Today In History..........

In 1944........

On this date, 76 allied prisoners of war escaped from the German prison camp Stalag Luft III. This was commemorated by first the book, then the movie, "The Great Escape" The movie was time condensed and had some factual errors (there were no American prisoners involved) but all in all based in truth.

Of the 76 prisoners, three made it home, the rest were recaptured. Of that number, 50 were executed by the Nazis, as a warning to the other prisoners to stop their escape attempts. The rest were returned to prison.