Word: colditz
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...Colditz Story, by P. R. Reid. Prisoners v. prisonkeepers, and how a handful of Allied officers proved the formidable Nazi fortress of Colditz not escape-proof after all (TIME...
...Germans had a place for prisoners who wouldn't stay put, and there they sent Reid. The castle at Colditz, in Saxony, was considered escape-proof, and it certainly looked it. "Almost upon leaving the station, we saw looming above us our future prison: beautiful, serene, majestic, and yet forbidding enough to make our hearts sink into our boots." Although most of Germany was blacked out against Allied air attacks, powerful searchlights shone on every inch of Colditz all night...
Over the Wall. Studying Colditz, Reid saw little prospect of a successful getaway. Yet get away he did, and so did a nervy sprinkling of others. For a while, Reid himself was "morally" committed to stay, for his special talents were soon recognized by his fellow officers, and he was made "Escape Officer" in charge of planning breaks for the whole British contingent. Much of The Colditz Story relates the attempts, both successful and tragically unsuccessful, of other escapers...
...cover when sentries made their turns, and so out through a flue, Reid and three companions reached the outer wall and let themselves down on a rope of sheets. Using forged identity cards made by prisoner experts, and equipped with civilian clothes, a memorized map and German learned at Colditz, Reid and one of his pals made good progress through Germany...
...English, "All right, Hank, I've got the tickets," but he drew only glares from the crowd. A short distance from the Swiss frontier, they were challenged by a German sentry, but posed as Flemish workingmen and convinced him. That night, less than four days after leaving Colditz, Reid and his friend stopped under a lamppost in a Swiss village and shook hands. Even the British government thought it was a pretty good getaway. Reid's reward: the Military Cross...