Original subtitles

(DISTANT RUMBLING OF WARFARE)

DOWNING: Where are they heading?

CARTER: Somewhere in the direction of Dresden.

Sounds like another big one.

CARTER: There's a lot of planes up there.

Hey, I wonder if that's where they took Phil Carrington for his court martial.

Let's hope not.

I wouldn't like to be in Dresden tonight.

Well, at least they're getting some of their own back.

Now they know what a blitz is really like.

Have you ever been in a heavy air raid, Timothy?

Jerry started it.

Why Dresden again, I wonder?

A beautiful medieval city. I knew it well.

There must be something there.

They're supporting the Russian advance.

BRENT: Or factories transferred from the Ruhr?

They wouldn't bomb it for nothing.

Hauptmann Ulmann!

-Did Major Carrington get back safely? -After his court martial, yes.

-What did they give him? -I can't tell you that, Colonel.

Why not? You must know.

The sentence is subject to confirmation.

If they gave him imprisonment, why's he back in Colditz?

I'm sorry. An announcement will be made in due course.

Refugees from the east.

Strange that no German refugees flee

before the British and American armies, Colonel, don't you think?

Only before the Russians, your friends and allies.

An order of the day has just been received from the Fuhrer's headquarters.

It is to be read to all officers at once.

''Defenders of the Third Reich,

''our gallant armies are counterattacking on all fronts.

''German blood and courage will succeed

''in preserving civilisation from the assaults of our barbarian enemies.

''The tide is turning in our favour.

''Soon your bravery will sweep the invaders from our beloved homeland.

''Victory is now certain.''

The order of the day signed by the Fuhrer in person.

The Fuhrer!

Yes. The Fuhrer.

The Fuhrer.

Gentlemen, it may be that the larger picture wears a different aspect

from the headquarters of the Fuhrer to that which we see here in Colditz.

But whatever the final outcome,

I am now deeply concerned for the safety of our wives and families.

I have the permission of the Oberkommander at Leipzig

to offer the sanctuary of the castle

to any of you who wish to bring his family inside.

Now, my wife is joining me here.

Any of you who wish to do the same,

please make arrangements as soon as possible.

Thank you, gentlemen. That is all.

-Ulmann, what about you? -I'm sorry, sir, I was listening to...

I was asking whether your wife would care to join you here.

It's too far away, sir. There's no transport.

She would never be able to get here.

Gentlemen, those are the guns of the American army.

I give you a toast.

Germany. May God be with us in the days to come.

Germany.

I have now received confirmation

of the sentence passed upon Major Carrington at his court martial.

It is my duty to inform you

that Major Carrington has been sentenced to death.

-Death? -Yes.

Are you people out of your cotton-picking minds? He didn't do...

Insubordination and threatening the life

of a German officer is a serious offence.

The death penalty!

The goddamn court couldn't have been told the facts.

Carrington was tried and sentenced by a properly constituted military court.

Kommandant, you can't allow this.

I'm a soldier, Colonel. My duty is to obey orders.

Well, goddamn!

Well, surely there's something that can be done, an appeal.

It has already been lodged by the officer who defended Carrington.

In the circumstances now prevailing, I expect it to be ignored.

-I want to see Carrington. -No, Colonel, I'm sorry.

Major Carrington is being held in solitary confinement

pending his execution.

Then I demand to see the representative of the Protecting Power.

Colonel, there has been no visit for months.

Communications are not easy, to put it mildly.

Do you expect me to summon the man up out of thin air?

Kommandant, the execution must be postponed until the Swiss can intervene.

There is no ''must'', Colonel.

But surely, in the name of common humanity...

Is it all that common nowadays, Colonel?

Do you know how many helpless civilian refugees your bombers killed in Dresden?

Tens of thousands.

And why? For what purpose? Can you tell me that?

Kommandant, there is nothing that you or I can do about that,

but you can prevent a man from being shot for some trivial reason.

Colonel Preston, it will give me no pleasure to arrange for a firing squad,

but I cannot disobey orders. You know that.

Kommandant, how far away do you think the Americans are now?

Those guns, 20 miles? 30?

How long before they'll be here?

Or the Russians?

If I do not follow my orders, Colonel,

I shall be replaced by somebody who will.

I will also be court martialled and shot.

