During the First World War, captured soldiers were interned in prisoners of war camps. The first duty of a confined soldier was to attempt to escape and rejoin friendly forces. The escape of one or more individual consumed an inordinate amount of resources and manpower for the jailers, which detracted from the war effort. Those soldiers who repeatedly escaped and were captured became known as escape artists, and were sent to the prison camp of Holzminden, reputed to be unescapable.
By 1917, some Allied soldiers had been POWs for over two years. Many were itching to escape and rejoin the fight, especially considering the poor treatment they were receiving from their German guards. In Holzminden, a high concentration of soldiers with previous attempts at escaping made such an attempt all but a certainty. A plan was hatched to dig a tunnel from the officers' barracks to the outside, digging under walls, barb wires, and guards, with the mouth of the tunnel emerging in a rye field.
It took months of planning and digging to secure 60 yards of tunnel, but by July 1918, with the rye harvest only days away, it was time for the escapees to go. This large of an operation had created some rumors around camp, but the Germans never managed to discover the tunnel and the people involved in it. On July 24th, during a dark and stormy night, officers crawled through the tunnel and managed to escape the prison before the tunnel collapsed. In the morning the tunnel entrance was discovered, and roll call revealed that 29 officers had escaped.
Though many were re-captured, ten officers successfully evaded the Germans' search efforts and managed to return to the United Kingdom through Holland. A great nonfiction book, The Grand Escape showcases one of the most daring escape attempt in history! Fans of the First World War will appreciate this little known aspect of the conflict.
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