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Nazi Prison Escape

Jack Best
Jack Best in captivity
Escaping Colditz
22: January 19, 1944

It was about 5 p.m. Darkness had fallen, but the searchlights had yet to come on. Suddenly a bell rang in the guardroom below the west terrace. Thinking someone wanted to be let in from the upper terrace, the guard went out, only to catch a glimpse of a rope being quickly withdrawn into the prisoners' quarters in the cellar house. The bell had momentarily distracted the guards, allowing Lieut. Michael Sinclair (see #21 and #24) and Flight-Lieut. Jack Best to escape off the lower terrace. The pair managed to get as far as the Dutch frontier before being caught and sent back.

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  1. First escape
    April 12, 1941


  2. Straw mattresses
    May 8, 1941


  3. Locked cells
    Mid-May 1941


  4. Canteen tunnel
    May 1941


  5. German woman
    June 1941


  6. Air-raid shelter
    June 1941


  7. Hacksaw
    June 1941


  8. Over the wall
    July 2, 1941


  9. Air shaft
    July 28, 1941


  1. Lavatory
    July 31, 1941


  2. Manhole
    Late summer, 1941


  3. Dummies
    December 1941


  4. German officers
    December 1941


  5. Main gate
    January 6, 1942


  6. Town dump
    March 1942


  7. Wooden crate
    September 7, 1942


  8. Mussolini's office
    September 9, 1942


  9. Headquarters building
    October 15, 1942


  1. Willi the electrician
    December 1942


  2. "Maddest attempt"
    May 11, 1943


  3. Franz Josef
    September 2, 1943


  4. Cellar house
    January 19, 1944


  5. Rubbish heap
    May 2, 1944


  6. Greatest escaper
    September 25, 1944


  7. Glider
    April 1945



Escaping Colditz | The Jailor's Story | Great Escapes | The Colditz Glider
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