Will that help Carrington?

Kommandant, I must point out that, in my view,

the execution of Carrington at this stage would be murder.

And when this castle is relieved,

I would have to say that you were responsible.

(BOMBS EXPLODING IN DISTANCE)

(WHISTLING)

Hold it.

Oh, it's all right. It's only Simon.

Here.

-Thank you. -Careful, it's hot.

I've been trying to hear what the American...

MAN ON RADIO: Objective Frisco red.

What the American advanced units are up to.

Where are they?

Can't hear much. Reception's bad.

-They're falling back. -Back?

On some village. Jerry counterattacked in the night.

I heard them asking for more tanks, but I couldn't get any reply.

There's too much static.

-Now, Carter! -Shh! In a minute!

I must talk to you. It's important, for God's sake!

Well, Simon, she's ready. If we don't go soon, it may be too late.

-What for? -To use it. To fly.

-Yeah, probably. -She was built to fly.

You approved the scheme yourself. So did the SBO.

Yeah, but that was to get a lot of chaps working

-instead of sitting on their backsides. -I know. Tony Shaw's crazy idea.

But it wasn't crazy. It'll work and you know it.

You're a pilot yourself.

Well, it's served its purpose already.

You came up with a good plan when morale was at its lowest.

That's why I approved the idea.

-Never was a practical scheme. -Hmm! Damn you! It was and is!

Well, look at it.

I mean, what does this thing weigh?

Were you just going to knock out this wall

and push it out?

-And you call that a practical scheme? -If it works, it's practical.

-When you get a man in there... -Two men.

I mean, if it flew, it would have been a very spectacular escape.

Would have made the Germans look stupid.

Would all have been worth it.

There's no way this thing's going to work.

Are refusing to authorise me to have a go, Carter?

Oh, yes, you qualify.

I'd choose him to lead a firing squad, wouldn't you?

I'd have him in front of it, if I had anything to say about it.

Just look at him. He's dying to use that rifle.

As long as it's on someone who's bound hand and foot.

He doesn't look so brave now.

Captain Brent!

-Sir. -What's going on?

-A spot of Jerry-baiting, sir. -Pack that in before somebody gets shot.

Somebody is going to get shot, sir. Carrington.

Disperse those men now.

Why the show of force, Ulmann?

I was told that a guard was being threatened.

Did you expect the sentence on Major Carrington

to produce a cordial atmosphere?

Making further trouble will not help, Colonel Preston.

Your guards must be extremely nervous

if they think they're being threatened by unarmed prisoners.

Colonel.

So what are they going to do, apart from not upsetting the Germans?

-Keep our heads. -Until they've shot Phil Carrington?

So that others aren't shot.

What's been going on, sir?

Just Germans getting jumpy.

Uh, Tony Shaw would like to see you, sir.

We take out this group of stone blocks here, sir.

It's, uh, all prepared. Shouldn't take very long.

That is, uh, here, sir.

Then we remove the wings

from the fuselage, thus,

move the glider out,

mount it on the ramp,

replace the wings. Searchlight's a thing of the past now, sir,

and we're ready to go.

From the top of the castle at 300 feet,

plenty of flying speed, no difficulty there.

Um, if you'd like to look out of the back there, sir...

Now, you know the meadow.

PRESTON: That's the direction you'd go, is it?

Yes.

How far do you think you'd have to fly?

Well, only about 200 yards.

The glide should take an estimated 20 seconds.

We land on our belly, completely silently,

no alarm raised and all the time in the world to get away.

Certainly very impressive, Tony.

Carter's against it. He doesn't think it's worth the effort.

Well, I must say, at this late stage, for the sake of one man...

-Two, sir. -Two?

-I could fly you out. -Me?

(CHUCKLING)

Yeah, well, um, I'm not too sure about that, Tony.

We could make for the American line.

No, escape's out of the question for me. My duties are here.

-I was thinking about Carrington. -Carrington?

If you could get through to the Americans,

or better still, I could take Colonel Dodd.

Remember, sir, Carrington's an American,

pretty well known as a newspaper man, I gather.

We might be able to prevent the execution.

How?

Well, if they were in some sort of radio contact with the Germans,

they could spell it out to them.

Shoot Carrington and someone's going to stand trial for war crimes.

