In my previous posts about the various prison escapes, I have talked at length about the methods used by the prisoners to outwit their German captors. However, one thing that may still be confusing is why so much emphasis was put on these escapes. The answer is because the prisoners showed immense courage to do what they did, but not only in the act of escaping itself.
The reason so much emphasis is put on these escapes is because of the daring of the prisoners to escape into the heart of a country whose contempt and hate for them grew with every Allied advance. This led Hitler to enact more and more severe punishments for escapees, but still within the bounds of the Geneva Convention, which laid out rules of conduct in war between POW and jailer. these bounds included the prisoner's duty to, in a nutshell, escape and confound the enemy and use an inordinate amount of resources to maintain their confinement.The other big bound was that jailers couldn't kill prisoners.
However, as the war went on Hitler could not afford to tie up more and more resources to round up escaping prisoners. After the Great Escape, where 76 prisoners escaped, an example had to be made. After they chose 50 of those captured to be summarily executed, posters popped up in all of the German POW camps warning the prisoners that if they were caught escaping again they would be killed.
Even so, many prisoners dared to resist their German captors, although significantly less than in previous years. The prisoners of Stalag Luft III worked on yet another tunnel after the Great Escape, and the prisoners of Colditz built the Colditz Cock glider. These men knew the risks if they were to be caught and they still did these things. This was the kind of courage that legends were made of. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.
(Sourced from "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill and "Colditz: The Untold Story of World War II's Great Escapes" by Henry Chancellor)
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