80th anniversary of the ‘Great Escape’ from Nazi German POW camp marked in Poland

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Observances have been held in Poland to mark the 80th anniversary of the “Great Escape,” an ingenious act of defiance during World War II in which 76 prisoners of war tunneled out of a German prisoner-of-war camp into a snowy forest. A solemn roll call of remembrance was held in the town where the former POW camp is now a museum. Soldiers belonging to Poland’s 11th Armored Cavalry Division as well as American troops stationed there attended the event, a Polish state broadcaster said. Most of the soldiers who escaped from the camp faced a tragic end. Only three made it to safety.