The Wooden Horse The Wooden Horse The Wooden Horse is a 1950 British Second World War war film starring Leo Genn, David Tomlinson and Anthony Steel. It was directed by Jack Lee. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams, who also wrote the screenplay. The film depicts the true events of an escape attempt made by POWs in the German prison camp Stalag Luft III. The wooden horse in the title of the film is a piece of exercise equipment the prisoners use to conceal their escape attempt as well as a reference to the Trojan Horse
Stalag Luft III followed a practice whereby the different branches of the military were responsible for all POWs of equivalent branches. Hence the "Luftwaffe " was normally responsible for any Allied aircrew taken prisoner. This included captured naval aviators, such as members of the British Fleet Air Arm. In a few cases, other non-air force personnel were also held at "Stalag Luft III". "Stammlager Luft" (literally "Main Camp, Air") was "Luftwaffe "nomenclature for a POW camp. While the camp initially held only POWs who were officers, it was not known by the usual terms for such camps – "Offizier Lager" or "Oflag". And