RAF Escaping Society cover signed by Eric Williams MC legendary Stalag Luft III Wooden Horse escaper
Eric Williams MC (13 July 1911 – 24 December 1983) was an English writer and former Second World War RAF pilot and prisoner of war (POW) who wrote several books dealing with his escapes from prisoner-of-war camps, most famously in his 1949 novel The Wooden Horse, made into a 1950 movie of the same name.
RAF Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams was the navigator of a 75 Squadron Short Stirling bomber (BK620) shot down on a bombing raid over Germany on 17/18 December 1942. He evaded capture for three days, but was eventually caught and sent to Oflag XXI-B at Schubin in Poland. There he quickly formed a friendship with Lieutenant Michael Codner, who spoke French, and together they planned and executed an escape through a tunnel. However, they were quickly recaptured and, as punishment, sent to Stalag Luft III in Sagan (now Żagań in Poland).
As described in his novelization of the true events The Wooden Horse, Stalag Luft III was designed to be a highly escape-resistant camp. Tunnelling in particular was made harder by the use of numerous environmental and technological solutions: the perimeter fence was placed some distance from the huts, necessitating longer tunnels; the sandy soil was yellow when moist, a markedly different colour than the dry grey surface sand, making disposal of freshly dug tunnel soil difficult; and the Germans employed seismographs to measure vibration caused by digging.
Williams and Codner came up with the idea of constructing a vaulting horse and using it daily to cover the opening of a tunnel entrance close to the perimeter fence, while the other camp inmates vaulted continuously over the horse to mask the vibration of the tunnelling work. Sand was carried back inside the horse and dried in the attic of the camp canteen before being distributed in the compound. (Peter Tunstall and Dominic Bruce claim to have used a wooden horse to camouflage a tunnel opening in the Spangenberg concentration camp two years previously, in 1941).
With the assistance of a third POW, Oliver Philpot, the tunnel was completed by 29 October 1943 – an important factor, since Williams, Codner and Philpot planned to use the local railway to quickly put distance between themselves and the camp, rather than the usual escape strategy at the time of travelling on foot at night and hiding in barns or haystacks during the day, but the Escape Committee only had local railway timetables valid until the end of October.
The trio made their way by train to the Baltic; Philpot headed to Danzig (Gdansk), while Williams and Codner, posing as French labourers, made their way to Stettin, where they eventually managed to make contact with the Danish Resistance and gain passage on a ship to Copenhagen and thence to Gothenburg in neutral Sweden. There they met Philpot, who had been able to travel more quickly to Sweden via Danzig. From Sweden, all three officers were repatriated to Britain.
After his return to active duty, Williams worked for MI9, the intelligence organisation tasked with supporting available European Resistance networks and making use of them to assist Allied airmen shot down over Europe in returning to Britain. After a period of training in Canada, he was in Italy when the war in Europe ended. He was subsequently sent to the Philippines to do welfare work with liberated Allied prisoners of war. He was there when the war ended.
A signed copy of Williams' book The Wooden Horse was sold at auction in 2022, along with a vintage Rolex watch that was owned by Lt. Charles Maurice Anthony Whitaker, whom Williams had befriended during their time in Stalag Luft III
WE ARE UACC REGISTERED DEALERS NUMBER RD209
NOTE! We have noticed a few sellers putting the letters "UACC" in their item titles but failing to provide either a dealer or member number. You should view this practise or anything similarly vague with the utmost caution, any reputable dealer will provide this information on their listings directly without having to be asked. We are UACC Registered Dealer RD209