Colditz - Oflag- V-C

Our visit to Colditz allowed us to re-live the TV series. Since the filming in 1972 the castle has been painted white, which seems to detract from its ominous presence somewhat. Learning about the numerous escape attempts and the conditions the men were held in gave us an increased appreciation of their bravery.

We expected Colditz to be a major tourist attraction, but in reality only Brits, Australians and New Zealanders visit and not many of them make it this far east in Germany.

A 24 second video clip of the reenactment of the planned glider escape attempt

Gretel getting friendly with 'Max' the Dutch dummy that impersonated missing/escaped POW's during roll calls.

The ventilation shaft exit that Pat Reid and three others escaped, naked and facing backwards, to Switzerland and freedom.

One of Colditz's most famous inmates, alongside our own Charles Upham, was (Sir) Douglas Bader. Growing up his autobiography, 'Reach for the Sky' was my favourite book - reread many times. His story was one extreme bravery. He lost both legs in a aerobatic plane crash in 1931 but flew as a pilot in World War 2 in a modified Spitfire. Having no legs in part an advantage the G forces can cause pilots to black out when effecting tight turns - no legs meant the blood remained closer to the brain allowing him to maintain concsiousness! It was not so much of an advantage when his prosthetic leg got stuck in the cockpit when he bailed out (eventually the legs retaining strap broke). 

An aerial view.

One of the more audacious escape plans was to fly a glider by launching it off tables placed on the ridge-line of Colditz castle. This is a copy of the original plan. To attain the necessary speed a bath, filled with concrete, was thrown from the roof. A 2:1 pulley system was necessary for the glider to attain the necessary speed.

The glider was built in the attic of the castle sheets to clad the wings and fuselage and millet porridge to stretch and set the fabric. The glider was never launched, however after the war a replica was made and successfully launched off the castle. We have included a link above to a snippet of the glider project - a full documentary is available on youtube.

The actual replica in the attic.

One of the many escape tunnels. For this tunnel, which started in the chapel, the POW's created a hinged door, covered with rock to camouflage it, to cover the opening.