Nova: Great Escape

The Most Daring Allied Prison Escape of World War II

The True Story Behind the Movie The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen.

New secrets revealed about World War II's most daring prison escape. The movie The Great Escape captured the courage and remarkable genius behind World War II's most infamous prison break. Now join three former Allied prisoners and a team of archaeologists as they travel back to the site of the high-security POW camp Stalag Luft III to search for the secret tunnel the Nazis never found. More than sixty years ago, over six hundred Allied prisoners banded together to dig three highly sophisticated tunnels, code-named Tom, Dick, and Harry. Each tunnel was outfitted with railways, electric lights, and underground air pumps-all under the noses of the German guards. The detainees were planning to spring two hundred men via Harry on the moonless night of March 24, 1944. Unfortunately, a guard spotted the seventy-seventh man as he exited the tunnel beyond the perimeter fence, but seventy-six managed to get away, fanning out in all directions and forcing the Germany army to undertake a massive manhunt. And in the ensuing search of the camp, the guards never found the ingeniously hidden tunnel called Dick. Today, a truly historic past is buried deep below the surface of the tranquil countryside of what was Stalag Luft III. As heavy equipment removes treacherously sandy soil, dramatic recreations and candid recollections from the veterans offer stunning details about the prisoners' ingenious and ambitious tunneling plans, and retells the tragic story of the many of the escapees who were recaptured by the Germans.