Colditz Kilts

[Woodsheal]

I've always been a fan of escape stories, so the Colditz Castle (Oflag IVC) saga is an obvious favorite. For those who don't know, Colditz was the Germans' "bad boy" POW camp in WWII, where they sent incorrigible escapers, and other trouble makers, from other camps around the Reich. The result was that the "Goons" collected a large assortment of talented escape artists in one place, making their escape-proof, high-security castle anything but...!

Going through some of my books recently, I found some pictures of interest.

The first is of the "Laufen Six" - the first British officers to arrive at the camp in Nov 1940. (Actually, three Canadian flying officers arrived the night before these fellows.) The kilted lad is 2LT Peter Allan, of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. (Third from the left is CPT Pat Reid, who wrote the famous books about Colditz):



Here's another pic, taken the same day, showing the full British contingent at the time (Dec 1940):



Highlander Allan famously escaped from the Castle sewn up in a mattress cover, only to be recaptured many days later in Vienna. Another Scotsman to drive the Germans crazy at Colditz was one LT Mike Sinclair, with numerous attempts to his credit. A French officer-prisoner drew this cartoon of chief security officer Hauptmann Priem seeking solace in the bottle, because Scotsmen apparently flew in and out of his Castle at will! (Note Allan under the table crawling out of his palliasse in a glengarry):



Finally, the 1955 movie "The Colditz Story" featured some more kilts. Fictional character "Mac" MacGill wore a Black Watch kilt in many scenes:



And, the major escape sequence at the end included a prisoners' theater presentation featuring four kilties with makeshift sporrans (one's a paint brush!) singing "I Belong to Colditz," a parody of the popular (at the time) song "I Belong to Glasgow"....

[Bugbear]

Didn't they build a hang glider at one point...?

[macwilkin]

Didn't they build a hang glider at one point...?

Yes, but it never flew. NOVA built a replica several years ago and it was airworthy:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/naziprison/glider.html

Great thread, Brian!

T.

[Bugbear]

Thanks, Cajunscot, I remember that program now.

[Highlander31]

Great photos Brian. I confess I had nearly forgotten about the Colditz Castle saga. Thanks for posting.

[Woodsheal]

The Castle has been refurbished, and remains a popular tourist destination. Workers still occasionally find hidey-holes, plus previously undiscovered evidence of tunneling and other prisoner activities, in the sprawling complex.

Here's a good website, with links to lots of others:
http://www.colditzcastle.net/

[Alan H]

Thanks for this, I have both of Pat Reids books, loved 'em.

[andyfg]

Thanks Brian. Good pics. I'll look the movie up again, though I saw it many years ago.

[nloken]

Thanks for some great pics! I remember seeing a show about this on Discovery a while ago. Great story!

[ccga3359]

I wonder if anyone wore kilts in the Colditz tv series?