Escaping from Stalag Luft III
A replica of the escape tunner Harry is an attraction at the Stalag Luft III museum in Zagan. The replica is about 20 meters long, and runs just under surface. The real tunnel was more than 100 meters long, ran 9-10 meters under ground, and it was still smaller than what you can see. The escapees used a similar car to travel the tunnel to freedom.
Blechhammer North and South in 2015
Blechhammer North and South were 2 synthetic fuel plants defended by 300 flak guns, and positioned at the extreme range of the 15th Air Force B-17s and B-24s.
In early 2015, I took this video from an airliner when I noticed I flew over Blechhammer North (zoom at 0:06) and South (coming into view at 0:17). Remember the veterans who shared this view 70 years ago...
Blechhammer Tour 2015 - Krakow
I want to share with you 7 daily summaries of the tour we did in 2015.
We started the tour in Krakow, visiting the Royal Castle and the Old Town. What a day it was!
Blechhammer Tour 2015 - Wieliczka and Kazimierz
On the second day of the 2015 tour we went to the famous salt mines in Wieliczka, and we spent the afternoon in Kazimierz, Kraków's Jewish district - made famous by Spielberg's "Schindler's List".
Blechhammer Tour 2015 - Auschwitz Birkenau
Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkenau were the places we visited on day 3 of the 2015 tour. This was a long and exhausting day, but a must to understand what Nazis prepared for "sub-humans", and Jews in particular.
Blechhammer Tour 2015 - Zygodowice and Jeleśnia
Day 4 of the 2015 tour was a lot of driving outside of Krakow. We went to 2 memorials marking crash sites of 2 B-24s which participated in the bombing of IG Farben at Auschwitz on September 13th, 1944.
Blechhammer Tour 2015 - Blechhammer
On day 5 of the 2015 tour we went to Kędzierzyn-Koźle, where 3 important targets of the 15th Air Force were located: Blechhammer South, Blechhammer North, and Odertal. All were synthetic fuel plants. We saw air raid shelters, a few crash sites, and an awesome museum dedicated to the 15th Air Force.
Blechhammer Tour 2015 - Stalag Luft III at Zagan
On day 6 of the 2015 tour we went to Zagań, where Stalag Luft III was. This was a POW camp for allied airmen, and many British and American airmen were sent here, The camp is famous for the Great Escape, in which tunnel "Harry" was used to allow 76 men to escape from the camp.
Blechhammer Tour 2015 - Wroclaw and Walim
This is a video from a day in 2015 tour when we went to Wroclaw and Walim. Wroclaw is a big historic city, and Walim is a small place in mountains where Nazis built an underground tunnel systems similar to that of Mittelbau-Dora (where V-2 rockets were built). If you heard of the search for the Nazi Gold Train in Poland, this is where the train is supposed to be.
