The Welsh Great Escape

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by ourbill, Jan 13, 2007.

  1. ourbill

    ourbill Senior Member

    Found an interesting site which has some photos of German POWs, including
    Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt and some other high ranking Germans. There is also some history of the Camp and Bridgend area.


    www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/index.html']BRIDGEND GERMAN POW CAMP, ISLAND FARM CAMP 198 / SPECIAL CAMP XI
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 27, 2017
  2. PeterG

    PeterG Senior Member

    It is indeed an excellent site, I found it during my BBC WW2 Researcher days. Apart from some good biographies of senior German army and SS officers, and a thrilling POW mass escape, the Murder mystery in Porthcawl is NOT to be missed.
     
  3. slaphead

    slaphead very occasional visitor

    Anyone see it last night?
    Bloomin' Ada! Just googled it for the link and found it was originally made in 2002.
    ++ Hartswood Films | Programmes | The Welsh Great Escape ++

    Funny how synchronicity works isnt it. There are two conversations today about the factual accuracy of events 65 years ago,
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/general/25145-veterans-great-but-authors-somtimes-arent.html
    and about German veterans talking about the war...
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/277210-post8.html

    Watching this programme, there were two escapees chatting merily to camera, but when they were taken back to the camp in Bridgend, they did nothing but argue about how they did stuff, where the tunnel was etc etc.

    They had funny tales to tell too about how the guy pumping air to the tunnelers let go an almighty fart near the air pump inlet and nearly gassed the diggers

    It was a rather "light" take on the story with intervies of the "boys" who found some of the escapees etc. One of them saying that the villagers in the area didnt worry about a camp full of Gerries as there was already two mental institutions in the area... nuff said!
     
  4. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Mentioned on Country File BBC1 27/1/13

    On the night of 10th-11th March 1945, Seventy German prisoners tunnelled to freedom from Camp 198 in Bridgend. It was the biggest escape attempt made by German P.O.W.s in Great Britain during the Second World War.

    www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/']BRIDGEND GERMAN POW CAMP, ISLAND FARM CAMP 198 / SPECIAL CAMP XI
     
  5. NtheP

    NtheP Junior Member

    Impressive result in revealing the tunnel
     
  6. hutchie

    hutchie Dont tell him Pike!!

    who watched countryfile and saw this? what do you think?
     
  7. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Yes I watched it, very interesting.

    The Welsh Great Escape


    [​IMG]

    John Craven unearths an incredible tale of deception that took place on the outskirts of the Welsh town of Bridgend. Towards the end of the Second World War, at a prisoner of war camp built on old farmland, German inmates dug a tunnel. On the 10th of March 1945 that tunnel would become their escape route. Right under the noses of their guards, seventy inmates broke out and scattered across the nation. With the help of laser-imaging expert Nick Russill, the team unearth the prisoner’s escape tunnel, revealing it as it has never been seen before – modelled in 3D. John also meets Elaine Jones who helped capture the final three escapees, all those years ago.

    Find out more about the Welsh Great Escape

    edit: Ah I see CLI has posted a link earlier here:
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/prisoners-war/9937-bridgend-german-pow-camp.html

    Lesley
     
  8. Swiper

    Swiper Resident Sospan

    They didn't inform many of the local preservation groups about this - which was discourteous to say the least.

    BBC iPlayer - Countryfile: 27/01/2013

    Personally just using a JCB looks like JCB archaeology at its very worst to me, for a comparatively short 'filler' piece on Countryfile.

    Pretty disappointed.
     
  9. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Just been covered on Countryfile this morning
    with a 3-d mapping project. They gained access
    to the tunnel. Fascinating

    at the 53minute mark
    BBC iPlayer - Countryfile: 27/01/2013

    also
    LiveLeak.com - Part 1 of 3 The welsh Great Escape March 1945.
    Part 1 of 3 The welsh Great Escape March 1945.This documentary is about the escape of 70 German
    Officers from a POW camp in Bridgend(Pen-y-bont)
    This happened in March 1945 weeks before the end of the war in Europe.

    Pt2
    LiveLeak.com - Part 2 of 3 The Welsh Great Escape,March 1945.

    Pt3
    LiveLeak.com - Part 3 of 3 The Welsh Great Escape.March 1945.


    Island Farm app for your phone
    https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/island-farm-welsh-great-escape/id512003083?mt=8

    "The Island Farm app explores the history of the site from pre World War ll when it was still farmland, through the war preparations, war time, the escape and on to present day. Augmented reality is used to recreate the buildings that no longer exist and 3D animations to enable exploration of the interior of the building as it would have been in the build up to the escape and on the night of the escape. Interactive maps are used to show the layout of the camp as it once was, how far the escapees travelled and to highlight related points of interest in the Bridgend area."
     
