Stalag Luft III: The Secret Story

This book presents a tremendous amount of detail about Stalag Luft III. So many arcane details are presented! This includes such topics as the mental health of prisoners, religious and cultural activities of the prisoners, and even the heartbreak of POWs whose fianc?s had left them as a result of their captivity, and told them so in "Dear John" letters. The well-publicized escapes from the camp (and also some not so well publicized ones) are relegated to only a relatively small part of the book. It is easy to see that the murder of 50 of the 73 recaptured POWs following the Great Escape did exert a chilling effect on future escapes, precisely as the Germans wanted. However, some tunnels (Margaret and George) were subsequently prepared in case the Germans attempted to kill all the prisoners in the end. A desperate revolt was also planned by the Stalag Luft III inmates in the event of such a German order. Much detail is also presented about the evacuation of the POWs from Stalag Luft III on the heels of the advancing Red Army. When it comes to German treatment of its POWs, Stalag Luft III stands out as an exception in a very positive direction. However, there is no way of verifying the claim that the POWs in Stalag Luft III, despite their meager food rations, were nevertheless fed no worse than the frontline German soldiers. The author Durand focuses on the common mistreatment of POWs by Germans in camps other than Stalag Luft III. For example, some erstwhile American POWs claim that their treatment was little different form that of concentration camp victims, except that the latter were likely to die of shootings or gassings. Even so, Durand gives a detailed but incomplete picture of the German treatment of POWs. He mentions some killings of American POWs and dwells on the numerous Soviet POWs murdered by the Germans. However, he fails to mention the fact that the widespread killing of POWs by Germans dates back to the very first days of the war, when Germans murdered thousands of Polish troops that had surrendered to them (not to mention civilians). Duran quotes extensively from Kommandant von Lindeiner's memoirs. In it is mentioned the characteristics of different nationalities of POWs at Stalag Luft III. For example, von Lindeiner mentions the Poles as ones who worried about the future of Poland regardless of the outcome of the war. In view of the sellout of Poland at Yalta, and the ensuing Soviet Communist puppet state, these fears proved well founded.

This is a fascinating book about life in a certain POW camp in Germany during World War II. Its authenticity is unquestioned, as it is based upon a diary of events that was written down at the time, rather than later, after memories faded. The book is as detailed a look at life behind barbed wire as one could want. This is a very comprehensive book. Stalag Luft 3, the camp, is where the actual "Great Escape" occurred, but that is only a small part of this book, which concentrates on detailing the POW experience from capture and interrogation to the war's end. The interesting thing that I derived from the book was that although the Germans were not completely scrupulous about living up to their obligations under the Geneva convention, they at least paid attention to these rules, and most allied POWs who made it alive to a camp did make it home alive after the war. That is more than can be said, by a wide margin, for those American and Allied soldiers who were POWs of the Japanese. Part of this, the book speculates, is because the Luftwaffe held these POWs (this was a camp for airmen POWs) and it knew that England was holding large numbers of shot-down Luftwaffe pilots. Both sides wanted their men to be treated well. It is probably accurate to say that most of the outrages that the Germans committed against allied soldiers occurred before the captured soldiers reached the German camp system. The massacre of American GIs at Malmady comes to mind. Also, when escaped POWs fell into the hands of the Gestapo, this was never good. Despite this, however, the book makes clear the shortcomings of the German treatment of the men. The food ration amounted to slow-motion starvation, unless the men supplemented their rations in various ways including the famous "Red Cross parcels." Sanitation was rudimentary until the POWs themselves took a hand in designing a latrine system. On the other hand, the book also makes clear that the German staff of the camp got pretty lean rations too--the fact appears to be that Germany was having a hard time as the war progressed feeding anyone, let alone POWs. The most fascinating part of the story, to me at least, was the interaction between the POWs and the German camp staff. There were collaborators on both sides, and many of the German staff evidently felt that Germany was likely to lose the war, and this appears to have encouraged some collaboration. Pretty interesting. Another fascinating facet of the book is how the POWs at Stalag Luft III organized what amounted to a college, which actually conferred credit hours which, after the war, were accepted by many British and American universities as good credit towards a degree. Courage and hope amidst adversity! Good for them! The degree of detail in this book is startling, and may be more than some readers want to know about camp life, but I found that this detail gave a gritty and realistic comprehenstion to the reader about what camp life was like.

For the record, my father was interned at this camp as an Army Air Corp prisoner. He is no longer living and passed away in 1973 at the age of 54. I was only 18 at the time. He was not very open about his experience however what he did tell me about the camp was often repeated and brought back to life "in detail" in this book. This is a must read for those interested in our military when the soldiers fought a much different battle and served for a great purpose.

This book is the best source of information I have found on Stalag Luft 3. It has loads of pertinent information that is well organized so his book is a pleasure to read. He not only discribes the escaping and spying they did, but tells the reader about conditions at the camp, prisoners' daily lives, the community they built, the people in charge of the camp, personal stories and much more. I found this book most enjoyable and I think you will to. So read this book.

This is purly historical information about the life of theGerman POW camp known as Stalag Luft III. Sure, everyoneknows that the 'Great Escape' happened here, but there is so much more to the story. Mr. Durand has researched this topic to the extreme and the information available in this book is outstanding. Although it reads like a masters thesis in history, the information is what is inportant. This book is THE SOURCE for information on Stalag Luft III. Everyone should own a copy.