The Welsh Great Escape (2003, 2012)

The Welsh Great Escape is a documentary film about a little-known event which took place in Wales in March 1945 when 70 German POWs escaped from a prison camp in Wales. It was shown on British television (Channel 4) in 2003 and released on DVD in 2012. Here is some basic information about it:

** Produced by Beryl Vertue & Debbie Vertue

** Written and directed by Michael Davies

** Narrated by Jack Davenport

** Studio: Hartswood Films

** Run time: 48 minutes

Ca. 1,600 German POWs were interned in Island Farm, also known as prison camp # 198, just outside Bridgend in Wales. Most of the inmates in this camp were officers, most of them were die-hard Nazis. And they did not want to stay in the UK.

Therefore they made a plan to escape. Over a period of four months they constructed a tunnel which was going to take them from Hut # 9 under the barbed wire fence and into freedom.

On the night of 10-11 March 1945, 70 POWs escaped via the tunnel. They did not get far. Some of them were captured near the camp, while others managed to get a bit further away before they too were captured. None of them made it back to Germany.

This film, which covers the whole event, is divided into four chapters:

# 1. Background information

# 2. The tunnel is constructed

# 3. The escape takes place

# 4. The manhunt for the POWs

In this film there is a combination of four elements:

(A) Old footage in black-and-white

(B) News Bulletins from the BBC (radio)

(C) Modern reconstructions in colour = several scenes are re-enacted by actors

(D) Interviews

Here is a list of the people who were interviewed for the film:

** Arthur Williams – age 12 in 1945

** Buffo Coles – age 7 in 1945

** Gerald Price – age 9 in 1945

** Fiona Caws – daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Darling (the British officer who was in charge of the prison camp)

Two of the German POWs return to Wales for the first time in almost sixty years. They come to visit the hut from which they escaped in 1945. They were also interviewed for the film:

** Gerhard Fiegel – POW # 531801

** Steffi Ehlert – POW # 965959

When interviewed, the former speaks English with a German accent, while the latter speaks German. The German original sound is muted and his statements are read in English by an actor.

What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 78 per cent, which corresponds to (almost) four stars on Amazon. If you ask me, this average rating is too low. Why?

The story is interesting. It deserves to be told and in this film it is told very well. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. This title is manufactured-on-demand when ordered from the Canny Store. That is why it is always available, even though Amazon UK says it is temporarily out of stock.

PS # 2. Come Out, Come Out is a documentary film about the escape from Island Farm that was shown on the BBC in 1976. Directed by Piers Jessup; run time: 51 minutes. It is available online. While this film is interesting as a historical document, it is not as good as the new film from 2003.

PS # 3. The exact number of POWs who escaped in March 1945 is still subject to debate. Different figures are used by different sources: 67, 70 or 83. I do not wish to enter this debate; therefore I have just used the figure 70.

PS # 4. The following article is available online: Jamie Pringle & Peter Doyle, “The German Great Escape: The science of how 83 military officers tunnelled out of a Welsh prison camp in 1945,” the Conversation, 9 August 2017.

*****

 

Hut # 9, Island Farm, Prison Camp # 198, Bridgend, Wales,

still standing today

*****