Oflag IV-C (Colditz)

Colditz, Germany

Oflag IV-C, in the cliff-top castle at Colditz in Saxony, was the German army’s high-security camp for Allied officers regarded as escape risks or persistent troublemakers — many of them men who had already broken out of other camps. Set deep inside the Reich behind thick walls and above a sheer drop to the River Mulde, it was reckoned escape-proof, yet it became the most famous escaping camp of the war, with more than thirty ‘home runs’ achieved by means ranging from tunnels and disguises to a glider built in secret in the attic. Among its prisoners were a number of RAF officers, including serial escapers and aircrew sent there after breaking out elsewhere.

Airmen held here