On March 24, 1944, 76 Allied prisoners of war crawled out of a tunnel during a moonless night and headed through the snow-covered woods of Poland.
They were fleeing the German prison camp Stalag Luft III. What happened next confounded Nazi Germany's security forces for weeks, infuriated Hitler and led to the murder of 50 of the escapees by the Gestapo.
It's known as “The Great Escape,” and it was World War II's most daring and ingenious effort by Allied POWs to flee their German captors. A best-selling book and a popular Hollywood movie chronicled their flight.
But more than 70 years later, what many forget is that despite months of dangerous and backbreaking work, only three men made it all the way to freedom.
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