Project lessons from The Great Escape

Project Lessons from the Great Escape (Stalag Luft III)
New publication from the lessons-from-history series

Dedicated to Sagan’s
50 and others
Presentation at APM South
Wales and West of England
branch
November 13th, 2013
Mark Kozak-Holland BSc (Hons),
PMP, IPMA-D, Cert.APM
“Lessons From the Past that Assist the Projects of
Today to Shape the World of Tomorrow”
www.lessons-from-history.com
http://www.thegreatescapememorialproject.com/
Project Lessons from the Great Escape


© 2013 Mark Kozak-Holland

Incredible story of mass escape of Allied PoWs from Stalag Luft
III in March 1944. Today we can learn from this project.

 How it was originated and developed?
 How complex problems were solved?
 How it was managed and implemented?
 Its outcome based on events in March 1944?

 Please prepare questions for the end.

This presentation is the property of Mark Kozak-Holland

2




Table of contents

1. Background
2. Problems
3. APM BOK
4. Solutions
5. Timeline to Escape
6. Post Mortem

3




The defeated PM - what excuse is it today?

 Intimidating scope
 No resources
 Time constraints
 Uncoordinated team
 Too many problems
 Unclear objectives

 Hostile groups trying to close project
 No executive sponsor

4




Imagine life as Allied Airman shot down during World War II, in
a Prisoner of War (PoW) camp.
 Bailing out
– Hostile population
 Captured by Luftwaffe
– Interrogation
– Monitored by Gestapo
 Behind barbed wire
– No outside news
 Scrutinized 24 hours a day
– Continuous surveillance
– No privacy
– Communications censored
 Length in captivity
– 1940-1944

5




Consider the living conditions as a PoW
 Climate
– -25C to +25C
 Daily calorie intake
– Rec. 3,000, actual 1,500 - 1,900
• Breakfast – 2 slices of bread, jam,
ersatz coffee
• Lunch - Watery soup
• Dinner – 2 slices of bread

 Daily regime
– Roll call twice, morning and night
– Boredom
 Hygene
– Cold water only
– Fleas lice, scabies, and bed bugs
6




Living conditions as a PoW were grueling to harsh
 No extra clothing
 Living space
– 600 PoWs, 60 acres.
– 1 heater/hut – 1 coal lump/person
 Cooler
– 5-15 days, harassment and beatings

 Diseases
– 40% - Upper Respiratory
– 20% - War wounds (fractures)
– 10% - Gastrointestinal
– 10% - Skin
– 10% - Diphtheria
– 10% - Other
7




So what were the options for individual POWs, some
imprisoned for 4 years.
 Wait war out
– Atrocious conditions
– Hope right side wins
– Hope Gestapo don’t call
– Psychological stress

 Try and escape
– Wage war
– Give men hope

Lessons for
today – weigh
up the
options.

8




There were short and long term benefits in organizing an
escape.
Lessons for today – clearly state short and long term organizational benefits


Camp population:
– 25% escapers (5% dedicated), 75% support



Short term:
– Occupy men, give goal, restore confidence in leaders



Long term:
– Psychological battle, tie down enemy resources
– Expand war, demoralize enemy

9




Table of contents

1. Background
2. Problems
3. APM BOK
4. Solutions
6. Post Mortem

10




There were almost insurmountable problems and constraints
that needed to be prioritized and overcome.
Lessons for today – clearly state
organizational challenges
Snooping “ferrets”
No where to hide
Few raw materials
No equipment or tools
Erratic food/ fuel supply










No documents, passes




Foreign language



11

Civilian clothing strictly forbidden

Limited currency



The first problem preventing escape was location and
unknown outside world.
Lessons for today – assess geographic constraints

 Distance to Sweden, Switzerland, Spain
 Hermetically sealed from communities
 Pine forest, sandy soil
12