  10. rememberthem

    rememberthem ex member

    Its an oldie but a goodie but when I tried to find the original documentary, I found there is now a television movie and possibly another documentary, much more serious and actually investigating the German dug tunnel

    The original documentary was a real life Dads Army/Blackadder/Monty Python cross and apart from an early sad and unsettling story about a couple? of German prisoners who openly thought Hitler was an arse, being murdered by fellow inmates, the rest of the documentary was just a celebration of Brits being kindly, a bit incompetent and politely helpful and a series of farces involving different Germans attempting their escapes in 1945, I think it was...

    I think it might have been over 70 German escapees from their tunnel

    I believe the later documentary was much more serious and done around the work on the revealing and study of the tunnel used

    I remember thinking fondly, how lovely and gentle and bumbling the locals were - tho I believe all the Germans were caught and no one was killed in this great escape

    There are tales of locals helpfully pushing Germans in a stolen car that wont run and a few Germans caught because they hid in the hedge of a farm - very competently but the cows in the field all came over and stood in a half circle of fascination at the new entertainment in their paddock and the effect was like lining up arrows to point at the escapees

    I believe a couple of people waved down a stolen car with the German soldiers who introduced themselves as Danes and inviting themselves in for a lift, chatting away, never realising, getting out and waving them off with thanks and I recall thinking if they had caught on, and it being noticed, it could have lead to this whole documentary being a sad story

    It was a joy and just left me feeling so fond of those locals

    I believe tho that the other documentary is far more serious but also says that the locals were really getting fed up with the camp - partly because the Germans were always singing loudly, day and night and I guess, being Welsh, they had heard much better... It seems the singing was to cover the tunnelling noise...

    I believe the CO was an officer named Darling but sadly, no Blackadder mentioned. They showed an old b&w photo of him and I thought he looked like Hugh Laurie and my eyes widened further in suppressed gleeful laughter

    His daughter was interviewed and said her father had said there were escape chances and he needed more help and he wasnt to blame but he was known to approach women and say
    " You can call me Darling " looking like Hugh Laurie...

    I think some Germans made it to a sea port but were caught and this documentary managed to make that another excuse to grin

    I cant say when I saw it. I think in the last decade? and I think more than 3 years ago but the subject is fascinating whether the funny doco or the newer more serious doco that includes the dig on the site I have to say the funny documentary wasnt made to be funny - it was just their recounting of the different things happening

    I would love copies of both documentaries and I hope people who try either enjoy them

    PS Owen I DID search for Welsh Great Escape... but I have no faith in my competency...
     
  11. rememberthem

    rememberthem ex member

    I typed in The Great Escape and nothing came up and I had thought my first attempt hadnt taken

    I just dont seem to do anything right. I might retire and only perjaps add to the

    what book are you reading now

    Which I should not be able to cock up but I KNOW i typed in The Welsh Great Escape in the search box and got no results
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2017
  12. Blutto

    Blutto Banned

    dbf likes this.
  13. Lindele

    Lindele formerly HA96

    Hi,
    interesting naming of this thread. Is the title Great Escape not fixed to the well known Great Escape or could I call any successful mass escape in a similar way, e.g. The Grat Esape of ABCD?
    Stefan.
     
  14. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Yes. If you wanted to.
    A quick way of conveying meaning or context by using an already well-known example.

    ( Much the same kind of process as adding 'gate', to denote any scandal, after Watergate. )
     
  15. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    y ddianc Cymreig wych
     
  16. Lindele

    Lindele formerly HA96

    Thanks,
    my research of the Great Escape of Biberach in September 1941(OFLAG 5B), turned out to be the "real thing". Many techniques used in the famous film were sort of 2 invented" in Biberach years before and nobody was killed.
    Stefan.
    NB: the picture on the upper left is the camp
     
    RosyRedd and dbf like this.
  17. Lindele

    Lindele formerly HA96

    Another thought. How about: The Lindele Great Escape of Biberach

    The locals call it Lager (camp) Lindele, eversince 1940although today it is a Police High School including the main building from 1936
    Stefan
     
  18. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    German 'great escape' in Wales marks 75 years

    "
    It was the biggest Prisoner of War escape attempt in Britain - as 70 German World War Two PoWs tried to tunnel to freedom.

    Now, 75 years on from the breakout on the 10 March, 1945, hundreds of visitors will get a rare chance to view the Island Farm camp in Bridgend for themselves.

    Free tickets for the tour of PoW Hut 9 went in minutes - with all 800 places for this weekend taken.

    "All that's left of the camp now is Hut 9, from where the PoWs dug themselves out, and the tunnel itself," said Brett Exton, who chairs the Hut 9 Preservation Group.

    "

    [​IMG]
     
    JimHerriot likes this.
  19. Richelieu

    Richelieu Well-Known Member

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