Colditz Conquered

Colditz Castle in 1945

A Day in History - 16th April 1945

Colditz Castle is arguably the most infamous of all POW camps. Declared as 'escape-proof' by Field Marshal Hermann Göring, more prisoners escaped from Colditz than any other POW camp in WW2. Many of the prisoners were repeat escapers and had been transferred to Colditz, for it was designed as a high-security camp, officially known as Oflag IV-C. These escape artists starred in an unbelievable story of tenacity, courage and defiance - one marked by daring plans, audacious attempts, and eventual freedom.

In the heart of Hitler's Reich, this thousand-year-old fortress was efficiently run by a large garrison of Wehrmacht soldiers. Yet unlike many POW camps across Germany, Colditz followed the rules of the Geneva Convention. Essentially this meant that those who tried to escape were punished with solitary confinement rather than execution; the security officers understood it was the duty of the prisoners to try to escape and their job to stop them. Most escape attempts were unsuccessful. Prisoners used a variety of escape strategies including tunnels, tea chests and a multitude of disguises. British Lieutenant Colonel Airey Neave twice dressed as a guard whilst French Lieutenant Boule played the part of a respectable German woman.

Sources differ but estimate there were around 30 'home-runs' from Colditz, including the escape of British Army officer Patrick Reid, who later wrote a book titled 'The Colditz Story' and Neave, who escaped on his third attempt in a guard uniform. Colditz was finally liberated on the 16th of April 1945 by the US Army. Reid described the profound impact of liberation as 'a milling onslaught of cheering, laughing, sobbing, shouting men'.

Amid the task force that entered the castle was War Correspondent Lee Carson, who took the only known photograph of the Colditz Cock, a 6-meter-long glider built by British POWs for a proposed escape attempt. Bill Goldfinch and Jack Best, with assistance from a team of 12 helpers known as 'apostles', utilised information from Aircraft Design by C.H. Latimer-Needham found in the prison library to assemble the glider in the lower attic above the castle chapel. The officers constructed the hidden workshop behind a false wall, where they meticulously assembled the glider using stolen wood, employing lookouts and an electric alarm system to evade detection by approaching guards. Though it was never flown, it left an indelible mark on the history of wartime escape attempts.

The only known photograph of the original Colditz "Cock" glider taken on 15 April 1945 by Lee Carson