The second problem preventing escape were prowling enemy
guards.
Lessons for today – assess organizational constraints
 Guards or “Goons”
– Changed frequently, old or wounded
– 12 guards wandering the compound

 Ferrets
– Intelligence escape specialists
– Enter any time, search no warning

– English-speaking

Lessons for today – assess constraints
13


– Tunneling allowed to continue



The third problem preventing escape were physical barriers
around camp.
Lessons for today – assess the physical constraints
 Search towers, flood lights
 Trip wire, shoot zone
 Double barbed-wire fences
 Huts stilts

 Seismographs - 33 feet

14




The fourth problem preventing escape was going incognito in
the outside world.
 Language and culture
 Going unnoticed disguises

Lessons for today – assess the
cultural constraints

 No public sympathy, “terror flyers”
 No currency

 Kugel Erlass (bullet decree)
immediate execution
15




The fifth problem preventing escape was survival in harsh
environment and climate, summer was escape season.
 November to March
snow

 Access to water,
food, and shelter
Lessons for today –
assess the survival
constraints

16




The sixth problem preventing escape was access to
transportation to get to a neutral country and safety.
Lessons for today – assess implementation constraints
Transport

Security
checks

Move
ment

Problems

Risk

Foot

10-15

Only on roads

Night

Finding shelter

Low

Train

100s

Moderate

Day

Disguise scrutinized; currency

Med

Bike

20-60

Few, on roads

Day

Finding bike to steal

Med

Motor vehicle

17

Distance
/day miles

100s

Few, on roads

Day

Fuel; once reported stolen

High




Table of contents

1. Background
2. Problems
3. APM BOK
4. Solutions
6. Post Mortem

18




Lessons for today “Planning the Strategy”
With tight security escape was thought impossible.


In April 1943 PoWs were moved to the
new North Compound.
An intact “Escape Committee” moved in
(Stakeholder Management)
Lessons from previous escapes






Escapes:
1. Well planned and organized
2. Well executed
3. Change managed
 Beat many complex problems

19




When the escape committee started to plan their escape they
were instigating a project of a monumental scale.
 Equivalent to Project Management Plan
 Feasibility
– Idea, approach, proposal, ROI
– Checkpoint 1- assess risk, resources
 Planning and Design
– High level plan
– Preparation for escape
 Production
– Preparation of Tunnel
– Engineering
– Construction and testing
– Checkpoint 2 - Assess risk
 Implementation and Startup
– Implement escape
– Checkpoint 3 - Assess risk
– Collect metrics and determine success
– Consider rerun (reuse)
20




At Checkpoint 1 the escape committee was faced with the
conundrum of Return on Investment and project scope.
Lessons for today “Value Management”
Approach to
escape

# of

Description

Example

Resources
required

Risk of
Discovery

escapees

Unplanned
opportunistic

1-2

Take advantage of presented
situation

Hide in back of a
truck

Low

Low

Planned, used
once only

1-3

Escape route exposed

Cutting through
wire

Med

Low

Planned, reused
several

1 - 10

Escape route preserved, mass
escape over period

Tunnel

Med

High

Planned, used
once only

Up to 250

Escape route exposed

Tunnel

High

High

21




The escape committee assessed project risks (qualitative and
quantitative) and modified project plans to accommodate it.
Lessons for today “Project Risk Management” and “Health and Safety”

 Hiding project
– From nosy ferrets on danger list
 Discovery of tunnel
– Multiple tunnels built in parallel
 Good enough POW disguise
– Plausible role
 Escape through tunnel
– Without detection
 Getting away from camp Geneva
Convention
– Not in uniform shot
 Traveling distances
– Forged passes & money.
 Survival in open
22




The escape committee realized that mistakes were intolerable.
One slip up would give the game away.
 Concealing tunnel entrance
 Tunnel construction, secretly & safely

Lessons for today “Project Quality
Management”, determine where
quality is critical

 Forged documents scrutinized
 Clothing - meld wearer

23




Once out the POWs depended with their lives on disguises
and documents.
 Forged documents scrutinized
 Clothing - meld wearer