What if they don't have radio contact?

Far fetched, you may think, but surely, sir, it's worth a try.

Oh, I don't know, Tony.

It's a marvellous looking thing, but it is only an amalgam of

bed boards and mattress covers.

-Will it really fly? -I can guarantee it.

(SIGHING)

All right, I'll...

I'll have a word with Colonel Dodd. It's up to him, of course,

but you can make ready.

(RUMBLING)

What the hell is that?

German tanks, sir, in the town. And there's a lot of them.

I beg your pardon, may I get you some more coffee?

No, thank you.

-Anything else? -No.

-Oh, do sit down, Hauptmann Ulmann. -Thank you.

I hope you are reasonably comfortable in the castle.

Under the circumstances, yes, thank you.

Will your wife be joining you here?

It won't be possible. One hopes for the best.

Yes.

The Kommandant won't be long. He'll join you here soon.

Thank you.

-Is your son well? -Yes.

At least we think so. We haven't heard for some time.

We don't really know where he is.

When will it all end?

We have stopped the American advance, so I'm told.

Reinforcements have just arrived.

-And the Russians? -I don't know.

We should finish with it now.

It couldn't be much worse.

They won't negotiate. They won't offer peace terms.

They want unconditional surrender.

You've seen the refugees. They've left their homes, everything,

rather than be at the mercy of the Russians.

I'm sorry, my dear. Has Ulmann been looking after you?

We were discussing the end of the war.

Well, I'm told that may be some way off.

How can it possibly go on much longer?

It has been explained to me that

soon the Americans and the British will begin to fight the Russians.

And then our armies will join those of the West

and drive the Russians out of Germany.

Do you believe that? Is it possible?

Well, I'm no strategist. Who knows? Ulmann, what do you think?

It seems an optimistic idea to me, sir.

I don't think it's optimistic, Hauptmann.

To believe that we should change sides and go on fighting,

for what?

Our young men have done enough.

Those that are still alive should be allowed to come home.

Oh, he'll be all right.

When we hear nothing, that's good. It means he's safe and well.

Yes. Yes, I know.

Ulmann, my visitor was to join me in the mess.

Would you be so good as to find him for me?

-Certainly, sir. -Thank you.

-He's here now, sir. -Ah.

I'll be working late tonight, my dear. You go to bed.

Well, those tanks seem to have moved on.

Nah, they could be grouped Just outside the town.

Nothing on that meadow, that's all that matters.

Tony!

SHAW: Well?

Message from the old man.

Colonel Dodd's agreed. You... You go tonight, at 01 :00 hours.

Right.

Now, my beauty, let's see what you can do.

You're a French farm worker.

You've been transferred and you're trying to find your new employer,

whose farm just happens to be behind the German lines.

Wherever they might be.

Well, we're assuming they're 25 miles due west, sir.

I wish I knew what happened to those tanks

we heard going through the other day.

-We haven't discovered who they were? -No, sir.

But as far as Captain Brent can make out,

the Germans don't seem to have committed any tanks yet.

-Ulmann. -All right, chaps.

(CLEARING THROAT)

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

Come in.

Colonel Preston,

the Kommandant would like to speak to you in his office, please.

Is it about Carrington? Should I be there as well?

No, Colonel Dodd, he did not ask to speak to you.

Please sit down, Colonel. Let me offer you something to drink.

Is Major Carrington to be released from solitary confinement?

Major Carrington is under sentence of death.

-Is the Swiss representative here? -No, Colonel, nor is he likely to be.

I wish to speak to you about something else.

Once I am assured of Major Carrington's safety, I...

There are certain assurances I cannot give you, Colonel.

Now there are many men in Colditz besides Carrington.

-Are you not responsible for them also? -Of course.

Well, that is what I wish to discuss.

Up!

Right.

Come on, now.

(MEN MURMURING)

Back up, steady.

-There's the window here. -We've got this.

-You got it? -Yes.

Okay.

Nothing else to do?

No. She's ready now.

Do you really think there's a chance it'll fly?

Chance? No.

She's designed to fly, she's built to fly, she will fly.

(LAUGHING)

-Like a brick! -Like a bird!

Well, rather you than me.

You'll see. Tomorrow morning, she'll be sitting down on that meadow,

and still in one piece, what's more.

