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The Diggers of Colditz
Colditz Castle was Nazi Germany’s infamous ‘escape-proof’ wartime prison, where hundreds of the most determined and resourceful Allied prisoners were sent. Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from the massive floodlit stronghold . . . by any means necessary. In this riveting account – by turns humorous, heartfelt and tragic – historian Colin Burgess and Lieutenant Jack Champ, from the point of view of the prisoners themselves, tells the story of the twenty Australians who made this castle their ‘home’, and the plans they made that were so crazy that some even achieved the seemingly impossible – escape! ‘A stirring testimony of mateship . . . We are often on tenterhooks, always impressed by their determination, industry and courage’ Australian Book Review
336 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 7, 2020
My interest in the story of Colditz as a WW2 POW camp peaked when I saw a documentary of how in an attic the prisoners were able to build a small glider that when shot out of the modified attic window they estimated would take them far enough away from the castle to freedom. (Still available on YouTube https://youtu.be/A-pAD-oKDDk) Even at the final stages of the war ingenious escape methods were still being contemplated. It was another generation later that another glider with the same specifications was built and was shot out of this attic, flying out beyond the castle. The trajectory of the glider needed to be altered as housing had been established on the original flight path. The glider caused quite a stir with the town's residents taking up viewing positions. A successful flight was achieved.
In 2016 I was fortunate to be able to visit this incredible fortress of Colditz Castle and walk the same pathways, corridors and look out of the same windows as the POWs did. This was an enormously moving experience. The extraordinary talent of many of these men to build items from nothing, such as a camera from spectacles, a sewing machine from old boxes and a telescope forms part of a dedicated small museum. A tunnel, dug out of solid rock is still in existence.
The read concentrates mainly on the Australians and New Zealanders who were imprisoned there. It seems most having been caught during the failed campaign in Greece/Crete. However, during the time of this prison the English made up the majority along with French, Poles,Canadians and others from various countries.
The prison was for Officers of the Allied Forces and it's interesting that for most of the time these men were generally well looked after, the Germans holding up the rules for POWs and the Geneva convention. (Although this depends on how you define "well looked after", English commentators have provided a different perspective). They seemed to have had a reasonable amount of food courtesy of the Red Cross and their home countries, for which my Guide in 2016 stated, however this is only a comparison to other POW camps and Concentration camps where people starved and starved to death. Most of these prisoners experienced the deprivations and hunger in other camps prior to Colditz but even with improved conditions their determination to escape never ceased. As the Americans moved across Europe and Germany, food became scarce, starvation set in and conditions became worse. Escape now meant taking the risk of being shot rather than solitary confinement.
Between 1941 and 1944, 300 escapes were attempted with 31 successful.
In 2016 I was fortunate to be able to visit this incredible fortress of Colditz Castle and walk the same pathways, corridors and look out of the same windows as the POWs did. This was an enormously moving experience. The extraordinary talent of many of these men to build items from nothing, such as a camera from spectacles, a sewing machine from old boxes and a telescope forms part of a dedicated small museum. A tunnel, dug out of solid rock is still in existence.
The read concentrates mainly on the Australians and New Zealanders who were imprisoned there. It seems most having been caught during the failed campaign in Greece/Crete. However, during the time of this prison the English made up the majority along with French, Poles,Canadians and others from various countries.
The prison was for Officers of the Allied Forces and it's interesting that for most of the time these men were generally well looked after, the Germans holding up the rules for POWs and the Geneva convention. (Although this depends on how you define "well looked after", English commentators have provided a different perspective). They seemed to have had a reasonable amount of food courtesy of the Red Cross and their home countries, for which my Guide in 2016 stated, however this is only a comparison to other POW camps and Concentration camps where people starved and starved to death. Most of these prisoners experienced the deprivations and hunger in other camps prior to Colditz but even with improved conditions their determination to escape never ceased. As the Americans moved across Europe and Germany, food became scarce, starvation set in and conditions became worse. Escape now meant taking the risk of being shot rather than solitary confinement.
Between 1941 and 1944, 300 escapes were attempted with 31 successful.
March 5, 2020
I have a vested interest in this book as my father who as a POW, spent time in Colditz Castle. He just appears in one of the photos in the book. He didn't talk much about his time there although food was always in short supply. He became a very good bridge player. He was pleased the Americans liberated the camp; the Russians weren't far behind.
July 21, 2019
This is a story of men in the worst of situations looking out for each other, while at the same time being as disruptive as possible to their captors. The authors, Jack Champ, who was a prisoner in Colditz, and professional researcher/writer, Colin Burgess, maintain a writing style that is entertaining and of great good humour.
The story inevitably contains a level of brutality, but rarely overstated. It was, after all, wartime and the men about whom we read were prisoners of war. Captured and now unable to take up arms against the enemy, they continued to prove troublesome as their way of contributing to the war effort.
Jack, as with many others, was captured following the farce that was the Greek campaign, followed by the impossibility of Crete. The early part of the book tells of their battles, their capture and their transportation across Europe to POW camps. The level of imprisonment increased over time, as did security, especially for those who escaped regularly. It was considered their duty. After all, every additional man required to imprison or recapture them was one less available to fight on the front line.
