Mon, Mar 25, 1974
As the American tanks approach, the German officers move their families into the comparative safety of the castle, but the S.S. takes command of its running. Carrington has been sentenced to death for threatening Mohn, leading the senior officers to incite their men into disobedience. At this stage, however, Shaw at last believes the time has come to launch his glider, taking Carrington with him.
Thu, Dec 21, 1972
RAF officer George Marsh, who had worked in a psychiatric hospital prior to the war and is now a medical orderly, works out that if he pretends that he is mentally ill, he will be repatriated and returned to England. Ullmann, suspecting a deceit, assigns sympathetic Private Hartwig to befriend him, since Hartwig has a brother with a mental illness and is as aware of the genuine signs as Marsh is. Ultimately Marsh is indeed sent home but a letter received by Preston reveals that he got to live the part rather too well for his own sanity.
Mon, Jan 21, 1974
Brent and Player survive to see new arrival Larry Page, a supposed RAF pilot officer -- though his story does not seem to check out -- and Walker, an actual RAF man, picks a fight with him. However Page actually turns out to be a spy, a member of Special Operations but, with no military status, he risks being shot as a spy. Consequently, rather than escape to resume operations, he opts to stay in the camp posing as a P.O.W.
Mon, Mar 18, 1974
Mohn is in command in the absence of the Kommandant. He learns from friends in the town that the war is going badly for the Germans and, if he is captured his high profile connections with the Nazi party will grant him little quarter. As a consequence he attempts to ingratiate himself with the prisoners, leading to a confrontation with Carrington and his dismissal by the Kommandant, whom he has tried to blackmail. With the liberation of the camp inevitable Mohn makes his own escape from Colditz.
Thu, Dec 7, 1972
When several seemingly fool-proof escape attempts are thwarted by Ullmann, it seems likely that there is a traitor amongst the prisoners tipping the Germans off. After the various contingents are interrogated, the traitor is identified as a Pole who is court martialed and sentenced to death by his compatriots. Learning that he had been blackmailed by the Gestapo who would otherwise have taken reprisals on his family, Preston and the padre attempt to intervene for mercy but to no avail and ultimately Ullmann has to step in.
Mon, Apr 1, 1974
The Allies advance on Colditz and the inmates take shelter in the cellars as the castle is bombed by pilots unaware of its nature. The S.S. put up a spirited rearguard action on the ground as Carrington takes advantage of the confusion to escape towards the American lines. Fearing brutality from the Russian army the Kommandant agrees to relinquish his command to the British prisoners on condition that he and his men are delivered to the Americans and Preston agrees. Whilst the Kommandant accepts defeat with his customary dignity, he and Preston both agree that in war there is no real winner.
Mon, Feb 11, 1974
Tony Shaw, a much decorated fighter pilot, is captured and brought to Colditz. To the disappointment of the escape committee he has no interest in joining them, rather renewing his pre-war job as a teacher and taking part in education classes with librarian Porteous. However, when he discovers a locked room in the attic he concocts a plan to build his own glider and fly out of the castle.
Mon, Jan 7, 1974
Wounded by a Russian bayonet, air ace and decorated hero Major Mohn arrives at Colditz as the new second-in-command. He announces that Hitler has heard of the successful escape and he is here to enforce discipline and ensure that there are no other escape bids. However he antagonizes all the prisoners - particularly Carter, whose letters to his wife he reads - and the Kommandant wonders if he should get rid of him.
Thu, Jan 25, 1973
With the prisoners' band playing to provide noise cover and warn of any danger, the four men begin their escape through the kitchen window and across the courtyard, into the sewers and then on to the other side of the wall where they descend the cliff with a rope. Ullmann is aware that something is wrong but by this time the quartet are clear. Player and Peter Muir head for Nuremburg whilst Pat Grant and Carrington board a train which ultimately carries them to the Swiss border and freedom.
Thu, Nov 2, 1972
Dick Player, a Royal Navy lieutenant, is washed up on a beach bleeding and in civilian clothes. He is taken to hospital and escapes but, upon recapture, he is found to have no military identity on him and, given that he speaks perfect German, it is assumed he is a spy. In fact he spent his boyhood in Germany before the war as the son of a diplomat and he is sent to see an old friend of his, Count Paul Von Eissinger, who has a proposition to make, the outcome leading to a spell in Colditz.