Airey Neave
Airey Neave was a man who was willing to do whatever it took to end his time as a POW. In February 1940, he was assigned to the 1st Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery in France. He was wounded at Calais in 1940 and was taken captive by the German Army. He made short work of escaping from his first prison camp but was recaptured a few days later. He was interrogated by the Gestapo after he was recaptured, an experience that he solemnly remembered as “unpleasant.”
Unwilling to risk another escape, the Germans transferred Neave to the “escape-proof” Colditz Castle. From the moment he was imprisoned at the castle, he had a fanatical desire to escape. His first attempt came a mere six weeks after his imprisonment. Neave thought if he could convince the guards he was one of them, he could get past the gates and out of the prison. So, using materials from the theater department, he made himself a German uniform. However, as soon as he made it out of the castle, the scenery paint he had used to make his clothes shone very bright green under the searchlights. After another long interrogation, Neave was returned to the prison at Colditz.
The conditions at Colditz were not ideal as Neave was poorly fed and badly treated during his stay. He never stopped trying to come up with a way to escape and ended up working with a Dutch prisoner named Anthony Luteyn. The pair improved upon Neave’s original escape plan with both of them wearing German uniforms that they had created. Working with the theater gave them the perfect cover for their uniform creation and a way out.
During a Saturday-night prison revue, the two escaped through a trap door on the stage. Once outside the walls of the castle, Neave managed to make it 400 miles to the Swiss border. From there he managed a boat to England and became the first British officer to escape from Colditz and make it all the way back home.