The site was selected because its sandy soil made it difficult for POWs to escape by tunnelling.
The camp was established in March 1942 in the German province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan (now Żagań, Poland), 160 kilometres (100 miles) south-east of Berlin.
Stalag Luft III ( German: Stammlager Luft III literally 'Main Camp, Air, III' SL III) was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner of war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel. Oberst Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau
