Guestbook entries from 5/7/00 to 12/9/00

Emma - 09/12/00 12:11:05
My Email:BarrellE@hundredhoo.medway.sch.co.uk

Comments:
thanx for a brill site

Emma - 09/12/00 12:10:04

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Paul - 09/12/00 09:23:25

Comments:
I loved your website esspicaly the section on Colditz Castle escapes!,thanks

Kevin Page - 09/10/00 08:39:08
My Email:kmpage@ami.com.au

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Ron Ingram - 09/06/00 11:33:37
My Email:ronald_ingram@yahoo.com

Comments:
At last a site dedicated to a great bunch of British "chaps", together with other allies (French, Dutch, Poles, Belgians, Commonwealth and in latter years 3 Americans).How about a section on the lighter side of Colditz (i.e. "I would rather work for 100 G rmans than 1 Frenchman", "Your profession", "Undertaker". Or "Kellner eine Whisky Soda bitte". Excellent start, keep up the good work.

Michael E. Bashor - 09/04/00 04:23:10
My Email:mikeb@gec-isp.net

Comments:
Loved your tour. Am going to attempt a real one in about three weeks. What can you or any of your readers tell me about the tours times, etc. Thanks Mike Bashor

JOHN DAVISON - 08/25/00 09:40:09
My Email:JOHNRDAVISON@HOTMAIL.COM

Comments:
VERY INTERESTING AND WELL PRESENTED SITE.

mike - 08/15/00 19:34:13
My Email:mike66smith@yahoo.co.uk

Comments:
great site! i visited colditz in '93 whilst working in the area, it was still being used as a sanitarium. i visited again in '94 for the anniversary of the liberation. i'm fascinated by the place! i notice the author comes from malvern? as i live in worce ter, i'd be happy for you to view any photo's, books, video's, literature that i've collected, to see if anything would be of use for your website?

ian colditz - 08/15/00 16:59:37
My Email:cmegafox@hotmail.com

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olivia - 08/07/00 21:00:45

Comments:
i found your information was very usefull im currently doing a study for school and your info has helped thanks

Lawrence Jack Hunter, Lt. Col. USAF Ret. - 07/30/00 19:57:59
My Email:PAFRAZ@aol.com

Comments:
Visit the website for my new book published in March 2000 regards an untold story of WWII in which I recite incidents heretofore unknown about flying the Martin Marauder B-26 Bomber in which over 5,000 men (and women ferry pilots) were killed (cremated) i this aircraft. All pilots, pilots-to-be, and wannabe pilots should read how many brave men and women died so that we can now fly the safest mode of transportation ever devised. I accumulated more flying time as pilot of this aircraft than anyone and liv d to write this love story and expose' of danger, deceit, cover-up and deaths. In 1943 a US Congressman in the Truman Investigation Committee remarked, "This Martin Marauder B-26 had such short stubby wings it had no visible means of support- A Flying Pr stitute." http://www.theflyingprostitute.com Lawrence Jack Hunter Lt.Col. USAF Ret., author Dallas, Texas

Charlels R Hoffman, Jr. - 07/19/00 01:42:03
My Email:crhjrl@gulftel.com

Comments:
I consider this entire angelfire site a gold mine. It is a shame that Alan Murphy, the firest G.I. to enter the castle, is not alive to enjoy it. We were in the same company, he in I&R, I in Anti-Tank. I visited the castle shortly after its capture and wa greatly impressed with the glider. I have read P.Reid's books and enjoyed them immensely. Of all the web pages I have visited, this one rates far above any of them. Congratulations on those who put it together.

- 07/10/00 16:13:30

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Craig Tesitor - 07/07/00 19:35:32
My Email:ctesitor@txdirect.net

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I am not yet done reading "Escape from Colditz" and already I am enthralled in the place. The stories of what these men did are incredible, my hat is off to their determination and perseverance is such harsh conditions. The web site is wonderful, seeing actual pictures of Colditz really adds something while I finish the book. If I ever get a chance to go to Europe Colditz will be a must stop! Thanks!

David Graves - 07/07/00 04:17:06
My Email:dggraves@hotmail.com

Comments:
I first read of Colditz in 1986, while in the sixth grade. I read "The Great Escapes". I accidentally bought it because "The Great Escape is my favorite movie, it depicts teh escape from Stalg Luft III. Although I purchased it accidentally it was a gre t buy.

