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A German reenactment of the escape from
Mussolini's office.
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Escaping Colditz
17: September 9, 1942
On this morning, the Germans discovered six officers
missing. It seems that some prisoners had snuck at night into the office of the
German Sergeant-Major nicknamed Mussolini and, right behind his desk, had cut a
hole through the back wall to a storeroom beyond. When the time was right, the
six chosen escapers slipped through Mussolini's office and exited the storeroom
disguised as two German officers and four Polish inmates. A real German officer
opened the gate for them, and they were gone. Four were recaptured within a
day, but two—British Flight-Lieut. William Fowler and Dutch Captain D.J. van
Doorninck—reached Switzerland.
Previous escape |
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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