5. The Great Escape
Our second wartime escape on this list, the prison break known universally as The Great Escape is well known thanks to the 1963 film of the same name. In March 1944, several dozen airmen who were being held prisoner in Stalag Luft III, a Nazi German prison camp for captured Allied airmen, made a break out attempt. The plan had been taking shape since the spring of 1943 and for a year the prisoners had dug tunnels under the camp – the whole time under the watchful eye of prison guards. Initially 200 had been slated to escape, but circumstances meant only 76 were successful in getting out of the camp. Of those who escaped, 73 were recaptured and 50 of those were executed on the orders of Adolf Hitler. SEE ALSO: 11 Notorious celebrity sex addicts (With Pictures)
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