http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...81-663,00.html
IN the classic film The Great Escape, Allied prisoners led by crawled on their bellies through two hand-dug tunnels in one of the most daring prison breaks of World War II.
Dubbed Tom and Harry, the tunnels took months to dig and in March 1944 saw 76 PoWs, including some Australians, crawl to freedom.
However archaeologists working about the real life scene of the escape at Stalag Luft III in Zagan in what was then southern Germany, have discovered that more than 100 tunnels were dug during that time.
The tunnels, in what is now southwestern Poland, have laid undiscovered for more than 60 years.
However archaeologists from the University College of London and the Keele University used ground-penetrating radar to map for the first time the extraordinary earthworks.
Using the ground radar, the team located the foundations of hut 122, which contained the entrance shaft to the third known tunnel called Dick.
That tunnel was used for stores for the escapees and has remained untouched since 1944 when the Germans found and destroyed the other two.
Inside Dick, archaeologists found a Red Cross parcel and a milk-can ventilation pipe.
Also found were lamps made from tins and most significantly, an case containing a civilian coat, a toothbrush, a German language book and other items making up a prisoner's escape kit.