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Don Thom forewent the usual fake uniform and
other elaborate preparations and simply leapt over the western
wall.
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Escaping Colditz
20: May 11, 1943
After Mairesse-Lebrun's escape from the park (see #8),
prisoners in solitary confinement took their exercise on the northwest terrace.
During his walk on this day, Flight-Lieut. Don Thom of the Royal Canadian Air
Force suddenly leapt over the terrace's balustrade and grabbed ahold of the
crossbars in the windows of the guardroom. He dropped to the bars of a lower
window, which he held for a moment before dropping to the ground. As the guards
opened fire on him, he got over a barbed-wire curtain and ran into the woods
before being stopped by coils of wire. Security officer Reinhold Eggers
called it "the maddest attempt of all."
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
|
- 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
|
- 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
|
Escaping Colditz |
The Jailor's Story |
Great Escapes |
The Colditz Glider
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