Well, if it gets you out, what does it matter how many bits it's in, hmm?

I wouldn't like to think she was damaged.

Nobody likes to bend a kite, Timothy. Bad form.

Some kite!

My war map is not quite up to date, Colonel.

There are conflicting reports.

However, the situation is something like this.

The Americans are about here.

Yes, well, they must be closer than that, Kommandant.

We've heard their guns for some days now.

Which means they are being held.

Suppose you were in command of the German forces in this area, Colonel.

What would you do?

Would you reinforce any particular point?

We have heard tanks passing through Colditz town of late.

In that case, there is no harm in my telling you

that an armoured division of the Waffen-SS has arrived

to block the American advance.

The SS?

Crack troops, hand-picked and elite,

unquestioningly loyal to the Fuhrer.

Colonel Preston, those who have had anything to do with the Waffen-SS

know what they are like.

They have a well-deserved reputation.

May I ask, Kommandant, if those units have moved on up to the front?

Their army is deployed a little to the west of Colditz.

The Ceneral and his staff will use Colditz town as their headquarters.

The Ceneral has assumed control of the entire area.

Including the castle?

Well, naturally, I retain my authority here.

However, you will understand that this is now an SS operational area.

The Ceneral is my superior. Any demands he may make...

Lawful demands.

When the SS move into action, Colonel,

they regard the removal of any obstacle as legitimate.

Prisoners who escaped, for example, could well receive summary treatment.

Prisoners of war are still entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention.

Colonel, forget the Geneva Convention. Outside the walls of Colditz,

I cannot now guarantee the safety of any prisoner.

Inside, I will continue to do so as long as I can.

I see.

Colonel Preston, we both know that Germany

could have solved the problem of the persistent escaper a long time ago,

in a matter of minutes, with the aid of a few machine guns.

Such a solution has been urged in the past by the SS, among others.

Fortunately, for the honour of the Wehrmacht,

that has not happened.

Will the SS be moving into the castle?

Well, provided there is no trouble, I hope that question will not arise.

I am responsible for all those in Colditz,

the garrison and prisoners alike.

As the Senior British Officer, you share that responsibility

as far as your own men are concerned.

I need your help, your cooperation, your authority over your own officers.

Kommandant, may I ask you a hypothetical question?

Certainly.

In the event of one of my officers escaping and being picked up by the...

For the man's safety, I beg you to prevent that, Colonel.

I'm not concerned with the safety of the escaper at the moment.

Would that give the SS the excuse they need

to come into the castle and take over?

That is possible, yes.

On the grounds that prisoners are an embarrassment in a theatre of war

and should be removed?

I cannot continue with your hypothesis, Colonel,

except to say that I would no longer be in command of Colditz Castle

and I would be relieved of all responsibility

for the prisoner's safety.

Very well, Kommandant, I shall do my best

to see that we do not attract the attention of the SS.

In return, I expect your protection for my officers.

Thank you for giving me your time, Colonel.

What the hell happened to that British stiff upper lip?

Now, Max, I can only ask for your cooperation on this.

If you don't agree, you can still try

and get to the American lines with Tony Shaw, as planned.

Would it screw things up?

(SCOFFING)

Well, you know my attitude towards taking needless risks.

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

-Okay, I'll go along with you. -Come in.

All right, gentlemen, come in, please. Sit down somewhere.

Right, I've called the Escape Committee together

to tell you that, as from now,

there will be no further escape attempts from Colditz.

-Why... Why is that, sir? -Well, I'll come to that in a moment.

Simon, your job as Escape Officer is now reversed.

It's going to be your duty to make sure that no one and, I repeat, no one

attempts to escape from the castle. Is that clear?

Yes, sir. Does that include Colonel Dodd, sir?

Yes, you can tell Shaw the whole thing's off.

BRENT: Well, what about Phil Carrington?

The whole point was for you to get through to the Americans.

I'm sorry. Carrington's going to have to take his chances.

We're concerned with more than the fate of one man now.

Any attempt to escape from this castle,

and we're all going to be in very big trouble.

Colonel Dodd feels his duty is in the castle with the rest of us.

-Sir? -Is it time to get kitted out?

The, uh... The operation's cancelled, sir.

Cancelled?

-Yes, sir. -Why?

