Tour of Colditz Castle
Page Two

The second of these exits is directly opposite the entrance to the courtyard.

This archway opens up onto a small approach to the German guardhouse. Within the stone floor of this approach, and totally unnoticeable to anyone with a healthy degree of sanity (d’oh!), lie three manhole covers. These lead to the drainage system which runs under the castle (and which is also accessible from the prisoner’s courtyard). On 16th June 1944, a guard standing nearby heard some strange noises below his feet. Click here for more information.

Standing at the end of this small path is the Guardhouse. This is where the German guards, when off duty, could relax. The guardhouse itself is fairly small, and is currently used as the castle’s escape museum.

As you stand facing the door to the guardhouse, directly on your right hand side lies the entrance archway to the prisoner’s courtyard. This courtyard consists of a cobbled yard about 30m by 35m yards, surrounded on all four sides by buildings whose roof ridges rise about 25m above the ground. Naturally, sunlight only penetrates into this yard for a few hours each day. Looking back through the archway from the prisoner’s courtyard, the small area in front of the German guardhouse, bathing in sunlight, can be seen.

During the day, the courtyard would be the scene for many of the prisoner’s daily activities - football, cricket, volleyball, fencing and stoolball (a rather strange game, invented by the prisoners, consisting of two large teams of men, two stools, and a ball). In addition to this, many prisoners would pursue simpler pastimes - reading, playing cards etc.
Numerous doors open out onto the courtyard. These include entrances to the shower baths, kitchens, camp office, chapel, parcels office, sickbay, and solitary confinement cells. In the south-east corner of the yard lies the entrance to some of the living quarters, and to the right of this, the canteen.

The canteen was the site for one of the early British escape attempts from the castle. Click here for more information.