Stalag Luft III it as a longer third-person narrative under the title "The Wooden Horse", which was filmed as "The Wooden Horse" in 1950. He included many details omitted in his first book, but changed his name to "Peter Howard", Michael Codner to "John Clinton" and Oliver Philpot to "Philip Rowe". Williams also wrote a prequel, "The Tunnel", an extended study of the mentalities of life as a prisoner of war. Although not an escape novel, it shows the profound urge to escape, and explores the ways that camp life affected men's emotions. Paul Brickhill was an Australian-born Spitfire pilot, shot down in
Stalag Luft III Stalag Luft III Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a "Luftwaffe"-run prisoner of war (POW) camp during World War II, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel. The "Stalag" was established in March 1942 in the German province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan (now Żagań, Poland), south-east of Berlin. The site was selected because its sandy soil made it difficult for POWs to escape by tunnelling. It is best known for two escape plots by Allied POWs. The camp was liberated by Soviet forces in January 1945. The German military