24


Lessons for today “Project Quality
Management”, determine where
quality is critical in project



Lessons for today “Executing the Strategy”
Utilize hard-won experience acquired by POWs
Lessons for today “Scope Management”- Philosophy reduce scope were
possible

 Scope carefully considered and its constraints
 Scope of tunnels
– Number was determined by the number of concrete
foundations available and the risk of discovery
– Depth and length determined by distance from camp to woods
and available tunnel shoring materials
 Scope of intelligence and security required
– Six guards were wandering around in the compound
– Number of escapers that could get through tunnel in given
night

25




The escape committee evaluated the activities, their
sequencing, resources, duration and schedule.


Lessons for today “Scheduling”

Primary Activities
1. Tunnel (engineering & sand dispersal)

2. Preparing escapers


Time construct tunnel, constraints:
–

Manpower available

–

Impact of seasons, climate



26


Time to prepare escapers:
– Profiles – language, responses
– Identities, documents
– Disguises, clothes



The escape committee created project teams to overcome the
various problems based on available skill sets.
Lessons for today – pick your project team with care, “Resource Management”

Escape
Committee
X Organisation

Big X

Intelligence
gathering

Equipment &
tool making

Tunnel
engineering

Document
production

Map
making

Clothing
production

Internal
security

Compass
factory

Dispersals

Dispersal
diversions

Cultural
training

Supplies

Professions, Trades and Skill Sets in the Camp
Miners, Forgers, Tailors, Carpenters, Physicists and Geologists,
Engineers, Surveillance Experts, Electricians, Tinsmiths
27




The escape committee evaluated available resources (Cost
Estimating – Labor, Cost Budgeting, Cost Control)
 Food and parcels
Lessons for today “Budgeting and Cost Management”
– Not seen in Germany
– Relatives sent 1
parcel/man/week or month.
– International Red Cross:
• Clothes, shave/wash kits,
food.

– Captured officers paid

28




The escape committee communicated the plan to other PoWs
to get buy-in and active participation in the project.
 Compliance, adoption, communication plans
 Adoption plan sell camp
– Contribute & support
 Incredible level of trust existed
– Impeccable security

Lessons for today
“Communication”

29




The escape committee procured resources like tools and raw
materials essential to the project.
 Liberating wire for tunnel
lights

Lessons for today “Procurement”

 Visit of high ranking General
 Food and tobacco part of
procurement

30




Table of contents

1. Background
2. Problems
3. APM BOK
4. Solutions
6. Post Mortem

31




Solution to the unknown (problem 1) required Intelligence
gathering
Lessons for today – assess all options
 Befriend guards German speakers
 Rope in first time
 Blackmail many times
– Some cooperative, railway
timetables, maps, & official papers
 Bushell monitors progress
 Kommendant provides camera &
film

32




Solution to location (problem 1) required map making
capability based on intelligence gathered
 Team forged maps
– Rice paper, sewn into uniforms.
– Mimeograph

33




Solution to prowling Guards, Goons and Ferrets (problem 2)
required sophisticated internal security
Lessons for today – leverage organizational intelligence where possible

 "Duty Pilot" system
 Security system "stooging"
 “Stool pigeons” 2 witness
 Inter-camp semaphore

34




Solution to physical barriers (problem 3) required equipment
and tool making capability.
 Manufacturing
– Spades, blades, knives, hacksaws

35




Solution to physical barriers (problem 3) required tunnel
preparation and engineering.
 Tunnel size width 2’
 Required huge number of physical
resources.
– 4,000 bedboards; 1,370 beading battens;
1,699 blankets; 161 pillow cases; 635
palliasses; 34 chairs; 52 20-man tables; 90
double tier bunks; 1,219 knives; 478 spoons;
30 shovels;
– 1,000 ft electric wire; 600 ft rope; 192 bed
covers; 3,424 towels; 1,212 bed bolsters; 10
single tables; 76 benches; 246 water cans;
582 forks; 69 lamps.