Ilari Kattilakoski - 07/06/00 18:19:25
My Email:taipaleenjoki@hotmail.com

Comments:
Hello, I´ve been interested in the story of Colditz for years, I taped every episode of the "Colditz" TV series and bought the books by Pat Reid and Reinhold Eggers, in July -99 I visited Colditz briefly, although there were renevations going on the place had a ertain exciting atmosphere, as I left my car and walked towards the castle I met this old friendly German chap, the man was very friendly and spoke with no hesitations, I´m not sure of just how old he was but he told me a story how two British prisoners o ce tried to escape from the castle in the night, both men were caught and he rembered how funny these guys looked with their faces paint black.. I cant remember all of this story but it was interesting, the old German even asked if I cared to join him for dinner but unfortunately I had no time.

Graeme Hunter - 07/05/00 18:03:25
My Email:nimrod@huntertec.demon.co.uk

Comments:
I visited Colditz with my wife on 29th June 2000. It was awesome ! I would suggest a visit soon, as they are renovating the building. Parts of the main roof are complete. They are currently working on the walls etc., and will start painting the exterior...... Colditz is not on the main tourist route, I didn't see one British registered car in the area. However, I hear the Americans are going to make a new film about Colditz ..... that will be the end !

Joe Black - 07/05/00 12:43:33
My Email:joeblack@smartchat.net.au

Comments:
I visited Colditz about 5 times in the 1980s - I was intereted in the WWII history of the place and fascinated by life in Communist Europe. I did all my trips by motorcycle and was lucky enough to make friends with people who lived in Topfergasse - a litt e street a few yards from the gate of the castle. When I visted, I suspect that town was little changed from WWII. I suspect that reunification has fixed all of that. I haven't been back since then - and now that I live in Australia I don't think I'll be going for a while.

