⚔️📍 Sagan, Germany (now Poland)1944
The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III
Seventy-six Allied airmen escaped through a tunnel from the Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp, the largest escape from a German POW camp. All but three were recaptured; Hitler ordered 50 of the recaptured men shot in violation of the Geneva Convention.
The Great Escape led to a diversion of thousands of German troops in the manhunt but became famous primarily as a symbol of the human spirit's refusal to accept captivity.
Outcome
76 escape; 73 recaptured; 50 executed by Gestapo