsatz Groups on the Eastern Front, rounding up and murdering Jews.
He was mixed up in the July assassination plot against
Hitler and went underground. He was caught and executed in
1945 for part in plot.
“Still remember them using the matches and cigarette for a fuse. If the day ever comes...”
That trick doesn’t work with today’s cigarettes as there’s an additive that doesn’t allow them to continue burning without being smoked.
NO, but I’m sure his stunt double could
“What good does it do, if the Nazis shoot you anyhow?”
Seriously?
It’s called “defiance”.
L
There was another WW II escape film with Bruce Willis as an American officer, Hart’s War, that was pretty good but it also rewrote history since the escapees were British not Yanks.
>>McQueen also did not make that jump.<<
It was true....all true damn it. You guyz are just popin bubbles this morning. lol
Steve made the jump I tell ya...he did, he did.
There was another WW II escape film with Bruce Willis as an American officer, Hart’s War, that was pretty good but it also rewrote history since the escapees were British not Yanks.
Truth be told, they even took the keys away from him in Bullet too!
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