Upon the United States’ entry into World War Two, a monumental bombing campaign
was launched against Nazi Germany. During this campaign, thousands of bombers were flown
from Britain to Germany by the United States Army Air Corp. Whereas the British bombed the
Germans at night, the Americans opted to bomb during the day for greater accuracy. This also
made the Americans much easier to shoot down, resulting in roughly 8,000 US bombers being
lost in these raids. Of the bombers lost over Germany, a B-17 crewed by young airmen named
Max Pinkerton. Max survived the ordeal but was taken prisoner by the Germans and
transferred to the prison camp, Stalag Luft III.
Stalag Luft III was different from the prison camps we’ve come to expect from Nazi
Germany. The Luftwaffe, the German Airforce, ran this camp. As such, most of the
prisoners interned there were airmen. The camp was built in 1942 near the town of Sagan. This
location was chosen for its sandy ground, making it difficult for prisoners to tunnel out. Food in
the camp was a challenge but the prisoners were able to maintain a decent caloric intake from
Red Cross parcels and even items occasionally packages sent by the POW’s families. This and
the surprisingly good recreation program in the camp might make you think being a POW in
Nazi Germany wasn’t so bad. You’d be wrong. Many of the camp guards were men who were
too old or too handicapped to fight on the front lines. Therefore, they had to use fear to keep
the prisoners in line. The guards had a tendency for brutality, inspiring two major escapes. The
first one was in 1943 and the second, much larger escape, was in 1944. Despite the Luftwaffe’s
measurements to make digging escape tunnels impossible, both were achieved with escape
tunnels. These tunnels were supported by wooden boards taken from bed frames and dug with
spoons stolen from the mess hall. Although Max Pinkerton was not one of the escapees, he
kept one of the spoons and it later found its way into our collection.
Stalag Luft III was maintained all the way to Germany’s surrender. In the later months of
the war, a large Gestapo presence grew in the camp. Being the secret police of the Nazi party,
the Gestapo arrived to investigate the 1944 escape. German General Arthur Nebe was known in
the camp for executing prisoners. Ironically, he was never charged for this having instead been
executed by the Nazi’s for taking part in the July 20 th plot to kill Adolf Hitler. The camp was
promptly shut down but parts of it still stand today. It acts as a memorial and museum and
even has the escape tunnels dug by prisoners mapped out for guests to see the immense effort
that went into the plot.
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