Experts reveal how the ‘Great Escape’ tunnels were created

It WAS immortalised in the film The Great Escape – now a group of men has revealed the miracle of the Stalag Luft break-out by recreating the famous tunnels.

Since the 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough, the escape of RAF airmen from the German prisoner of war camp has become the stuff of legend. But many of the secrets behind how 76 men escaped via a 100-metre-long tunnel from Stalag Luft III have remained unexplained.

A team of experts, archaeologists, veterans and modern-day RAF personnel, led by Cambridge University’s Dr Hugh Hunt returned to the site near Zagan, Poland, to excavate for the first time the remains of “George”, a tunnel that was in progress when the war ended, and the famous “Harry” tunnel from which the Allied airmen escaped in 1944.

Dr Hunt said: “Although only a handful of men worked on the tunnel directly, the escape plan involved hundreds of prisoners who never really knew what the plan actually was.

“It took a year to dig the tunnel, but for more than 70 years since then, ‘Harry’ and ‘George’ have remained undisturbed, and with them the final secrets of a remarkable story and history.”

The modern-day team designed a ten-metre tunnel, evaluated shoring methods, built the railway track and crafted digging tools and saws fashioned from bits of gramophone players, bunk beds and kit bags.

Dr Hunt said: “We all came away with an appreciation of just how difficult – and dangerous – digging the tunnel must have been.”

The results can be seen in Digging the Great Escape, shown on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm.