The Fake Escape
Hollywood's version of one of the most famous war stories ever was "a load of rubbish", a veteran who was there tells Luke Harding
He played a starring role in one of the most famous episodes of the second world war. But yesterday BA "Jimmy" James - one of the last survivors of the mass break-out by Allied prisoners from a Nazi prisoner of war camp - described the celebrated film version of his story as "a load of rubbish".
James, now 90, said the 1963 movie The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Richard Attenborough, bore little resemblance to what actually took place during and after the escape from the maximum-security camp in Sagan, Poland.
James was one of 76 prisoners who successfully tunnelled out of the camp, but was recaptured 24 hours later. Only three - two Norwegians and a Dutchman - managed to reach allied territory. Fifty others - many British - were shot. Hitler personally ordered their execution.
James, who was shot down over Holland in June 1940, returned to Germany yesterday to mark the publication of his version of events, Moonless Night.
"The first part of the film wasn't bad," James told Guardian Unlimited at the book's Berlin launch. "The [escape] committee meetings were good. And the tunnel was fairly well-portrayed."
However, he added: "The second half was just Hollywood fantasy. It was an excuse for Steve McQueen [who plays a fictional officer, Captain Hilts] to ride his motorbike. There was no motorbike. Nobody pinched a plane either. And the forger didn't go blind afterwards. He was shot.
"Attenborough [whose character was based on James's fellow squadron leader, Roger Bushell] wasn't bad. But the last part was a load of old rubbish."
During his five years in German captivity James tried to escape 12 times. He succeeded twice - from Stalag Luft III, the scene of The Great Escape, and from Sachsenhausen, the PoW camp in Berlin where he was interned afterwards.
Yesterday he recalled how he escaped from Stalag Luft III in "Harry" - one of three tunnels dug 30ft below the German sentry lines. He clambered out of the tunnel "at 1.30am" and boarded a train south - only to be arrested 24 hours later when a guard asked him for his papers. "It was a great frustration and disappointment," he said. "But I still remember the euphoria of getting out [of the tunnel] into the snow."
His second escape was more successful. In September 1944 he and four other prisoners managed to dig their way out of Sachsenhausen, north of Berlin. They then tramped northwards through thick pine forests, hoping to jump on a boat to Sweden. They avoided capture for two weeks.
"At one point we met some Russian prisoners of war in the woods. They gave us some food," James said. "Then early one morning we were looking for a place to hide. It was 5am. There was mist everywhere. We set off across a ploughed field and ran straight into a German farmer.
"We were arrested shortly afterwards by three members of the German home guard. They pointed their guns at us and said: 'Hnde hoch [hands up]'," he added. "Afterwards Himmler was furious. He ordered our execution. But the order was rescinded."
In the last weeks of the war, James and other British officers were shipped south to northern Italy via Dachau concentration camp.
The Americans finally liberated him and other prominent prisoners in May 1945.
Asked why he kept on digging tunnels, James replied: "It wasn't pleasant being surrounded by barbed wire. It kept up morale. And it caused trouble for the security people."
He added: "I don't know why I was never shot."
He said just six of the original Great Escapers are still alive - three of them British.
Another second world war hero, Squadron Leader Eric Foster, who is also believed to have been an inspiration behind The Great Escape, died yesterday at his Gloucestershire home, aged 102.
After the war James refused to talk about his experiences but later decided to write his memoirs.
He even returned to Germany - working for the British intelligence service MI6 alongside the notorious double agent and traitor George Blake. "I never liked him much," James recalled. "He once gave my wife a lift from the Naafi. He didn't speak a word to her."
As part of his publicity tour James will attend a screening of The Great Escape in Cologne tomorrow.
"The Daily Express once compared me to Steve McQueen," he said.
"When I was shot down I couldn't actually ride a motorbike."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006