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STALAG LUFT III "TUNNEL" STOVE TILES

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
STALAG LUFT III  TUNNEL  STOVE TILES
STALAG LUFT III "TUNNEL" STOVE TILES
A large fragment of tile, approx. 10" x 8", with mortar attached, and a tile and mortar corner piece, approx. 4" x 5", taken from the base of a camp stove at Stalag Luft III. According to the signed War Museum Certificate of Authenticity accompanying the piece, these tile fragments: "...were used to hide a secret escape tunnel", likely "Tom", "Dick", or "Harry". Stalag Luft III was a German POW camp in Silesia, now western Poland, which was operated by the Luftwaffe. It held captured British and American airmen. It is best known for being the site of the massive breakout of 76 men, depicted in the film "The Great Escape". Most of the tunnels used by these escapees were concealed beneath the tile bases of heating stoves installed in the barracks (as depicted in the film). The camp was bulldozed at the end of the war, and these relics were excavated by Polish souvenir hunters in the 1950's. Good excavated condition. An iconic relic of the POW experience in World War II. Includes a COA issued by The War Museum, a private non-profit foundation which has provided items to the Smithsonian Institution, the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and the U.S.S. Constitution, among many others.