Lecture | Digging the Great Escape: The Archaeology of Stalag Luft 3

Wednesday 12th February
6.30pm-8.00pm

On night of 24-25 March 1944, 76 RAF Prisoners of War left the confines of Stalag Luft 3 via a tunnel code-named ‘Harry’. After sparking the biggest manhunt of the Second World War, 73 of the escapees were recaptured, and on the orders of Adolf Hitler 50 of them, including the head of the escape operation, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, were murdered by the Gestapo. Just three men made ‘home runs’, two of them reaching Sweden, and one Sapin, both of which were neutral countries. What became known as the Great Escape spawned numerous books and most famously the Holly wood Movie, The Great Escape (1963).

In 2011 a team of archaeologists, led by Tony Pollard, returned to the site of the Stalag Luft 3 camp at Sagan, which today is in Poland. Accompanied by veterans of the escape, including Frank Stone, who was to become good friends with Tony, the team made some striking discoveries related to the escape. These included the rediscovery of the entrance to ‘Harry’, which was buried by the Germans in 1944 and hadn’t been seen since, and the discovery and excavation of a later tunnel called ‘George’, dug into the floor of the camp theatre.

In this talk, Professor Tony Pollard from University of Glasgow will tell the story of the ‘Digging the Great Escape’, project and in doing so provide a preview of part of his forthcoming book, ‘The Wars Beneath My Feet: Adventures in Conflict Archaeology’.

6.30pm Drinks Reception (Drink included in ticket price), 7.00pm Lecture Commences

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