British officers' unsuccessful bids to flee Nazi PoW camp 'Castle Tittmoning' ...

British officers' unsuccessful bids to flee Nazi PoW camp 'Castle Tittmoning' ...
British officers' unsuccessful bids to flee Nazi PoW camp 'Castle Tittmoning' ...

The comical escape attempts made by British officers from a German prisoner of war camp called Castle Tittmoning have been revealed 80 years later.

The desperate efforts to break out of the little-known camp, in Bavaria, south-east Germany, included three men who hid inside a cramped fireplace for eight days before being found by guards covered in soot.

Other officers, many of whom were Eton-educated aristocrats, concealed themselves under piles of rubbish on a horse-drawn cart and allowed themselves to be driven out of the fortress before they were discovered.

Two men expertly made German uniforms out of blankets and brazenly walked out of the camp disguised as guards before being rumbled.

One of them was Walter Southern, whose fluent German emboldened him to pose as a sentry escorting a PoW to a dental appointment on the outside. 

The comical escape attempts made by British officers from a German prisoner of war camp called Castle Tittmoning have been revealed 80 years later. Above: A tunnel dug by British PoWs, who were caught after getting within 25inches of the castle walls

The comical escape attempts made by British officers from a German prisoner of war camp called Castle Tittmoning have been revealed 80 years later. Above: A tunnel dug by British PoWs, who were caught after getting within 25inches of the castle walls

Another would-be escapee was Lord Campbell of Alloway, who later became a British judge and House of Lords life peer. He shinned down a rope outside the castle wall only to become trapped in barbed wire at the bottom

Another would-be escapee was Lord Campbell of Alloway, who later became a British judge and House of Lords life peer. He shinned down a rope outside the castle wall only to become trapped in barbed wire at the bottom

The accounts have been uncovered for the first time in German archives by military historian Robin Shaefer for the British publication Iron Cross Magazine. 

Three men were caught abseiling out of a window on a length of rope stolen from a local church.

Another would-be escapee was Lord Campbell of Alloway, who later became a British judge and House of Lords life peer. 

He shinned down a rope outside the castle wall only to become trapped in barbed wire at the bottom. 

A German sketch of the attempt shows the moment he lands in the barbed wire 

Lieutenant John Hamilton-Baillie, who was a repeated escaper, simply cut a hole in a wire gate and spent 10 days on the run before being captured agonisingly close to the Swiss border.

Lieutenant John Hamilton-Baillie, who was a repeated escaper, simply cut a hole in a wire gate and spent 10 days on the run before being captured agonisingly close to the Swiss border

Lieutenant John Hamilton-Baillie, who was a repeated escaper, simply cut a hole in a wire gate and spent 10 days on the run before being captured agonisingly close to the Swiss border

Castle Tittmoning, a 12th century Gothic fortress on the German-Austrian border, was used temporarily in 1941 as a PoW camp for British army officers before it was made into an internment camp

Castle Tittmoning, a 12th century Gothic fortress on the German-Austrian border, was used temporarily in 1941 as a PoW camp for British army officers before it was made into an internment camp

The PoWs also painstakingly dug at least three tunnels using basic tools like pocket knives and a fire stoker. 

They dug to within 25inches of the castle wall on one occasion before the tunnel was discovered.

Castle Tittmoning, a 12th century Gothic fortress on the German-Austrian border, was used temporarily in 1941 as a PoW camp for British army officers before it was made into an internment camp.

Between March and October 1941 attempts to escape at the camp, which was named Oflag VII-D, became almost a full-time sport between the British men and their guards who always got the better of them. 

Iron Cross editor Andy Saunders, said: 'Everything about these escape attempts has an element of comedy about them, right down to the amusing name of the camp.

'Trying to escape from Castle Tittmoning in 1941 was a full-time sport for the British men. They must have had a degree of fun in trying.

A ladder in one of the tunnels under Castle Tittmoning dug by the British POWs. The images were taken by German soldiers who discovered their escape attempts

A ladder in one of the tunnels under Castle Tittmoning dug by the British POWs. The images were taken by German soldiers who discovered their escape attempts

Between March and October 1941 attempts to escape became almost a full-time sport between the British men and their guards who always got the better of them. Above: One of the tunnels dug by the PoWs

Between March and October 1941 attempts to escape became almost a full-time sport between the British men and their guards who always got the better of them. Above: One of the tunnels

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