 Tunneling crude tools.
 Sand dispersal 'Penguins’.

36




Solution to going incognito (problem 4) required a document
production unit known as "Dean and Dawson" (travel agents).
 Official stamps, papers changed often
 Forged papers (over 400) :
– Passports (studio), permission on
Wehrmacht property, military leave pass
– foreign workers returning home,
– general identity card, visa, currency,
– pass and temporary pass.

 Weeks to reproduce:
– Hand stenciled.
– Official stamps rubber heels.
37




Solution to going incognito (problem 4) required the
production of clothing

 Civilian clothing forbidden
 Military uniforms cobbled together

 Escapees carried aircrew badges secretly
 Conversion of uniforms
38




Solution to survival (problem 5) required survival rations
 "Foodacco" collective bargaining
and bartering
 Food hoarded for
escape

 Baked iron rations
 Canisters
39




Solution to access to transportation (problem 6) required
profiling PoWS.


Train travel to
Suitcase brigade
1. Germanspeakers
2. Experienced
escapers
3. Greatest
contributors
 Foot travel for
“Hard-arsers" or
Blanket brigade
– Hide day “footslog by night”.
– Rudimentary
false papers &
identities.

Business travelers or foreign workers
40




Table of contents

1. Background
2. Problems
3. APM BOK
4. Solutions
6. Post Mortem

41




July 1943 – construction on new camp starts
 Robs US airmen chance to escape.
 'Dick' abandoned.
– Ideal for clothing, contraband, workshop.
 Bushell put entire effort into "Tom."
 Skills transfer to US airmen.

42




August 1943 - As tunnel reached perimeter fence trees were
cleared
 Microphones detecters pick up activity.
 Guards believed tunnel near
completion.
 Traces of tunnel sand spotted in
gardens.
 Five hour search of Hut 123 found
nothing.

43




September 1943 - Tom discovered at 85 m, only 16m short of
completion. Guards surprised at its scale
 Intelligence alerted Bushell - 2,000 bed boards
plundered before count, and hidden down Dick.
 Dick - clothing, contraband, manufacturer
workshop.

44




October – December 1943 - Tunnelling stopped.
activities switch away
 Equipment and tool making capability.
 Compass Factory.
 POWs moved around in job reshuffle.

45




January 1944 - nervous about discovery of the project Bushell
restarted Harry. However, project showstopper was SAND
 Surplus sand into 'Dick'. Solution in theatre.
 Tunnel (336 foot) with miner’s rail, electric lights,
air ventilation

46




Feb, 1944 – Ferret take 19 top suspects and 6 key men to
Stalag VIIIC at Belaria
• Bushell taken off list
• Deputies took over
• Project tracking and managing
change to accommodate risk

47




March 1944 - Ideal conditions required for a night escape but
debate whether to go








48

Four conditions Bushell wanted:
– No moon
– A wind to disguise noises
– Good weather
– No ferrets around
Next moonless nights March 23/24/25.
25th Saturday - poor train tables,
No trains Sunday.
Arguments to postpone to April and
better weather.
Harry would not survive wet month of
April.




March 23, 1944 - Day before, Bushell re-emphasizes objectives
with "Wings" Day and determines to go ahead with escape.
 “The weather’s going to be bloody awful, and will probably
get worse. 90% of the hardarsers will run into deep snow in
the mountains…[but it]…Doesn’t matter. It will give the Nazis
an almighty shock. 200 looney escape artists roaring around
the countryside.”

– Conversation between Roger Bushell, and Wings Day prior to
the escape.

