The First Great Escape - Part 1

If I was to say The Great Escape, people would instantly remember the 1963 film set during the second world war at a German prisoner of war camp. The movie was based on a real account of an escape that took place during the second world war.

However, what a lot of people don’t know is that this wasn’t the first great escape to have taken place. It was one of the biggest escape stories of the second world war however one similar had previously taken place with a previous generation. 

The story begins in 1916 with a man called David Gray. David was a pilot at the start of the war. At this time, flying was a new invention with only a handful of men choosing to learn to fly and little safety precautions undertaken. Pilots was considered to be eccentric, mad men. For people on the home front, flying seemed dangerous and scary.

On 17th September 1916, David Gray was flying in his bi-plane when he was attacked by a German plane. He managed to keep control and land the plane but was subsequently captured by German soldiers and sent to a prisoner of war camp. By September the following year, David had tried to escape various camps five times, all attempts being unsuccessful. After his fifth attempt, he was sent to Holzminden.

Holzminden prisoner of war camp was located in Lower Saxony, Germany and was built in September 1917 for British and British Empire officers. The camp was under the authority of General Karl Von Hanisch would believed a harsh, brutal regime was what was needed. The camp Kommandant was Hauptmann Karl Niemeyer who had previously lived in America and so had a little understanding of the English language.

The camp boasted that it was escape proof. The whole area of the camp was heavily guarded and contained two fences and a ‘no mans land’ in-between. After this there was a high brick wall with barbed wire on top. The camp living quarters consisted of two four storey barrack blocks, with basements that contained cells that prisoners could be held in solitary confinement as punishment. In front of the blocks there were several wooden huts that contained facilities such as the cook house, woodshed, bathhouse and parcel room.

The camp could hold between 500-600 prisoners at any one time, with many of the prisoners being sent there due to previous attempts of escape at other camps. Between 100-160 lower ranked prisoners were also housed at the camp and acted as servants to the officers.  

After only a couple of days at Holzminden, David was longing to be back at the front and new he had to escape. Unlike previously, he knew he wouldn't be able to do it alone. Instead David chose Captain Caspar Kennard to help escape. Caspar had just finished six weeks in solitary confinement after a failed attempt of escaping. Together they chose a third member to help plan the escape, Second Lieutenant Cecil Blain, who had tired numerous times beforehand to escape. 

After discussing ideas, the trio camp to the decision that the only possible way to escape was to tunnel underground. To escape undetected they would need to tunnel 10 metres to a point just outside the perimeter wall. However this was just the first section of the escape - they would then need to run 240 kilometres to reach neutral Holland, before they could then be shipped back to Britain. Although this doesn’t sound to difficult, you have to remember that they didn’t possess any tools to dig and so had to rely on handmade items or spoons which would take a long time to tunnel. The trio knew they would need more help and so spoke to some more prisoners who agreed to help. This brought the number of people included in the planned escape up to twenty. 

The prisoners began tunnelling in the cellar of barrack b. This was difficult in itself as there needed to be men to keep watch and they had to make sure the tunnel went un-detected. They had cut the staircase so that work could happen behind it unseen with wood covering the hole made. The tunnel itself was just 16” in height and ventilation low. The prisoners later described it feeling as if you were being buried alive. The prisoners couldn't stand being in the tunnel for more than one hour and a half. They needed somewhere to hide the soil as it was being dug out so they came up with the idea to store inside mattress covers that were in one corner of the basement. Due to the lack of space, the prisoner digging at the time would take an enamel bowl in with him and fill it up. When the bowl was full, he would tug on a piece of string that was tied to the bowl and the prisoners at the other end would slowly pull the bowl out and dispose of the contents. 

The work was physically and mentally exhausting and it was considered a good days work if one foot of soil was taken out a day. Building the tunnel was a long process but the prisoners were kept going by the thought of outsmarting the Germans and escaping. However the further they got the less air and ventilation there was and the less time could be spent in the tunnel. The prisoners complained of severe headaches and feeling sick. This led them to making a home-made ventilation system built out of any materials they could find that a prisoner could pump air into the tunnel while work was being carried out. They also used bed slates to help hold up the weight of the soil above. 

By Christmas that year, they had tunnels the ten metres they needed to get to the point of exit. However, whether the Germans had received information of a planned attack or whether they just decided to step up security, they placed three sentry’s with guards and dogs around the perimeter of the camp. One of these sentry’s was exactly above the exit point. The prisoners had a huge decision to make. They could either give up and spend the rest of the war in the camp or they could tunnel further...


Come back tomorrow for the second part...