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Alain Le Ray in 1940
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Escaping Colditz
1: April 12, 1941
After the daily walk to the park, the Germans did a head
count and found one prisoner missing. They checked all inmates against their
photo identity cards and discovered that a French Lieutenant named Alain Le Ray
had earned the distinction of being the first prisoner to get clean away from
Colditz. After hiding in a cellar of a house that stood along the park path, Le
Ray had climbed over the park fence and disappeared. He eventually made it
safely to Switzerland.
Next escape |
See the map
- First escape
April 12, 1941
- Straw mattresses
May 8, 1941
- Locked cells
Mid-May 1941
- Canteen tunnel
May 1941
- German woman
June 1941
- Air-raid shelter
June 1941
- Hacksaw
June 1941
- Over the wall
July 2, 1941
- Air shaft
July 28, 1941
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- Lavatory
July 31, 1941
- Manhole
Late summer, 1941
- Dummies
December 1941
- German officers
December 1941
- Main gate
January 6, 1942
- Town dump
March 1942
- Wooden crate
September 7, 1942
- Mussolini's office
September 9, 1942
- Headquarters building
October 15, 1942
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- Willi the electrician
December 1942
- "Maddest attempt"
May 11, 1943
- Franz Josef
September 2, 1943
- Cellar house
January 19, 1944
- Rubbish heap
May 2, 1944
- Greatest escaper
September 25, 1944
- Glider
April 1945
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Escaping Colditz |
The Jailor's Story |
Great Escapes |
The Colditz Glider
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© | Updated January 2001
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