Escape, as a verb, can never conjure the amount of planning and, frequently, extremely hard work required for its fruition. Despite a number of books written over the years about prisoners’ efforts, many of which I’ve read, I found a connection to The Diggers of Colditz greater than ever before.
While imprisoned at a camp in Eichstatt, the men secretly tunnelled for weeks, often having to work their way around massive rocks in the earth through which they dug. Finally, having extended the tunnel far enough beyond the barbed wire of their compound, more than sixty of them made good their escape. It was an incredible undertaking for men on little more than a starvation diet.
That most were recaptured within hours or days mattered little. In the meantime, they’d caused great disruption to prison authorities, police and army personnel over a vast area. Best of all, and this depite most of Europe being under German control, a few of the escapers actually managed to make their way to England to rejoin the armed services.
Their plans and efforts at Eichstatt were a precursor to the tunnel later dug at Stalag Luft III that famously featured in Paul Brickhill’s book, The Great Escape.
For many of the men, it was not their first escape. Powers of observation were put to best use, as were their captors’ rigid routines. Any chink discovered would be put to the test. It provided an opportunity for freedom (well, of a type) but all too often only brief. The Germans became sick of having to hunt escapers and reincarcerate them, so transferred serial offenders to ‘escape-proof’ Colditz. It was not.
Many escapes were attempted, some successfully, and one team of men even built a glider they hoped to fly from Colditz (not to be confused with one that was flown in a third-rate American TV film, The Birdmen). In the event, the advancing US army liberated Colditz before the glider could be used.
This is good reading, within genre and otherwise. Although more than 30 years since first published, The Diggers of Colditz is released in an updated version. It contains added detail, including pen pictures of many of the men involved.
Recommended.
The story inevitably contains a level of brutality, but rarely overstated. It was, after all, wartime and the men about whom we read were prisoners of war. Captured and now unable to take up arms against the enemy, they continued to prove troublesome as their way of contributing to the war effort.
Jack, as with many others, was captured following the farce that was the Greek campaign, followed by the impossibility of Crete. The early part of the book tells of their battles, their capture and their transportation across Europe to POW camps. The level of imprisonment increased over time, as did security, especially for those who escaped regularly. It was considered their duty. After all, every additional man required to imprison or recapture them was one less available to fight on the front line.
Escape, as a verb, can never conjure the amount of planning and, frequently, extremely hard work required for its fruition. Despite a number of books written over the years about prisoners’ efforts, many of which I’ve read, I found a connection to The Diggers of Colditz greater than ever before.
While imprisoned at a camp in Eichstatt, the men secretly tunnelled for weeks, often having to work their way around massive rocks in the earth through which they dug. Finally, having extended the tunnel far enough beyond the barbed wire of their compound, more than sixty of them made good their escape. It was an incredible undertaking for men on little more than a starvation diet.
That most were recaptured within hours or days mattered little. In the meantime, they’d caused great disruption to prison authorities, police and army personnel over a vast area. Best of all, and this depite most of Europe being under German control, a few of the escapers actually managed to make their way to England to rejoin the armed services.
Their plans and efforts at Eichstatt were a precursor to the tunnel later dug at Stalag Luft III that famously featured in Paul Brickhill’s book, The Great Escape.
For many of the men, it was not their first escape. Powers of observation were put to best use, as were their captors’ rigid routines. Any chink discovered would be put to the test. It provided an opportunity for freedom (well, of a type) but all too often only brief. The Germans became sick of having to hunt escapers and reincarcerate them, so transferred serial offenders to ‘escape-proof’ Colditz. It was not.
Many escapes were attempted, some successfully, and one team of men even built a glider they hoped to fly from Colditz (not to be confused with one that was flown in a third-rate American TV film, The Birdmen). In the event, the advancing US army liberated Colditz before the glider could be used.
This is good reading, within genre and otherwise. Although more than 30 years since first published, The Diggers of Colditz is released in an updated version. It contains added detail, including pen pictures of many of the men involved.
Recommended.
Read
September 16, 2019Some of my Facebook friends must think that I never read a dud book. Well I do choose the occasional stinker, but a great benefit of reading a Kindle is that you get a sample to download first and only have to buy if you are happy with your choice. Well this one not only passed that test, but is up there among the best wartime escape books I have read. Exciting stories by courageous mostly Australian POWs that had the escape bug and as a result of their efforts finished up in Colditz. My guess is that if you start this book you won't put it down, as that was certainly my experience.
November 20, 2020
Am incredible story from the view of diggers and amazing in what they went through to escape from prison Ed of war camps to get back home. Even if most attempts weren’t successful for long once escaped but the few that were are amazing. And what resources they used in escape attempts and to survive. Well worth a read to see what out diggers were put through and what they did to return home knowing that it could get them killed.
