Mandatory Credit: Photo by Geoffrey Robinson / Rex Features (1507949i)
Dr Hugh Hunt trying out one of the tunnel trolleys
Archaeologists, veterans and modern-day RAF personnel recreate 'The Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III, Zagan, Poland - 27 Nov 2011
*full story: http://www.rexfeatures.com/nanolink/eb31* 'The Great Escape' from Germany's infamous Stalag Luft III by allied servicemen has been recreated for the first time after nearly 70 years. Immortalised by the largely fictionalised 1963 Hollywood film starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough, the great escape of RAF airmen from the PoW camp has become the stuff of legend. Now Dr Hugh Hunt from Cambridge University and a team of archaeologists, veterans and modern-day RAF personnel have gone back to the site near Zagan, Poland, to excavate the famous 100-metre "Harry" tunnel from which 76 men escaped on March 24, 1944. They have also studied the remains of "George", a tunnel which was in progress when the war ended. Dr Hunt, from the university's engineering department, said: "It took a year to dig the tunnel but for more than 70 years since then "Harry" and "George" have remained undisturbed - and with them the final secrets of a remarkable story and history".