-SBO's orders. -What's gone wrong?

Nothing, sir. It's just that all escapes are off, as of now.

But Colonel Dodd is coming with me tonight, 01 :00 hours.

No, sir. No one goes. And that must include you.

-What about your chaps, Max? -There are so few of them.

Let's not get complicated. I'll place them under your command.

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

Okay. Come in.

Oh, Simon, there you are. Sit down, will you? I want to talk to you.

Squad Leader Shaw would like a word with you, sir.

-Well, not now. -It is important, sir.

Um, yes, I'm busy. I'll see him tomorrow.

-Right, sir, I'll tell him. -Uh, Simon, please, sit down.

Now, what I want are some contingency plans

in the event that we have to fight.

-Fight? -Yes.

Make no mistake about it, Simon,

everybody's life is now at risk in Colditz.

The SS are going to have no scruples about shooting a few prisoners of war

out of hand if they feel they're in the way.

What about the Kommandant, sir?

I don't think he has much choice in the matter,

so it's up to us to defend ourselves.

The first thing I want is all the available food and supplies

-placed in a central area. -All right, sir.

And secondly, here you are, is a basic command structure.

As you see, all the dormitories have become units

and an officer in command of each unit.

Now, that'll be an army officer for what I have in mind.

It's up to you to liaise with those chaps,

work out some system of overpowering the guards,

going to the armoury and, if the worse does come to the worst,

-issuing weapons to the prisoners. -Right, sir.

Take over the castle. Simple as that.

To defend ourselves in the last resort.

Well, better that than just to be shot out of hand.

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

Come.

A dispatch rider just brought these telegrams, sir.

-I'll deal with them in the morning. -Very well, sir.

Here's one marked ''immediate and top secret''.

Carrington's execution the day after tomorrow.

(PHONE RINGING)

Hello?

Hello?

Who?

Oh, Friedrich, my friend!

Where are you?

Where?

Ah, there, that's better. Now I can hear you.

Yes.

Yes, I see.

When did it happen?

Do you know how?

Yes, yes.

No, the... Some telegrams just arrived. It might be among those.

Yes, I'm afraid it will.

No, no, I'm grateful.

Well, thank you for taking the trouble to...

Hello?

Hello!

A call from Berlin, a friend.

We were cut off.

(GASPING)

Are you asleep, Lisa?

No.

You shouldn't work so late.

It's all the paperwork. It piles up, you know.

Did you get something to eat?

Yes.

Yes, I did.

Friedrich phoned from Berlin.

Oh? When?

Just now.

How is he?

All right, I think.

Do you remember when I was on leave from the Western Front in the Great War?

We'd just decided to get married and we went out for dinner.

And Friedrich was in the restaurant.

He was the first one we told.

Seems a long time ago.

I suppose it is.

In all that time,

I've never been sorry. Have you?

What a silly question!

No matter what went wrong,

we've always had each other.

Friedrich had some news.

There should have been a telegram.

Erich?

Yes.

Wounded?

No.

I'm afraid we're alone now, my dear, you and I.

Dead?

Friedrich saw one of his comrades.

How?

He was killed instantly. He couldn't have known anything about it.

Is that the truth?

His plane didn't catch fire? He wasn't burned?

He wasn't flying.

His squadron was grounded for lack of fuel.

He was transferred to an infantry regiment.

But Erich wasn't trained as a soldier.

He was a pilot.

I know.

I know.

Why did it have to happen now?

The war can't go on much longer.

Why now?

I don't know

why men have to go on dying.

On a given signal, we overpower all of the guards.

The position the chaps take up is the position that they're in

now.

Hmm.

Well, that way, we overpower them all at the same time.

We're going to have to deal with our friends up there, Simon.

Yeah, well, we'll do that when they're changing over.

That means tackling several men at once.

We know we can get up to that catwalk near the French quarters, but...

I wonder if there's a point up there that's out of sight of those gunners.

Come on. Have you got a minute?

Here you go.

I thought Carter had explained to you why the operation was cancelled.

Yes, sir, he has.

In that case, there's nothing more to be said.

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

Come in.

-Captain Walters... I'm sorry, sir. -That's all right, George.

Captain Walters has been doing a recce

to see the best approach to the armoury, sir,

and he's hit a snag. He'd like to speak to you about it.

All right, I'll come right away. Excuse me.

Colonel Preston, I've been waiting all morning to see you.

I know that you're busy. But a few minutes, please.

All right, George, say I'll be there in five minutes, yeah?

Right, sir.

All right, Tony, what is it?

Well, I realise that a new situation has arisen,

that it would be quite impossible for Colonel Dodd to leave the castle.

-I accept that. -Yes?

But that still leaves Carrington sitting down there in solitary confinement,

liable to be shot any day.

Yes, I'm well aware of that, but a decision had to be made

and Colonel Dodd felt that he couldn't abandon the rest of his men

for the sake of Carrington.

But I could go alone. If I could get through to the Americans...

Tony, I thought this had all been explained to you.

The glider is ready. I could go tonight.

It might be easier for one man to get through the lines.

-I'd tell them about Carrington. -Sit down, will you?

Look, I know the Yanks, I've worked with them...

Look, Tony, will you please sit down?

-Right, now the risk... -There is no risk of failure.

-She'll fly. I know she will. -But that is not the point.

I know it's difficult to believe, looking at it,

but I've been through every calculation 1 0 times over,

the wind loading, every stress and strain, the angle of attack...

PRESTON: I'm not concerned with that.

The point of lift, how much drag there is, stalling speed, everything.

I'm not concerned with that.

In my judgement, your escape would jeopardise the life

of every man in Colditz.

Oh, one man! They wouldn't worry about one man.

Oh, for God's sake, Tony, the whole countryside is crawling with SS.

The likelihood of you getting more than half a mile from that meadow is nil.

In the first place, the odds are you'd be shot out of hand.

Well, I'd take my chance on that.

And in the second, your capture could give the SS the excuse they need

to come into this castle and that is a risk I'm not prepared to take.

Is that clear?

I don't believe anybody has ever built a machine

that would fly in such conditions.

I designed it from scratch. It's taken 1 0 months to build.

I watched it grow from nothing, improvising with odds and ends.

Field telephone cables for the controls, ridiculous, incredible things,

like ground millet boiled in water to make a paste we could use

to dope the wings, and it worked.

It all worked.

And if she's never launched, if she never flies,

it has all been for nothing, the whole concept wasted, useless.

I'm very sorry, Tony, but that glider is not going to be launched

and that is final.

It can work.

Oh, Simon.

I'm worried about Shaw's state of mind.

You will take any necessary action to see that my orders are carried out.

-You understand? -Yes, sir.

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

Come.

Obergruppenfuhrer Berger and his staff, sir.

Good morning, sir. I must apologise for not meeting you.

But I was not informed that you were coming.

But it's not an escape, Carter. I shall come back and give myself up.

-But now is not the time for that, sir. -She has to be launched.

Yeah, later on, when the Americans are nearer.

Well, then it'll be easier for you to get through the German lines.

You have to be ready to go at a moment's notice.

In that case, these blocks should come out now.

Yeah, well, we don't want to attract the attention of the Germans.

We won't. This wall is protected from them by other parts of the building.

No, it'd be better to work at night.

That's why I've arranged for a squad of 50 men to come up and help.

-Tonight? -Yes.

In the meantime, we'll, uh... We'll stay up here with you.

Why?

Well, to stop anyone else coming up. I mean, no one must know.

It's top secret.

Operation Meadow.

I'm glad Colonel Preston changed his mind.

-I think I'd better go and talk to him. -No, don't do that, sir.

He might wish to nominate someone to come with me.

No, he, uh... He won't.

-Why not? -Well, he didn't change his mind.

I... I decided that he was wrong and that you ought to go.

So we've got to keep it from him. I mean, just between the three of us.

(CHUCKLING)

I seem to have allowed my enthusiasm to run away with me.

She'll never fly now, will she?

No, sir.

I... I... I'm sorry, Carter.

It must have been extremely embarrassing for you.

Well, I'll... I'll tell you something, sir.

I wish I'd thought of it. No, I... I wish I'd built it.

-I wish I could fly it. -What did you do in civilian life?

Me? I... I worked in the county surveyor's office.

-And you'll go back to it? -Yeah, I suppose so.

Do you know I've been here since 1 940?

All I've done in five years is learn how to be a prisoner of war.

Oh, more than that.

You got men out of a supposedly escape-proof castle, what?

You've done your job in your own way, though you'll get no medals for it.

What about you, sir? Will you go back to lecturing?

Yes! Yes! Yes, I... I'm a teacher.

Passing on other men's ideas, that's all.

I imagine this story will become a favourite of mine

back in the common room in Oxford.

I once built a glider out of bits and pieces

and became obsessively determined that it should fly at any cost.

I think it will be a humorous story.

They wouldn't understand if I told it any other way.

How soon before the final plan is ready?

-48 hours. -As long as that?

I'd prefer sooner.

There's absolutely no point in letting it go off half-cocked.

It'd be worse than useless.

All right, 48 hours, but no later.

How do you rate our chances of bringing it off, sir?

Not very high, to be frank.

I agree.

I shall only give the word if there's no alternative,

but I want to be ready, just in case.

Ulmann, sir.

Colonel Preston, would you come with me, please?

The Kommandant would like to see you.

We have had our difficulties, Colonel Preston.

We have not always seen eye to eye.

But I have come to trust you, if I may say so.

I'm going to speak freely, more freely than I should, perhaps,

but I want you to know the situation in which we find ourselves.

Which is what?

Heavy fighting is still going on,

but no one knows the real situation. Perhaps Dunkirk was like that for you.

Yes, it was very confused before the end.

Confused? Yes.

The telephone works only at intervals,

ration trucks fail to appear,

urgent mail is not received, yet I receive telegrams

demanding personnel returns I despatched weeks before.

Perhaps red tape is the last thing to break down.

Possibly, yes.

The wheel turns, Colonel.

A long time ago, I had the unpleasant duty

of informing you that your wife was dead.

Last night, I heard that my son had been killed in action.

I'm very sorry.

Yes, thank you.

How old was he?

24.

He joined his squad in 1 940.

The war has lasted for so long,

and the Luftwaffe has suffered such heavy losses

that his survival would have been a miracle.

But one had come to hope for a miracle.

In the end,

he died with a rifle in his hand.

He was wounded, left behind in the retreat

and crushed to death beneath the tracks of a Russian tank.

One of his comrades saw it happen.

I gave his mother a different version, of course.

All that is by the way,

except that his death seems so futile,

and I wish to avoid any further meaningless bloodshed.

So do we all, Kommandant.

Then why doesn't Berlin give the order to surrender?

I'm not so sure that Berlin knows what's going on any more.

In the meantime, we all wait and our soldiers fight on.

(CLEARING THROAT)

However, Major Carrington will be released from solitary confinement

and placed in Colonel Dodd's custody.

Perhaps you will inform Colonel Dodd.

Yes, of course. Has Major Carrington been reprieved?

No.

No, not to my knowledge, certainly.

But since the order for his execution is not in my hands,

I have decided, in the circumstances, to act on my own initiative.

As the Kommandant says, a number of telegrams have not come through.

We know that by the missing serial numbers.

The instructions about Carrington may be among the missing orders.

We shall never know.

Thank you, Kommandant. I'm extremely grateful.

Is there anything I can do in return?

There is something I must ask you to accept, Colonel.

Yes?

As I've already indicated, only general orders are now received from Berlin.

All local commanders have been told to fight on.

The local commander in this area is SS Obergruppenfuhrer Berger.

Yes?

All prisoners of war are to be evacuated.

We are to be transferred?

The castle is to be evacuated.

Where are we to be taken?

Your destination is not known to me.

Kommandant, if you have orders for our transfer,

you must know where we're being taken.

The garrison of Colditz will not be involved.

Then who's going to escort us? SS?

Your men will parade in marching order. Transport will not be available.

Kommandant, I demand an answer to that question.

-Who is going to escort us? The SS? -I don't know, Colonel.

You must know, for God's sake.

Arrangements have been made. That's all I was told.

The Ceneral has full authority.

I see, you release one man who was due to be shot

and, at the same time, you expect the rest of us to walk out of here

and risk being murdered.

Now, I demand that your officers command that escort.

I have been told that is not possible, Colonel.

If we walk out of here with the SS, we're as good as dead, and you know it.

I have my orders.

(BOMB EXPLODING IN DISTANCE)

The castle is to be evacuated.