Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run POW camp in Sagan, Germany, for captured allied airmen. Painting by Guy Grey-Smith.
[Copyright AWM ART96072.]
[Written by Canadian Prisoners of War at Sagan, Poland; scene of the “Great Escape”.]
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run POW camp in Sagan,
Germany, for captured allied airmen. Painting by Guy Grey-Smith.
[Copyright AWM ART96072.]
Here we are at Stalag 3,
Drinking at the bar,
With lovely girls to buy us beer…
…Like "Bloody Hell" we are!
We travelled here in luxury,
The whole trip for a quid,
A sleeping berth for each of us…
…Like "Bloody Hell" we did!
Our feather beds are two feet deep,
The carpets almost new,
In easy-chairs we sit all day…
…Like "Bloody Hell" we do!
The Goons are bloody wizard chaps,
Their hopes of victory good.
We'd trade them places any day…
… Like "Bloody Hell" we would!
When winter comes and snows abound,
The temperature at nil,
Hot-water bottles warm our beds…
…Like "Bloody Hell" they will.
It's Heaven on Earth at Stalag 3,
A life we'd hate to miss,
It’s everything we'd always want…
…Like "Bloody Hell" it is!
And when this war is over,
And Jerry gets his fill,
We'll remember all that’s here…
…My "Bloody Oath" we will!!!
A view of huts and fences at Stalag Luft III
after rain and with sun breaking through clouds, c.1943.
Sagan (Zagan),
is located in present-day Poland,
but it was a part of Germany during the war.
[Artist Howard Taylor. Copyright AWM ART28571.]