GRANVILLE Posted 1 March Share Posted 1 March We all know about the Great Escapers of WW2 but I wonder how many know about the chaps of WW1 who were escaping through tunnels in a very similar way, during WW1? I wasn't aware until I recently read 'The Tunnellers of Holzminden' by chief tunneller, Hugh Durford M.C. You can read the story on p1691 of 'I Was There'. Holzminden is apparently near Hanover, 100 miles from Holland. A tunnelling committee worked out how and where to tunnel and 29 prisoners managed to escape before detection. The tunnelers worked in a space said to be little more than 18" square - hard to comprehend. I wondered if there are other similar stories from other camps during the war and just how much these sorts of incidents played into the minds of the the chaps during the 2nd World War as they sought ways to escape. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 1 March Share Posted 1 March 5 hours ago, GRANVILLE said: We all know about the Great Escapers of WW2 but I wonder how many know about the chaps of WW1 who were escaping through tunnels in a very similar way, during WW1? I wasn't aware until I recently read 'The Tunnellers of Holzminden' by chief tunneller, Hugh Durford M.C. There was a TV documentary made 10 years ago called "The First Great Escape" which covers the events. Well worth watching the full programme if it comes up on TV etc: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRANVILLE Posted 1 March Author Share Posted 1 March Excellent info: Thank you Andrew. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard_Lewis Posted 3 March Share Posted 3 March My bio chap (WW2, Henry Coombe-Tennant, Welsh Guards) escaped from Warburg in 1942 by going *over* the wire. Around 30 managed to get up the ladders and across the two rows of wire. Henry's three-man team was the only one to get back to Britain. He then joined the SOE and was parachuted back into France in August 1944. Post war he joined MI6 and was "our man in Baghdad" before becoming a Benedictine monk. Quite a chap. Born to be the New Messiah too... all in the book. Re WWI, Swansea battalion officer J S Strange, DSO, MC, (a pre-war brewery manager) managed to (temporarily) escape from Graudenz in 1918 by running up a purloined plank of wood and crossing the wire. He was recaptured. He was later about to try and escape by shimmying over the wire by "walking" and hanging onto the cables that ran over the wire and into the camp (power, phone etc) but abandoned the plan when the chap ahead of him was spotted and shot at... Repatriated in December 1918. Bernard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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