49




March 24, 1944 – Day of escape

 POW
congregate in
Hut 104
 9:45 Problems in
breakout
 Frozen trap
door

 Clever
improvisation
to continue

50




In the Implementation and startup things started to go badly
wrong
 10:30 First out
from suitcase
brigade
 00:00 1 hour air
raid
 01:30 Tunnel cave
in

51




The passage of escapers greatly slowed
 03:00 Blanket
brigade begins
 03:30 Word
sent back, 100
could escape
 Expected
throughput
60/hour, actual
12/hour.
 04:55 - 76
escapers were
out

52




Breakout and escapers get away

 Escaper at exit
mixed up
signals
emerged under
guard

 Men in tunnel
returned to Hut
104
 Burned false
papers ate
rations

53




Best chance was for suitcase brigade

 Station 1 mile from camp

 Many escapers could not find station,
missed trains.
 At dawn many POWs still on the platform,
ignoring each other.

 Bushell awaited the 3:30am service to
Breslau and arrived 5:00am.

54




Who got where? 76 of 250 got out. Many escapers could not
find station, missed trains. 3 got to neutral country, "home run"
 Norwegians
(2) reach
Sweden
 Dutchman
reaches
Gibraltar via
France
/Spain (3.5
months).
 ~50 men
caught
within few
miles
 15 men
escape to
free
territory but
got caught

55




Table of contents

1. Background
2. Problems
3. APM BOK
4. Solutions
6. Post Mortem

56




Was the project a success?

 Pros
– Massive disruption, million men looking
– Hitler outraged, diversion to war
 Cons
– Too few got out and away

– 50 captured and executed

57




Lessons learned – the positives from the project
 Limited material resources
– Everything saved
 Decentralized organization
– 600 men were engaged
 High performance team
– Committed to cause

Lessons for today – nothing is
impossible

 Ad hoc group used diverse talents
 Extraordinarily difficult task
– Adverse circumstances
 Problems solved
– Continuous innovation
58




Lessons learned downside - Airmen - Australia, Canada,
France, Greece, Holland, Norway, Poland, South Africa, &UK
 No rerun
– Poor ROI, massive
investment
 Attention to
implementation
– Priority to greatest
contributors
– March best month?
– Many escapers
drew attention?
 No withdrawal plan
– Tunnel too short
– No stopping
– Emotions
unchecked, desire
to get out
 Effective Project
Management?

59

Lessons for today – pay attention to all phases of project




Lessons learned – Too much focus on the tunnel and its
construction
 Project Objectives
– Clear at outset, unclear in hindsight
– Game or sport
 WWII 30 of 10,000 RAF airmen reached safety.
 17% of PoWs died in German camps.

 Escapes more dangerous but continued.

60




Questions

Presentation available on-line
Mark available to work with you and your organization (PMs and Executives),
speak or run workshops.
http://www.lessons-from-history.com/
Sign up for lessons-from-history newsletter (subscribe/unsubscribe).
Twitter @LessonsfromHist
You tube – ProjectLessons
http://ca.linked.com/in/markkozakholland
Skype name - mark.kozak.holland
Email: mark.kozak-holl@sympatico.ca
64




Lessons-from-History is a series of publications for today’s
business world, established in 2001.
 Our authors are from the business world
but, with a deep passion for history.
 The authors are highly experienced and
working project managers, consultants,
business analysts.

 This combination of business and history
provides a deeper understanding of
challenges faced by today's business.

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65

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 “This book and others by Mark
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detailed research, historical
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66


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Credits and Sources

 http://www.historyinfilm.com/escape/real1.htm
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/greatescape/
 http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1778.html
 http://www.b24.net/pow/stalag3.htm
 http://www.afhi.org/museum/stalag/escape.html
 http://www.elsham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gt_esc/
 http://www.au.af.mil/au/goe/eaglebios/84bios/stok84.htm

 http://www.inyourpocket.com/poland/poznan/en/feature?id=4326
 http://www.pegasus-one.org/pow/pSL_3
 http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?sid=33&pid=508729
 The Great Escape, by Paul Brickhill

 The Longest Tunnel, by Alan Burgess

67




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