The Great Escape – Matted Collector’s Piece by Richard Taylor

Description

“Everyone in this room is living on borrowed time. By rights we should all be dead! The only reason that God allowed us this extra ration of life is so we can make life hell for the Hun… three bloody deep, bloody long tunnels will be dug – Tom, Dick, and Harry. One will succeed!” With those words the chief escape officer in Stalag Luft III, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell RAF, announced his plan for perhaps the most daring escape attempt of the war – the mass breakout of 200 men through the digging of three long tunnels (nicknamed Tom, Dick, and Harry), an audacious feat of tunnelling that would be long and dangerous. Just after 22.00hrs on the night of 24/25 March 1944, the first escapee broke through to the surface – only to find it well short of the surrounding trees. The escapees would have to crawl to the cover of the trees under the noses of the patrolling sentries.

Richard’s atmospheric piece shows the moment POWs escape into the cool night air and realise that their planned exit has fallen short of the woods; they will have to crawl to the cover of the trees under the noses of the patrolling sentries.

Overall matted size: 23” wide x 19 ¾” high

Released in 2010, this Limited Edition has been signed for posterity by a veteran of Stalag Luft III who was directly involved in the Great Escape: Flight Lieutenant WILLIAM ‘TEX’ ASH Now available to be ordered as a Matted Collector’s Piece to include a sample of sand Matted to full conservation standards to include a sample of sand recovered from the site of ‘Tunnel Harry’ and a fragment of the ‘Cooler’ used for solitary confinement in the camp.

MATTED LIMITED EDITION Edition Size – 200