A cartoon drawn by an American captive at the German war prisoner of war camp which became a model of "Great Escape"

Elmer · Bernstein composed theme song "March of Great Escape"Famous, 1963 movie"Great escapeThe German Air Force's March 1944Stalag Luft III(Third Air Force POW Camp)76 POWsAlthough it is a movie based on the escaped historical fact, a note of an American prisoner of war that was housed in the Third Air Force POW camp is found and it is said that it will be auctioned.

This noteYMCAThough it was thrown into prisoners of war by POW, this captive wrecked with painting has filled the page with sketches, manga, etc. It is interesting to see the life of prisoners.

Details are as below.Unseen Great Escape cartoons from the warcamp immortalized in film | Mail Online

This note was taken down by the German Air Force after being shot down, John M Bridges from Alabama who was housed in the Third Air Force POW Camp, and that of the US Air Force. In addition to sketches and manga, there are also pages that wrote poetry.


The Third Air Force POW camp is one of the camps of the German Air Force who housed Allied Air Forces who were shot down or detained in captivity over Germany and captured, and about 160 km southeast of BerlinJagan(Now the Polish territory) located in the suburbs. At that time the Allied forces seemed to have been thought of as a soldier who became a prisoner of warrior by descending the camp and making German army troops for the search and reducing the load of the ally front forces.


Sketch of the monitoring tower. It is drawn with a pencil and crayons.


The notes were gotten by prisoners of war by the YMCA after permission of the German army, and in the accompanying letter, "If you like to write sentences, you can write a novel here and if you like to draw a picture It's a good idea to fill in the page with sketches, record a bizarre menu in the meal that is served, record records of the athletic meet of the camp, or write down the jokes heard at the camp. " How to use notes and suggestions are proposed.

Under the picture on the right is written "The favorite pastime of kriegies is eating, sleeping, playing bridge, and reading." (Recipient's distractions are eating, sleeping, bridge, reading). Prisoners seemed to call themselves "Kriegies", abbreviated "Kriegsgefangener" meaning POW in German.


At the Third Air Force POW Camp that housed only air troops, were the prisoners talking about flying in the sky?


Prisoners who dug a tunnel for escape, named "Tom" "Dick" "Harry" over the course of a year, decided to do "Great Escape" through "Harry" on the evening of March 24, 1944 . Of the about 600 prisoners of war drilling in tunnels, 200 people are scheduled to escape. 76 of them succeeded in leaving the camp and escaping to the forest. At 4:55 am on March 25, the watchman discovered that the 77th deserters leave the tunnel and the "Great Escape" was discovered.

Thirty-seven people out of 76 people were discovered by a large-scale search, "Successful Successor" who was able to arrive home via a neutral countryPer Bergsland,Jens Müller(Both Norwegian in the UK Air Force affiliation),Bram van der Stok(The Netherlands belonging to the UK Air Force).

Hitler originally wished to execute the construction director of Von Lindeiner camp commander and camp control facility, watchdog soldiers who had wrested at the time of detention as well as all 73 people who caught escaping, but execution of deserters wasTreaty of GenevaAs being in violationGeringYaWilhelm KeitelAs they objected, it seemed to eventually execute a majority of desertersHimmlerIt is said to command. Von Lindeiner camp commander was dismissed, but execution is escaped.

Himmler made a choice of who will be executed among 73 desertersArthur NeveLeaving it to, 50 people were executed. Neve is said to have randomly selected the rest after having decided to execute all Polish and Eastern European graduates. Among the 23 people who escaped execution, deserters named Bob Nelson and Dick Churchill areAdmiral NelsonWhenWinston ChurchillIt seems that it was said that he was not executed because he was afraid that he might be a relatives.

Nebe thenHitler's assassination planIt has been executed as being involved in.

Von Lindeiner's replacement camp commander Oberst Franz Braune was surprised at the execution of fifty prisoners of war and allowed the remaining prisoners to build a monument.


It was a few weeks after Lieutenant Bridges started drawing a note on this note after a few weeks of this "Great Escape", the note has sketches of this monument, as well as caricatures such as Hitler, Churchill and Roosevelt are drawn That's right. This note went to the hands of Polish airlines in 1945 after the end of the war, recentlyOxfordshireIt was discovered in a house of. It is scheduled to be auctioned on July 6, and the bid price is expected to be between 1000 pounds and 1500 pounds (about 135,000 yen to 200,000 yen).