February 3, 2022
Interesting book about a subset of the famous Colditz prisoners, namely the Australians. Interesting how much closer the ties between Australia and the UK were then. Learnt some new stuff, for example did you know more French prisoners escaped from the Prison that British. Like the coda which briefly covers the lives after the war of those who were incarcerated there.
May 3, 2023
Great story of POW in Colditz castle in WW2.
Great yarns about escape plans in action and being on the run inside war time Germany.
They built a glider in the attic and were going to use it to escape but the war ended as they finished it.
Great yarns about escape plans in action and being on the run inside war time Germany.
They built a glider in the attic and were going to use it to escape but the war ended as they finished it.
January 18, 2021
Really enjoyed reading this book. The courage, cleverness and ingenuity of the men in these POW camps is so inspiring.
March 1, 2021
Non-fiction about Allied officers held at the impregnable Colditz Castle as prisoners of war during WWII. Well-written, shocking and amusing in equal portions. A great read.
April 26, 2023
Entertaining and informative read. I'd like to read other accounts now.
February 12, 2025
An easy to read book, surprisingly light hearted for the subject. Well paced and laid out.
September 11, 2023
(I bought the hard copy not the e-book)
Well what can I say...what a story. A book such as this is a testament to the bravery of all those young men who went to war on the other side of the world. If they were promised adventure, they got that in spades......and then there was the horror and human sides to every war story.
It was a story of a young mans life in the years he was shipped out to foreign lands to fight in a war he and his countrymen, really had no business being there, except for supporting the allies who were already involved in war.
Bearing in mind that many of these young men were no more than teenage boys when sent, then I imagine that humour was one of their defense mechanisms when it came to situations against the Germans. Trust a bunch of Aussies to see the funny side of things.
Written by Jack Champ the young officer this book is about, with the help of writer Colin Burgess, the young soldier who became an officer and after many escape attempts, and being caught and returned to whichever Oflag he escaped from, Jack was then sent to Colditz castle where the Germans held many of the allied officers.
Here Jack, being a bit of a larrikin, chummed up with some very interesting allied officers as well as others from Australia and New Zealand, many of them becoming lifelong friends.
Always the thinker, and brave enough to try anything to escape, Jack and his friends tried many times to escape the castle. Many others tried and some were lucky enough not to be caught and ended up on the soils of Old Blighty. Most escape attempts were foiled but at least they had something to think about while being bored inside a stone prison. I was amazed at the different things they attempted in order to get to freedom. Then there were the ' adventures' they had along the way on their escape attempts; how brave were these young men.
Jack obviously made it home back to Australia but many didn't....
An excerpt from the first page of this wonderful book...
" I remember seeing one fellow go demonstrably off his rocker at an Appel (roll-call), crying and pleading with the guards to shoot him. How powerless I felt and how less than a human being to witness such tragic and easily avoidable spectacle. It was at such moments that a deep loathing for anything German would rise in one's gorge, and a hollow desperation eat at one's guts for days."
An exacting start to an extraordinary book and for anyone interested in reading human stories of history, I'd say, get one. This book I would highly recommend as it is an absolute page turner and as long as I could get past the suffering, I loved the book for its totally Australian flavour, and humour.
Well what can I say...what a story. A book such as this is a testament to the bravery of all those young men who went to war on the other side of the world. If they were promised adventure, they got that in spades......and then there was the horror and human sides to every war story.
It was a story of a young mans life in the years he was shipped out to foreign lands to fight in a war he and his countrymen, really had no business being there, except for supporting the allies who were already involved in war.
Bearing in mind that many of these young men were no more than teenage boys when sent, then I imagine that humour was one of their defense mechanisms when it came to situations against the Germans. Trust a bunch of Aussies to see the funny side of things.
Written by Jack Champ the young officer this book is about, with the help of writer Colin Burgess, the young soldier who became an officer and after many escape attempts, and being caught and returned to whichever Oflag he escaped from, Jack was then sent to Colditz castle where the Germans held many of the allied officers.
Here Jack, being a bit of a larrikin, chummed up with some very interesting allied officers as well as others from Australia and New Zealand, many of them becoming lifelong friends.
Always the thinker, and brave enough to try anything to escape, Jack and his friends tried many times to escape the castle. Many others tried and some were lucky enough not to be caught and ended up on the soils of Old Blighty. Most escape attempts were foiled but at least they had something to think about while being bored inside a stone prison. I was amazed at the different things they attempted in order to get to freedom. Then there were the ' adventures' they had along the way on their escape attempts; how brave were these young men.
Jack obviously made it home back to Australia but many didn't....
An excerpt from the first page of this wonderful book...
" I remember seeing one fellow go demonstrably off his rocker at an Appel (roll-call), crying and pleading with the guards to shoot him. How powerless I felt and how less than a human being to witness such tragic and easily avoidable spectacle. It was at such moments that a deep loathing for anything German would rise in one's gorge, and a hollow desperation eat at one's guts for days."
An exacting start to an extraordinary book and for anyone interested in reading human stories of history, I'd say, get one. This book I would highly recommend as it is an absolute page turner and as long as I could get past the suffering, I loved the book for its totally Australian flavour, and humour.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews