Attempts To Escape Oflag IV-C
Prisoners made numerous attempts to escape from Oflag IV-C, one of the most famous German Army (Wehrmacht), German Army prisoner-of-war camps for Officer (armed forces), officers in World War II. Between 30 and 36 men succeeded in their attempts - exact numbers differ between German and Allied sources. The camp was situated in Colditz Castle, perched on a cliff overlooking the town of Colditz in Saxony. The German Army made Colditz a ''Sonderlager'' (high-security prison camp), the only one of its type within Germany. Field Marshal Hermann Göring even declared Colditz "escape-proof". In spite of this claim, there were many well-documented escapes and failed attempts by British Army, British, Canadian Army, Canadian, French Army, French, Polish Army, Polish, Royal Netherlands Army, Dutch, and Belgian Army, Belgian inmates. Despite some mistaken beliefs to the contrary, Colditz Castle was not used as a prisoner of war camp in World War I. The escapes from Colditz, featured in ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Oflag IV-C
Oflag IV-C, generally known as Colditz Castle, was a prominent German Army prisoner-of-war camp for captured Allied officers during World War II. Located in Colditz, Saxony, the camp operated within the medieval Colditz Castle, which overlooks the town. The word "Oflag" is an abbreviation of the German term ''Offizierslager'', meaning "officers' camp." The camp held officers who were deemed escape risks or who had already attempted escape from other prison camps. Known for its seemingly impenetrable structure, Colditz Castle became a site of numerous escape attempts, some of which were successful, earning a reputation for the ingenuity and daring of its prisoners. The camp's history and the elaborate escape plans conceived there have been widely covered in postwar memoirs, books, and media. Today, Colditz Castle has become a popular tourist destination, with guided tours, exhibitions and a museum dedicated to the prisoners' life. Colditz Castle This thousand-year-old fortress was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Hofenacker
Hofenacker is a small hamlet, which belongs to the Swiss municipality of Ramsen, in the eastern part of the canton of Schaffhausen. Geography/Location As of December 31, 2012, Hofenacker had 22 inhabitants. Its distance to the centre of the municipality is about 1.7 miles, while it is only 160 yards from the nearest Swiss-German border marker and only 0.6 miles from Spiesshof, a former farmhouse and restaurant exactly on the border and next to the German road between Singen and Gottmadingen. Hofenacker's importance in connection with the 'Singen Route' Between April 1941 and October 1943, at least 19 escaped Allied POW officers and soldiers (Dutch, British, Canadian), most of them coming from Colditz, reached Ramsen, Switzerland, after having crossed the border west of Spiesshof. Hofenacker was an important landmark for them as they knew that they had to keep west of it near a forest, in order not to stray back into a salient of German territory east of it.See http://www. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Gottmadingen
Gottmadingen is a municipality in the district of Konstanz, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, situated on the Swiss border, 5 km southwest of Singen, and 12 km east of Schaffhausen. A first mention of Gottmadingen was in 965. Until the construction of the Singen - Schaffhausen railway line it was a tiny village. Economic growth began in the 20th century. Due to the high demand for workers in the new factories the number of inhabitants grew rapidly. Gottmadingen's industry was mainly based on the production of agricultural machinery. In the years 1960s and 1970s more than 4,000 workers were employed in the "Fahr" factory for agricultural engines. The factory was closed in 2003. Today's economy is based on several companies that settled on the former "Fahr" factory area. The municipal area of Gottmadingen comprises also the outlying villages of Bietingen, Ebringen and Randegg, as well as the hamlet Murbach. Both and itself have railway stations and benefit from rail ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Soest, Germany
Soest (, as if it were 'Sohst'; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Saust'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the Capital (political), capital of the Soest (district), Soest district. Geography Soest is located along the ''Hellweg'' road, approximately south-west of Lippstadt, roughly east of Dortmund and roughly west of Paderborn. Neighbouring places *Bad Sassendorf *Ense *Lippetal *Möhnesee *Werl *Welver Legends The Norwegian Þiðrekssaga from the 13th century, a series of tales about the Goths, Gothic King Theoderic the Great, identifies Soest (called Susat) as the capital of Attila's (?–453) Hunnic Empire. The actual location of Attila's capital has not been determined. History Early history Owing to its fertile soil (predominantly brown silty clay loam), the area around Soest is believed to have been settled well before the village is first mentioned in the ''Dagobertsche Schenkung'' in 836. Excavations in recent decades have uncover ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Hans Larive
