The First Great Escape

For many, the phrase “Great Escape” conjures images of Steve McQueen on a motorcycle, trying desperately to elude capture after breaking out of a World War II-era prisoner-of-war camp in the hit 1963 movie. Real-life escapes from German POW camps also took place during the earlier World War I. Filmmaker Max Jourdan's docudrama set in Holzminden—a notoriously brutal camp housing British and Australian officers—tells the remarkable tale of a nine-month effort to dig a long tunnel beneath the prisoner barracks to a point beyond the walls. The complicated task required digging through earth and stone with spoons (or anything else that could be used). Extending the tunnel by one foot per day was considered good progress. The shoveled dirt had to be passed backward from hand to hand, one small bowlful at a time, until it reached the tunnel entrance and could be hidden in bags. An elaborate smuggling operation made maps, a compass, and civilian clothing available for disguise following the eventual escape. A few setbacks—such as the sudden appearance of a guard station outside the camp—added drama, but by July 1918 it was time for the prisoners to risk everything for freedom. Combining expert analysis by historians with compelling re-enactment scenes of the claustrophobia-inducing dig, this true story is recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)