The Storyline:
The Wooden Horse is a 1950 British Second World War war film. A true story set in Stalag Luft III POW camp where the real events depicted in the film The Great Escape took place. Starring Leo Genn, Anthony Steel and David Tomlinson and directed by Jack Lee. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams, who also wrote the screenplay. The wooden horse in the title of the film is a piece of exercise equipment the prisoners used to conceal their escape attempt. They came up with an ingenious way of digging the tunnel with its entrance located in the middle of an open sports area relatively near the perimeter fence and using a vaulting horse (constructed largely from plywood from Canadian Red Cross parcels) to cover the tunnel entrance beneath. Initially the plan was thought “crackers” by some POWs but events turned out to be quite different and a successful outcome was eventually achieved
