Prison breaks

No list of Canadian escapes is complete without the only one that could be called great—and that’s the key role Canadians played in the 1944 tunnel escape of 76 prisoners of war from Stalag Luft III, an exploit glorified in the 1963 movie The Great Escape. Though Canadians were nearly invisible in the film, their contributions to the largest mass escape of the Second World War ranged from artist Robert Buckham’s forged travel permits to the daring of “tunnel king” Wally Floody, a pilot and former miner. Nine escaping officers were Canadian. Three were recaptured; six were among 50 escapees executed on orders of the German command.