Stalag Luft III: Did the Germans Know About the Escape

I find it hard to believe that with all that was going on like building three tunnels, getting documents ready, security, and disposing of the dirt that the Germans didn't know something was going on. I do know that their had been an escape using a wooden horse (which was also made into a movie) so the Germans had to be on alert after that humiliation. Did the Germans suspect something?

Checkertail20 said:

I find it hard to believe that with all that was going on like building three tunnels, getting documents ready, security, and disposing of the dirt that the Germans didn't know something was going on. I do know that their had been an escape using a wooden horse (which was also made into a movie) so the Germans had to be on alert after that humiliation. Did the Germans suspect something?

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The Germans always expected something. They had their 'ferrets' patrolling the camp and listening in where they could, also. Three tunnels were dug but, as you know, only one survived undetected. It was generally acknowledged by the Germans that Air Force types were likely to be dedicated and inventive escapers - that's why they created Stalag Luft III especially for airmen and deemed escape proof. Just before the Great Escape took place there was a massive shifting of prisoners between camps, so it has always been thought that the Germans had a sense that something was about to happen. There's a Facebook page specifically dedicated to Stalag Luft III, and many learned historians contribute, so it's not just a lot of folks blowing hot air. You might try them, perhaps?

A brief distraction - The book Colditz Castle is an example where German reasoning failed. The Germans decided to confine the prisoners who frequently escaped into a more secure prison, there by concentrating the best escapers/thinkers/planners together. Read the book why it was a mistake.

The Germans knew that PoWs had a duty to try to escape from the camp. So it was always a "game" of move countermove by both sides. The Germans trying to foil any escape attempt. The PoWs always probing for a weakness so they could escape.
The movie "Stalag 17" does a good job showing both sides of this cat and mouse game.
The movie "The Great Escape" is fair with way too much "Hollywood" rewriting the story to make it into a movie.
I have read the book "Colditz Castle". Even there little was truly secure. The PoWs became masters of picking any lock in the Castle. Only escaping itself was prevented only by the end of the war.