Etienne Henri "Hans" Larive, MWO, DSC and bar, (23 September 1915 – 28 December 1984) was a Dutch naval officer during World War II. He escaped from the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle in 1941, and spent the rest of the war in England serving aboard Motor Torpedo Boats. He later wrote his memoir ''Vannacht varen de Hollanders'' (1950), which was republished translated into English as ''The Man Who Came in From Colditz'' (1975) – a pun on the best-selling novel ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold''. Early life Larive was born on 23 September 1915 in Singapore. He entered the Royal Netherlands Naval College (KIM) in 1934, graduating in 1937, and gaining his commission as '' Luitenant ter Zee (3de klasse)'' on 13 August that year. He was promoted to '' Luitenant ter Zee (2de klasse)'' on 13 August 1939. World War II In May 1940, just a few days before the Germans attacked Holland, he returned from his tour of duty in the Dutch East Indies as Navigation Of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Singen
Singen (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border. Location Singen is an industrial city situated in the far south of Baden-Württemberg in Germany close to Lake Constance, just north of the German-Swiss border. It is the most important city in the Hegau area. Landmarks The most famous landmark of Singen is Hohentwiel, a volcanic stub on which there are the ruins of a Hohentwiel Castle, fortress destroyed by French troops during the Napoleonic Wars. History Early History In the 1950s, a large early Bronze Age burial ground was discovered. This discovery gave its name to the so-called Singen group. It dates from approximately 2300 BC to 2000 BC and was widespread in the area between the Swabian Jura and Lake Constance as well as in Württemberg and Swabia (Bavaria), Bavarian Swabia. Seven Roman coins date to a period between 341 and 354 AD. A Roma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
David Stirling
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, (15 November 1915 – 4 November 1990) was a Scottish officer in the British Army and the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS). Under his leadership, the SAS carried out hit-and-run raids behind the Axis lines of the North African campaign. He saw active service during the Second World War until he was captured in January 1943. He spent the rest of the war in captivity, despite making several attempts to escape. Stirling left the Regular Army in 1947. He founded the Capricorn Africa Society, which aimed to fight racial discrimination in Africa, but Stirling's preference to a limited, elitist voting franchise over universal suffrage limited the movement's appeal. He subsequently formed various private military companies and was linked with a failed attempt to overthrow the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the early 1970s. He also attempted to organise efforts to undermine trades unionism and to overthrow the Br ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocessed, they taste intensely bitter. In making chocolate, these seeds Cocoa bean fermentation, are usually fermented to develop the flavor. They are then dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shell is removed to reveal nibs, which are ground to chocolate liquor: unadulterated chocolate in rough form. The liquor can be processed to separate its two components, cocoa solids and cocoa butter, or shaped and sold as unsweetened baking chocolate. By adding sugar, sweetened chocolates are produced, which can be sold simply as dark chocolate (a.k.a., plain chocolate), or, with the addition of milk, can be made into milk chocolate. Making milk chocolate with cocoa butter and without cocoa solids produces white chocolate. In some chocolates, other ingredients ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Douglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged. Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting aerobatics, he crashed and lost the lower part of both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice Marsh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Red Cross
The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. History Foundation Until the middle of the nineteenth century, there were no organized or well-established army nursing systems for casualties, nor safe or protected institutions, to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. A devout Calvinism, Calvinist, the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant traveled to Italy to meet then-French emperor Napoleon III in June 1859 with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in French Algeria, Algeria, which at that time was occupied by France. He arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of 24 June after the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Second Itali ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, social scientists define smuggling as the purposeful movement across a border in contravention to the relevant legal frameworks. There are various motivations to smuggle. These include the participation in illegal trade, such as in the drug trade, illegal weapons trade, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, heists, chop shops, illegal immigration or illegal emigration, tax evasion, import restrictions, export restrictions, providing contraband to prison inmates, or the theft of the items being smuggled. Smuggling is a common theme in literature, from Bizet's opera ''Carmen'' to the James Bond spy books (and later films) '' Diamonds Are Forever'' and '' Goldfinger''. Etymology The verb ''smuggle'', from Low German ''smuggeln'' o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |