Great Escaper dies at 101

Paul Royle, one of the last survivors who was involved in “The Great Escape” in 1944 from Stalag Luft III has passed away at 101 years old.
Pilot Officer Royle of 53 Squadron, flying a Bristol Blenheim, was shot down by an Bf 109 over France on 17 May 1940.
At Stalag Luft III Sagan, Germany (now Żagań, Poland) he was one of the prisoners nicknamed “the penguins” who helped to dispose of sand from tunneling in their trousers and he started a tunnel under block 68.
On the night of 24 March 1944 he was number 57 in the queue of PoWs waiting to escape and teamed up with Flight Lieutenant Edgar Humphreys who was the next in line. After being pulled through the narrow tunnel on a trolley and climbing the exit ladder Royle and Humphreys ran for the cover of pine trees and then set off in the direction of Switzerland. They evaded capture for two nights and crossed the Berlin to Breslau autobahn before they were arrested by home guard upon entering a village. The two men were interrogated by the Gestapo in Görlitz, Royle was then returned to solitary confinement in Stalag Luft III but Humphreys was one of the 50 escapers who were victims of the Stalag Luft III murders, having been selected for execution by SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe on the orders of Adolf Hitler.