mike - 07/05/00 01:54:54
My Email:mike10gun@hotmail.com

Comments:
The purpose of my research paper is to describe Colditz, a castle that was used to hold prisoners during World War II. Colditz was a medieval castle that was built in 1014. The castle had frequent battles because of its location and it was the ancient seat of the kings of Saxony. During the 1800’s, Colditz was a prison. In 1928 Colditz became a lunatic asylum, a concentration camp in 1933, a Hitler Youth camp in 1934 and became a prisoner of war camp for escaping prisoners from 1939 to 1945. Colditz is located 35 miles between Leipzig and Dresden on the river Moulde in Germany. Colditz was a camp for officers and other people who were dangerous to the Nazi regime or had made previous escape attempts. When I visited Colditz, it looked exactly the same as it did in 1945. The outer wall was massive and had a sheer drop of a hundred feet. At the bottom there were guards and ringed barbed wire. The walls are seven feet thick and the inner courtyard is two hundred and fifty feet above the river. The prisoner’s quarters are three hundred and 10 feet above the river. Some of the prisoners quarters were nine feet by nine feet consisting of six people in each quarter. Other corridors were actually dormitories with 14 bunks, a wash room, a kitchen, and a day room. I walked the same path as the Page 2 prisoners up the steep cobblestone walkway through an arched gateway. I then crossed a bridge that was over what was once a wide moat and through a second archway into a large courtyard which is also called the outer courtyard. I soon went farther up the walkway and through a third archway for about 50 yards, then I made a sharp right into the inner courtyard. The inner courtyard was a cobbled space about 30 by 40 yards surrounded by buildings whose roofs were about 90 feet high. At every angle flood lights were put to keep the courtyard lit up at night despite the blackout. Life in the eyes of an officer was quite frustrating but it wasn't harsh. At 7:30 prisoners were awakened. At 8:00 breakfast orderlies carried a large cauldron of coffee made from acorns, loaves of bread, a small amount of margarine, and a small bit of sugar. At 8:30 all prisoners went to the courtyard and formed ranks by nationalities, for example, Poles, British, French with the highest ranking of officer in front. A German officer would appear and everybody would salute everybody else. This process is called an appell. The prisoners had four appells a day or extra if suspicions arose over escapes. After the morning the appell, men would read, study, play music, teach other languages, or exercise. At 12:30 the prisoners had lunch consisting of thick barley gruel. The afternoon pastimes included fencing, Page 3 volleyball, boxing and stool ball. Stool ball was a game that the British made up for entertainment. It consisted of two sides. Each side could have up to 30 people at a time. The objectives of the game was to hit the other teams stool with the ball. Anything went but nobody was ever seriously injured although after the game everybody's clothes were torn to shreds. Three times every week for two hours a day, prisoners were marched to the wooded grounds below the castle but in the external walls. Prisoners usually played soccer. Chess and cards were played until lights out at 9:00. Hundreds of escape attempts were made from Colditz. More than 130 prisoners were able to get clear of the castle but only 19 made home runs. A home run is the prisoners term for escaping all the way home. Escape was on everyone’s mind and many plans were going on at once. To prevent problems an escape officer was appointed in each group. The escape officer knew all the escapes that there were going to happen so no escapes could overlap. Each nationality had their own escape officer. As if escaping from Colditz wasn’t difficult enough, Colditz was 400 miles deep into Nazi territory. A common escape route was constructing a tunnel. One of the incredible but unsuccessful tunnels was constructed by the French. The French started construction on the tunnel 8 months before all the French Page 4 were scheduled to leave to other camps. French quarters were on the fourth floor and provided a problem for the French. There was an empty clock tower on the left-hand side of the courtyard as you walked through the gates. The French could climb down the clock tower by means of bed sheet ladders, at the bottom they started digging. At the beginning of the tunnel, nine people were in on it. Towards the end 30 people were working on it. There were three shifts and they worked day and night by means of lights supplied by the prisoners branching electricity off the Chapels main circuit box. During the day the men would work in between appells. The tunnel was only big enough for one person to dig, therefore one person would dig and others would load dirt and place it on a wood sled. The sled was made for the men to haul dirt to the horizontal part of the tunnel. Then the other person would hook the bag on to a piece of rope. At the top of the clock tower there was a pulley that used to hold chains for the clock. Then from the clocks leftovers they made an electric motor that would pull up the dirt to the fourth floor. The men would dump the dirt in the attic. The Germans had heard tunneling and while the Germans looked for the tunnel the French stopped working with only five more yards to dig. Work started again but the Germans made a surprise visit at the top of the clock tower and though Page 5 they thought they heard something like a cough, the Germans did not see anyone. A few minutes later they arrived again with a small boy, a torch and a long piece of rope. They began to lower the boy down and at the time there were three men at the tunnel entrance with bars made for digging and when the boy came down he screamed, “help help, there are people down here”. The Germans quickly pulled the boy up as the three men smashed through the wall next to them and into a bathroom in the sick ward. They then left the building undetected but the whole tunnel was discovered. Another unsuccessful French escape was called the Rhine maiden. The Rhine maiden was actually a French man named Boulay. Boulay had his wife send him a wig, stockings, a dress, and a watch. One of the days the men were allowed to march down to the park, Boulay had his dress and stockings hidden under his coat. As they marched on the path, there was a curve in the road which gave the men 10 seconds to take off the coat, pull up the stockings, strap on the watch and place the wig and hat on unseen. Boulay then turned around to walk in the opposite direction as the men were marching. When he passed the Germans his watch fell off and the German guard ran after Boulay, yelling “halt” so the guard could give the watch back to the “woman”. Boulay thought he had been caught so he took off the Page 6 hat and wig. The German guard startled by finding a man instead of a woman, took Boulay back to Coldtiz. One successful attempt occurred in 1942 when six prisoners escaped. One of the prisoners was able to make keys to the commandants office where uniforms were stored. The prisoners pried up the flooring beneath the commandants desk which let them into a crawl space below where they could dig through a wall into a storage shed. After two nights work the six dropped into the shed, changed clothes into two German officer uniforms and the other four posed as Polish prisoners from in town. On occasion a small group of these prisoners were brought to the shed to bring supplies back and forth in wooden boxs. At 7:00 AM they unlocked the shed and headed down the hill to the guard house. The prisoners saluted and they all walked through. Only two of the six, a Dutch and a British officer made it to Switzerland, the others were recaptured. I enjoyed writing this paper because I actually got to go to the camp and walk in places were the men walked and saw the things that they saw when they first came in to the camp. I got to see actual escape equipment in a museum in the castle and saw part of the French tunnel in the chapel. The tour guide even offered to sell me Colditz for 1 mark (60cents) but Page 7 there was a catch. Whoever buys it must restore the castle which would cost millions. written by Mike Oldani

mike - 07/05/00 01:05:07
My Email:mike10gun@hotmail.com

Comments:
hi i am mike i went to colditz when i was 12 it was one of the most incredible things in my life i wish i could go back also for all of you who are looking for the vidio a new one is comming out soon though it will not be as good because they changed it a bit i would love it if some of you vetrans would e-mail me your stories thanks mike

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