The Great Escape. Paul Brickhill. Association copy. Signed Inscribed by Bertram Arthur ‘Jimmy’ James. Survivor of the Great Escape. Readers Union Edition. Hardback.
Bertram “Jimmy” James MC (1913–2008) was a British RAF officer and one of the key figures in the 1944 Great Escape from Stalag Luft III. Jimmy, together with Peter Fanshawe, was largely responsible for depositing the soil from Tunnel Harry under seat 13 in the camp theatre.
On the night of the escape, Jimmy, along with Pilot Officer Sotirios (Nick) Skantzikas, disguised themselves as Yugoslav workers trying to return home. They travelled through the night, arriving at Hirschberg West station. Upon attempting to purchase train tickets, they were detained by the criminal police and handed over to the Gestapo. Skantzikas was later executed by the Gestapo. James, unaware of his comrade’s fate and uncertain why he was spared, was instead imprisoned.
In Berlin, SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe was ordered by Heinrich Müller, Chief of the Gestapo, to select and execute fifty of the seventy-three recaptured escapees—a war crime later known as the "Stalag Luft III murders." James was one of the few not executed, and was instead sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
During his imprisonment at Sachsenhausen, James made multiple escape attempts, including one involving the digging of a 110-metre-long tunnel using only small cutlery knives.
An item inscribed by Jimmy James reads: “To 9H, with best wishes, Jimmy James”—9H being the codename of one of the tunnels used in the Great Escape.
Bertram “Jimmy” James MC (1913–2008) was a British RAF officer and one of the key figures in the 1944 Great Escape from Stalag Luft III. Jimmy, together with Peter Fanshawe, was largely responsible for depositing the soil from Tunnel Harry under seat 13 in the camp theatre.
On the night of the escape, Jimmy, along with Pilot Officer Sotirios (Nick) Skantzikas, disguised themselves as Yugoslav workers trying to return home. They travelled through the night, arriving at Hirschberg West station. Upon attempting to purchase train tickets, they were detained by the criminal police and handed over to the Gestapo. Skantzikas was later executed by the Gestapo. James, unaware of his comrade’s fate and uncertain why he was spared, was instead imprisoned.
In Berlin, SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe was ordered by Heinrich Müller, Chief of the Gestapo, to select and execute fifty of the seventy-three recaptured escapees—a war crime later known as the "Stalag Luft III murders." James was one of the few not executed, and was instead sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
During his imprisonment at Sachsenhausen, James made multiple escape attempts, including one involving the digging of a 110-metre-long tunnel using only small cutlery knives.
An item inscribed by Jimmy James reads: “To 9H, with best wishes, Jimmy James”—9H being the codename of one of the tunnels used in the Great Escape.
Bertram “Jimmy” James MC (1913–2008) was a British RAF officer and one of the key figures in the 1944 Great Escape from Stalag Luft III. Jimmy, together with Peter Fanshawe, was largely responsible for depositing the soil from Tunnel Harry under seat 13 in the camp theatre.
On the night of the escape, Jimmy, along with Pilot Officer Sotirios (Nick) Skantzikas, disguised themselves as Yugoslav workers trying to return home. They travelled through the night, arriving at Hirschberg West station. Upon attempting to purchase train tickets, they were detained by the criminal police and handed over to the Gestapo. Skantzikas was later executed by the Gestapo. James, unaware of his comrade’s fate and uncertain why he was spared, was instead imprisoned.
In Berlin, SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe was ordered by Heinrich Müller, Chief of the Gestapo, to select and execute fifty of the seventy-three recaptured escapees—a war crime later known as the "Stalag Luft III murders." James was one of the few not executed, and was instead sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
During his imprisonment at Sachsenhausen, James made multiple escape attempts, including one involving the digging of a 110-metre-long tunnel using only small cutlery knives.
An item inscribed by Jimmy James reads: “To 9H, with best wishes, Jimmy James”—9H being the codename of one of the tunnels used in the Great Escape.