JDK, as far as I remember (perhaps BlueNoser will able to correct me if I’m wrong) when the Germans decided to execute some of the escapers the rule they adopted was to pick all those who weren’t British and then add enough Brits to make it a nice round number… So the proportion of nationalities among those executed is biased agains the proportions among the escapers.
They also picked single men wherever possible (though not all of them were), however Raymond Van Wymeersch (French) was spared, something he could never understand, in the end he took his own life in 2000.
The film is true to events that took place at some point during the existence of Stalag Luft 3, however they weren’t all connected with the escape itself. Of course the Americans weren’t involved in the actual escape, they did assist with the construction of the tunnel, and no one tried to jump the Swiss border on a motorcycle.
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